Each According To Their Gifts!

Happy Friday!   About a month ago, I shared a picture of a band I was in while in college...click here!  I also admitted there was a time I used to imitate Michael Jackson...click here!.  I may have mentioned I was quite the athlete in high school and was the basketball team captain (youngest kid on the team - natural born leader!)...sorry, no click here...can't remember where I wrote that one.   Yes, I am a man of many talents.  Modesty will prevail...in a minute.   What happened, Brandon - You had so many talents you could have done anything you wanted?   Actually, I don't have to tell you what happened.  You know.   This daily email is not a fan club for me being a lead singer on a reunion tour from the 80's.  It is not me talking about the millions of albums I have sold and Grammy's won. Isn't about me getting inducted into the NBA hall of fame.    It is a blog about my gift...sales.  The gift of gab.  The gift of connection with others.   Talent will let you "be in the mix" and get on a sports team as a mediocre athlete.  It will let you sing for a few hundred drunk college students.    But your gift will separate you from the masses.  It will make you special...exceptional even. It is an innate and natural extension of your passions...and purpose.   Malcolm Gladwell in "Outliers" says it takes 10,000 hours to develop a gift.  I could have spent 100,000 hours on my singing and I would still have to lip sync like Milli Vanilli (yikes, that put a date on my tombstone!).  I could have did jumping workouts for 10 summers and never dunked a basketball (Spud Webb anyone?).   Why work on a talent, when you can focus on your "highest and best use" and flow in your gift?   In the 3 Ingredients, #2 one was sticking to your Core Competency...your gift.    It will be counterproductive to knock around in things that you are not well suited for.  That is not meant to be an convenient excuse for not doing the tough things we all have to do (like prospecting) but it is meant to provide laser-like focus on what you do best.   I work with many agents who are tremendous at helping people join Medicare Advantage plans.  Most of these are zero premium plans and offer terrific benefits, but you do no have to ask for a check (to my large Caribbean audience, yes...no premium!)   We have tried to get these agents to cross sell other products.  Many of them struggle.  They have a great gift of rapport building, consultative education and building trust...but some of them do not have the "gift" of asking for money.   One of them finally said, "I will stick with Medicare Advantage...that is my gift."   I could have told her to stick with trying to sell life insurance.  I could have had her role play and ask for money five different ways.  I could have done ride alongs to help her develop the talent to close, but then I thought about something Captain Spock said to Admiral Kirk in Wrath of Khan II;   Kirk:  "Spock, these cadets of yours - how good are they?  How will they respond to real pressure?   Spock:  "As will all living things, Admiral..."   Each According To Their Gifts!   Until tomorrow, I wish you Money, Power, Success!

Let the Money Pile Up!

 

I think I have said I am not a big fan of rap.  Not hating...just not into it...   Sugar Hill Gang and "Rappers Delight" is about as far as I can go.  In fact, Ole School Saturday is this week - Natalie, put on your dancing shoes...just not the ones you can only wear 2 hours please!   I digress...   The kids would always try to convert me to rap.  One day they came to me, "You have to listen to this ....it's a positive rap song."   It was Kanye West (yes...I know!) and the song was called "The Good Life".  The lyric that got me...   50 told me, go 'head, switch the style up And if they hate then let 'em hate and watch the money pile up The good life    Profit - another way of saying "let the money pile up".  You have to have some left to put in that pile and if you recall, profit is what you have left after the transactions are complete.   Sure, that was too easy of a connection to my lesson.  The more subtle revelation I want you to see;   "go 'head...switch the style up"   If your business is not profitable, then it is probably time you make some changes.  Switch the style up!  In the 3 ingredients, the first thing to review was your margins...can you make money?  I have a basic concept I need you to adopt right now...no argument;   If you can't make money...stop doing it!   I am working with a several agents who came from environments where they couldn't make money.  They took lessor contracts...that is ok.  They paid for leads...also ok.  Where the hamster wheel revolved is that the formulas for getting to positive money (profit) were so in favor of the company, that the agents not only didn't make money...they owed money!   The first area of evaluation for margin is revenue.  Top line money.  For the typical small business, there are two main things that generate revenue;   Products & Partnerships   Products are basic.  They are the widget you make and the widget you sell.  If you are selling a product or service that you make and deliver yourself, you have to be mindful of costs of production and delivery.  That is the foundation of your margin and profit potential.   Most of you are brokers...right?  You don't produce the product, but you contract with companies to distribute their products...like insurance. Partnerships are ususally formed when someone is closer to the company and has a "master" contract and then contracts downstream to the individual producers.  Your contract will spell out how much you make for selling, servicing and renewing that product.    No matter how you are aligned you have to be in a position to sell effectively and generate revenue.    Do you have 10 contracts to sell but only sell 2?  What about the other 8?   Can you learn and cross-sell those products to increase revenue?  If the answer is yes...switch your style up and engage them in your portfolio!   The next area of evaluation for margin are expenses.  What does it cost you to deliver the product to the consumer?  The computer, the printer, the gas in the car...it all adds up to subtract from your revenue.   Brandon, what advice would you give a business that is "bleeding"?   For 30 days...watch every penny (I didn't mean dollar...penny!) coming in.  Evaluate - watch how you make it, what products you sell and where your clients come from.  Get top line revenue focused for 30 days with a simple eye toward increasing it...say 10% in that 30 days.   With focus, I know you can do it... Trust me, you are missing opportunities because you are not looking for them!   The next 30 days, watch every penny going out...reduce it by 10%. (read the 2 lines above again!)   At the end of 60 days, you will have increased your margins by 20% (technically infinity but I won't take you there!).  You will have more left than you spent...it will feel like the good life.   You might even rap a verse from Kanye...    Let the Money Pile Up!   Until tomorrow, I wish you Money, Power, Success!

The 3 Ingredients!

Two partners were working on their business plan.   One turns to the other and says, "Let's sell our widget for $100 - that's lower than anyone on the market.  We will make a killing!"   The other partner responds, "But that's less than it cost us to make them."   "Don't worry...we'll make it up with volume!   Yeah...bad joke and you have probably heard the punch line before.  It would be comical if so many businesses didn't have balance sheets that played out this way.  Having reviewed many businesses...small and great...I have seen it too often.   If you are just getting a business started, then it make take some time to become profitable.  New, large corporations sometimes forecast it will take years before they turn a profit.  Of course, they have the luxury of OPM (other peoples money...can you say IPO?) and time.   Does your business have large cash reserves...time?   If not, then you have to have a profit slant today and everyday.  How do you ensure that you have set up your business model for profit?  You make sure you have The 3 Ingredients.  If you design your business with these 3 things in mind, it won't be long before your Income exceeds your Outgo...profit;   "Making money is art and working is art and good business is the best art." Andy Warhol   I am not a Harvard MBA (fooled you...didn't I?), but I have owned enough businesses and worked for enough that I have seen the pattern emerge.  The 3 things you have to have to be mindful of to make a profit;   1. Margin 2. Core Competency 3. Tactical Ability   Margin - How do I make money?  Seems like such a simple question, but one many business owners don't ask until they find out there is no money to be made.  It is largely about the products you offer and the "spread" between what you get for delivering it and the cost of that delivery.  This is the key to making sure your business isn't the "punch line" from earlier.   Core Competency - What am I best at?  It revolves around the natural and developed gifts of you and your team. Trying to be all things to all people will leave you doing things that aren't in your "wheelhouse".  Don't follow or copy others unless you have the gift.  Do what you do...and do it better than they do!  "Jack of all trades...master of none".  That will hurt profitability.   Tactical Ability - Will I do it?  Doesn't matter if you have the skill if you don't have the will.  Many sales people are talented (core competency) but don't have a process and the discipline to follow it.  You can't be aimless and haphazard.  You need a plan and then do what the plan says.  Great plans require great execution.    There you have it.  Simple...right?  Until you begin to review the way you run your business today.  If you are making money...the 3 ingredients are in there...I promise.  If you are struggling to make profit, then adding them will be the foundation of your turnaround.    The next two days will be devoted to helping you E4 your business - Evaluate, Evolve, Expand and Explode your business...making it a a profitable one!   You can send my 10% consultant fee to...   Just kidding...    Your business just called and said on the way home can you pick up bread, milk, eggs...and   The 3 Ingredients!   Until tomorrow, I wish you Money, Power, Success!

The Profit Genie!

Making Money.   Fun...isn't it!   If we found a old lamp with a Sales Genie (ok, bad pun!) in it and he only granted one wish most of us would ask to close more sales...make more money.   Admit it...making money is the highlight of your day.  That doesn't make you greedy or commission hungry...it makes you human like the rest of us (majority of us anyway!).   What about Profit?   That is an entirely different thing.   Making money makes you a sales person...making profit makes you a business owner!   There is something I tell sales people everywhere I go,   "Stop being production-minded and start running a business."    Brandon, you are splitting hairs.  Not really...have you seen my hairline?    Certainly, making money (production) is evidence that you are working effectively.  It is the basic building block of any business - revenue.  Profit is what you have left after all the expenses have been deducted from the revenue.   Do you have anything left each month, each quarter...each year?   If you produce $10,000 in revenue each month but your business/household expenses equal $10,000 you have to "start over" next month with $10,000 looming over you.  You cant invest in new ideas or business strategies to grow your revenue.  You are not running a business...you are producing.   What happens if next month you only produce $9,000?  You get the picture!   What if you generate $12,500 in revenue and your business/household expenses are $10,000?   Ahhh...can you say profit?   There are only 3 ways to get off of the production hamster wheel;  1. Make more revenue 2. Lower the expenses 3. Or do both!   The last few days, we reviewed what is required of a leader to run a business or a team.  Sure, all of that is part of the foundation of running a great business, but a truly great business has profit.  The next few of days, we will look at the simple ways you can convert your production factory into a business system.    A few questions that I want you to ponder today;   Are you running a business or producing?   Do you have anything left to consider profit?  If not, why not?   Can you reach your business and personal goals this way?   Matters not what the answers are...I am simply trying to mentally prepare you for the next time you run into...    The Profit Genie!   Until tomorrow, I wish you Money, Power, Success!

Leader of the Pack! part 2

Happy Monday!   "With great power comes great responsibility."  Ben Parker from Spiderman    Have you ever had authority or power?  It can be a humbling experience, especially if the people you have responsibility for used to be peers.   That is the challenge I faced when I became a supervisor in the next position I held after I penned my "If I Were King of the Forest" manifesto.  I was the top sales person...now boss.   They had seen me in action and knew that I was good at the sales position.  But leading was different.    They had also hung out with me socially.  Some believed that I would play favorites (not happening!)...others thought they could keep getting away with what I knew they were doing all those months that hurt production...not happening!   Something I learned quickly - Authority (a title) gives you power, but true leadership brings respect.  A title "appoints" you to a position but leading "anoints" you.    Can you see the difference?   If you are going to be seen and respected as a leader then it will be because of character that commands respect and brings results.  That is where my top 10 continues;   6. Ability to Delegate - No leader can do it all.  You will need the help of people on your team to get it done.  Yes, you can hire cronies and have "safety" but they may not add the value you need.  True leadership assigns tasks.  People have to know you won't micromanage and will give them defined and refined targets for what you need them to do so they are not "flying blind".   "Surround yourself with the best people you can find, delegate authority, and don't interfere as long as the policy you've decided upon is being carried out." Ronald Reagan     7. Empower - A true leader is willing to give up some control.  Delegation without transferring responsibility and accountability is micromanagement.  Yes, you have to have checks and balances so transferred power does not "run amok" but a leader does not fear loss of control.  In fact, it multiplies their efforts.  To empower is one of the highest forms of trust - that will breed buy-in and prove you are not into "kingdom building"...the downfall of many with authority.   "Trust is a core currency of any relationship. Sometimes our need to control and micromanage everything erodes our confidence in ourselves and others. The truth: People are much more capable than we think. A hearty dose of trust is often what's needed to unlock the magic. Go ahead, have faith." Kris Carr   8. Communication - Autocrats don't have to explain anything...bark the order and dare people to countermand it.  A true leader finds a way to communicate the vision of the company or the department to each employee in a way that is comprehended and compelling.  Never assign a task without explaining the value of that task to the vision.  I am famous for saying, "It may seem menial, but it is meaningful".  Then the team member knows that what they are doing has high value.   Communicate often and don't allow the rumor mill or water cooler to define what you are trying to accomplish...those folks have a different motive...and are seldom accurate.   "Communication leads to community, that is, to understanding, intimacy and mutual valuing." Rollo May     9. Good Instincts -  Even if people love you, follow your directives and things go horribly, your leadership wont last long.  Yes, good leaders can make bad decisions.  Leaders will make mistakes, but generally, your instincts and decisions have to generate positive results.  Intellect gained through empirical data provides one level of decision making power, but the best leaders have an "inner" guide that provides the x-factor of achievement.   "You can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something - your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life."  Steve Jobs  10. Magnanimous - This one is the real test of a leader.  Let's review the definition from dictionary.com;   1. Generous in forgiving an insult or injury; free from petty resentfulness or vindictiveness: 2. High-minded; noble: 3. Proceeding from or revealing generosity or nobility of mind, character, etc. Some people are scared to allow their team members to "shine" as they have to take a step back.  That fear is palpable and your team members will sense your jealousy and insecurity.  It creates the perception of glass ceilings or favoritism as you only applaud those that are "beneath" you in order to suppress someone who may outshine you.  A real leader wants their teams to be strong and capable...even if it means they move up and move out. You got your chance...they should get theirs.   "A good leader takes a little more than his share of the blame, a little less than his share of the credit." Arnold H. Glasow   To my daily readers that have been given authority, it is time you became...   Leader of the Pack!   Until tomorrow, I wish you Money, Power, Success!