The Least Productive Way to Start Your Day
By Michael Masterson
Several years ago, I read about a CEO who does a Google search on his company's name every morning. He does this before he plans his day, before he sets his priorities... even before he goes through his inbox. "Surfing the Web," he says "is the best way to get an early pulse on potential problems and to get in front of customer complaints." I hope you are not doing that. It's a mistake begin your day by focusing on problems. You should be applying yourself to positive tasks. Tasks that will help your business grow. I am 100 percent in favor of fixing problems. But your day's productivity is affected enormously by the first thing you do. If your first chore is problem-related, you are going to get caught up in negative thoughts that might depress you or slow you down. Delegate the problems to a responsible person and monitor the way he handles them on a weekly basis. Focus your own early-morning energy on good, useful ideas for the future. I have found that my days are infinitely more productive when I begin by pushing along a marketing project or creating a new product. It is fun. It energizes me. And it makes money. In today's issue, Bob Cox talks about a subject near and dear to my heart: how to bounce back from disappointment. Then I will give you a clever but surprisingly underused sales technique you can use in your business immediately... and explain why shorter deadlines are almost always better than long ones. ---------------------------------------------- *Advertisement* ---------------------------------------------------- Don't Make a Trade Until the Market "Tells" You - His software applications and trading books are required tools on Wall Street. And now his new program for private investors, which detects "hidden" market signals, has been released. One of the first people he trained in his method recently made $37,948 in just a few days. And he's got only 89 spots left. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Failure happens all the time. It happens every day in practice. What makes you better is how you react to it." Mia Hamm I want to acknowledge something important, something you have probably gone through during your goal achieving efforts. I've gone through it myself, and most high achievers I know have too. I am talking about the setbacks and disappointments that have stopped you dead in your tracks. Perhaps the promotion you expected didn't materialize... or your main marketing campaign for the year fizzled. All of us have endured rejection or defeat along our respective journeys to success. So let me ask you: Have you ever made a decision that didn't work as planned? Has anyone ever let you down? Has recent economic news put a damper on your perspective? It may be painful to bring those things to mind, but I'm asking you to do it for a good reason. Because life brings us misfortune as well as fortune. Some of it is beyond our control. But it's not what happens that matters. It's all about how you react when the world throws you a curveball. What do you do? Do you step UP to your setbacks -- or do you back DOWN? If you think about it, you have only two choices when faced with any obstacle: Rise above it (step up) or let it beat you (back down). The following story is one I'd rather forget. But it's a perfect illustration of this concept in action. I had been looking forward to a meeting with the new CEO of a multi-state retail chain (with 450 stores). I had worked with the previous CEO for six years as the chain's insurance agent, and we had become good friends. Sadly, he passed away. The purpose of this meeting was to bring the new CEO "up to speed" on the status of their insurance program and have him sign the renewal contract for the coming year. Their account was complex, but by managing their program efficiently, my company had saved them millions of dollars. And I felt confident I could assist the new CEO in achieving similar savings. I decided to bring Doug, the newest member of our team, with me to the meeting. After all, it would be a great way for him to see how a major account, where everything was going well, really worked. Imagine my consternation (and embarrassment) when the new CEO declined to come downstairs to the conference room to meet with us. Instead, he sent his assistant with a message that a decision had been made to go in a new direction with their insurance program. That was it! No warning. No thanks for all our past accomplishments and cost savings. I was devastated. Still, my response was professional. I simply said, "Call us if we may help you during the transition." We were there for all of 10 minutes. Needless to say, it was a long and somber drive back home to Orlando. But during the drive, I took the first step toward moving past that failure. Step 1: DO make a decision to bounce back! This sounds so simple. But it can be the most difficult step in the process. The truth is, deciding to step up is where it all starts. Everything you do next can be traced back to that fateful decision not to sit there and take it, to do something about it. Remember, not making a decision IS a decision -- a decision to do nothing. On the drive back to Orlando, I decided not to try to win back the account we had just lost. But I did resolve to find another client just as big. Step 2: DO take action on your decision. Move on. Get over it. I'm not trying to be harsh here, just giving it to you straight. This is an important step in getting past negative outcomes. My dear grandmother used to say, "Where a door closes... a window opens." I was blessed to be raised by my grandparents. They were people of integrity and rock-solid beliefs. From them I learned how to see windows opening. The first step is to acknowledge that the door has closed, no matter how difficult that may be. When I arrived at the Orlando office, I immediately called my staff together. I told them we had lost one of our biggest accounts -- but that we would be coming up with a plan to find one just as big within the next six months. Step 3: DO close the past to open your future. Bring the good parts of the bad experience with you (the learning, the rewards), and let the rest stay in the past. Today is tomorrow's yesterday just as tomorrow is today's future. ALL yesterdays become the past, which is done and gone. Although, to this day, I feel a bit disappointed about losing that big account, I am able to think back and remember the good work I did with the company. I remained friendly with them, and actually did help with their transition to a new insurance provider. But I never tried to "win back" their business. Step 4: DO believe to achieve. Settle into a mindset that all experiences, good and bad, are relevant. Believing that you can learn something from a failure, overcome it, and move on is essential to your well being. A few months after losing the account, I did land another big client. That's one way I moved on. More important, I learned that nothing is a sure thing. I had taken it for granted that the new CEO would renew our contract. I no longer make such assumptions. Step 5: DO NOT dwell. It is okay to acknowledge that something went wrong. It is NOT okay to hold onto it. Dwelling on the setback and overanalyzing it will amplify its negative effects. Just let it go. Soon after my initial shock at losing that account, I realized that going with another insurance provider had been a business decision by the CEO. It wasn't personal, and didn't reflect on the good work I had done with the company. I didn't hold a grudge. Step 6: DO NOT quit. Don't let one disappointment discourage you from moving forward. Even if it was your "fault," that does not brand you as a failure. Backing down or quitting is a losing proposition. Yesterday is gone, and you can't change what has already occurred. But you can change how you deal with your yesterdays. And you can build on what you learn from every experience, good and bad. That's my seven-step "how-to" guide for stepping up and moving past a failure, rejection, or setback. I'll admit that most, if not all, of these steps can be tough. But I want you to try to follow each and every one of them as best you can. Like any success technique, you might not get it right away. But practice makes perfect. P.S. Are you ready to learn even more ways to deal with disappointment and bad situations? How about proven goal setting strategies that will help you become the high achiever you know you are? Go here to find out more about my book, Flip the Success Switch. ----------------------------------------------Highly Recommended --------------------------------------------------- Your Website Is the Crossroads of the World - Imagine if you could open up a store in the "Times Square of the Internet." But instead of the 26 million people a year who pass through Times Square every year, you got 91 million "passersby" -- every day! It's very easy (and cheap) to do. And with Bob Bly's help you could see income in just a few weeks. Read more... ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
When to Tell Your Customers about Your Weaknesses
By Michael Masterson
Twenty-five years ago, when Jay Abraham and I were relatively young men in this business, we shared the tips and techniques we discovered. He'd give me his best new idea. And I'd give him one of mine in return. One of the ideas he shared with me was already an old one at the time, but it was not something I had been using and so it was new to me. He said that whenever he designed a marketing campaign he would make a long list of every possible objection the prospect could have about buying the product he was selling. He said he sometimes spent many hours composing the list. He included everything from pricing to terms to delivery and more. Then he would spend even more time coming up with an answer to each of those objections. Sometimes it was easy. Sometimes it required a good deal of work. If necessary, he would add something to the offer. In some cases, he even changed the product in some way. Every product or service has both benefits and drawbacks. Some of the drawbacks can make an otherwise good customer shy away from a purchase. Rather than ignore the drawbacks (and hope your prospects will ignore them too), bring them up and find a way to turn them into strengths. Several years ago, I saw a clever example of how one company did this: At Disney's Animal Kingdom, most of the animals like to sleep during the day. The only time you're likely to see all of them up and about is very early in the morning. Disney's solution to the problem? A promotion that read as follows: "The animals rest at various times during the day. This means that each time you visit us, you'll see different ones than you saw the time before!" And here's a related tip. Rank your prospect's potential objections from most to least important. Handle the most important one early in the copy. Handle the rest at the end. I can't tell you exactly why this works. I think it's because focusing too much on negatives early on distracts your prospect from the "big promise" of the promotion. But handling a big and immediate problem early on establishes your credibility. Then, after the prospect is sold, you can deal with the rest of them in one fell swoop. ----------------------------------------------Highly Recommended --------------------------------------------------- Do you feel like crap? Are you tired all the time?
Well, get ready for a big change! Read on to discover a secret that will give you an endless reservoir of energy. This could really change your life. You'll learn... - The 5 best natural antidotes to stress...
- How to make the blues a thing of the past...
- A super-simple 4 step program to have all the energy you ever wanted, and more!
Keep reading and re-energize your body and mind once and for all... --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Training Your Employees for the Big Race
By Michael Masterson
One of the most important business skills is almost never talked about. It is speed. In Ready, Fire, Aim, I explain that the faster you get good ideas to the marketplace, the better your chances of succeeding. And the faster you can get almost anything done, the less it will cost you. You don't want to sacrifice quality for speed. But you don't want to slow things down to get them "perfect" either. As the boss, one of your challenges is create a culture of speed. Let your employees know that moving quickly and efficiently is an important part of their jobs. One way to keep the office humming: Give your employees short deadlines. If you give them generous deadlines, the work will expand to fit the time allotted. If your business often deals with lengthy projects, periodically train your employees for the "long race" by having them do some "sprints." I'm not just talking about daily or weekly milestones within an extended project. I mean short tasks that can be completed in several hours or a day. Afterward, you'll probably find that the pace of their "regular work" will be just a bit livelier. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Your e-mails have been like an honest friend." "I am a Web-content writer and I really like the way you talk about copywriting and Internet marketing. "It hadn't occurred to me that I should start a business of my own. It must be the encouragement that I got through your e-mails, because I decided to give it a try. "I made a plan to promote a gardening business in our area. I bought a domain name and hosted a site. Now, Google lists my website within the first 10 results for many RELEVANT search terms. "And my investment was more than returned with just ONE ORDER. I think this will be a nice side income for me. "Your e-mails have been like an honest friend trying to push a lazy man to the path of success. I can't thank you enough." Prince John
Trivandrum, Kerala, India ---------------------------------------------- Highly Recommended --------------------------------------------------- Luxury Vacations "on the House" - Okay, so you still have to pay for the flight. But you could stay at a beachfront mansion in Maui that usually rents for $1,500+ a week ... for $0. That's right. Zero, zip, nada, FREE! Stay a week. A month. Or a year (or more). Ka-Ching Editor Matthew Adams can show you how... --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Consternation (kon-ster-NAY-shun) -- from the Latin for "to throw into confusion" -- is the state of being utterly bewildered. Example (as used by Bob Cox today): "Imagine my consternation (and embarrassment) when the new CEO declined to come downstairs to the conference room to meet with us." --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- We want your feedback! Let us know your thoughts on today's issue. Email us at: AskETR@ETRFeedback.com | 
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