You are getting this newsletter because you are a member of the American Consultants League. If you would prefer not to receive future issues, contact support@earlytorise.com From the Editor: In this issue, you’ll learn 13 tips for developing strong networking relationships; you’ll hear from Michael Masterson on why you have to fail if you want to accomplish great things in life; and from an expert in customer care, you’ll gather information on retaining customers and improving your service – easily. Special thanks to Michael Masterson, Ilise Benun and guest contributor, Joanna Brandi. Using Failure to Ensure Success In his book, “Falling Forward”, John C. Maxwell tells the story of Samuel Langley, the man who was supposed to invent the airplane. Before the Wright brothers successfully flew their plane on Dec. 17, 1903, the U.S. government had given a $50,000 check to Dr. Langley, a respected former professor of mathematics and astronomy and director of the Smithsonian Institution. The purpose? To convert the knowledge he had gained doing experiments with large unmanned plane models into the first manned airplane flight. On Oct. 8, 1903, Langley expected his years of work to come to fruition. "As journalists and curious onlookers watched, Charles Manley (Langley's engineer), wearing a cork-lined jacket, strode across the deck of a modified houseboat and climbed into the pilot's seat of a craft called the Great Aerodrome. The full-sized, motorized device was perched atop a specially built catapult designed to initiate its flight into the air. But when the launch was attempted, part of the Aerodrome got caught and the biplane was flung into 16 feet of water a mere 50 yards from the boat. Criticism of Langley was brutal. But, at least at first, he was undaunted. (See "Word to the Wise," below.) He tried a second flight eight weeks later. This time, the pilot was almost killed. Again, criticism was fired at "Langley's Folly." This second failure was too much for the respected scientist. Defeated and demoralized, he abandoned his decades-long pursuit of flight. Orville and Wilber Wright, uneducated, unknown, and unfunded, flew their plane over the sand dunes of Kitty Hawk just a few months later. The theologian J.I. Packer once observed, "a moment of realized disaster makes one feel that this is the end of everything." And that's how Langley must have felt. He let his two failures stop him. And that brings me to the main point that John Maxwell makes in his book: If you want to accomplish great things in your life, you have to be willing to fail. Over and over again. Why? Because you can't succeed unless you try. Moreover, when you try, you ARE going to fail some of the time. Here is Maxwell's formula for "making friends with failure": 1. Recognize that a willingness to fail is the chief difference between successful people and average people. In Maxwell's opinion, success has little to do with wealth, family, background, morals, or opportunity. "When it comes right down to it," he says, "I know of only one factor that separates those who consistently shine from those who don't: their perception of and response to failure." 2. Redefine failure. Maxwell says that people are too quick to judge isolated situations in their lives and label them as failures. A successful person sees a setback as temporary and beneficial -- something to learn from, starting immediately. As basketball coach Rick Pitino once said, "Failure is good. It's fertilizer. Everything I've learned about coaching I've learned from making mistakes." 3. Disconnect yourself from your mistakes. The trick to overcoming the fear of failure is to disassociate yourself from it -- to understand, as Maxwell says, "that your failure does not make you a failure." Instead of beating yourself up every time you make a mistake, tell yourself, "I am not a failure. I failed at doing this." Keep in mind that every successful person is someone who failed, yet never regarded himself as a failure. Mozart, one of the greatest musical geniuses who ever lived, was told by Emperor Ferdinand that his opera The Marriage of Figaro was "far too noisy" and contained "far too many notes." Thomas Edison, the most prolific inventor in history, was considered unteachable as a youngster. And Albert Einstein, the greatest thinker of modern times, was told by a Munich schoolmaster that he would never amount to much. 4. Take action to remove fear. Recognize that your fear of failure is based not on logic but on experience. To get rid of that paralyzing fear, you must take action. "If you can take action and keep making mistakes, you gain experience," Maxwell says. "That experience eventually brings competence, and you make fewer mistakes. As a result of making fewer mistakes, your fear becomes less paralyzing. But the whole cycle-breaking process starts with action. You must act your way into feeling, not wait for positive emotions to carry you forward." 5. Change the way you respond to failure. Some people get angry when they fail. Others, unwilling to accept responsibility, look for scapegoats. Some people, stubborn people, ignore the negative results they experience and continue the unsuccessful behavior repeatedly. Still others simply give up. "There's really only one solution to the gridlock on the failure freeway," Maxwell says, "and that's to wake up and find the exit." To Maxwell, "waking up" means accepting responsibility for your actions that contributed to the failure. "Finding the exit,” means changing your behavior accordingly. The title that Maxwell chose for his book -- "Failing Forward" -- sums up his philosophy nicely: If you march long enough, you will definitely stumble. Whether you stumble forward or stumble backward or stop marching completely is entirely up to you. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Michael Masterson, Author, Businessman, is the founding editor of the daily e-letter, Early to Rise — a guide to living a more rewarding and fulfilling life. After nearly four decades of making money, Michael Masterson has one goal: to help others enjoy the kind of success he has. Over the course of his remarkably successful career, Michael has been a partner in two businesses that grew beyond $100 million, two more that exceeded $50 million and at least a dozen that surpassed the $10 million mark. He's had success in just about every kind of business you can name — public, private, local, international, retail, direct mail, even non-profit. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Consultants Resource Learn Money-Making Business Secrets of the World's Highest Paid SUPER CONSULTANT World famous marketing genius and business growth expert, Jay Abraham, wants to make YOUR business or idea a small (or large) fortune in the next 12 months. And he's willing to do it for you at his expense and risk not yours. http://www.agora-inc.com/reports/700SJABG/W700EB67 How to “Work a Room” 13 Tips to There are tons of networking events to attend, too many actually, too many ways to meet people you'll never see again, too many opportunities to collect a stack of business cards you'll never look at again. But networking is not a contest and it's not about schmoozing. 1. Find low-key learning environments. Business card exchanges and other networking events are high pressure situations where people go to meet others but usually do so with all their defenses intact. For more relaxed networking, find educational atmospheres, such as workshops and seminars, where the focus is on learning and where people's defenses are lower. 2. Start conversations. Go out of your way to get into conversations with anyone and everyone you can, in person, on the phone or via email. Cross the street, cross the room, cross the train, to talk to someone. Find out what they're working on and tell them what you're working on. Anything can come out of a simple conversation: ideas, alliances, connections, referrals, new business, and new opportunities. 3. Make contact, not contacts. The goal of networking is not to meet as many people in as short a time as possible. The goal is to find a business community that satisfies your needs; one that brings together people who are your prospects and with whom you are comfortable. So if you attend an event, don’t think you have to get to everyone in the room. Meet as many people as you can but also, if a conversation is going well, stay with it. 4. Be a good listener. Don’t be worried about what you’re going to say. You don't need to perform your sales pitch, just have your blurbs ready to use as a tool to engage people in conversation. Do more listening than talking, and ask a lot of questions. Then simply respond to what you hear. Answer questions, devise solutions, be creative. Sounds easy? Just try it. 5. Arrive early. If you wait until most of the attendees are already there, many of them will already be in conversations and it won’t be as easy to break in. 6. Never sit with someone you know. Attend an event with a friend, but put on your nametags then separate at the door. Otherwise, you will never meet anyone new. 7. Look for wallflowers. Instead of trying to break into conversations that are already going, find someone sitting or standing alone and simply introduce yourself. Do it even if they don’t look like they want to be approached. The apparent standoffishness may merely be a cover for their own discomfort. 8. Use the food to begin conversations. Stand by the buffet and make recommendations to anyone who approaches about what’s good (or bad). 9. Keep going back to the buffet. Never put more than 3 bites on your plate. Take your plate to a crowded table, introduce yourself, talk (and listen) for 10-15 minutes, exchange cards, then excuse yourself to get up and get more food. (After all, your plate will be empty.) Repeat this until the room is empty. And don't forget that you can also talk to people in line at the buffet. 10. Be random about where you sit. You can’t tell by how someone looks what will come out of a conversation with them. Don’t judge. 11. Make notes about the people you meet. Every time someone gives you a card, make a point of writing a note on the back -- while you’re still talking. This will not only flatter, but you will have a much better chance of remembering what you talked about so that you can follow up in a more personal way. 12. Wear a jacket with pockets. Keep your business cards and a pen in the left pocket and put any cards you get into the right pocket. That way you won't be fumbling with cards or accidentally hand a new contact someone else's card. 13. Wear an unusual accessory, like a colorful scarf or tie, so that when you follow up you can also remind them who you are by referring to that accessory, as in, “I was the one with the orange scarf.” [Ilise Benun, author of “Self Promotion Online” and “Designing Websites for Every Audience,” writes, consults and gives workshops about online and offline self promotion. Sign up for her Quick Online Marketing Tips here: http://www.artofselfpromotion.com/tips.html] Want to Keep Customers & Create Profits? These 5 ‘Positivity Pointers’ There’s no doubt about it; customer loyalty is key to profitability. A mere five percent increase in your customer retention could as much as double your bottom line profits! On the flip side, it costs anywhere from 6-30 times more to get new customers than it does to keep the ones you have – that is, if they’ll stay! The key to customer loyalty? Creating consistently positive experiences time and time again. That involves knowing your customer’s expectations, delivering service basics brilliantly, and maintaining an upbeat, can-do positive attitude throughout every interaction and at each touch point. Here are 5 ‘positivity pointers’ to keep in mind so you can reap the rewards of creating more awesome experiences for your customers, co-workers and yourself: 1. Positive thinking is a habit. Some people are born with a positive outlook; others have to work hard at shifting their focus away from depressing media stories and from the things that are going wrong in their own lives. The great news for those born ‘attitude-challenged’ is: You can prevent yourself from being tossed about by the winds of worry and negativity by making positive thinking one of your good habits – it’s just like exercise and eating right! 2. Positive thinking is a choice. As with the creation of any new habits, the first step is to choose to do it, to commit to and intend to be positive. At first, learning what keeps you in a positive state of mind and remembering to make time to use those tools can be challenging – especially when you’re focused on professional or personal goals that require a lot of your time and energy. Sometimes it’s actually easier to stay stuck in a negative place than to break the cycle, brush yourself off, take a breather and consciously change your state of mind. That’s because we all love our comfort zones, even if they’re bad for us! Think back to past commitments you have made and kept to yourself. Think about what motivated you and sustained you as you reached your goals. Can you apply some of your strategies and techniques to becoming a positive thinker? Then think about what you need to do to remind yourself to do frequent attitude checks and, if necessary, adjustments. Would Post-it® notes help? A timer that goes off every half hour? A daily phone call from a supportive buddy? The extensive pay-offs of positive thinking (which you’re about to get a peek at) are worth these efforts. 3. A Positive Attitude makes change easier to take. Change happens all the time in every aspect of life – and it’s happening especially fast in today’s business world. If we don’t keep up, we fall behind – and no business today has that luxury. Some changes feel welcome and comfortable; others elicit resistance as they push us out of our comfort zones. The fact is, retaining a positive attitude about change makes it much easier to flow into. Example: Think back to when the Internet began to catch on as a ‘must have’ form of communication. Those who embraced the technology, or who were at least positive about it, had a much easier time adjusting than those who resisted. They unlearned their old habits and learned new ones more quickly, and benefited from the changes earlier than later. To stay positive during times of change, remind yourself of past changes in your life that pushed you out of your comfort zone and into an even better situation than you’d imagined. Remain open to the idea that change can continue to create all-new possibilities and opportunities. Think about how your self-esteem and self-confidence have grown every time you’ve risen to whatever changes a challenging situation called for. Just thinking back to those moments can make you feel great! 4. Positive thinking is chock-full of benefits! Optimistic people – people who believe the world is inherently ‘good’ - are healthier than pessimists. Let’s count the ways: Clearly, we can alter and enhance our lives by altering our attitudes. Positive or negative, it’s a choice. Choose the rose-colored glasses, the ones that brighten up the view! 5. No one likes you when you’re grumpy. Sure the people who love you still love you even when you go through a grumpy spell. But that doesn’t mean anyone likes you while you’re in a foul state of mind. Customers don’t like a grump, co-workers don’t like a grump, bosses don’t like a grump…nobody likes a grump! Positive, life-affirming, optimistic people attract goodness to their lives. They attract positive people and circumstances, and they achieve great results. And why wouldn’t they? They’re a joy to interact with! Whether they’re waiting on your table, checking you in at the hotel, repairing your computer, writing you a check for your new mortgage, selling you a new network or solving a billing problem at your credit card company, they can make a genuine difference in the quality of your life in that moment if they treat you with a positive, up-beat and can-do attitude. And you can do the same for your customers. It’s so much easier to keep customers and create profits when you give your attitude some altitude! ©2004 JoAnna Brandi & Company, All rights reserved. [JoAnna Brandi is the author of Winning at Customer Retention, 101 Ways to Keep 'em Happy, Keep 'em Loyal and Keep 'em Coming Back and 54 Ways to Stay Positive in a Changing, Challenging and Sometimes Negative World. She’s the publisher of the Customer Care Coach®, a weekly email based training program, and of a free, bi-weekly newsletter. Sign up now at http://www.customercarecoach.com] CONSULTING RESOURCE OF THE MONTH: One of our board members has found a useful resource for consultants who are just setting up their business. It’s CardService International. This resource has information about setting up your merchant accounts, including the “Merchant Account Insider’s Guide” by Jack L. Kimball With very little time investment you can come up to speed and make intelligent choices selecting the best Merchant Account solution for your business. This service will help you save time, save money and control your destiny in the world of credit and debit card processing. For more information about this service, visit the link below: RSVP: Like what you see? Have suggestions for topics that you would like Board members to address? Send us your comments and suggestions to: American Consultants League, c/o Early to Rise www.earlytorise.com or email us at: mailto: support@earlytorise.com. Be sure to mention that you are a subscriber to ACL. American Consultants League Consulting Tips Newsletter ACL Board Members: Mark Amtower, Ilise Benun, Bob Bly, Tony Narinesingh, Consulting Tips Newsletter
"Ambition is the path to success.
Persistence is the vehicle you arrive in."
Bill Bradley
By Michael Masterson, from Early to Rise
If you own or run a profit based business or have a promising money-making idea you're about to become a lot wealthier, a lot sooner than you expected.
Develop Strong Networking Relationships
by Ilise Benun
Can Help You Enhance Your Customer Experience
By JoAnna Brandi
245 NE 4th Ave Ste 102
Delray Beach, Fl 33483
Ph: 866-344-7201/ FAX: 561-278-5929
Editor: Denise Ford
Ruth Stevens, Valerie Young, Deeba Jafri, Michael Masterson