How to get more sales using the five factors of success 2013

How to Get More Sales – Using the Five Factors of Success 1

How to get

More Sales Using

The Five Factors of Success

Copyright © 2013 by Alan Fairweather All rights reserved. No part

of this book may be reproduced in any form and by any means (including electronically, mechanically, by photocopying or

otherwise) without written permission of the publisher.

Published by:

Alan Fairweather International [email protected]

mailto:[email protected]


Table of Contents

About the Author .................................................................. 4

Successful business people don’t make it hard ..................... 6

You have to get to know this person. ................................... 8

The Five Factors of Success: ................................................. 8

1. Mind Control ................................................................... 8

2. Belief .............................................................................. 8 3. Energy ............................................................................ 9

4. Rapport ........................................................................... 9

5. Courage to act ................................................................ 9

Factor 1 - Mind Control ......................................................... 9

Talk to yourself – they can’t touch you for it ...................... 9 Focus on the positive ........................................................ 13

Be aware of what you say to yourself ............................... 15 Think, don’t react ............................................................. 16

Don’t think too much ........................................................ 18

Factor 2 - Belief .................................................................. 19

Forget about goals ............................................................ 20 Know where you want to go ............................................. 21

Get out of your comfort zone ............................................ 22 It’s never too late ............................................................. 23

Change your beliefs .......................................................... 24

Factor 3 - Energy ................................................................ 25

Brain energy ..................................................................... 25

Body energy ..................................................................... 28

Factor 4 - Rapport .............................................................. 30

See it how they see it ....................................................... 31 It is what you say and how you say it. .............................. 33

Get off your ‘butt’ ............................................................. 34

Factor 5 - Courage .............................................................. 36

You can’t make people what they’re not ............................ 39

Strengths not weaknesses ................................................ 41

Focus on the outcomes ....................................................... 42

Keep the team focussed on outcomes ............................... 44


Trust your team .................................................................. 47

My best wishes ................................................................... 47


About the Author

Alan Fairweather, The

Motivation Doctor, is an International Speaker,

Successful Author and Sales Growth Expert. For

the past twenty years, he’s

been developing the talents of managers, sales

and customer service people, and turning them

into consistent top performers.

After training as an engineer, he moved into sales and

management, holding senior positions in the Electronics, Industrial Supplies, Car Maintenance and Drinks Industry.

He is the author of three books:

'How to be a Motivational Manager' A down-to-earth guide for

managers and team leaders.

'How to Manage Difficult People' Proven strategies for dealing

with challenging behaviour at work.

‘How to Make Sales When You Don’t Like Selling’ Skills and

techniques for business people who may not feel comfortable about selling

Alan’s inspirational and entertaining, seminars are delivered in the

UK, US, Europe, Middle East, Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia, and the Philippines.

He has delivered Seminars and Learning Events to people working

in: Banks, Retail stores, Hotels Real estate, Telecommunications,

Insurance, Call Centres, Beer wines and soft drinks, Electrical Appliances, Semi-conductors, Pharmaceuticals, and Engineering.

Alan is very much results driven and is committed to helping

businesses find new customers faster, lose fewer customers and win more sales from existing customers.

If you want Alan to speak at your Conference or meeting you can

check out his website at - www.themotivationdoctor.com

http://www.themotivationdoctor.com/


And book him on – [email protected]

You can also pick up loads of tips and techniques on how to

motivate your team at – ‘Motivation Shots from The Doc’

You’ll find it here - http://www.managedifficultpeople.com/wordpress/


http://www.managedifficultpeople.com/wordpress/


Successful business people don’t make it hard If you’re a business owner or manager, then you’ll be very much

aware of the need to find new customers and increase your sales. In

order to do that, you’re going to need a mix of skills and abilities.

You need knowledge, experience, talent and the right attitude if

you’re to be successful.

However, we need to be really clear about what we mean by

successful. You probably have a definition of what success means to

you however I believe there are two factors that identify a

successful business person:

1. Someone who gets the job done

2. Someone who does it in the easiest and least stressful way

possible

Let’s be totally clear about point 1. As a business person you know

that you must achieve your sales and profit target, if your business

is to survive and grow.

You know that you need to find new customers and hold onto the

ones you have. If you employ people, then they need to be happy

and motivated.

However, it’s one thing to have a happy motivated team; it’s

another thing if they’re not doing the business. If that’s the case,

then you’re not a successful business person - success is about

results.

However, considering point 2; I’m sure that in being a successful

business person and achieving your goals, you don’t want to kill


yourself in the process. Too many business people are suffering

from stress, losing sleep and damaging their family life.

That’s not what success is all about and I’m sure it’s not what you

want. Some people seem to believe that stress and hassle are all

part of territory and that they should just accept it.

I’ve known successful business people in terms of achieving their

targets who were not successful in their personal life. How many

marriages have suffered because one of the partners was spending

too much time being successful in their job?

How often has the relationship with our children suffered because of

a lack of quality time spent with them?

I’ve also known business people who’ve collapsed in the workplace

due to stress.

It’s been said that success has to come at a price, however that

price shouldn’t be paid in terms of a troubled personal life. We can

pay the price of success by changing our viewpoint, increasing our

knowledge of human nature and making changes to the way we

manage our self, our business and lead our teams.

John Wooden ex UCLA Basketball coach was voted the best sports

coach of all time in a recent poll.

‘I had a successful basketball career,’ Wooden wrote in his 1997

book Wooden. ‘But I believe I had an even more successful

marriage.’

Successful business people and managers get products out the door

or hit their sales target and if they’re in sports, they win the

championship. However they also do it at the lowest possible

personal cost to themselves and their families. Let’s look at how you

can do it


You have to get to know this person. For many years I’ve been fascinated by what makes people

successful in their life, whatever it is they do for a living. I’ve read

biographies, watched people being interviewed on television,

studied newspaper and magazine profiles and spoken to many

people who are successful in their fields of activity. I’ve been going

on the premise that if I want to be successful then I need to do

what successful people do.

When these people are asked about success they usually define it as

something that’s personal to them; a feeling of contentment,

achievement or happiness. However, what I’m interested in is, how

do they get to that state? The conclusion I’ve come to is that there

are five basic characteristics that successful people have. I like to

call them –

The Five Factors of Success:

1. Mind Control

They have the ability to run their own mind. They don’t let

other people or circumstances run it for them. They re-programme

their negative conditioning. They raise their level of self-esteem and

they develop a positive attitude through continual positive self-talk.

They don’t react – they think!

2. Belief

Successful people have a passion for what they believe in.

They know what they want out of life and they achieve it by

motivating themselves. They have vision.


3. Energy

They have lots of vroom! They manage stress and they know

how to relax.

4. Rapport

They have the ability to communicate and get on with people,

and to persuade people to accept their point of view.

5. Courage to act

People who make a success of what they do are willing to try.

They’re prepared to make mistakes, to assert themselves and not

get too concerned about what others might think.

We’re going to look at each of the Five Factors in turn, so firstly,

let’s consider:

Factor 1 - Mind Control

Talk to yourself – they can’t touch you for it

We need to start by breaking some old habits and establishing some

new ones; we need to start thinking and acting in a different way.

Thinking is all about communicating with yourself; it’s all the little

things you say to yourself while you’re awake. I read somewhere

that the average human has 12,367 thoughts every day. Now don’t

ask me how they worked that one out but let’s just accept that we

do a lot of thinking and communicating with ourselves.

Before you can achieve anything in your life, you need to take charge of your thinking. Take charge of your thinking and you take charge of your life


The thing is that - 70 per cent of these thoughts or internal

conversations we have with ourselves are negative. If you don’t

believe me, consider for a moment what you say to yourself when

you hear the following.

From your bank manager – ‘I need you to come in and see me’

Do you think – ‘Oh goody, he’s going to increase my overdraft’

From the person who shares your life – ‘We need to talk’

Do you think – ‘I’m about to be told how wonderful I am’

From the tax office – ‘We need to have a word with you’

Do you think – ‘Great, I’m going to get a tax rebate’

Of course you don’t - you think you’re loan is being recalled, you’re

about to lose the love of your life, and be hit by an unexpected tax

bill.

Your thoughts will control your emotions and resultantly how you

act. Every invention in the world began as thought. Thoughts are so

powerful. If you think positive thoughts, you’ll get positive results:

happiness, prosperity, heath and loving relationships.

Think negative thoughts and you’ll get negative results: stress,

sickness and unhappiness. And if you have any doubts about this

just think for a moment how those negative statements above could

make you feel.

‘We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts.

With our thoughts, we make our world’ – Buddha (568-488, founder

of Buddhism)


Negative thoughts are too expensive

Talking negatively to yourself or to anyone else is going to cost you

a great deal in terms of stress, loss of self-esteem, broken

relationships and prevent you getting what you want out of life.

Do you ever catch yourself saying any of these things to yourself?

It’s going to be one of those days

I’m tired

I’m fed up

I can’t seem to get things right

I’m losing patience

I’m no good at this

Why does nothing go right for me

I’m always late

With my luck I don’t stand a chance

I’m really unfit

If only I could win the Lottery

If I win the Lottery it would give lots of problems

It’s estimated that 77% of the things we say to ourselves are

negative, counterproductive and self defeating. We’re holding

ourselves back.

The problem is that – these thoughts that we have in our conscious

mind add to or confirm the programmes which are already in our

subconscious.

If you drop something and say – ‘I’m so clumsy!’ Your

subconscious mind receives the message and in effect says – ‘Okay,

you’re clumsy – so I’ll give lots of clumsy.’

People about to speak in front of a group sometimes say to

themselves – ‘I’ll probably get stuck for words and freeze up.’ Their


subconscious mind absorbs this and takes action. What happens? –

They freeze up.

The subconscious mind believes what you tell it if you say it often

enough and strongly enough.

Negative self talk is too expensive! It will cost you dearly if you

allow it to continue.

I’m always fascinated by the people who lift huge weights,

particularly in competitions like the Olympic Games. There are

events for men and women and they get up on stage to lift a bar

with huge weights attached.

I often wonder what sort of things they’re saying to themselves as

they pace up and down, rubbing their hands with resin powder and

taking huge breaths.

What if they were saying – ‘That looks really heavy; it’s heavier

than anything I’ve lifted before. I’ll probably drop it, make a real

fool of myself and even injure myself to boot!

What’s going to happen if they say all this stuff to themselves?

Their subconscious will say – ‘Okay, you say you’re going to drop it.

Then, that’s what I’ll arrange – and I’ll try to make sure you injure

yourself at the same time.’

Of course, that isn’t what happens. This weight lifter, who’s trained

for years to do precisely this thing, is screaming at himself

internally – ‘You’re going to lift that bar and push it right through

the ceiling! You’re going to break the world record! You’re going to

win this competition and everyone in the world will see you doing

it!’

In the day-to-day tasks that we face in our life, we should be no

different from these sportsmen and women. Think negative

thoughts and that’s what your subconscious will focus upon.


If you think illness, you’ll become ill.

If you think gloom and doom - that’s what you’ll get.

But if you think health, happiness and success – you’re already

there.

‘Most people are as happy as they make up their minds to be’ –

Abraham Lincoln.

I read this quote some years ago and I know some people have a

problem with it. We all face difficult situations in our lives and some

people more than others. However, I’ve made up my mind to be as

happy as I can and I recommend you do the same.

Focus on the positive things in your life - the things you can do -

not the things you can’t. Think about what you have achieved in the

past - not what you haven’t. Look at where you’re going - not where

you’ve been.

Focus on the positive

There’s a story about a young man who was really into positive

thinking. His workmates used to make a fool of him and of course,

he was challenged by their taunts. He told them one day that

positive self-talk was so powerful that if he told himself he could fly

through the air, he’d be able to fly.

‘Prove it’ they cried. So off he went, up to the 20th floor of the

building they worked in. He jumped off and was heard to cry as he

went past a 10th floor window – ‘Well, it’s all going great so far.’

That sort of thinking isn’t what this book is about. I sometimes get

tired of hearing people say – ‘Think positive.’ What I’m suggesting


is that – in all the things we face in life, we focus on the positive

aspects.

Say for example a customer complains to you about some aspect of

your product or service. It’s so easy to think – ‘We’ve messed up,

we’re going to lose this customer’s business, this is a disaster!’

It’s far better to think – ‘Okay, we’ve made a mistake, what can we

learn from this so that we don’t do it again and make our service

even better.’

Ironically, it’s often the case that if you solve a customer’s problem,

apologise and recover well, the customer will forgive you and

become even more loyal.

Here’s another example of what I mean:

Say you were to discover a small lump in some part of your body,

or a mark on your skin. Positive thinking might cause you to say -

‘It’s nothing, I’ll leave it and it’ll go away by itself.’

Negative thinking, on the other hand, would have you say - ‘Oh no!

I’ve got cancer, I’m going to be in pain and misery and I might die.’

Focussing on the positive allows you to say – ‘I must get this

looked at immediately, whatever it is. They have marvellous ways

of removing and curing these things nowadays.’

There will always be challenges to face with customers and the

people who work for you. Focussing on the positive will make them

so much easier to deal with.


Be aware of what you say to yourself

For the next two days I want you to listen to the self talk that goes

on in your mind and what you say to other people and ask yourself:

‘Is what I’m saying allowing me to be confident, on top and going

for it?’

If so - then great!

‘Or is it holding me back and stopping achieving what I want out of

life.’

If this is the case – Stop it – change the programme!

Like many people, I’ve followed the career of Richard Branson and

his Virgin empire. Several years ago I read that Branson, who at the

time had a string of successful record stores, was going to start an

airline.

I can recall some people saying things like – ‘Who does Richard

Branson think he is. How can he start up an airline and compete

with the other large, existing and powerful carriers in the world?

It’s a massive task, and let’s face it, aeroplanes cost an enormous

amount of money in addition to whatever else you need to back up

a flying operation.’

Branson, however, had no self doubts, or at least none which he

allowed to hold him back. He started by leasing a single aircraft; the

rest, as the say, is history.

Richard Branson has positive self belief, which gives him positive

expectations, causing positive decisive behaviour.

It’s available to all of us; we just have to focus on the positive.


Think, don’t react

How you think, your relationship with yourself is what’s going to

decide how well you communicate with your customers and relate

to your team.

The most important relationship you’ll ever have is the one you

have with yourself so you’ve got to get that right.

Henry Ford said, (he was the guy who started all the traffic chaos)

‘Thinking is the hardest work there is, that’s why so few people do

it.’

Too often we don’t think and just react to how we feel. The

successful business person doesn’t react – they think!

Successful people have a deep understanding of their own minds.

They’re aware of their needs, their strengths and weaknesses, and

their emotions. They’re honest with themselves and resultantly,

with their customers and their team.

You have to decide who runs your mind, is it you or is it somebody

else?

Let me give you an example:

I’ve always had a thing about good timekeeping; it’s something

that’s been programmed into my brain. If you agree to meet me at

8.30 in the morning, I‘ll be there at 8.20; I will always do my

utmost be on time.


So I used to get angry when a member of my team would show up

late for a meeting or an appointment with me.

When I got angry I’d get stressed and end up saying something that

I regretted later. Therefore, I learned to start thinking about the

situation and try to see it from their point of view and not let my

programming run my brain.

That doesn’t mean to say I ignored the lateness or did nothing

about it; I thought very carefully about what I wanted to say and

spoke to the team member about how we would resolve this

situation.

The point about this is - I’m not prepared to allow that team

member’s behaviour to run my mind. Getting angry and stressed is

not good for your health and it isn’t a productive way to motivate

your team.

In running their own minds successful people know what they’re

good at and what they’re not so good at. Again it’s important to be

honest with yourself.

Some people take on tasks they’re not good at thinking that they

should be able to do whatever it is. They then make a complete

mess of it and beat themselves up for being so useless.

On the other hand, don’t ever put yourself down; challenge and test

yourself before deciding whether you can do something or not.

I was once in a position to apply for an internal promotion however

I didn’t do it. I got it into my head that I wouldn’t be able to handle

the financial aspects of this new management position.

When one of my colleagues, an accountant, asked me why I hadn’t

applied, I explained about the financial bit. She didn’t pull her

punches – ‘You should have applied you idiot, you would’ve been


able to do the financial bit. It’s not that difficult and I would have

helped you anyway.’

You can imagine how I felt after that, I had allowed some program

in my brain to influence me and missed an opportunity for

promotion. It’s important to listen to that voice in your head which

is driven by your programs, but challenge it.

When I now hear that voice in my head saying, ‘You couldn’t do

that.’ I reply with, ‘Well I’m going to give it a try before I decide.’

Successful people have confidence in themselves, they accept their

weaknesses but they don’t see it as a failure. They speak out when

they don’t know something and they ask for help when they need it.

Have you ever asked a question at a meeting possibly feeling a bit

stupid and thinking everyone else knows the answer? At the coffee

break someone then says, ‘I’m glad you asked that question

because I didn’t know either and I didn’t like to ask.’

Successful people have the courage to challenge what they hear in

their own mind and also what they hear from other people.

Don’t think too much

It’s vital to run your own mind and think before you speak or take

action, however, it’s also important not to think too much.

Sometimes you need to trust your instincts and your gut feelings.

If you’re interviewing someone and your gut feeling is that this

person isn’t right for the job, then don’t hire them. Too often,

business people suppress their gut feeling - they think, ‘I must be

stupid, I’m probably wrong, they’ll be okay once they’ve started

working with me.’ – No they won’t!


In his book ‘The Luck Factor,’ Dr Richard Wiseman states, ‘Lucky

people make successful decisions by using their intuition and gut

feelings.’

Factor 2 - Belief

The second of the Five Factors is – Belief. It’s very dependent on

how we control our mind and the conversations we have with

ourselves.

Belief in yourself is what drives your motivation and that in turn

generates the energy to succeed. A person who doesn’t have belief

in themselves, or in what they’re doing, is going to find life very

difficult. Of course it can be challenging to retain a belief in yourself

when you’re under pressure from your customers and your boss.

Twenty-two years ago I was working for a brewery in the UK. (Yes I

did get lots of samples to take home) One day my manager, the

Director of Sales, handed me a new challenge. The customer service

telesales team were doing a mediocre job but had the potential to

do much more as far as bringing in more sales. He told me to sort it

out.

I inherited a totally de-motivated team of fourteen telesales agents

and a supervisor. Their job was to phone customers in hotels, bars

and restaurants and process their orders for beer, wine and other

drinks.

John, the distribution manager I was taking over from, briefed me

on my new team – ‘They’re a truculent bunch and they’re always

whingeing. There are always two or three of them off sick at any

one time and you’ll never get them to sell promotions.’


As you’ll gather, it took a great deal of self-belief on my part to turn

this team around. I was continually hearing from them and

sometimes my manager – ‘You can’t do that Alan,’ or ‘That’ll never

work,’ or ‘We’ve never done it that way before.”

I had many discussions with my manager and other senior

managers regarding things I wanted to do to improve this team. I

won some battles and I lost a few. However I held onto my belief

that I could make this team successful. It took me about six months

to start turning things around - but I did it using the skills and

techniques that I share with you in this book.

I said earlier that it’s tough to hold onto belief in yourself when

other people in your life are telling you all the things you can’t do.

You must get that positive self-talk going, focus on the positive and

believe in yourself.

It isn't sufficient just to want -- you've got to ask yourself what you

are going to do to get the things you want. – Richard D Rosen

Forget about goals

Many motivational speakers and self-help books will tell you that

you must have goals. I’ve even advocated goal setting myself in the

past.

You write down your goals and detail them for family life, friends,

finances, career, recreation, health, learning, education and your

spiritual life. However, I've now come to the conclusion that

successful people with strong self-belief don't do goal setting in this

way - why? - Because their too busy doing what they need to do to

get what they want to get.


Successful people don't spend time writing down what they want

out of life they just get on and do it. To be successful at whatever it

is we want to do, we need to ask ourselves - what do I really want

to achieve? What are my dreams and desires, what do I want to

build, to create and what sort of person do I want to be.

You need to clearly identify what it is you want out of life, what do

you hunger and thirst for, what do you really want to achieve?

If someone held your head under water you’d quickly realise what

you wanted – oxygen! You need to feel like this to be successful.

Most of us experience this feeling when we fall in love. We do

almost anything to impress and be with the person of our dreams.

This is how people create success, it’s how new countries were

discovered, products were invented, Everest was conquered and

man walked on the moon. You may not want to achieve something

so dramatic, you may want to have a successful plumbing business,

or be an excellent accountant, or even run a marathon. Whatever it

is, once you identify and focus on it you will release the motivation

to make it happen.

Know where you want to go

There is an often-told story of the swimmer, Florence Chadwick. On

her first attempt to swim the English Channel she encountered huge

waves and chilling temperature. Her trainers were alongside her in a

boat. They had greased her body to provide protection from the

cold and gave her hot soup from a vacuum flask. She had

everything going for her to ensure she was successful.

However a heavy fog set in and as the fog descended, her vision

was limited to only a few feet. The water seemed to get colder, the

waves higher and she started suffering from cramp in her arms and


legs. She eventually gave up her effort and asked her trainers to

take her on board the boat. What she didn’t realise was that she

was only a short distance from the shore. When the reporters asked

her why she’d given up when she was such a short distance from

the shore. Her answer was quite simple – ‘I lost sight of my goal.

I’m not sure that I had it firmly in my mind.’

You need to have a clear mental picture of where you want to go.

You need to visualise yourself being successful and work towards it,

you then have a far better chance of achieving what you want to

achieve.

And case your wondering about Florence Chadwick, she did become

the first woman to swim the English Channel on the 8th August

1950. It took her 13 hours 25 minutes and I bet her arms were

tired!

Get out of your comfort zone

Think about what you're doing each day and ask yourself:

‘Is what I'm doing now getting me to where I want to get to?’

If the answer is ‘No’ then do something different. Get out of your

comfort zone and change your habits.

An instructor was watching me use a piece of equipment in the gym

the other day. ‘Let me show you a different way to do it’ says he. As

you'll guess, the different way was a lot harder, somewhat more

painful, however a lot more likely to produce results.

The human body will always find an easy way to do things and so

does our brain; however as we all know - no pain - no gain.


So if you want something different to happen - do something

different!

The psychologist Abraham Maslow said:

‘If you deliberately plan to be less than you are capable of being;

then I warn you that you will be unhappy for the rest of your life.

You will be evading your own capabilities, your own possibilities.’

Tom Peters the management guru was once invited to participate in

an initiative of the Desmond Tutu Peace Trust. One hundred people

from all walks of life were asked to contribute one piece of wisdom

for future generations. As part of the process each participant was

asked to submit a key word. Tom's key word was - Engage he goes

on to say –

‘Commit! Engage! Try! Fail! Getup! Try again! Fail again! Try again!

But never, ever stop moving on! Progress for humanity is

engendered by those who join and savour the fray by giving one

hundred percent of themselves to their dreams! Not by those timid

souls who remain glued to the sidelines, stifled by tradition and

fearful of losing face or giving offence to the incumbent authorities.’

It’s never too late

Ray Kroc, the founder of McDonalds, was over fifty when he started

making money. Kroc was a paper cup salesman who obtained the

marketing rights to a multi-mixer invented by Earl Prince. He criss-

crossed the US for seventeen years selling these mixers until he

met up with the McDonald brothers. Dick and Mac McDonald

ordered eight of his mixers and had them churning away all day.

Kroc was entranced by the effectiveness of the McDonald’s

operation and started thinking about building McDonald’s


restaurants all over the US. He thought he could then sell more

multi-mixers. The McDonald brothers weren’t too keen to the idea

so they franchised the restaurants to Kroc. He ultimately bought out

the McDonald brothers, and as they say - the rest is history.

Ray Kroc’s belief in himself was unshakeable, as he noted later – ‘I

was 52 years old. I had diabetes and incipient arthritis. I had lost

my gall bladder and most of my thyroid gland.’

Kroc didn’t allow his age or his physical condition to hold him back.

Remember what I said earlier about the negative things we say to

ourselves and the beliefs we have about ourselves – don’t allow

them to hold you back.

Change your beliefs

If you do have negative beliefs about yourself, here’s a way to

change them.

Your subconscious will always attempt to move away from pain and

towards pleasure. So start to associate massive pain to your

negative belief. Think about how it will hold you back and stop you

achieving what you’re trying to achieve. Think about how miserable

you’ll feel if you don’t even try.

Old people rarely regret what they’ve done in their life but they do

regret what they haven’t done. So think forward to when you’re 75

or 80 years of age and imagine how you’ll feel if you’ve never tried.

Then start to think of the pleasure you’ll receive in fulfilling your

beliefs. Think about how good you’ll feel when you achieve what

you set out to do. If when you’re older you look back and think

about things you didn’t achieve, at least you’ll be able to say:


‘I tried, I gave it my best shot and I didn’t sit on the sidelines.’

Here are some thoughts from David Schwartz, the author of, The

Magic of Thinking Big:

‘Believe Big. The size of your success is determined by the size of

your belief. Think little goals and expect little achievements. Think

big goals and win big success. Remember this, too! Big ideas and

big plans are often easier -- certainly no more difficult -- than small

ideas and small plans.’

Factor 3 - Energy

The third of the Five Factors and something the successful business

person needs lots of. You need brain energy and you need body

energy. However as with any other kind of energy, it’s constantly

being drained away and needs replacing.

Dealing with people, your customers and your team, can both drain

your brain and your body – and you probably don’t need me to tell

you that.

How many times have you gone home to your partner and they

say: ‘I can’t understand why you’re so tired darling.’ You then try

and explain about your hard day.

Brain energy

Do you remember what I said earlier: ‘The successful person

doesn’t react she thinks.’

Reacting drains the brain – thinking, less so.

I gave you and example earlier of your bank manager saying:

‘I need you to come in and see me’ If you react to that with:


‘Oh no! What does he want, what’s wrong now? Maybe he wants to

recall my loan.’ That sort of reaction drains your brain of energy and

gives you stress.

Get the thinking bit working and say to yourself:

‘I’ll phone him now, I’ll speak to him and see what he wants. If it’s

about the poor business results, what information do I need to

make my case? Perhaps he wants to talk about how I could develop

the business.

Whatever you’re thinking – stop the negative stuff – it’ll kill

you.

‘Mental tensions, frustrations, insecurity, aimlessness are among

the most damaging stressors, and psychosomatic studies have

shown how often they cause migraine headache, peptic ulcers,

heart attacks, hypertension, mental disease, suicide, or just

hopeless unhappiness.’

Hans Selye, (1907-1982) Research on stress.

If one of your people comes to you with a problem or a customer

complaint, start thinking: ‘Let’s see what I can do about this.’

Do not, and I repeat - Do not say – ‘Oh no! What am I going to do

now?’ Every time you say - ‘Oh no!’ – Your brain has a huge drain of

energy.

I just want to say a few more words about stress. People will tell

you that there’s good stress and bad stress. I’m talking about bad

stress and it occurs when your brain is drained of energy. Some

business people seem to believe that it goes with the territory and

some even wear it as a “badge of honour”.


They also believe that it can’t be avoided; it’s part of being in

business and the world we live in. Organisations do have a

responsibility to minimise levels of stress in their workforce but we

have a responsibility for ourselves.

It’s very important to minimise your levels of stress and you can do

that by thinking rather than reacting. Challenge your inbuilt

programs, stop saying; ‘That makes me really mad’ or; ‘That really

gets on my nerves.’

Start saying: ‘This is something I have to deal with and I’ll deal with

it’. Remember; you have the choice.

I know your probably thinking (or is it reacting) – ‘That’s all very

well Alan but its hard sometimes not to get stressed.’

You’re absolutely right however; let me give you some more

reasons why you need to work at minimising it.

Stress can cause heart disease, sleeplessness, sexual problems,

overeating, drinking too much, loss of concentration and stomach

upsets.

Research is now telling us that many if not most of our illnesses can

be related to stress.

When we get stressed a chemical is released into our bloodstream

called Cortisol, sometimes known as the Stress Hormone. High

levels of Cortisol can lead to diabetes and skin problems. There is

also a suggestion that Cortisol attacks our immune system and

leaves us vulnerable to many of the bugs and viruses that come

along. This also includes cancer.

So if you’ve ever suffered from skin complaints or perhaps too

many colds, it could very well be the results of stress.


I don’t want to scare you death or give you any more stress, I just

want you to – think!

I read a lot about stress some years ago and made a personal

decision to decrease my levels of the bad stuff. When situations

occur that are potentially stressful, I go into thinking mode to

resolve it. I want to live a long and healthy life and I’m not

prepared to let stress affect that; I recommend you do the same.

Body energy

So what about the body stress? The body and the brain are linked

together so when the brain drains of energy so does the body.

However the body does a lot of running about, up and down off the

seat and often takes a bit of a battering.

For it to work well, it needs to be in good condition in the first place.

We should all know by now that if we eat too much or eat the wrong

things, smoke too much or drink too much alcohol, then our body is

in danger of breaking down.

Again it comes back to programming. I often tell people that I eat a

lot of salad. The response, Salad is boring.’ - Not the way I make it,

it isn’t. I put all sorts of things into a salad other than the green

ingredients – chillies, sun blush tomatoes, anchovies, tuna,

sardines, chicken, olives, cheese, sausage etc. Not all at once of

course, I like a bit of variation on the theme. So open up your mind

and open up the fridge but be careful what you take out.

‘You don't get ulcers from what you eat. You get them from what's

eating you.’ – Vicki Baum (American writer)

If you want to be successful in business, then you’re going to have

to do some exercise. Now I know you think you don’t have the time.

You may also be the type that doesn’t want to go to the gym and


lift heavy things or leap about in an aerobics class; however, you

need to take some exercise that makes you sweat a little.

I’m sorry, but a round of golf doesn’t count, it isn’t the kind of

exercise you need. Golf is great and it’s good for the stress but it

doesn’t make you sweat.

If you’re going to walk then walk fast for a distance, enough to push

up the heart rate and increase the breathing. (And don’t run round

the golf course with your clubs on your back; that’s going too far!)

Again, get your internal program right and start to think how you

can make your exercise enjoyable. I see some people at the health

club making the whole business a real chore. They get on a bike or

a rowing machine and try to kill themselves for twenty minutes. If

that’s your thing then fine but please don’t make it a chore, plug

into the sound system and catch up with what’s on TV.

I like to do circuit classes with a whole group of people many of

which have become friends. I enjoy the chat beforehand, the music

and the exercise. (And I also like the fact - there are more girls

than guys)

If you’re really not into exercise then please make sure that you

have other activities outside of your workplace and make them fun.

Too many people are going home and slumping in front of the TV -

successful people don’t do that. (A few years ago, I took lessons on

how to dance the Tango. Don’t ask me when I’ll ever use this skill, I

just fancied it)

So look after the body and the brain and you’ll have lots of vroom!


There are many books you can buy about how to deal with negative

stress. Although not specifically a book about stress I like this one.

Don't Sweat the Small Stuff - and It's All Small Stuff: Simple Ways

to Keep the Little Things from Overtaking Your Life.

Richard Carlson

Factor 4 - Rapport

Successful business people are great at building rapport with their

customers and communicating with their team as well as everyone

else they come into contact with.

Of course communicating isn’t just about speaking to other people.

It’s about listening and understanding how the other person sees

the situation; it’s also about being able to empathise and

understand how they feel.

There were two ways I could have looked at the telesales team I

talked about earlier. As John, the outgoing manager had described

them; a bunch of troublesome underachievers. Or, as reasonable

human beings who wanted to do a good job; I chose the latter.

Again it comes back to the question; who runs your mind? Is it you

or is it somebody else?

It would have been so easy to accept John’s description of this

team; after all he was a nice guy and he’d worked with them for a

while. The only thing is, he wasn’t a very good manager.

I could understand how the telesales agents felt in their job, if I’d

been managed the way they’d been, I’d probably have taken days

off work and complained a lot more.


See it how they see it

When you have to deal with one of your team who’s complaining to

you, rather than allowing your negative programmes to take over,

get your thinking part in gear and try to see the situation the way

they see it. You don’t necessarily have to agree with them but

perhaps you can empathise with their point of view.

The successful business person thinks about the people they have

to deal with, is sensitive to how they see things and knows that

they might think differently than they do.

I mentioned earlier about timekeeping and I know many people

don’t see it as importantly as I do. We all see the world in a

different way based on our culture and how we were brought up.

So it’s very important to understand this, particularly when you give

your people feedback be it good or bad.

A few years ago, I spent several weeks in a particular hotel running

seminars, and I started to get to know some of the staff. One day I

noticed that Carol the conference manager had been named

employee of the month and her photograph was displayed in the

reception area. When I congratulated her on this honour I was a bit

surprised at her reaction. ‘I hate it, I’m so embarrassed,’ she

complained.

Carol didn’t like the attention she was getting and as a result, this

recognition by her manager didn’t motivate her. Another member of

the team could possibly see this completely differently and regard it

as a great honour.


If you have good rapport with your people then you become

sensitive to how they see things. The successful business person

understands each member of their team and doesn’t reward

everyone in the same way.

I’ve often heard people say:

‘I treat people the way I expect to be treated.’

The successful person says:

‘I treat people the way THEY expect to be treated.’

I was smiling to myself as I read the sign on the wall in the men’s

room at one of my clients. It said: PLEASE LEAVE THESE

FACILITIES THE WAY YOU WOULD EXPECT TO FIND THEM.

I was smiling because I’ve been in bathrooms in people’s houses

over the years. Soap every where, towels lying on the floor and not

as clean as I would like. So how would these people react to the

notice on the men’s room wall?

There’s a story about three people taking a walk through a beautiful

forest. One of them is an artist, the other a botanist and the third

person works in the timber business.

As they walk through the forest, the artist is thinking:

‘What a beautiful forest, what stunning views! I’d like to come back

here some day and capture this scene in a picture.’

The botanist is walking through the forest with her nose to the

ground, she’s thinking:

‘I’ve never seen so many wonderful plants; I’d like to spend more

time studying them.’

The guy who works in the timber business is examining every tree

and thinking:

‘There are some wonderful woods growing here, I could chop this

lot down and make a fortune.’


We all see the world in a different way; the person with good

rapport skills understands this and thinks about it when

communicating with other people.

It is what you say and how you say it.

As well as listening and understanding it’s obviously important how

you speak to people. I say obviously, however I’ve known business

owners and managers who say very little to their people other than

to issue instructions and they’re often not clear with these.

Some years ago a big and successful football club appointed a new

coach. He replaced a coach who had gone on to bigger and better

things. This successful team started to go downhill from day one;

they were losing games to much lesser teams on a regular basis.

The new coach had been successful as a player and had worked as

an assistant coach at another team. Did he know the business he

was in, did he know about football? Of course he did. Did he have

good rapport with the media and more importantly his team? I’ll

leave you to answer that one.

The newspaper, radio and TV people didn’t like this new coach

because of his off- hand manner towards them; the players felt the

same and it showed in their results.

If you want to motivate your team and achieve your goals then

you’ve got to talk to them on human as well as a business level. It’s

not enough just to issue instructions; you’ve got to get to know

your individual team members.


Get off your ‘butt’

I’ve often heard business people say: ‘My door is always open,

come and talk to me anytime.’

You have to accept the fact that your team won’t always do that.

They might not want to bother you or they may feel that they

should know the answers to their questions and they’ll look stupid if

they ask. And how many times have they approached you and

you’ve been on the phone or too busy?

It’s your job to get out and talk to them.

I’ve also heard business people say; ‘I sit with my team in an open-

plan office so I’m always available to them and I hear what’s going

on’ – Oh no you don’t!

It’s important to get out of your office or up off your seat and mix

with your people on a regular basis, don’t wait for them to come to

you. Pull up a chair and have chat and don’t just talk about

business, find out how they’re doing on a human level. That doesn’t

mean prying into their personal life, but your team members want

to feel that you’re interested and care about them as a person.

It’s also important that they feel free to chat amongst themselves

so don’t stifle that. A team who have good relationships with each

other are a productive team.

Many business owners and managers aren’t comfortable about

speaking to their team members unless it’s about business. I’ve

worked for many managers who knew nothing or very little about

me on a personal basis.

One of my colleagues once told me that our manager had asked

him if I was gay. He’d come to this conclusion because there didn’t

seem to be a woman in my life. At the time he was coming to this


conclusion, I was going through the break up of my fifteen year

marriage to my wife. However my manager didn’t know that nor

would he have been able to handle it if he did. That doesn’t suggest

he was a bad person, he just didn’t know how to make that human

connection and sadly he didn’t try.

Perhaps you’re not comfortable speaking to your team on a human

level, so I suggest you read my book:

How to be a Motivational Manager

However, for the moment I would ask that you consider the

importance of your communication and rapport building skills. Your

success as a business person is highly dependent on your ability to

listen and speak with people. Human beings crave attention and

acceptance and they want to know you care. If your customers and

your team members feel that you’re interested and care about them

as individuals, then it becomes so much easier for you to achieve

your goals.

Successful entrepreneurs are excellent at building rapport. When

you meet them they don’t necessarily talk about themselves, they

ask you questions. I’ve met several successful business people and

I’m always impressed and flattered by their interest in me.

You can practise your rapport building skills any time, particularly in

your personal life. In the locker room at my local health club, I

notice that many of the guys don’t speak to each other. I always

make a point of saying hello or passing the time of day. If they

don’t want to talk then that’s fine. However, I find they usually do

and I’ve had some interesting conversations.

And forget what your mother said about never speaking to

strangers – always speak to them!


Speak to everyone you meet and practise your rapport building

skills - taxi drivers, people in trains, aeroplanes and anywhere else

you come into contact. I sometimes have to push myself to do it but

I’m always glad when I do.

I also suggest that if you want to improve your rapport building

skills, you need to find out more about NLP (Neuro-Linguistic

Programming)

NLP is one of the fastest growing developments in applied

psychology.

NLP skills are proving invaluable for personal development and

counselling, education and business.

NLP will show you how to create rapport with others, develop your

influencing skills, and help you understand and use body language.

If you want more information, then I suggest you check some of the

many books around on the subject.

Factor 5 - Courage

Factor Five in my list of success characteristics is - the courage to

act.

You’re going to need a lot of courage to be a really successful

business owner and manager. You need courage to run your own

mind, to question and possibly change your programming.

Christine, the supervisor of the telesales team I described earlier,

phoned me one day. ‘I want to have a bit of a celebration on Friday


afternoons’ she said. ‘I want to celebrate the team’s success for the

week and have some chocolates, cake and wine.’

Now I have a program (call me old fashioned) that tells me; ‘No

alcohol in the work place,’ it’s a big no-no.

However I thought about it for a second, cancelled the no alcohol

program in my brain and told Christine to go ahead. However, there

was still a bit of me, (these programs can be very powerful) that

thought I was maybe doing the wrong thing.

Perhaps they would get drunk and insult the customers or other

colleagues, and what would my manager say? Needless to say the

Friday afternoon session was a big success and the ironic thing is;

everyone on the team was so busy working that they hardly had

any time to eat the cake or drink the wine. I was glad I’d had the

courage to challenge my programming.

As well as challenging your own programming, you’re going to need

courage to deal with difficult situations with your customers and in

your team. You need the courage to sometimes say ‘no’ and still

keep the customer and the team motivated.

In your communications with people you’ll often need the courage

to stand up for what you believe to be right.

I once had my boss say to me; ‘Alan, I’m going to promote this guy

from another department into your sales team.’

Coolly and calmly, I informed the boss that - I’d interviewed this

individual and I didn’t think he was suitable for my sales team. I

reminded him that in order to produce the results he required I

needed to be sure that I had the best people for the job, in my

team.


After a bit of wrangling I won this particular “discussion” but as I

said earlier, you don’t win them all. However you must have the

courage to try.

I read somewhere that; ‘Winners make mistakes but losers never

do.’

That’s because winners have the courage to try and they know

they’ll make mistakes, however that’s how they learn and move

forward.

Courage is the first of human qualities because it is the quality

which guarantees all others. - Winston Churchill (1874-1965)

Winston Churchill says that courage is the first of human qualities

and who am I to argue. There is no doubt that successful business

people have the courage to challenge their own programming and

deal with difficult customer and staff situations. They have the

courage to do things in a different way and challenge conventional

wisdom. They have the courage of their own convictions and don’t

allow other people to run their mind.

However they also have the courage to challenge themselves and

accept that they may not always be right. They listen to other

people, study new ways of doing things and – think!

These are the Five Factors of Success and I believe that they are

the characteristics of successful business people and managers.

However there are two other factors that successful business people

are aware of. Factors that allow them to get the best out of other

people particularly those who work for them.

Let’s take a look at how the successful business person manages

their people using the Five Factors.


You can’t make people what they’re not

Many business people and managers are spending too much time

trying to change the underperforming people who work for them.

They seem to believe that if they train people - tell them what to do

or even threaten them with the sack; then the performance level

will go up.

The successful manager concentrates on developing the strengths

of his team members - not trying to correct their weaknesses.

Sometimes you have to manage around a weakness, but you can’t

make people what they’re not.

I described earlier how I had taken some golf lessons. A friend and I

spent some hours with a professional golfer and coach at a local

country club. This was really useful to me and I did get better.

However my friend Robin hadn’t a clue. No matter what the pro told

him to do, how to change his stance and his grip, he could hardly

hit the ball.

If you’d given Robin a hundred lessons and threatened him with a

gun, I doubt if he’d ever have completed a round of golf in less than

two days. Robin is a successful lawyer and makes a lot of money,

however a golfer – he is not.

So if you have a sales person on your team who isn’t bringing in the

sales or a production engineer who isn’t making his quota then you

have to make a decision (back to the thinking part). Is this person

not producing because they don’t have the ability; because they

need more training or - because there’s another reason?

You can read more about coaching and other reasons for non

performance in my book – How to be a Motivational Manager.


But for the moment it’s important to understand that the individual

may not be able to do the job.

They may tell you they can do the job because they’re unwilling to

accept defeat; however I’ve known people in sales jobs who

shouldn’t be in sales and doctors, plumbers, lawyers and engineers

who were also in the wrong job.

What you need to do is get people who can’t do the job into a job

that they can do or get them out of your team.

I joined three companies as a manager and in each case I inherited

team members who didn’t have what it takes to do the job. I’d

usually find three categories of people in the teams - The first group

were the “good guys,” the ones I knew could do the job and

wouldn’t give me any hassle.

The second group consisted of people who needed a bit of looking

after, watching closely and definitely some coaching.

The third group were the ones didn’t have either the skills or the

characteristics to do the job and no amount of training, or anything

I could do, would change that.

I would often find that these people, due to their lack of success,

weren’t exactly happy in the job anyway and were sometimes only

too pleased to be transferred to another position.

I hear you saying, ‘Easier said than done Alan’ and you’re right. But

the successful manager needs to address these issues for the good

of the team and the business. This is one area where the factor of

“Courage” is definitely required.


Strengths not weaknesses

It’s vital to give your people feedback on their strengths and also on

their weaknesses. However these will only be weaknesses that we

know the individual can do something about.

It’s a waste of your time and effort trying to sort weaknesses that

can’t be sorted.

Some people just can’t build relationships with customers; others

can’t work as fast as you need them to and others can’t write a

report to save their life.

Your most productive time as a manager will be spent giving

feedback on strengths and how to develop these even further.

Many managers spend the majority of their time with team

members trying to resolve weaknesses. They then don’t have the

time or sometimes the capability to give feedback on strengths.

The successful manager concentrates on strengths not weaknesses.

One company where I worked as a Regional Sales Manager had

very strict procedures on how a field salesperson should conduct

themselves.

They had to present the sale to a customer in a particular

structured way. They had to dress in a certain way and do their

paperwork in a certain way. Their car had to be clean and their

product samples had to be laid out in the trunk of their car in the

“company” way.

My boss, the General Sales Manager, was a stickler for these rules

and regulations. However, needless to say, certain sales people in

my team didn’t always do their paperwork on time or have their car

laid out in the required way.


They did however bring in the sales and as their manager that was

the outcome I needed from them. Therefore, I was extremely

careful how I gave them feedback on their performance. I knew that

I’d be ultimately be judged by my manager on the sales

performance of my team so I concentrated on reinforcing their skills

in that area.

I didn’t ignore untidy paperwork or samples that weren’t laid out

properly but I definitely kept any comments to the absolute

minimum.

I’ve witnessed a salesman, in another team, handing a big order to

his manager and then being reprimanded for having an untidy car

trunk. If that’s the approach you take, then what you end up with is

tidy car trunks and fewer sales.

Focus on the outcomes

Successful business owners and managers need to be very clear

about what outcomes they want.

Whether you call them goals, objectives or targets, these are the

factors that you’re ultimately judged on.

Outcomes determine whether your business is a success or a

failure.

If you’re an employed manager, you’ll find them in your job

description or contract and I’m sure your boss will concentrate on

them at your next performance review.

Outcomes are what you’re paid to achieve.

Many business owners and managers allow themselves to be

distracted and diverted from their outcomes. They get involved in

all sorts of situations that take their eye off the ball.


I regularly run a workshop for managers called Managing Your

Priorities. At the start of the workshop I ask the managers to draw a

map on a large sheet of flip chart paper of all the things they do in

their job. They almost inevitably fill that page with all sorts of tasks

and activities. More often than not they surprise themselves with

what’s on the page.

I then ask them to identify and mark with a large cross, their real

priorities, and the outcomes that they’re ultimately judged on. Out

of all the tasks and activities on the page they usually cross only

five or six priorities and sometimes less. (You might want to try this

exercise yourself sometime).

What we do find however is that the priorities that they cross are

not allocated the time they deserve on a day to day basis. The

managers will often blame their senior manager for many of the

tasks which divert them from their priorities, which is perfectly fair.

However there are many tasks that a manager takes on because –

1. They don’t like to say “no” or -

2. They don’t trust anyone else to do it or –

3. They just ‘like’ to do it themselves.

I then spend time in the workshop showing managers how to

communicate with their senior manager and their other colleagues

in order to minimise the number of tasks that don’t contribute to

their outcomes.

It’s back again to Factor 1 in the “Five Factors” - who runs your

mind; is it you or is it somebody else?


Many managers fall into the trap of believing that their manager will

understand why they haven’t hit their target or quota. They seem to

think that because the senior manager has handed out all sorts of

other tasks, then they’ll accept your failure to achieve your target.

Well let me tell you now – they won’t!

Some business owners believe that their bank manager or investors

will understand all the reasons why they haven’t achieved their

business outcomes.

However, as I’m sure you know, bank managers and investors only

want to hear that you have achieved what you said you’d do.

The successful business owner or manager keeps very focussed on

outcomes and doesn’t allow anyone or anything to divert them

without good reason.

Keep the team focussed on outcomes

It’s also important to focus on outcomes as far as your team are

concerned. Sometimes the people in your team will be only too

happy to do other little jobs and tasks that you ask them to do.

I’ve had salespeople say - ‘Oh, I’ll deliver that to the customer, it’s

on my way.’ Customer service people will say – ‘I’ll go and talk to

distribution or finance department about that.’ You have to keep

asking yourself the question: ‘Is what they’re doing helping me to

achieve my outcomes?’ If the answer is ‘no’ then don’t let them do

it.

Make it clear to your team what the outcomes are and don’t concern

yourself too much about how they get there. Now that doesn’t mean

that you encourage a salesman to get a sale at any cost, or a chef


to use inferior ingredients. And you obviously don’t want a

maintenance engineer cutting corners that could jeopardise safety.

However it does mean using your thinking part again and listening

to your inbuilt programs. Your people may not do a job the way you

would do it but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s wrong.

I’ve often listened to a salesperson speaking to a customer and

found myself thinking – ‘That’s not the way I’d do it.’ The

temptation then, is to jump into the conversation or speak to the

salesperson afterwards. However I’ve learned to keep my mouth

shut, because many times the salesperson closed the business, the

customer was happy and it probably was better than I would do it.

I checked into a hotel recently and as I signed the paperwork the

bubbly receptionist complimented me on my cologne. She asked

what kind it was so that she might buy some for her boyfriend.

Now I know this hotel chain and this isn’t part of the welcoming

speech. I also know that some managers would discourage this

level of familiarity between staff and customers. But I’ll tell you

something as a customer – I loved it, she certainly brightened my

day! Her response was far better than some of the stuffy robotic

greetings you get from most receptionists at the major hotel chains.

This receptionist had made me a happy customer and if I owned

this hotel that’s an outcome I would want.

Southwest Airlines has consistently won awards for the fewest

complaints, best baggage handling, and best on-time performance.

However everything at Southwest is focussed on fun.

Obviously safety is important and all employees follow FAA

regulations. However the whole purpose of the company is to have

fun.


I’ve flown with airlines who continually tell you that their focus is

my safety, I don’t really want to know that; I take it as a given.

Stop telling me how safe I am, you’re scaring me – I want fun.

Southwest issue guidelines to flight attendants in their training

courses. They hand out joke books and give them ideas and tools

for having fun. They then leave it up to the individual flight

attendant to create fun for the customer, as they say – ‘They don’t

want clones.’

The successful manager defines the outcomes to the team members

and then lets each person find their way of getting there. That

doesn’t mean you walk away or have no idea what’s going on. As I

said earlier, you are constantly getting out there with the team,

watching and listening and supporting what they’re doing.

At the beginning of this book I said that the two characteristics of

successful business owners and managers were –

1. They get the job done and

2. They do it in the easiest and least stressful way.

I’m just reminding you of that because to try and control your

team’s activities and get them to do things the way you want them

done, is extremely stressful. It can also mean that you de-motivate

the team and then it’ll be much harder to achieve your outcomes.

So remember Factor 3 and don’t – drain your brain.


Trust your team

I just want to say a bit more about trusting and having faith in your

people; it’s so important that I’ve devoted a whole section to it in –

How to be a Motivational Manager. However, this book is devoted to

you and your characteristics and it’s very important to get the trust

program into your brain.

The old style business owner or manager was programmed to

believe that they couldn’t trust their people. That doesn’t mean they

thought they were dishonest, just that they needed to constantly

supervise their people to ensure they did the job properly. Sadly,

many managers still see it that way today.

The successful manager thinks the opposite, he or she believes and

trusts their people to do the job and let’s them get on with it. If

you’ve got the old program, as I once did, then be prepared to

change it. Because if your team members believe that you trust

them to do the job, then it will have a huge positive effect on

morale and on you achieving your outcomes.

As you’ve probably realised by now, you don’t motivate your team –

you create the environment in which they motivate themselves.

Trusting your people to do their job goes a long way towards

creating that environment.

My best wishes

I wish you every success in your business and in your life. If you

have any questions or comments then I’d be pleased to read and

answer them.

Please send and e-mail to [email protected]


How to get more sales using the five factors of success 2013

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