Views from The Growth Coach�
January 2007
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Greetings!

With the Winter Solstice comes a daily increase in sunlight, a real increase in energy, and a traditional commitment to do better. With January comes the new year and new opportunities. Let's capitalize on that energy and take advantage of those opportunities.

Here's to the best year yet.

Stop Making Resolutions
 
Start Making Plans
Growth Coach Website

Why do we keep wishing people ?Happy New Year?? Will wishing make it so?

We make resolutions, but all we seem to be thinking about is what we did wrong during the past year and resolve to do the opposite. I will lose ten pounds (because I gained ten). I will exercise more (because I haven?t been exercising). I will watch less TV (because I couldn?t find anything better to do). In each case the resolution seems more like a punishment and we find it difficult to be motivated by a cure that?s worse than the disease.

If you want the coming year to be a great one, start it off with a different mindset. I want you to begin by imagining yourself on New Year?s Eve, 2007. Imagine being truly content in your life and all its aspects - business, finance, health, relationships, and reputation - whatever it is that will make you truly content. It might take ten minutes or it might take thirty, but create a vision that is real for you. See it and feel it. Got it? Now, let?s make it happen.

That vision is your destination. Since you know where you are now, all you need is a plan to traverse the distance. This is the point at which most people throw up their hands and say, ?That?s too much work!? They?re content with resolutions. We, however, imagine the path to our vision. We can see that it won?t be easy, but we begin to formulate the steps we can take each day, each week, and each month to move us closer to our goals. Those steps become plans, each plan having its own goals. Now, the truly hard part: write it down. This is the process of affirming what you want and how you are going to go about getting it. Writing it down moves it from imagination to reality. Now we can focus on our path, our goals, and our vision. We have left the past behind. Because we are focused we will begin to notice the countless opportunities in life that align with our goals and we will take action to integrate them into our plans. It?s energizing. It?s rewarding. It?s an entirely different mindset.

Enjoy the journey. May your vision guide you and sustain you in the coming year.


Focus on Sales
 


What's your sales plan? Don't tell me about your plan for the year, I want to know about your plan for the day.

I worked with an insurance rep who planned her day in terms of calls and knocks - telephone calls to prospects and visits to places of business to meet owners. She knew, based on her "batting average", that if she made her quota of calls and knocks every day she would land the business to meet her sales goals each week. She also knew that if she increased the quota she would land more business.

She had a plan. Do you?


Networking Tips
 


You've heard the phrase, "It's not quantity but quality that counts." How can you improve the quality of your network?

Make it a goal this year to get more than contact information from the people you meet. Make an effort to figure out what's important to them, how they make decisions, what their goals are and why. Then find out how you might be able to help them reach their goals. It might not have anything to do with your business, but it does have everything to do with developing relationships. The more relationships you have, the more connections you will discover. Those connections bring opportunities that would have gone undiscovered. It's a huge return on the small investment of time and effort.



If you have ideas for future issues or questions on this one, let me know. And, if you think of others who could benefit from this information, click on the "Forward to a friend" link below.

Wishing you success in the coming year,


Dave Ferguson
The Growth Coach

Phone: 847-968-2468
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