Jack Canfield  wrote that we are the average of the five people we hang around with most.  This can be a pretty scary thought.  Who are your five, and is that average you want to be?  If not, what changes will you make now so that, in the end, you will be the best you can be?

One of the best ways to become your ‘best self’ is to surround yourself with amazing people—people who give you strength and energy, rather than drain it; people who are good role models, people who expand your thinking or support and challenge you to grow.   You get the point.  And if you’re wondering what this has to do with being good in business and making money, think of it in terms of the energy you have to devote to your work every single day to keep the business  on track.    What fuels it?  More often than not, it’s those in our lives we turn to for solace, support, fun and more.  Unless you have a strong network, your tank will be more empty than full, which leaves very little if you’re building a business and watching it grow.

So to start, forget about losing weight (unless you are SERIOUSLY devoted to that goal), and think about ‘losing’ the friends, family, employees, acquaintances, colleagues and coworkers that do not contribute to your well being and growth.  This also applies to groups and other organizations you’re a part of, and the tasks you take on for other’s benefit, but not necessarily your own.

This is more doable than you may think.  Just take a few minutes to consider the top five to 10 people in your life or your business life, and then write down the answers to these questions:

• Next to each person’s name, use three words to describe each person (helpful, generous, intelligent, etc.)
• Then, decide whether they ‘give’ or ‘take’ from you.  Two columns—give or take. That’s it.  Decide.
• Now write the qualities you want in an ‘ideal’ friend, business associate, customer.  Create that person.
• Now compare THAT to the list of qualities possessed by the people on your list.  How does it look?  What does it say about you?

Once you determine who’s who and what’s what, you’ll be better able to decide if and how to upgrade the relationship, or whether to change it at all.  And remember, this entire exercise does not preclude YOU from being the best friend YOU can be to those around you—those who contribute to your well being, that is.  Rate yourself, and then proceed accordingly.  Relationships can help or hinder us.  Make yours fulfilling, and you and your business will thrive!

Data shows we must continue to market. Those that do, win. They win during the recession, and perhaps more importantly they win even more after. But, our sales folks on the frontline may need a little more than historical knowledge to help them through.

We’ve recently received many inquiries asking about where companies should focus precious resources? We know times are lean and there is so little room for error. Here are three tips for selling in a tough economy:

1. 1. Mine your existing customer base. Your best opportunity is in your current customer base. We know you’ve heard this before. But have you really done it?
2. Common scenario (SOURCE: accenture, The Point, Vol. 4, Issue 4):
   • 20% of customers provide 80% of margin
   • 85% of margin comes from only 4 products
   • More than 50% of the customer base uses only one or two products.

   Use this time to meet with EVERY single current and past client. Find out what is happening with them. Look for, and focus on, the areas where you can help them during these tough times. Make sure every customer is aware of every product you offer.

3. Create an economical option. Times are tough for everyone. Be sure you have accounted for that with your product offer. Do you have an option that takes into account the economic conditions in your market? By doing so, you let your prospects know that you understand their pain and you’re responding to it.
4. Network, Network, Network. Now is NOT the time to be silent. There may be many in your market who simply cannot enter the buying cycle right now. But that will change. And, when it does…you want to be top of mind. Be sure you are showing up, wherever possible. This is the time you want to canvas the market to build and maintain awareness. While others are cutting back, you will be the one remembered when the dust clears!

Truthfully, these are tactics you should employ no matter the strength of the economy! Still, use this “slower” time to sharpen your skills in these areas, and you will not only survive…but THRIVE!

As a business consultant, I’ve encountered many clients stuck in overwhelm. So here are some tips for surviving– and thriving— in any business situation.

Tip #1. Take action. To do otherwise breeds frustration, anxiety and stress. Inaction is not an option– ever. Not if you want to get where you’re going. Rather, take any action that will bring you closer to your goal, even if you don’t feel like doing it. When the fog lifts, and the anxiety passes, you want to be one step ahead of where you started… and one step closer to your goal. You’ll feel better and will be inspired to do more. Action breeds action, and your job is to ensure your actions relate to the direction you want to go.

Tip #2: Have a plan. It doesn’t have to be perfect, but it does have to contain a start, mid- and endpoint that makes sense. You need to know which daily, weekly, and monthly activities are vital to the big picture—the original reason you took on the challenge of a business in the first place. Do only that which serves your goal, and do not deviate from your real purpose. It’s easy to shoot from the hip. It’s simple, it’s seductive, but it won’t get you where you want to go. In the end, you will work harder without getting the results you want. You’ll be plenty busy, but not productive. A plan will keep you on track, and focused– the filter through which you define what’s important and what’s just noise sabotaging your day and diverting your attention. Once you lose focus, you lose productive momentum.

Tip #3: Play hard. It will help you to clear your head and manage your frustration. When overwhelmed, many people work harder or avoid the work altogether. Either way, not much gets accomplished. When your life is your work and your lifeblood flows through your business, the pressures are substantial. When you find yourself spinning your wheels and getting nothing accomplished, or paralyzed by overwhelm, take a break and play. Put all you have into it—your mind, heart, body and soul. Make it the ‘only’ thing in your life for that moment. You’ll return to work recharged, refocused, with clarity of purpose and the ability to take action.

If you’ve started a new business, or thinking of doing so, good for you! Don’t be deterred by present economic conditions. Plenty of businesses survive– and thrive—during recessions. So if you’re sitting there wondering how to get started, if you’re already started but are working hard without the results you’d hoped, this article is for you.

Here are five steps to jumpstart your direction:

Step 1: Know where you want to get to.
That means employing those two dirty little words: business plan. But don’t let it scare you. Your plan does NOT have to be complex. It just has to exist, whether as a scrap of paper or as a multi-faceted document. It is your road map when you become overwhelmed, frustrated, or need to make an important decision regarding your time, or your next step. Of all its elements, the most important is this: know how much money you want to make and within what time frame, so you can best determine which daily, weekly, and monthly activities are vital to the big picture. Then, do only that which serves your goal, and do not deviate from your real purpose. A business plan will keep you on track, focused, and becomes the filter through which you define what’s important and what’s just noise sabotaging your day and diverting your attention. If you lose focus, you lose productive momentum.

Step 2: Do the math.
Decide how much money you need or want to make each month, or by the end of your first year– or three or five years. Write it down (including a timeline), factoring in your target market and your industry’s ‘busy season’ or any time you plan to take off during that time period. Then, decide (or know) what is the value of your average client—how much do you want them to pay you (for how much of your time) each month/year? Know how many of these clients you will need to make the income you want, and how much time you have filled vs. how much you still need to fill. Proceed accordingly.

Step 3: Keep track.
Quantify your goal. Know every day, week or month, the number of hours you worked, and how much income you generated, and what happened to that income. This is one sure way to get and maintain your focus on what’s important and how to best use—or not— of your time. Also, know your sales ratios—how many people do you need to connect with to produce how many clients. That’s the simple version, but it works. Once you make that determination, your job is to cut the amount of time spent per ‘contact’ (i.e. conversation, meeting, etc.) to produce your best results. To do this best, develop a list of three to five qualifying questions (i.e., the questions you need to ask each prospect to determine whether they are candidates for your product or service). Know someone possesses these qualifiers before you make contact, or, work these in to each and every conversation you have, as quickly as you can. The answers will tell you whether to spend more time in conversation, or politely to move on. The quicker you can get to this bottom line (without being rude or obnoxious), the better your sales ratios, and the quicker the path to financial rewards.

Step 4: Take action
To do otherwise breeds frustration, anxiety and stress. Inaction is not an option. Not if you want to reach your goals. Rather, take any action that will bring you closer to your goal, even if you don’t feel like doing it. When the fog lifts, or the anxiety passes, you want to be one step ahead of where you started… and one step closer to your goals. You’ll feel better and will be inspired to do more. Action breeds action, and your job is to ensure your actions relate to the direction you want to go.

Step 5: Play hard.
It will help you to clear your head and manage your frustration. When overwhelmed, many entrepreneurs and professionals work harder or avoid the work altogether. Either way, not much gets accomplished. When your life is your work and your lifeblood flows through your business, the pressures are substantial. When you find yourself spinning your wheels yet accomplishing nothing, paralyzed by overwhelm, or for whatever reason simply unable to focus on your plan, take a break and play. At whatever you wish. Put all you have into it—your mind, heart, body and soul. Make it the ‘only’ thing in your life for that moment. You’ll return to work recharged, refocused, with clarity of purpose, the ability to act, and, reach your goals.

Statistics show that loyalty programs—ones that offer repeat-purchase benefits– increase customer frequency by 63 percent. This is particularly important in a tight economy where customers are watching every penny of their income, and, being more selective about where that income is spent. But here’s the rub, most of these programs often are viewed—and created—from a marketer’s perspective, and they end up leaving out the customer.

Create your own customer loyalty program that delivers benefits and value to your target market. What makes a customer feel that a loyalty program is worth joining? What makes a customer loyal? Start here: Customers won’t participate in a program that doesn’t offer sufficient value.

So get comfortable, then get creative, and use these tips to assess the value of YOUR loyalty program from a customer’s perspective. And don’t let the process intimidate you. Do what you can, and reap the benefits.

1. Research your customer base—not what you THINK you know, but what you DO know. Emotionless data is raw—and revealing. Ask questions- lots of them, and consistently from customer to customer. Remember that what customers say and what they do often does not correlate. So probe, listen, and record what you learn. Be accurate; don’t ‘interpret’. And then see how what that customer said correlates to their behavior. Make notes of differences.
2. Capture data – and remember, the emotional triggers that lead to a particular buying decision are just as important as the hard statistics of sales figures. You need to know each participating customer as an individual. Some customers have higher expectations than others. Some won’t necessarily want to receive discounts like those typically offered in retail outlets; business to business customers might want to be offered something of value to their company. Point-based programs may be irrelevant. That’s why capturing the personal data about what a customer considers important is critical to the process.
3. Maintain ongoing dialogue—encourage customers to talk to you frequently, because each interaction presents an opportunity to gain more information about them, their lifestyles and what they value.
4. Make the program simple—easy to join; easy to understand, and relevant across all points your customers deem important. Make it easy for them to redeem rewards, and offer alternative rewards if you run out of promoted ones. Otherwise, customers may become disgruntled rather than loyal.
5. Reward—but not too much. Loyalty should be viewed as a bonus. People generally like the idea of being loyal, but just how much depends on how value is delivered and attained. For example, it’s great to gain new customers, but not at the expense of the old. Be fair.
6. Monitor and review—establish performance levels and targets, based on customer information. And remember, needs and perceptions of value and expectations will change over time. Stay dynamic, innovative and keep you finger on the pulse of your customer base.

Jack Welch had it right—leadership is loaded with paradoxes. During his tenure, GM became the world’s most valuable corporation. Here’s what I learned, which you can use regardless of the size of your business, or the state of your personal life. Leadership is a state of being—a term often used and described as the way in which you exist in the world.

Here’s what leaders do:

1. Leaders relentlessly upgrade their team, using every encounter as opportunity to evaluate, coach, and build self-confidence. Professionally, you have to make sure the right people are in the right jobs–support and advance those who are; move out those who are not. This also applies to your life: who gives you joy and energy, and who saps it from you. Once you determine that, the rest of the decision is easy. Coach and build self confidence in those around you. Self confidence energizes and provides the courage to stretch, take risks, and achieve,Leaders make sure people not only see the vision, they live and breathe it. As a leader, you have to make the vision come alive. It is an essential element of a leaders’ job, but only worthwhile if it is communicated constantly and reinforced with rewards. Only then does it come to life.
2. Leaders get into everyone’s skin, exuding positive energy and optimism. It’s all about the right attitude. Make that attitude yours.
3. Leaders establish trust with candor, transparency and credit. Establish trust by giving credit where it’s due, and take responsibility when things go wrong, and when they don’t, generously pass around the praise. You don’t wear a crown, just the mantle of responsibility to bring out the best in others. For that to occur, people need to trust you. So act accordingly.
4. Leaders have the courage to make unpopular decisions and gut calls. Always listen to your gut, stand your ground. You’re a leader because you’ve been right more than you’ve been wrong. So pay attention… and trust your gut.
5. Leaders probe and push with a curiosity that borders on skepticism, making sure their questions are answered with action. Ask questions. Listen to the answers. Encourage debate. You’ll then get bigger and better solutions. And they’ll get everyone where they want to go.
6. Leaders inspire risk taking and learning by setting the example. Surround yourself with people smarter than you are. It doesn’t mean you can’t lead them. There’s an adage that says you are the average of the five people you hang around with the most. Think about it. Are you? If you want change, set the example. You’ll love the excitement that comes from it, and so will those around you.
7. Leaders celebrate. Celebrating makes people feel like winners and creates an atmosphere of recognition and positive energy. Work and life can be tough, and the latter is too short not to recognize moments of achievement, including your own. Grab as many as you can, and make them a big deal. After all, if you don’t, no one will.

There’s no easy formula. Leadership is challenging, with many balancing acts, responsibility and pressure. But, really, would you prefer the alternative?