The next 30 day challenge: A complaint free world

So, it is the start of September tomorrow and I am back on my 30 day challenge. I maybe a little slow on the uptake – but I came across this recently and thought that this was a great idea: a complaint free world.

The idea is that you wear a bracelet (sorry, can’t bring myself to wear one of their purple ones, will have to find an alternative) for 21 days. You can remove it if you go 21 days without complaining. If you complain during the 21 days – you have to swap wrists and start again at 0.

Let’s see how it goes…could be a great experiment!

Amplify’d from www.acomplaintfreeworld.org

Will Bowen is the Lead Minister of the One Community Spiritual Center in Kansas City, MO. In July 2006 he suggested his congregation use purple bracelets to monitor their success at eradicating complaining from their lives. His idea exploded around the world and nearly 6 million purple Complaint Free bracelets have been sent to people in more than 106 countries.

Read more at www.acomplaintfreeworld.org

Amazon Kindle 3 (v iPad)

I have had the kindle 2 for a while, and it has been great (although Amazon still need to sort out better book choice in the UK and stop this “only available in the US nonsense – there is an international market guys!). I have also ordered the Kindle 3 and eagerly await it’s arrival. Mike Hyatt has done a quick video review on the new Kindle as well as given us a list of improvements it has made.

I still prefer the Kindle for reading to the iPad – it is way better with the Kindle Screen and a lot easier on the eyes. Unlike Mike, I ordered the wireless version only (didn’t bother with the 3G feature).

I do think, though, the Seth Godin is right – they should produce the wireless version and sell it for around $40-50. They would clean up! Maybe that is a future release, but I can’t help but think they missed a trick here with their fight against the iPad.

So, in short – Kindle – get one. They are awesome. Amazon – sort out the price and remember the international market!

Amplify’d from michaelhyatt.com

• It is much smaller and lighter. The body is 21% smaller while keeping the exact same screen size as the Kindle 2. It is only 1/3 of an inch thick—thinner than the iPhone. At less than 9 ounces, it weighs less than a paperback. It makes the iPad feel really, really heavy.
• The screen is much better. Amazon says it has a 50% better screen contrast than any other e-reader. It is a noticeable improvement from the Kindle 2. It also boasts new, crisper fonts. You quickly forget that you are reading an e-reader.
• It has more storage. Amazon doubled the capacity. It can hold up to 3,500 books. No, I am not kidding. Most people don’t have this many volumes in their entire personal library. It will also hold a charge for up to one month with wireless turned off and 10 days with it on.
• It is available in both wireless and 3G models. I bought both. The 3G is free, though you pay $50 more for the 3G device. Still, at $189.00, I think it is a bargain. You can download books in less than 60 seconds. It’s essentially a bookstore in your hand.
• It has a better user-interface. The first thing I notices is that page turns are much faster. The annoying flicker and delay inherent in e-ink technology is almost (though not quite) gone. The selector is better, too. (I still wish the Kindle had a touch screen.) The 3G model is also available in two colors: graphite (grey) and white. I got the white one, and it is really handsome.
• It provides an enhanced PDF reader. I haven’t tried this yet, but it might be good for manuscripts and other business documents. It has dictionary lookup, notes, and highlights. As in previous versions, to get your documents on the Kindle, you simply email them to your Kindle email address, which is automatically assigned to you when you buy the device.

Read more at michaelhyatt.com

A merry heart doeth good like a medicine

A great video that will introduce a little bit of fun and laughter to your day!

Solution selling v’s problem selling

The Art of Asking Questions

Courage to pick up the stones

A few nights ago, Sharon (my wife) was out leaving me to babysit the kids. My great friend and pastor, Dave Connolly came round for for a cup-of-tea (very British!), chocolate (Cadburys of course) and a catch-up as I have been away a lot recently. It was a great time! He is a great guy.

We were talking about David and his fight with Goliath. It is a famous story in the Bible and certainly one of my favourite stories. Like many others, I have used it in sermons: “Slaying Your Giants”, “Stone Me!” and “How to Get A-Head in Life”. We use the principles of the story and apply them to our life. Great, and very practical.

A quick recap – David is facing Goliath, and his weapon of choice is 5 smooth stones for his sling. David runs at Goliath and shoots with a few small stones, targeted with precision to the head of Goliath. A message then goes from Goliath’s head to the rest of his body: you’re dead dude. Victory belongs to David and the army of God.

As we were talking about the story, we both went off on little tangents (as we often do when we chat), each getting a different angle on this legendary story. For me – it was looking at this idea of the 5 smooth stones (very specific) as his chosen weapon.

Concept: Having the courage to pick up the stones.

I wonder what that means to you?

How Ferrari ignored Twitter, at their peril

I admit it, I am an F1 fan. And like many other F1 fans around the world, I sat down to watch the grand prix this weekend at Hockenheim. And like 95% of F1 fans, I was pretty hacked-off with Ferrari’s decision to give team orders, and switch Alonso and Masa. If you don’t know what I am talking about, and you want to find out – read this BBC article on the race (but in summary, Masa was in the lead and Alonso second. Alonso couldn’t pass Masa so Ferrrari gave a “hidden” message, or team order, for Masa to let Alonso through. This is in breach of F1 rules, as well as poor sportsmanship. They subsequently denied everything after the race).

I personally am a big fan of Masa’s. I just like the guy, and have huge respect for him coming back to racing after his accident. I am not a big fan of Alonso, especially since he was at McLaren and acted the way he did. His continual moaning this season hasn’t helped his cause in my opinion either. So I wanted Masa to win (despite being a McLaren fan). I think most of the know world did, Masa deserved it. It was a year after his accident and it would have been a fitting (almost divine) result and I would imagine that even the F1 drivers would agree with me.

Like thousands of other people around the world, I expressed my thoughts on Twitter. Then when I saw the team order, I was outraged – probably more because I like Masa more than Alonso if I am honest than the bad sportsmanship. I really felt for the guy.

Where Ferrari missed it

So I put that on Twitter too and perhaps this is where Ferrari missed it. They ignored Twitter. The ability for the world to communicate has massively changed, even in the few years since the Michael Schumacher incident that caused the F1 rule to be made. Within an instant you can gauge how the world felt about what had happened. The commentators knew how people felt, the press knew how people felt and so in the interviews after the race, they absolutely pounded into Ferrrari.

(I also think Ferrari underestimated the feeling that the world has toward Masa).

Ferrari’s response was to deny it all with a bunch of weak lies, in effect calling most of the world stupid for believing what they saw. This really got people’s backs up.

What Ferrari have since done

Since that day, Ferrari have been fined $100,000 (the biggest fine that can be made) and it has also been referred to World Motorsport Council for a hearing that is likely to take place in August. But as of yet, I have seen no apology from Ferrari.

On the contrary, I read in the press today that:

Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo has slammed the “hypocrisy” of those who have criticised Fernando Alonso’s victory in Sunday’s German Grand Prix.
BBC

In the article, the Ferrari president is quoted as saying (from the Ferrari website):

”These things have happened since the days of (Tazio) Nuvolari (a Ferrari driver in the 1930s) and I experienced it myself when I was sporting director, in the days of Niki Lauda.

“Therefore, enough of this hypocrisy, even if I can well believe that some people might well have liked to see our two drivers eliminate one another, but that is definitely not the case for me or indeed for our fans.

What I read here is an acknowledgement that these orders were made but again without apology. No mention of the lies they told. No mention of the damage to the sport’s reputation. No mention of the theft of Masa’s possible first win. No mention of how they treated people like fools. Just an arrogance that claims the rest of the world is hypocritical. (It maybe, Luca, but that still doesn’t excuse your company’s actions).

What Ferrari should have done

I think that the world is to open for large companies to operate in a way that doesn’t listen to the people. They fall too quickly. In an instant Ferrari would have know what people were thinking and should have given a second team order telling the drivers to swap back. Then they should have gone to the interviews saying, “We messed up, we realised we did and so during the race we tried to rectify it. We apologise to the fans and will take the consequences of our actions without excuse.”

They could have done that if they had bothered to check the sentiment of people. This would have been a massive PR boost for them, and they would have won on every level.

I don’t know about the team orders rule. Should it stay or should it go? It is a whole other debate. For me that is not so much the issue – but what is the issue is how Ferrari have responded and dealt with the people. The people have a massive voice through the media these days, it counts more than ever. Apple recently discovered this with their iPhone 4 fiasco and the nonsense they peddled. It has set them back years on the trust scale. I can’t help but think that Ferrari’s PR needs to learn from this.

Takeaway

1. Listen to what people are saying and then act accordingly. Don’t not listen and then tell people a bunch of reasons why they are wrong.
2. Lying is pointless! Tell the truth, face the consequences and move on.

The 7 Year Cycle

We are all sat theatre style in the new Convention Centre in Liverpool busy networking and throwing out business cards as quickly as we can. I am the grateful guest of Jacqui, who does a phenomenal job driving the Convention Centre forward as this event will testify to. Jacqui has arranged for Mike Southon to come and speak to all of us about how you can learn all about Entrepreneurship through the life of the Beatles. We all know Mike through his book, the Beermat Entrepreneur — a book that I believe to be required reading for any fellow business person — so, I guess, we are all wanting to hear what he has to say. At least I am.

Mike starts his talk without giving us any indication of how long the talk will last, which I can’t help but think, in hindsight, was a premeditated move on his part. The talk went on, and on, and on…you get the picture. I was enjoyable, albeit, long and I did learn a few things. In fact, I managed to make two pages of notes from his talk, and if you get the chance to hear it – I would recommend you do – just sneak out after an hour or so with a convenient excuse.

Perhaps the most interesting notes that I took from his talk, and certainly the idea that I tell most people about, is this idea of the 7 year cycle. I am not sure if this is Mike’s own discovery or not – but it was at his talk I first heard it.

The 7 year cycle goes as follows:

• Ages 21-28: Try as Many things as possible
• Ages 28-35: Serious attempt at one thing
• Ages 35-42: try something different
• Ages 42-49: Peak of powers
• Ages 49-56: Represents maturity and self awareness
• Ages 56-63: Plan your legacy
• Ages 63-70: Become a true mentor

I find myself if the “try something new” category, not just because of what Mike says but also because it is my experience. One of those “coaching” words that I have found myself using a lot recently, is: default. It is a concept that I got from the book: Nudge.

What is the default mode of operation for you, your business or your industry? This is the mode that you return to when there are no other external forces acting on you. It is why the idea of dieting doesn’t work – because you are changing something temporarily. After a while, you will return to your default habits when the external forces acting on you bring the diet to an end.

It is the reason why debt consolidation doesn’t really work – you are dealing with changing a monthly payment. The default (or habit) that caused the debt, is still there and despite your good intentions, sooner or later you will return to it.

Well, until you reach the age of 35 it seems!

So, a lot of my personal questions at the moment are all about challenging the default. Why does it exist? How can we do it differently? How can we do it better, much much better? And it is in the answers that I find the magic, the passion and the energy to drive something forward to create change.

Whilst I don’t want to preach a theology, start a movement or worse still, create some kind of horoscope – I find the 7 year cycle quite accurate for me, past and present. Of course, there are people it doesn’t apply to, but it does help you understand what phase of life you are in, and then celebrate that phase rather than try and change it. It is good for me to be trying something new now…

Takeaway

1. What phase of the 7 year cycle are you in? How do you see the affecting you and what is going on around you at the moment?
2. What is the default that is holding you back at the moment?
3. How could you change it?
4. What’s stopping the change?

Talking with Ian Finch

MP3 Version |  iPhone/iPod/iPad Version |  YouTube | Vimeo | iTunes

Spent some great time talking with Ian Finch, the MD of Mando Group. What a top guy Ian is, a really genuine “geezer” who is a brilliant business guy. Ian has already posted on the blog and will be speaking at the en-thuse:2010 conference this year, so this video is just the icing on the cake!

In this episode, I talk to Ian about his 13 years in the business. Ian talks about how he balances business with being a new dad, giving and tithing as well as how they have engaged their staff in giving with their new Charity, the Mando Group Foundation. Ian also talks about the value of confrontation as well as their new awesomeness campaign (yes you read that right!)

(Posted on the en-thuse.com site)

Customer Contracts – what’s the point?

I had an Epiphany about sales contracts the other day when in negotiations with a new supplier that I want to use.  I won’t name the company – but let’s assume that I am dealing with your company as I am sure that most companies (including my own) do what this supplier did.

Here’s the scenario:

I want to use your company services and have made a verbal commitment to do so assuming that we agree on price (something that we have pretty much done). The sale is going well from both points of view. I am excited to be using you and you are excited to have me as a customer.

Good so far. In fact, you could say it is going great so far.

We have questions go back and forth, but they are getting answered well, at least from my point of view.

You then try and close the sale – and ask if I am prepared to sign the contract.

I say “Yes, send it over”.

So now, the sale is going really well from your point of view also.

Terms of the contract

Then I start to ask you about the terms of the contract, and that’s where things start to take a bit of a nose dive as I quickly see all the benefit of me signing this contract is for you, and none of it is for me.

Here’s how the rest of the scenario unfolds:

I am a few months away from needing your services. Consequently, whilst I am sure of what services I need now, there could be a few amendments later down the line – I might change exactly which service I use.

You inform me that once I sign the contract, I am obligated to pay 100% of the fee for each service that I sign up for. If I want to change, I still have to pay for the service that I don’t use.

Mmmm. No flexibility from my point of view. I can understand from your point of view why you have this in your contract, it does make sense for you. it just doesn’t make sense for me (yet).

So I start to question some more. Not only do I have to pay 100% for each service that I sign up for, but I have to start paying as soon as the contract is signed.

Mmmm. Not great for my cash flow. Great for yours though. This is another win for you, the supplier, but not a win for me.

The Key Question in the customer’s mind

So, I ask the key question in all of this: what is the benefit to me for signing this contract now?

It is the key question. Yes I want to work with you. I have my mind up on that. So the “what’s in it for me if I sign now” question now becomes my key question.

Your answers:

You get an account manager and technical help when you sign.

Great, but you know and I know that if I call you (the sales guy) and ask a question – you will answer it. And if you don’t know – your technical people will answer it. You still want me as a customer. You are not going to cut me off until I sign the contract. That would be suicide. So this is not a valid reason.

The time slot that you want is all booked in.

If I don’t book them now, will I loose my slot? Is that why I need to sign the contract? Again, no. I find out that if someone else comes along and wants my slot – you’ll call me first. If I don’t sign the contracts at that point, you’ll offer it to the new guys.

So again – no risk to me for not signing the contract.

You run out of answers for me.

The benefit for me?

In fact, the benefit for me is not to sign the contract: I still get the time slots I need (at least first refusal) at the price agreed. I have flexibility if I want to change services, I still get the service I need to go forward from you and cash flow is much better for me. So I don’t sign. At least not yet. I will sign when it suits me, not you (even though I like you).

In case you haven’t guessed already, this made up scenario happened to me a few weeks ago. I want to use the services of a company – but I didn’t want to sign the contract at that point.

The problem was – signing the contract was a win-lose scenario. Not signing the contract is also a win-lose scenario but the other way around. Our contracts should be win-win.

Takeaways

1. Ask yourself – what’s the point in my customer signing this contract now? What are the benefits for them?
2. What are the benefits for you are your company if they sign?
3. Is there at least some sort of balance between the answers to these two questions? If not, what can you do to change that?
4. Also look at the is terms and conditions (also know as serious constraints) on you and your customers. Is there balance here too?
5. Have you made it really clear what the benefits of signing now are?
6. Is it your contract so good that they will happily sign a second time and a third? Or does it put them off?

I know that I will be looking at ours now!

Extra Takeaway: Thinking differently

What I did here was challenge the norm. The norm in that industry is to sign the contract as asked. Everyone does it. It is what is expected. So my extra takeaway for you here is: challenge the boundaries that are in place. Just because that is the way everyone else does it – doesn’t mean that you should do it that way. There could be a better way if you challenge a little.

What’s your experience with sales contracts (others and your own)?