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I’d Rather Be Happy and Successful, Than Right

By Blog, Uncategorized

When I speak about handling reviews I encourage you to write replies to reviews,
but write them for the other people who will be reading them, and don’t get into a he-said, she-said in public. When you have an upset customer it’s always best to keep that discussion offline, and out of email if you can. Your goal is to make your customer happy, so they’ll refer you and, if you offer more than just wedding services, maybe come back and use you again.

One of my favorite things to live by is that I’ve learned in business, and in life, that I’d rather be happy and successful, than be right. If I have to prove that I’m right, that means someone else has to be wrong. If I tell my wife that she’s wrong about something, how is that going to work out for me? If I tell a customer that they’re wrong, how is that going to work out for me? Read More

First-World Problems

By Blog, Uncategorized

The battery on my iPhone dies faster when I wear my Apple watch. That’s a classic example of a “first-world problem”. If you’ve never heard the expression, a “first-world problem” is something that a person in a third-world (developing world) country would never say, and probably wouldn’t understand. People who are wondering if they’re going to eat today aren’t worried about having “nothing good to watch on TV tonight”.

I recently visited Mumbai, India, and I was struck by the close proximity of poverty and wealth. I travel a lot and I see both poverty and wealth – but never intermingled the way it is there. In most major cities, the poverty and wealth are separated. You can tell when you’re in a wealthy area, and you can tell when you’re not. But not in Mumbai. As you ride from one place to another, you pass 5-star hotels and extreme poverty, almost randomly. New apartment buildings rise next to ramshackle huts, protected only by tin roofs and plastic sheeting. Read More

Success Comes from Action, Not Ideas

By Blog, Uncategorized

If you’re like me, you have more ideas than time. You may have pages and 
pages of notes from conferences, books you want to read, and videos you want to watch; now, if you could only find the time for all of it! Well, I hate to break it to you, but with all the modern technology at our fingertips, the one thing we’ll never invent or create is more time. It’s a finite commodity, and every second that passes is one that will never exist again.

OK, enough of the gloomy words. I want this article – as with most of mine – to be inspirational and to get you motivated to act. That’s the idea that prompted me to write this. Knowing that you can’t do it all is easy. Deciding to take action on some of your ideas is the important first step in achieving greater success. Success is not a product of having ideas or money. Success comes from acting on your ideas, and since you can’t do them all, it means prioritizing them so you can get started. Too many people get paralyzed trying to do too much. You end up spreading your precious time between too many things, only to complete very few (if any) of them. Read More

Just Like Starting Over

By Blog, Uncategorized

I’m a new speaker. That’s a funny way for a Certified Speaking Professional® (CSP),
who’s been speaking professionally for years, to start an article. I’ve taken a giant leap backwards in my speaking career.  I’m a CSP, but I’m also a beginner. Some of you already know that a little over 3 years ago, I committed to becoming conversationally fluent in Spanish. I was at a conference in Mexico, and I thought that my high school Spanish would allow me to engage in basic conversation. Well, I was wrong. High school was a very long time ago, and I realize now how little Spanish I had actually learned. Read More

The Power of Our Words

By Blog, Uncategorized

Regardless of your political leanings, a lesson we can all learn from this election year is the power of our words. People judge you, and make assumptions from the words you say and write. From your advertising and marketing, to your website and email conversations, your words have a huge impact on your bottom line. If one prospect decides to not contact you, or not return your email, because of your choice of words, what will that cost you in lost business? As with so many things in your marketing chain, if you could see that business going away, you’d pay a lot more attention to what you say, when you say it, and where you say it. Read More

Real Life versus Facebook Life

By Blog, Uncategorized

Have you ever noticed that, for the most part, everything we see on Facebook paints a rosy picture of someone’s life and/or business? We see their best work and their personal and business successes. What happens in between the posts? What is it that they’re not showing and talking about? That folks, is called real life. Not reality TV life. Real, everyday life, like the ones you and I lead.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m just as guilty as you are. With rare exceptions, I post only the good stuff, too. You’ve probably seen my “#ConferenceSelfies”, where I take a selfie, from the stage, before almost every presentation. Some of you picture me jet setting around the world, living the glamorous life. Well, I am jetting around the country, and internationally, but it’s usually in a coach seat on a commercial flight. No private jet here. Now imagine how much time I spend in TSA lines, and waiting for flights. Or how about the 133 nights I spent in hotels last year. You rarely see me posting about that – although I have been known to tweet out of frustration to an airline or two. Read More

I’m a hypocrite, are you?

By Blog, Uncategorized
Every so often, I’m guilty of buying based upon price. hypocriteThere, I said it. But, that makes me a hypocrite. I want my customers choosing me as their speaker, mastermind leader, consultant, or for a website review, not because I’m the cheapest price; rather, I want you choosing me because you feel, for that particular need, that the value you’ll get exceeds the cost. If the return on your investment, exceeds the cost of the investment, then it’s probably a good choice; however, not all ‘returns’ are the same, and not all investments are the same.

I recently shopped around for home and auto insurance. The thing is, I like my current company. They have great customer service, and, in the times we’ve had to make claims, the service has been wonderful. So, why did I shop around? I got another increase in rate, and when I looked back, I had been increased every 6 months (on the auto) and every year (on the home). I wasn’t looking to make a change. I was looking for verification that my rate was still fair. I don’t need them to have the lowest rate, when their service is so good; but, I do need them to be somewhere in the same ballpark as other, high-quality companies. Read More

Wanna Get Lucky?

By Blog, Uncategorized
OK, get your minds out of the gutter (you know who you are) and let’s talk about luck as it pertains to your business. The Roman philosopher, Seneca, is credited with the saying “Luck Is What Happens When Preparation Meets Opportunity.” You need both of these to ‘get lucky’; however, the preparation part comes first. You have to do the work, learn the skills, invest in your success, and then, be on the lookout for opportunity.

Life is a highway
If your life path has been like mine, it hasn’t been a straight line. Far from it. Mine is a series of zigs and zags, fueled by opportunities. You’ve probably heard the expression “being in the right place, at the right time.” Well, I believe that we’re all right where we’re supposed to be, all the time. Opportunity is all around us. That’s why some businesses are succeeding, while others – in the same market and category – are faltering or failing. Whether it’s opting to pass on opportunities, or not seeing them, the result is still the same. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Read More

My website needs to go on a diet, does yours?

By Blog, Uncategorized
If your website is like mine, you’ve been adding content to it since it launched. They iPhone 5 with AB new Homepage and tape measurebecome like our attic, or garage, where stuff goes in, but nothing ever comes out. Eventually, there’s way too much content and it can affect the user experience. This is increasingly important as the shift to mobile continues, especially for weddings.

But it’s all good stuff
I know that some of you are thinking “it’s all important” or “I don’t know what to take out”, and you’re not alone. Of course it’s all good stuff, you wouldn’t have put it up there if it weren’t. The hard question is whether it’s still as good, and timely and relevant as it was when you first put it on your site. Photos can start to look dated. Things change, especially if you’ve remodeled your venue or offices, updated your branding… or if your headshot on your About Us page is more than a year or two old. Read More

Why do WE always ask “How much?”

By Blog, Uncategorized
I speak a lot in my presentations about why our customers often ask us How Much“How much…?” before they ask more important questions about our products and services. They should be asking us questions to find out if we can deliver on their important wants and needs; while price is certainly one of those things on their list, it’s by no means the most important one. If we don’t—or can’t—do what they want or need, then price doesn’t matter.

 

Sing on, Brother Alan
OK, I know I’m preaching to the choir with you on that subject. So, why is it that when we’re the customer, we do exactly the same thing? Why do we default to price first, instead of asking, or at least looking for, better questions? You can call it hypocrisy, irony, or just human nature, but it happens all the time. What prompted this article are instances where wedding and event pros have put price before return, and it stood out, not because it happened, rather because it happened so much. Read More