Coach Deb’s post-boardroom Analysis and Coaching Tips from this week’s episode, Week 7 of “The Apprentice“

Lenny (Goldrush) was as different a project manager from Michael (Synergy) as night and day.

Results from this week:

Synergy - hit the mark - because they understood the concept of incorporating teamwork and the flexibility and variety of the games available.

Synergy’s project manager, Michael mentioned “Teamwork” several times in his presentation. His team ticked me off this week, because they didn’t seem to want to give him any credit. Yet, it was his leadership and ability to listen to his client’s needs and then carry it out that differentiated his team’s success over the others.

Sometimes “Leadership is lonely” and that’s what Michael experienced this week.

Getting a new face from Ace - Michael even melded the ACE brand right in to the banners that hung in the room, seamlessly, as the executives from Ace Hardware Paula & Rick expressed as their goal during the initial interview.

ACE helps their community by helping the boys and girls clubs of America, project: “New Faces for Helpful Places”.

Goldrush - on the other hand, had a leader who simply “didn’t listen.” To anybody. To his teammates, to the executives, even to his partner Lee at the end when he tried to help Lenny stand up for himself in the boardroom. (What a great list he prepared too!)

As entertaining as Lenny has been up until this episode, I found him to be giving way too many excuses this week - which really didn’t seem like him. Frankly, I think he was just plain tired. The Game caught up to him this week. Arrogance will also kill you when it comes to managing and leading a group. He dismissed Charmaine, yet he wasn’t even there to see how much work she was doing while he was lost in New York.

Success Secret of the Week:

Often, success is all about “sticking-to-it” and perseverance.

What do you think about this week’s decision? Was it a no-brainer for you?
Were you shocked?

Or did you predict it from the get go?

Share your comments below…

Coach Deb

If you had the choice between hiring someone you don’t quite trust even though they “look impressive on paper,” verses hiring someone who doesn’t look like the ideal candidate on paper, but you have a good feeling about that person’s integrity – who would you choose?

9 out of 10 people pick the person they can trust every single time.

An independent study on a corporation whose team had decided “on paper” to hire one company over another proved this theory. Once the team met the competing leaders, the team did a complete 180 on their decision, and went with the other company.

We think we make purchasing decisions based on logic. But in reality, we make our decisions on a subconscious level, a more emotional level; then we justify our purchase decision using logic.

Actions speak louder than words

Last week we explored a case study where Keiko met with two contractors separately. She had to decide who would get the job to renovate her kitchen.

Most people seem surprised to learn that Keiko chose …

contractor #1 who had a much higher bid, and admitted he couldn’t meet her deadline for the project. On paper, it seems the logical decision would be to go with the bid that falls within budget, and with a contractor who promised to meet her deadline.

Keiko just couldn’t trust contractor #2, even though he “said” he could meet her deadline. She explained, “He missed his appointment and didn’t call back until much later. He also didn’t ask as many questions about the job as the first contractor did. That leads me to believe that the second contractor was just making promises he couldn’t deliver.”

She felt that the first contractor actually took the time to really get a feel for what the project would entail, and gave her an accurate estimate of when the project would be completed – with no surprises when the bill came.

Making promises based on what you think someone wants to hear will never influence your listener in the long run – especially if they simply don’t believe you.

#1 Law of Influence: Do What You Say You Will Do (DWYSYWD)

Being true to your word, doing what you say you will do, and acting with a sense of honor and integrity is the most important law of influence. All other strategies are built on this.

Keep your promises. Remember - your word is your bond. As a general rule: under promise and over deliver.

Once you break a promise to a client (or a vendor) you’ll be on shaky ground. Even if it seems like a small issue, you’ll look flaky and unreliable. People want consistency – especially when shelling out their hard-earned money to you.

Being true to your word is how you’ll be judged. It will determine your success in influencing your clients, neighbors, and friends.

Coach Deborah Micek
The Influence Code

You can know all the laws of influence, all the tricks of the trade, from psychological trigger buttons to using the right words that make people automatically want to buy from you; but, if you don’t follow the #1 law of influence - you might as well flush all the books on influence strategies down the toilet.

What is this critical factor in influencing others?

Let me first share a brief story with you so you can see how this law of influence works.

Keiko was searching for a contractor to remodel her kitchen. After careful research on the Internet, she selected her top-two favorites.

Contractor #1, Tommy, arrived on time. He asked her dozens of questions such as how large she wanted her new addition to be, and what the most important features she wanted included in the new design.

When Keiko asked him how quickly he could get started, he gave her an estimated date. Unfortunately, it was a date past the time she really wanted her new kitchen completed.

Although the estimate was higher than she anticipated, Tommy explained that she would have everything she ever wanted in her new kitchen. The quality of his craftsmanship and materials used were guaranteed for the next 50 years. And before he left, he said to Keiko, “I take pride in every kitchen I’ve ever created.”

Respectfully thanking Tommy for his time, Keiko walked him to the door and waited for contractor #2 to arrive.

Three hours past the time Steve was supposed to be meeting with Keiko, contractor #2 called from his mobile phone, only to have the call dropped as he was explaining, “Wow! Time just got away from me! I should be there in about…”

Pushing the volume up on her phone, asking, “Can you hear me now, Steve?” Keiko realized the call was dropped, so she went outside to tend to her garden in anticipation of Steve’s arrival.

Another two hours passed with no call back from Steve. Keiko went inside the house to make dinner for her son.

By early evening, she finally heard back from Steve, asking if he could come right over. Consenting, she set up a new appointment for an hour from then.

Steve arrived late, but with an impressive, four-color brochure about his company. He gave the old kitchen a quick look, and asked her what her budget and deadline was.

Seconds after Keiko described why she wanted the project done as soon as possible, Steve nodded his head, and assured her he could get it done by then, no problem.

He left her with a quote that was well below her budget for the project, and told her that if she sends in the signed contract with a check before the end of the week, he’d knock off an extra 10%.

Who did Keiko choose?
Find out in next week’s post.

In the meantime, post your answer in the comments section below…

Coach Deborah
The Influence Code

Controversy surrounding the book, “A Million Little Pieces” endorsed by Oprah’s famous book club, may just be pure marketing strategy by author, James Frey - or, pure con strategy.

Either way, thanks to the arduous research by The Smoking Gun surrounding the facts and lies of A Million Little Pieces, we learn the “supposed” non-fiction book was more fiction than non.

A million little lessons

If anything positive can come from this fiasco, that was, more than anything, an insult to Oprah and her work with her book club that got millions of people back to doing what’s really important - reading - is that “bad PR” is sometimes just that - bad PR.

Oprah teaches Frey about what a lie is and the consequences of conning powerful women… I guess he still has a million little lessons to learn - and perhaps if he submitted himself to going through a 12-steps program, that he demeans and puts down in his book, then perhaps he wouldn’t be in the hot water that he is, because he would have learned this lesson from his sponsor.

To me - the bottom line is that even if controversial marketing works, and despite the fact that he’s getting a ton of attention - I would never advise my coaching clients and authors to engage in something that you would not be proud of down the road.

It doesn’t matter that his book is making more and more headlines than ever with this controversy - the fact that he deceived others by letting them think it was all truth, will diminish trust in the author - which means - good luck with any future book you ever thought of writing as a sequel.

Why was Oprah embarrased?

People trust Oprah - so when she recommends a book, people automatically pick it up and say, “Hey! This MUST be a great book because OPRAH says so!”

Oprah knows she wields this type of power and influence on millions of Americans - and she takes that responsibility very seriously.

But this doesn’t mean any of the journalists should be taking jabs on Oprah - because all she did was share a book she found interesting with her audience. We’re all still responsible to decide whether it’s a book WE would enjoy reading.

I must admit… the cover of the book is interesting, and I was tempted to pick up the book the last few times I was in the book aisle at Costco. But something kept stopping me. Something about the back cover, or the text inside. And then, when I did a little research when I returned home on the internet, I found an audio clip of the author reading his book. And that did even more to convince me this book was not for me.

Within the first few sentences, this guy insults people who have addictions, insults the 12-step program, which I’ve seen help dozens of people when I worked at a social service agency, and he pooh-poohs the concept of God.

Well - perhaps if he believeed in the power of prayer - he might have gotten “the message” from a “Higher Power” that what he was about to do, deceive the American people - was simply… wrong.

Oprah questions him in un-Oprah-esque fashion
Looks like Dr. Phil is rubbing off on Oprah - in a good way. Oprah sure helps Frey understand what a lie is and the consequence of telling lies when he came back on her show so she could ask a million little questions. And boooooy! Did she let him have it!

I’ve never seen Oprah like this. I have an all new respect for her.

She knows how to captivate and entertain an audience, but ultimately she delivers a product that she can be proud of. And it infuriates me that something like this would happen, and thereby discourage her from continuing to invite authors on her show to talk about their books, and put her seal of endorsement on her favorite books.

I hate when people talk about the person who was deceived (the victim) as though they were somehow inadequate - how they were “conned”. To me, that’s simply deflecting the real blame and the real issue - of the character of the con man himself. Let’s not cast expursions on those who have been “fooled”. Let’s put the real blame and responsibility where it lies. With James Frey- and James Frey only.

My message to Oprah:
Keep on promoting the practice of reading. And whatever you feel, don’t feel duped. Show women all across America that women never need to feel bad for trusting people. That’s a natural quality of the innocent. Only the people who are conning others should feel bad and suffer the consequences.

It reminds me of The Paradoxical Commandments, by Dr. Kent M. Keith where it talks about how people may treat you poorly and deceive you, possibly even use you, despite your goodwill towards them, yet - the author promptly encourages you to “Do the right thing anyway!”

We never want to allow others to change our personality, nor encourage us to behave against our character - and that includes how we market and engage in obtaining publicty.

Final Thoughts:
I saw an article that looked like a bookstore was offering refunds for anyone who bought his book. To me - that should come directly out of Frey’s pocket.

What do you think? Share your comments below…

And do you think it’s ever ok to lie to get more publicity?

Or do you think there’s a clear line between getting attention for your products and services, and that you should never compromise your character - even if it means less profit in your pocket.

Deborah Micek is known as the “Business Communication Coach” by business owners around the world thanks to members of the Business Owners Coaching Club™.

Official Life Coach for the Dream Makeover Hawaii TV show aired on NBC, internationally published author and weekly columnist for the business section of the Honolulu Star Bulletin. Deborah is a managing partner with the international small business coaching company RPM Success Group Inc.®

The © Copyright to all audio, video, images, and text are held by RPM Success Group Inc.® and licensed under a Creative Commons License.

Business Coaching Question:

Subject: RE: finding a “master” web master for all online marketing and tech support

Dear Coach J.P.,

In your business coachinghave you come across a good web master that you can recommend? Someone who knows how to do everything (design, coding, pop ups, exit survey’s, etc)? If so, do you feel comfortable sharing them with me?

I currently use several different people right now, mostly independent contractors outside my company. I’ve been searching for several months now and have not yet found a one person who can do it all.

It’s been a challenge !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

They all seem to swear that they’re the best - then when you give them a project they come back with excuse after excuse about why no-one could ever do it - then I spend a few hours of my time and I get it done. Since I have the knowledge in this area, maybe I should be a web master. NOT!!!

HELP! What’s your guidance or coaching for a business owner tired of managing multiple tech people?

Sincerely,

Tech Support Juggler

Business Coach’s Answer:

Dear Tech Support Juggler,

Amen brother… I hear ya! I know exactly how frustrating this type of challenge is. And when you have an expertise in this (or any area of business,) it is tempting to take it all on yourself. But as you know from our mastermind meetings in the Business Owner’s Coaching Club — taking it on yourself is the last thing you want to do as the owner. Especially with all the progress you’ve made in setting the business up to run without you.

I wouldn’t have a problem sharing a direct reference for a “master” web master, if I had ONE. Currently we have four different people all with their own expertise. And when necessary (since it’s one area of my areas of expertise,) I fill in the blanks.

After giving this some consideration, here are my thoughts.

From both my business coaching experience, and my 25+ years of business ownership, I think there needs to be a manager who coordinates/oversees multiple designers/programmers. This is the much preferred option to having ONE “master” web master. This is a long term strategy for running a successful business with any sizable online presence. (Which in today’s marketplace should be all businesses in 97% of the industries/professions out there.)

For me personally, with RPM Success Group Inc., I know this much of this “management” will be on my plate for a while, as it will be for you. But that’s no excuse for passive acceptance of the status quo. Falling back on yourself long-term, or depending on ONE tech person is not the way to go because that’s not creating a systematized business. That’s creating a job! I’ve never run any of my previous businesses that way long term, and I know you haven’t either. I guess that’s why it’s SOOOO frustrating for us a business owners to face this type of situation.

It’s an unfortunate growing pain that it falls on our shoulders until we can hire a marketing manager or train a full time office manager to handle things. But that’s part of the game.

Business Coaching Q&A NOTE: for the business owner who has a more passive web presence (i.e.: no online sales, but more of a focus on building a prospect list and creating a relationship with those people through regular communication) — you may be able to get away with ONE “master” web master. But you still need to apply the following advice to ensure they don’t get too much power or fall too far off-track.

For small business owners, here are three reasons I prefer multiple service providers (as outsource agents/independent contractors) vs. ONE “master” web master:

1. Each provider can be screened/qualified to have a TRUE expertise in one to three technical areas. Their productivity and performance should be higher than any person who claims they can “do it all.” And because of their narrow niche of expertise, you can better monitor their performance.

2. Since outsource agents are paid based on the satisfactory completion of a project, not by the hour — you have a performance-based reward system automatically built in.

3. There is no centralized dependency on ONE individual as a “master” web master. This helps prevent the company (and me) from being held hostage to the whims of any one person. If one cog in the wheel fails or gives you problems — you pull it out and replace it. But the machine (your business) still keeps running in other areas, or at least it’s not brought to it’s knees. (I know we’re talking about people here. So excuse the mechanical analogy.:))

The key to success with this model is having an office manager who’ll be responsible for all project and accountability management.

Clear goals and a mutually agreed upon time lines are critical. That way, you as the business owner can limit your involvement to the oversight and creative levels. And the office manager is the one holding outsource agents accountable to predetermined parameters.

Our goal for early 06′ is to find and train a new office manager to do just that.

So there’s my business coaching advice on this. If you want, bring this up in an upcoming Business Owner’s Coaching Club mastermind. That way we can expand on some specific action steps for you.

Enjoy!

Coach J.P.

John-Paul Micek has been dubbed the “Communication Commando” by by business owners around the world thanks to members of the Business Owners Coaching Club. He’s a weekly columnist for the business section of the Honoulu Star Bulletin, and a managing partner with the international small business development company RPM Success Group Inc.

The © Copyright to all audio, video, images, and text are held by RPM Success Group Inc. and licensed under a Creative Commons License.

I recently attended a teleconference where my jaw was dropped practically the entire time. Not because the content was fabulous - but because it was my content the leader was sharing - without giving any credit to where she learned the information.

In an age where information is a commodity, many business owners haven’t educated themselves on what they can and can not use themselves to re-sell for their own profit.

Today, during a coaching call with a business owner who was putting together a unique presentation, this topic came up regarding ways for her to protect her information from being re-used, or distributed without her company name, or author’s tag on it.

I gave her several tips on what she could do immediately to begin protecting her work, and then I encouraged her as I would any business owner to learn everything they can about protecting their intellectual property. And do it before someone tries to hock your material as their own.

The United States Patent and Trademark Office is also offering a conference on how you can protect your intellectual property from being swiped by other unethical or unscrupulous business owners.

Why would you want to go to this type of conference personally? Well - once you do all the work and put forth the research, time, money and energy into innovating the information, products, seminars or workshops you put together and sell, you’ll most certainly want it protected from those who simply copy others.

CONFERENCE ON
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY IN THE
GLOBAL MARKETPLACE*

July 18-19, 2005
8:00am to 6:00pm

Hyatt Regency Phoenix
122 North Second Street
Phoenix, Arizona

Let me share one secret that can help you in a court of law if you ever needed several ways to prove that you developed and used the information first.

Mail yourself a printed copy of the workshop handouts, book, or printed web pages that you have on content you create. Whether it’s a web site, company name, USP, unique strategy or design, mail it to yourself before you let the general public see the information.

Once you receive it - do NOT open the envelope. Keep it in a sealed envelope, so that the judge could open it if you needed additional proof that you had it in use first.

I would also include your handwritten notes, mindmaps, or anything else you used to develop your innovative idea or material.

While this isn’t necessarily a legal strategy - it has helped other writers in the past to prove their creative contributions to the book/product. Afterall, if you have gone through these great, innovative lengths to protect this information, and your unscrupulous copycat competitor did not - who do you think the judge will side with?

Now - if you really want to learn more about protecting yourself, I’d highly recommend you attend the FREE conference on intellectual property so you will know the law about using other people’s material, and protecting your own.

Why attend the conference on intellectual property in Arizona?

Here’s two reasons directly from the USPTO web page promoting the FREE conference:

Do you know what’s in your intellectual property portfolio?

“Day 1” presentations help participants to identify
(a) the types of intellectual property that may be in their portfolios and
(b) the steps they need to take to protect their assets in the United States and abroad.

The presentations will cover the four major types of IP that businesses typically encounter: patents, trademarks (and domain names), copyrights, and trade secrets.

Do you know what steps to take to enforce the rights in your portfolio?

“Day 2” presentations focus on enforcement issues that may arise in protecting intellectual property rights here and abroad.

The presentations will help participants to understand the various types of intellectual property violations: patent, trademark, and copyright infringement; unfair competition; and counterfeiting and piracy.

“During the two-day seminar, patent, trademark and copyright experts and lawyers from the USPTO will provide small- and medium-sized businesses, entrepreneurs, and independent inventors interested in manufacturing or selling their products abroad with specific details and useful tips about protecting and enforcing their intellectual property rights in the United States and around the world.”

Here’s a common question that business owners have when looking to leverage and optimize both online and off-line marketing channels.

Business Coaching Question: I’m ready for the next phase of marketing for our training workshops for chiropractors. We’ve fine-tuned our sales letter and follow-up messages as you suggested in our last coaching session. How do you think we should proceed — with email or traditional mail delivery? What’s going to give us a better response rate?

Business Coach’s Answer: To be perfectly honest, as far as the response comparison of e-mail versus snail mail … I don’t know. Anyone who tells you that one method will pull better than the other is full of it. You will never know what delivery method is most effective until you test.

The only comment I would have on the surface is based on what we know about your target market. You’ve even mentioned a number of times the fact that many chiropractors are “behind the curve” when it comes to the Internet and e-mail. But that’s subjective, and we need to test that observation.

We can develop a plan for testing email versus traditional mail delivery in our next coaching session. I’ll need to know the answer to a few basic questions:

· Who’s the list comprised of? (I.e.: are they warm prospects that you’ve contacted before? Or are at a brand-new prospects who’ve never heard of you?)

· How many doctors are on the list?

· Out of the total number of doctors, how many have e-mail addresses? (More importantly, how many have e-mail addresses that show they have their own web site? This is a good indication of their use and understanding of technology and the Internet.)

This should keep you busy until our next business coaching session.

Once we have the answers to these questions, I can help you to split the list for testing. And we’ll develop a timeline and marketing plan for your upcoming workshops too. With this approach I’ll help you minimize misses/mistakes and maximize your response rate because you’ll be marketing scientifically instead of subjectively the way most business owners do.

Aloha, and make it an awesome day!

John-Paul Micek is known as the “Click-and-Mortar Business Coach” by by business owners around the world thanks to members of the Business Owners Coaching Club. He’s a weekly columnist for the business section of the Honoulu Star Bulletin, and a managing partner with the international small business development company RPM Success Group Inc.

The © Copyright to all audio, video, images, and text are held by RPM Success Group Inc. and licensed under a Creative Commons License.