Magic Bullet

MAGIC BULLET

There isn’t a business that doesn’t want to grow- or at least there SHOULDN’T be a business that doesn’t want to grow.  In previous blogs, the Great Wisdom is that your business is either “green and growing “ or you are “stagnant and wasting away”.  So brothers and sisters, the only real answer is for your business to be “green and growing”. But how to do it? Or even more importantly, how to do it consistently over and over again?  If only I had a Magic Bullet. 

Magic Bullet?   It’s probably the only item Amazon doesn’t carry.  You know what I am about to tell you: There is no Magic Bullet.  Up till now, has there ever been an easy way? Think about it. It always turns out that there are two ways things can be: 1) The hard way and 2) The hard way. How many times have you been told “This time will be different?”  It turns out to not be different. There is no real easy way and every time you think you’ve found one it’s either a scam and never existed in the first place or it’s a hard way disguised as an easy way and it disappointingly turns into a hard way once your Credit Card clears. And I am an Optimist.

Your Mother and your most trusted best friends have been right all along: You already possess everything you need to be successful.  All that is lacking is putting in the necessary hard work. Since you know from the above that THERE IS NO EASY WAY, quit trying to look for one.  So, since you’re going to put in Hard Work no matter what you choose, why not do a few things along the way to help ensure that your Hard Work will not be in vain?  Everyone eventually interacts with another human being or a company/organization that is run/governed by a human being. How can you gain favor with the aforementioned human beings? Might it possibly be a good idea to perhaps SINCERELY THANK them with a Heartfelt Custom Card from Send Out Cards when they go the extra mile for you?  You send them a card sincerely appreciating what they did for you. Think that will be remembered the next time you need a special favor? Sure as Shooting (that’s a thinly disguised Magic Bullet reference there)

What if you extend special pricing or go out of your way to fill a complicated order- then send a card saying “I wouldn’t do that for just anyone- but I did it because it was you!”  You Rock, man. There are only 6 Gazillion versions of how you can do this for all your Customers, Clients, Co-workers, Management, Suppliers, I.T. Support, Manufacturers Reps vital to your Business, Secretaries, Drivers, Delivery People, Melinda at Corporate, etc etc. Ralph has a Send Out Card for every one of them and you have a Smart Phone or Tablet to take a pic that would make that card Rock. Your Magic Bullet is Send Out Cards.  Have a conversation with Ralph Harold, “guywithtwofirstnames.com,” avoid “perceived indifference,” “ load, aim and fire your Magic Bullet” and “Take it to the Bank.”

Ralph Harold

ralph@guywithtwofirstnames.com

816-808-2465            

It's About Them Not You

Listen people, we all get it that you want to make money. I want to make money, Carla wants to make money, Dan wants to make money, even YOU want to make money. After all isn’t that the most basic reason why any of us do “this thing called work?” The paradox is that in order to make money yourself, you first have to build relationships by being a good person. The mark of a good person is someone who is interested in other than making money for themselves. The late Lynn Corbett was incredibly successful at his business but spent almost all of his time asking you how he could help you build YOUR business! He asked multiple ways, multiple times and introspectively. It wasn’t just a cursory and perfunctory “What can I help you with?” It was dripping with sincerity, and if that wasn’t enough he’d introduce you to 8000 of the people he knew (and he knew an incredibly huge number of people). He was STILL building relationships until one week he mysteriously missed a BNI weekly meeting (Lynn never missed a weekly meeting). And then we got the terrible news he was dead. It was so HIM, so ingrained in his personality, he was still building relationships up until the terminal pancreatic cancer took him.

The message is that Lynn and others gave of themselves TO HELP YOU, gave some more and then invented even newer ways to give. Purely as a byproduct of all this giving, Lynn was rewarded with people doing business back with him. It wasn’t immediate, so if your looking for a Fast Buck, this isn’t it. But if your looking for long-term, unwavering, wouldn’t-do-business-with-anyone-else kind of clientele, then you’ve found it. Oh, and after 311 words about Lynn and others, Lynn was a huge believer in Send Out Cards. The Card is about “the Other Person” so it fit perfectly in Lynn’s philosophy. Have a conversation with Ralph Harold, “guywithtwofirstnames.com,” “ learn what Lynn was so excited about as it relates to Send Out Cards” and “Take it to the Bank.”

Ralph Harold

ralph@guywithtwofirstnames.com

816-808-2465

Stand Out By Being Yourself

Who do you want to be? Is there someone in your chosen profession that represents the pinnacle, the most excellent manifestation of your perception of the best in your business? While it is desirable to always strive to improve, you may or may not be able to rise to the high levels. So understand that you are probably somewhere in between and be OK with that.

Remember how many people say to you to be “the Best Version of Yourself?” You have a unique skill set and a group of abilities that no one else has, making you a unique qualifier. So in this world where everyone has tons of unique abilities, how do you stand out? Instead of trying to stand out against all the other people who have similar excellent qualities, stand out by being yourself! Celebrate your strengths and work on your deficiencies. Be you and be proud.

The one thing that you absolutely must master and never cease to work on is to avoid condoning mediocrity. You can be so lost touting the best version of yourself that you forget to understand that there are things that you still can improve upon. You ALWAYS have something to work on. I remember when I went to the first SendOutCards convention and found that the CEO, Kody Bateman takes notes on every speaker, even when they are a lower level speaker. Kody contends you never know the source of the next Great Idea and this seemingly lower level man/woman may actually be the one. Let me explain how all of this can work in your favor. Have a conversation with Ralph Harold, “guywithtwofirstnames.com,” work on standing out by being yourself, and “Take it to the Bank.”

Ralph Harold

ralph@guywithtwofirstnames.com

816-808-2465

Get Paid to Be Nice to One Another

A lot of people have said a lot of things to you, but if I ask you, “what is the absolutely nicest thing someone has said or done to you?” you will know exactly what that is. More importantly you will know exactly how it made you FEEL.  Whatever extra special thing they said to you or did for you invokes an emotion that will stay with you for years. It also acts as a bond that keeps you being close friends or loyal to that business.

This feeling is so incredibly powerful, why in the world wouldn’t you do it all the time for all your customers? This is a rhetorical question because there is no satisfactory answer in the negative.

Send Out Cards has embraced the concept of doing “The One Thing” that supersedes all others. When you have a prompting, this is a cue, which someone is experiencing a need that you have the capacity to fill. By choosing to focus, even for a moment, to better some aspect of this other person’s life, sharing love and kindness through a written word at a moment’s notice. The One Thing is what makes all of life worth it. The One Thing is what drives us to help others reach out in kindness to change the world.

Every time you learn about a cool new thing, you share it with others or someone shares with you. By sharing Send Out Cards with other individuals and businesses, those of us who elect to be “Referral Partners”, we actually get paid to BE NICE to one another. Using this you can make people smile, enrich their lives and get paid for it all at the same time. Have a conversation with Ralph Harold, “guywithtwofirstnames.com,”  “get paid to be nice to one another” and “Take it to the Bank.”

Ralph Harold

ralph@guywithtwofirstnames.com

816-808-2465            

Growth Mode

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

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

Ralph Harold

ralph@guywithtwofirstnames.com

816-808-2465            

Someday Is Today

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

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

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

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

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

Ralph Harold

ralph@guywithtwofirstnames.com

816-808-2465            

It Was Right There

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

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

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

Ralph Harold MD

816-808-2465

ralph@guywithtwofirstnames.com

AVOIDING PERCEIVED INDIFFERENCE

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

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

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

Ralph Harold

ralph@guywithtwofirstnames.com

816-808-2465            

Great Minds

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

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

11/06/18

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

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

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