Growth Mode

Great minds have stated that no matter where you are in your business, the Great Wisdom is that your business is either “green and growing” or you are “stagnant and wasting away”. The spirit here is that no matter how good things might possibly be at any one given moment, you as a business, need to be perpetually recruiting and constantly in “Growth Mode”. Many an excellent Business who thought they were set for life has encountered a sudden or unforeseen downturn and ends up gone. For instance, who thought we would ever see a day when the mighty and pervasive Eastman Kodak company would ever cease to exist?  Same for Polaroid. Montgomery Ward? A&P was once thought to be so well established their name was “The Great Atlantic and Pacific (Tea) company“.  All are no more.

Not being one to ever dwell on the negative, my point is simply as a business you need to be looking at every human interaction as a chance to promote and enhance your company. I often say that kindness is the universal language so well understood that even the deaf can hear it and the blind can spot authentic kindness a mile away. Quit sending meaningless, impersonal or worse yet, “plain ordinary” e-mails, texts and voice messages when, in 90 sec, you could send a PERFECTLY appropriate card via Send Out Cards! You know what I’m talking about when I describe the warm fuzzy feeling you get when someone does something you don’t expect. Why not hand out “thankfulness, gratitude and appreciation” like candy by sending really meaningful cards to your customers, colleagues, suppliers and referral partners? We, at Send Out Cards, call it “Appreciation You can Touch” Let Ralph show you how effortless and automatic it can be. Have a conversation with Ralph Harold, “guywithtwofirstnames.com,” avoid “perceived indifference” and “Take it to the Bank.”

Ralph Harold

ralph@guywithtwofirstnames.com

816-808-2465            

Someday Is Today

Does your spouse, girlfriend, close friend or business associate ever accuse you of being a procrastinator, especially in the area of “Follow Up?” Maybe you have even added that label to yourself. So quit Procrastinating and proclaim “ Someday is gonna be Today!”  

Now, in our defense, there’s a lot of things to do in a day and while you mean to get a lot done, eventually you have to prioritize and that means some things get done and some other things get put off. Too often, one thing that continually gets put off is your “Follow Up” or your outreach to customers, clients, suppliers, coworkers, consultants, etc.

Perhaps you have heard numerous network marketing gurus proclaim that the “fortune is in the follow up”and they are quite right. Anybody can take and fill orders but only a truly great person can make you feel fabulous once the process is completed. Is your business just an ordinary, “also ran”, no better than the next guy? Obviously not, they’ve got you working for them! So quit treating your customers and clients with “ordinary”, “lack-luster” or “ totally forgettable” communications.  Admit it, those emails, texts, etc. don’t even move the needle on the “impressiveness” scale.

Your Customers/Clients are really important to your bottom line.  Why not take a selfie of them and their purchase and put that picture on a Card that tells them just how S-I-N-C-E-R-E-L-Y you appreciate their business?  The next card they get can instead thank them for their L-O-Y-A-L-T-Y or maybe that card can roster list other goods/services you also provide. The back of the card has YOUR Logo or YOUR picture and contact information, not Hallmark, not AMERICAN Greetings or not even SendOutCards.  Make them feel like there is “no comparison” between the other guys and the Customer Experience at your place.  

Quit putting off tomorrow and take the steps to get your follow-up automated and actually happening! Have a conversation with Ralph Harold, “guywithtwofirstnames.com”, realize that SOMEDAY IS TODAY and “Take it to the Bank.”

Ralph Harold

ralph@guywithtwofirstnames.com

816-808-2465            

It Was Right There

I can’t believe it. It was right there in front of both my face and your face the whole time and neither you nor I couldn’t see it!  How often how do you say to yourself ‘this is so blatantly obvious why didn’t I invent that or patent that because actually I had the idea for it a long time before they did.” How many of us would want to remember something later so we would attach a note to all kinds of things but since the note wouldn’t STAY attached, we had to either use tape or a rubber band?  Wouldn’t it be nice if the note “would just attach itself?” Well guess what, you didn’t invent it and I didn’t invent it even though we had the idea probably 1000 times before someone else invented Post-it notes and are now billionaires for it.  Missed opportunity.

Well guess what, this process is ongoing and so we did it again. Yes, you and I missed another golden opportunity that was staring us right in the face. It was so incredibly simple and yet we missed it again. My wife and I have a friend whose husband is a patent attorney with a large prestigious law firm. One of the things this patent attorney says to us is that sometimes some very lucrative patents are simply improvements on an existing product or service.  Didn’t we just get done kicking ourselves for not inventing  Post It notes even though we had a similar idea countless numbers of times before them? Well guess what, not all Post It notes adhere to all the things you wanted to attach them to. The type of adhesive used when trying to attach them to things in the freezer, refrigerator or very windy or humid conditions just wasn’t adequate.  So wouldn’t it be great to have a Post-it note that had a stronger, more aggressive adhesive? Well you and I should’ve thought of it, but we didn’t!  I just saw in my friendly neighborhood office depot or OfficeMax store that there is a new version of Post It notes with a stronger, more aggressive adhesive for use in the freezer, high humidity conditions etc. Why didn’t you or I think of that?  It was right there.  Another missed opportunity.

The lesson here is that there are countless opportunities around us that are so simple a second grader could come up with the idea, but it’s just a matter of applying the idea to the situation. You have been looking in vain for a way to boost your business and yet the simplicity and beauty of my “Send Out Cards” System has been staring you in the face all this time.  Don’t let the third time be another missed opportunity! Reach out with an email to ralph@guywithtwofirstames.com or text/call Ralph at 816-808-2465 and let’s have that conversation about SendOutCards as it applies to your business before either you or I miss another opportunity.

Ralph Harold MD

816-808-2465

ralph@guywithtwofirstnames.com

AVOIDING PERCEIVED INDIFFERENCE

I’m going to go way out on a limb here and say that you really actually DO care about your customers and clients, don’t you? Of course, you’d be an idiot to NOT care about them. These entities are putting food on your table and keeping the lights on. Ask any business owner and they’ll tell you they think they show customer appreciation really well.  So why then is customer satisfaction so low that people will either shop around for better price or leave you when a competitor is the smallest amount more affordable?

It is absolutely imperative that you make your customers feel like they are the most important person/entity in your business.  Otherwise, that once loyal customer will gravitate to the competition if they instead make them feel better, more special, or more importantly more appreciated. To illustrate how important this is, for example, the changeover rate in the financial advisor business is unbelievably high. This does not mean that we have bad financial advisors, it means that they get busy and too often if they don’t have anything significant to communicate to “the customer” they don’t bother “the customer”. “Bother” being the operative word. Unfortunately, the client, upon not hearing from the financial advisor for long periods of time, incorrectly perceives the advisor as “indifferent, uncaring, or non-caring”, when in fact nothing could be further from the truth. This “perceived indifference” shows that if your clients don’t think you care about them they will gravitate to someone who makes the customer feel special.

We at Send Out Cards can keep your name and face in front of these people as often or as little as you like.  You are in control. We can make all this communication and “Follow Up” happen automatically so that you don’t have to be thinking about it!  Yes, you can go on with what you really want to do and that is run your business. Have a conversation with Ralph Harold, “guywithtwofirstnames.com,” avoid “perceived indifference” and “Take it to the Bank.”

Ralph Harold

ralph@guywithtwofirstnames.com

816-808-2465            

Great Minds

Great minds have stated that no matter where you are in your  business, the Great Wisdom is that your business is either “green and growing “ or you are “stagnant and wasting away”. The spirit here is that no matter how good things might possibly be at any one given moment, you as a business, need to be perpetually recruiting and constantly in “Growth Mode”. Many an excellent Business who thought they were set for life has encountered a sudden or unforeseen downturn and ends up gone. For instance, who thought we would ever see a day when the mighty and pervasive Eastman Kodak company whatever cease to exist?  Same for Polaroid. Montgomery Wards? A&P was once thought to be so well established their name was “ The great Atlantic and Pacific (Tea) company“.  All are no more.

Not being one to ever dwell on the negative, my point is simply as a business you need to be looking at  every human interaction as a chance to promote and enhance your company. I often say that  kindness is the universal language so well understood that even the deaf can hear it and the  blind can spot authentic kindness a mile away. Quit sending meaningless, impersonal or worse yet, “plain ordinary”e-mails, texts and voice messages when, in 90 sec, you could send a PERFECTLY appropriate card via Send Out Cards! You know what i’m talking about when I describe the warm fuzzy feeling you get when someone does something you don’t expect. Why not hand out ‘thankfulness, gratitude and appreciation” like candy by sending really meaningful cards to your customers, colleagues, suppliers and referral partners? We, at Send Out Cards, call it “Appreciation You can Touch” Let Ralph show you how effortless and automatic it can be. Send Out Cards with the “Guy With Two First Names” and take it to the bank!                                    

11/06/18

In the grand scheme of things, it all boils down to the Contacts you make. You want to impress them sufficiently to remember you through all the noise. It doesn’t matter that they met you one time, it’s that you made a lasting impression. Madonna of course claims that all publicity is good publicity: the jury is still out as to whether in the long term she’s right or not. I would recommend the safer bet is to aim purely for good publicity and then you haven’t got anything to worry about.

My prescription this week is an admonishment that today you make an effort that will stand the test of time.
My Best,

Dr. Ralph Harold
"The Guy with TWO First Names"

10/29/18

Follow along with me here and this will all make sense in a moment:  
In 1975, the rock group Supertramp, released their third album “Crisis? What Crisis?“ Whether you’re a Supertramp fan or not doesn’t matter, I want you to look up the album cover by Googling “Crisis? What Crisis?”  In color, is a guy sunning himself in a deck chair under a brilliantly yellow table umbrella, completely unaware and unfazed by the dark, black and gray pollution, filth and decay all around him. When I first saw this album cover it really made me laugh at the irony of it all. It’s a Classic piece of artwork. 

Sometimes, in our businesses, we are so focused on the demands of the present that we fail to see the big picture. If the big picture is showing a crisis but you have intentionally or unintentionally blocked it out, you too could be saying “Crisis? What Crisis?”  Yeah you’ve made the sale, or semi-answered the questions proposed. As far as you’re concerned you’re finished. Right? Wrong! Don’t lose sight that there are future sales opportunities and always referrals at stake.  The customer will forget you in about two “shakes*” unless you have a consistent, patterned follow-up system.  This is the beauty of my business, Sendoutcards. Let me talk with you about how this could look for your business. Fill up the contact information here on this website and let’s avert a Crisis!  The Doctor says “Take your Medicine and call me in the morning (to schedule an appointment to talk about our businesses)!

Dr. Ralph Harold, MD

GuyWithTwoFirstNames.com

10/12/2018

What’s the doctor’s prescription for this latest week? There absolutely is not anything which can’t be improved. I know what you’re thinking “mine is the best, I  have already worked all the bugs out of it“. Problem is the general public is going to respond to that by saying “yeah, yeah we’ve heard it all before“. Remember, in something like 1926, someone thought they were going to have to close the patent office because everything had already been invented that could be invented. Really? Can you imagine being without the transistor, computer, integrated circuit microchip, lithium batteries, solar cells, etc.?        

Now before you laugh and point your fingers at that man or woman and how stupid they now appear, let’s put the same facet of thinking into your own business and your own methodology. I hate to break it to you, but even YOU, yes you, can improve and should improve!  Because when that little voice creeps up inside your head saying, “ Me? Not me? I don’t have to improve. Mine is the best, I have already worked all the bugs out of it,” I want you to think of that person who was sure we needed to close the patent office. You’re deceiving yourself and hampering your business if you don’t open your eyes to the changes that can be to your benefit.

One place most every business falls short at some point is in FOLLOW-UP. And I mean consistent follow-up. Sure you may have done it for a while or you meant to do it and want to do it but phones ring,  emergency emails pop up and by golly your attention gets diverted, distracted or re-directed. Sure, go ahead and assure me you’ll get those 2014 “Thank You for your Business” notes written sometime before months end.  SendOutCards will automatically create, publish, print, fold, address, stamp with a real stamp, insert into a pretty, cursive-handwriting addressed envelope and get it to the post office without you lifting a finger, once Ralph, “guywithtwofirstnames.com” has it all set up for you. Appreciation You Can Touch.  See, now don’t you feel better?

10/04/2018

Isn’t it amazing how sometimes the answer that has just eluded you, was right there in front of your face the whole time? Almost every entrepreneur or business person has searched  for some version of a magic bullet. I’m not sure I found it but this is awfully close. As usual,  If there’s one thing we’re all guilty of, it’s trying too hard and looking too deeply.

Especially in the 60s, corporations would write out a sales pitch, they expected you to memorize and rehearse it and then almost like a copy machine, they expected you to recapitulate it flawlessly over and over again with any carbon-based life form that you came in contact with. They really didn’t care how well it fit that person, it contains the facts that the company supported, the company likes that set of facts and by golly people who didn’t get it are just simply stupid, dense or sub-humanoid.
Occasionally this verbatim, highly dry and impersonal sales pitch would in fact say the right keywords and occasionally a sale would result, thus empowering the company to push even harder for you to repeat repeat repeat, this mind-numbing sequence of words. 

And then everything changed. I was invited by a good friend of mine to attend a free lecture given by Network Marketing guru “Big Al” a.k.a. Tom Schreiter. In the final analysis not only were we doing it wrong, but we were headed in the wrong direction. The key, according to Big Al is to be a “problem solver” instead of a “solution pusher“. Our relentless listing of features, benefits etc. was turning the prospect off because we weren’t solving their problems. Sometimes the Prospect didn’t even know they had a problem and that’s why our approach should first be to talk about THE OTHER PERSON’S business, how it’s working for them and what stumbling blocks they encounter. Engaging the prospect and solving a problem or two, even if you don’t solve all their problems will be much more ingratiating then just ramming a list of features and functions down their throat. YOUR PRESCRIPTION ; be a “problem solver” instead of a “solution pusher“     

GuyWithTwoFirstNames.com

09/27/2018

WORDS TO SEE YOU THROUGH- Part 2

When we began this prescription last week, we had to face the fact that there will be good days and bad days. It is also pointless for you to wish or even hope things will be perfect all the time.  Bateman was paraphrased as having said   “It’s not what happens to you that matters, it is your RESPONSE that is the important thing!” Since it is inevitable, that there will be a rough patch, ‘the Doctor” (yours truly) prescribed drafting the attitude known as SWSWSW- Next “some will, some won’t, so what” and it’s onto the NEXT opportunity.  Whatever you, in the present, think will ruin the rest of your life, take heart that it is overcomeable. [Is that even a word?] It’s just a temporary bump in the road and you can and will overcome it. You will, can and MUST overcome it.

Part 2 of your prescription, centers on this notion that you must have sufficient strength of conviction to absolutely resolve and believe that you will overcome whatever setback occurs, despite its gravity. There are countless descriptions on the Internet, people with no arms or legs doing incredibly active sports, competitions, triathlons and parenting.   Blind people bowl and making unbelievable art.  Their “take no prisoners” attitude left them victorious-surely your obstacle can be overcome just by an ATTITUDE ADJUSTMENT. 

Just like succeeding in marriage doesn’t require each party give 50%...no each party must give 100% and maybe more like 120%.  You as the business owner, entrepreneur must be willing to “ go that extra mile.”  To emphasize that point, the now mighty Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance company, was founded March 2, 1857.  They expected to take in many years of premium to build up their reserves. Unfortunately, a train derailment in Wisconsin, killed 14 people just two years into the company’s existence.  Payout of Northwestern’s Death Benefit obligations would have bankrupted the company.  So, President Samuel Daggett and Treasurer Charles Nash personally borrowed the needed funds to pay the claims immediately. Can you imagine PERSONALLY guaranteeing your fledgling employers Accounts Payable? Talk about Strength of Conviction.  The mighty Northwestern Mutual survives today because of that ultra heroic act.

Yes, I’m talking to you.  Your problems are trivial compared to that and you can, must and WILL work through them.  Now, don’t you feel better already? Join me here next week for a new Prescription.

The Doctor will See You Now,

Dr. Ralph Harold, MD

Guywithtwofirstnames.com