Deadlines, Do They Really Work?

Work Your Deadlines Properly!

One of my most memorable business mentors, Jack, was a stickler for being on time.  He would make an appointment and set the time with a strange setting.  He would use an uncommon number.  He might say, "Let's get together tomorrow at 4:67 P.M. in the lobby at the Marriott."  He would not select the time to be an even number like 4 or 5.  He would not say, "Let's get together at 4 o'clock tomorrow."  He would select something like 4:67.  When a meeting appointment is set at a strange time like that, it gets your attention.  Why meet at exactly 4:67?  It sounds weird.  It captures your attention when it is set at 3:46.

Jack's time selection could be considered a clue for how specific he might be.  You see, if the time is selected so specifically it now seems to be a slightly more exact thing.  That was a clue.  Any sharp thinker could recognize and interpret that this kind of specific time setting could be a clue that you better be on time.  What's more, anyone that did not show up on time, at exactly the moment he arranged for them to meet, he walked away.  Jack waited for nobody.  If you were going to be fashionably late, you better make a phone call to explain or your scheduled meeting with Jack did not happen.  It was very simple.  There were no exceptions and no confusion about how he arranged to meet.  If it was set at 7:19 P.M., that was when he expected you to be sitting in front of him ready to go.  If you were walking across the lobby at 7:19 P.M., you were late and he would excuse himself from that particular meeting.  Jack loved respect and absolutes.  Anything less, was considered, less.  Jack strongly believed in maximums, not minimums and average work. Jack did not intend to work with minimums.

In fact, when he set a meeting time he would commonly ask the other associate to check his watch.  He would synchronize it with those who scheduled a meeting with him.  He wanted to avoid a silly excuse for being late.  This was another clue.  If someone was not sharp enough to recognize these clues, they did not deserve to sit down with him and get some valuable business lessons.  Jack loved discipline.  Jack loved deadlines.  Jack was successful in the business landscape.  He earned an annual income that landed him in the top 1% income bracket for 25 years straight.  His time was extremely valuable and he was not accustomed to wasting it.  Jack operated on strict time lines.  Deadlines became a large part of his working environment.  Deadlines determined if your effort to meet with Jack lived or died.  Jack placed deadlines on his business trail.  Jack made no secrets about his deadlines.  They were lines clearly drawn in the sand.  Jack's business success came from meeting the most deadlines with the proper results.  In his business world, deadlines worked.

If you are the type of business leader who sets goals in place but never attaches a time line to complete them, you might be a business leader who does not accomplish very much.  Deadlines help our goals get to their end.  What's more, all of us needs some alligators to help push us harder.  Deadlines help provide some of the alligators we need.  I still cuss in my language a little bit.  I use some cuss words once in awhile.  My wife dislikes them.  She has asked me to clean it up a little bit.  Unfortunately, that is exactly what I have done...I have cleaned it up a little bit.  There is a difference between cleaning it up a little bit and stopping it altogether.  The reason why I still cuss once in awhile is because I have not made the decision to stop it altogether.  When I make the decision to stop it altogether, I will stop it.  It is a decision.  It is not a wish, a whim or some hopeful maybe.  It becomes a decision.  I stopped my lazy eating habits when my doctor told me I had stage two diabetes.  That day in his office I made the decision to get rid of that challenge.  I asked him how that could be done and he described the type of diet and exercise I needed to adhere to.  That was it.  I made the decision, right there, to do what it took.  I changed what I eat and how I exercise.  It was not easy.  I made the decision.

Since that decision I have lost 59 pounds, held my weight and I successfully work on keeping myself physically fit.  I also understand how alligators work.  I do not try to kid myself into believing I can make these kinds of serious changes all by my little lonesome.  I am a human.  I need some alligators to help motivate me.  Serious changes in a diet need the help from some alligators to ensure that those changes happen and stay happening.  I made a daily recording chart that I turn in to my doctor once a month.  It records my daily numbers.  That daily chart shows my calories, my foods, my blood pressure, my sugar count, the amount of water I drink and the exercise I do.  I record it for his office to review.  I make sure someone holds me accountable.  I use deadlines on my efforts.  I use final measurements with specific targets to record and keep me in line.  I do not try to make it happen and hope for the best.  I make certain I know where my numbers are, what affects them and I make sure my doctor sees how well I manage them.  Guess what?  My blood sugars, weight and blood pressure have all arrived to stellar levels.  The doctor is surprised.  I have turned my diabetes around and my numbers are excellent.

Make the decision to use deadlines.  Make the decision to become effective.  I remember how much he and his office staff laughed when I turned the first report in.  I remember each of them asking me what it is.  I remember how each of them asked me to describe what I was charting.  I know they think it is over the top.  I also know they do not understand how to place real alligators and deadlines onto their own path of serious decisions to make serious changes.  They are just as human as I am.  However they think, now they can read the results I post in the spreadsheets I deliver.  They anticipate the monthly report, read it, file it in my charts and I know they share with other patients how I have succeeded using this method for managing my diabetes control.  I made the decision to fix it.  I added deadlines to make it happen.  Those deadlines included placing an alligator next to the gate that measures how I am doing.  I have them now watching me perform my control.  All of them will know when I slide off the work to succeed.  They have become my quiet alligators and they did not catch it.  They help me force myself to do it correctly.  I painted myself into that corner.  I do my deadlines every single day now.  Most leaders never understand the value of this simple step.  Decide, change, create specific deadlines and find your alligators.  That is where success lives.  Most miss it.  I don't care about who gets it or who does not get it.  I care about having good diabetes numbers.

Furthermore, I have not made that same decision with cussing!  There is a difference, here.  That is why I still remain to cuss once in awhile.  I have not made the decision to stop it altogether.  I have not included any serious deadlines.  Deadlines work.  Alligators on those deadline paths help to keep the efforts in line.

Even so, the question still remains...do deadlines really work?  Let's examine how they can hurt us, too.

Going The Extra Mile

There is nothing more rewarding than finding a person who sincerely enjoys going the extra mile.  It is such a rare characteristic to discover in today's human being that it is refreshing when it is witnessed.  If I am out and about doing some business somewhere I tend to notice when someone has the 'extra mile' behavior.  I might see someone walking along and nonchalantly bend over to pick up some stray trash as they are walking along in a parking lot.  Then later I see that same person make some quicker steps to get to a door sooner so they can hold it open for someone else as both of them enter a building.  I might change my mission and work to position myself to watch that person a little bit more.  I will make an effort to change my path, while staying back out of sight, but still pay attention to the little things they do that prove they have the 'extra mile' behavior embedded into their characteristics.  If they have the habit down, I will work to meet them.  I am very interested in people that have these tendencies.  I have a selfish motive.  They make excellent employees.

Extra mile people are a rarity today.  The world has become so self-centered that many folks have skipped doing anything for someone else without the feeling that they need to be rewarded.  Very few people actually do the 'extra mile' stuff because ti is the right thing to do.  Most people that go the 'extra mile' do so because they believe they will receive an additional reward for practicing the act.  Very few people actually develop the extra mile behavior because it is the right thing to do.  That is usually the last reason why someone goes the extra mile.  It is extremely rare to find people that go the extra mile because that is how they are wired.  Those are the rare people I try to find.  I prefer to insert a group of these kinds of people working in my environments.  They generally give the customers more than what the customers tend to expect.  That is a very good thing to have aboard your business ship.  Extra mile people have no problem serving well.

I wonder how many business leaders stop to actually evaluate how much their employees go the extra mile?  I do not mean that we should check out how much they 'brown nose' the boss by doing little noticeable extra effort things to impress the boss.  I am talking about the behind the scenes stuff that they do that will never become noticed.  When they walk into the warehouse do they stop to move a sharp item out of the way of danger?  Do they head to the restroom and notice the door sign is not hanging on the door securely and do they stop to fix it?  Do they empty the trash near the lobby because it is full when they go by it?  What kind of extra mile stuff do they do that gets unnoticed?  Do they think ahead and anticipate future outcomes to prevent wrong potentials?  Is their mind working to solve future problems?  Extra mile people do these kinds of things.  It becomes part of their natural ways.  They add value to the little things they see and do.  They do those added valued things and expect nothing in return.  They do those extra things without any additional regard for added compensation.  It is how they are wired.  Like I said, they are rare.

I am not one of those 'extra mile' people.  However, I know one when I see one.  They do not offend me by doing what they do.  I do not feel challenged when I meet someone who goes the extra mile naturally.  Some leaders become offended by the process.  I have seen business leaders who become actually intimidated by others who naturally go the extra mile.  I have seen union leaders try to slow the extra mile person down because they make all of the other employees look bad.  Extra mile people can quietly en site a small rebellion from the other workers and employees.  I have seen it happen.  They stand out in a working crowd like a helium balloon.  That is another reason why I like to hire them.  They indirectly motivate the other employees to take a closer look at their own performances.  If handled respectfully, this kind of productivity check and balance technique works very well.  I like the results that usually appear.

If a leader decides to use an 'extra mile' person to help motivate the other employees, be respectful applying that process.  Keep in mind, a great deal of personal respect needs to accompany the application of this kind of productivity technique.  The extra mile person does not need to become the sacrificial lamb, nor do the other employees need to be treated as fools.  Be effective with this kind of technique but remain respectful and use careful intentions.  I usually add a lot of transparency to the mix which helps everyone realize how much I prefer productivity.  Nobody needs to question my motives.  I prefer improved productivity.  Everyone knows that.  I do not keep that desire a secret.  When I insert an 'extra miler' into a non-product circle of workers, I make sure the dynamics do not catch on fire.  Fuel will burn quickly if an ignition strikes at the wrong time.  Pay close attention to these kinds of dynamic moves.

There are some additional aspects about the extra mile worker.  One of which is somewhat consistent.  That aspect is related to how promotions are usually generated.  Promotions are rare in the world of business today.  Most of the lack for employment promotions or monetary raises are part of the results caused by today's stressed economics that are spilling all over this world.  However, where promotions and economic raises have occurred most of them can be traced to the direct relationship between the person getting the raise and the acts of going the extra mile.  It has been my observation that this kind of pattern is usually where the most promotions and monetary raises occur.  We call that kind of association a tremendous clue.  We consider it a tip.  I sometimes wonder how many employees want such a promotion and are not willing to 'give' of themselves to earn it?  We have grown up into a world of self-conceitedness that we have lost the sight of how this principle really works.  The idea that we are entitled to automatically receive a reward has taken over.  This also explains why it has become so rare to find extra mile employees.  They do not feel that their efforts will earn what their rewards should deliver.  This gap has grown larger with time.  Therefore, being so rare, I will quietly track down someone who reveals these traits in the way they move in their innocent ways.  I like to find extra mile people.

How do you truly know if you are an extra miler?

Denial, Who Does Your Business Thinking?

Who Quietly Governs Your Decisions?

Who does your business thinking?

Did you know there is a wide scale that measures how others do our business thinking for us?  There is.  What's more, it is an invisible scale.  We do not see that scale.  We cannot see our own reflection on where we stand on that scale.  The amount of decisions we make in our daily trek that are made by others is an amazing amount.  Our liberties and freedoms are very limited.  Business owners need to consider so many variables before they make a decision that most decisions are not the ones they would typical decide to do.  Too many other people weigh in heavily on how that final decision comes to being.  That's just the way it is.

Therefore, let's ask that question again, who does our business thinking?

I might make a simple list.  The government would be included on that list of being one of those who makes some of our decisions for us.  They make laws we must follow, regardless of what we believe.  For example, in floor covering it is illegal in some states to finish a medical commercial building floor using anything less than a six inch base-shoe trim.  The government code does not allow less than a six inches for the finished height.  Why?  Because that's the rules.  That happens to be the code for some particular states, that's why.  If an installer wants an inspection approval on that kind of contracted job he will make that decision easily.  Someone made it for him.  The government is on that list.  Family gets on that list, as well.  My wife used to get so irritated with me when I never called to let her know I was running late coming home from my business work.  The only way I could calm that irritation down was to begin the decision to call when I had something come up that would delay me.  I now have that habit of calling her to and fro when I go to my place of work.  She needs and wants that kind of relay completed.  That decision was made for me.  It helped me to remove an irritation.  Family members guide many of our decisions.  They are on that list.

Employees get on that list as well.  They demand certain levels of attention and respect so the boss often modifies how decisions are made because of the pressures that come from those influential employees.  Certain aspects of scheduling, parking, types of duties and subtle benefits are formulated by how some employees manipulate the working environment.  Many times this does in fact affect how a business owner makes the decisions they do.  Employees get on that list, easily.  What about customers?  They get on that list, too.  In fact, they should be on that list.  Customers should be the main reason why business owners decided to do what they do.  Customers should be the key reason why many decisions come down the way they do.  Business owners make many decisions based upon how the customers will feel about what has been decided.  In most cases, this is a very good influence.

With all of this in mind, let's ask that question again, who does our business thinking?  It is fairly obvious that our business thinking is heavily guided.  Anyone who denies this truth is not being honest.  Business owners have a ton of governance they must use to help them make the decisions they make.  To sweep this truth under the rug is not a very becoming thing.

I love it when I counsel a male business owner who tries to 'hot shot' me with their egotistical embellishments.  I have worked with some supervisors in the past who practiced this kind of leadership management.  They did not notice how often their egos got in the way of the decisions they made.  It would occasionally become kind of comical.  Fortunately for them, I have some fairly large shoulders.  I just considered the source of the abuse and know the truth about how they were trying hard to protect some of their weaker leadership characteristics.  I do not have the right to damage their tender ways.  However, I will work carefully to try and strategically expose themselves to their own view.  I will try to help them discover their rough edges, carefully.

One time I remember one of those supervisors tell me that he does not permit his wife to control any of his business decisions.  He was adamant about how he ignores her influence.  I sat quietly for a brief moment.  I asked him if he enjoyed going to the regional business trade-shows in the past.  He described how he loved to attend them.  We began talking about how much fun they are and how he always learned so much from attending them.  Then I reminded him that one of those trade-shows was happening right now in a city 2,000 miles away and I have already made arrangements for his staff cover his business while he was at that trade-show.  I also informed him that I have already paid for the attendance tickets, the flights and motel rooms for the trip.  I said, "Let's go.  Our flight leaves in three hours."  He stared at me.  I then asked, "You want to go, right?"  He said sheepishly, "Well....(paused)...yes."  I asked, "What's the matter?  You seem to be delaying the decision to go?"  He quietly said, "I need to call my wife."  My response, "Let's not tell her we are going and break that news into her when we get back four days from now, O.K.?'  He said, "O.K., O.K., you win."

Denial, who does our business thinking?

Obviously, there is a wide scale that measures how others do our business thinking for us?  It is also an invisible scale.  We do not see that scale.  We cannot see our own reflection on that scale when we make the business decisions we make.  We pack too much denial along with us.  The amount of decisions we make in our daily trek that are made and influenced by others is an amazing amount.  Our liberties and freedoms are very limited.  Business owners need to truthfully recognize all of the variables they use to make the decisions they decide to do.  The truth is, many other people weigh in heavily on how our final decisions come to being.  That's just the way it is.

So, how do we manage this truth?  How do we separate what needs to be honored versus what we want to have honored?  How do we produce this kind of balance in our decision-making ways?

Face Blindness, Retail Blindness

"Retail Blindness" Can Come From Some Very Intelligent People

The innocence of losing money in business is a difficult subject to cover.  Even though it is an easy subject to identify, it is almost impossible to describe.  Almost nobody goes into private business and tries to intentionally lose working it.  Unfortunately, a lot of business owners lose money all the time.  Failed businesses are easy to identify.  They change their names, they change their ownership, they close their doors, they vacate their locations, they quit doing what they were once doing and they cease operations.  Most of the time the business models who fail in business are easy to identify.  Furthermore, most of those who fail in business do it rather innocently.  They do not wake up one morning and get after the losing game with all of their might and efforts.  They fail in business doing it so innocently.  It is much like having face blindness.  Those who fail in business usually cannot see how they fail in business.  They are blind to the methods they use to make it happen so wrong.  They have "retail blindness."

Face blindness, as shown on CBS networks 60-Minutes recently, is a unique concept.  Although we know how it operates and what it does, we do not know exactly why.  That same description can be added to "retail blindness."  We can see where it happens but we cannot describe in detail why.  What makes this process more difficult to describe, is that many business models can operate forever even though they lose money each year.  A lot of the business models who lose money do it quietly.  They lose just enough money each year to remain open for a very long time.  They learn the art of rolling debt.  Heck, millions of people do that kind of living at home with their personal debts.  Millions of people always spend more than they make.  Millions upon millions of people borrow to survive year after year.  That is how the credit card industry grew so large.  This kind of debt rolling process is exactly how business models lose money so innocently, so quietly unnoticed.  They learn the art of rolling debt.  The United States Government does exactly that without batting an eye.  It is not even innocent in their case...it is intentional.  A business can operate forever in debt.  Most do.

I told a story one time about how I used to go to a friends office nearly every morning and spend a little time talking about business and life.  He was a CPA who did not do my private or business accounting.  We were just two business friends who talked a few times each week about business stuff.  We would share a hot cup of coffee once in awhile and chew the fat about business life.  He was the guy that one day I asked the serious question about how many business owners truly win at the business game.  He was the one that I pointed to all of his color-tabbed, client file folders in the main office of his business.  One day I pointed to all of those hundreds of client files and asked him two serious questions.  First, how many of those clients in all of those files are 'debt free?'  When he answered, "none of them."  I asked the second question..."Then where the heck are the debt free ones going for business advice?"  It was a good thing we were close friends.

Seeing business owners lose in their business life is easy to see.  A lot of business models in the world lose money.  They do it innocently.  They do not intend to lose money year after year.  They lose money because they have "retail blindness".  They lose money consistently because they do not see how not to lose money consistently.  Once more, they have "retail blindness".  They do not have the ability to recognize what takes them down.

Let's start with some serious but pointed questions.

• 1.) Who's your boss?
• 2.) Who's your supervisor?
• 3.) Who's your customer?

How do you view these three relationships?

Furthermore:

• 1.) How do you produce your income check?
• 2.) Who signs your payroll check before they hand it to you?
• 3.) Is the answer to these last two questions the same answer?    If not, why not?

How do you view the answers to these last three questions?

Business leaders....this is exactly the kind of seriousness that matters to your trek for success in your business model.  Be what it may, your success comes directly related to how these questions are answered.  No holds barred.  Your business success comes from knowing the right answers to these few questions above.  Your "retail blindness" begins with not addressing these questions properly.

I can become 'wicked-off' at how cutting these statements are, but I cannot avoid the truth they carry.  Only those with "retail blindness" will jump over these truths and move on to fail some more.  That, my friends, is the truth.  My accountant friend did not kick me out of his office that morning.  Instead, we decided to engage in some serious discussions about winning and losing in business.  It began a new chapter of thinking in both of our business careers.  He and I eventually arrived near the heart of these questions.  We all have a boss, somewhere.  That boss is not us.  The sooner we respect our boss the sooner we improve our performance.  Our level of "retail blindness" will quietly go away when our boss shows up to apply the right kind of pressure to our views of action.  Until then, "retail blindness" will dominate the way.  And it does it so quietly, so innocently.

The day we recognize this business truth is the day we begin to remove the negative effects of our "retail blindness".  This fact is true even if we own the business model.  I like to always be aware of the fact that someone ponies up their wallet to make my business model happen well.  I like to always make sure I know and remember who ponies up the money that I am blessed to move around.  The people that pony up the money are the true owners I need to respect.  Not every business owner or business leader does an exact job of remembering this fact very well.  Business leaders often forget who the real boss truly is.  They forget this fact in such an innocent way.

The business leaders who slip into this lapse of memory are often the same ones who innocently lose at the business game.  Forgetting where the money comes from is exactly how we grow to lose.  It is the beginning step to "retail blindness."  How does my money get generated?  Who ponies up the cash to create the flow?  "Retail blindness" begins right here.

Collective Thinking, Smart Business

Good Ideas Are Everywhere

The saying, "two heads are better than one" is a very serious thing.  Most of the 'self-taught' business leaders I know are also very narrow in how they allow others to influence their mind work.  'Self-taught' business leaders are stubborn individuals from the get go.  I am one of those 'self-taught' business leaders.  I know one when I see one.  It was my stubbornness that led me to become an independent, 'self-taught' business leaders.  Most 'self-taught' business leaders could not, or better yet, would not work for anyone else.  They are usually wired so strongly to be independent that they do not have the daily skills nor the proper set of personality skills to work below someone else.  Most 'self-taught' business leaders need to be 'in-charge' of the operations.  It is something they personally demand.  As a result, they become driven to dominate the decisions made.  They need to do their own thing.  They could not permit someone else to tell them what to do.  They do not like anyone else to guide their decision-making roles.

The business world is chuck full of these individuals.  They lead and operate business models everywhere.  Some become quite good at it while others fail terribly.  I am one of those 'self-taught' business leaders who has learned how to work well for someone else.  I have worked hard on the process to develop better leadership skills.  I can quietly remain in the background and watch other leaders do their thing.  It becomes a very useful school for me to witness.  It is reality at work.  There are no theories when I watch another business leader do what they do to try to win at the business game.  I get to see the process they use and the outcomes that arrive.  It becomes the best school in the business world.  Sadly, too many 'self-taught' business leaders are circling the business world.  Most of the results they produce come to the surface under par.  The top of the business success world is not filled with very many 'self-taught', independent business leaders.  Very few of them are able to develop the most comprehensive, competitive and necessary skills to sustain a long and profitable string of successful business results.  Their desire for independence gets in the way.  They are not known for accepting the advice of others in their path of work.

Independence usually means individual.  Individual does not generally mean collective thinking.  When the idea of collective thinking becomes available, most 'self-taught' business leaders drive away from its potential.  They prefer to do their own thing.  They prefer to make their own assessments.  They prefer to evaluate their own paths, their own examinations and to measure their own ways to define their outcomes.  They will only use other opinions when those opinions can support what they already have determined they want to do.  'Self-taught' independent business leaders are not experts at using collective thinking.  They are experts at pretending to use collective thinking.  There is a huge difference between these two concepts.

I have seen both sides of this kind of leadership at work.  I have witnessed the work of those business leaders who are very good at using collective thinking well.  I have also witnessed the work of those independent business owners who are not very good at using collective thinking well.  The first group always performs more successfully.  In every single case I witnessed, the second group struggles more often with profitability than the first group.  No contest.  The differences are plain and very evident.  Unfortunately, the 'self-taught' independent business leaders will object with those findings very strongly.  That is primarily what keeps them glued to their independence ways.  They practice creative ways to avoid real collective thinking.

The truth remains, the 'self-taught' business leaders are too independent to allow others the right to dominate any of their business thinking.  They are far more comfortable making their own decisions rather than allowing anyone else to help them make the decisions they deliver.  They will strongly protect this pattern even when the results are less profitable.  That is exactly the main reason why so many 'self-taught' independent business leaders do not end up on the top of the business world with results that reflect great success.  Their limits to great business success are self imposed.  They are masters at protecting those results.  It is not smart business but they will work overtime making sure it looks smart.  It is an amazing thing to watch happen.  I know a lot about this subject matter.  I are one!

I was once on the other side of the collective thinking fence.  I was the independent guru.  There are very few strong, 'self-taught' business leaders who could 'out-gun' me on the idea of avoiding collective thinking.  I was that master.  I was very creative in how I could do what I wanted to do in all of my final decisions.  I was not open to any other ways, any other ideas nor any other thoughts that came to the surface in my business affairs.  I made it very clear how the final decision was always mine.  Guess what that produced?  A lot less victories than what should have occurred.  Almost every single time!  I creatively passed up a lot of great opportunities in my business trek to success.  I failed enough to fill many libraries full of books on how 'not to do it.'  Stubbornness is a disease.  It works like cancer.  It kills collective thinking.  It kills opportunities for simple success.  How do we curb this deadly disease?  How do we get smarter in our business affairs?  How do we learn how to properly engage collective thinking?

Fleeced Marketing!

So Many Wrong Things Are Accepted!

When the weather is colder I usually wear layers of clothing.  I wear layers to help trap air and keep me warmer.  With layers, my own body heat stays inside longer and the cold air outside is not as likely to penetrate to the inside.  This simple stuff makes sense.  The fashion industry helps us to layer clothing by offering ensembles that coordinate well.  Colors, patterns and textures are presented in a way that attracts our attention.  As a result, we layer with pride.  We are not as afraid to throw a bunch of clothes on to keep warmer that also helps us to look good.  As it warms up during the day, we can peel off a piece of clothing or two and still look good.  We can help our body remain the right temperature even if the weather changes in degrees a lot during the day.  As the outside temperature fluctuates a lot we can easily maintain a decent appearance wearing our coordinated layers of clothing.  It works well.

I own a small business.  It is not related to the clothing industry.  However, the idea of layering to keep warm is a great marketing opportunity for the clothing industry.  It allows that industry an opportunity to sell a few things to one customer all at the same time.  Instead of just buying a sweater coat to stay warm during the winter months, customers can also purchase a fashionable undershirt and an additional neck scarf that is designed to work together and look better while staying warmer.  A larger sale can occur while the customer is becoming better pleased.  This is an example of good marketing.  The clothing industry has it made.  They can arrange to control 'group' buying.  Instead of the customer buying just socks...they can purchase coordinated slippers and slip on shoes that help work with the socks to look better on the customer.  Even a robe can be tied into the ensemble.  In fact, some presentations go as far as matching the towels to the bath wear!  Now we can link the soaps, the towels and the bathroom utilities to the whole 'look' that is presented.  The soap dish, the towels, the soaps and the bath robe can all help those socks look so much better.  This kind of marketing is a way to layer connected increases in sales.  It is smart and it works well.  Some 'coordinated' merchants are very good at it.

There are not very many business owners who do not understand this kind of marketing.  The trick to capturing this whole effect in pursuing 'group product' sales increases is to make sure this concept gets understood.  For example, what if you own a real estate company?  How do you take this layering concept to your own industry?  The real trick is to make sure we understand the concept.  When we get the concept clearly placed into our minds we can start working on seeing where we can employ the 'coordinated marketing' techniques.  The rest of our marketing mind needs to figure out how we can 'layer' our marketing efforts.  If we sell homes and property, how do we capture layered marketing effects?  How do we coordinate several items to sell at once...all in the same coordinated effort?  In fact, some industries like real estate have some marketing limitations placed upon them by the rules of their licensing which are not only required but must be upheld.  This kind of effect limits what they can sell to their future customers.  For example, they cannot offer complete decorating services to those who plan to place their homes onto the sellers market.  They cannot add landscaping services to help their clients improve the curb appeal of the home they plan to place up for sale.  They can, however, offer added services like property management.  Through this technique real estate business owners can develop some added layers to their total package to improve the revenues they can attract with each sale.  In order to manage this add on, some thinking must occur.  Owners need to think in layers.  This is how we capture wider market shares doing what we do.  Think in layers.  Learn how to integrate coordinated products and services to be made available to the same customer.

Once a business owner discovers how to develop some increases in market shares they must learn how to respect the way those increases occur.  A lot of times when an owner discovers some new ways to layer new incomes they do not always respect how that new income came to their business model.  They discovered the new income by doing some added things that represent layers of marketing efforts.  When this kind of success occurs, many owners believe the added business growth arrived from doing the stuff they have always been doing.  Some business owners do not recognize the added growth as coming from the wonderful layered ways they perform their business marketing efforts.  For example, a fashion clothing business might try to add a few layered items like matching soaps and towels to one of their popular bath robe vendor products.  They might give the layered idea a little try.  As time grows, more and more customers begin to purchase more of the little extras in the soaps and towels that match their bath robes.  The displays get better with time and the business owner realizes some increased market shares.  However, sometimes when this happens the owner is not a bath soap buyer, nor a bath soap enthusiast so that kind of effort gets limited attention.  The owner is a clothing expert.  That is what they like to do.  So they spend their best efforts in marketing on the things they prefer to do the most.  In this case, they do a better job of clothing presentations than they do in the soap and towel effort.  They only offered the soap and towel additions as an effort to 'fleece' the customers into spending more.  'Fleece' marketing begins its trek.

There are a lot of business models doing exactly this kind of marketing.  They are trying so hard to sell a bunch of stuff that is obviously layered to capture a wider share of market interest but not doing any of it very well.  This is what is known as 'fleece' marketing.  It is designed to attract a wider share of consumer interest doing a whole bunch of connected stuff that is not particularly arranged very well together.  I walk into a lot of business models and I see many of them trying to do this kind of stuff.  If you are a discount business model, this layered marketing technique might work well.  However, if you prefer wider margins of profit with each sale, layered marketing does not work very well if it does not carry some passion along side its overall presentation.  The business owners who fail in their layered marketing efforts might be quietly trapped inside the practice of 'fleece' marketing.  They might find they are more interested in gaining added dollars with each sale than they were about developing a truly real added benefit for their customers to enjoy.  Take a cleaner look at which comes first, the idea of increasing sales or the idea of helping your customer to gain an added benefit?  The proper motive will clear up the path for avoiding 'fleeced' marketing.  Customers do not like to feel like they have been 'fleeced.'  Make sure you give them good soaps and towels.

Choose Your Words Carefully

Make Sure You Communicate Well

Watch your words.  Watch how you deliver your words.  Pay attention to how others hear your words.  Watch how they react to your words.  Communication is a very critical and complicated piece of important work you will be performing.  The main source of your communication will be your words.  That is why it is so important to pay close attention to what is said.  Your words carry out the messages you send.  If your messages are confusing, unorganized, disrespectful, mean-spirited, pointed, angry or even contradictory you may discover less productivity from the people you serve and lead.  The success factors your business model is trying to manage will become a lot harder to reach if your communication skills are needy.  Watch your words, they carry some very powerful results.  You want to make sure your results are positive ones.

Business success comes in many different forms.  Sometimes business success comes from being in the right place at the right time.  Sometimes business success comes from knowing the right people.  Sometimes business success comes from doing the right things long enough that the maturity of those actions finally delivers the rewards it promised.  Whatever the case, business success can come from many different angles.  In all cases, business success comes from the right kinds of communication happening to the right environment at the right times in the right ways.  Communication is king.  When your communication is flowing accurately with your staff, your customers, your business model, your accounting and your marketing  process that is when your business model is humming profitably.  Communication is a tremendous success key.

I once traveled the rounds from business family to business family.  I was doing some personal counseling with many small business owners.  In each case I discovered one thing that needed help.  The troubled models always needed better communication.  In every case where communication was broken down I also noticed some kind of communication breakdown between the spouses I was counseling.  The frustrations their business models were experiencing were partially linked to the breakdown in communication between each other.  The leaders were not communicating well so the business model was feeling the extension of the spousal communication breakdown.  Most of the business challenges these couples were facing could be directly linked to the communication breakdowns they were sharing with each other.  As an outsider, it was easy to see this effect.  To them, the creators of the breakdowns, it was not a vision that was clear to see.  I could hear the wrong stuff coming out of the words they shared.  They could not hear the same 'errors of slant' that I could hear.

Watch your words.  Your words carry out a message that sometimes even we cannot easily recognize how badly they are being delivered.  Our words become our ways.  Our ways become how we rally support.  How we rally support becomes how we convince others to go the way we ought to be going.  This is how good leadership patterns work better.  It is how the art of leadership gets defined.  Leaders who harness this kind of art are the ones who work their business models into more successful patterns.  Choose your words carefully.  When a group of leaders has their communication quotients running clear on all cylinders, that group of leaders also has a strong and successful business model.  Information is flowing accurately and solid.  Relevant issues are being addressed and managed efficiently.  In an atmosphere of high and good communication, everyone watches how they manage what they say, when they say it and how they deliver what they say.  Care is given to the tongue.  In a well-run business model...there is no such thing as 'constructive criticism.'  'Constructive criticism' is a terrible excuse for trying to lead a bundle of folks down the path of success.  Get away from that kind of silliness.  Watch your words better.  Think deeper about how you need to say what needs to be said.  Watch your words.  It is hard work to do it correctly.

A careless tongue can create some very damaging results.  What's more, most of the carelessness from the tongue goes very unnoticed by the deliverer.  The one who sends out the careless message is usually the one who does not hear the damage those words delivered.  Business success does not often hover around damaged words.  That is something I notice about broken business models.  Most broken business models are surrounded by rotten words.  Carelessness is running out of control in the troubled waters of poor communication.  No business model survives this kind of environment for very long.  Success becomes very shy when the words in an organization are carelessly strewn out with damaged edges along side of the messages those words carry.  Watch your words.  Every leader becomes the main source for how the words are managed in an organization.  If the leader has a junkie tongue, so do the followers.  Junkie tongues produce rotten atmospheres that do not improve the communication elements.  Business success is hard to produce when the atmosphere wreaks of the littered trail from the terrible words that are permitted to exist.  Watch your words.  They carry a huge weight and a monster responsibility for the kind of success your business model produces.

Choose your words carefully.  It is hard work but every leader must learn how to manage this component of success with greater care.  Words carry much of the success an organization ultimately produces.  Choose them carefully.