Small Business Leadership and Sales Blog

"It is in surviving defeat that our true character grows and develops!" - Marvin                    

Business leaders, recall the times that you "fumbled" in your execution, not last year, but possibly JUST THIS WEEK.

It happens to everyone.  We make commitments and fail to deliver on them. We may have promised to get a project done and were not able to complete it on time.  

Perhaps you got a very hard earned referral and then somehow fear and excuses took over and you never followed up. 

If you failed to execute you need to own it and learn from it.  

How can you learn from it?  How about realizing the timing around your failed executions?  

Start now for 2012.  January, is half over and many people have not set goals for this year. Many of us are very quick to blame others and extremely slow to take ownership for our own shortcomings.  

Here is something to ponder, in the wake of Monday's LSU loss many people are disappointed, some even are saying the season ended poorly.  When you look at the numbers 13 out of 14 games were won, 92.8% of the season was done RIGHT.  What percentage of your YEAR did you get right?  I am willing to bet it wasn't 92.8%! 

If you are not working on yourself, then you are working on the WRONG PROJECT.  

If your group need to be inspired, if you need private coaching or perhaps your sales team need to upgrade their skills.  It is time to contact our team.  

My goal is to help you get it right 92.8% of the time! 

Peace, Love and Gumbo! 

Marvin LeBlanc LUTCF, CNP

Are there days in your life that happened many years ago that you can vividly still recall? You can feel the wind, the warmth of the day, the smells, the colors. You can remember what clothes you had on. You can remember who was with you.

Well, our most memorable days are usually our most emotional ones. During those days, we were challenged or provoked, positively or negatively.

And so it was on that March day in 1992 that I was experiencing one of "those days" on the golf course. It was a Friday and I was hopeful that I would have a quality round of golf before heading in for a nice meal around 6pm and then relax for the night. But it just wasn't to be.

For you see on that day I was experiencing the repetitive misfortune of hitting my golf ball either in fairway sand bunkers or green side bunkers. As I recall, on the 18 holes I played that day (if you wanna call it that), I "succeeded" in landing in 16 bunkers. Well you would think that's what really got me riled up. Oh no! Not so. What really got me riled up is that I LACKED THE SKILL to get out of those sand bunkers.

So there I was. For 4 and half hours, seemingly living in the sandpit of hell. I was miserable. I was embarrassed. It was humid, i was hot. I was full of gritty sand, seemingly lodged in undiscovered body crevaces. I lost every bet to every person I was playing against that day. And by the 18th hole, after paying off all my losses and not taking it out on my playing partners, I walked to the corner of the driving range where the practice bunker awaited the arrival of my sorry ass. Beleagured and beaten. The sand had won.

Folks, it was there that I "lost it". Yep I "boiled over", got "pissed off" or as we say down in South Louisiana, I caught the "red ass".

I proceeded to have a nice long, enthusiastic talk with myself and decided in that fury of self dialogue that I was not going home until I learned how to hit a shot out of the sand bunker.
So I called my wife and told her my plan. "I am dropping 500 golf balls into the practice sand bunker and I'm gonna hit every darn one of them". It was a short conversation as you might expect.

So I rounded up 500 balls and began to: PRACTICE!

LESSON: Are you mature enough to accept the fact that there are AREAS that you LACK SKILL? Many people get stuck on stupid in this key stage. Why? Because they live in a state on constant DENIAL. I had to be honest with myself and admit that I HAVE A PROBLEM AND THAT YOU CAN'T FIX IT FOR ME.

I headed into the sand bunker with hundreds of balls and started practicing. Early on, I m not gonna lie to you. I was 8 still working to get the anger and frustration out of my being. Balls went everywhere. Then a small discovery was made. Swing harder and swing THROUGH the sand, not AT the sand.

My backswing in the sand became more relaxed. The next 200-300 balls were still not landing with any reasonable pattern or control, but the balls were successfully leaving the sand.
Sidenote: Leaders are sometimes way too impatient because they are expecting immediate complete results.

The practice bunker taught me to EMBRACE SMALL INCREMENTAL IMPROVEMENTS because they always precede the BIG RESULT you ultimately are seeking. 

I seem to recall taking a break and grabbing a swig of water after pounding at about 300 balls. The transformation of my bunker skills had begun. Right now, I can remember re-entering that bunker with a sense of calmness that I had never had before. I had FACED MY FEAR head on and it was working. But not without MASSIVE ACTION.  (Did you catch that last line. Go back and read it again. Slowly.)
During the last leg of hitting the final 200 balls, I began to fine tune the more intricate details of bunker play. Things like "feeling" the back swing and "visualizing" what type of swing is needed to propel the ball into the air at the right distance. Other things like hitting out of a thin bunker lie (a bunker shot has very little sand at the base of the ball) or a fluffy lie (- bunker shot that has far too much sand all around it making the shot very unpredictable upon its exit.) 

So here's what happened. After crawling out that practice bunker, 500 balls later I was exhausted - spent. I was also happy, fulfilled and excited about "tomorrow on the course". 

My time would come that I would master bunker play in the heat of competitive rounds, but it would have to be delayed.
Because you see, while in my "trance-like" practice, I created blisters and both hands were bleeding and beginning to swell.

LESSON: Sometimes you have to push yourself to the brink before you can truly realize your potential.

LESSON: Far better it is to spend time in recuperation knowing that it was time well spent in the attainment of better skills.

So here's our lessons to reflect on.
LESSON #1: Are you mature enough to accept the fact that there are AREAS that you LACK SKILL?

LESSON #2: Sometimes you have to push yourself to the brink before you can truly realize your potential.

LESSON #3: Far better it is to spend time in recuperation knowing that it was time well spent in the attainment of better skills.

Develop the Ability to recognize that you lack a certain Skill(s)

• Embrace your issues of Denial

• PRACTICE!

• If YOU have a problem then it is YOUR Problem to FIX!

• Embrace Small incremental improvements.

• Face your Fear then conquer it with Massive Action

• Sometimes you have to push yourself to the brink before you can realize your true potential

• Far better it is to spend time in recuperation, knowing that it was time well spent in the pursuit of better skills or a worthy goal.

Use this article in an "alone" session. And yes, you should have a meditative "alone" session at least once a week. No kids, no spouse, no distractions, no phones, no co-worker, usually inspired by or in nature.

Find your quiet place and set an appointment to re-find that place at regular intervals. The process will invigorate you in ways beyond your imagination. Try it and drop me a line about your experience at Marvin@MarvinLeBlanc

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.

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 Marvelous People: 

Today, we have a guest blog post from Brad Heutmaker.  I hope you enjoy his tips for creating a sales process. 

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

Recently I was visiting a client who buys Internet leads from my company. For the past 10 years they have purchased leads and they have seen their conversion slowly drop over the past three years. During the conversation a lot of focused was placed on the Internet lead industry, my company, and the leads we deliver to them.

While they took an offensive approach to the conversation I sat back and listened to their concerns. When they were done I calmly and confidently addressed their issues, and then asked one question. The question I asked them caught them by surprise, and judging by their response they hadn’t considered they could be part of the problem.

The one question I asked them was, “What is your sales process of working the leads we send you?”

After I finished asking my question the room went quiet, and that is when the Vice-President of Sales and Marketing looked at me with a straight face and said, “Well, we hope the lead will call us after they see our logo on your site.”
Let me really tell you what this “VP” said, “We don’t have a process in place, we just hope someone will call.”

Early in my career I was a call center jockey and my sales manager would come by our cubes and “gently” remind us that “hope” was not strategy or tactic to make sales happen and we had to pick-up the phone and speak to someone.

My friends, hoping for sales to happen is not a business strategy, but far too many of you who own a small business have no formal process around sales and marketing. For the most part I bet you have great people in place to handle the “service” that has to be done, but nothing formal on how to grow your business.
If you’re wishing your service people will sell, guess what I have news for you. They won’t! Here are three steps to get your business moving in the right direction.

1.    Get the chutzpah to hold your team accountable, and if they don’t come along with you help them find another opportunity

2.    Hire a sales person and then when they join your team, hold them accountable to what they were hired to do.

3.    Close up shop or sell it and get a job. Seems a bit harsh but in my experience a lot of small business owners are better suited for employment than business ownership.

Happy Selling…

Hello Marvelous people!

Today we wish to share some fresh perspective on the value of embracing social media. I first came to hear, know & then work with EMerge about a year ago. The value & insights that are shared in this article needs to be applied to what you are doing in your industry. So, just because you may not be in Real Estate, the prinicipals in this article will give you the direction on, "WHAT"S NEXT?" in how we must market
to stay in front of the clients we wish to serve.
 
For those of you who's been patiently waiting to order my new book, "COME HELL OR HIGH WATER" -- you can now do so. Just click on the book cover to the right of this article & order it today. Thank you for all your feedback on the types of subjects you seek to learn about. Keep your feedback coming to Marvin@MarvinLeBlanc.com  Yes, I really do read every one of them myself.
 
Marvin LeBlanc, LUTCF,CNP
Chief Dream Catcher
 
 
http://rismedia.com/2011-07-06/the-long-song-of-technology-does-your-voice-make-the-cut/

Hello Marvelous People:
 
Just a brief blog message to keep you abreast of current events with The National Flood Insurance Program. As always, our team stays committed to helping you with any of your concerns. We are grateful to be working with you.
 
If you still do not have Flood Insurance, it's not too late to get it before this Hurricane season becomes active.
 
Special thanks to David Micheler for his efforts in writing this article.
 
Marvin LeBlanc
 
Louisiana Insurance Commissioner Jim Donelon Addresses

Kiwanis DawnBusters
 
STATE OF LOUISIANA INSURANCE COMMISSIONER
This morning  (June 29, 2011) our guest speaker at our Kiwanis DawnBusters meeting was State of Louisana Commissioner of Insurance, Jim Donelon. He spoke about the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) this morning and the importance of getting the program  re-authorized before September 30th of this year.
 
On the topic of flood insurance Jim first wants to explain to people the importance of heeding the warnings of local officials and evacuating when potential storms threaten our area. He explained that most of the people who did not evacuate for Katrina did so because of bad experiences with
contra flow during the evacuation for Ivan the previous year.
 
The system has been improved since then and is now much better.
 
Jim explained the great value that flood insurance is to the home owner; the average home owner pays about ten dollars a month. Even with the low cost only 40% of land owners in Louisiana carry flood insurance.

However, the NFIP is currently 18 billion dollars in debt with 15 billion of that coming from Katrina and Rita. There is a fight in the country to re-authorize the program because a small amount of people benefi t from it. Only 12 states are net consumers of the NFIP the other 38 states have pay in and have never collected.

The recent floods this year have opened eyes across the country that just because you do not live on the coast does not mean you are free from the potential of flooding. Off course the other argument is that everyone pays into a program that only a few benefit from.
 
Mr. Donelon was asked about State Farm’s roll in the NFIP and if they were still selling flood insurance. He explained that State Farm did not stop selling flood insurance they just announced they will no longer adjust flood claims for the NFIP. State Farm was accused of shifting liability to NFIP for damage that they should have been covered from wind.

After Katrina they were allowed to have the same adjuster adjust wind and flood damage.

By David Michler

Take a careful look at some recent data that was shared from Linkedin Guru  Mr. Lewis Howes.
 
Personally, if I could move back the hands of time, I would've spent my time on Linkedin versus building my Facebook presence. But I wasn't aware of the power of Linkedin back then. You don't have to make the same mistake.
 
As always, we can certainly talk about this more if you like.
 
www.Linkedin/in/MarvinLeBlanc
 or
Cell 225-938-4177 (Leave a clear message and talk slowly)
 
Marvin LeBlanc, LUTCF,CNP
 

Why You Can No Longer Afford to Ignore Linkedin:

• Linkedin has more than doubled in size (OVER 100 Million Members) in the past year with one user added every single second!

• Executives from ALL Fortune 500 Companies are registered on Linkedin!

• 45% of linkedin’s members are considered the major-decision makers for their companies.  (Twitter & Facebook account for only 24-29%!)

• Linkedin holds the record for the Highest Average Household Income over all other Social Network ing sites at over $109,000 per member!

• There are no distractions!  On Linkedin, you’ll only find high-caliber individuals with a business mindset, focused on networking for results!

• With the IPO of Linkedin – It’s now valued at over 6 Billion Dollars and Interest and awareness is at a n all time high.