Business Coaching

No matter where you go, despite cultural differences, certain things just resonate with people. Take situation comedies like Everybody Loves Raymond for instance.

There are versions of many popular American shows being made around the world these days, and while there may be some differences, these shows speak to the similarities we all share, even if we live in very different cultures or environments.

Cross-culture television is not a new innovation. Shows have crossed cultures for years.

Some American classics, like “All In The Family” and “Three’s Company”, were re-purposed from British shows and even contemporary hits like The Office was originally a British series before coming to America.

The trend is growing on an almost daily basis and while the country’s manufacturing base is eroding, America is one of the biggest exporters of television ideas to the rest of the world.

Shows as varied as “Married… With Children”, “The Jeffersons”, “Who’s The Boss” and even “I Dream of Jeannie” have been farmed out to other nations, years after they are no longer on the air.

Keep in mind we aren’t talking about simply issuing rights to show repeats. Each of these shows is unique unto itself. The characters and jokes are uniquely that of the home country, with plotlines taken from the original, American version.

So every culture loves television comedy, but not each television comedy is funny to each country.

Often American humor doesn’t translate into laughter in other countries, so production companies are taking the ideas and storylines of a given show and re-issuing them in the style of the nation they are in.

Hence, Everybody Loves Kostya.

So how does this relate to the challenges business people face every day?

Thanks to all the options around us, the world is a smaller place than it’s ever been and businesses that want to be truly successful have to have a global vision.

A key to achieving global success is understanding as much as some things are universal, there are small, seemingly minor variances between cultures that can make the difference between a business’ success and failure.

This is clearly on display for those that travel around the world and might be stuck in a hotel room watching the Chilean version of “Mad About You” or “The Nanny”.

The jokes might not be the same as the ones you remember, but the concepts translate, making the shows very familiar, while at the same time, unique to its homeland.

It’s that familiarity, combined with local flavor that has led to success for this concept. And that idea should stick with you as you try to build your business from a local institution, to a global power.

To create a new idea of your life, a life where you can have ALL that you dream of, not just some little bits of happiness or balance, you’ve got to get the right mindset.

I’ve found there are steps that can help you get your mind right in creating the life you’ve always dreamed of.

You’ve got to consider your life in a positive frame of mind so begin by creating a list of affirmations starting with “I AM”. Affirm things like, I am a leader, I am rich, I am talented, etc. State these affirmations in the positive and present tense out loud every single day.

Secondly, create a dream chart. Find about two dozen magazines full of words and pictures for your new reality. Take several hours and cut out everything in those magazines that match what you want out of life, then glue them to a big sheet of cardboard and put it somewhere where you can see it every morning.

Finally, invest 20 minutes by yourself every single morning visualizing your new reality. Simply close your eyes and focus on everything you’ve pictured in your new reality.

Remember, you are creating a new you and if you’re becoming someone different, you will do things differently.

Since you can only be who you are, you have to change who you are to do things differently.

Your subconscious mind cannot determine the difference between dreams and reality, so feed it dreams often and make that your reality.

Follow these steps, create a bigger picture and then use these techniques to impress this picture on your subconscious.

The rest will take care of itself.

As you change who you are, you’ll change what you do and thus you’ll change what you have. Your new reality will unfold right before your eyes.

A basic part of the ActionCOACH system is our belief in the power of testing and measuring. No business should ever undertake a project or campaign without setting up a process which will test and measure its success.

But, in our personal lives, we fail to test and measure all the time.

For instance, we go to sleep and assume we’ve gotten enough rest when we get up, even though we may still feel groggy. We got to the gym and assume we’ve gotten enough exercise to burn the necessary calories to stay in shape, but have no real data to prove it aside from how we feel.

In these situations, we are hoping our actions will lead to the desired outcome, but we are taking a leap of faith to get there, much like business owners that spend money on advertising but don’t test and measure that campaign’s effectiveness.

But, thanks in part to some incredible advances in technology and some enterprising entrepreneurs, the time has come for us to be able to test and measure virtually anything we do and use that data to design better program or situations for us to take advantage of.

Today there are alarm clocks that will measure your sleep patterns to give you a better idea how long you should sleep and when you should wake up. There are smartphone applications that will measure your spending habits and do your budgeting for you. There are even systems that allow you to measure your happiness at various times of the day or with various people in your life.

There are so many tools available that it may seem like overload, but these tools can help anybody make better usage of their resources and create a happier and more abundant life.

That is the goal when we test and measure with our clients and, no doubt, testing and measuring, with the help of the tools available these days, can positively influence you personally as well.

Did you read a newspaper this morning?

Now quickly, how many ads do you recall right now?

Consider this story.

An advertising agency has scheduled a team meeting. As the team filed into the seminar room they were all given a copy of that morning’s paper.

While they were waiting, most of them read it.

Of 100 ad agency people, only three remembered an advertisement. And that was within half-an-hour of reading the paper!

Of those three, only one was thinking about taking any action. She was studying a furniture sale ad — because she was planning to buy some furniture. The ad had not persuaded her to buy furniture, since she was already in the market, so what good did it really do?

It makes you wonder if any of the agency’s work was in that paper. It is also a clear example of why certain ads don’t work.

Ask yourself, do your ads stand out?

Are they noticed and remembered?

Do they stir people to action?

Do they drive people to buy from you?

Or when potential customers come to your ad do they simply turn the page?

In many respects, advertisers are the world’s greatest contributors to “charity”.

Lord Lever of Lever & Kitchen, which is now Unilever, once said he knew only half of his advertising worked, but he didn’t know which half.

This statement has also been attributed to John Wanamaker and Henry Ford, but whoever said it originally, the point is clear, advertising can be a drain on resources if you don’t have a focus on who you want to reach and how you are going to reach them.

Most advertisers aren’t even doing as well as half, because they are more concerned with winning awards than generating customers.

Nobody can be perfect with their marketing all the time, but by testing and measuring the response to your advertising you’ll soon know which ads are working, and which are merely a donation to the medium which you’re using.

The most common complaint we get today as Business Coaches to small to medium business owners is that our clients can’t compete with the big guys on price.

The perception in the market place is that people are shopping on price alone. The only reason your customer asks the price up front is because that is what we as business owners have trained them to do.

How many times have you gone into a business not really knowing what model, style, color or features you were looking for and purely asked for the price?

When you did, did the sales person come back with “that is $29.95″ or did they ask you some questions about what you were looking to use the product/service for?

What if the sales person simply said to you when you inquired about price, “just so I can help you best is it OK if I ask you a couple of questions about the kettle you are looking for?” Would you have answered yes? My bet is that the answer would have most definitely been yes!

From these questions the customer gets the idea that the sales person is genuinely interested in their needs and the salesperson is able to offer options about what is most suitable for their needs. It’s a win-win and the price is negated.

It is now just a matter of asking the customer to buy.

One of the indicators that tell about the growth and health of a franchise is franchisee satisfaction.

It comes down to one simple factor.  If franchisees are happy, then things within the entire franchise system are probably running smoothly. When this is the situation, the systems within the franchise make sense and, more importantly, they do what they are supposed to do.

That’s why it was such an honor that ActionCOACH was ranked 31st in the latest Franchise Business Review in the large systems category for the most recent poll.

“This is an award we strive for every year. We are proud to be recognized by the Franchise Business Review,” ActionCOACH CEO Jodie Shaw said. “No matter how great your company is, if your franchisees aren’t happy, growth simply isn’t possible. Our franchisees are our business partners, so the fact that they are happy speaks volumes.”

To review the entire list of businesses that ranked on the list, just click here.

One of the top motivational speakers in the world will be offering his wisdom as Les Brown will appear Saturday, August 19, 2011 at the Business Excellence Forum at the Fontainebleau Hotel in Miami, Florida.

Brown’s life story is amazing. As a baby, he was abandoned by his mother. He and his twin brother were adopted when they were six weeks old, but the challenges didn’t stop there.

He was labeled a slow learner and developmentally challenged until a former teacher swayed him to expand his mind and talents beyond the expectation of others.

This growth and self-education helped him find the greatness that was inside. He went from a disc jockey to community leader to a political commentator and then a three-term state legislator. His greatest talent and impact has come as a keynote speaker and trainer. He is also the author of the best- selling books It’s Not Over Until You Win and Live Your Dreams.

There aren’t many speakers who can deliver the message Brown does so eloquently, with passion. For anyone who wants to reach their full potential, seeing Les Brown on Saturday August 20 at the Business Excellence Forum is a great way to start.

The work ActionCOACH Business Coaches do is basically helping local communities by making small businesses profitable.

Taking the principles of business coaching a bit further, ActionCOACH’s Coaching for a Cause program is a global initiative that focuses on spreading the principles of gratitude and abundance by applying systems used by “for-profit” companies to the non-profit and charitable world.

Through Coaching for a Cause, ActionCOACH business coaches teach charitable organizations how to operate like businesses.

They do this by building systems and implementing them. In this way, non-profits learn how to make the most of each and every contribution they receive.

Last year the program helped increase donations to non-profits and participating charities by more than $3 million.

This year, we expect to teach even more non-profits how to be successful.

Click on the link to see how Coaching for a Cause works and how it has created success for participating organizations.

The Business Excellence Forum will feature the Business Excellence Awards Ceremony, which will honor some of the finest companies and entrepreneurs in the world of small business. The ceremony will take place Saturday August 20.

Awards will be given in 19 categories ranging from Most Innovative Company to Entrepreneur of the Year.

If you know a business that has done a terrific job in 2010,  nominate them as soon as you can.

Just click here and follow the instructions and nominate your business.

The Business Excellence Forum will take place at the world famous Fontainebleau Hotel in Miami, Florida. The Forum will be held on August 19 and 20 and it promises to be one of the most exciting global initiatives ActionCOACH has taken on.

The Business Excellence Forum will be a great way for small business owners and entrepreneurs who want to learn from and network with, successful business people in one of the most beautiful hotels in the world.

On Saturday August 20, the Business Excellence Awards Ceremony will take place. This ceremony will honor some of the best companies and entrepreneurs in the world of small business today.

The Business Excellence Forum promises to be an outstanding event for any small business owner, entrepreneur or Business Coach.

Indeed, anyone who is involved in a small business will get tremendous value from the training, workshops and speakers scheduled for this event.

For more information on the 2011 Business Excellence Forum, just click here.