Good selling is all about empathy with your customer. Bad sales include customer fighting.

Of course your customer is not always right (nor you too). Of course you know that. Of course they know it too.

However, the job is to sell, not to win.

If you get on your high horse, or worse still, on the high moral ground you may win the argument but also lose your customer.

High horses have very high prices.

Be careful how you mount and dismount!

I was sitting in a hotel waiting for my meeting. It was a busy buzzy sort of area with lots of comings and goings. I was enjoying the idle moments and the simple down time. I was people watching. I ended up people listening.

The girl across from me was that over eager, lap top, fast talking, poor listening, and glamorous type.

Articulate, well groomed but too twitchy.

When she listened, it was only a pause to prepare her next delivery of rapid fire brand messages. She wasn’t really listening. The body language was over eager and unnatural. The nodding head was nodding at nothing at all.

The potential customer was weighing it all up. It was gladiatorial and the contest was in full flow.

Both were highly focused. Both sensed victory.

Quite loudly she mentioned the name of her company. It’s a very big company. People took notice. He sensed something and decided to stir it up. He launched a side winder attack on some of their recent publicity.

Her reply was deadly. Deadly as in fatal.

“Yes, you are right, it was dreadful, I don’t agree with them. In fact, I don’t agree with them at all.”

Who is “them”? She is.

You cannot abdicate when it suits you. You are or you are not. Brands are not a-la-carte thoughts. Or, worse still, a-la-carte people

Legacy is worth thinking about.

Legacy is your echo after you have gone.

Legacy is far more important than money, it’s your footprint.

Legacy is not heaps of money, that’s vanity.

Legacy is not about fame, that’s publicity.

Legacy is not about personal achievement, that’s ego.

Legacy is all about the important things you leave behind.

It’s what people benefit from.

It’s your contribution to those that matter …To you.

As Cat Stevens said;

“The greatest legacy is that which benefits the widest number of people for the longest period without limit to value.”

What will your legacy be?

What would you like it to be?

Is the path you are on taking you there?

Rushikesh Kulkarni is my friend on LinkedIn. He runs a company from Bombay in India called ‘Breakfree Journeys’. Recently we were corresponding. The debate was about innovation and standing out from the crowd.

For 2 reasons Rushikesh stood out. Both to do with words, one a title, the other a company name.

Both highly effective and especially evocative.

The first?

‘Breakfree Journeys’

It conjures up so much.

The second?

His own title.

No, not MD, nor CEO, not even Manager.

Even better,

‘Man In Charge’

Oh the joys of saying it as it is.

I sure have listened and I certainly have learnt.

We have some very special industry partners. Most notably, MCI/Ovation here in Dublin.

It’s a relationship that goes back to college days and the fun is as good as ever.

Today, I was their Conference Moderator and it was a privilege. There logo is simple, beautiful and effective (I’m not going to tell you, check it out)

More importantly, their credo is powerful and certainly worth thinking about. It says;

“We believe that when people come together magic happens.”

Today they put people together.

Today magic happened.

Today there is an exciting new path for those people that got together to share, listen, learn and plan.

In a world brim full of gadgets, technology and information make sure you get out, about and meet people.

It is refreshing, exciting and ….. how magic happens.

Fear is always about the future. Nobody thought – a year ago – that we could laugh, smile, eat, drink and enjoy the sunshine today. We did. If we survived last year we can survive next year. If you believe you can – you can.

Every day life throws us a pear shaped ball. It’s not much use to hope they don’t come your way, they will. As the saying goes;

“Life is not the cards you are dealt but how you play them.”

Business is no different.

We sit at the cockpit of our own little world. In front of us, just like a big airplane, there are lots of dials. Some increase speed, some wing trim, some descent. Depending on the conditions, we keep turning those little dials to adjust our course and our performance.

Tomorrow the sun may shine and we can all make time to have fun. Tomorrow, life will throw us another challenge and another unexpected gift.

When they do, don’t despair. Instead, think how well you have done already and….

Turn the dial, adjust and relax.

Have you ever heard someone say – “Money is the root of all evil”.

It’s a misquote. The correct version is – “The love of money is the root of all evil”.

The difference is subtle but the difference is defining.

Our world has become obsessed with money. The media fuel the frenzy. News focuses on money, all the time. From tax to income to expenditure – in a bust. From overspending and indulgence and political backslapping – in a boom.

Money is good and bad.

Remember what Dorothy Parker said

“If you want to know what God thinks of money, just look at the people he gave it to.”

The messages are everywhere. When is the next boom? How will I survive the bust? No wonder then that it seeps into everyone’s thinking.

It is dangerous, demoralizing and distracting. It saps energy, effort and enthusiasm. It brings low morale and is an ever decreasing spiral. Or, as Spike Milligan said;

“Money can’t buy you happiness but it does bring you a more pleasant form of misery.”

The ‘distracting’ is the worst bit. It takes you away from who you are. Worse still, it takes you away from what you really want to do.

To provoke your thinking answer this (honestly, nobody is listening);

“If you did not have to worry about money, what would you do?”

The answer may just help you detach from the love of money. In the end, we must all give ourselves the best shot at doing what we really want to do …. Not have to do.

Have you ever wondered why your adverts don’t bring in a whole harvest of enquiries?

Ever wondered why your advert doesn’t stand out?

Are you still recycling the same advert?

Worse still, paying a King’s ransom?

Guess what? Your Newspaper advert isn’t working.

You know that but you don’t know what to do.

Right?

There are 2 primary reasons;

(1)   Your connection is not relevant.

(2)   Your message is using the wrong vehicle.

If you sell on price alone be prepared to haggle, hassle and frustrate (it’s what you are setting out for the customer).

If you fail to be different, expect to be compared.

If you are more of the same, expect more of the same.

If you are not relevant, expect to be irrelevant.

If you don’t know how, expect to ask someone who does.

If you don’t understand new trends, new ways, new tools, find out.

If you don’t understand Generation X and Generation Y, start researching.

If you need to change, change or fail.

If you are still hoping the tide will turn and the old way will come back. Guess what?

Your ad is probably not worth watching.

The world is on edge. It puts people on edge. When people are on edge they do edgy things. Edgy things might just be sharp. Sharp hurts, sharp leaves scars. Scars can be persistent reminders.

Admirable people are calm, rarely edgy. Successful people often exude balance. I guess that’s partly why they are successful. Nice people have soft edges, they never hurt.

Today, 1 call, I email.

A very nice phone call.

A very not nice email.

The very nice call came from a man at the very top of a very big tree.

The not so nice from someone in the middle of a small little bush.

Both left strong memories.

It’s no surprise that the man at the top of his tree will always have a view.

No surprise either that the person in the bush will never emerge.

When life is tough, think before you leap.

Not nice will be remembered for a long time to come

And very nice will last forever

There are 2 essential ingredients to forward planning your business.  Sounds obvious, but sometimes the ‘obvious’ is ignored.

Every business has to run its day to day operation. It has to be sensible, effective, imaginative, hard working and customer focused.  It has to be a little like the marathon runner ….. you just keep going no matter how hard the challenge.

But, just dealing with the day to day alone is not enough. You need to be developing all the strategic opportunities too. In other words, as you work hard at harvesting and farming the day to day (above) you must continue to plant acorns that will bear long term fruit.

Today, the soil we tend is a bit rocky and bumpy. That means that lots of the acorns we plant will not flourish, may die and won’t reward us for some time to come. However, if one in ten takes root, you still need to plant ten to get one.

Everyday and every week look at 2 things;

(1) Running your day to day business as best you can

(2) Planting ideas, acorns and future opportunities.

Neither, on their own, will bring success but two are halves are better than one.