“She’s the Real Deal” – Natalie Randolph

In a recent Parade issue, there was a story on one of the few women who coach boys’ high school football in the US – Natalie Randolph.  It tells her story and how she is committed to helping her players score on the field and in life.  She shared her Coach’s Advice for Kids; however, I think these 4 points are good for us all to consider applying in our lives.

- Have No Fear

People concentrate too much on what others will say about them. If you know you can do something, just do it.

- Show Up Every Day

No matter how hard the previous day was, never give up.

- It’s Okay to Be Afraid

But it’s not okay to run away from what you’re afraid of.

- Make Good Decisions

To do that, you must trust your instincts – and listen to the people around you.

Apply these concepts in your life, if you don’t already. I think this is good advice.

Stop being tempted to go down the ‘wrong’ path and execute your game plan!

Have you ever found yourself going down the ‘wrong’ path and wondered how you got so far off track from achieving your goals?  Ever wondered why you don’t achieve the goals you set at the beginning of the year? Ever stated a new year’s resolution and then found yourself off track in February or March (so soon after the start of the year)?  Here are some of the pitfalls we need to resist if we are going to achieve our personal and professional goals and create the kind of life we really want – this year and every year going forward.

 

Personal Development & Multifarious Pitfalls to Resist
- Tempted to not invest enough time in those things that matter more than money to you.
- Tempted to quit too soon.
- Tempted to not choose your highest and best activities during the day.
- Tempted to not seek out mentors.
- Tempted to not get (or take) expert advice.
- Tempted to not optimize your own attention, deploying the power of focus on your priorities.
- Tempted to avoid reality-based thinking.
- Tempted to not insist that there are things which will no longer be acceptable to you.
- Tempted to make no decision (to avoid making a bad decision).

- Tempted to be everything to everybody.
- Tempted to treat exceptions as rules.
- Tempted to allow your team to be undermanaged.
- Tempted to avoid measuring success in all areas which will result in your overall success.
- Tempted to hold-on to people, clients, friendships, etc. longer than you should.
- Tempted to not require reviewing each team member’s written goals for the week.
- Tempted to not invest in the training & development of your people.
- Tempted to not be skilled at clearly articulating the value you bring to your client’s lives.
- Tempted to not seek accountability for yourself.
- Tempted to not measure your progress in a thorough (and candid) way at least 4 times a year.
- Tempted to not build a business to be of tremendous value.
- Tempted to not work hard enough (sometimes you should “work like you’re a rookie”).
- Tempted to not take enough time off.
- Tempted to pull punches rather than (skillfully & gracefully) telling the truth.
- Tempted to not challenge false assumptions (including our own).

Stop being tempted and do what you know you need to do so you can achieve your goals and have the kind of life you really want to live. Get focused, execute your game plan, and enjoy the rewards.

 

If you need help, let me know how I can help you on your goal achievement journey.

Gain Clients’ Trust: It’s What You Do, Not What You Say

Six tips for conveying your competence

 

Being competent is an important factor in building trust. People seldom believe you’re competent based on what you say about your credentials, experience, investment philosophy, or background. They believe you’re competent based on your behavior. As essayist, Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote, “What you do shouts so loudly in my ears I can’t hear a word you’re saying.”

 

1. Competent professionals ask good questions.
John Sculley, former CEO of Apple says, “The solutions are often obvious once you get the questions right.” Successful people measure your competence by the quality of your questions.

My favorite questions to ask in the client interview (with prospects and clients) begins with,

 

“What’s important about success to you?” Of course, there is a stage setting before you blurt out this question.

 

Your prospects can tell you are competent because they do all the talking about what’s important to them (their values), goals, where they are now, and where they want to be.

 

2. Competent professionals discover all the necessary information in the first interview.
Prescription before diagnosis is malpractice. Incompetent professionals give advice on what the prospect/client should buy without knowing all the details first.

 

Your prospects and clients can tell you are competent by the questions you ask and because you expect them to tell you the truth.

 

3. Competent professionals have a system for helping their clients.
Competent professionals have a system that repeats itself with every prospect and client.  Lee Trevino once remarked, “The best swing is one that repeats. I used to hit a one iron 260 yards through a doorway. Now I can hit it through a keyhole.”

 

4. Competent professionals make it simple.
The more successful or “sophisticated” your client, the more they appreciate simplicity.

 

5. Competent professionals are thorough.
Competent professionals are obsessively thorough.

 

6. Competent professionals are totally present.
A speaker coach, Max Dixon, asks, “Can you show up ready to be no place else?” This means asking a question and being completely present for the answer, not thinking about the next question or the next comment.

 

Can you show up ready to be no place else?  The competent professional does.

In summary, you have to be competent. Then your clients must be able to see, hear, and experience your competence from the very first moment they interact with you. Before they discover your true competence by working with you they must believe you are competent in order to give you their business in the first place.

How to Easily and Quickly Attract More Ideal Clients

“Tea, Earl Grey, hot,” commands Jean-Luc Picard on Star Trek: The Next Generation. And he gets a perfect cup of piping hot English brew exactly the way he likes it. Three factors are at work: 1) Picard knows what he wants, 2) he articulates it clearly, and 3) he has a system, the starship’s “replicator,” for producing his desired outcome every time.

Too bad you can’t just step up and order perfect clients like Picard and his hot tea. But in the real world, you can use a process called “Slots and Replication” to achieve a similar goal: When you clearly articulate the attributes and character of your ideal clients, you can put in place a system for replicating them. This system—asking for and getting quality referrals—is the lifeblood of many successful businesses.

The Ideal Client Profile

Before you talk to your existing clients and strategic alliances about referrals, you need to create an Ideal Client Profile. This description should be detailed and specific.

Think about who your best clients are right now, and consider what makes them so great. Ask yourself, In what ways are they alike financially, professionally, or personally? What attitudes and aptitudes set them apart from the masses and make them such exceptional, enjoyable clients?

Slots and Replication

Your objective should be to take on only those clients who match your Ideal Client Profile. Once you have written your Ideal Client Profile, you can figure out how many people who match this criteria you’ll need to meet your business development goals. It’s a pretty simple calculation to establish the income you desire to earn and extrapolate the number of clients required to achieve it. Begin with the end in mind, as Covey says.

With this valuable information in hand, you can create a business management tool I call “Slots and Replication” to track your acquisition of great clients and keep you aware of how many more are needed for you to reach your goals. Here’s how you can make your own:

• On one piece of paper, print your Ideal Client Profile.
• On another piece of paper, number backward, starting with the total number of ideal clients you need, and print a list of your ideal clients. Don’t list all of your existing clients; include only those who already match your Ideal Client Profile (they match every item on your Ideal Client Profile).
• Continue numbering backward until you have “slots” to represent all of the ideal clients you need to reach your income goals. Use additional sheets of paper if necessary. For example, if you need 100 ideal clients, then you might have four sheets with 25 slots each. Maybe you’d already have 27 clients’ names you could include, and you’d see at a glance that you have the additional 73 slots to fill.

Now you’re ready to attract those additional 73 people. The objective is to replicate the 27 who are already ideal. You’re absolutely crystal clear about how many and the kind of clients you want. It’s time to talk to those 27 and see who else they know—who are just like them. Your existing ideal clients are your replicators. You must simply give them a precise description (your Ideal Client Profile of your business), and ask them for the names of people who meet it. Show your strategic alliances and centers of influence your Ideal Client Profile to obtain referrals from them also. Make a list of your strategic alliances/centers of influence and potential strategic alliances/centers of influence (think outside the box) who you think have clients who fit your profile or they would know people who would fit your profile.

So it is with clients. Once you define the type of person you most want to work with and let your clients and colleagues know about it, you’ll start to see this type of person everywhere. It won’t be a matter of chasing down prospects to fill those slots; instead, you’ll easily attract and notice ideal potential clients.

Figure out exactly what you want, state it clearly, and allow the “replicators” to work for you.  Reap the rewards!

Use the online exercise to help you get started by going to: http://accountabilitycoach.com/assessments/icp/

 

For help with this concept, choose from the many high-value and high-content tele-seminars for only $27 USD that can be found by going to: http://www.accountabilitycoach.com/coaching-store/audio-store/