Look Like Sizzle, Be The Steak

You've heard marketing and advertising gurus quip, "Sell the sizzle, not the steak." Advertising initiatives best reach their target audience with benefits and the "wow" effect, not the value or features of their product or service. This may work well to get customers in the door. But once they're in, you better have some substance. How can you ensure you uphold the integrity of your business and still maintain the "Wow Effect"? It just takes well executed strategic steps for business AND personal development:

1. It's Already Done

Act like the goals you are working so diligently to achieve have already been reached. Walk with that confidence. Treat your leads like customers, your customers like guests in your home, and your staff like family. When you approach goals like a "done deal", you open up creativity reserves to think outside the box, access resources you didn't know you had and create opportunities for success previously unforeseen.

2. Get There From Here

It is not enough to act like you have arrived; you also get to devise a strategy map to get you there. Ask for your customers' input through surveys, polls, feedback forms. Have your sales force pay customers' a visit, just to see how things are going. Send a birthday card, send flowers, and send an article clip that can prove useful to a client. Never miss an opportunity to create relationship. The best way to ensure you don't miss opportunities is to create a plan.

3. Who Cares?

Make it fun and fulfilling to work in your company. Engage your human resources department to implement career development initiatives and placement programs that allow employees to choose their career tracks. Keep them in alignment with their skills and experience, as well as your staffing needs. Develop opportunities for your employees to volunteer in the community. Build a house for Habitat for Humanity. Run a marathon, or half-marathon. Sponsor a scholarship with your local high school and choose employees to be part of the selection committee. It increases your visibility, their corporate involvement, and your company gets to be a good corporate citizen. All for a good cause. Invest in your employees and in your community. Show you care.

4. Say What You Mean, and Mean What You Say

Address issues as they come up or as soon as appropriately possible. Sometimes we let things slide or leave things unsaid. This devalues what's important to you and insults the intelligence of the other person. Be open in your communication.

5. Create Win-Win Solutions

The belief of "looking out for number one" is so embedded in our collective consciousness that we have forgotten we are ALL #1 because we are all one. When you create win-win solutions, you not only generate good will among peers and supervisors, but you develop a reputation for fairness and professionalism. Everyone collaborates with a collaborator.

6. Acknowledge the Feedback

When customers take the time to write a scathing letter or make an irate phone call about horrific customer service or product quality, they are providing you with a valuable opportunity: Free feedback that you didn't ask for, didn't pay for, didn't market for or followed up on. It just fell on your lap. So thank your customer for being committed enough to your company to give you feedback on how you can improve your service. Give something away or at a steep discount. You have a choice: Swallow your pride, or dwindle your profits.

7. Invest in Your Employees

Celebrate birthdays. Give your Employee of the Month the coveted parking spot for the whole month. Offer direct deposit. Reimburse tuition 100% for courses in which they received an A grade. Publish accomplishments in the company newsletter. Have a company picnic. Offer discounts with common vendors (cell phone company, local bookstore, banks, dry cleaners, etc.). Host a company-wide, week long brainstorm session on how each department can increase its productivity and profitability by 30% within a certain timeframe.

8. Go Back to Kindergarten

When you take lunch, take a walk to a park, eat leisurely, and come back to the privacy of your office for a quick 20 minute power nap. You'll feel refreshed and replenished. Don't have an office? Build a nap center for all employees. Make it fun and, most importantly, nourishing.

9. Tie Up Loose Ends

Pay the parking ticket. Write that letter. Clean out your files. Make up with that client. Enroll in school. Back up your computer systems. Run the Clean Sweep Program on yourself, then your department, then the company (for more information, email us at coaching@ogandoassociates.com).

10. Give Yourself a Makeover

Lose the 15 pounds. Get that haircut. Buy fresh makeup. Reinvent your wardrobe. Give your car a paint job. Rearrange the furniture in your office or lobby. Give away old clothes. When you get in the habit of installing new practices and letting go of old ones that no longer serve you, you generate and circulate fresh energy.

11. Keep Your Commitments

When you say you are going to do something, do it, or else renegotiate another arrangement. Very few things are as difficult to earn back as your credibility and the trust of those who deal with you.

12. Play a Big Game

When setting your goals, ask yourself if you are stretching. Set your goals high enough to have to stretch for them. Make your growth systematic and strategic. If your goal is to call 20 leads this week, to close one sale, what would you have to do and believe about yourself to make it possible to call 50 and close three sales? If your goal is to go to dinner with your brother, just to reconnect, how about stepping it up and actually saying "I love you?" You know you are playing a big game when your first reaction is a big whine "I can't do that!" Yes, you can. Surprise yourself.

13. Be a Contribution

How can you make your customers' life more livable, your employees' work more enjoyable, and your community more cohesive? Everyone wants to know, what's in it for me? When you focus out, you immediately speak their language and enroll them in playing yours. No one plays with you if they think you are not on their team. So join them. And they will join you.

Monikah Ogando is President & CEO of Ogando Associates, Inc., a business consulting and coaching firm that works with start up and expanding businesses to implement action driven and results oriented strategies for profitability and a rewarding company culture. You can reach Monikah by email, monikah@ogandoassociates.com.

---

To Buy Or Not To Buy: Lawn Mowing Business

TRUTH IN THE LAWN MOWING INDUSTRYWe do not wish to... Read More

7 Cash Flow Secrets Your Accountant Never Told You

Looking for ways to boost your cash flow? As a... Read More

Small Business - Would You Still Need An Accountant If You Didnt Need A Tax Return?

After over thirty years advising small business it still comes... Read More

Family Business and Conflicts

What is a Family Business? A family business is basically... Read More

Firing Underperforming Employees in Your Small Business

Here are a few tips on how to hand out... Read More

How To Make Sure Your Customers Still Trust Your Small Business

The stock market is still on a wild roller coaster... Read More

Creative Metrification - A Technique to Improve

Some things in business are relatively easy to measure ?... Read More

How to Get Started As A Government Contractor

Becoming a contractor or sub-contractor for the U.S. government can... Read More

Arent Small Businesses Lucky?

Why? Because they have access to world class public relations... Read More

How Micro Loans Can Mean Macro Success for Your Business

"Inch by inch, row by row...that's the way my garden... Read More

7 Tips To Improve Your Cash Flow

Cash is King?That is what everyone tells us and it... Read More

Franchising in The Middle East There Will Bring Significant Opportunity for US Based Franchisors

As stability emerges in the Middle East there will be... Read More

Are You Ready to Own and Operate a Business?

How often has someone thought of starting a business based... Read More

Expanding A Mobile Car Wash Business

What is the best time to expand a mobile car... Read More

Competition in the Market Place and Over Disclosure Regulatory Burden

The Federal Trade Commission is assisting competitor to cheat and... Read More

Business Scents - Do They Work?

You see it often in large shopping complexes. Customers seem... Read More

Boston Market; Mobile Auto Detailing

Boston itself covers 50 square miles of concrete and traffic,... Read More

How to Manage Your Pipeline

How is your pipeline structured?I assume most of you have... Read More

Why Does a Business Fail and What Can You Do to Stop It?

I believe the number one reason why a business will... Read More

Is a Small Business Web Site a Wise Investment?

One of the greatest pitfalls in e-commerce is Field of... Read More

Specialty Advertising in C-Stores

It appears the mini-blimp indoor theme and concept is making... Read More

The Hidden Treasure in Your Business

I started working with another new client last week. He... Read More

Fleet Washing Expansion Considerations

Many times small businesses want to expand their businesses and... Read More

Grants vs. Contracts

Commonly folks have asked me what the technical difference is... Read More

Top Ten Tips for Leveraging Conferences for Big SUCCESS!

As I am preparing for my attendance to the CoachVille's... Read More

Creating Time the Virtual Way

Time. As a small business owner, it's the commodity you... Read More

A Look at Small Business Incorporating in Florida

The choice to incorporate a small business in Florida has... Read More

Small Business Security No Passing Fad

How careful are you with the data you collect from... Read More

Do Home Businesses Complicate Small Business Debt Collection Laws?

The home-based business market, sometimes called the SOHO (small-office/home-office) market,... Read More

Keeping Business Alive

Who is responsible for maintaining the business relationship?Nurturing a business... Read More

Franchises: How to Find the Best Franchise Opportunity for You

If you are looking for a franchise opportunity, the choice... Read More

The Inside-Out Business Plan? -- Your Small Business Plan in 10 Easy Questions

Writing a business plan for your Solo Entrepreneur business doesn't... Read More

What Help is there for Veterans Starting a Business?

Some of the very qualities that attract people to the... Read More