Inspirational Emails

Can be a dangerous thing especially when times are tough like now.

There are two kinds of people when it comes to how they deal with new knowledge:-

1. Those who think “blimey, I didn’t know that yesterday, so today I now realise I know everything”.
2. Those who think “blimey, I didn’t know that yesterday, so today what else is there to know?”

Someone once said “It’s what you learn after you think you know everything that really counts”.

Those ‘know it alls’ are dangerous people and can (and do) put the organisations they work for at risk of serious under performance or even bankruptcy.

These people won’t even talk to people like us - who are willing to share all our world renown, tried and tested ways of delivering the performance improvements they want and need. Maybe you could help us by suggesting ways of opening up a proper dialogue with them? - We’re†giving away a free signed copy of “the guide” (the life changing personal development book) for the best idea! Please email us at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

“We’ve got it all sorted, thank you” they say. Yet month on month sales are declining. But they still say they’re ok!

Customer attrition is at record levels. But they tell us their customer service initiatives are working!

Employee morale and levels of engagement have gone off the end of a cliff. But they’re sure that the new roadshows, they’ve just started, will turn things around. The reality is that they’ve gone down so badly they made things worse, not better!

So when we call these people, after three months or so to see how it’s all going - what do we find???

We find they’ve moved on, the business is in a mess - and they’ve now been replaced by more ‘know it alls’ who will rollout more outdated, tired remedies that didn’t even work in the good times let alone the shockingly bad times we have now.

Do we know it all? Heck no! But what we do know is that no one of us is smarter than all of us.

As the old BT advertisement used to say - “It’s good to talk”. It’ll cost you nothing to at least have a meeting - you’ve got nothing to lose and everything to gain.

If having a meeting isn’t your thing why not download our free report on “The 5 Essential things you need to know to grow your business during a recession (after you know it all)”

If you would like any further details on the ‘how to’s’ surrounding these 5 Essential things you need to know to grow your business during a recession (after you know it all). Then call us now on 01244 681068 or email us at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

Because we transform business performance so effectively for our clients, finding the ultimate definition of leadership is like finding the Holy Grail.

The best definition we’ve come across - and it’s especially relevant in today’s uncertain economic climate - is:-

“The role of the leader is to face reality and deal in hope”

Facing reality means being totally honest with your people about the way things are currently and clearly communicating what’s going to happen next.

Yes, I hear you say, but things are changing every two or three weeks, we may have to change what we do next!

That is part of the honesty! You may need to explain your:-

* Plan A,
* Plan B,
* Plan C and
* even your Plan D.

If you don’t have a Plan A, B, C and D you could end up in trouble!

Giving hope is about describing how things can be in a way that engages everyone to give their best every day until the downturn has passed. As someone once said “this too shall pass”.

Focusing on the reality and the hope enables you to be brilliantly candid - and inspirational - at the same time.

It’s about creating an emotional contract with your people (and customers). It’s about giving your people confidence. The leader creates - or destroys - that confidence.

The confidence of a leader or team member is infectious - as is the lack of confidence.
Your speed of decision making or your levels of procrastination are a measure of your confidence.
* The best thing you can do in any situation is make the right decision,
* the next best thing is to make the wrong decision and
* the worst thing you can do is make no decision.

Too many people are telling us that leaders are not making decisions or communicating effectively - thereby playing Russian roulette with the future of the business.

If you need help, our new anti-recession programme is designed for you. Our Stabilise, Prioritise, Energise, Mobilise and Optimise Programme will see you through the recession.

The results we’ve had from this have been staggering. Find out how we can produce the same breathtaking results for you on 01244 681068 or email us at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) to arrange a convenient time, date and place to meet.

I recently gave a key-note speech at a large international conference for a new client. Most people were unprepared for positive, upbeat messages about how to overcome the recession. The messages were about:-

* accepting a deep sense of personal responsibility for what goes on results-wise in your part of the business.
* creating brilliant team working within your own department and across other departments.
* looking for solutions, not problems
* Etc, etc, etc

They got a good dollup of common-sense and simple (not easy) ways of fighting the negative impact of the recession.

After one hour and 15 minutes of the Sewells inspirational and motivational “magic”, the mood of the conference changed. It changed from being a “pity party” with everyone moaning about how difficult it was for them to do business, to a dynamic, creative jamboree about how they could win business.

The transformation was amazing. The results in the business have improved over 50% since the conference.

Whilst the speech was delivered in our usual E6 style (Engaging, Educational, Enriching, Enjoyable, Exciting and Entertaining). It was my closing remarks that galvanised everyone into taking positive actions afterwards.

I looked them all in the eye (difficult with 300 people, but I managed it) and said:-

“There are powerful principles and practices you’ve all been exposed to in the last hour and 15 minutes. Your response in the bar later when you’re talking about this will fall into one of three categories:-

1. There be those of you who will just laugh and mock at the pearls of wisdom (not that there’s anything to laugh and mock at about).

The reason you’ll laugh and mock is because you are laughers and mockers! No matter what good, practical, tried and tested ways to succeed you hear - you’ll always just laugh and mock them.

This is a defence mechanism that tells everyone you’re too frightened to change. You can go home tonight, because no one wants you here, there’s a war going on in the marketplace and if you’re not up for that fight
2. There will be those of you who will be perplexed at the simple changes that will positively transform performance for individuals and teams.

The reason you’ll be perplexed is because you are the perplexed! No matter what inspiring examples are given of how people successfully changed their lives (and the fact is that if they can do it, so can you), you’ll still be perplexed!!

This is a defence mechanism that tells everyone you don’t think you’re good enough to change.

Please don’t bother showing up at the break-out sessions tomorrow because you’ll add very little, if anything.

3. There will be those of you - who believe - in the key messages, in yourselves, in your teams, in the company, the vision, the obsession with customers etc -

The reason you believe is because you are a believer- you know that whatever the world throws at you, you get the overcoming of it thrown at you as well! You develop a “we can do it”, “bring it on” attitude.

This is not a defence mechanism it’s an attack mechanism and you’ll do whatever needs to be done in order to change and succeed.

You can come back tomorrow and help us change the world!
Thanks for listening!!

Enjoy your evening!!!!

Everyone showed up the next day. The Directors had never seen, or felt, such enthusiasm, energy and creativity. The break-out sessions were electrifying.

Who makes up your team? Laughers and mockers, the perplexed or the believers?

Call us now on 01244 681068 if you need some help creating believers and changing the laughers and mockers and the perplexed.

If you want to thrive through the recession, you need to do more than ‘satisfy’ your customers.

Satisfying customers wasn’t good enough in business five years ago, and it’s certainly not good enough today. Why? Because satisfied customers mean VULNERABLE customers.

Oh no, I hear you say, our strategy is to create customer loyalty, not customer satisfaction!

I’m sorry to be the one to tell you this but - loyal customers are VULNERABLE too!

There are plenty of customers who are never satisfied but still remain loyal to you!! Their loyalty is passive not active. They stay with you because up until now they couldn’t be ar**d (as Jim Royle would say!) to go somewhere else. In a recession, they will.

Nothing short of delivering A.C.E4 (Amazing Customer Experiences, Every Time, Everywhere by Everyone) will lock those customers into you forever and stop them going to your most hated competitors!

The safest place to be during the recession is when what you do and say to your customers is so brilliant is causes them to love what you do so much, they’d never leave you. And, they freely recommend you to colleagues, friends and relatives. It’s an emotional contract you’re dealing with here!

What are your plans to deliver A.C.E4 for 2009? Let us check them out for you to make sure you’ll thrive in 2009. We can design an A.C.E4 programme just for you; one that will leave your competitors for dead.

Remember, customers may forget what you say and what you do, but they’ll never forget how you make them feel.

Pick up the ‘phone now on 01244 681068 to discuss how A.C.E4 will transform performance in your organisation, or email us at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) to arrange a convenient time, date and place to meet.

2009 looks set to be a really tough year. However, whatever challenges there may be, if you and your people have got the right attitude, you will find the overcoming of the challenges for sure.

Someone once said:-

“Nothing can stop a person with the right attitude.
Nothing can save a person with the wrong attitude.”

A “can do” attitude in every member of the team is not a “nice to have” in 2009, it’s a “need to have” - otherwise your business could be destroyed.

The way people in the organisation respond to the challenges that the uncertain economic climate brings will determine whether you thrive, survive or dive in 2009.

There’s never been a greater need for effective leadership in organisations to give direction and confidence and keep people positive, motivated and focused when budgets are tight and promotion opportunities reduced.

If your people don’t feel good about the future, how can they make your customers feel good about buying your products and services?

There’s nothing that kills a sale faster than lack of enthusiasm!

Don’t think you’re alone with your challenges - our survey just before Christmas revealed the following top five:-

1.      Keeping staff positive, motivated, focused and fully engaged in the difficult
        times ahead.

2.      Keeping yourself motivated in order to motivate those who are unmotivated.

3.      Delivering A.C.E. (amazing customer experiences) to develop loyalty when
        budgets are tight and customers are demanding and frightened!

4.      Maintaining brand premium in a price-driven market - growing revenues and
        profit to hit the numbers.

5.      Leadership - developing the skills to proactively make change occur successfully
        in an ever changing climate.

The good news for you is that we, according to our clients, are the best in the world at providing inspiring development programmes that deliver breathtaking improvements in all five top challenges.

Don’t wait until the first quarter is over before you talk to us. Pick up the ‘phone now on 01244 681068 or email us at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) to arrange a convenient time, date and place to meet.

The Law of Indirect Activity and how to make it work for us is a key part of my first book.  It will be published week beginning 23rd February (more details to follow)!

What it means is, basically, whatever you give out in life, gets reflected back to you:-

* You give out respect (in spades); you get it back (in buckets)

* You give out rudeness and contempt (in spades); you get it back (in buckets)

A brilliant example of this is:-

A salesman went into a barber’s shop one day and asked if he could “squeeze me in at short notice?” “Yeah”, the barber said, “we never seem to be busy these days”. The salesman mentioned that he was taking a trip to Rome. “What airline are you taking?  What hotel are you staying in?”, the barber asked. When the salesman told him, the barber said, “That airline is awful and the hotel is even worse”. “But I have to go on business”, the salesman said, “and while I’m there, I’m hoping to arrange a private audience with the Pope”. The barber said, “Forget it, you’ll never get to see him”.

Six weeks later the salesman returned looking great. Curious, the barber enquired, “How was the trip?”. “Fabulous”, he replied - the flight was great, the hotel was great, business was great, and I even had a private audience with the Pope”. In shock, the barber said, “No kidding! What did he say to you?”. The salesman said, “As I knelt down before him, he put his hand on my head and said, “Son, that’s the worst haircut I’ve ever seen, where on earth did you get it?”

Be careful what you give out to your customers in 2009 - especially in terms of service (in spades) because it will be reflected back to you in terms of repeat business (in buckets).

I called four blue chip organisations leading up to Christmas with what were simple queries about their products and services. None were able to sort it for me, and they all promised to call me back. Not one did! Guess where I’m shopping next time? Yes! Anywhere but there!

Call us now on 01244 681068 or email .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) for us to come and discuss with you how to get the attitudes and behaviours right so you can make the Law of Indirect Activity work for you - and not against you.

The holiday’s over Christmas and the New Year are probably more welcome than ever, after the year most people have had.

So what plans do you have? Visiting friends and relatives? Eating until you burst? Skiing in the Alps? Going to the sun and lying by the pool? PARTYING? Relaxing? Drinking a lot?
All of the above?

Some people cram so much in over Christmas and New Year, they need a holiday to get over the holidays!

The beauty about holidays is that it gives us all a respite from our day to day work responsibilities. BLISS! Only for a short time, but BLISS nonetheless.

Research shows most people don’t spend enough time relaxing. Relaxing refreshes and rejuvenates your mind and body.

I’ll be relaxing over the Christmas and New Year Holidays ñ and I’ll be writing. Well actually I’ll be thinking, and capturing my thoughts in writing. I love to write and holidays give me more freedom to generate new thoughts.

What many people fail to realise is that when they relax, and let go, ideas flood their minds. These ideas are usually beneficial and form the basis of the solutions to the challenges we face in life and work.

These ideas must be captured for you to be able to take advantage of them. Relaxing ñ thinking ñ writing ñ relaxing etc - somehow relaxing brings the next thought. It’s like magic.

Just because you’re writing, doesn’t mean you’re not relaxing. It relaxes us to empty our brain of thoughts and challenging our mind to think.

Make sure you take enough time for relaxing over the holidays in order to create new ideas. New thoughts, bring new energy, and renewed enthusiasm for you, your work and your family.

Capture your thoughts this Yuletide. Elaborate on them. Bank them.

Enjoy every second have a wonderful holiday.

Forest fires consume millions of acres of woodland every year.

An occasional fire is part of nature’s way to rejuvenate a forest. Many plants rely on fires to create gaps for the light to penetrate the forest canopy to encourage new growth.

Other plants have smoke activated buds, or seeds that are trapped by a resin until a fire melts it away.

A recession is part of nature’s way to rejuvenate an economy. It’s not necessarily a bad thing to have a clear-out every now and then; as some organisations topple, others will come through.

Politicians, regulators and bankers have let us all down by allowing the economy to choke itself. It will happen again. The one thing I’ve learned in life is that we learn nothing from history apart from the fact we learn nothing from history!

But, please let us learn how to avoid getting burned in the future by taking a lead from forest rangers.

They know the secret is not to eliminate forest fires, but to apply techniques that allow occasional and controlled blazes. This creates forest fire breaks. Suppressing all fires prevents new shoots from taking hold. It allows perilous quantities of highly flammable underbrush storing up worse and unbridled trouble for the future.

Commercial equivalents to the forest fire breaks should be an integral part of your medium to long term strategy. Are they?

If you need some help with the underbrush in your organisation then call Sewells “commercial forest rangers” now for a free consultation on 01244 681068 or email us at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). You’ll be glad you did.

We’re delighted to hear that so many of you have requested, or have in fact forwarded, our emails onto colleagues and friends. So in order to make things easier for you, and so they don’t miss out, please click on this link: http://www.sewells.com/updates/invite.asp

Last Wednesday’s “inspirational E” about selling yourself out of recession got everyone very excited! Here’s more

A friend of mine bought a new refrigerator for his house. There was nothing wrong with his old one, he just needed more capacity.

He put his old fridge into his front garden and put a sign on it saying: “Free to good home, enquire within”.

For three days the fridge sat there and not one passer-by looked at it twice.

He figured out that people were too distrusting of this deal. It looked “too good to be true”, or “desperate”.

So he changed the sign to read: “Fridge for sale £45”.

The next day someone stole it!

As we said last week, if you’re not making enough sales it’s because you’re not showing the customer that your product or service is worth more to them than their money; you’re not showing the customer the value of owning your product, or using your service.

My friend got rid of his old refrigerator when he showed it had a value, simply by putting a sign with a £45 price on it!

I know it’s basic, but many salespeople today, because times are tough, are not showing, or building, value in their products or services to customers. Matching product and service benefits to customer needs seems to be a lost art during this recession.

When what you’re offering includes enough benefits to a customer to outweigh the cost sales will rocket - recession or no recession!

Call us now on 01244 681068 or email us on .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) for a free consultation on how we can help you massively increase sales during the recession - and for it to cost you nothing!

Consider this

* 1 out of 4 workers today is working for an organisation they’ve been employed by for less than a year

* More than 1 out of 2 are working for an organisation they’ve worked with for less than 5 years

* People leaving full time education today will have had 10-14 jobs by the time they reach 38 years of age

* The top 10 “in demand” jobs in 2010 did not exist in 2004

What this means is that employers are developing people for jobs that don’t yet exist using technologies that haven’t yet been invented, in order to create opportunities or solve problems we don’t even know are opportunities or problems yet.

So, as you ride out the recession it’s the perfect time to:-

* develop your people (so they’ll stay)
* refresh your vision and communication plan in order to fully engage (so they’ll give their very best and focus on doing their very best no matter how long they stay).

Call us now on 01244 681068 or email us at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) to arrange a convenient time, date and place to meet. You’ll be glad you did.

Following the brilliant feedback regarding our email sent to you last Wednesday, here’s some more on perseverance.

Two young frogs fell into a bucket of milk. Both tried to jump to freedom, but the sides of the bucket were steep and no foundation was to be had on the surface of the liquid.

Believing there to be little chance of escape, the first frog soon despaired and stopped jumping. After a short while it sank to the bottom of the bucket and drowned.

The second frog also saw little likelihood of success, but he believed there must be a way, so he never stopped trying. Even though each jump seemed to reach the same inadequate height, he kept on struggling. Eventually, his persistent efforts churned some milk into butter. From the now hardened surface of the milk, he managed to leap out of the bucket.

The moral of this inspiring story:

Those who persevere and don’t give up may be in for a pleasant surprise!

Call us now on 01244 681068 or email us at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) to discover how we, at Sewells, can help you churn your people’s perseverance into spectacular performance results as the recession bites!

When was the last time you re-evaluated how your products and services enrich the lives of your customers and prospects? Or immersed yourself in the benefits they give to whip up excitement, energy and enthusiasm in your sales teams? Are you just assuming your salespeople will know this already? Big mistake. Big, big mistake according to our latest mystery shopping surveys.

The world has changed a lot in the last five years! Customers who cared about environmental issues were probably regarded as communists and nut cases back then. It’s not the same today! Customers and prospects care about environmental issues do your sales people care about them caring?

The world has changed a lot in the last five months! Customers will be affected by the credit crunch in different ways. Do your salespeople take the time to find out how they’ll be affected and explain enthusiastically how your products and services protect them and give them peace of mind? Do your salespeople care?

The world has changed in the last five weeks! The global banking crisis will negatively impact on people in different ways. How can your products and services minimise the effects of impact? Are your salespeople excited and equipped to sell the benefits, enough for customers to see that the value of your product or service is worth more to them than their money?

The world has changed in the last five days! An interest rate cut of 1.5%, down to 3%! The lowest since 1954! What an opportunity. Do your salespeople know how your products and services can maximise the benefit of this to your customers? If they do, you’ll THRIVE through the recession.

The best way to beat the recession for your business is to sell your way out of it! If we could come and show you how to significantly increase your sales, then the recession would only affect your less nimble competitors and not you! How good would that be?

Most of our research shows that sales processes are transactional, not relational and that features are listed by salespeople, not benefits. If benefits are discussed (and that is rare) they’re often five years out of date!!

Someone once said “If you care at all, you’ll get results. If you care enough you’ll get incredible results”.

Let us come and show you how to increase sales through building excitement, energy, enthusiasm and a real bias towards positive action in your sales team.

Recent results where we’ve done this include:-

* We began a sales improvement programme for 400 people in a high street financial services organisation three weeks before the Northern Rock debacle. Sales are up 126% year on year when all other financial services are struggling to achieve a small percentage uplift.

* Once client has increased appointments by over 70%, and closing ratios by 150%. Sales have skyrocketed.

Call us now on 01244 681068 or email us at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) to arrange a convenient time, date and place to meet. You’ll be glad you did.

There’s one person who will recession-proof your business if you look after them properly. It’s always been important to do so, but it’s more important than ever now we’re in the middle of these tough times. So who is it? Your bank manager? Your accountant? Your people?

All these are important but the most important are your customers! A recession is no time for anything less than brilliant customer handling and why?

Remember me?

I’m the kind of human being

* who goes into a restaurant, sits down patiently and waits while the waitresses do anything but take my order.

* who goes into a department store and stands quietly while the sales assistants finish their little chit-chat.

* who hangs on the end of the phone line, waiting patiently to be put through and wondering whether I’ve been forgotten or perhaps cut off.

* who phones you and introduces myself to you with my name, and when someone barks back “Account number”, courteously obliges.

* who waits for the information you promised me the information that   never comes.

Yes, you might say I’m a good person but do you know who else I am?

I’M THE CUSTOMER WHO NEVER COMES BACK!

It saddens me to see you spending thousands of pounds every year to get me back, when I was there in the first place all you had to do was show me a little courtesy and if you’d treated me like a human being I would never have gone away in the first place.

Having the right attitude is the only way to ensure your people adopt the right kind of behaviours to amaze customers with levels of service that get them coming back time after time and recommending you to lots of others.

Whatever sector you work in, from retail, b2b, manufacturing, FMCG, customer service centres, finance to travel and leisure knowing how to make customers feel valued and important is a skill that needs to be developed, refined, mastered and put into practice every day. Now more than ever.

You may have lots of clever people around you who’ll convince you that you’ve got this sorted but maybe you’d like us to come and “sense check” it for you? You can’t be too careful in this regard.

Call us now on 01244 681068 or email us at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) to discover how we, at Sewells can help you revolutionise your business with our world-class track record on what will make your customers remain loyal.

Walt Disney’s request for a loan was rejected by 301 banks before he got a ‘yes’. Because he refused to quit, he built the world’s most famous theme park. Why? He had vision ñ and total belief in it ñ so much so that his perseverance was unlimited until the task was done.

The perseverance of your people will produce the results you need as we enter the recession. However, they need a crystal clear vision and strategy that they believe in totally ñ to guide and motivate them.

Perseverance is a willingness to bind yourself emotionally, intellectually, physically and spiritually to an idea, purpose or task until it has been completed.

As one of my delivery team said at a Chief Executives Conference last week; did the Wright brothers ever quit? Did Thomas Edison ever quit? Did Nelson Mandela ever quit? Did Lance Armstrong ever quit? There were resounding “No’s” all around the room!

More importantly, he continued, did George McKay ever quit? There was a long confused silence before someone who was brave enough to ask: “Who in the world is George McKay? I’ve never heard of him”. My team mate laughed and responded: “Of course you haven’t; that’s because he quit!”

Quitters never win, winners never quit!

Perseverance is fuelled by belief, belief is fuelled by vision - the right vision; a vision (and strategy) your people can believe in that creates excitement, energy and enthusiasm.

The antidote to all the doom and gloom that is around is enthusiasm! If you need a “shot in the arm” of excitement, energy and enthusiasm call us now on: 01244 681068 or email us at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

The formula for success NEVER changes, even during these worrying and uncertain times.

Here are some of the essentials to ensure that you and your team are reaping all the benefits:-

* The successful person is not the one who makes the fewest mistakes. It’s the one who learns the most from them.
* How people play the game, shows something of their character. How they lose shows all of it.
* Amateurs practice until they get it right. Professionals practice until they cannot get it wrong.
* If you don’t speak up, prepare to put up.
* You don’t have to shout to get your point across if you use the right words.
* Live and work like your mother is watching.
* Courage is not the absence of fear, it is the mastery of it.
* You’re never old enough to stop learning.
* The person who is everywhere is nowhere.
* A person without a sense of humour is like a car without shock absorbers ñ jolted by every pothole in the road.
* Technology should improve your life, not become your life.
* The ten most important words strung together as a sentence are: “If it is to be, it is up to me.”
* People like to do business with people they like.

The positive impact these essential points will have not only on your team but also with your customers will be mind blowing.

Remember the GENIUS you are or if you’ve forgotten, email us now for some G-mails . we’ll help you to believe in yourself again; self belief is essential if you wish to increase customer loyalty and satisfaction in this challenging climate.

Get in touch now on 01244 681068 or email us at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) to discover how we, at Sewells can help you and your team to maximise your potential and increase sales and profitability for your organisation!