Take some time to think!

I recently read the book "The Way We are Working, Isn't Working! by Tony Schwartz and it reconfirmed my whole theory about living without balance and loving it. Although Tony goes into much more detail about health, exercise and diet, he does say that the most productive people work in high energy bursts of time for shorter periods and then step away to think, relax and re-charge.

Every time I am speaking to sales professionals and their leaders I always emphasize how critical it is to jump on the phone for one hour of prospecting and then off again to return calls, check email and even take a quick walk outside to get a breath of fresh air. It is not about locking yourself in a room and pounding out hours of prospecting calls.

This also relates to the theory "work hard, play hard." I have often been critized that I am a work alcoholic because of my tough travel schedule. Again, I would argue that I have more balance in my life than the executives that are sitting in their offices for hours upon hours getting home after their family has had dinner and there is no time left except to fall asleep and start all over again.

My travel schedule has allowed me to spend more time with my family. Even when my daughter was young I took her out of school and allowed her to travel for a week with me. She had my full attention and we saw the world together. Now that she is out of college and working for me, she still gets to spend time on the road with me. My husband, Lefty has been traveling with me extensively for many years, thus giving us more time to talk about both work and our lives.

Even the most successful musicians, artists, and athletes practice in short bursts of time, giving them the ability to keep going and practice more than the ones who take hours upon hours of practice but don't step away to clear their minds and re-energize.

I am currently spending a week in Breckenridge skiing and clearing my mind. I do this every February for that same reason. The rush of the holidays are over, January is always a busy kick off month with a lot of travel and prep meetings for the year. It can seem overwhelming unless you take time to step out of the race and focus on what is important and what isn't.

I challenge you to step out of the race for at least a few hours - put that Blackberry or iPhone down and really think - think about your goals, what is important to you that you have ignored, your diet, your health and your future.

Let's Get Real

Everyone in business today is serious about staying in their business and more so growing their business. But what does that really mean. What changes in behavior have you taken to find new business. There are a lot of people out there fighting for your share of the pie, and guess what ~ they may be more serious than you. What do you have to do in order to keep the business you have and actually win more business?

The answer lies in your focus, drive and commitment to work harder than your competition to keep your current customers and win new ones. Let's say for example you have a frozen yogurt shop in your neighborhood. You already have a lot of regular clients ~ you even have a loyalty program and stamp their card each time they come in. Well, what happens when someone opens another yogurt store within 1 mile of your existing shop? The new yogurt store even tells customers that they will honor your loyalty card and they have priced themselves evenly with you, offer more toppings for the yogurt than you have and even more so, they have a customized juice bar that you don't have.

What are you going to do. Complain to your friends that the community should not have allowed them to open another yogurt store by yours, lower your prices, try to build a juice bar, add more toppings - what are you going to do?

Let's get real! No one has a license on market share. What should you do? Make sure this doesn't effect you. First let's look at business today and see how focused you are and how competitive you must be. Answer the following questions to make sure you are prepared for the next competitive strike.

1. What new things are you providing to your customers now...before they ask for it?
2. How do you respond to customer feedback?
3. What does sense of urgency mean to you?
4. How do you actively stay on top of the competition?
5. How much fun do you have with your customers and your employees?

The answers to these questions and others will help you continue to position yourself aggressively against the competition. Remember ~ Let's Get Real! Stop blaming everyone else about your loss of revenue. Find new ways to contribute to top line revenue right now, whether you are in sales or not.

For more help contact www.masterconnection.com and ask for Cindy - I will give you what you need, and don't be surprised if it isn't a good kick in the pants!