Excerpt from The 100/0 Principle, by Al Ritter
What is the most effective way to create and sustain great relationships with others? It’s The 100/0 Principle: You take full responsibility (the 100) for the relationship, expecting nothing (the 0) in return.
Implementing The 100/0 Principle is not natural for most of us. It takes real commitment to the relationship and a good dose of self-discipline to think, act and give 100 percent.
The 100/0 Principle applies to those people in your life where the relationships are too important to react automatically or judgmentally. Each of us must determine the relationships to which this principle should apply. For most of us, it applies to work associates, customers, suppliers, family and friends.
STEP 1 – Determine what you can do to make the relationship work…then do it. Demonstrate respect and kindness to the other person, whether he/she deserves it or not.
STEP 2 – Do not expect anything in return. Zero, zip, nada.
STEP 3 – Do not allow anything the other person says or does (no matter how annoying!) to affect you. In other words, don’t take the bait.
STEP 4 – Be persistent with your graciousness and kindness. Often we give up too soon, especially when others don’t respond in kind. Remember to expect nothing in return.
At times (usually few), the relationship can remain challenging, even toxic, despite your 100 percent commitment and self-discipline. When this occurs, you need to avoid being the “Knower” and shift to being the “Learner.” Avoid Knower statements/ thoughts like “that won’t work,” “I’m right, you are wrong,” “I know it and you don’t,” “I’ll teach you,” “that’s just the way it is,” “I need to tell you what I know,” etc.
Instead use Learner statements/thoughts like “Let me find out what is going on and try to understand the situation,” “I could be wrong,” “I wonder if there is anything of value here,” “I wonder if…” etc. In other words, as a Learner, be curious!
Principle Paradox
This may strike you as strange, but here’s the paradox: When you take authentic responsibility for a relationship, more often than not the other person quickly chooses to take responsibility as well. Consequently, the 100/0 relationship quickly transforms into something approaching 100/100. When that occurs, true breakthroughs happen for the individuals involved, their teams, their organizations and their families.
How Important is Culture to your company’s bottom line?
Big, very big! Analysis shows when cultures align with the demands of their business lines they consistently outperform organizations that are not aligned. Here is what those companies surveyed reported:
• 571% gains in operating earnings
• 471% higher returns in investments
• Stock prices increased 383%
as reported in “The New Corporate Culture: Deals and Kennedy, 1999.”
According to an article published in the September 03 issue of Professional Services Journal, “Organizations with adaptive cultures increased net income 756 percent over an 11-year period compared to a one-percent increase for everybody else.”
The impact of culture on the bottom line is clear. Harvard Business School professors John Kotter and James Heskett studied over 200 companies for several years and found that culture has a significant impact on a firm’s long-term economic performance. The role of culture in determining financial performance is becoming even greater in today’s fast-changing, more competitive business environment.
Organizational culture is a powerful force. It significantly impacts profitability, sets the climate for innovative ideas, and determines an organization’s capacity to change. The power of culture is perhaps best seen when organizations are forced to adapt to change, resulting in either success or failure of initiatives. Executives know they must get their organizations to seek and embrace change, but often feel challenged with cultures that resist change, causing dependence on the leader or defensive attitudes that inhibit collaboration, threaten innovative initiatives and reduce organizational effectiveness. The greater the degree of change required, the more important it is to examine the existing culture to determine whether it will serve as a catalyst in moving forward or whether it will act as a deterrent in support of the status quo.
Organizations that have not yet successfully made the connection between strategy and culture have yet to realize the benefit, which culture plays in an organization’s growth and performance. Leadership is centric to establishing the vision and values that foster the culture within an organization. Often, in organizations where performance is declining and employee morale is low, the senior management’s view of its current organization’s culture is based more on hope than a view grounded in objective fact. It is difficult at best to be objective when you are your own sounding board.
Until recently, accurately assessing organizational culture and readiness to change has been virtually impossible. Peer Synergy Group has several tools that enable organizations to see and understand their present state of culture without biases and we provide the experience and expertise to assist in developing effective and adaptive cultures. Cultural alignment initiatives can be very concrete, with measurable goals and clear return on investment. Additionally, the ability to leverage the creative capital in an organization through continuous innovation can yield tremendous economic benefits. Aligned and dynamic organizational cultures drive effective idea exploration and the willingness to seek change. Peer Synergy Group believes an organization’s future success is dependent upon the ability to continuously innovate.
Corporate culture is often ill defined and misunderstood.
“Culture is the cornerstone of today’s corporations. More than any other force it shapes the attitude, the hopes, the creativity, and the values of the employee.
Culture bonds and motivates individual behavior, both internal and external relations; it impacts a company’s values, how it processes information, and how it functions at all levels from the subconscious to the visible. Regardless of how you view culture in your organization, it should emphasize what’s really important and directly support your vision and strategy. People and the culture within which they exist are the driving determination behind every great leader. Together they are what drive a company to greatness and they can also drive a company to failure. Leaders who make this connection understand that culture models corporate values, generates motivation, innovation, drives performance and builds company reputation. As Lou Gerstner said, “I came to see in my time at IBM that “culture” isn’t just one aspect of the game—it is the game.”
Imagine how successful you could be if your organization had a dynamic and innovative culture where employees continuously demonstrated passionate engagement amidst their work and in support of your customers. Peer Synergy Group, Inc. is passionate about helping our clients develop strategic roadmaps and processes for developing leadership relevance, vision, values, dynamic culture, and continuous innovation to build company reputation and market share. We have the tools to help you see and understand your organization’s present state of being without biases, and we provide the experience and expertise to successfully help you deliver your organization into the 21st Century global marketplace.
How important is culture to your company’s bottom line? It could make the difference between success and failure in today’s ever changing business environment.
Roger Blackstock is Founder & CEO of Peer Synergy Group (www.peersynergygroup.com), an Atlanta based organizational leadership and executive performance enhancement firm. Roger also serves as a Group Chairman for Vistage International (www.vistage.com), the world’s leading chief executive organization with more than 14,000 members in 16 countries. Blackstock is a U.S. Army Veteran, business executive, and trusted advisor to CEO’s with over thirty years experience. For more information you can reach Blackstock at roger@peersynergygroup.com or 770.530.2383.
Why Search Engine Optimization is a Great Investment For Any Company
How much money do you pay to have a sales person sell your services or products? How many hours does that sales person work each day/week/month? Did you know that your website is a sales person that works for you 24/7? Having an optimized website is the single most powerful marketing tool that every company should be aware of and implement into their business.
Here are 5 reasons why SEO should be implemented into your marketing strategy before your competition beats you out.
Absence of risk
Search engine optimization is free of any risk. In many cases, paid advertising (banner ads, pay-per-click) is subject to click fraud risk. There are people that that use software to click on their competitors ads, which cost you money each time it is clicked. Google AdWords has protection against this, but it isn’t 100%. Nothing can stop a competitor from clicking your link a few times, costing you money.
Reliability
Banner ads and pay-per-click campaigns work great until the marketing budget for these campaigns depletes for the month. When this happens, your website is no longer listed and customers can’t find you anymore. SEO obtains an organic listing and your company’s website will always be found by your customers. Consumers are more likely to purchase from a site ranked high in the search engine results rather than from a pay-per-click ad.
Brand Awareness
A website that is ranked high means that more people will see the name of your company and become familiar with it and it’s products or services, even if they haven’t made a purchase. Consumers recognize businesses ranked in the top 3 in search engine results compared to those appearing in banner ads. With so many people using pop-up blockers and banner blockers, many people don’t even see the banner ads that are being displayed.
Targeted Traffic
SEO brings those paying customers to you. When a consumer is looking for a specific product or service and you rank high, they will enter the key words/phrases that they are looking for. When they find your site, they are a target lead and more likely to purchase from you. How much money do you spend on sales people getting you targeted leads and sales?
Affordability
In comparison to banner ads and pay-per-click advertising, SEO is a much more affordable service. With banner ads and pay-per-click, you set a budget and when that budget is met, the ads are gone. This could happen a week into your campaign. This means you would go three weeks before your ads appear again. With SEO, your website will stay listed on the search engines and won’t drop off.
As you should be able to see, search engine optimization is vital to your business. If you have a website and people can’t find it when entering keywords of the products or services that you sell, then why did you pay all of that money to have the website built? Remember, your website is a sales person that works day and night and has a global territory. Can you afford to pay your sales person to work day and night?
Bass Ackwards Business
Living & Working Bass-Ackwards!
Living & Working Bass – Ackwards!
A book review accents use of FORM acronym & value of the Golden Rule
David Greene of Greene & Greene, Inc., in Atlanta, sent me Steve Beecham’s book, Bass – Ackward Business: ‘ The Power of Helping Without Hustling’, published in 2009 by Home Town Publishing. I didn’t get many pages into it before recalling similar personal and business relationship cultivating (as in ‘promote the growth of’) styles learned and lived over the years.
“My helping without hustling strategy is bass – ackwards when you compare it to everything I’ve been taught about building a business” – “it’s not about you or your sales; it’s about helping others.” Pp. 9 & 14. (Emphasis added. GFA)
Beecham quickly identifies three components to implementing the bass – ackward ‘helping without hustling’ mindset:
1. Get out of the office
2. Focus on relationships
3. Find a way to help people p.24
And through these steps, Steve emphasizes ‘discovering the person and not the business’, earning – by – serving, rather than expecting or demanding, ‘the right to sell’.
No further into the book than that, I reflected on how some of his principles applied – or should apply, to the way I’m ‘doing business’. That thought stirred the memory of cleaning out a vacant office, 30 years ago, and finding a set of AMWAY cassette training tapes. As I listened to them while driving, I learned the FORM acronym, an effective personal networking guide. Letters were for Family, Occupation, Recreation, & Message; or, a reminder to set a date for next Meeting. How’s it work? Simple. Walk up to someone, anyone, – in this case in a group setting, and introduce yourself, with a Smile on your face and a friendly, but not fierce or wimpy, handshake. Then, after exchanging names, strike up a conversation, by asking about Family (may be single, married, whatever). After talking ‘families’ for awhile, segue to Occupation. Might be a student, stay at home parent, or otherwise. By now, both parties should be fairly comfortable conversing, so ask about Recreation – what do you do ‘for fun’? Then, near the end of the conversation, and depending on what seems appropriate, decide on when to next Meet and continue the friendly conversation; or, if fitting, ease into one’s Message. I’ve been using the FORM technique ever since – and it works! *1
Gotta admit, there’re a couple things in Bass – Ackward Business that gave me pause, since I hadn’t run into them before; like this piece non – footnoted advice @ p.39
“Look people in the EYE. Yeah, and by ‘eye’, I mean their left eye. Typically, when you’re talking to someone about serious matters or business affairs, you look into their right eye. Looking into their left eye communicates sincerity – they feel like you care.”
My immediate reaction: “Who sez?” But, until I can ask the author that question while looking him in the right eye, I think I’ll give it a try next time I’m in conversation with a friend or associate! Hmm. Maybe it’s because the left eye is closer to one’s heart…
Then there’s the Ritz –Carlton illustration. After a few superb guest service experiences during a second visit to a hotel in that chain, Steve asked the front desk receptionist what she thought made the Ritz so special. Her response? “We have a card we all carry in our pocket when working that reminds us, ‘We are ladies and gentlemen serving ladies and gentlemen’. Now that’s pretty nifty. In fact, it reminds me of a similar experience YOU too can have, by dialing (941) 721-0046. The phone will be answered every time, usually on the second ring, by someone ‘with a Smile on their face’, offering this Greeting after Thanking You for calling, then identifying their firm: “How may I Serve You?” Seriously. Place the call to prove it to yourself; better yet, think how You might implement the Ritz-Carlton & Newby Management’s superb customer service techniques as part of your firm’s resident relations program!*2
As I continued to read Bass – Ackward Business, my thoughts turned, time and again, to this writer’s practical application of the Golden Rule, being ‘Do Unto Others as You Would Have Them Do Unto You!’, to the way we ‘do business’. Frankly, too many firms focus on the antithesis Gold Rule; you know, the one that goes like this: ‘He or she who has the gold, makes the rules!’ Sorry to say, we can probably identify more contemporary businesses that appear to ascribe to that scheme (e.g. Predatory lending and Ponzi schemes are just two of society’s present day poster children for that selfish and greedy mindset) than those practicing the Golden Rule in personal relationships and during business dealings. To underscore this truth, the author cites a fairly well known reminder to ‘Use things and love people, not love things and use people!’ Amen.
OK, so how do you get your copy of this pithy little book (97 pages)? Contact Steve Beecham directly at 11855 Haynes Bridge Road, Alpharetta, GA. 30009 or via steve@hometownmoney.com or via www.bassackwardsbusiness.com
Five Reasons to Start a Business Blog
Five Reasons to Start a Business Blog
In a competitive environment where businesses are hard-pressed for advertising dollars but anxious to reach and impact a finicky consumer base, savvy businesses have turned to blogs.
Five reasons businesses find blogging beneficial are
1. Economics
Dollar for dollar, blogs are less expensive to create and maintain than traditional ad campaigns. They are convenient to utilize and can generally be launched and maintained at a fraction of the cost and effort of yesteryear’s advertising venues.
2. Infinite Branding
Blogs are “tagged” with key words and “linked” back to a business’s social media and website to build a digital footprint that builds upon itself. While many traditional ad campaigns can fizzle out over time, a properly maintained blog will build momentum and gain “advertising speed.”
3. Intimate Exposure
Blogs are an ongoing journal that share a company’s history, value system, announcements, progress, and new products and services. Companies use blogs as a forum to collect readers’ opinions, invite feedback, and educate people about their products or services. Blogs are a strong tool in relationship-building and allow consumers to do business with people they can get to “know,” like, and trust without traditional face-to-face pressures.
4. Consumer Trust and Confidence
What if you could build a sales force of people who represented your company just the way you wanted them to, 24/7? That is in essence what a blog can do for you. You construct your message and it reaches people intact without being diluted by other factors.
5. Outlast the Competition
In the past five years alone, there has been a strong, (startling!), and measurable shift in the way companies reach their customers. While blogging has become an advertising triumph for those in the know, those who cannot or choose not to enter the digital media ring to compete will soon find themselves knocked out.
Questions? Contact ShellyKent@comcast.net
Attitude
The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of Attitude on life. Attitude, to me is more important than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than success, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company…a church…a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice everyday regarding the Attitude we embrace for that day. We cannot change our past…we cannot change the fact that people act a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play the one string, we have, and that is our Attitude. I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it. And so it is with you…we are in charge of our ATTITUDES.
Author of “ATTITUDE” Chuck Swindoll
Reasons to Keep Your online photos up to date
Reasons to keep your online photo presence professional and up to date
Posted by photographeratl on December 17, 2009
Dec 1, 2009, Atlanta, GA—On Time Photos is pleased to announce an added convenience for its customers, on-site photography for corporate headshots.
This “Professional Picture Day” allows business people to update their head shots for their business cards, print materials, and website profiles. “The advantages,” says On Time Photos owner Jerry Morris, “are the overall cost savings for the individuals and less time away from work to update their portraits.”
Today, business photos are more necessary than ever due to business’s increasing utilization of social media and website advertising. “Businesses have burst onto online forums such as LinkedIn and Facebook. You simply cannot leave the online profile photo blank and be taken seriously,” Morris explains.
Indeed, studies indicate that consumers find a business person more trustworthy and likable when they see who is serving them, and out of touch or irrelevant in the competitive marketplace when their photo is severely dated.
To maintain a professional image, Morris suggests that professionals update their photos every three years or anytime they experience a noticeable change in appearance such as hair color or style.
The idea to hold “Professional Picture Day” for organizations came as one of necessity when individuals would pull Morris aside during companies’ group photo sessions and ask for individual photo sessions after the shoot.
Morris says there are certain things people should be mindful of in their business photo. “Keep styles basic and classic,” he says. “A head and shoulders shot is appropriate for business cards and printed materials, while a closer shot works well for an online profile photo.”
On Time Photos also offers a great solution for corporate gifting: gift certificates for a family portrait. Morris photographs family and corporate events, weddings, holidays, maternity poses, and tasteful intimate portraits to gift that special someone.
Networking Comfort Zones
The temptation in this atmosphere is to get very close to another person so they can hear you and you them. This can result in being too close to another person sometimes making them very uncomfortable. This discomfort is heightened when we have been consuming alcohol and the person we are talking to have not.
Each of us has our own comfort zone boundary. This is a space around us that when another person enters we begin to feel uncomfortable. A good way to relate to this is to remember if you have ever had an argument where someone got right up in your face and possibly even pointed their finger very near to it. Remember how that made you feel? In most cases it makes a person feel more angry.
In a networking environment it is important to maintain a distance from a person that you are talking to. This distance should be almost an arms length. Most peoples comfort boundary is about the length of their arm. If you find yourself getting very close to someone in conversation, imagine if you raised your arm and that is the distance that you should be from the other person. If they move closer to you in the course of conversation, it is acceptable to them to be closer. If it is acceptable to you then continue with the conversation at that distance.
You can sometimes tell if you are standing too close to someone if they seem to be moving back while you are talking to them. If they appear to be getting further away from you, do not move to be closer to them. They will stop when they reach the distance that they are comfortable with. If they turn and walk away of course it is time to find someone else to talk to.
To be most effective in your attempts to build relationships with others, it is most important to keep these things in mind. Remember that it makes no difference what you say to a person if they are not engaged in the conversation. Good observance of boundaries can give you the edge you need to make networking work.
Choices
Think about that. One choice, just one, can change your life forever. Simply put, your life today is what your choices have made it, but with new choices, you can change directions this very moment. For me, that idea alone is highly motivational because it offers tremendous hope, regardless of circumstances, for a better tomorrow.
Your life-changing choice may be to switch careers, to leave an abusive relationship, to go back to school, to stop drinking, to adopt a child, to start a business, to lose weight, to start a charity…to name a few. If you have the courage to do so, you could make any one of those choices, or others, today. And you would change your life.
Sometimes it’s a different kind of choice. It can be to not quit, to not giving up in the face of adversity. We’ve all been there.
Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen received 77 rejections for their idea Chicken Soup for the Soul. They had to make a decision each time…should they throw in the towel and say enough is enough, or should they keep trying to pursue their dreams? You know the rest of the story. The 78th publisher said “Yes” and they went on to sell over 100 million books.
So never forget that you are only one choice away from changing your life. Do you have the courage to make it?
How long does it take to build good relationships
Have you ever heard that it takes at least seven points of contact before someone will consider doing business with you? I have heard this many times and I believe that it is true that it takes many points of contact, tho I am not sure that it has to be seven.
The fact is that usually we will not do business with someone we do not know. Of course the exceptions to this rule come in the form of shopping for personal or home items when we go to the mall, or we stop to get a burger for lunch. I am sure you do not really know the person that you bought your washer and dryer from , or do you?
Buying decisions for the most part are made up from collective experiences. We might decide to buy from a particular store because we have shopped there a lot and had a good experience with it. We might decide to visit that store on the recommendation of a friend. Sometimes just plain old advertising draws us in and out of curiosity we find a new favorite place to shop.
In most of the businesses we encounter in networking, we want to know more about the business before we make a buying decision. In particular, we want to know more about the person who is talking to us. We want to be able to trust this person before we buy from them. Why is this? In some cases the product or service that a person is selling does not cost much, yet we need to feel comfortable in making a buying decision.
In order for someone to trust you enough to buy from you, you have to be able to let them get to know you. You can accomplish this by making contact many times and being a real person when you do. If you frequent many meetings a month, you should always take the time to say hello to people whom with you have previously met. Ask them how things are going for them on a more personal level than just asking, “how’s it goin?”.
Show genuine concern for their answer by listening. Listening and responding will help develop a deeper relationship. Be more than a passing face in the crowd and you will build deeper more valuable relationships with people.
The biggest mistake that we can make in networking is to be superficial. If we do not let people know more about us than our name and what we do, we will never be as effective as we can be. As people get to know you, they can make a decision to buy from you or not. In this realm, price and features have no meaning. It is you that makes your product better.
They may say that seven points of contact are required to make the sale, but the quality of that contact determines the outcome. Be sure to be yourself when you are out there, be genuine, be concerned, be human, and most of all be comfortable with it. This will help you to generate success that you never thought was possible.
