No, I am not referring to joining a gym and becoming a body builder.

Life for most of us is not easy, people smile on the LinkedIn and twitter profiles trying to tweet all their achievements and successes. But we all know that reality is far from that. We all face difficulties every day, raising a family, succeeding at our job, driving our projects or just trying to find some time for our selves and breathe…

There is an easy path to take: just go with the flow, be average, contemplate while others do, watch while others achieve.

It takes real strength to follow the more difficult approach and aim for more, to succeed, to achieve, to raise above the average.. All that takes real strength.

I know, I face the difficulties every day and seek for strength. Every day I remind myself of what I want, I visualise I dream and go for it

Be strong!

I am not going to get into the subject of “Reality Distortion field” which actually seems very interesting, but I want you to just watch the video and we can comment on it below:

Bill Clinton’s skills are just amazing, how he engages with the lady asking the question. Compare with Bush, the guy didn’t even look at the person asking the question. By watching Bill you can really learn something. The importance of eye contact, how he moved close to the lady and to gain some further rapport…

What do you think about it?

Much has been written in the lines of “do you know your clients” or “get to know your clients” but we tend to forget those that chose not to do business with us after a long negotiation or simply were not even interested in doing business from the beginning.

DO dedicate more of your time to this issue. Analyse why did X company chose a competitor over you. Was it price? Was it support? Or was it just trust?

Every time you do not close a deal just take sometime to go over it and draw conclusions.

Maybe you learn more from NON clients than from your actual clients.

Image source: Piotr Bizior – www.bizior.com

Lately, as I am sure you all know, things in Greece are not booming. Families are finding it difficult to reach the end of the month and businesses are struggling too.

A friend of mine, working for a catering company, here in Greece, was telling me how their main competitor had recently closed down the business. His company (where he works)  is having difficulties also, as corporate clients are cutting down on events and private parties as going for less expensive options. They are struggling to the point where the company is letting people go, causing various employees to start leaving in search of a more “in theory” secure job. Imagine being the business owner watching your people abandon in times when jobs are scarce. What have I done wrong? he must be asking himself…..

Answer: your employees are just not engaged and they do not feel part of the same project.

Transparency is essential. I believe numbers should be shared openly with all employees if you want them to be engaged. Shared during bouyant times and shared when the company is going through a low in sales. Everyone needs to understand the costs involved in running the business and what is the company’s net profit at the end of the day. The better understanding they all have, the easier they will understand when you ask them for a sacrifice, when you ask them to hang in there. They know the numbers and they can see this extra effort is needed.

Transparency is essential. And you need to get everyone involved, absolutely all of them, from the administrative staff to middle management all they way to the top. Everyone has to feel that they have a common objective. You shouldn’t create class structures within a company if you want the right culture to grow.

The same way as you will ask for that extra commitment during hard times, you will compensate in times of growth, all of them. Not only management or sales teams, they all need to feel it.

Going back to the example of my friend’s catering company, a small company around 50/60 employees, do you think the situation would be different in you had all of them engaged since day one?

Image source: www.sxc.hu

Knowing when to quit is so important and still some people do not even contemplate the option.

Whatever you do in life, whether in business or not, it is essential not to give up on your dreams. To pursue that great job you want, to try and reach financial freedom, to buy that dream house you always wanted.

As an entrepreneur it works the same way, you need to be stronger than the rest and not be afraid of failure. Get up the next morning and keep on going with the same passion as the first day.

All that is true and necessary, but don’t be blinded by it and learn when to quit!

I personally started various online projects, some with more success than others, but I have always pulled the plug when I feel I cannot pay the attention necessary to the business or I simple realise it is not going to happen. It is not a nice feeling after investing your money and time, however I prefer to cut the losses and focus on something else.

This subject has come up during a conversation I had with my wife last night. We were actually commenting on a couple we see every summer. They have a printing business and every time it is the same story, things are not going well, the economy is bad, etc. May it all be true, but you cannot go through all that for 3/4 years and not realise that something is wrong with your business. Maybe you are not capable of finding new clients or there is simply too much competition, but…

Don’t you think you should just quit the business and do something else?

I understand its not easy, you have been doing it for years and you have the skills. However the point is that it is not working any more. Even worse, both of them work in the same business. So basically all the family income depends on it. It is a shame.

The best advice you can give: quit, cut your losses and find a new path.

image source: Google images

Ask don’t be afraid to ask for help or advice, you will be surprised what you may get. At the end of the day, you lose nothing.

Listen what happened to me the other day. I was searching for a movie at the local video club when the owner asked me something. Before we go any further, you have to be aware of what the Owner knows about me, he knows my name and he knows I am Spanish, thats it.

So the guy asks me “Adan do you know any shipowners in Spain?” what are the chances right? That I know these people, quite small…

I asked him why he was asking, he responded that he was helping a friend to sell anti-piracy systems to shipowners. He was already doing business in Germany and of course in Greece. He saw me come into his shop and he thought…”he is spanish, maybe he knows spanish shipowners..”

The best part of this story is that I do know the shipowners, I used to work in the shipping sector in Spain for some time and have all the contacts.

I was shocked by this coincidence and congratulated him on his luck. This story just shows that although chances maybe small, we do not lose anything just for asking.

You just may get lucky!

Image source: www.sxc.hu

After a period of 4 years as an Export Manager at Farmeco I decided it was time to move on.

I now work at Genepharm Group as Director of Distributor Management to drive sales of Genepharm products in international markets.

This new position is stimulating and full of challenges!

The reason: I was scared away

The place wasn’t very popular until it was featured in a Sunday paper. All of a sudden people started going. It is small 10 tables, family run and really good food. I even ate there one night next to Giorgos Papandreu, yes you know who, I am not joking.

The owner got to know us, but strangely enough the more often we went the higher my bill was getting. We could say that because we were already a repeating client they felt they could push and push no matter what, that we will still come back. It was a mistake, I never went back again.

This is just an everyday example to demonstrate that your clients do have a limit and if you push too much you may loose them to the competition.

You should always study your client learn about him, what he can and cannot do. Always try to do business but don’t forget that the client always has to feel that he is getting a benefit from the partnership. As soon as he feels pushed he will look for alternatives.

That’s how life works, I look for alternatives, you look for alternatives, we all search if we feel we can get a better option.

Can you definde a brand?

Just think about it for a second….what is it for you, a logo or a design….

A brand is much more than that. This is Seth Godin’s definition:

A brand is the set of expectations, memories, stories and relationships that, taken together, account for a consumer’s decision to choose one product or service over another. If the consumer (whether it’s a business, a buyer, a voter or a donor) doesn’t pay a premium, make a selection or spread the word, then no brand value exists for that consumer.

A brand’s value is merely the sum total of how much extra people will pay, or how often they choose, the expectations, memories, stories and relationships of one brand over the alternatives.

A brand used to be something else. It used to be a logo or a design or a wrapper. Today, that’s a shadow of the brand, something that might mark the brand’s existence. But just as it takes more than a hat to be a cowboy, it takes more than a designer prattling on about texture to make a brand.

If you’ve never heard of it, if you wouldn’t choose it, if you don’t recommend it, then there is no brand, at least not for you.

You may have a bakery, a restaurant, a supermarket, a bank or an airline, a good customer service makes a big difference. In fact, if you give me good service and a smile, you have a very big chance that if I need that particular service again, I will come back. I am even willing to pay a little bit extra if necessary. I am sure that I am not the only one that thinks this way.

However, why is it so difficult to get a good service out of some people. Especially when we speak about high-street shops, offline retailers.

Why do online business try their utmost to give you that great customer service? There is strong competition and any small detail makes a difference. I know, but there is also fierce competition offline and no one seems to give customer service the real importance.

The other day I bought a 8 Euros pair of socks in Calzedonia of Halandri for my son. I got home and they were small. So, I went back to change them and the person in charge says, no way I cannot change them because you have torn the seal. So what?! are you willing to loose a regular customer for 8 Euros? (less than that if you think what their real cost is) The answer is yes I do not care, thank you very much.

On the other hand you have online retailers like amanzon.com that will go out of their way to give you an excellent customer service. I mention amazon.com because we all know it, but there are many other online businesses that focus strongly on customer service. These details count and definitely make me go back.

Why offline business do not see this? why don’t they care?

For me the answer is clear, I prefer to buy my stuff online and support those real entrepreneurs trying to make a difference.