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Day: January 2, 2019

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Best Practices Entrepreneurship Management Personal Development Women In Business

A Servant Heart Dressed in 5” Heels

How important is a servant heart to a successful business? I was reminded of its power on a cloudy September Wednesday.

I had been preparing to visit a particular dealership for months, and had the pleasure of speaking to the owner’s assistant several times to organize logistics. My first impression was that she was capable, well-spoken and kind, and I was looking forward to meeting her.

On the day of my visit, I tried entering through the front, but it was before 8:00 a.m. and the locked door wouldn’t budge. I started to walk around the building and caught the eye of a woman headed toward the side door. She walked quickly in her 5” inch heels to greet me with a smile, a bear hug and a, “Nice to meet you! I’m the owner of the dealership.” I instantly knew I was in for a fun day.

Positive first impressions were confirmed throughout my visit. The assistant I’d been communicating with also greeted me with a warm smile and hug, as well as a binder filled with the day’s agenda. When the owner and I became engaged in a winding conversation that put us behind schedule, she jokingly said she would have to manage the “two of you.”

As we toured the dealership, the owner smiled and greeted her team everywhere we went. When she asked about her employees’ weekends and introduced me, she was met with smiles, hugs and laughter in return—even at 8:00 in the morning.

We both clearly had a lot of practice in stilettos, and when we dashed over to service, she bent down to pick up a loose piece of paper on the driveway and throw it into the trash. Her actions consistently reflected that she was all in as a leader and walked the talk. We went into the lobby and she chatted with a customer about his morning and asked if the coffee was hot enough.

As we continued, I learned about the many unusual strategies she employed to make her dealership a standout. For example, her sales team members are called Life Improvement Specialists and they adhere to a no commission / no negotiation model designed to take fear and frustration out of the car-buying process. Their whole motivation is to improve the lives of their customers.

In addition, “The Go Giver” is required reading for her employees, and they live and breathe the Bob Burg and John David Mann ideal that states, “Success is the result of specific habits of action: creating value, touching people’s lives, putting others’ interests first, being real, and having the humility to stay open to receiving.”

That ideal is expressed in an annual holiday event where employees serve hot food, offer gently used clothing to families in need, and give presents to children. Last year, they served over 2,000 underprivileged adults and children in their community.

This amazing leader received some of that goodwill in return when her team gifted her with a spin certification to help in her fight against diabetes. She kind of has her hands full running a multi-million-dollar business! Once certified she opted not to take a second job and instead revamped the store’s upstairs, purchased several spin bikes and started teaching spin three times a week to her employees. As a result, one staff member has lost over 100 pounds and improved his health. On occasion, a customer will even join class because word on the street is that she has an amazing playlist.

While I’m trying to illustrate how this leader’s servant heart affects her employees, community and business, it doesn’t even scratch the surface of this collective group of amazing human beings (a.k.a. angels on earth). This leader truly embodies the conscious-based mindset I write and talk about, and it was amazing to witness firsthand how making conscious decisions results in happier employees as well as happier customers.

For this business owner, leadership is not an option—it is a responsibility. She models the actions she expects from her team with every step she takes—which enables a supportive and profitable place to work. In return, her actions inspire her people to hold space for their customers to enjoy the experience of purchasing or servicing their vehicle. Throughout my day with her, I was in awe. Just when I thought I couldn’t be any more surprised about this team, they would share another jaw-dropping example of how they were changing the automotive industry.

As a professional who lives to espouse consciousness in business, I have dreamt about this kind of dealership environment. This leader has fallen in love with her employees and customers. She has found a way around the fears and frustrations of her people and removed them. Her ability to innovate through conscious-based decision-making positively affects all of her stakeholders and puts her far ahead of the competition.

The lesson here is that innovation is no longer just in the form of high tech, but in high touch. Tapping into emotion is a game-changing super power that few leaders know about yet. However, I believe that education will yield more conscious-based automotive brands that change the way employees and customers experience our industry.

Five-inch heels are encouraged, but purely optional.

Jacqueline Jasionowski is the founder of Shift Awake Group. Her “soul” mission is to help others connect with their purpose through a higher level of consciousness that will both drive results and enable innovation along the way. Please contact 614.403.6540 for info.

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Growth Management Personal Development

Massively Big Ideas for Creating Massively Better Franchise Agreements

You’re a franchising industry veteran. You understand franchise agreements like you do the back of your hand. But is it possible that you still have a lot to learn? That there are revolutionary new ideas out there?  I suspect yes, and I would like to tell you about them in this article.  So please read with an open mind.

What’s Wrong with Franchise Agreements?

Chances are you will agree with me when I say that there are plenty of things wrong with the binding documents that you sign with your franchisees, AKA franchise agreements. The biggest of the problems are tied to the fact that franchise agreements typically are binding for five years, or often 10.

There’s security in that, you might say. But what if some great new idea comes along during that time? Let’s say, for example, that you realize that there is a huge opportunity if you begin to sell products online, if you introduce a new line of products, or introduce some other big new idea?

You can’t just announce it and expect the change to automatically happen across all your franchise locations. Your feet are stuck in clay. How can you get all your franchisees to agree?

How can you retroactively change the franchise agreement? You have to change your franchise agreement, but it’s binding for those five or 10 years, and your franchisees are under no obligation to change. You need to write a new agreement and get everyone to sign it. What if they don’t want to? Do you really want to wait five or 10 years before you can issue a new agreement – before you can make the changes you want? Of course you don’t.

Massively Big Idea #1

This isn’t a theoretical problem, I have had many franchises ask me about it over the years. My solution? When you write new franchise agreements, include a procedure for implementing change. Here is what I recommend.

Write a provision in your franchise agreements that states that if management proposes new changes, all franchisees will get to vote on them. If 60 percent of all franchisees vote in favor of the change, it is binding on everyone. One vote per franchisee.

Of course, this new clause will not be included in the franchise agreements that are already in force. But here’s a suggestion – start including it in all the new agreements you create.  Isn’t it better to start including this provision in all the new agreements you write, starting today? In time, your old agreements will cycle out and you can replace them with new ones that include this clause . . . along with your big new business idea. This is a massively big idea

Massively Big Idea #2

Franchise agreements explain activities that franchisees are required to engage in. Your agreements might say that franchisees are expected to attend your annual convention, to take part in the training you provide, to use your signage and display systems – to refrain from selling certain products, or products made by your competitors.

Okay, your franchisees have agreed to adhere to your requirements. But what if they don’t? What if they don’t play by your rules? Are you really going to terminate franchisees who decide not to attend your convention , even though they are required to? Are you going to terminate them if they start to create their own substandard advertisements instead of those that come from you? In most cases no, you are not.

But here’s my solution. Instead of writing franchise agreements that threaten franchisees with termination, your franchise agreement should specify penalties, with specific dollar amounts that franchisees will pay for violations. With a termination option still available, if needed.

For example, the fee could be $1,000 for brand standard violations, for the first month that a franchise is in violation. If the franchise is still in violation after that, the fee increases by $1,000 a month. And it continues to increase by $1000 every month, until the franchisee complies. Plus, you back up those requirements with a clause that says you still have the option to terminate franchisees that don’t comply. Because these requirements are spelled out in the agreement that franchisees sign, you are building in a big incentive for them to adhere to the standards that build your success and your brand.

The penalties you put forth should not be punitive, but they should be rational and motivational. Let’s say, for example, that the typical airfare and hotel costs that franchisees will pay to attend your annual convention will be about $1,500. The penalty for not attending should exceed that amount. If you only penalize them $500, some of them are going to say, “I’ll skip the convention, because the penalty is less than what it will cost me to attend.”  So a $2,500 penalty would be rational.

All penalty dollars should go to the national advertising fund. That way, franchisees will not see your fines as a way enrich the company.  You will gain more support from your franchisees if the funds go to the national advertising fund – a source of funding that benefits them all.

Your franchise agreement should also include a process that franchisees can use to request a variance.  Let’s say, for example, that one of them gets into a major car accident on the way to the airport, went to the hospital, and was unable to attend your convention. Variance requests should be heard by a group of franchisees, not by  management. Franchisees are tougher than management about the behavior of their fellow franchisees.

You should look at every violation you have in your franchise agreement and attach a dollar amount to it. Of course review this process and the fine amounts with your franchise council and get their buy-in, and vet the concept with the entire system so you have the support of the franchisees before implementing this change.

Don’t wait for all your agreements to rollover.  If you have gotten support from your franchisees, implement changes now. By  offering your current franchisees a fine in lieu of termination, you can’t require the fine, but most franchisee would choose it over termination.

This will massively change for the positive how you handle violations.

Hopefully these were two ideas you never have heard of and that you can implement in your franchise system.  These ideas are game changers.

Categories
Growth Leadership Personal Development

Successful Introverted CEOs

As a new CEO, your employees expect you to be an extrovert with an outgoing, gregarious personality. Most people have the perception of a successful CEO as being an extrovert. But, in reality, you are a successful introvert who has mastered the ability to act like an extrovert.

There are many ingredients to success and many entrepreneurs who are introverts have their own challenges to deal with when it comes to business success. Introverts typically find several traditional situations too exhausting and draining.

According to research, about 70 percent of CEO’s describe themselves as “introverts”. The list of well-known “Who’s Who” of corporate introverted CEOs includes: Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, movie magnate Steven Spielberg, and Sara Lee’s Brenda Barnes. Introverts make up 40 percent of the population. Considered as introverts, these CEO’s, at times, are able to move far enough towards “extrovert status” to be considered ambiverts. Ambiverts are those who fall in the middle between extroverts and introverts. At times, they can function well in many different situations.

Thriving in corporate America as a shy/introverted executive, you may find yourself moving up the corporate ladder in your organization. Take into consideration the characteristics possessed by introverts. Introverts value privacy, need quiet time alone to recharge, feel more comfortable being alone than being with others, prefer to know a few people well (this fits for many CEOs who are “lonely at the top” and confide in a small circle of friends), like to work independently or with one or two other people, prefer to focus on one thing at a time, communicate best one-to-one, and prefer to communicate in writing instead of through talking. Before speaking, introverts think first then act on what they think about. They prefer listening more than talking, rehearse things before saying them, and are perceived as “great listeners”.

One common trait of highly successful executives is that of being creative. Since introverts spend a lot of their time alone, they are among the most creative individuals in business. Introverts, who are highly effective in completing tasks, can usually get away with saying little, but when they do speak, it is meaningful.

Introverts are also considered self-sufficient, confident, hardworking, having firm goals, reserved, being educated to overcompensate for the lack of social skills, and being Rhodes Scholars. Among people with PhDs, there are three introverts to every one extrovert.

On the other hand, extroverts typically have lots of friends; feel drained when they are bored and alone; are energized when they are with other people; are motivated to action; tend to be sociable with others, talkative, and assertive; prefer face-to-face verbal communication rather than written communication; are ready to share personal information easily to others; and respond to situations quickly. Jonathan Rauch, a self-proclaimed introverted correspondent for The Atlantic and a senior writer for National Journal, wrote a short article on introverted CEO’s that states: “Leave an extrovert alone for two minutes and s/he will reach for his/her cell phone.” Rauch also said that “In contrast, introverts need to turn off and recharge.”

Introverts are among the most successful people in the world. As an introvert, you need to find your own ingredients to success. For as an introvert, while you may not appear as if you have mastered the ability to act like an extrovert, you have the ability to demonstrate that you can be just as successful as other people. Introverts have to train themselves well enough to work through their reserved characteristics and know what they want to do with their career. As an introverted entrepreneur, you have a lot to offer the business world, but you still prefer to grab as little of the spotlight as possible. Do not let being an introvert stop you from reaching your goals − you have the ability and skills to get the job done!

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Best Practices Entrepreneurship Human Resources Management Marketing Negotiations Sales Skills Women In Business

How Do You View Your Time?

“The agency of time is an equal factor for everyone. To maximize time, be wise about how you view and use it.” -Greg Williams, The Master Negotiator & Body Language Expert

What’s your experience with time? How do you view it? Why is it that time appears to move slowly and at other times it appears to move much faster? There’s no secret about the answer. It’s what you do with your time and the perspective you have of it that makes it appear to pulsate.

This will take forever:

Have you observed how long a task takes when you think it’s going to take a longtime? Sometimes, it doesn’t take as long as you expected. When completed, you feel good and think, that didn’t take that long after all. More then likely, you feel good about your accomplishment and the perspective you have of time.

At other times, the task takes significantly longer than anticipated. You encounter impediments that you’d not considered. You become frustrated! In some cases, you pursue the task to completion. At other times, you surrender to what you perceive to be inevitable and throw in the towel.

What’s the end differences? The differences lie in the perception you had before you engaged in the task, what you experienced while addressing it and its outcome. Be mindful of that because it’ll shape your outlook when assessing future task.

I’m stuck:

Do You find yourself doing the same things repeatedly because you’re constantly relearning the same lessons? Do you see your goals moving further away as you attempt to achieve them? For you, time may seem to be a whirling mass that’s sucking you into a vortex. You’re in a rut!

Consider how you might improve your plight and develop a plan to do so. Then, engage your plan and observe the benefits derived from it. If they don’t meet your expectations, modify the plan. Be mindful of how you’re viewing the time spent when doing so. That will impact the view you have about your degree of success.

In the zone:

When you experience happiness, you experience the sensation of euphoria. When you experience prolonged happiness, that transcends into a higher sense of euphoria. It’s likened to being ‘in the zone’, a mental place that eclipses the limits of thought and time. What do you do to experience that sensation? Note what it is and when it occurs, because the more you replicate it, the more improved you’ll become. And, you’ll have a better perspective of what you’re doing with your time.

As you engage in your endeavors, consider how you view the usage of your time. If you note what makes you feel better, versus worse about its usage, you will begin to summit to the pinnacle of utilizing your time better, while feeling better about its usage. That will lead you to experience a higher sense of fulfillment … and everything will be right with the world.

What does this have to do with negotiations?

How you view the usage of time in a negotiation will impact the strategies you employ and how those strategies are rebutted by the opposing negotiator. If you view time to be short, you’ll take more drastic measures to get to the end point. That could cause the other negotiator to heighten his sense of time and both of you could find yourselves in a rushed position. That could lead to a calamitous negotiation.

Always be aware of how you view your time and maximize its usage to perceive it as being most beneficial to your cause.

Remember, you’re always negotiating!

After reading this article, what are you thinking? I’d really like to know. Reach me at Greg@TheMasterNegotiator.com

To receive Greg’s free “Negotiation Tip of the Week” and the “Sunday Negotiation Insight” click here http://www.themasternegotiator.com/greg-williams/

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Best Practices Marketing Personal Development Technology

Your Response to AI Is Actually a Personality Test

I am working with large companies on their use of Artificial Intelligence all the time, and it is possibly the most polarizing technology I have ever been involved with. Some people believe that AI will give us all a life of leisure, with machines doing more of the work so we don’t need to slave away for 40 hours a week. Others are spooked because they think that AI is coming for our jobs. What seems hard for each of those groups is that they are both essentially projecting the same thing–it’s just a question of whether they are optimistic or pessimistic personalities.

I see the same thing with my own clients–AI is equally polarizing, but this time it is around its effectiveness. Some are AI skeptics, talking about how the technology is over-hyped. Others believe it is magic, and will buy anything with those two magic letters. Both views are right–and wrong. AI just isn’t very simple.

Businesses should always be looking to improve their return on investment, which means choosing the simplest technique that solves the problem. Sometimes that’s AI, but often it’s something simpler, cheaper, and lower risk, so we should start there. Many folks are surprised when I say that, because they expect me to be pushing AI for everything, but I don’t see how that makes any sense. I spoke with a potential new client who was so taken aback that as we were leaving, they said to us, “Gee, we speak to a lot of vendors, but thanks for surprising us.”

If you are listening to vendors blathering on about that 5G blockchain kind of AI, it’s time to stop listening to buzzwords and start looking for competence. If it sounds too good to be true, it is. If your spidey sense starts to tingle every time they start talking about neural networks, listen to that inner voice. AI is no different from every other kind of approach out there. Used appropriately, it can be a huge benefit to your business. But you should be asking questions if your vendors wave their hands and can’t really explain why AI is needed and exactly why it works better. Don’t pay surge pricing for the flavor of the month.

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Best Practices Entrepreneurship Personal Development Women In Business

Human Connection Wins Every Time

I started my entrepreneurial journey three years ago. After spending a few decades as a corporate worker bee, I realized that I wanted more for myself and my family. Clearly the obvious choice would be to quit my high paying, secure job to go back to school and start a business being a life coach. Several people thought I was crazy and others were supportive. I knew in my gut that I was making the right decision. But because I had no idea how to actually launch a business, my learning curve was – let’s just say – extended.

Starting a business is no joke. You need a lot of hutzpah to do it. You have to believe in yourself and your mission so completely, you’re basically willing to lay everything you have on the line to succeed. And if you’re like me, working out of your living room, well then, you have to figure out how to network the right way. In the beginning, I was spending a lot of time networking online, because everyone was talking about how easy it was to make money over the interwebs. I made “friends” from all over the world in networking groups and cultivated my own following on social media. It garnered me a few clients and semi-successful product launches. It wasn’t bringing in the big bucks that’s for sure.

In order to get my business moving and working in my favor, I had to get out of my lonely living room and start meeting people. So I attended conferences, set up coffee dates with other entrepreneurs, and created initiatives that encouraged human connection. It only took about a million mistakes to realized that I am more productive and much happier when I’m connecting and collaborating with real life people.

To say I’ve learned more in the last three years about myself and my abilities would be an understatement. You truly have no idea what you’re capable of until you have no choice but to confront your fears and failures in order to turn them into success. I also learned that my seemingly extroverted self is also a bit of an introvert. I don’t love walking into a room full of strangers and making small talk. But with the help of a daily mindset practice, I’ve been able to change that view. Now I veiw walking into a room as a clean slate so to speak. A chance to learn about people I may not have ever had the opportunity to meet if it wasn’t for my current situation. An opportunity to connect and collaborate with like minded individuals, a way to make my brand more visible and to help others do the same with theirs.

We’ve become a society dependent on technology, which is great in some cases. In others, not so much. For a while we let human connection fall by the wayside. We stayed glued to our phones, worried that we might miss something important. Meanwhile something more important was sitting right in front of us the whole time. Human Connection is the most important aspect in building a business. It allows you to maintain focus, get feedback and exchange ideas. So get out there! And if you’re feeling trepidation about promoting yourself and your business, give me a call. I’ll be your wing-woman, because Human Connection wins every time.