Tuesday 28 April 2015

Want Results...? - then do this...

At a recent conference, I was invited to participate in a Q&A session from the stage.
The focus of the questions from the audience included, how to build sales, profits and cash; the answers included making more telephone calls, networking and on-line marketing strategies...

Then it was my turn...

As you'll know when you're sat in a panel there is always the temptation to attempt to outdo your colleagues with a bigger, better and brighter answer...

And so it was here with the answers becoming ever more bold, with growth targets and results, margins and cash-flow outcomes being presented as justification for ever more complex marketing and sales "systems"...
In my view and experience, our success is determined by not only what we do, be who we are; as defined by our knowledge, character and personality.

I was reminded of an experience a couple of days before the conference...
In Telford, Shropshire - we went to the local shopping centre to pick up some new reading glasses, a couple of shirts and some contact lens solution.
I saw a young couple in their early 20's I'd guess walking into one of the shops - it was called "Bright House"...

Upon closer inspection it appears that you can buy furniture and electrical goods there but pay for them over a weekly payment plan - all good so far...

Then I looked at the deal in the window and it went something like this...
  • Sofa Price - £1060.24
  • Delivery & Installation - £30.00
  • Service Plus - £296.87
  • Total - £1387.11
Check out the details HERE

The deal was that if someone paid weekly they would pay a total of £2756.52 in total with an APR of 69.9%
That's £2756.52 for a £1060.24 sofa - an uplift of £1696.28...
I asked the assistant if he thought the deal was a good one, and he told me it was "the way of the world" and he was "only following instructions"...

If you can't get credit you have to pay huge premiums for products; this young couple were going to sign up to a deal that they really couldn't afford...

If I was to go to DFS in the UK I can buy a "similar" Sofa for about £800.00 pay nothing until 2016 and get 4 Years interest free credit until 2020...

Total cost £800.00...

See more information HERE

But this young couple couldn't...

Instead what if...

That young couple had decided to not get a shiny new sofa, and instead put their money towards training, education and personal development; they could have got a better job, built a credit history and instead of going to "Bright House" gone to DFS and saved around £2,000 - enough to have paid for some Education...
This of course is delayed gratification - you don't get the sofa until you've earned the money...

In Business you don't Earn until you Learn; it's also a process of delayed gratification...

So my answer was...

If you want a bigger business; build a bigger you...

Your business, life and results are an exact reflection of you - if you want a different outcome, build a different picture...
Get reading, go to seminars, watch videos - build your knowledge. The only place that Earn comes before Learn is in the dictionary...

It was of course the best answer on the panel...

About David Holland MBA

I work with Business Owners, Executives and their Teams to:
✔ Make more Money in their Business...
✔ Build Effective and Productive Teams...
✔ Work Less Hours and enjoy the Journey...
✔ Grow Sales, Profit and Cash...
✔ Achieve more than they think is possible...
To find out more about how I can help you, send me a connection request on LinkedIn, or send me a message if we are already connected

Next Business Growth Workshops

Luxembourg - Friday 8th May... ( 3 places left...)
Click on the LINK to find out more and reserve your places...
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Tale of Two Jalfrezi's...

We travel a lot - this time we are in the UK, and will be staying in 7 Hotels, meeting clients, delivering workshops and attending conference events...

When we get to the UK we like to have food that you really can't get anywhere else including Chinese, Indian, Fish n Chips, and a Pub Roast...

In Stratford upon Avon we elected to go for a Curry - one of the restaurants was just off the main street , and as it was a pleasant Spring Wednesday evening, we walked from the hotel to check it out...
The menu outside looked familiar with the standard fare, however, as we were looking one of the staff came to the door and simply shouted...
Fully booked tonight...
No hello, no smile no engagement - just a dismissive bark...

This was at around 9.00 pm - looking through the window the place was empty, perhaps he didn't like the look of us or just wanted to go home early...

Now, if we turn up to a restaurant unannounced; we can expect to get turned away or have to wait a while - perfectly OK with that, one of the risks of arriving late in town on just about any day of the week...

In the place of Shakespeare's birth, this was a comedy turning into a tragedy...
It's not what you say its they way you say it...
We will never know how good the food or service was in that restaurant - and when in Stratford - we'll never go back...

The fact that I am blogging about it, and will tell the story of an example of how not to treat people - probably means that others won't risk being barked at either...

Welcome to Dawley, Shropshire...

We thought We'd try again as we had arrived in Telford on our journey - we picked up Richard our Son to join us and headed out on a Saturday Night for another attempt at a Curry..
This time we telephoned from the car on the  way - we had a few choices just in case, understandably, the places were booked...
Do you have a table for 3 people in about 5 minutes...?
Not at the moment, but we will make one for you; by the time you arrive, we'll be ready for you...
When we arrived we were expected and shown to our table, the team were friendly engaging and seemed really pleased that we had chosen to eat at their restaurant...

This was a family business, Mom, Dad and Son were there all working hard, engaging with people and making the evening fun and enjoyable...

We noted that many of the people were regulars, the whole atmosphere was warm and engaging and most of all - I got to have a fabulous Chicken Tikka Jalfrezi too...

And how was the food...?

One of the finest Indian Meals we have ever had - and I've had a few...

Remember...

In business, it's not just the quality of the food, product or service that people remember and comment upon - it's the context in which it is delivered that makes all the difference...

I don't know how many times I have banged on about this in Workshops and Presentations all over the world - it is the simplest rule of business that is the most overlooked...

These guys were great, they had a natural and genuine charm that only comes from people who enjoy what they do - and it shows...

The difference between these two restaurants could not have been more marked - from the dismissive, rude and apathetic in Stratford, to the helpful, engaging and warm of Dawley...

You want to go there and see for yourself now don't you...?

Well - here are their contact details - we will be going back, perhaps we'll see you there...

Bengal Spice

Address - 15 Burton Street, Dawley, Telford TF4 2ES

Well done Team - thanks for a lovely evening...

And the guys in Stratford...?

You'll have to look at my Trip Advisor feedback to find out about that mob...

 About David Holland 

MInstPkg Dip, HNC, DMS, MBA (Dist), Underwater Welding Dip Hons, CPU Dr14...

I work with Business Owners, Executives and their Teams to:
✔ Make more Money in their Business...
✔ Build Effective and Productive Teams...
✔ Work Less Hours and enjoy the Journey...
✔ Grow Sales, Profit and Cash...
✔ Achieve more than they think is possible...
To find out more about how I can help you, send me a connection request on LinkedIn, or send me a message if we are already connected
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Accountability Sucks...

You'll hear this term thrown about in seminars and workshops - usually linked with Responsibility and Ownership...

But what does it actually mean...?

If I am gong to be held accountable for my actions, results and behavior; I am going to be really careful what I do...

For example - and you can try this...

When you are driving next - just check on these few points...
  1. Do you ever exceed the speed limit - especially when entering a built up area or on transitioning between zones...?
  2. Do you let the wheel spin through your hands rather than slide it through from hand to hand...?
  3. Have you ever eaten a sandwich, had a drink from a can or bottle, or lit a cigarette whilst driving...?
  4. Have you ever followed a car closer than recommended in the Highway Code...?
  5. Ever exited a roundabout without indicating...?
And so on - if we are honest, we all make small transgressions when we drive; and if you are one of the perfect ones, just look around I'm sure "others" are doing them all the time...
If we had a Police Officer in the car with us - sometimes we would probably lose our licence in a single journey with accumulated points...

OK - so it's not a picture of a Police Officer but they used to have Panda Cars...!

Now, imagine having said Police Officer with you; how would your behaviour, mood and style change; how much better would your lane discipline, speed control and awareness be...?
You would likely drive just below the speed limit - "It's a limit not a target..." - be attentive, courteous and aware - you'd drive safer and more economically, and you'd keep your licence...

So where is the Problem...?

Simply put we are not perfect and cannot be held accountable to perfection - we are human and flawed accordingly...

The same principle applies to activities outside of a vehicle...
In order to be successful in business and life, of course we need to play by the rules; legal , moral and ethical..

AND...

We need to try new things, take some risks, have some fun and innovate in order to create something amazing...

We can't do that if we are "accountable" for every action we take - we'd never do anything new if that was the case...

Fear of making mistakes, getting it wrong or looking silly is are all ways that creativity, risk taking and success are achieved.
Accountability is all well and good - but so is getting it wrong, so is making a hash of something new and picking yourself up and having another go...

The business world and personal development world has gone crazy for Accountability; we have entered the "blame" culture, the "no win no fee" mindset where we want everyone to be accountable for everything - except ourselves of course...

How about if we encouraged some risk taking, allowed people to get it wrong and still not get fired, fined or shouted at...?

How much more would your team produce if they had some freedom to explore the possibilities - how about if they were accountable for outcomes and not just processes, for added value not check-sheets, and relationships not scripts...?
If we want to get the best  from our "Human Resources" - we should probably stop referring to them as "resources" and start calling them individuals and people...

We should also allow them to behave as humans do - imperfect and unpredictable, emotional rather than logical and flawed not perfect.
It's why pencils have rubbers, Word has spell-check, and cars have airbags - because we are not machines...
So build your team around a set of principles and values that of course include rules, processes and procedures - but also give them degrees of freedom to experiment, fall over and get things wrong...

Nothing great was ever created that was perfect from the start - except of course the very humans that 100% accountability attempts to harness...

About David Holland 
MInstPkg Dip, HNC, DMS, MBA (Dist), Underwater Welding Dip Hons, CPU Dr14...

I work with Business Owners, Executives and their Teams to:
✔ Make more Money in their Business...
✔ Build Effective and Productive Teams...
✔ Work Less Hours and enjoy the Journey...
✔ Grow Sales, Profit and Cash...
✔ Achieve more than they think is possible...
To find out more about how I can help you, send me a connection request on LinkedIn, or send me a message if we are already connected
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Saturday 11 April 2015

Snatching Success from the Jaws of Defeat...

Sometimes it feels like our world is collapsing, nothing is working and we begin to lose hope...
"sometimes the message to change has to be so powerful that we have no choice but to take notice...

 If something is working - don't fix it...

The danger here is that complacency and "comfort" sets in, and that's when we become vulnerable.
In the town of Enterprise, Alabama, USA there is a monument to an insect - the Boll Weevil...
Picture Credit - www.animal-kid.com
The Boll Weevil appeared in Alabama around 1915, and by 1918 local farmers were losing whole crops of cotton the the voracious creature..
Businesses were being wiped out. During this time, in 1916 to be precise, Mr H.M Sessions realised that something needed to be done.
So instead of giving in to what was destined to be the end of prosperity in the area, he decided to plant a peanut crop instead.
The project worked, in fact it worked so well that increased income and prosperity was brought to the town of Enterprise; more than was experienced through the growing of cotton..
In 1919, in recognition of the cause of this prosperity, Bon Fleming commissioned a monument; not to H.M Sessions - but to the small Beetle that had created the chaos in the first place and been the catalyst for change and improved prosperity...
Recognising and rewarding those that challenge us and "force" us to be the best versions of ourselves we can be is one of the best ways of accepting, accommodating and adjusting to life's twists and turns. 
When we are grateful not only for our success, but the challenging opportunities that come our way from time to time; only then are we truly abundant...

Who do you need to build a monument to...?

The Chinese word for Crisis is made up of two parts - Danger and Opportunity. When a crisis arrives - there is always an opportunity that can be derived out of the danger that may be more apparent...
Instead of dreading a crisis, or panicking in the face of adversity, look for the opportunity for change, growth and development that it also brings. Don't resent or hate those that impose change upon you, or bring challenges to your life and business.
Instead treat them as teachers and bringers of gifts; thank them and reward them, build a monument to them and recognise that sometimes, although the lesson is painful; it is equally beneficial too...

I have a few people that I could build monuments to; I didn't feel gratitude and warmth toward them at the time, but in reality some of the best lessons are bitter to the taste...

Here's one of mine...

As a young Operations Manager, I refused to sign a set of accounts because I believed them to be incorrect - so the Chairman fired me for insubordination.
I thought that my life and career was over - but what happened was that I changed direction, found a new job with another company in a different sector and that single change was pivotal in bringing me to my current place in life - one which I am truly happy and content with...

So my Statue will be of that Chairman - he is my Boll Weevil...

 

About David Holland MBA - Underwater Welding Dip...

I work with Business Owners, Executives and their Teams to:
✔ Make more Money in their Business...
✔ Build Effective and Productive Teams...
✔ Work Less Hours and enjoy the Journey...
✔ Grow Sales, Profit and Cash...
✔ Achieve more than they think is possible...
To find out more about how I can help you, send me a connection request on LinkedIn, or send me a message if we are already connected

Next Business Growth Workshops;

UK - Friday 17th April ... ( 3 places left...)

Luxembourg - Friday 8th May... ( 5 places left...)
Click on the LINK to find out more and reserve your places...
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With the Benefit of Hindsight...

How did we get here...?

The photo above was taken on Saturday 4th October 1986, outside the Church in Merevale Hall, Warwickshire...

As you can see - we had just got married. We chose fancy dress as the "theme" with me dressed as a Penguin and Lynn going as a Shuttlecock...

I remember travelling in the Rolls Royce a few minutes later on the way to the reception - it was the only time during the day that we would be alone - and we wondered where we'd be in 25 years time...
Two things have happened...
  1. We have had and continue to have an amazing journey...
  2. It's a lot better and brighter than we expected...
Looking back over the last 28 years - it is easy to understand the journey; the key opportunities, decisions and forks in the road are obvious looking back...
When we started the journey we didn't have the same clarity - it all seemed so uncertain, scary and distant...
And here is the challenge with planning and setting goals - when we start out we don't know what the real possibilities are or have any real ideas about the opportunities that will become available to us...
"We don't know what we don't know...

Lesson 1 - there a multitude of possible outcomes...

The future cannot be predicted with any certainty; the further out we look the less accurate our predictions will be.
As we experience our journey there will be opportunities, decisions and situations that are either imposed upon us or that we seek out and create; how we respond to them affects our trajectory, maybe only slightly at the time, but the compound effect of a minor shift in direction at the beginning can lead to a huge difference at the end..
"Otherwise known as "The Butterfly Effect"...

Lesson 2 - we make mistakes; or do we...?

With the benefit of hindsight we can see where we went wrong - and of course where we got it right too...

We can plot our course in hindsight, the key decisions, relationships and turning points; they all conspire to lead us to our current position. 

If we are happy with our current position and course then nothing was a mistake; there may have been a few lessons but whether good, seemingly bad or indifferent, every dot has joined to bring us to where we are now...

As we look back we can see the better alternatives - the GREEN DOTS - on the journey, that we "should" have taken, but these are not points of regret, just points of learning; sometimes it takes longer to get the lesson...
If we are not where we want to be, then remember that the journey is not over yet, and we all have the opportunity to make different, better or more informed choices as we go forward...

Lesson 3 - we can change at any time...

The real benefit of hindsight is the realisation that small changes result in big effects and that what we do today that may on the face of it seem insignificant, will have dramatic, amplified effects in our future...
There are an infinite number of paths we can take and an equally infinite number of outcomes, the responsibility for the outcome has to rest with us; as do the dots that we choose to join up on the journey...

A chance meeting, conversation or kind word to a stranger can be all it takes to change the path; this is why our behaviour, integrity and personality are so important, they define how we respond on a micro level that has a dramatic effect on the macro level over time...

Changing a behaviour, making a different decision, building or letting go of a relationship; all may not make sense in the here and now, but they will make sense in the future.
"You can have any outcome you want; just choose different dots to give you a different outcome..

Lesson 4 - we don't know what we are doing...

I see people with detailed plans, goals and visions; dream boards, vision boards and purpose statements; way too much detail in my opinion...
"We have to learn trust our instincts, intuition and gut...
Setting our future Intention is key - we need to know what the end destination looks like, however, what we can't predict is the path we will take to get there...
Years ago while on holiday in France we decided that we would move and live there - at the time we had two young children, big mortgage jobs and career all happening.
We had no idea "how" to get to France and build a life - the path we took included buying a business, living in Las Vegas, working in Luxembourg and writing 48 books - the result was we now live in the Moselle Valley in France just as we predicted...
We have to trust ourselves to make the right, if difficult choices. The dots we need to choose may not seem sensible or logical; they may actually take us further away from our destination in the short term; but in order to arrive we need to take the risk of trust...
We all have our own GPS system - call it instinct, intuition or the Law of Attraction, but we have to trust the guidance it gives us...
To use a GPS all we need to know are three things;
  1. Where are we now...
  2. Where do we want to go..
  3. When do we want to arrive...
Programme that into your car and you don't need to question the route, turns or detours it takes you on - you don't need a constant image of your destination on front of you, it's programmed in...
Once you choose your destination your subconscious mind will guide you and give you "instructions" - they will appear as opportunities, people and situations, they will appear as instinct, intuition and fear; but once you trust the instructions and are prepared to go on the journey - you'll arrive at your destination...
Your Intention should be long term, but your Attention should be short term, and in the here and now...

Long Term Intention + Short Term Attention = Results

"If you are brave enough to leave behind everything familiar and comforting and set out on a truth-seeking journey, and if you are truly willing to regard everything that happens to you on that journey as a clue, and if you accept everyone you meet along the way as a teacher, and if you are prepared – most of all – to face some very difficult realities about yourself... then truth will not be withheld from you...
Elizabeth Gilbert

About David Holland MBA - Underwater Welding Dip...

I work with Business Owners, Executives and their Teams to:
✔ Make more Money in their Business...
✔ Build Effective and Productive Teams...
✔ Work Less Hours and enjoy the Journey...
✔ Grow Sales, Profit and Cash...
✔ Achieve more than they think is possible...
To find out more about how I can help you, send me a connection request on LinkedIn, or send me a message if we are already connected

Next Business Growth Workshops;

UK - Friday 17th April ... ( 3 places left...)

Luxembourg - Friday 8th May... ( 5 places left...)
Click on the LINK to find out more and reserve your places...
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