Small Business Leadership and Sales Blog

Hello Marvelous People:

Let’s keep in mind that while “Thanksgiving” may be celebrated at a certain time of the year – the attitude of gratitude is worth living and practicing all the days of our lives.

May you enjoy Ana Dutra’s article & share it with all your friends, neighbors, co-workers & relatives.

Peace, Love and Gratitude to you & yours!

Marvin LeBlanc

Thanksgiving, giving thanks, appreciating, being grateful… a colleague asked me recently if I thought there was any connection between gratitude and performance. Yes, I answered, there is a clear connection. At the most basic level, when people feel truly appreciated for their contributions, results and actions, they give their best, they give it their all. Taking this a level deeper, demonstrations of gratitude are energizing for the recipient and fulfilling for the giver.

When people feel truly appreciated for their contributions, results and actions, they give their best, and higher levels of performance are unleashed.

Imagine a culture where people feel comfortable and compelled to express gratitude not only for all the good things employees, colleagues, peers and bosses do but also for who they are. As people receive and give grateful feed-back, positive energy is created throughout the organization and, as everybody strives to do their very best, excellence and higher levels of performance are unleashed.

The role of leaders in creating such a culture is fundamental. It takes self-confidence, humility and awareness — of self and others — to articulate appreciation for others. It takes believing and understanding that people perform at higher levels when they feel appreciated. Yet, gratitude is appreciation at a deeper level. It is less about what people do and more about who they are and the roles they play in the organization. The impact of gratitude on the leader and on others around him/her can be extraordinary.

In some Eastern philosophies where pause and reflection are daily practices, practitioners are invited to acknowledge and express gratitude for things and people that, otherwise, would be taken for granted. As people express gratitude, not only do they benefit from the recognition of something or somebody that makes a positive difference in their lives but so do the recipients of the grateful feelings. As leaders express gratitude for their teams, for their clients, for the organization they lead, the appreciation spreads way above and beyond their inner circle.

Gratitude has to be authentic and heartfelt in order to be impactful. It can’t be an obligation or expressed because it is “the right thing to say”. A few days ago, I picked up my daughter at her job helping to organize and deliver birthday parties. As she sat in the car, she had a card in her hands and, as she was opening the card, she said: ”I love to read the Thank You notes — pause — but not the ones like this…”. As I felt her disappointment, I looked at the Thank You note she was staring at. It was a printed, impersonal, and unsigned Thank You, probably one of many distributed to all the people who worked at the party. My daughter was looking for the sincere, personal and authentic Thank You. But, what she received was one of many impersonal pieces of paper. Like the Thank You note my daughter received, canned gratitude is transparent and a waste of time. It cheapens the gesture and it doesn’t create any positive impact. In order to be able to express authentic gratitude, leaders have to truly feel it. In order to truly feel it, you have to be open to be grateful and take the time to pause and reflect about the things and people you are grateful for.

So, during this Thanksgiving, I want to invite you to pause. Pause and reflect. Reflect on all the people who should receive your gratitude not only for the things they do, but for who they are, how they behave, what they stand for as individuals and as leaders themselves. And don’t forget to be grateful for who YOU are. Again, not for what you do or what you have, but who you are, the values you possess and what you stand for. Expressions of gratitude create better lives and, yes, improve personal and business performance.

Meetings & Conventions is proud to announce that 298 worldwide properties and CVBs have achieved one of the industry's highest honors — an M&C Gold Award. The winner's list was selected based on the votes of meeting planners who are the toughest industry critics.

The New Orleans Convention & Visitors Bureau was recognized as Gold Elite winner exemplifying a standard of excellence and received the top five votes in their category.

For the New Orleans CVB, the goal is to be the most meeting planner-friendly city in America. As a destination with over one million square feet of exhibit space, a newly renovated Superdome complex and over 38,500 hotel rooms, New Orleans competes for some of the largest conventions in the nation. So to differentiate the destination, the CVB tailors as many resources to each customer as possible. That's why their motto is: Our Service is as Distinctive as the Destination Itself.
For more information visit their website: www.neworleanscvb.com

Look for the complete list of M&C 2011 Gold Award winners on www.mcmag.com!

As you’re running your business on a day-to-day basis (yes including all the dirty work, meetings, client calls, hassles, heartaches and headaches)… do you ever stop and wonder if there’s an easier way?

Does the thought occur to you – as it has to me oh so many times – that this whole work and business thing should simply NOT be this hard.

Finally, has it occurred to you to ask the key question, “How can I make it easier on my team – my customers – and myself?”

Animals can teach humans so much if we simply observe. Take a flock of geese for example. 

The small business smarts of geese:

1. They fly in a V-Shape formation for a reason. It reduces wind resistance by 67%.
2. They all honk for the leader but they are always changing out the leader so that the leader can rest & they honk just as loudly for the next leader in line.3. When one of the geese gets shot down, another goose will stay with him until he dies or until he is able to fly and rejoin the group.

Ponder these questions about the small business leadership lessons of geese:

1. In our workplace, do we work to reduce resistance within our team and “fly in formation” -- or do we create unnecessary resistance with our colleagues and customers?
2. Are you a “honker” – an encourager, team advocate and a builder of people?
3. Are you taking steps to ensure everyone on your team is ready to excel in leadership roles as needed?
4. When one of your team members is having a bad day or is “shot down,” do you help them until they can “fly again”?

If you’re not 100% sure of some of your answers to these questions, let’s have a virtual cup of coffee or bowl of gumbo and talk about how you and your team can lead smarter, sell more effectively, and have a lot more fun in business.

Much has been written about the power of tapping into your personal passion in business and in life. Whether the message is around small business leadership or small business sales, as a professional speaker on both those areas of expertise, I have a surprise for you - passion is overrated. And we're often passionate about the wrong things at the wrong time.

In essence, what I'm talking about is a Passion Trap - and you may find yourself stuck in it more often than even YOU might realize.

Now here's another curve ball in exploring the passion trap, marvelous people - As you mature and develop, your passions change. What you FELT was so important in your 20's is no longer that central to you in your 30's. You can do the math for your 40's, 50's and 60's too. And passions don't only change over the decades - they can change over a matter of years, months, or even weeks.

Remember to be patient with yourself when your passions & interests change.

You are an ever evolving being, so it is only natural that your passions & interests will evolve – as you do so, many people will find fault with your ideas, your plans, and the chosen “movement” you've decided to start. Maybe it's a movement to make the world better, safer, cleaner, healthier, better managed, more innovative... there are as many "movements" as there are small business owners, professionals, and corporate leaders to lead them. You start thinking and talking too big - and yes, my friends, there will always be someone (usually more than you expect) ready to shoot you down or label you as a "dreamer" or a "rebel" or a "nut."

Why? Because your movement affects their social or financial well-being, because they may be more fearful of change, because they'll lose something in their relationship with you because of your transition.

Your personality may see this change as exciting and it might make you feel alive with new perspectives and experiences. Their personalities might view you as a fool or as a risk-taker. "Why would you change careers when you already know how to do well in this one? Why would you innovate a new sales process when we've always done it this way? Why would you invest in becoming a talent-driven organization when we're hurting for money as a company right now?"

Here's my final tip about harnessing the power of passion: People really don't care how passionate you are about your products, your services, your job, your company, or your career. You know what beats that out by a mile? Tapping into what THEY are passionate about. If you can deliver on the value where those two passions meet, look out - marvelous results are in your very near future!

Entrepreneurship is not child’s play. You will need a business mind with an eye for finesse and acumen to avoid all the pitfalls of managing a business venture on your own. Following is a list of guidelines that should be in every entrepreneur’s arsenal in order to be successful. Without engaging in these guidelines, insufficient foresight can flush all your hard work and efforts down the drain.

• The first and perhaps the most important thing that every entrepreneur should bear in mind is that regardless of what you do you will end up needing twice the amount of capital that you have projected for your business. Perhaps this is due to the fact that your budget forecasts might have had a shortfall because you had failed to see a few costs or had just omitted them as not applicable to your concern. However, be ready with extra cash to support any financing needs that may arise.

• Relentless passion for your work is a prerequisite to a successful entrepreneurial venture. No matter how passionate you are about your work or how ardently you undertake each and every project, trust me it won’t be enough at the end of the day. You will always end up with the realization that had you put in more hard work, things would have worked out just right. The one thing that can assure your success is authentic,sincere zeal for perseverance.

• Human capital is that asset, which has the power to make or break your business. Therefore, you should put your utmost effort and time in cultivating the 100 best customers in your company, as those are the people that pave the path to success. Catering to your human resources will bring in better business results than any promotional activity can.

• Most importantly, as an entrepreneur you need to digest the fact that your business venture will be the toughest thing that you would have had undertaken in your whole life. You will be drained out of energy and resources, and will be constantly running to make sure that everything is going on in a smooth flow. Remember, your relationships will be under a lot of strain as most of the time you will be busy with the business management. Your family relations will be extremely strained. Weak supporters will opt out of your life.

• Lastly, if you have the perception that like everybody else you can wrap up work and go home at 5 pm then you will be better off staying as an employee for someone else. Keep a job rather than running a business. To achieve greatness and sustainability in entrepreneurship you will have to put in all that you have and more.

For all businesses, employee performance is the integral factor and perhaps the building block that leads to their success. Employee performance can be greatly improved with the right kind of leadership.

Here are the 5 fundamentals I believe are essential for building performance.

All leaders must practice the following fundamentals with unyielding determination:

• Commitment to showing others their due respect. Leaders always value the opinions of their teams and followers. Why? The answer is that it gives them a sense of contribution and a feeling that they are important members of any team.

• All successful leaders put in hard work and long hours more so than everybody else because they have a greater calling i.e. a responsibility to make sure everyone is on the right path and working towards goal achievement. The leadership goals to effectively manage a team like, planning, organizing, directing, controlling, and administration take a lot of perseverance.

• Individual goals take a backseat in relevance with the goals of the team because it is only through teamwork i.e. cooperation and co-ordination can organizational goals be achieved. The basic goal of a leader is to ensure that everyone is working in harmony towards the achievement of the organizational goals rather than individual tasks.

• A leader never slacks off. Leaders never make excuses not to do a work or for not having to fulfill an objective. They work relentlessly day in day out until they have achieved what they had set out to do. And that is the key to successful leadership. Not giving up and ascertaining goal achievement is bred into the minds of leaders.

• Leaders take full responsibility of whatever they direct their teams to do and however they plan to carry out tasks for goal achievement. They are willing to be held accountable for any consequence of the actions that they prompt, and that in fact is what inspires their team to follow them unquestioningly.

Peace, Love and Gumbo, 

Marvin LeBLanc, LUTCF, CNP

Hello Marvelous Peeps!

Today please consider this sobering question:

"IF YOUR LAST PAYCHECK WAS YOUR "LAST" PAYCHECK, HOW LONG COULD YOU & YOUR LOVED ONES SURVIVE ON THE MONEY YOU HAVE?" Marvin Feldman, today's guest contributor offers you valuable content & insights that need to be carefully considered.

Should you have additional questions, please contact us & we'll help you in
any way we can.

Marvin LeBlanc

It's time to help Americans protect their paychecks!

Eighty-two percent of Americans strongly agree that if you own a car, you need car insurance. Eighty percent feel that if you own a home, you need homeowner's insurance. But did you know that fewer than half of all Americans (48 percent) strongly agree that it's necessary to protect an asset that is many times more valuable than cars or homes - their paycheck - with disability insurance? This is what a 2010 LIFE Foundation survey recently discovered.

That's where we, the agents and advisors, come in. Few people stop to think about what would happen if an accident or injury left them unable to work or earn a paycheck. Those who do think about it may erroneously assume that they will be able to rely on worker's compensation or Social Security to see them through their disability.

This is why, each May, the LIFE Foundation focuses the industry's attention on this critical issue during Disability Insurance Awareness Month. The theme for this year's campaign is Protect Your Paycheck - something that should resonate with everyone who works and earns a paycheck. This May and beyond, it's our job to educate the public about the importance of protecting their paycheck with disability insurance, and to make sure they obtain the coverage that they need. I know it isn't easy.

Take a typical 20-something: They think they are invincible. What can happen to them, right? A disabling illness or injury? That's for other people, older people. This widespread mentality is one of the things that makes the realLIFEstory of Bill Reid so amazing. He was just 26 years old and working as a banquet manager when he bought an individual disability insurance policy. He also increased his coverage as his earnings rose. When he was 32, his life changed in an instant.

On New Year's Eve, as he headed to his sister's house to celebrate with his family, he was hit by another motorist. It took 13 surgeries and seven months of hospital stays and rehab appointments to begin to heal his injuries. While Bill has recovered admirably, chronic, short-term memory loss makes it impossible for him to return to work. His disability insurance, however, saw him through recovery and will provide him with an income until he turns 65.

Bill wasn't so different than any other 26-year-old. He didn't go out and buy that disability policy on his own, armed with the knowledge that it could protect his current and future paychecks. Instead, it was Bill's brother-in-law, his insurance
agent, who had that tough conversation with him about the importance of disability insurance. This is the conversation that we need to have with all of our clients who earn a paycheck. Ask them if they've protected their car, their home, and their paycheck. When they question you on that last point, that's when you start the dialogue.

Marvin H. Feldman is the president and chief executive officer of the
LIFE Foundation. He can be reached at mfeldman@lifehappens.org.

Hello Marvelous People!

As many of our longtime subscribers know, I’m not an encourager of you wasting too much valuable time obsessing about what is being said in the “news”. Because if you haven’t figured it out yet, the “news” is about shock value & ratings. Your chance to receive real value comes much later, assuming it ever arrives at all.

Sadly, but not shockingly the “news” recently released a story that a Senior Executive at a prominent insurance Company was summarily dismissed from his job duties.

Details: the skinny of it was that he was having a “couple of drinks” after a business session when his Tongue began to Waggle about his discontented feelings about his boss. There are different versions of the story but several people within earshot picked up one of his ill planned snippets. Something to the effect that his boss was a “F------ Ass!”

The real point I wish to emphasize is not that this man was fired, but that this man failed to remember the Jerry Stovall rule:

“Remember who you are! Remember who you represent!”

See folks, when we lack the ability to resist the “waggling tongue syndrome” about a frustration that you have with your boss, your co-worker, your vendor, your friends, your neighbors or your relatives, two things inevitably happen.

1. It forever serves to destroy, but it constructs NOTHING. (Lose/Lose Proposition)

2. There is no gain & all you can lose is character. (Lose/Lose Proposition)

3. My daughter has heard these words so many times:  “Taylor, it takes much more character to say NOTHING when you are frustrated and you want to “just tell somebody off”. That’s not how you win. You are so much more than that.

Here’s my suggested call to action for you.

· Stand guard at the Gateway of your Mouth.

· If you can’t drink, don’t drink.

· Don’t forget what your parents or grandparents hopefully told you.

· If you don’t have something good to say, don’t say it at all.

People are more sensitive & amped up with their egos today more than ever before in my life. I was brought up in a household that enjoyed a whole bunch of bantering and light hearted sarcasm. But these days the “light hearted” sarcasm is now “heart felt” sarcasm & it’s just not a road on which you wish to travel.

Thank you for sharing your time & your life with us.

Make Your Marvelous Happen for You today.  Please, drop us an email. You inspire us.

Social Media, Where to Begin?

With over 500,000,000 plus (not a typo) users worldwide Facebook has gone from college campus cool to wow my 83 year old grandma has a Facebook account. If you’re not on Facebook chances are you most of your customers are, even the ones who you think aren’t probably are. So where to start? That is the question I get a lot from small business owners looking to engage their customers in social media.

The easiest place to start is to start with a personal page and start learning the lingo, feel, and pace of social media on a personal level before jeopardizing your business reputation. Once you get involved you will quickly realize how fast paced social media is, and the power of the Facebook platform. So if you are going to make a mistake make it first with personal friends and family, and not your customers.

After you start reconnecting with friends and family on Facebook I suggest you start to seek business pages you have an interest in. If you work in insurance start seeking carrier pages and watch what they do and start to form an opinion of what you like and dislike about how they present information. Along with “liking” carrier pages seek out insurance agents, trade associations, and other local businesses. Once you have monitored these pages and you feel comfortable with Facebook, the jargon and speed of it all then launch a business page.

Finally, keep in mind once you start in social media for your business you have to maintain the relationships you are trying to build. That means posting regularly, giving value in your posts, and responding to both positive and negative comments left on your page (responding to comments is a whole another blog post, stay tuned.) The best small businesses in my opinion use their Facebook page as a community resource bulletin board highlighting, community involvement, the value their business brings to the community, and the local events they sponsor. Facebook is not a place to “sell” it is a place for engagement just like the local coffee shop.

The Author: Brad Heutmaker, MBA, is a Regional Executive for a National Internet Marketing & Insurance Lead Generation firm in the United States. He personally works with some of the largest insurance carriers and agencies in the country. You can follow Brad on Twitter @bradheutmaker or “Like” his Facebook Page – Brad Heutmaker SPEAKS

Hello beautiful people. Let’s discuss today’s topic, which is “Lessons from Edison.” I get a little bit annoyed when people tell me, “Marvin, you’re working too hard” or “Marvin, you’re a workaholic.” Usually that advice is coming from someone who is currently employed by someone else on someone else’s payroll. In my mind I usually classify these people as non-dreamers, they are probably going nowhere extremely fast.

When faced with these types of comments the best thing to do initially is to consider the source. Are their comments and advice even worth listening to? I do think it is important to address the issue of “being a workaholic.”

Consider for a moment Thomas Edison. He lived to be 84 years old. As you know, Thomas Edison was was a great inventor. Did you know he was also a successful salesman and frequently worked more than 40 hours straight? Notice how long Edison lived. The reason he probably lived that long is because he worked instead of resting. The whole concept behind resting is overrated. Don’t buy into the myth that work kills, it just isn’t true.

Resting is overrated. I can prove it to you. When you get home, lay down flat for five straight days. On the sixth day you will need to be admitted to a hospital for all of the newly created illnesses and ailments you have. Even though you rested five days in a row, you are not doing your body any good.

What kills a person is unfulfilled work. What kills a person is uninspired work. In my opinion, nothing kills faster than indecision, laziness, mediocrity and the attitude of entitlement. If you spend a lot of time focusing on yourself and not focusing in on the benefit that you can share and be significant in other people’s lives, you will be unfulfilled.

If you spend too much time on yourself, you may find yourself getting lazy. Don’t fall for it, stay away from being mediocre. Stay away from the attitudes of entitlement. The things that matter for you most, are the things that you have to struggle for. Remember the “Lesson of Edison.” Everything comes to him who hustles while he waits. Forget Success, Focus on Significance.

Peace, Love and Gumbo!
Marvin LeBlanc, LUTCF, CNP