SOLO NEWSLETTER
Number 25 DECEMBER 2008
From Albert Wright
020 8343 8558
Copyright
Albert Wright
Seasonal greetings to all
This month the Outstanding Person is Robert Cialdini, author of several books about the psychology of persuasion including the one I want to focus on Influence, The Psychology of Persuasion.
Persuading and Influencing people seem current buzzwords and I have seen articles and seminars on the topic advertised widely in the last few months.
Dr Cialdini takes us through a range of issues, pointing out how people and organisations use the prevalence of normal standard reactions to their advantage, but not always our individual advantage.
He cites many research studies on human behaviour and the findings that can now predict likely behaviour when triggered by the stimulus of certain ideas, concepts, words, even sounds, smells and pictures.
People do not have the time, or the skill, to analyse each individual situation.
We process messages based on things like previous experience of something similar, what the majority do in this or similar circumstances, what leading personalities think and do, how our friends and those around us respond.
Life is too quick and too short to study everything in detail.
We go with the flow, we become part of a tipping point, we react automatically / semi automatically based on what has worked before for others or us we know.
However, our quick analysis may be wrong, we may have been deliberately misled. What we at first perceive to be chalk is in fact cheese.
Cialdini lists a number of situations where our “normal” reaction might be X and generally doing X in these circumstances is precisely the right thing to do but on this particular occasion it is not.
We have been duped, we are mistaken mislead.
Take the example of the “turquoise jewellery” which a shop had on promotion, offered great value, looked good but was still not selling and the owner left a hand written message to the manager saying “Everything in this display case x ½”, which because of bad handwriting was read as “x 2” and the price was doubled.
Owner returns to shop and finds range sold out, pleased that the half price sale worked, but then discovers that stock sold at double normal price to day tourists from visiting liner. Why?
In general, higher price is associated with quality, jewellery looked “good” – even “better” at the higher price and the customers bought on the principle that high price = good quality, and they were looking for good quality.
To illustrate the perceptual contrast effect he starts with the 3 buckets of water, hot, cold, room temperature and left hand into hot, right hand into cold, both then into room temperature where left hand feels cold and right hand hot, even though both hands in same bucket. The sensation immediately before third bucket affects the mental response when both hands, which had experienced different temperatures, are put into same bucket.
Don’t believe me – try it – I did.
He then goes on to illustrate the concept to estate agents (realtors in USA), who show after getting an idea of what the client is looking for, show the client a run down house on their books at a high price (which they have there for this purpose, never really expecting anyone to buy it) and then, having created a price / value thought in the client’s mind based on the first house, show the house they really want to sell (at the right price for the seller) which, in comparison to the first house, looks an absolute bargain to the buyer.
Some chapter titles might give you more ideas about the style and flavour of this book: Reciprocation: The Old Give and Take ……Take Liking: The Friendly Thief Authority: Directed Deference One of my favourites relates to the principle of social truth, explained as “we often decide to do what other people like us are doing”.
When this is supported by genuine statistics then it can be a good guide to what to buy – take the UK produced Which? reports on products and services compiled from reader experiences, however, when the promotion is based on advertising using actors (in place of real consumers) who look like us saying the product is “great” but may never even have used it, what looks like fact is (in fact) fraudulent fiction and should not be relied on.
Cialdini also looks at scarcity, things that are genuinely unique or scarce often command a high price but sometimes sellers make something (artificially) scarce and then put up prices – parents looking for children’s Christmas Toys beware!
There are many more examples and stories of how we can be “conned”, even though in “normal circumstances” similar action would be the right decision.
This book made me stop and think. I was reminded of Vance Packard’s book “The Hidden Persuaders” and subliminal advertising.
Also of Lord Rayner, my former boss at Marks and Spencer, when I was presenting my ideas for in store bakeries and suggested we duct the aroma of freshly baked bread into different parts of the store to encourage people to come and buy the bread. He made it perfectly obvious with a lift of the eyebrows and a few well-chosen words, this was not the M & S way, we did not sell the sizzle, we sold the sausage. It was not until many years later that In Store Bake off was introduced.
Millionaire Coaching Academy – update 3
Using Existing Millionaires to Accelerate Growth for New Millionaires
There is no update in this issue of SOLO, as all readers will receive the first copies of the Millionaire Coaching Academy News by separate email in January.
Despite the Credit Crunch, the drop in House Prices, a recession and whatever else happens, a few people will still become millionaires in the next 24 months and if you want to be one of them, we can help you do it.
Phone me now on 020 8343 8558 or go to www.successfulsolo.com
Albert's Five Key Questions.
1 What do I want? What do I really want?
2 Why do I want it? What makes me want it?
3 How much do I want it on a scale of 1 to 10?
4 What am I prepared to pay to get it?
5 What will I do when I have got it?
We’ve already looked at questions 1 to 4.
This month: What will I do when I have got it?
So, I know what I want, why and how much I want it, which is at least an intensity of 9 out of 10 and I have thought about the price I am prepared to pay to get it and adapted accordingly.
What will I do when I’ve got it?
“Enjoy it of course”, I hear you say.
You’ve struggled hard, of course you are going to pat yourself on the back, say “well done, great, I made it”. But what next?
Will that be it; will you stop, sit back, and have a rest?
Will reaching that goal now seem enough, or will you want more of the same or want to set goals to achieve something else?
Having achieved a goal, some people still seem dissatisfied.
It’s no longer enough. They want to be another 3 kilos lighter, they want to earn another £1 million, they want to run faster, jump higher, and be even more successful.
Some people become addicted to achieving goals and can’t stop.
The concept of enough becomes alien.
We need to ask ourselves What will I do when I have got it? And give an honest answer.
We might project our thoughts forward a couple of years to when the goal has been achieved and imagine what we will feel like, what it will look like, who will be there enjoying the achievement with us (who might not be there), what it smells like, tastes like, what people are saying, even thinking.
Are we happy? Do we feel fulfilled? Is it as good as was expected?
Either then or a few weeks later are we thinking what now, what next?
Do we have an answer to life after goal fulfilment, what does it look like etc?
Thinking this through is the final stage of my suggested activity related to Goal Setting and Achievement.
If you would like a little work book we are putting together featuring “The Five Magic Questions” that pulls all 5 questions into one place, provides additional commentary and examples and space for completing your own answers, then simply email Andrea with 5 Magic Questions in the subject box at andrea@successfulsolo.com and we will send you a copy as soon as it is ready as a sort of Christmas present.
Let’s Talk ……
I thoroughly enjoyed attending the “Profit” session at Arsenal’s Emirates stadium in early November.
It also gave me a chance to catch up with Robert Craven and discuss the Millionaire Coaching Academy with him.
The Let’s Talk ........ programme will have ended for 2008 by the time you read this.
Robert expects to be running a spring programme, in association with Barclays Bank, next year.
I am going abroad at the end of this month and will not be back till mid January, so next month’s SOLO will be late. The OUTSTANDING PERSON will be Brian Tracy.
Enjoy the festive season. Stay Happy.
SOLO NEWSLETTER
Number 24 NOVEMBER 2008
From Albert Wright
020 8343 8558
I heard the phrase “just south of arrogant” recently. It came to mind again as I was typing this.
My excuse, to be successful we need to be self-confident and comfortable with who we are.
As coaches and mentors, encouraging others to be proud of themselves, we should practice what we preach, so here goes.
I am now a published author with the launch of “Doubling Your Business Sales and Profits”, part of The Serious Business Owner’s Guide To ....series.
The strap line reads Tips, Techniques and Strategies For Growing ANY Business Even In the Toughest Economies.
There is a bit of Americanism in it as it’s written for the international English speaking market – who says I have no ambition - and will be available from the SOLO website, with a special price offer for SOLO newsletter readers.
In this book I tell you about the Eight Personal Qualities for Success, the Five Types of Sales People, How to Profitably Attract Quality Customers and more.
The author, Albert Wright, (me) has also published a Business Advice Master Class DVD, which features 120 minutes of live business advice sessions with four business owners, plus a commentary.
It was designed as a training aid for new business advisers and acts as an introduction to business owners showing them what a business advice session might be like.
Albert has also recorded a pod cast as part of the Coaching Academy Virtual Seminars series on “Coaching as a Business - a look at business set up, costs, profits and cash flow for beginners”. This too will be available from the SOLO website.
All in all, Albert delivers a similar message to other gurus in his own style, emphasising action, vision and using your talents.
As readers of this newsletter know, Albert is putting his mouth, money and skill into the Millionaire Coaching Academy, showing he has the guts to take action himself as well as encouraging others to do it.
Through the MCA his goal is to make another million for himself while helping others to become millionaires – a clear case of “Win Win”.
For help on setting your goals contact Albert on 020 8343 8558.
Contact Albert now, before he achieves true super star status (“as if” – I hear my wife say) and puts up his fees.
And so to ................
Millionaire Coaching Academy – update 2- (for the last time in SOLO).
Using Existing Millionaires to Accelerate Growth for New Millionaires
Work on the website has started. SOLO readers will be the first to get launch date details.
Meetings are planned with our two strategic partners Rapid Results Marketing www.rapidresultsmarketing.co.uk and the Directors Centre www.directorscentre.com
Copies of the Boardroom Briefing: The Magic Million Survey 2008 can still be obtained from The Directors’ Centre.
As part of the “soft launch”, we are starting a series of press interviews and press releases with the aim of raising awareness and seeking more Millionaires and would be millionaires.
If you meet the specification for either, get in touch.
The concept is simple: existing Millionaires are in a good position to help create new millionaires who have good business ideas, the right determination, passion and ability to succeed, by offering appropriate advice and experience.
Updates on our two pilot, bronze millionaires Edmund and Milda, the print brokers and Claire and Louise, our suppliers to the interior design market of paintings and pictures, will come over the next few months, now we have their agreement to feature in the MCA case studies.
I ask again - Do you want to be a millionaire?
Do you work with at least one other person, have sales of over £150k a year, ready and willing to pay £1,000 a month for outstanding support to help you deliver sales of £1,000,000 a year in 24 months time?
If so, you could be eligible for our bronze programme.
OR are you more established and more ambitious, keen to see your balance sheet grow to £1,000,000 in the next 2 years?
Apply for our silver programme for around £2,000 a month.
If your current sales are over £700k pa and you have been trading for over 2 years with net profits of more than 10% of sales, AND you are ready to invest around £3,000 a month for the next 2 years, then you could be eligible for our gold programme.
Our support team is unique.
It consists of millionaires, coaches and advisers who have special knowledge and skills in marketing, business growth and people management and accessing Business Angel and Venture Capital support.
From next month we will be featuring one of the team in each monthly issue of the Millionaire Coaching Academy Report, which will replace the features in SOLO as SOLO gets back to normal.
As an MCA client you will have a unique programme of support tailored to your needs, reviewed, re-mapped and newly resourced every 3 months so you get just the support you need as and when you need it.
Want to know more? Phone Albert on 07973 192712.
Albert's Five Key Questions.
1 What do I want? What do I really want?
2 Why do I want it? What makes me want it?
3 How much do I want it on a scale of 1 to 10?
4 What am I prepared to pay to get it?
5 What will I do when I have got it?
We’ve already looked at questions 1 to 3.
This month What am I prepared to pay to get it?
So, I know what I want, why and how much I want it, which is at least an intensity of 9 out of 10.
What price am I prepared to pay to get it?
“Whatever it takes”, I hear you say.
OK, so will you risk your marriage, the precious time you have with your kids that disappears each day if you don’t take it there and then?
Will you put your house on the line to the bank, work 100 hours a week, invest all your savings, move into grey areas of business practice, cut corners – just how far will you go?
I am reminded of a client, a few years ago, Mr Williams. He was looking for investment (which I foolishly provided) to restock his “Nearly New Computers” shop, following a burglary.
He had no contents insurance – not easy to get at a sensible price in Philip Lane Tottenham. (It turned out Mr Williams had no insurance at all – not even what was legally required!!!.)
When I asked him, “Before I lend you this money, how do I know the burglars won’t come back and the same thing happen again?”
“Mr Albert” he said, “come with me”. He led me to a cupboard in the corridor joining the two shop units, opened the door and a mattress fell out.
“Mr Albert, now I sleep here – it will not happen again”. Which turned out to be true. Unfortunately other things did happen and Eddie still owes me around £8,000 but has disappeared from sunny Tottenham, gateway to the north.
The point is Eddie was prepared to sleep in a cold damp shop for the next 3 months, every night, to make his business successful. He was prepared to pay this price.
(For those interested, Eddie will feature in my second book – “Financing Failures – A Guide on How Not to Be a Business Cherub – being published next year).
If you’re not prepared to pay the trade off price, give up now or set new goals or lower goals where you are prepared to pay the price.
No matter how good your coach, if you’re not prepared to pay the price you are not going to succeed.
You have to be committed, not just involved.
As in the story of the role of pigs and chickens in creating a bacon and egg breakfast – the pig is committed, the chicken is involved.
If your coach continues working with you towards a goal you are only “involved” with and not “committed to”, your coach is only involved too and more interested in taking your money than helping you.
In case of possible misunderstanding, let me say again, IF YOU ARE NOT TOTALLY 10 OUT OF 10 COMMITTED AND PREPARED TO UNDERSTAND AND PAY THE PRICE YOU HAVE TO PAY TO ACHIEVE YOUR GOAL YOU WILL FAIL – JUST GIVE UP NOW, STOP, DON’T WASTE YOUR TIME, GET ANOTHER GOAL.
Sorting out this issue is a critical part of the suitability / eligibility evaluation for prospective MCA members and I believe the hurdle at which many will fall.
We don’t want your money if you lack the commitment and the understanding between the goals you set and the price you are prepared to pay.
If you want to share your goals with me, give me a call now – 020 8343 8558.
Let’s Talk ……
Robert Craven is well into his Autumn Let’s Talk ........ programme, in association with Barclays Bank.
We have secured a number of places for you free; the normal charge is £225.
If you want to see me at a Profit Event, come to the Emirates Stadium in Highbury on November 6th and I will introduce you to Robert.
Book online at The Directors’ Centre website: www.directorscentre.com/lets-talk.php
Next month’s OUTSTANDING PERSON will be Robert Cialdini
SOLO NEWSLETTER
Number 23 OCTOBER 2008
Albert Wright 020 8343 8558
Copyright
This month the Outstanding Person is Jonathan Jay.
I reviewed Jonathan in an early newsletter many months ago, but I have to review him again so I can tell you about his fantastic new project SUCCESS TRACK, having attended my best Weekend Bootcamp ever last month, all for an amazing £99 – which literally exemplified his new policy of Profit Before You Pay.
As some of you may recall, Jonathan set up the Coaching Academy and after 9 years sold it on last year. It was inevitable he would pop up again; it was just a question of time – and well worth the wait.
Earlier this year I contacted Jonathan to see if he was available to join the millionaires in my Millionaire Coaching Academy and now I know why this was not to be.
In the last two months Jonathan has written published and distributed 8,500 copies of his new book "The Marketing Sectrets of a Multi-Millionaire Entrepreneur", now available free to all readers of the Solo Newsletter, set up a wesite www.freemarketingbook.org and organised and delivered his first new 2 day boot camp to around 60 business owners including me, and had over 250 on the waiting list.
It was a great privilege to be there at the start of this wonderful new programme of business support.
The weekend was just mind blowing.
Key speakers included Peter Thomson (see one of our previous newsletters on Peter), Bev James, (already part of the Millionaire Coaching Academy team) and Guy Levene internet marketing guru, who I must now recruit for the MCA – if I can afford him.
All in all a great weekend, an inspiring concept a must visit event and a must visit web site.
Guy Levene has a Success Track 2-day workshop in December and if you want to hear an internet marketing genius at first hand, you simply must attend.
Once news gets out you may not be able to get in, so I suggest you now go to www.successtrackuk.com and register
Millionaire Coaching Academy update
Accelerating Growth for New Millionaires Using Existing Millionaires
Several people have asked for more information, so here goes.
The concept is simple; we believe existing Millionaires are in a good position to help create new millionaires who have good business ideas, the right determination, passion and ability to succeed by offering appropriate advice and experience
Our two starategic partners in the venture are Rapid results Marketing www.rapidresultsmarketing.co.uk and the Directors Centre www.directorscentre.com
The key millionaires at Rapid Results include Steve Hackney and Peter Finlay. Their board includes a number of other millionaires and yet more of their contacts will be available as MCA supporters.
Steve is one of the best copywriters in the world and associate Grant is not far behind. Most businesses wanting to grow sales over £1 million a year need professional marketing support and I know of no better team than the people at Rapid Results – which is why I became a licensee myself.
Many of you will already know the high regard in which I hold Robert Craven of the Directors’ Centre, as an author, presenter and business man. Robert has been the subject of one of our early newsletters and we have featured his Barclays Let’s Talk … and other seminars many times.
I hope all readers have at some time visited his landing page and web site and some of you have attended his workshops and bought his books. Robert and his team have worked with several millionaires and have helped create several more.
He has produced his own report on Millionaires based on a survey conducted by the Directors’ Centre.
Copies of the Boardroom Briefing: The Magic Million Survey 2008 can be obtained from The Directors’ Centre.
His Autumn Let's Talk... programme, in associatiom with barclays Bank is well underway and details can be found at www.directorscentre.com We have secured a number of places for you free of charge; the normal charge is £225.
Book online at The Direstor's Centre website: www.directorscentre.com/lets-talk.php
Robert and his associates have specialist knowledge in several business topics including finance, strategy and business growth.
For those needing assistance with people / human resources issues David Klaasen and his associates at Inspired Working are on hand to give advice and support www.inspiredworking.com
David’s website offers an incredible range of quality resources and he is the leadership and management development specialist who will be doing iWAM (inventory of Work Attitude and Motivation) profiles of you and your team as part of our eligibility procedures before joining the programme.
Bev James is another of our HR and team working specialists who carries out DISC personality profiling on potential clients, so we can identify the type of individual you are likely to be.
More about Bev at www.elementsconsulting.co.uk/
In addition our team includes finance specialists, legal, accountancy and debt recovery / cash retention specialists.
In all you will have access to 30 specialists to help you when you need them.
As a paying client of the MCA you get an individually tailored programme, reviewed and monitored every quarter to ensure you are getting the right support.
Other millionaires supporting the MCA include Janette Faherty of Avanta, a Leading Women Entrepreneur of the World and former London Chamber Entrepreneur of the Year, Sarina Russo from Australia, involved in our international expansion and two others who for the time being wish to keep their identity private.
We are working on our website and an initial offering will be available in November.
At this stage we are in the “soft launch” of the Millionaire Coaching Academy and seeking more Millionaires and would be millionaires, so if you meet the specification get in touch with us.
Our team help you identify opportunities and overcome challenges to speed you on your way to achieving your goals.
We are looking for up to 12 clients who will fill our stringent eligibility requirements to start the programme in January 2008.
Two clients, already involved in a pilot version of the programme, have seen substantial growth in sales through working with our team.
One, Edmund, a print broker, has gone from zero to over £100k sales in his first year and this month looks ready to land two new customers who together will buy more than £1m a year in the next 12 months.
He has already, moved out of his bedroom where he used to work and I was proud to be one of the first visitors to his new office.
From our very first meeting, Edmund showed all the characteristics we were looking for in a prospective client and this was confirmed even more when I met his wife Milda, who now also works in the business part time.
We are delighted to have helped Edmund and Milda on their way to becoming the first MCA bronze millionaires.
Our other client is a partnership between two outstandingly able friends with complimentary skills involved in supplying the interior design market with paintings and pictures that enhance both private and public buildings.
Although the partnership has been trading less than 18 months, Claire and Louise have the necessary mix of attitude, personality, skill and ambition to become Bronze millionaires in the next 24 months.
So I ask again - Do you want to be a millionaire?
Do you work with at least one other person, have sales of over £150k a year, ready and willing to pay £2,000 a month for outstanding support to help you deliver sales of £1,000,000 a year in 24 months time?
If so, you could be eligible for our bronze programme for £2,000 a month.
OR are you more established and more ambitious, keen to see your balance sheet grow to £1,000,000 in the next 2 years?
If so, apply for our silver programme for £3,000 a month.
If your current sales are over £700k pa and you have been trading for over 2 years with net profits of more than 10% of sales, AND you are ready to invest £4,000 a month for the next two years, then you could be eligible for our gold programme.
Our support team is unique.
It consists of millionaires, coaches and advisers who have special knowledge and skills in marketing, business growth and people management and accessing Business Angel and Venture Capital support.
We will make available to you specialists in human resources / people issues, team building, strategy, operational management, buying and selling, ITC, legal, export and finance matters.
As a client you will have a unique programme of support tailored to your needs, reviewed, re-mapped and newly resourced every 3 months so you get just the support you need as and when you need it.
The extent of millionaire involvement will depend on the programme a client’s on but we guarantee every client gets the chance to interact with at least one millionaire every month through our phone telefora, quarterly workshops and / or one to one coaching calls.
Want to know more? Phone Albert Wright on 07973 192712.
Albert's Five Key Questions.
1 What do I want? What do I really want?
2 Why do I want it? What makes me want it?
3 How much do I want it on a scale of 1 to 10?
4 What am I prepared to pay to get it?
5 What will I do when I have got it?
We have already looked at questions 1 and 2. Now it’s number 3, How Much do I want what I want on a scale of 1 to 10?
Let me be blunt, if you can’t answer more than 9.5 then I am prepared to bet you £500 that you will not achieve your goals, whatever they are.
History shows, along with my own experience of both me and my clients and the clients of many fellow coaches, that if the desire to reach a goal is not 10 out of 10 then, in reality there is little point in starting and you may as well not bother.
Don’t waste your time. Find another goal.
No matter how good your coach is, it’s you who has the goal, it’s you who has to take the action, it’s you who will succeed or fail.
Like me, many coaches will ask early on in the coach / client relationship (once the goal has been clearly defined) how committed on a scale of 1 to 10, are you, the client, to achieving your goals.
If the answer is less than ten, the next question is usually, “what needs to change to make that commitment a 10?”
If there is no acceptable answer, give up.
If the coach continues working with you for more than one more session, they are more interested in taking your money than helping you.
In case of possible misunderstanding, let me say again IF YOU ARE NOT TOTALLY 10 OUT OF 10 COMMITTED TO ACHIEVING YOUR GOAL YOU WILL FAIL – SO JUST GIVE UP, STOP, DON’T WASTE YOUR TIME, GET ANOTHER GOAL.
That’s it – no more to say.
1 My PERSONAL GOALS, very mini progress report, selected goals.
1.1 To spend a minimum of 20 days a year improving my own knowledge and skills. Progressively for 2 months, 10 days. This month 2 more days booked.
1.2 To have a minimum of 20 days a year holiday away from home.
Progressive 7 days. Over December and January a further 30 days booked. This also achieves the goal of seeing my son in Australia before the end of 2008.
Experience shows the more people we share our goals with the more likely we are to keep to them.
If you want coaching in setting goals – give me a call now – 020 8343 8558.
COACHING ACADEMY
I attended 2 of 6 days on an NLP Practitioner course. Get ready for jargon in future.
Next month’s OUTSTANDING PERSON will be me, Albert Wright, author, presenter, trainer and public speaker.
Stay Happy!
SOLO NEWSLETTER
Number 22
SEPTEMBER 2008
Albert Wright
020 8343 8558 Copyright
This month there is no Outstanding Person as there are too many other things to cover in what is going on.
Millionaire Coaching Academy Accelerating Growth for New Millionaires Using Existing Millionaires
The time has come to announce the “soft launch” of the Millionaire Coaching Academy and to ask any Millionaires and would be millionaires to get in touch with us.
The concept is simple, we believe existing Millionaires are in a good position to help create new millionaires who have good business ideas, the right determination, passion and ability to succeed by offering appropriate advice and experience.
Along with the rest of our business support team, the Millionaires will help identify opportunities and overcome challenges encountered by ambitious business owners to speed them on their way to achieving their goals.
The core team are now in place and consists of 3 millionaires, 4 business advisers / coaches, administrative support and a range of on call specialists.
We are looking for up to 12 clients who will fill our stringent eligibility requirements to start the programme in January 2008.
Two clients, paying reduced / deferred fees, are already involved in a pilot version of the programme and one has gone from zero to over £100k sales in his first year already, moved out of his bedroom and into his first office.
Do you want to be a millionaire?
Do you already work with at least one other person, have sales of over £150k a year and ready and willing to pay £1,000 a month for outstanding support to help you deliver sales of £1,000,000 a year in 24 months time?
If so, you could be eligible for our bronze programme.
OR are you more established and more ambitious, keen to see your balance sheet grow to £1,000, 000 in the next 2 years?
If so, apply for our silver programme for around £2,000 a month.
If your current sales are over £700k pa and you have been trading for over 2 years with net profits of more than 10% of sales, AND you are ready to invest around £3,000 a month for the next 2 years, then you could be eligible for our gold programme.
Our support team is unique.
It consists of millionaires who have special knowledge and skills in marketing, business growth and people management and accessing Business Angel and Venture Capital support.
Our coaches and advisers include specialists in human resources / people issues, team building, strategy, operational management, buying and selling.
Associates are on hand to deal with technical, ITC, legal, export and finance matters.
Every client will have a unique programme of support tailored to their needs, reviewed, re-mapped and newly resourced every 3 months so you get just the support you need as and when you need it.
Although the core focus of the programme is on increasing sales and gross margins by developing and implementing the right marketing strategy, we will not ignore but solve other issues as they arise.
The extent of millionaire involvement will depend on the programme a client’s on.
Every client will get the chance to interact with at least one millionaire every month through our monthly phone telefora, our quarterly workshops and / or monthly one to one coaching calls.
Do you want to know more?
Then phone Albert on 07973 192712.
We have tools / questionnaires to help you discover you and what you are good at and whether you are eligible for our programme.
RAPID RESULTS MARKETING
In July I qualified as a licensed practitioner, after completing 5 days of extensive and expensive training.
If Your Business Suffers From Any One of These 3 “Wealth Inhibitors”, You Must send For Our Business Builder Pack Worth £2,135- FREE to you if you act quickly…….
Are you concerned that……
1 Your business should be making more sales and greater profits. Youv’e tried everything, but there’s been little or no change!
2 Your business is in a highly competitive market and you don’t know what to do about it?
3 Your business suffers from stiff pricing competition and margins are being squeezed?
To get the Business Builder Pack visit www.rapidresultsmarketing.co.uk and enter reference no. 148 to save £2,135.
Albert's Five Key Questions.
1 What do I want? What do I really want?
2 Why do I want it? What makes me want it?
3 How much do I want it on a scale of 1 to 10?
4 What am I prepared to pay to get it?
5 What will I do when I have got it?
Over the next few months I want to explore each question.
This month, Why do I want it?
You’ve written down your goals as specific objectives.
The goals cover all the key aspects of your life such as Personal, Business, Family, Community – or whatever categories are relevant to you.
You’ve ranked the categories in order of importance and within each category set sub goals in ranked order of priority too.
You’ve also checked that the goals are congruent (do not conflict with each other) and are stretching yet realistic.
Now it’s time to check your motivation and understand what it is that makes you want to achieve these goals.
Let’s say one of your goals, as a business owner, is to achieve a turnover of £1 million a year within 2 years, with net profits of 10%.
Why do you want to do this?
Possible answers, in no particular order, could be:
1 I want to show people I can achieve business success. (People could be people in general, your spouse, your brother, your mother, your first employer, a critical teacher etc.)
2 I want to provide people with employment in a supportive work place.
3 I want the money, I want to buy stuff, and I want to show off.
4 I want the security that owning a profitable, successful business can bring, so I don’t have to worry about money any more.
5 I want to build a successful business to be my pension in retirement, when I sell it on.
It’s important to know why you want something, to know if it is to move towards something positive or away from something negative.
To know why, helps to answer next month’s question, how much do you want it?
1 My PERSONAL GOALS, mini progress report, selected goals.
1.1 To spend a minimum of 20 days a year improving my own knowledge and skills. Last month 3 days, this month 4 done and 3 more planned.
1.2 To have a minimum of 20 days a year holiday away from home.
Last month 5 days, this month 2 planned.
1.3 To go out to dinner / a show / cinema once a week with my wife.
Last month OK, only because of holiday.
Experience shows that the more public we make our goals, the more people we share them with; the more likely we are to put effort into them to achieve them rather than “lose face”.
If you want coaching in setting goals – give me a call now – 0208343 8558.
COACHING ACADEMY
I have attended two further Accelerator days, one on Personal Coaching and the other on Executive and Corporate Coaching.
Beat Box
The next session for trainers and consultants who want to do some good and good value CPD in London will be in October.
Phone me on 020 8343 8558 to learn more.
Next month it’s back to OUTSTANDING PEOPLE, but I have not yet decided who.
Stay Happy.
SOLO NEWSLETTER
Number 21
AUGUST 2008
Albert Wright
020 8343 8558
This month the Outstanding Person is Felix Dennis, author of How to Get Rich, subtitle, The Distilled Wisdom of One of Britain's Wealthiest Self-Made Entrepreneurs.
I agree with more than 90% of what is written in this book, though I am not sure I ever warmed to the author. I found the book irreverent, in your face, egotistical, self-promotional, blunt, rude, unpleasant but TRUE.
Prepare to be TOLD HOW IT IS. This is not for wimps.
Take some of the Chapter Headings – The Fallacy of the Great Idea; Never Give In; Ownership, Ownership, Ownership; The Power of Focus.
Selected sentences –
If it flies, floats or fornicates, always rent it – it's cheaper in the long run.
Boldness attracts applause ..Goethe … Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it! Boldness has genius, power and magic in it…….the moment one commits oneself, Providence moves all…..
Ideas don't make you rich. The correct execution of ideas does.
To get what you need, you toady to greed.
One of my favourites is "Assumption is the mother of all f*** ups".
His chapter on The Five Most Common Start Up Errors is one of the best I have read: Mistaking desire for compulsion, Over-optimism concerning cash flow, Reinforcing failure, Thinking small and acting big, Skimping on talent.
He is very good at taking examples and experience from his own industry, publishing, and drawing more general conclusions and guidelines. It is very much a book about business as well as a book about money and people.
Dennis knows how it's done, has been there, got the T-shirt.
He also writes poetry, examples of which are given in the book.
A man of talent, who knows his talents.
Do you know your talents?
This knowledge is a key to wealth. We have tools / questionnaires to help you discover you and what you are good at.
Phone Albert on 020 8343 8558 or 07973 192 712 for a coaching session on discovering your talents and working to your strengths.
RAPID RESULTS MARKETING
Last month I qualified as a licensed practitioner, after completing 5 days of extensive and expensive training.
If Your Business Suffers From Any One of These 3 "Wealth Inhibitors", You Must send For Our Business Builder Pack Worth £2,135 - but FREE to you if you act quickly…….
Your business should be making more sales and greater profits. You've tried everything, but there's been little or no change!
Your business is in a highly competitive market and you don't know what to do about it?
Your business suffers from stiff pricing competition and margins are being squeezed?
To receive the Business Builder Pack visit www.rapidresultsmarketing.co.uk and enter reference no. 148 to save £2,135.
ALBERT'S FIVE KEY QUESTIONS
1 What do I want? What do I really want?
2 Why do I want it? What makes me want it?
3 How much do I want it on a scale of 1 to 10?
4 What am I prepared to pay to get it?
5 What will I do when I have got it?
Over the next few months I want to explore each question.
This month, What do I want?
We are told that to achieve what we want we need to set goals, written goals and regularly review them and the progress we're making towards getting them.
Setting goals in only one aspect of life is a waste of time as this generally creates conflicting pressures between the stated and un-stated goals.
I want to be very rich, specifically £1m more in my bank account in 3 years (stated goal) may conflict with an un-stated goal, I want to spend more time with my wife and young children.
So we need written goals in all the key aspects of our life such as Personal, Business, Family, Community – or whatever categories are relevant to us.
We then need to rank the categories in order of importance. (I do this on a scale of 1 to 10), then within each category we set sub goals in ranked order of priority too.
In my case, by way of example, my rolling 3-year goals (without the scores – I don't want to give away too many personal secrets) are:
1 PERSONAL
1.1 To spend a minimum of 20 days a year improving my own
knowledge and skills.
1.2 To have a minimum of 20 days a year holiday away from home.
1.3 To go out to dinner / a show / the cinema once a week with my wife.
2 BUSINESS
2.1 To launch the Millionaire Coaching Academy in October 2008 and have 10 clients by end January 2009 paying a
minimum monthly total retainer of £15k.
2.2 To achieve total sales of £750,000 for year ended November 2009.
2.3 To be on track for sales over £1m pa for 2010.
3 FAMILY AND FRIENDS
3.1 To spend at least 1 hour with at least one friend /family member
per week, on the phone or face to face.
3.2 To spend at least 3 hours face to face with a friend / family
member once a month.
3.3 To visit my son living in Australia in the next 12 months.
4 COMMUNITY
4.1 To re-start my activity as a magistrate in the next 30 days and
devote an average of 1.5 days a month to such activity.
4.2 To become an ecademy Black Star in the next 12 months.
4.3 To identify and support a charitable cause in the next 6 months.
Experience shows that the more public we make our goals and the more people we share them with, the more likely we are to put effort into them to achieve them rather than "lose face".
If you would like coaching in setting goals – give me a call now – 020 8343 8558.
Do you have written goals but are still find it hard to get going?
Is your desire to change less than 8 out of 10 and too weak?
Would you benefit from talking this over with a coach such as me, perhaps changing the viewpoint from "move towards" to "move away from", or re-prioritising your goals so you are focusing on what you really want and will put some effort into - or is it a case of wanting what you've got?
You know what to do - give me a call on 020 8343 8558 to book a phone appointment.
Our usual Fee Guarantee covers your 30-minute consultation call, an investment of only £70. Unless our discussion adds at least this value to you or your business, you get the call for LESS, or even for FREE.
COACHING ACADEMY
I have attended two further Accelerator days on the Practicalities of Small Business Coaching and on Financial Coaching.
This now completes my Accelerator days on the Small Business Coaching Diploma course and I have almost completed the 36 hours of 1-2-1 coaching practice with at least 6 different clients.
Once I have completed the necessary paperwork, undertaken 3 supervised coaching sessions and completed my dissertation, I can apply for my Diploma.
Who said getting qualifications was easy?
Do you want help in raising £10,000 or more to invest in growing your business?
If so you need Access 2 Finance.
Time is running out to take advantage of the Access 2 Finance 30 minute phone briefing, FREE in August only, for those wanting a subsidy of up to £2,400 to help with raising finance through the London Development Agency / Business Link scheme.
Robert Craven and the Directors' Centre
I know from personal experience that the events, worth over £200, plus a free networking lunch, are great.
Two new sessions, NEW - Let's Talk... Green Business and NEW - Lets Talk... Exit - Grow, Sell or Retire? (which I have yet to go to).
All workshops are yours for free, through our association with Robert. Go to http://www.directorscentre.com/lets-talk.php for how to get your tickets.
Beat Box
The next session for trainers and consultants who want to do some good, and get good value CPD in London will be in September.
To learn more about Beat Box, phone Andrea on 020 7324 6144.
Be happy.
Albert Wright
SOLO NEWSLETTER
Number 20
JULY 2008
From Albert Wright
020 8343 8558
Copyright
This month there is no Outstanding Writer / Speaker / Entrepreneur, as I have been away on my honeymoon and need to catch up.
I did manage to read a few books, so next month Felix Dennis, author of How to Get Rich. Dennis knows how it’s done, has been there and got the T-shirt. A man of talent, who knows his talents.
Do you know your talents?
This knowledge is a key to wealth.
We have a number of tools / questionnaires to help you discover you and what you are good at. Phone Albert on 020 8343 8558 or 07973 192712 for a coaching session on discovering your talents and working to your strengths.
There has been some interesting comment from last month’s publication of Albert's Five Key Questions.
1 What do I want?
What do I really want?
2 Why do I want it?
What makes me want it? Am I seeking this for me or someone else?
3 How much do I want it on a scale of 1 to 10?
Where 10 is I will kill for it, I will die without it and 1 is "am I bothered?”
4 What am I prepared to pay to get it?
Not just money, time, effort but what am I prepared to do without to get it? Will I work 100 hours a week and risk a divorce and not seeing the kids grow up?
5 What will I do when I have got it?
Will I be pleased, satisfied, and happy? Will I stop wanting or find new wants?
Number 3 “How much do I want it on a scale of 1 to 10?” has lead to a discussion on is there a threshold below which no action takes place?
My answer would be “Yes”. If the intensity of desire, the degree of “want” does not score 7 or above, my experience indicates little if anything is likely to happen. You have to want it at least that much to take action of some sort.
Nothing is likely to result without action and effort. Action is generally the key to results. No matter how much visualisation and repeat affirmation goes on, positive results rarely come without action and to get action you have to have the motivation to act.
Ideally the motivation should score 10 – this would ensure action. Anything less needs to be questioned.
Do you find it hard to get going on your goals?
Is your desire to change too weak?
Would you benefit from talking this over with a coach such as me, perhaps changing the viewpoint from a “move towards to a move away from”?
You know what to do - give me a call on 020 8343 8558 to book a phone appointment.
Our usual Fee Guarantee covers your 30-minute consultation call, an investment of only £70.
Unless our discussion adds at least this value to you or your business, you get the call for LESS, or even for FREE.
COACHING ACADEMY
Things are changing. Jonathan Jay has gone, new leader is Peter Ryder. I am booked on more sessions later this month and will report next time.
Access 2 Finance
Still available, 30 minute phone briefing, FREE in July and August, for those wanting a subsidy of up to £2,400 to help with raising finance of £10k or more through the London Development Agency / Business Link scheme.
Robert Craven and the Directors’ Centre
The events, worth over £200 plus a free networking lunch, are great.
Two new sessions, NEW - Let's Talk... Green Business and NEW - Lets Talk... Exit - Grow, Sell or Retire?
All workshops are yours for free, through our association with Robert, go to http://www.directorscentre.com/lets-talk.php for how to get your tickets.
Beat Box
Last month’s session was an introduction to Transactional Analysis.
I first looked at this about 30 years ago and it brought back memories of reading Eric Bearne’s “What do you Say after You Say Hello”.
If you would like a copy of one of the fact sheets used during the session please contact me.
To learn more about Beat Box phone Andrea or Diana on 020 7324 6145. Meetings start again in September.
Till next month – be happy.
SOLO NEWSLETTER
Number 19
JUNE 2008
From Albert Wright
020 8343 8558
Copyright
This month my Outstanding Writer / Speaker / Entrepreneurs is – ROGER HAMILTON, author of several books, CDs, DVDs and another excellent public speaker who frequently performs in London and is known for his breakfasts, inviting along people from his meetings to learn more and create their own business teams / alliances. I have heard Roger twice at his "taster" sessions and have visited his website and downloaded some of his resources but I am yet to attend one of his Wealth Dynamics Weekends.
For me, his most important observation relates to the different paths to wealth.
By asking people to name the rich and famous and writing a list on his flip chart, he concludes by asking the audience what the rich have in common regarding skills and attitudes, abilities and methodology. He concludes there is no one way to become rich, no "common core factors."
Warren Buffet, Bill Gates, Elton John are very different people operating in very different industries yet all have achieved wealth. The variety and diversity of the wealthy is illustrated further by the Sunday Times Rich List of 2,000 UK based people. Their source of wealth spans many industries, many styles of working, has "get rich quick" and earn wealth slow personalities. This is quite encouraging for us; we don't have to be like Alan Sugar, Anita Roddick or even Richard Branson. We can be ourselves, but according to Roger Hamilton we are still likely to fall into one of 8 groups exhibiting key leading features.
His 8 categories are: MECHANIC, LORD, ACCUMULATOR, TRADER, DEALMAKER, SUPPORTER, STAR, CREATOR.
Roger is another strong believer in teams, drawn from the different wealth making types; all 8 would appear to be best, 4 is essential.
He explains all of these in some detail and then has the audience do a little exercise to illustrate how knowing the rules of the game (effectively using an appropriate tool / response) with regard to a challenge can massively improve results.
Roger sees wealth creation as a bit of a paradox, if the right people follow the right road it becomes easy instead of hard.
He is another guru who says find what you love to do and do it – play to your talents.
It certainly seems to work for him, with a string of businesses under his belt and a sizeable publishing empire.
If you get the chance – go and see Roger in action.
Do you know your talents? This knowledge is a key to wealth. We have a number of tools / questionnaires to help you discover you and what you are good at.
Phone Albert on 020 8343 8558 or 07973 192712 for a coaching session on discovering the hidden you.
If you have not already done it, I suggest you also ask and answer Albert's Five Key Questions.
1 What do I want?
What do I really want?
2 Why do I want it?
What makes me want it? Am I seeking this for me or someone else?
3 How much do I want it on a scale of 1 to 10?
Where 10 is I will kill for it, I will die without it and 1 is "am I bothered?”
4 What am I prepared to pay to get it?
Not just money, time, effort but what am I prepared to do without to get it? Will I work 100 hours a week and risk a divorce and not seeing the kids grow up?
5 What will I do when I have got it?
Will I be pleased, satisfied, and happy? Will I stop wanting or find new wants?
Would you benefit from talking this over with a coach such as me? You know what to do - give me a call on 020 8343 8558 to book a phone appointment.
Our usual Fee Guarantee covers your 30-minute consultation call, an investment of only £70. Unless our discussion adds at least this value to you or your business, you get the call for LESS.
COACHING ACADEMY
I am due more sessions in June as I missed the May one by being on my honeymoon.
Access 2 Finance
Still available, 30 minute phone briefing, now only £25, for those wanting a subsidy of up to £2,400 to help with raising finance through the London Development Agency / Business Link Access to Finance scheme.
Robert Craven and the Directors’ Centre
The Barclays Bank sponsored programmes is underway. The events, worth over £200 plus a free networking lunch, are great.
Now two new sessions, NEW- Let's Talk... Green Business and NEW - Lets Talk... Exit - Grow, Sell or Retire?
All workshops are yours for free, through our association with Robert, go to http://www.directorscentre.com/lets-talk.php for how to get your tickets.
ANOTHER FREE OFFER
My associate, David Klassen, would like to offer you tips on: How To Get An Edge In Your Market…
This is for coaches, consultants and HR Professionals who are interested in bringing a quantifiable edge to the behavioural change work you do. The world of coaching and consultancy is changing; there is a growing demand for measurable results.
Clients want to know the specific difference that your interventions will make. They want reassurance that results can be measured.
Most behavioural interventions have a qualitative result that is dependent on the subjective analysis of the client. This can lead to ambiguity.
A few Coaches and NLP-based Consultants are able to raise their fees and get an edge because they are using quantifiable psychometric tools to measure the difference they are making for clients.
How have you addressed this issue? Would you like to?
Get our special FREE REPORT:
How To Get An Edge In Your Market . . . And Earn More
What you need to know about Psychometric tools to choose the right one for your business.
The key to success with any tool is using one that dovetails with your hard-earned knowledge and expertise.
This special report explains the most popular and innovative tools on the market. Once you have read it, consider whether you want to earn more by investing in a tool that will give you measurable and quantifiable results.
To get your special FREE REPORT Click Here Now http://www.inspiredworking.com/reportlanding.htm
I HAVE AND IT’S WELL WORTH READING AND TRYING OUT. Phone me when you have done the questionnaire and I will tell you about my own resulting profile and how close to me I think it is. Be happy.
SOLO NEWSLETTER
Number 18
MAY 2008
Albert Wright
020 8343 8558
Copyright
This month my Outstanding Writer / Speaker / Entrepreneurs is – CHRISTOPHER HOWARD,author of many books, CDs, DVDs and an excellent public speaker who frequently puts on major events over 3 days at huge venues like Excel and Alexandra Palace that attract thousands of delegates.
I went to one of his weekend events a few years ago and own several of his products including books and DVDs. The best one I have is called ‘The 7 Keys to Wealth’.
This includes sections on cultivating good habits, making change at a deep level, realising that beliefs will determine results and the importance of character.
There are several observations concerning wealth and our attitude to it. If we think "money is the root of all evil" it may not make sense for use to have as a goal becoming a millionaire as the goal will be in conflict with our values and we are likely, therefore, to sabotage our own wealth success.
I have personally found this to be so true.
People who regard earning / having lots of money as something bad, who feel they do not deserve to be rich, who take the view everyone should earn / be given the same money to live on, will never get rich because they are against the essence of rich.
If our goals do not sit well with our values, if what we say we seek actually revolts us at a deeper level, the goal will never be achieved.
We need to be asking ourselves Albert's Five Key Questions on a regular basis.
1 What do I want?
What do I really want?
2 Why do I want it?
What makes me want it? Am I seeking this for me or someone else?
3 How much do I want it on a scale of 1 to 10?
Where 10 is I will kill for it, I will die without it and 1 is "am I bothered?".
4 What am I prepared to pay to get it?
Not just money, time, effort but what am I prepared to do without to get it?Will I work 100 hours a week and risk a divorce and not seeing the kids grow up?
5 What will I do when I have got it?
Will I be pleased, satisfied, happy?
Will I stop wanting or find new wants?
In his journey to wealth Christopher Howard also covers the need for us to have respect for the value of money, to remember to buy low and buy value, to love the process of creating wealth as well as the outcome, to consider risk and protect the downside, to be open to ideas.
The issue of risk taking is something central to my concept of an entrepreneur. People who never take risks can never be entrepreneurs. It is an entrepreneur's attitude to risk and failure, as well as persistence and energy, that sets them apart from mere mortals.
Their successful risk taking is what we would rather call luck - but we kid ourselves if we do. Luck is a part of success for most successful people but it is generally based on the successful assessment and management of risk. Luck is when the prepared mind sees and accepts an opportunity.
My partner has a saying "Those who do not take risks do not drink champagne, and I love champagne, particularly Laurent Perrier Rose" (now nearly £50 a bottle). My life is not dull with her about.
Do you need a new way of looking at money / wealth? Are your values at odds with your goals?
Would you benefit from talking this over with a coach such as me?
You know what to do - give me a call on 020 8343 8558 to book a phone appointment.
Your 30-minute consultation call, an investment of only £70, is covered by our usual Fee Guarantee. Unless our discussion adds at least this value to you or your business, you get the call for LESS.
One final thing on Christopher. At his events he does a visioning exercise involving time lines, which seems to be quite dramatic for most people.
He gets you to think of a goal and then set a time in the future when you expect that will have been achieved. He helps you get into that moment of achievement and examine how you feel, look, think and act. He gets you to go and live the moment.
He then gets you to think of the plans needed to get you there, to write them down, to commit to doing them.
Most people find this powerful / spiritual/ incisive / empowering.
If you would like to try it out, give me a call and I will take you through the process, having experienced it myself.
Coaching Academy
I have done two further sessions, one on You and Your Small Business and the other on Leadership Coaching.
Both were very good and I would recommend them.
I also had a day with Gerard O'Donovan, owner of Noble Manhattan Coaching who thinks he has the best programmes and coaches in the UK and is well worth considering if you are thinking of paying for coach training.
Access 2 Finance
Still available is a 30 minute phone briefing, now for only £25, for those wanting a subsidy of up to £2,400 to help with raising finance through the London Development Agency / Business Link Access to Finance scheme. All covered by our Fee Guarantee.
Robert Craven and the Directors’ Centre
The series of the Barclays Bank sponsored programmes is underway.
The events, worth over £200 plus a free networking lunch, are great and I enjoyed both the Marketing and the Profit sessions last season.
There are now two new sessions, NEW- Let's Talk... Green Business and NEW- Lets Talk... Exit - Grow, Sell or Retire?
All these excellent workshops can be yours for free, through our association with Robert, go to http://www.directorscentre.com/lets-talk.php for how to get your tickets.
Coaching Practice
I am part of a group of coaches that meet monthly in Clerkenwell London, for professional development and practice.
Last month we looked at Serious Games, facilitated by Isabel Collins from IC Associates. Isabel has worked with some top companies getting them to look at how to turn their Values into Value, with considerable success.
Isabel took us through "Passing the Fish - Billingsgate Market" highlighting cooperation, team work and sudden surprise, "The Cocktail Party" exploring how different images of self-worth create different behaviours and responses, "The Expert in Interview" practicing thinking on your feet, dealing with extreme questions, getting the creativity cells working overtime.
All in all quite amazing and an experience that matches nothing I have ever done before.
If you are looking for something completely different for your next training and development group session, this could be it.
Isabel can be reached on 0797 9592491.
Give me a call if you would like more detail about Isabel's work or information about our strangely titled Beat Box activities hosted by Diana Gibbs most months at an evening meeting in London.
Next month I turn my attention to the handsome Roger Hamilton for a different look on discovering the road to wealth.
Be happy.
SOLO NEWSLETTER
Number 17
APRIL 2008
From Albert Wright
020 8343 8558
Copyright
This month my Outstanding Writer / Speaker / Entrepreneurs is – Tim Harford, author of The Undercover Economist, first published in 2006.
The aim of the book is to make economics interesting by taking current issues, representing basic principles, and writing about them in a modern way. In this it succeeds.
Topics include Who pays for your coffee? How Starbucks etc sell you exactly what you want, when you want it, where you want it, to make you feel different through 28 varieties of coffee you didn’t even know existed 10 years ago, costing you an extra 50p for what costs them around 2p. He explains why the cost of a basic coffee is high in places like Starbucks too, mainly because of the rent, with the rent being affected by the scarcity of prime sites close to masses of people, a theory that goes back to David Ricardo, an economist from 1817. He goes on to look at “artificial scarcity” that helps increase prices such as legislation creating the Green Belts around cities, the need for people to have certain qualifications to practice, say law or medicine, which act as barriers to market entry and why skilled immigrants can lower the wages earned by skilled natives.
Under the chapter called, What Supermarkets Don’t Want You to Know, he looks further into scarcity, product differentiation, customer laziness and convenience to explain why popcorn costs more in the cinema and wine costs more in a restaurant. In other chapters he comments on how taxes and charges might best be used to bring about the most efficient use of resources when governments / society want to achieve certain non economic objectives to address what they regard as negative externalities, such as drivers of cars pollute the atmosphere for non drivers and raise costs for the health service. Which makes me think that a road tax of £900 on a gas guzzler is a bit pointless if it is bought to impress the Joneses, sits on the drive and only does 2,000 miles a year while a boy racer in a Mini might be doing 20,000 miles a year. Perhaps congestion charging and road mile pricing is the best answer for road related pollution, as might be auctions for certificates for factories that pollute the atmosphere. In Perfect Markets and the World of Truth, The Inside Story, he explains why buying a second hand car privately is fraught with stress as neither the buyer nor the seller have a complete picture of what the car might be worth to each of them, nor always, its true condition, leading to what he calls an imperfect market. The situation is similar with life and death and health insurance and helps explain the social security systems in different countries. Overall the book is an interesting read and puts forward some theory that goes some way to explaining how and why things are as they are.
Other chapters entitled Why Poor Countries are Poor and How China Grew Rich are also worth a read.
What did I take away for me?
Well I read something that had new ideas, a new angle to explain the world – the main value was to get me to think and to analyse and examine whether I agreed with what Harford was saying or not. It also made me vow not to buy any more coffees in Starbucks.
Do you need a new way of looking at life / your business? Would you benefit from having your thinking challenged?
Have you any habits that are causing you to spend more than you should on yourself or your business? Would you like to talk it through with a coach who has been there done that? If you would like help with convincing yourself that you might be able to adopt more appropriate habits relating to spending give me a call on 020 8343 8558 to book a phone appointment. Your 30-minute consultation call, an investment of only £70, is covered by our usual Fee Guarantee. Unless our discussion adds at least this value to your or your business, you get the call for LESS. Previous newsletters can be found on my web site www.successfulsolo.com
Coaching Academy
I have done two further sessions, one on Business Diagnostics and one on Parent Coaching. The second was more interesting for me. If you are a parent concerned about your parenting performance give me a call whether it’s toddler tantrums or teenage tippling.
Access 2 Finance
Still available is a 30 minute phone briefing, for £100, for those wanting a subsidy of up to £2,400 to help with raising finance through the London Development Agency / Business Link Access to Finance scheme. All covered by our Fee Guarantee.
Robert Craven and the Directors’ Centre
The series of the Barclays Bank sponsored programmes are starting again. The events, worth over £200 plus a free networking lunch, are great and I enjoyed both the Marketing and the Profit sessions last season.
There are now two new sessions, NEW - Let's Talk... Green Business and NEW - Lets Talk... Exit - Grow, Sell or Retire?
Last month I attended another new session at Glaziers Hall in London sponsored by GLE One London and the LDA, looking at the results of a survey done by Robert on millionaires that indicted some actions and habits they had in common that could help other businesses succeed.
All these excellent workshops can be yours for free, through our association with Robert, go to http://www.directorscentre.com/lets-talk.php for how to get your tickets.
Coaching Practice
I am part of a group of coaches that meet monthly in Clerkenwell London, for professional development and practice. I missed last month but this month we are looking at Serious Games. If you are able to get to an evening meeting in London and would like to know more, give me a call on 020 8343 8558.
Next month the featured guru will be Christopher Howard.
Be happy.
SOLO NEWSLETTER
Number 16
MARCH 2008
From Albert Wright
020 8343 8558
Copyright
This month again, my Outstanding Writer / Speaker / Entrepreneur is – Peter Thomson, with a focus on his Accelerated Business Growth System.I bought the package and became a licensee about a year ago, but like many other personal development programmes it has sat on my shelf virtually untouched. In the last month, however, I have been studying the contents and have discovered it is a lot better than I thought and I am now determined to put it to good use as the contents make for a good course when combined with the teachings of some of the other people we have looked at in past newsletters.
I have, therefore, put forward a proposal to one of the associate companies we work with whereby I would run a series of 6 interactive workshops to promote Accelerated Business Growth and Profit Improvement for 10 businesses with more than two employees, who have been trading for more than 18 months and have achieved sales in excess of £150,000 pa.
The programme has been independently assessed as having a value of around £2,000 and will be available commercially later this year. If you meet the eligibility criteria above and are based in London please contact me on the usual number 0208343 8558, if you are interested in attending the first pilot course. This is likely to be held in April / May or June / July with sessions once a week for six weeks. I hope we can use one of the associate’s existing contracts and support the programme as a “no cost pilot” to businesses who wish to attend. In the meantime I am putting together the content, partly based on Peter’s material, which may also become a DVD, so it is ready to go ahead quickly when funding is confirmed or later as the commercial programme. This newsletter outlines the programme content and offers readers some of the tools as a taster.
Having looked at the ideas involved, I am seeking to learn from you which ideas look the best so they can be developed into fact sheets for more general availability, so please email me with your answers. The six modules can be taken in any order, as each is a stand-alone session, helping to accelerate business growth and improve profitability.Module 1 Increasing Sales to Existing Customers
The Magic Matrix and power of small changes to achieve big results This session describes how to use a simple grid / MATRIX to look at product penetration by customer. It is especially useful for wholesalers, manufacturers and retailers who may have big catalogues of products (say 50 plus) and many customers (say 30 plus).
PRODUCT
CLIENT A B C D
ABC | X |
|
| X |
DEF |
| X | X |
|
HIJ | X |
| X |
|
It simply involves plotting which clients currently buy which products and as a result identifies the empty boxes where no sales buying is taking place, so the business can start to analyse why that might be and do something about it – even if it is simply to notify the client that they can supply a range of additional products.
In the example above company ABC seems to be the only client not buying product C and DEF the only one not buying product A.
Making them both aware of this may be news to both and could produce a sale, particularly if accompanied by a special offer.
Businesses often assume all their customers know all about all their products and this can be far from the case. Simple opportunities to make a sale are lost due to the ignorance of the customer and lack of action by the seller.
The matrix can also be used to identify vertical and horizontal penetration rates.
For a free 30 minute taster session on this related to your business phone me on 0208343 8558.
The other simple concept reminder is based around the fact that there are only 3 ways to increase sales:
More customers More often Spending more each visit And that small increases; say 10%, in each of the 3, can have a big cumulative impact on sales of 33%:
CUSTOMERS | Av. order £ | Av order frequency | Turnover £ |
|
100 | 100 | 2 | 20,000 |
|
110 | 100 | 2 | 22,000 | 10% more customers |
110 | 110 | 2 | 24,200 | 10% more value |
110 | 110 | 2.2 | 26,620 | 10% more often |
The session then explores how these increases of 10% might be brought about.
2 Pricing for Profit – Market segmentation, product differentiation
The effect on net profit for goods and services at different gross margins from price increases and decreases may come as a surprise to some businesses.
If your gross margin is 25% then reducing your price by 10% means you have to sell 66% more to make the same profit as before, yet increasing your price by £1 means you can afford to sell almost 30% less and still make as much profit.
The route to profitable sales can often be through price increases rather than price reductions.
Sales volume SP CP GP Total £ Profit
£ £ £
100 10 7.5 2.5 250
166 9 7.5 1.5 249
70 11 7.5 3.5 245
The session goes on to explore ideas such as:
Sacking your worst customers – Pareto’s law 80% of the profits come from 20% of the customers – so sack the worst.
Dominating a niche – what makes you different – answer the question “why buy from me?” and you could distance yourself from the competition.
Pricing by time, speed, quality – how can the emergency plumber charge 20% more?
Gold, silver and bronze options can maximise sales uptake.
Bundling and unbundling products and services can increase profits.
3 Lifetime Value of a Customer and Customer Acquisition costs
This session explores the lifetime value of a customer using examples from the motor industry to illustrate its importance.
If the average person buys a new car every three years and starts at age 20 and ends at age 60, that’s 13 buys, at an average price of £15,000 a car (at current prices) that’s almost £200,000.
Knowing this, how much should you spend on acquiring such a customer who may provide you with a profit over his lifetime of £20,000 or more?
We examine the “Stages on the customer journey” – from prospect to actual customer and the cost to acquire a customer (on average)
We try to measure the effectiveness of different marketing methods: advertising, PR, websites, brochures, mail shots, salesmen, carding, leaflets etc and we look at concepts such as Back end selling, Up selling, Cross selling
4 Sources of FREE and Subsidised business support, networking and training
Readers of this newsletter should find this session as mainly “revision” as we explore the Internet: websites and email newsletters and look at a selection of free Magazines and Journals available on line and in print delivered to your door, plus free attendance at seminars and workshops.
We also get a look at the membership sections of InBiz Business Club 365 and InBiz Advance 365 Learn Direct, as sources of free information and competitively priced services.
Each local workshop then explores the help from local councils and the local Regional Development Agency and Leaning and Skills Council.
In London this uncovers such schemes as London Business: Free face to face business support and live training, the Access to Finance programme, Train to Gain for employers and Switch on to Leadership for employees.
Business Networking organisations: Business Network International, Business Referral Exchange, Ecademy are studied to see how they can be used to build trust and increase sales on a local and wider basis.
5 Low cost marketing and promotion
Here we look at the concept of the sales funnel: leads – conversions = customers - transactions x value = revenue x margin= profit
Developing and practicing your elevator pitch
The role and use of business cards, leaflets and brochures
Asking for Referrals from friends, family, suppliers and customers
Role-play referral scenarios with potential customers
Piggyback marketing, building alliances
Competitions Newsletters Mail shots – letters, postcards
“A” boards, leaflets, signs, T-shirts, promotional materials, “freebies” – what works
Advertising and classified adverts
Directories and Chambers of Commerce, Enterprise Clubs
6 Working on the business and working in the business
This session builds on the work of Michael Gerber and Action Coaching and looks at:
A Definition of a business versus a job
Developing systems for consistency and results
Why SYSTEM stands for Save Yourself Stress Time Energy Money
The role of Vision Mission Culture
How to set and reach SMART goals
The importance of a clear Organisation Chart by function
How to set and use Key Performance Indicators
The advantages of copying the success of franchise operators and creating Operating Manuals for your own business
The facts that Sales are Vanity, Profit is Sanity, and Cash is King
If you would like a coaching session on any of the topics above, give me a call.
Also give me a call if you want me to run a particular session for you or your company or even the whole programme.
The number in all cases is 020 8343 8558. If picking up the phone is too stressful and instead you would like me to devote a newsletter to one of the topics, just let me know by emailing me at albertswright@hotmail.com.
Next month the featured guru will be Tim Harford, author of The Undercover Economist This month’s special offers are brought to you courtesy of a special edition of the Inspired Working newsletter written by David Klaasen, attached to this email. David is a friend and colleague and fellow coach for The Outstanding Professional Programme, TOPP. Feel free to sign up for his newsletter alongside mine, or even instead.
Till next month – Albert Wright
SOLO NEWSLETTER For other events go to www.directorscentre.com/lets-talk-SBS.phpto get your free tickets.
THIS MONTH If you would like a free coaching session on how to create and examine different options to move you or your business forward, then phone me on 020 8343 8558 or Zoe on 01525 375871 to book an appointment. To me he excels in sales training and captivating audiences with live presenting of simple concepts, which he somehow manages to make profound. I must have heard him speak a dozen times and heard the same set piece at least 5 times, yet each time he sounds fresh and energising. He always looks the part and made public speaking an art form.I will report back as to how I get on next month, but if you are one of my ten aspiring millionaires for the next ten years, don’t forget to phone now. If you would like a free 30 minute coaching session about saying no without feeling guilty or the importance of saying no to the good so you can say yes to the great, – phone me on 020 8343 8558.
SOLO NEWSLETTER
Number 15
FEBRUARY 2008
Albert Wright
020 8343 8558
Copyright
This month my Outstanding Writer / Speaker / Entrepreneurs is – Peter Thomson,the man from the Midlands who built and sold his own business to make his first fortune. He has been around in my world for over 30 years and is a great producer of audio materials, closely linked to the American multinational Nightingale Conant. One of my first products from Peter bought in 1990, which I still use today in training business advisers in how to listen, is his audio cassette collection, Conversation The Power of Persuasion.
In this Peter gives a really good summary of Active Listening, Subconscious Encoding Questions, The Meaning of Eye Movements, Body Language and the Language of Influence. Today there is a modern CD version with pretty much the same content. I am also a long time subscriber to Peter’s Monthly Achievers Edge programme on CD Rom, which features interviews and cameo performances / extracts from other leading gurus, particularly those in marketing, which has been on the go for over 10 years and has gone to nearly 300,000 people (at £12 a month) and his weekly emails, which I am less keen on. Peter is very good on sales and marketing and there is some good free stuff at his website wwwpeterthomson.co.uk and in his Accelerated Business Growth System (ABGS), which does what it says on the tin over 36 modules of 35 minutes, 18 solid hours and for which I am a licensed reseller and will cover in more detail next month.
What do I take from Peter? Thinking, knowing good stuff without acting on it is a waste of time. No matter how good, unless you act and put things into practice you will achieve nothing. Action is the Key. In sales it’s all about the number of customers, how frequently they buy and how much per visit. I leave you with Peter’s famous, five focus questions and the offer of doing a coaching session on them with you for the special price of £250, covered by our usual fee guarantee. In your life right now, to achieve your 5 key objectives relating to money, relationships, personal satisfaction, helping others, helping the world:
1 What should you stop doing?
2 What should you do less of?
3 What should you do more of?
4 What should you keep doing?
5 What should you start doing?
Answer and be honest and you will get closer.
If you would like help with working through these 5, give me a call on 020 8343 8558 to book a phone appointment. Our usual Fee Guarantee covers your 5 x 30-minute consultation calls, an investment of only £50 a call. Unless our discussion adds at least this value to your business, you get the call for FREE.
Previous newsletters can be found on my web site www.successfulsolo.com
Coaching Academy
I spent a further Accelerator Day on Strategic Planning and Performance Management, did more reading and my two coachees from CA are making good if slow progress. I can recommend their virtually free, certificate and two-day introductory sessions. Details on their web site www.the-coaching-academy.com, worth £500, cost much less.
Access 2 FinanceStill available is a 30 minute phone briefing, for £100, for those wanting a subsidy of up to £2,400 to help with raising finance through the London Development Agency / Business Link Access to Finance scheme. All covered by our Fee Guarantee.
Robert Craven and the Directors’ Centre
The series of the Barclays Bank sponsored programme is coming up again, worth over £200 plus a free networking lunch. They are great and last year I enjoyed both the Marketing and the Profit sessions. The workshops can be yours for free, through our association with Robert, go to www.directorscentre.com/lets-talk-SBS.phpfor how to get your tickets.
Coaching Practice
As part of a group of coaches that meet monthly for professional development and practice, last month I missed the session so have nothing to report. If you would like to know more, give me a call on 020 8343 8558 Next month the featured guru will again be Peter Thomson with an insight into Accelerated Business Growth - ABG.
Be happy.
SOLO NEWSLETTER
Number 14
JANUARY 2008
Albert Wright
020 8343 8558
Copyright
This month my Outstanding Writer / Speaker / Entrepreneurs is – Alan Leighton, Chairman of the Post office and formerly with ASDA, as I have recently read his book On Leadership – Practical Wisdom from the People Who Know. Alan was part of the team, lead by Archie Norman, who began working for MARS, later turned around the then ailing giant ASDA and then sold it to current owners Wal-Mart. He is a great believer in communication as a two way process.
His Ask Alan scheme at Royal Mail led to 400 emails a day and allowed him early on to find out what was concerning his workforce. He also believes in the power of people, both collectively and individually, and rewarding people, as what make the main difference in performance of one company against another. He quotes Forrest Gump “If you go to the zoo, always take something to feed the animals, even if the sign says ‘Do not feed the animals’. It wasn’t the animals who put them signs up.” Leighton then goes on to illustrate various aspects of leadership by drawing on his knowledge of and interviews with a range of entrepreneurs / business leaders and his own personal experiences. The leaders looked at include Sir Philip Green, Surinder Arora, Jacqueline Gold, James Dyson, Brent Hoberman, Charles Dunstone, Martha Lane Fox, Sir Tom Hunter, Mark Thompson, Sir Stuart Hampson, Stuart Rose, Rebekah Wade and many more. He provides tips, guidelines, recommendations and suggestions of how and how not to lead. Most we have heard before: keep it simple, communicate the vision, hire complementary people, build the right team, no blame culture, be inclusive, be decisive, focus on staff and customers, be honest, execution is more important than ideas,……It’s a good read with plenty of examples to illustrate the points being made.
What did I take away for me? Hire what you don’t know, seek the truth, listen, understand, act fairly, quickly and decisively, if it’s not working stop doing it, sometimes you need to do unpopular things, be different, reward fairly, promote talent, focus on what you only can do and delegate the rest. Doing unpopular things is not easy. Leaders are not always loved, particularly when they have to downsize an organisation to ensure it survives or get rid of particular individuals who may be popular but are “not right” for the tasks ahead. Where are you right now? Do you employ / work with people today that, if you had the choice, you would not now have in your team? Is finding a way to let them go / ease them out proving difficult? Would you like to talk it through with a coach who has been there done that?
In several jobs I have had to make such hard decisions, if you would like help with convincing yourself the decision is right or role playing an exit discussion, give me a call on 020 8343 8558 to book a phone appointment.
Your 30-minute consultation call, an investment of only £70, is covered by our usual Fee Guarantee. Unless our discussion adds at least this value to your business, you get the call for FREE. Another of Leighton’s tips is “hire for attitude, train for skill” and he also quotes the Mars brothers “Fifty percent of the brains in the world are female. Brains have no colour.” All in all I learned a bit more about leadership, the fact that leaders take many forms and shapes and read pen pictures of over 50 amazing people in the appendix. So how am I going to become a better leader for my small team? By communicating better and admitting my mistakes and learning from them.
Previous newsletters can be found on my web site www.successfulsolo.com
Coaching Academy
I have not had time to do any further sessions but will be booking more this month. The offer for you to complete an online DISC personality profile exercise; get a 6 page report on what it indicates, and a free 30 minute telephone call to discuss the indications ends this month. Phone me on 020 8343 8558 or Zoe on 01525 375871 to book an appointment.
Access 2 Finance
Still available is a 30 minute phone briefing, for £100, for those wanting a subsidy of up to £2,400 to help with raising finance through the London Development Agency / Business Link Access to Finance scheme. All covered by our Fee Guarantee.
Robert Craven and the Directors’ Centre
The series of the Barclays Bank sponsored programme is coming to an end. The events, worth over £200 plus a free networking lunch, are great and I enjoyed both the Marketing and the Profit sessions. Last month I attended one of their Employment Law and Even More Profit workshops in association with Peninsula, which was also very informative. All these excellent workshops can be yours for free, through our association with Robert, go to www.directorscentre.com/lets-talk-SBS.phpfor how to get your tickets.
Coaching Academy
I can recommend their virtually free, certificate and two-day introductory sessions. Details on their web site www.the-coaching-academy.com, worth £500, cost much less.
Coaching Practice
As part of a group of coaches that meet monthly for professional development and practice, last month we looked at the work of Byron Katie and her 4 question tool called The Work: 1 Is it True?2 Can you absolutely know that it’s true?3 How do you react when you believe that thought?4 Who would you be without that thought? For more information, including video clips of Byron in action, www.TheWork.com. Not for the faint hearted. If you would like to know more, give me a call on 020 8343 8558 and I will do a 30 minute practice session with you for FREE as a way of further developing my own skills in this process and introduce you to her “Turn the thought Around” technique. Do you have issues around motivation? Do you want support through coaching on making your “WHY” stronger so that you can achieve your goal of weight loss, business success, family success, whatever?
To book your free 30-minute taster phone coaching session ring me on 020 8343 8558 or Zoe 01525 375871 Next month the featured guru will be Peter Thomson of Achievers Edge.
Be happy.