Gossip: you'll pee your in pants!

Today, I learnt a distinction inside the word: Gossip.

It was my favourite dentist, who is very learned in human relations from the involvement in her education series known as Landmark Education.

I have been troubled by a certain person who is in trouble with his membership in the organization I lead. In essence, I, together with my team of advisors had decided to end his membership on its expiry. In other words, I fired a client for non performance on his side of the deal and commitment.

This person however, wants to still remain, and therefore did mentioned that he wanted to appeal against this decision.

Never mind all the rubbish that went along with his appeal: made up stories, excuses, even a lie of a mega-magnitude.

But the perplexing thing is that: he called all and sundry telling that he will ring me, except he didn't. And I am, the very person who is in the position to make the decision or at least have a large influence on it.

All and sundry then reported that this bloke will ring me.

But he didn't.

In my frustration in receiving the news from all and sundry, I rang my favourite dentist to solicit her advise. This is when she explained the distinction within the word 'gossip': to speak to anyone about a situation except the person who you need to speak to.

Wow! It's clear now.

So, there you have it.

In the meantime, I rang up this (idiotic) person. I didn't go to see at the end, but I am sure he had peed his pants!

I expect nothing less from you, Missy!

In the organization I lead, all involved have to commit to weekly attendance in their respective Chapter meetings.

If unable to attend, the person concerned can find another person (not a member in his Chapter) to represent him as a substitute.

I earlier received a text message from Missy, that she was requested to play the substitute role in another Chapter.

She replied to the person that unless a written presentation is either e-mailed or faxed ahead of time, she will not do the honours. And that, she will not accept a written presentation on the morning itself as it wouldn't give her time to prepare herself to be effective.

Because it is essential that we give an opportunity for our colleagues from other Chapters or branches to prepare themselves, we must always plan ahead of time, and send all materials in advance.

Even better, after sending all relevant information, do also give a phone call and enquire if all was received in good order. Have a conversation, especially in areas you want deeper emphasis and clarity. Align and synchronise. Do everything in your ability to make it a smoothe experience for your colleagues to represent you.

So, prepare yourself well, if you ever ask Missy to represent you, you can expect nothing less!

H and Y and G equals to F!

I attended a program on business visibility last Saturday and learnt a thing or two about being credible via positive visibility.

An item that came up was something I had been yelling out for years: Domain names for business.

I can't imagine for the life in me how can certain people claim to be the boss, Managing Director, or a big-shot of a kind and then have an e-mail address that says rubbish like: yahoo, hotmail, gmail.

Well, you cannot expect to be taken seriously if indeed you cannot register and successfully use your own domain name for your business e-mails.

It is a sign of amateurity. A sign of incompetency and even an indication of no-long term existence if indeed your e-mail address was a generic one.

I expect students in schools or colleges use such type of e-mail addresses. Not business people.

Imagine the horror if you exchanged a business card with say, Bill Gates, and it said: billgatesmicrosoft22@yahoo.com

Get the point?

I throw away business cards I receive where the e-mail listed is a generic one. No kidding. I do not take you seriously. Not at all. Nope. No way. No compromise.

So, here's a new formula: Hotmail, yahoo and gmail equals to fmail! And you well know what the letter f stands for!

Ruffle up some feathers and kick some ass!

Over a lovely briyani and fried chicken lunch today, I had a conversation with some team members on various matters.

Then it came to my current favourite subject: 10 minutes at 10 past 10, where I asked those present to share what was the one victory they had yesterday.

One of them, Michard is his name, felt triumphant as he had developed a high quality and convertible referral for a certain Missy, and this really made him feel on top of the world. He almost wanted to pay for the lunch bill.

Then he shared with all that in the past, this Missy had an honest and open communications with him that he wasn't up to mark in developing quality referrals. Missy apparently ruffled his feathers and it sounded as if it was ruffled real bad.

'I felt pressure!' he said.

But this got him to work, and ever since this near kick in the ass from our Missy, he said that his commitment to his colleagues had taken a leap.

Now our chappie here is leading a PowerGroup and is encouraging all his colleagues to attend more trainings and education sessions to brush up their skills.

Now here's to ruffling up feather and kicking some ass!

A key to co-operation revealed.

In the meantime, I enjoyed an additional piece of the lovely spiced fried chicken!

And guess who settled the bill?

Stand up, Speak up. Be firm. Be a (wo)man!

Recently I have been speaking to some partners in the referrals generation organization I lead and have come to realise that people are too nice. So nice that their business is suffering!

I think this needs some clarification:

A particular client explained to me that he referred business to his colleague (service provider) in his BNI Chapter to get a job done for his customers.

It was bad enough that the quotation from his colleague took more than a week to come out, but once the deal was confirmed, this service provider couldn't deliver the job.

Why couldn't he deliver the job?

Answer, and this was the literral answer: 'My boys are very busy, we have no time for this job'.

While my client was explaining this to me in despair, I felt like going over to the service provider and shooting him for such an inappropriate answer. Almost crossing the line of being rude, and being so ungrateful. I wouldn't have hesitated to use the four-lettered word!

After shooting the service provider, if indeed I had done this but didn't as I do not own a gun, I would then go over to the client who had referred to him to knock his brains out.

Why?

There are 2 sides to any coin, and 2 sides to consider here:

Firstly: when your colleague in a BNI Chapter or from any other networking organisation refers business to you, is this how a referral will be treated?

Not only you embarass the person who referred you as his credibility with his customers is jeopardised but you will also spoil the goodwill and trust. Can't you now see what a jack-ass you have been?

If this service provider was unable to fulfil this job as 'his boys' were occupied in another job, then why was this not clearly explained before taking on the job?

Dishonest? Not professional? Or a plain idiot? All of them!

Secondly, the person who gave the referral must be proactive and refer responsibly.

I asked this person, why didn't he seek clarification as to why his job referred was not carried out by the service provider on time. If a certain service provider cannot fulfill a job, then go get it sorted elsewhere. I questioned his business judgement in letting his service level to his customers take a hit.

We must practise 'Open and Honest Communication' among our colleagues. Be provocative even, as long as the job is done to a desirable standard of service.

If unable to fulfill a referral, be honest and say so!

If a partner is unable to fulfill your referral given to him, be honest about the situation and solve it, in the interest of your customer.

For me: I wouldn't have let this happen. I had referred a colleague to get a job done for my customer, I would follow-up closely and hold my colleague responsible every step of the way. I will provoke, if I feel that he or she is slipping up! No excuses.

And yes, to this service provider: Go f-off!

10 minutes at 10 past 10 (each day)

One of my clients reported that he has implemented a: 10 minutes at 10 past 10 (each day).

This means, that at 10.10am each working day, all the staff in his office, from all departments will meet for 10-minutes to bring each other up to speed with the following:

1. What was my victory yesterday?
2. What is my priority today?
3. What am I stuck with today?

I think this is a great thing to do. All business owners must implement this, doesn't matter if it is not at 10 past 10.

Another client, who implemented this has instructed all his staff to meet him at the end of each working day and share with him, the one positive thing that happened on that day.

Implementing this has many benefits: for one, all the staff will be aware of what's going on in other departments, and perhaps, as the day progresses, offer support in terms of ideas or suggest solutions to each other. This opens up channels of communications among the staff.

Furthermore, it enables everyone to record their victories, or reflect on the positive happenings on a particular day to build inner strength for the next challenge ahead.

With me, at 10 past 10pm, when I am about to call it a day (yes, I tuck in early!) I spend 10-minutes to reflect on the wonderful things that happened on that day.

So, it can be 5 minutes at 5 past 5 (each day), but do it regularly. You'll see your organization succeed!

It's my mouth, you know?

Owing certain recent unhealthy and unsavoury developments in a branch in my business, I had a meeting with the key executives there and brainstormed how we will overcome similiar challenges in the future.

Obvious answer was: raise the bar. Yup, plain and simple. The only difference is that we are going to honour our time invested in brainstorming by following through completely.

To avoid history repeating itself, we decided that all new applicants will have to go through a set of additional requirements in order to be admitted into our organization.

To be specific, here are the requirements, over and above what's required by our Head Office:

1. Each applicants will visit our branch at least twice: once to observe closely, and then to return the following week with some referrals for members. We will coach them how to do so, via referring to our 'Referral Activator Sheet'.

2. Each applicant will be given a time slot for a site visit by the members to their business premise, where we can get a feel of their business operations. We will also prepare for them a template to fill out which will list their products and services and profiles of clients. They will be asked to present this to the members to understand clearly what their business is all about. Then from there, we can identify which area we can be of assistance to them to refer business, and make any upfront exclusions, if we pick up something not in line with our organizational objectives and members' harmony.

3. We will then recommend to the applicants that they need to complete at least 2 Dance-cards (1-2-1s) with the members in their Chapter, especially those current members who are serving the same customer profiles as they are.

This will enable them to be absorbed in the Chapter culture even before joining.

Further to this: we will outline the profile of the general members' attributes we are looking for (this will be presented to all members and guests during this week's meeting.)

And if any prospective applicant doesn't measure up or falls through the cracks, we will do our best to bring them up to speed.

However, if they cannot keep up, then we will have to move on.

I believe, this is putting our money where our mouth is. At least my mouth, that is!

Separating the cream from the milk...

In an event to drive membership for a Referral Generation team, we received 48 visitors.

From this 48 visitors, we received 34 application for memberships.

Of course, not all 34 of them will end up in membership. It would be naive to remotely think of this possibility. Or rather, it very rarely happens.

There are 2 factors which will determine the end result in this case:

1. Screening: we must screen all applications thoroughly to ensure that the applicant will benefit from participating in the program.
2. Ride out the 'diminishing excitement' factor: which means, that those who filled out an application form for membership can lose excitement especially if they filled the form to 'give face' to the person who invited them, who was encouraging a membership to them.

All in all, we will end up shorlisting 12 applicants where we can send out invitations for memberships. And these are the real 'prospects'. The other applicants were merely traffic.

Learning to differentiate between the two is essential in any business person's ability and skill set.

Following up:

It is essential that all the genuine prospects are given a phone-call to thank them for coming. Also, ask them which was the best part of the meeting which they liked. Get them responding. Open ended questions is the key.

Then, depending on this enthusiasm, ask if they would like to come on board to join the group.

Complete the process by sending a written e-mail outlining the conversation.

And then comes the most important part: follow-through.

Follow Through:

This means concluding a conversation or a process, with a person until a final result is achieved, or until a final decision is made.

Many average business people lose their sales within this critical zone or space. They think that by simply following up, the entire process will be sufficient. But in actual fact, it is the follow through that will determine the end result.

Always follow through, no matter how delicate, intricate or complicated the matter is at hand. Grow inner strength.

At the end, this will separate the cream from the milk, and man from boys!

Be a man, so that you can enjoy the cream!

Give me a curry-puff for RM25 but...

Today I had an interesting conversation with a client and partner in my Referrals Generation Service.

The issue was still, unfortunately, the time when the meal is served in our official meetings.

However, this was at a different level where this person, who is a building contractor confided that he will be happy to be served a curry-puff for RM25 as long as he receives a good quality referral each week. He is also prepared to reciprocate the same level of commitment.

He defined the 'good referral' as a lead that can be converted to a business transaction yielding to a profit of RM500 at least, each and every week.

'Who cares for the menu!' he boomed.

Now that was an interesting conversation, where now we have an avenue to move ahead.

We are sick of partners in our referral generation team who are under the bar: giving bullshit referrals. If you yourself don't want to receive a referral like that, then stop giving these kinds of referrals.

Now here is a clue on how you can determine in two seconds, if a referral is indeed a quality one.

It depends on the conversation that preceeded it.

Did the person who is referring you call you to find out if you can do so and so for their contacts? Did the person ask if you can deliver on time a project or a sale?

They would certainly find out about this if their referral is genuine.

Why?

Because their reputation is a stake.

If I referred to my good friend a contact who cannot deliver a desirable service, what would my standing be? Can I afford to risk this?

That's how you can determine if a referral is genuine or not. Be wary of a referral you receive that had no preceeding conversation.

So, give me a curry-puff for RM25 but give me a good referral!

A cow is a cow, nothing more nothing less!

Recently, I have been transforming the organization that I lead to make a major change in the operation.

It is about the timing of when the meal is served during our official meetings.

While some members have embraced it with an open heart and mind, there are some who still think that it is about food. It is clearly not. It is in fact, all about achieving results.

One angry person rang me and yelled: 'do you think we are cows? Eating so early in the morning?'

And he went on and on, and started hitting below the belt.

Of course, my response, after being worn down by his angry tone was: 'Sorry that you have felt like a cow. So why not end your suffering and leave the group, since this is a permanent enhancement?'

How different it would have been if he rang and enquired: 'Hey Riyaz, can you please explain why are we now having our meals in the mornings, early?'

Then I can invest the time to explain and enlighten this person. Then we can have a dialogue. An empowering conversation, between two people. The possibilities would be endless.

But for now, I'll leave a cow to be a cow. You cannot teach a cow to sing. It will frustrate you and annoy the cow!