You will be the same in 5 years as you are today, except for two things: the people you meet and the items you read…
You will be the same in 5 years as you are today, except for two things: the people you meet and the items you read…
At Schwarzkopf, I even created an educational forum for our salon owner customers, featuring a national convention each year and two regional meetings…at which times they would encounter the best educators available, worldwide. The customers paid to attend these sessions but no profit was derived by our company, because it was in our interests for customers to learn how to grow their businesses…which in turn would lead to growth for Schwarzkopf. The educational forum was branded ‘The pH Club’ (progressive hairdressing), and at the first national convention the opening speaker was the then chairman of McDonalds in Australia, Peter Ritchie, talking about service and other key issues…and the industry speaker that day was ‘Stefan’, the owner of 60 salons in Australia. We very rarely presented product messages at pH Club meetings, unless there was a new product being released, and even then it would take up very little time (the club is still going after 23 years). I also ran a ‘board of customers’ in both countries and a regular speaker at those meetings was professor Roger Layton AM (faculty of commerce and economics)…and so our ‘board members’ were fed a diet of very high quality educators (3 times a year for a day and half each time), and the board concept ran for 8 years! So what are you doing to further your own business education, and if you are a manager, the education of your staff and even your customers…because the growth of people always precedes the growth of business results? People in business are the targets of incessant, high pitched, low quality education…and the closer you are to sales and marketing the worse it gets! The only reason I moved into business education was to offer an alternative and opposite message to those that I had found to be both embarrassing and repugnant…delivered by so-called ‘motivational’ speakers. The diet of drivel served up to sales people includes these inane topics: ‘how to set goals’; ‘how to be positive’; ‘how to sell anything to anyone’; ‘handling objections’; ‘closing the sale’, etc. Try to imagine doctors, architects and engineers being faced with such absurd professional ‘challenges’.
My message then is to be very selective in what you read, and the people you see as role models. The best bet is to avoid the books and people that are ‘flavour of the month’, because they almost always fade into oblivion. The authors that I found compelling were Peter Drucker and Harold Geneen, and the best speakers I hired were Wilfred Jarvis and Charles Jones. These people told the truth about personal and business success, with no hype whatsoever…but with plenty of fun along the way. The bottom line is that the narrower your education is, the slimmer your chance will be of achieving business success…or, what you earn depends on how much you learn.
You will be the same in 5 years as you are today except for two things the people you meet and the items you read - To learn more about this author, visit John Lees's Website.
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I once brought a particularly gifted speaker to Australia and New Zealand, to address our staff and customers…and I recall him saying this to me: ‘John, if I wanted to know anything about you I would just go to your bookcase, and then I would see who your heroes are, what business issues you consider to be important and what you consistently learn about.’ I remember thinking that I should go home right away and fix up my bookcase! And then it occurred to me that things were not as bad as they seemed, after all I had spent a lot of company money bringing this very valuable man to our shores, plus I had searched high and low to provide our 1st sales force (our staff) and our 2nd sales force (our customers) with an array of high quality speakers and trainers…at major conferences and key state meetings.
At Schwarzkopf, I even created an educational forum for our salon owner customers, featuring a national convention each year and two regional meetings…at which times they would encounter the best educators available, worldwide. The customers paid to attend these sessions but no profit was derived by our company, because it was in our interests for customers to learn how to grow their businesses…which in turn would lead to growth for Schwarzkopf. The educational forum was branded ‘The pH Club’ (progressive hairdressing), and at the first national convention the opening speaker was the then chairman of McDonalds in Australia, Peter Ritchie, talking about service and other key issues…and the industry speaker that day was ‘Stefan’, the owner of 60 salons in Australia. We very rarely presented product messages at pH Club meetings, unless there was a new product being released, and even then it would take up very little time (the club is still going after 23 years). I also ran a ‘board of customers’ in both countries and a regular speaker at those meetings was professor Roger Layton AM (faculty of commerce and economics)…and so our ‘board members’ were fed a diet of very high quality educators (3 times a year for a day and half each time), and the board concept ran for 8 years! So what are you doing to further your own business education, and if you are a manager, the education of your staff and even your customers…because the growth of people always precedes the growth of business results? People in business are the targets of incessant, high pitched, low quality education…and the closer you are to sales and marketing the worse it gets! The only reason I moved into business education was to offer an alternative and opposite message to those that I had found to be both embarrassing and repugnant…delivered by so-called ‘motivational’ speakers. The diet of drivel served up to sales people includes these inane topics: ‘how to set goals’; ‘how to be positive’; ‘how to sell anything to anyone’; ‘handling objections’; ‘closing the sale’, etc. Try to imagine doctors, architects and engineers being faced with such absurd professional ‘challenges’.
My message then is to be very selective in what you read, and the people you see as role models. The best bet is to avoid the books and people that are ‘flavour of the month’, because they almost always fade into oblivion. The authors that I found compelling were Peter Drucker and Harold Geneen, and the best speakers I hired were Wilfred Jarvis and Charles Jones. These people told the truth about personal and business success, with no hype whatsoever…but with plenty of fun along the way. The bottom line is that the narrower your education is, the slimmer your chance will be of achieving business success…or, what you earn depends on how much you learn.
You will be the same in 5 years as you are today except for two things the people you meet and the items you read - To learn more about this author, visit John Lees's Website.
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Stephanie RobeyStephanie Robey is President and CoFounder of Pivot Positive, LLC - an Internet marketing business focused on helping people start work at home ventures. Previously, she was employed at The Search Agency with over 20 years experience in graphic design and 10 years experience in online marketing. She was responsible for launching the Conversion Path Optimization (CPO) unit where she and her team have conducted hundreds of optimization tests for online companies across multiple verticals. She is a successful entrepreneur having started and sold 2 companies and remains on the board of directors of the third, PhotoSpin.com Stephanie began her career in the direct marketing realm creating and producing direct mail for many of the major cable television companies and directly attributes her understanding of Internet marketing to those early offline experiences. Stephanie is a graduate of San Diego State University with a BFA in Graphic Arts and also holds an Executive MBA from the Graziadio School of Business and Management at Pepperdine University. Read Steph's Blog Meet Steph and Dave Sign up for our Free 7-Day BootCamp: Self Employed & Rich - Visit Stephanie Robey's Website |
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Anne BarrAnne Barr has over 26 years experience in sales and marketing, six years as a franchisee. She has assisted over 367 business owners and purchasers to achieve their goals in career change, transition and exit strategy. She holds the designation of Certified Franchise Executive from the International Franchise Association, Certified Business Intermediary from the International Business Brokers Association and Board Certified Broker from the Texas Association of Business Brokers. Anne is active in professional organizations, networking groups and volunteers for non-profit entities. As owner/operator of four successful businesses, Anne has proven people skills and enjoys helping clients find the right "fit" in business ownership. Visit www.FranchiseOpportunitySpecialist.com for more information about me and my company. - Visit Anne Barr's Website |
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Jeff FosterWebBizIdeas.com is a Minneapolis website design company founded to help people start an internet business by providing them with website, business, and internet resources that help foster the growth of successful online businesses and develop innovative Internet business ideas. We specialize in internet consulting & internet marketing. - Visit Jeff Foster's Website |
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John BrennanJohn Brennan Ed.D. Dr. Brennan is President of Interpersonal Development, LLC, a training and development firm. Interpersonal Development has provided sales training and coaching to more than 3,000 sales reps from over 100 companies. A native of Australia, Dr. Brennan received his doctorate from the University of Rochester. His dissertation researched the effectiveness of Behavioral Modeling Technology in training people in interpersonal skills. While he has spent most of his career designing or delivering training, he was also a Vice-President of Sales of a training and development franchise with operations in 25 markets. Dr. Brennan has designed and delivered sales training in North America, Asia, Europe, Australia and the Middle East. He has been a guest speaker at numerous national and regional professional conferences. When Microsoft wanted Best Practices articles on sales for their web site, they called Dr. Brennan. The results are at http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/FX011387391033.aspx His firm’s clients have included Volvo, The Prudential, Merrill Lynch, Eastman Kodak, Gannett, Equifax Europe, the Economist Group and countless small businesses. - Visit John Brennan's Website |
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Casey GollanCasey Gollan, Business Coaching & Mentoring Programs. Add $1 Million to $10 Million in the next 1 to 3 years. Since 1996 Casey has to added hundreds of millions of dollars to businesses. Watch a free video see client results Business Coaching website. - Visit Casey Gollan's Website |
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Joe DagerJoe Dager is President of Business901, a progressive coaching company providing no-nonsense direction in areas such as Lean Six Sigma Marketing and organized referral marketing. What others say: In the past 20 years, Joe and I have collaborated on many difficult issues. Joe’s ability to combine his expertise with “out of the box” thinking is unsurpassed. He has always delivered quickly, cost effectively and with ingenuity. A brilliant mind that is always a pleasure to work with.” - James R. If you want to learn more about Business901, start a conversation with us. We can be found @ Web/Blog: Business901.com Web/Blog: FundingYourNonprofit.com LinkedIn Profile Follow me on Twitter - Visit Joe Dager's Website |
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John PowerJohn Power, founder of Biltmore Franchise Consulting, has extensive experience developing and marketing franchises and business opportunities. He has been in and around franchising for over twenty years. From 1980 through 1990 he conceptualized, organized, and developed the American Video Association. He grew AVA to 2,000 national members, before selling the company it 1990. It was later merged into another home video marketing company. From 2000 to 2005 he worked as a contract marketing and human resources consultant to several local and national companies. In 2005 Mr. Power began working as a franchise development consultant on a full-time basis. Since that time he has helped more than three dozen companies initiate and develop their franchising program. He notes that there are many companies interested in developing a franchise program, and who need his specialized assistance. Mr. Power is a “hands-on” franchise consultant. He said, “I am the ‘nuts and bolts’ person who tends to the details for my clients.” Mr. Power holds a B.S. degree with a major in Marketing. See: www.biltmorefranchise.com You may contact Mr. Power at: jpower@biltmorefranchise.co - Visit John Power's Website |
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Dianne CramptonDianne Crampton is an executive leadership coach, team culture consultant, author and president of TIGERS Success Series, Inc. Dianne has been helping CEO's and Executives connect their employees to their core values and goals for over 20 years using the trademarked TIGERS team culture process, which stands for trust, interdependence, genuineness, empathy, risk and success. To download a free white paper on behaviors that build strong teams and behaviors that will predictably tear them down go here. Dianne's contribution to the 2010 Pfeiffer Consulting Journal (an imprint of John Wiley and Sons Publishers) entitled TIGERS Hearted Teams is available in November 2009. Her new book TIGERS Among Us: 5 Winning Business Team Cultures And Why, Three Creeks Publishing will release in March 2010. To receive publishing discounts, subscribe to the free TigerTracks Newsletter here. - Visit Dianne Crampton's Website |
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