Colin Myles's Blog, page 29
March 8, 2015
Look of Surprise
Last week I called into a local convenience store to pick up a couple of items. At the same time it was the students party week and there was a few inside gathering hangover cures.
I went to pay. The total was six euros and I handed the assistant a ten. She gave me back six, it took me a nano second to realise the mistake and said " looks like you have given me too much change, my bill was six and I gave you a ten ". She said " thanks " and continued to rectify the mistake.
Out of the corner of my eye I noticed two students standing to my side, they wore smiles with a look of surprise on their faces. I would like to think they were surprised that I wasn't going to walk away with two extra euros in my pocket because of someone's mistake.
What's this got to do with business I hear you ask ? Well sad to say some owners believe it is fine to nickel and dime their customers. They believe it is ok to take a bit extra off their customers for extra gain. This is a false fallacy. Customers know when they are been screwed over. A business may get a away with it for a short time before someone cotton's on. When they do, your reputation will sink faster than a rock thrown into a raging river.
Why would a business risk their reputation for charges and add-on's that give no value to their customers ?
Who knows that answer, it is one of life's mysteries. Your aim should be to serve and give value to your customers. Allowing them to become valued and loyal . A loyal customer is worth over $10,000, that is how much it would cost you to replace them.
As for myself, I try to remember that " everybody is somebodies somebody ". I would prefer the shop assistant to tell her family and friends about the customer who helped her avoid having an unbalanced till at the end of her shift.
Let your actions rise above the mediocre and lead to surprises.
Colin Myles
Author & Listener
Author ; 5 Keys to Doing Business with The Right People
67 Uplifting Quotes
How to Avoid Business Failure
P.S.
The words you speak become the house you live in " Hafiz
February 12, 2015
What's Abraham Lincoln Gotta Do With Hustle
No I am not talking about the disco dance craze from the '70's or playing the long con to gain money in an unethical manner.
The question is " What are you doing on a daily basis to get you closer to the point you want to get ? "
Do you sit and wait for the world to come to you or do you get up and engage. The more you move towards something, the closer it moves to you. The law of action and re-action.
What are you doing on daily basis to increase your sales ?
What are you doing on a daily basis to improve your learning and understanding ?
What are you doing on a daily basis to increase your customers experience ?
What are you doing on a daily basis to increase your productivity ? [ working smarter I hope ]
What are you doing on a daily basis to improve your value to the marketplace ?
How you answer these questions will reveal whether you got hustle or not. It is about having the drive to get up, move, become better and get closer to the point you want to get to. Whatever you desire for you or your business, will only come closer to achievement when you hustle.
You don't have to jive walk or jive talk your way into people's wallets, but you do have to engage on a daily basis.
Colin Myles
Author & Listener
Author ; How to Avoid Business Failure
Author ; 67 Uplifting Quotes
Author ; 5 Keys to Doing Business with The Right People
P.S.
Things may come to those who wait, but only the things left by those who hustle.
Abraham Linclon
Got Hustle ?
No I am not talking about the disco dance craze from the '70's or playing the long con to gain money in an unethical manner.
The question is " What are you doing on a daily basis to get you closer to the point you want to get ? "
Do you sit and wait for the world to come to you or do you get up and engage. The more you move towards something, the closer it moves to you. The law of action and re-action.
What are you doing on daily basis to increase your sales ?
What are you doing on a daily basis to improve your learning and understanding ?
What are you doing on a daily basis to increase your customers experience ?
What are you doing on a daily basis to increase your productivity ? [ working smarter I hope ]
What are you doing on a daily basis to improve your value to the marketplace ?
How you answer these questions will reveal whether you got hustle or not. It is about having the drive to get up, move, become better and get closer to the point you want to get to. Whatever you desire for you or your business, will only come closer to achievement when you hustle.
You don't have to jive walk or jive talk your way into people's wallets, but you do have to engage on a daily basis.
Colin Myles
Author & Listener
Author ; How to Avoid Business Failure
Author ; 67 Uplifting Quotes
Author ; 5 Keys to Doing Business with The Right People
P.S.
Things may come to those who wait, but only the things left by those who hustle.
Abraham Linclon
January 18, 2015
Soul Power
" When the soul is goneThe heart declinesLeft is emptinessA shell where once there wasA vibrant business "
This occurs when soft skills get left behind in favour of numbers. A business without soul stagnates and dies. People need to know they matter. Would you prefer people whose soul is alive working in your business or employees just going through the motions ?
There is an old description of JOB " it's where they pay you just enough so you don't quit and you do just enough so you don't get fired ".
What a horrible way to exist. Because that is all your business is doing ... existing. It is not a big step from existence to extinction.
Yes, it is important to know how your business is doing. But if you keep equating your employees to a statistic, they will realise this quicker than you can come up with a new statistic. When this occurs, the bare minimum is all your business will achieve. When the time comes for you to rally the troops to keep up with the competition in sales, ideas and new inventions, all you will get is a shrug of the shoulders and lip service.
They will nod and agree, make all the right noises in the right places and nothing will change. In their eyes you have just become a sad magician whose illusions only impresses himself, because the audience tuned out a long time ago.
" What happened ? " you ask. Somewhere, sometime, the soul vanished. It was not intentional. There was pressure from the economy, your vendors and your customers. You had to scramble to stay afloat. The easy way was to fall back on the hard skills. Numbers, productivity and constant score keeping.
Little by little you forgot the human beings, yes your employees. Those intricate humans who make the products and services you sell. These same beings who want to feel that their contribution matters. If you feel your business is just existing with no bright future on the horizon, the question becomes " how do I get the soul back ? "
There is no easy answers or solutions. But a good place to start, is to look at your management team. Ask yourself and answer these questions ...
Have they become a team of form fillers ?Do they spend more time in meetings during the working day instead of working on the business ?Do they know they names of all the employees in their area ?Do they listen to the feedback from the troops on the floor or dismiss them as a bunch of idiots ?Have they become afraid to take risks ?Have the rising stars left, to leave you with the deadwood ?Are you getting tons of unsolicited quality C.V.'s ?Are you dependent of agencies to fill your vacancies ?How often have you heard you team say " thank you " to another member of staff ?What is the word on the street about your business as a place to work ? [ it's out there ]
The answers may hurt, your ego bruised, but these questions will lead you in the right direction. After that, it is up to you and you alone to decide the direction your business will take. Do you want to be a business that just exists to become extinct ? Or do you want one with a soul, full of life, where everything seems possible ?
YOUR CHOICE
Colin Myles Author & Listener
Author ; 5 Keys to doing Business with the Right PeopleAuthor ; How to Avoid Business Failure [ 7 Steps ]Author ; 67 Uplifting Quotes
P.S." Your smile is your Logo,Your personality is your Business CardHow you leave others feeling after an experience with you, becomes your Trademark. "Jay Danzie
December 8, 2014
What's in a name ?
Hi,
about a month ago I was parked up taking a break, enjoying a cup of coffee. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed a name on a van that caught my attention. The name was " Voice Engineer ".
" Strange name for a business " I thought. Clicking the website I found out it was a telecommunications company. Telephone systems,V.O.I.P and the like. Now I don't know about you, but if I was looking for a new telephone system, telecoms provider and solutions would be where I would start. Voice engineer is not something I would search for.
It got me thinking about company names and their relevance to the industry they are in. More so in the small business sector, where your market is more local than global. Having a name that is relevant to the industry that you are in, is a must. Attempting to be clever and call your business " Nero's Sunshine " when you are a chimney cleaning business, just causes confusion. The last thing you want to do is cause a disconnect in your customers brain, between what you do and your company name. Because your customer does not like confusion, they are looking for a solution, not a clever play on words.
Am sure you could look around your local area and spot names of service providers that appear out of sync with the product and service they provide. When you think that multi-nationals spend millions with naming agencies to pick a name, yet operators in the local small business arena at times let their imagination run riot. Resulting in names with no relevance, that their potential customers will never make a connection to in a million years.
Naming a business is not an easy thing, but when setting out on your entrepreneurship journey, try to pick something that is relevant to your industry, but much more important, is relevant to your customer.
Have a great week,
Colin Myles
Straight talk. Better business
Author & Listener
Author ; 5 Keys to Doing Business with The Right People
Author ; How to Avoid Business Failure
Author ; 67 Uplifting Quotes
P.S.
Simple is harder to achieve than complex - Steve Jobs
P.P.S
If you have come across any names that appear out of sync with the service they provide, would love to hear from you in the comment section.
November 13, 2014
T + C = Respect
Hi,today I would like to muse on something that can be quite elusive for business owners and managers. Something people like you in leadership strive to attain.
It can be simple, yet the hard part is being consistent. Lets dive right in.
T = trust and C = confidence.
Everyday you have to build trust and confidence with your team and your boss. In effect your words must match your actions. When they do you build trust and confidence. When you don't you lose trust and confidence.
If you know someone who promises the sun, moon and stars, but never delivers, there is a good chance you don't respect them. If you believe that promising things to your team just to keep them off your back ..... watch out. Every time you don't deliver, the funds in your Respect account go flying out the door.
If someone asks you a question that you can't answer right there and then, be honest. Explain you need time to get back to them. Agree the time frame and then get back to them as agreed. When you do this, you build trust and confidence. Whether your answer is yes or no, it will be accepted better as you have done what you said you would do.
There is nothing worse than not being respected, because also people don't have trust and confidence in you. Think back to your first ever job, most likely there was two people in that workplace. One, everyone told you to avoid, and another that people said was fair and you could trust.
Most often it is the people who are trusted, others have confidence in and have the respect of the majority, who go on to achieve great things. Imagine starting off your day with one million gold pieces of trust and another million of confidence. You have a respect balance of two million.
Every minute your words and actions are being evaluated. When they don't match, your Respect balance drops by 100,000. You have twenty opportunities every working day to keep your balance at two million or see it drop to Zero. The choice is yours.
Respect is elusive, but simple to earn. Match your actions to your words and watch your Respect increase. When you have respect, your horizon broadens and people will come to you of their own free will, with ideas and proposals. For you it is much better to be the one people seek out, than spending the day chasing your own tail with nothing to show for it.
Trust + Confidence = RESPECT
Colin Myles
Author & Listener
P.S
When you believe you are a leader and no-one is following, then you are only taking a walk " African Proverb
P.P.S.
Author How to Avoid Business Failure ( 7 Steps )
October 27, 2014
Sisu
Sisu is a Finnish word meaning passionate,perseverance,fortitude,guts and never giving up.
As we are now heading into the dark winter months,days are getting shorter. Less light more darkness. This can be a time when people who should be thinking how to overcome their struggles,start to withdraw into themselves and comfort zones.
This is not the time to let your competitors steal a march on you. Not only should you be upping your dosage of passion and fortitude, it is the time to show yourself and your team that now is not the time to be giving up.
It gets dark earlier, colder quicker and lasts longer. Instead of withdrawing and saying " we will be ready to go all guns blazing in spring " no ! This is the time to take stock and ask yourself " when can we do today to make ourselves better tomorrow ? What can we do today to make sure our customers come back tomorrow, next week, next month and next year ? "
This is your time to show the SISU inside of you. Show your competitors what you are made of. Just because winter is coming in, this is not your hibernation time. It is time to dig down deep into those reserves of passion, fortitude and guts. Time to try out the new marketing idea you have been afraid to try. Time to go call on the big client you are afraid may reject your proposal.
It is time to move forward, keep moving, striving and never giving up. Let your competitor stay inside their warm, cosy comfort zone. Let them sleep in, let them say " its winter nobody is doing business "
Not you, oh no. You have got guts, get up and go attitude. You are not going to let a simple thing like winter throw you off course. Are you ? I hope not because others with the SISU spirit are out there looking to do business with like minded people. They are looking for you. They truly are and all you have to do, is be out there too.
Be out there with the attitude that shines a light saying " I am open for business, I am open for collaboration, I am open for ideas ... How can I serve you ?
Now is not the time to let the dark and dreary winter throw you inside your comfort zone. Time to stand up and say " hey I am not giving up, I have the guts and determination to do the job that needs to be done "
Jimi Hendrix once asked people to kiss the sky. Imagine yourself waking up everyday and kissing each day on the forehead saying " its time, this is my time ". How different would you business look come springtime ?
Colin Myles Author and Listener
p.s. " Direct your future or someone else will do it for you anyway " Daniel Surrus p.p.s. Author How to avoid business failure [seven steps ]
p.p.p.s. Request your Authorgraph
September 30, 2014
Your Advertising Works .... When ?
Over the past few months, I caught the coca-cola advert for bottles of coke with people's name on it. Truth is I didn't feel anything, thought the ad was a little bit lame. Oh how wrong was I !
About two weeks ago I was in a local convenience store. Waiting in line to order a sandwich to go. I noticed three young ladies in their twenties enter and converge on the shelf with the soft drinks and bottled water.
They all lifted and looked at the bottles of coke and diet coke. One by one they headed off to the till, except one lady. A scowl was beginning to appear on her face. She picked up every bottle of coke and diet coke and turned them round and round, looking at the name on them.
Not happy, she noticed a bigger chiller section with soft drinks and bottled water. Off she went to explore. Well every bottle in this section was lifted up, looked at, turned around and looked at again. Dedicated to the cause she was.
At this stage you see the frustration mounting. In one last daring move, she came back to the smaller display. Now the bottles were gripped vice like and turned around and around at a faster pace.
At long last her frustration got the better of her and she muttered these immortal words under her breath,while at the same time doing the kids supermarket stomp " for f***s sake " . Anger mounting and face redder than before she picked a bottle and headed off to the checkout till.
A sly smile crossed my lips and I said to myself " those boys from Atlanta sure know how to advertise ". As someone who doesn't drink carbonated drinks,but loves learning the secrets behind advertising that works, I have visited the Coca-Cola museum in Atlanta twice.
While everyone quickly whizzed around, I must have stayed in the area which showed all their adverts from the day the started, for an hour or more. Because when a company who can advertise their product as being the ideal drink for genteel southern ladies, to help alleviate migraines, to teach the world to sing, maybe we should pay a little bit more attention to their advertising.
I got caught out, until the lady doing the kiddie supermarket stomp, showed me what a good advert does. The question for you and your business is this ...
When was the last time you heard about your customers throwing a tantrum because they could not get your product or service ?
Because when you hear those stories ..... you know you are on the right track.
To your success,
Colin Myles
Author & Listener
P.S.
" Early to bed,early to rise,work like hell and advertise " Ted Turner
P.S.
My latest book
How to avoid business failure
Now available in Paperback
September 6, 2014
Outstanding Customer Experience X 2
Hi,
this is not the post I originally intended to write, but because of what happened to me today, I just had to write this down while it is fresh in my mind.
Early this morning I drove to the re-cycling plant to drop off some old items. As this is near a commercial area I decided to stop for coffee and have a look around.
As I walked into a sports retailer I was greeted by a " hello, good morning " from the lady at the till. Kinda shocked as most of the time you walk into a shop and de nada, nothing, zilch. I greeted the lady back and continued to browse around. Finding a couple of items from a brand I like, it was time to hand over some money.
The lady at the till continued in the same breezy friendly style to chat to me about the clothes I was buying,weather and life, all in a style that was not forced. She gave the impression that she was interested in my welfare as a customer. How unusual is that ? It is a skill not many aspire for and few achieve.
Guess which shop I will be returning to ?
After that I headed across the road to a car parts shop. I had being thinking of buying a steering wheel cover for some time. Went in had a look around and found one I liked. Noticed on the packaging that it said " fits most types " Now this always throws up more questions than answers. Mentioned to the man at the till the notice and what type of car I drove.
He took it out of packaging and said " only one way to find out " handing me the cover and telling me to go see if it fit. Now fiddly items and me don't always get on too well. As many who know me would attest. Do you think it would fit or I could get it to fit. Not a chance.
So headed back into shop, shaking my head. He said " They can be tricky, why don't I give it a shot " The clerk and I headed out to my car and he proceed to place the cover on. It was tricky. We chatted on way back to shop, where he mentioned he use to be a tyre fitter and he prefers to put on steering wheel covers,than fit tyres. Oh and he also knocked something off the price as well.
When was the last time an assistant in a shop, took something out of the packaging and told you to see if it was the right item ? Not only that but going the extra mile to make sure you had made the right purchase !
I guess we have become so used to people in retail and services just doing the bare minimum they can get away with before you hand over your hard earned money, that anything over and beyond that becomes an outstanding experience. Yet the two assistants who I had the pleasure of dealing with today did not have to do anything extraordinary. They just showed they cared and were grateful to have my business no matter the size of the monetary exchange that took place.
Now I have two more establishments to recommend to people. A great day indeed.
Colin Myles
Straight Talk. Better Business
Author of these books
P.S.
Cui Bono ..... Who benefits [ Latin Saying ]
August 13, 2014
Kishka
Kishka . . . .Do you have it ?
When was the last time you used it ?
Kishka, is a yiddish expression for " gut instinct ". Those times when you feel something is just not right.
The deal that is too good to be true. The resume that turns out should have won an Oscar for the amount of fiction it contained.
Often you will have been in a situation and your instinct is telling you something, yet those around you don't see or feel it. You start wondering if you are going nuts and maybe you are out of touch. But because the group think was stronger than your gut instinct, the group won.
And a couple of months down the line your Kishka proved to be correct. It can be strange, when at times you appear to be the one who has the nagging voice and is urging caution. Because you don't want to come across as negative, yet experience is tugging you to say, " this just does not add up "
Kishka is not scientific, yet in a paradox way it is. Mistakes and learning from them, when added up is called experience. It is our past experiences that hold the key to unlocking your gut instinct. It is your interaction with others over the years in both the business and social environment, that allows the feelings to mature and blossom. When you combine your mistakes with your interaction with others over the years, unknown to you, you are building up a super tanker full of Kishka.
Sometimes the feeling can be fleeting, a whisper, a faint message, something just outside of your grasp. Others it comes right up and smacks you in the face. Whatever way it occurs, pay attention, it may just be your saviour. Gut instinct is within us since man was roaming the earth. Stoneage man did not have an app to tell him something was a friend or foe. It was his gut telling him to run or stand. It has remained in our DNA since time began.
However today, the chances of us coming across sabre tooth beasts on our way to work, are slim to zero. Flee or stand is not our default mode any more. Yet the instinct remains. It is activated generally when a persons words and actions don't match. The written word and its message, crunch rather than flow.
This is your first inkling that a thing, person, deal,proposal just does not fit.
Over the years I have learned to acknowledge the feeling [kishka ]. It is mixed with a small dash of benefit of the doubt, but I have learned to remember that the instinct came before anything else. So the next time your gut is sending out warning signals. Take a step back, wait 24 hours before you commit.
You may just be surprised, what happens in those 24 hours.
Colin Myles
Straight talk. Better business.
Author of these books
p.s.
Simplicity is about subtracting the obvious and adding the meaningful.
