Today’s featured blog is how to build great core relationships by Mark Victor Hansen. Mark Victor Hansen, co-author of the Chicken Soup for the Soul Series, has for more than 25 years, uniquely focused on the vital elements of human behavior that most affect our personal and professional lives and has influenced society’s top leaders and the general public on a global scale. Here is what he has to say..
 
Professional salespeople, like any serious professionals, have a goal of building excellent relationships with other people in both their personal and professional lives.  Building excellent relationships is a habit, and it produces wonderful rewards.
But relationships can be very fragile.  Many marriages don’t survive and many business relationships thrive for a while and then fall apart.  We call this the Double Spiral in developing our book, The Power of Focus. 

We are in the Upward Spiral when things are going well, when our confidence is high and our important relationships are healthy and flourishing.  The opposite is the case if we slip into the Downward Spiral. Things start to unravel, a lack of communication occurs, stress increases and life becomes a constant struggle.  Relationships are polarized during the Downward Spiral.

Let’s take a quick look at how the Downward Spiral shows up in real life.  To more clearly understand how this can impact on your current and future client relationships, think of a personal or business relationship that didn’t work out.  Create in your mind all the steps that caused this relationship to fall apart.  Go back as far as you can and record what happened.  When you carefully reflect on what causes relationships to fall apart, you can take steps to heal them and be better prepared for the next one.

The Upward Spiral certainly is more fun to analyze, but when you do, you stand to reap the rewards quicker in your future relationships.  Repeat the process of recalling steps that caused this relationship to flourish.  But this time, focus on a relationship that you gradually nourished, expanded and enriched until it blossomed into a wonderful, long-term friendship or business relationship.  You will enjoy a tremendous advantage in the marketplace when you develop an accurate blueprint that you can duplicate many times in the future.  Powerful relationships ensure powerful results.

Avoid toxic people

Before we move on, please heed this important advice:  avoid toxic people! Unfortunately, there are a few people out there who see the world as one big problem, and in their eyes you’re part of it.  No matter how well things are going, they focus on the nitpicking little negative details.  And they do it constantly.  It’s a habit that totally destroys relationships. 

You may be thinking at this point, “Easier said than done.  Do you mean if a friend I’ve known for years talks like this, should I just turn and walk away?”  No, RUN!  His constant negativity will drain the life out of you.  Now please understand, we’re not talking about someone who has a genuine challenge and needs real help.  We’re referring to those chronic whiners who take great pleasure in dumping all their negative garbage on your plate at every opportunity.  It’s the highlight of their day.  Don’t put up with it anymore.

Core clients and the double win

The important step in developing the habit of Excellent Relationships is learning to nourish your most valuable relationships in a win-win atmosphere.  A  lot has been written and spoken about the philosophy of win-win in selling and sales negotiation.  But win-win is essentially a philosophy of how you live your life.  In business, win-win means having a genuine concern for the other person; that they win as much as you do.  Sadly, however, the attitude of many people in business has been to grind every last cent out of every situation.  These so-called guerrilla tactics cause a lack of trust, cynicism, questionable ethics and a high level of anxiety in the marketplace.  The result is win-lose.  On the other hand, win-win doesn’t mean giving the farm away every time you make a deal.  That’s lose-win, which would eventually put you out of business. There’s also another category called lose-lose.  This happens when both parties are too stubborn or too egotistical to create a winning solution. 

Building excellent core client relationships.

A crucial element in growing your business is building excellent core client relationships.  Core clients are at the heart of your business.  They buy from you consistently and are a main source of revenue.  They are also happy to provide excellent referrals for new business because they genuinely love your products and service.

Amazingly, may salespeople today don’t even know who their core clients are.  Core clients are your passport to future growth.  Unfortunately, these important relationships are often taken for granted. The attitude is, “He always orders two thousand units a month.  We need to focus on new business.”

Not every deal is worth saving

New business is important.  Staying in touch with your best clients is more important.  It’s a lot more difficult to find new customers than it is to keep and serve your old customers.

Be aware of the time you spend on people who are peripheral clients.  The word peripheral is worth noting.  It means at the outer edge, unimportant or not worth mentioning.  Another term is dispensable.  Do you have any peripheral clients in your business?  If you’re not sure, here’s how you can spot them.  They commonly take a lot of your time and energy and give you very little business in return.  Sometimes they give you no business at all.  But they will question you on every little detail, and they’ll place unreasonable demands on your time.  Of course, you may not want to turn any business away from your door.  But what is it costing you in time and energy to dabble in minor results?  Some deals just aren’t worth the effort.

You don’t want to lose your core clients

There’s one critical element you need to understand about your core clients.  You don’t ever want to lose them.  Here’s the big question.  How much real time do you spend with your more important core clients?  Our research indicates that very little time is allocated to core clients.  Consequently, these relationships never mature to their full potential.  On the bottom line, that means a lot of money is squandered.

Now that you know who these important people are, pay more attention to them. The long-term rewards are well worth the effort.  Your business will increase, and you’ll also minimize the likelihood of losing any of these top clients to your competitors.

You will probably offer your core clients special services and all those little extras that define you as unique.  These may include golf outings, dinners or special trips.  You could take time to share ideas of advising how to handle certain challenges.  Maybe you consistently provide good referrals to expand their business.  The more you know about the people on your core client list and core personal list, the more you can help them.  And the true spirit of win-win means that you make these contributions unconditionally.

Successful salespeople create an information file for every one of their core clients and core personal relationships.  They find out everything they can about these individuals including their likes and dislikes, favorite restaurants, birthdays, anniversaries, kids’ names, favorite hobbies, sports and pastimes.

Be willing to go the extra mile

It takes time and effort to cultivate highly successful relationships.  It means that you will often be required to go the extra mile.  This way of living gradually becomes your new normal behavior.  You do it without thinking.  When win-win behavior becomes truly embedded in your everyday life, the floodgates of opportunity will open up for you like never before.  You will indeed be richer for it, and we don’t just mean financially.
Continued success,

Herb Hunter, 734-285-6792, hunter645@aol.com

10 Rules to achieve your goals.. What decisions have you made already today?

• Did you know that each decision you make affects what you become?
• Are those decisions moving you closer or further from what you want to achieve?
• Did you know that the direction of your life can change as soon as you decide what goals you want to pursue?
  

  An Excerpt from
  Goals…The 10 Rules for Achieving Success
  by Gary Ryan Blair

  Success is the intentional, pre-meditated use of choice and decision. Unless you choose-with certainty-what it is you want, you accept table scraps by default!

  The world is plump with opportunity. With boldness and conviction, stick a fork into the goals you want by being decisive.

  You are born with great capabilities, but you will not achieve your potential until you call upon yourself to fulfill it. You will rise to the occasion when it presents itself; yet, to assure self-fulfillment, you must provide occasions to rise to. Clearly defined goals allow you to travel toward another horizon that represents the end of one experience and the transition to a new and better existence. The objective is to choose the right goals, and then to create the necessary causes-the effects will follow!

  The difference between what one person and another achieves depends more on goal choices than on abilities.

  The profound differences between successful people and others are the goals they choose to pursue. Individuals with similar talents, intelligence, and abilities will achieve different results because they select and pursue different goals.

  Each decision affects what you become. We form our decisions and our decisions form us.

  There is no escaping this; the smallest choices are important because-over time-their cumulative effect is enormous.

  Never overlook the obvious: The nature and direction of your life change the instant you decide what goals you want to pursue.

  Once you make a decision you start down a path to a new destination. At the moment the decision is made, your decision to pursue a goal alters what you are becoming. A single choice can alter your life, your destiny, your legacy.

  Think about it-your goal decisions represent and express your individuality. You seal your fate with the choices you make.

  You define yourself by your decisions.

  Your dialog with success is ultimately a solo one. Decisions and goals made must be your own if you are to call your life a success.

  Always establish the best goals you can. Goals are the seeds of success-you become only what you plant. The quality of your harvest is a direct reflection of the quality of your seeds…your decisions!

  Indecision is the big eraser of opportunity and potential. Risks and costs accompany every decision; however, the price of decision is far less than the long-range risks and costs of comfortable inaction. When it comes to decisiveness, squatters have no rights.

  Everyone has an official wish list of things they think are “reasonable.” What about the unofficial wish list? The one that common sense tells you to ignore? The list that exists deep in your mind, the list that keeps you up at night, the that makes your toes wiggle when you think of it? Why not choose that list for a change?

  How long have you dreamed of being, having, and doing what you really want? Think big, as when it comes to your goals, the size of your ambition does matter.

  A decision to lose weight and keep it off must be remade every time you feel hungry.

  A decision is never made only once.

  This is an outstanding book I suggest for everyone.

I received this in email form and felt the message and book was so good I wanted to share it with you, Its titled the 100/0 principle.

An Excerpt from
The 100/0 Principle
by Al Ritter

What is the most effective way to create and sustain great relationships with others? It’s The 100/0 Principle: You take full responsibility (the 100) for the relationship, expecting nothing (the 0) in return.

Implementing The 100/0 Principle is not natural for most of us. It takes real commitment to the relationship and a good dose of self-discipline to think, act and give 100 percent.

The 100/0 Principle applies to those people in your life where the relationships are too important to react automatically or judgmentally. Each of us must determine the relationships to which this principle should apply. For most of us, it applies to work associates, customers, suppliers, family and friends.

STEP 1 – Determine what you can do to make the relationship work…then do it. Demonstrate respect and kindness to the other person, whether he/she deserves it or not.

STEP 2 – Do not expect anything in return. Zero, zip, nada.

STEP 3 - Do not allow anything the other person says or does (no matter how annoying!) to affect you. In other words, don’t take the bait.

STEP 4 – Be persistent with your graciousness and kindness. Often we give up too soon, especially when others don’t respond in kind. Remember to expect nothing in return.
At times (usually few), the relationship can remain challenging, even toxic, despite your 100 percent commitment and self-discipline. When this occurs, you need to avoid being the “Knower” and shift to being the “Learner.” Avoid Knower statements/ thoughts like “that won’t work,” “I’m right, you are wrong,” “I know it and you don’t,” “I’ll teach you,” “that’s just the way it is,” “I need to tell you what I know,” etc.

Instead use Learner statements/thoughts like “Let me find out what is going on and try to understand the situation,” “I could be wrong,” “I wonder if there is anything of value here,” “I wonder if…” etc. In other words, as a Learner, be curious!

Principle Paradox

This may strike you as strange, but here’s the paradox: When you take authentic responsibility for a relationship, more often than not the other person quickly chooses to take responsibility as well. Consequently, the 100/0 relationship quickly transforms into something approaching 100/100. When that occurs, true breakthroughs happen for the individuals involved, their teams, their organizations and their families.

To Your Success,

Herb Hunter, 734-285-6792, hunter645@aol.com

Entrepreneurs Are Alive And Well!

This is the cover of the most recent issue of Inc. Magazine. And a darn good one I might add.

My favorite quote from the article inside is: “We need Entrepreneurs, not just M.B.A’s.”

I couldn’t agree more. Somehow, we’ve lost our way, and have this mentality that “more school” is the answer. Contrary to popular belief, “more school” is rarely the answer. In fact, the American educational system does a marvelous job selling the public on “more school” and “more degrees” as the answer.

Few realize there are a massive amount of highly educated people with multiple degrees on their wall who are barely surviving in business, just eeking out a living at best. The numbers are staggering in fact.

It was the late, great Jim Rohn who said: “Traditional education will make you a living, self education will make you a fortune.”

New ideas, innovation, creativity, business start up, Entrepreneurship… is the answer. Always has been, always will be…

It’s Entrepreneurs who create jobs, not Government…

It’s Entrepreneurs who create wealth, not Government…

It’s Entrepreneurs who create optimism and “hope,” not Government…

And, the BIG one… It’s Entrepreneurs who Get Paid First, not Government…

Most don’t realize this little secret but… if you are a W-2 Employee (paid a salary by a company), YOU, my friend, are paid dead last…

First, your company get’s paid, then the Government gets paid (federal taxes coming out of YOUR check), then the state gets paid (state income tax), then Social Security gets paid (YOU funding someone else’s retirement), then, if you have one, your retirement plan gets paid (401k and/or IRA aka: Wall Street gets paid). Ohh, and then, by the way… YOU get paid a week or two later. Almost forgot about ya there. Sorry….

Goodness, that alone would make me want to be Entrepreneur, if for no other reason than NOT to be a W-2 Employee. But there are plenty of other reasons. And this particular article in Inc. Magazine does a super job laying out specific plans, ideas and concepts as to why now, Entrepreneurship is the answer. I suggest you grab a copy.

This article was written by Andrew J. Cass

To your success,

Herb Hunter, 734-285-6792, hunter645@aol.com.

If you are in network marketing or you are interested in pursing a network marketing career please contact me on an incredible opportunity.

My family and I just returned from the most incredible Nettrav Express Vacation. We had the privilege of taking a luxurious 5 day cruise on the Royal Caribbean cruise line the Grandeur Of The Sea with our Escape vacation travel points. We left port in Florida on Saturday July 31st, heading for our first stop in Key West on Sunday..

Key West was beautiful with a lot of history, beauty, culture and shopping (which my wife and daughters loved).

After a day of fun and excitement we left port Sunday evening for our next stop in beautiful Cozumel Mexico. Cozumel was absolutely beautiful! The beaches are incredible. My wife and daughters got to do a 3 hour excursion of snorkeling which was their first time.. And of course the shopping was great..

On Monday evening we set out for a beautiful private island owned by Royal Caribbean Coco Cay. We arrived on Coco Cay in the Bahamas on Wednesday morning. The island was outstanding with pristine waters and lots of family activities. The cruise was so good we may take another trip before the end of this year.

The beauty of Nettrav Express is you actually earn the travel points to take the free vacations. You also receive travel points when you join the Nettrav opportunity. When people ask what you do for a living and you tell them you travel the world for free and earn a great income in the process they want to hear what Nettrav has to offer right away. I have discovered this to be the easiest most profitable business I have ever done.. If you have any interest in taking a look for yourself visit my site at www.nettravexpress.com/express1 .
You will be amazed at what you discover.

To your success,
Herb Hunter, 734-285-6792, hunter645@aol.com

Less is More….

Less really is more, if you allow it to be and take the time to find out what you can let go of because it is controlling your life. Because of this, more and more people are seeking simplicity – that thing that we all feel like we are missing and want to get back. Instead of clutter and chaos, we want a flow to life where we can feel on top of things, rested and satisfied. Our “solution” is to try to get it all done now so we can rest or have fun later. But “later” never seems to come!

Do you beat yourself up to do more? Do you feel stressed that you are constantly falling behind? Please do not do this to yourself! It is so unhealthy.

When you overbook, you actually get LESS done than if you had undertaken a more modest amount of responsibility. That is because in trying to do too much, your energy depletes to the point that you incapacitate yourself. Pretty soon, you are so fraught with fatigue and frustration that you are slipping up on things you are typically great at – and it is a result of exhaustion and overwhelm. Before you know it, it is another day, with more of the same… the never ending story of your stressed-out life!

Instead of racing around to catch up, stop and take a breath. Recognize that you simply cannot do it all. Acknowledge that when it comes to feeling good, getting things done, and living richly… less really is more! It may seem hard at first to embrace this concept and make it work for you, but as you practice and see it working it will become more and more effective and will eventually become second nature to do.

Once you realize this, you will probably be wondering just how you can create less from the piles of “more” that you have accumulated over the years. The secret is learning how to trim away the excess. Rid yourself of that which does not serve you or help you move closer to your goals and aspirations. Here are some tips to help you get started on “closet cleaning” your life from top to bottom.

Identify what is important to you. What are your values? What do you believe in, and wish to live in support of, through your actions and words, each and every day? The key is to identify what it is that you hold in highest regard, so that you may actively bring these things into your life, instead of the things that you do not want or need.

To your Success,
Herb Hunter, 734-285-6792, hunter645@aol.com
If you are in network marketing or you are interested in pursing a network marketing career please contact me on an incredible opportunity.

As I share with everyone one of my favorite books of all time is the Science Of Getting Rich by Wallace Wattles. This is a excellent article titled The 30 Day Challenge by James Ray on this topic. Here is what Mr. Ray has to say.

One gentleman I consider to be a great mentor (although I have never met him) is Wallace D. Wattles. Wattles wrote a trilogy of books in the late 1800s entitled The Science of Getting Richs, The Science of Well-Being, and The Science of Becoming Excellent. They are ALL outstanding!

If you have read my book The Science of Success, it is probably evident by the title that Wattles has had a strong influence on my thinking.

I have a laminated quote from Wattles that has been sitting on my desk for AT LEAST 2 years. This week I will give you the quote, along with a 30-day challenge.

If you accept the challenge, it must be done first thing in the morning before you start your day. Pick a goal and do EXACTLY what the quote says. Then take action and EXPECT MAGIC to happen in your life.

Here’s the complete challenge:

1. Pick a goal that you want, and truly believe, you can achieve in the next 30 days. Make it specific and clear. Create a “spiritual prototype”/picture of this goal in your mind. Remember, you must be IN the picture — looking through your own eyes.

2. Commit to visualizing your goal first thing in the morning and last thing at night every single day for the next 30 days.

3. As a part of your visualization process (either before or after) read the Wattles quote OUT LOUD every single day for the next thirty days.

4. It must be read FIRST THING in the morning before you begin your day (if you want to read it at night as well — more power to you).

5. This must be read with PASSION. In other words, on a scale of 1-10 you have to be at least at a 20!

6. Follow the instructions of the quote.

Are you ready? Are you committed? Do you have the spiritual prototype of your 30-day goal? Here’s Wattles’:

“There is a thinking substance from which all things are made, and which in its original state, permeates, penetrates, and fills the interspaces of the universe.
A thought in this substance produces the thing that is imaged by the thought.

I can form things in my thought, and by impressing my thoughts upon formless substance, can cause the thing I think about to be created.

In order to do this, I must pass from the competitive to the creative mind. I must form a clear mental picture of the things I want. And, I must hold this picture in my thoughts with the fixed purpose to get what I want, and the unwavering faith that I will get what I want — closing my mind to all that may tend to shake my purpose, dim my vision, or quench my faith.

I am ready to receive what I want when it comes, and I AM ACTING NOW upon the people and things in my present environment.”

To your success,

Herb Hunter, 734-285-6792, hunter645@aol.com

If you are in network marketing or you are interested in pursing a network marketing career please contact me on an incredible opportunity.