Rhonda Abrams who frequently writes for USA Today recently took a flight of a lifetime.  Virgin Airways had a contest for entrepreneurs.  The basic idea was to load over 250 entntrepreneurs on a plane for seven hours and see what happens.  Rhonda said that for the full seven hours of the flight, she did nothing but coach entrepreneurs and offer business coaching advise. 

She also learned a few things herself.  This is her list:

1. Seize opportunities. The winners of this trip saw an opportunity in the British Airways contest, and they pounced on it.

2. Believe in yourself. I'm sure some entrepreneurs considered entering the contest then decided they weren't good enough. We never got the chance to see them.

3. Make the most of the opportunities you get. The winning entrepreneurs typically made many appointments at their destinations — often even extending their trips to other locations.

4. Be fierce. Learn from Marx-she wanted a meeting with Harrod's. She was absolutely, positively determined to get the meeting she wanted, and she exploited every avenue she could possibly think of.

5. Toot your own horn. Don't be afraid to let people know you're a winner.

6. Be open. These entrepreneurs were like sponges — wanting to soak up every bit of knowledge they could find.

7. Share. The program was great in part because the entrepreneurs shared their knowledge, resources and ideas.

8. Take advantage of Champagne. The Champagne kept flowing throughout the flight, keeping everyone loose and happy. (Don't drink alcohol? How about some ginger ale to keep you bubbly?)

Click here to get your own copy of FREE surefire marketing secrets that will double your business in 4 weeks.  Call ActionCOACH Pinellas at 727.786.2900 to find out how business coaching can help you. 

 

As an executive business coach, I highly recommend joining LinkedIn, if you haven't done so already.  It is a way to connect to industry insiders and fellow entrepreneurs.  I mention this because recently they have refreshed their polls feature and have added more business analytics.  By taking advantage of the business analytics, and not the polls themselves, you can discover the age, gender, or seniority of the people taking the polls.  This can give you some insight into the how certain groups respond certain things. 

If you haven't already, I encourage you to take a tour of all the perks LinkedIn has to offer.  When I coach my clients, I advise them to make quality business connections anywhere they can and LinkedIn is a perfect example.  You can connect with others in your field and brainstorm about ideas that work and which ones don't.  You can join in discussions on the latest trends in your industry or the newest marketing idea that is driving business.  You can even join groups and learn about upcoming conferences or training that would be beneficial for you.  It really is a great resource for your business. 

To find out how to double your business in just 4 weeks, click here to learn more about our FREE Surefire Marketing Secrets from ActionCOACH Pinellas. 

At ActionCOACH, we know that planning your day and actually sticking to that plan are two different things.  You have meetings scheduled, a lunch appointment, and a client meeting.  What we can’t schedule for are problems that may need to be addressed immediately, staff not showing up or performing at expected levels, or an email rolls through your inbox that needs your attention.

As your business management consultant, ActionCOACH has some email recommendations that will help keep your schedule running on track.

• Schedule and stick to a set timeframe set to read emails.  This will help keep you on task for the day and not allow you to get sidetracked
• If an email needs attention, tag it for a later time and make sure you address it at that time.  As an executive coach, this helps us keep focus.  We don’t have to keep checking our emails to see if we missed something.
• Set your email to check for new mail only a few times a day instead of when a new message arrives.  This will cut down on you feeling the need to check every email that comes in.  Curiosity killed the cat and it can kill your productivity as well.  
• Keep your responses short.  As an executive business coach, my time is valuable and yours should be too.  The longer you spend writing an email, the shorter time you have for something more important.  Keeping your emails short will also benefit the recipient too.
• And one last item, it’s okay not to respond to everyone.  If your initial response was to ignore it, then you will probably ignore it when you go back.  You have my permission to hit delete, speaking as your business coach. 

Hopefully, you are already using some of these tips.  If not, start today.  You will have better productivity throughout the day and you won’t have to worry about not having enough time for the more important things that come across your desk. 
 

Find out how you can change the way you do business to achieve the results you deserve! Contact us now.

Brad Sugars founded ActionCOACH and poses this questions, "Have you accomplished everything you planned to over the last 3 months?"  I’m quite confident you would say you didn’t.  That something happened to knock you off course towards one or more of your goals. You have all sorts of reasons. The economy got bad, team members didn’t perform, you were sick or injured. Whatever it is, something happened to cause you to not accomplish what you set out to do.

As a coach, I would have to take exception and tell you that you did meet your plans.  The problem is, once an obstacle occurred, you changed the goal instead of changing the plan of how to get to your goal.  Did you really WANT to meet your goal? Did you really PLAN to meet your goal or were you going to meet your goal only if everything went as planned?

Say, for example, your plan is to drive to Myrtle Beach for a week of vacation. As you start out on your trip, you find out a key road is closed.

Do you turn around and head home? Why of course not. You find a detour, another route to your destination. Yes, it’s inconvenent and may cause you a couple hours delay, but you make the sacrifice. The week vacation goal is too important. Now let’s say, for example, on your way to the beach you find out that a hurricane is forecasted to hit the coast.

What do you do now? In this case, you probably will plan to turn around and head home.

Why?

The goal of going to the beach for vacation is not as big a goal as keeping your family safe. 

That’s OK.

You took ownership and responsibility for the results you wanted to achieve. You consciously changed your plans and goals. You no longer planned to go to the beach. Unfortunately most plans are not changed for a bigger goal. Instead when circumstances happen requiring us to make changes, we negotiate with ourselves by using excuses and reasons to justify not accomplishing the BIG goals we have in our business and life.

Remember: successful people focus on the results. Unsuccessful people focus on the process. Make this a successful month.

Find out how you can change the way you do business to achieve the results you deserve! Contact us now.
 

BABM Article Sept/Oct 2009: May I Help You? - The Customer Experience

The delivery of excellent customer service seems to be the exception rather than the rule in today’s marketplace. When was the last time you felt your business was was truly appreciated? Even though companies preach about customer service, do they really know how to do it? Think about your company; how is your company doing on customer service?
 
To master the delivery of an exceptional customer experience at every level of your organization would automatically set your company miles apart. You would join the ranks of the legendary service-oriented organizations. Companies that mastered the art of customer service have excelled in the several areas. Employee engagement, communication, employee training, and leadership development are all part of the customer service process. Having a business coach can help your organization focus on these areas.   
 
Keeping tabs on your company’s performance is something that needs to be measured accurately. Many companies overall estimate how they are doing. Having a solid idea of where you stand in terms of customer service will only build value to your organization. ActionCOACH has teamed with a company that offers an employee engagement survey tool.
 
In your business, there are many types of insurance you need to keep up-to-date. Have you ever thought about customer service insurance? You've probably never heard of it before, but it's exactly what you get when you develop a solid company-wide strategy for evaluation and training. Measure employee engagement and you'll see the direct effect it exerts on customer satisfaction. Offer continuing leadership training and team development, and you've got employee engagement.
 
 Many managers are accustomed to thinking about customer service as common sense or a soft skill. However, when great customer service is the exception, how likely is your staff to have experienced it first-hand? With some effort and attention, and the help of a qualified business coach, you can assure the principles of great customer service become ingrained in every aspect of your business culture and operations.

Find out how you can change the way you do business to achieve the results you deserve! Contact us now.