Moving is already stressful enough on everybody. We can verbally voice our distress and dislike now our pets have ways of voicing their opinion on how things are going and sometimes is destructive.

To make a move less stressful to any pet here are a few tips:

1. Before and during the move try to keep a normal routine for your pet as possible; like feeding at the same time, going out and playtime at the same time and keep up the normal bedtime routine as well.
2. Get with your vet and make sure that all of the vaccinations are up to date and you have written proof as such. When you already know your pet does not travel very well, ask your vet about this. In some cases the vet can prescribe something for the pet to make it easier for them to travel.
3. When you packing for the move, make sure you keep some of your pet’s items out of the moving truck. Pack their water and food bowl, medications, bedding, food and overnight crate separately. Keep it with you in your vehicle. Have enough food for your pet that you have enough time to either buy more or change your pet over to a new type of food when their current food is not available in the new home town. Be prepared to move your pet personally. A pet will do better when they move with their owner to the same time, together. Moving companies will not move your pet for you.
4. When you are driving with your pet make sure you keep your pet safe in the vehicle. When you know your pet will not do well when traveling you might consider not feeding the pet before leaving. Make sure you keep your pet confined in a travel crate or maybe buckled up for safe travel. Make frequent pit stops for everybody to stretch their legs, relieve their bladder and have a quick drink.
5. When the move has to be made by plane, call the airline to fin out what their rules, regulations and restrictions are for flying with pets.
6. Sometimes during the move a pet can get lost or possible stolen. You might consider micro chipping our pet as proof of ownership later. Be sure your pet’s identification tags are securely attached to a collar or leg band. The ID tags should include your pet’s name, your name, address and phone number, destination address, phone number and their rabies tag. You also can get a small GPS locator that attaches to the collar to be able to track your pet right in time. Take color pictures of your pet with a written description of its size, height, weight, colorings and distinguishing marks.

When you are in the new home, give your pet time to acclimate to the new area and surroundings.

I walked into the office of a friend of mine and right on the left hand side, right inside the door to her staffs’ offices is a suggestion box and on this box she has a small sign:

“All complaints are welcome as long as you offer a suggestion for a solution. Otherwise the complaint is just another complaint.”

I asked her about her blue suggestion box with the light bulb picture on it as I sat down with her.

This suggestion box idea came from one of her employees who at one time had a great idea but was not able to catch up with her and this staffer was not very comfortable using email. Now once a month all the complaints that also have a suggestion of a fix with them are going into a drawing for different items.  Many times she has gift cards she personally purchased for either gas, a nice restaurant, different stores or just a plain AMEX card so they can use them how they think fit.

She has received some great improvement ideas from her staff that she implemented.

She also told me when an improvement idea that was implemented came from someone in the staff she made sure this staff person received credit for the improvement. She also is now receiving ideas and suggestions of improvements from her outside vendors and many clients as well but she does not include them in the internal draw for the gift cards.

“I have so much chaos in my life, it’s become normal. You become used to it. You have to just relax, calm down, take a deep breath and try to see how you can make things work rather than complain about how they’re wrong.” –  Tom Welling –

Sitting with my morning coffee at the local franchise coffee shop and I was able to overhear a father talk to his daughter about the lack of willingness of the counter staff to listen to what their clients telling them.

As he was ordering a breakfast and he was asked if he wanted the order for here or to go. He wanted his order for here, to have a nice sit down breakfast with his daughter. As he received his order he received a to-go order.

This reminds me of something my grandmother used to tell me: “You have two ears and one mouth. Use them accordantly.”

Stephen R. Covey said it best:  “Most people do not listen with the intent to understand; they listen with the intent to reply.”

When you listen to your clients are you truly hearing them? There is a huge difference between listening to them and hearing what they truly telling you. Do you truly listen to them without any bias and pre conceived notions or intentions?

Active listening truly means to let go of what’s on your mind. Don’t interrupt others before they are finished speaking and strive to understand what the person is saying. Don’t try to formulate an answer prior to the person has finished their part of their conversation.

Be more comfortable with silence when you have a conversation with others and when you think you need to interrupt the silence, ask questions. It is your goal to understand the other person and truly listed to what they have to tell you

Just for giggles I just looked up the definition of the word authenticity and found explanations from being truthfulness, attributions, commitments, sincerity, devotion, and intentions. The best description I found was in the Wikipedia and it was listed that “authenticity is the degree to which one is true to one’s own personality, spirit, or character, despite external pressures”.

How many times have we been told to memorize this script, reside or use this closing line or trick to close a deal?

I was sitting in the office the other day and an agent from California, who I have known for years, called me out of the blue to check in with me.

She moved her license to another Real Estate Brokerage firm over a year ago and was very frustrated. She has not seen the sales she has been hoping for even so she took all of the company’s’ training. Memorized every script and closing technique she was given.

After a short roll-play via Skype with her I realized what she was missing.

She was missing herself, her own true self, the authentic her I have known for so many years. She was no longer there. She stuck herself in a box of line memorization and monotone presentation when meeting with potential clients.

When you are not the true self in any presentation it will show. Potential clients will see right through the smoke and mirror you put up. Yes, you should have necessary information handy and ready to go when meeting with a client or potential client.

When giving a presentation don’t use the memorized scripts or lines. Make them yours and when they later don’t look anything close to what the originals were, that is OK. They are yours and they will reflect the true you and no one else. When you are with a client, be yourself and never forget that the most valuable gift you have to offer to your clients is yourself and take off the mask.

She reminded me of a blog post I posted just recently about “being yourself”

Driving to a meeting with potential client I was going in my mind through the information I gathered for this meeting and thought back to a time back in school.

Sitting in class I was called out as the first student to give a short verbal description about the content   of the book we were given to read several days ago. With a deer in the headline look I stared at the teacher and finally remembered that we were asked to read this book and I just totally forgot.

The embarrassment I felt that day was earthshattering for me and at that moment I wished the earth would have opened up and swallowed me whole and later having to explain to my parents why I had to stay longer in school in detention because I did not do my homework was even harder.

Arriving at the potential client’s office I stepped into her office and we had a great meeting discussing her wants, needs and wishes. Thanks to being prepared for this meeting we were able to come up with a great solution for her and it was a solution she had not thought of.

It always shows to be prepared and my embarrassing moment in school taught me that lesson early in life or how Confucius put it; “Success depends upon previous preparation, and without such preparation there is sure to be failure.”

In this time of social media, web and video conferencing some of us never needed to leave the trusty office  or our desk to make a sale or reach a client in person. Some of the personal interaction has been lost in many areas and dressing for success has been pushed into a corner and is collecting dust.

Sometimes when you would like to move up your personal career ladder or would like to attract potential new clients to work with, dress the part every time all the time.

Ok..Immediate disclaimer. When you work construction or any other job that requires you to dress for safety or job specific do so and when you are in meeting dress professional.

Dress for success still holds true today.

No matter what someone has accomplished in the past, when you don’t dress the part when you attend a meeting, conference or networking event you might not get a second look, even so there might be a potential clients or employer in the room that has exactly what you are looking for.

Some of us might need a little help with picking up the more favorable outfits to wear for the desired client or position we are striving for and there is nothing wrong with asking for help. Many of the larger department stores have personal shoppers who can help you pick out something to wear. You also could consult a personal image consultant, or style coach who could help you find your personal style while shopping with you.

I have written one post about what a leader is and here is part II about what a manager is.

A manager performs an organizational function and it does not mean managing of people, it can also mean managing materials. The manager is here to make sure they do what they suppose to do.

The efficient manager makes effective use of material and resources given to them.

Here are some trades a good manager will have

Planning

• Plan the day, week, month
• Put the right people in the right place to be more efficient
• Look at all the probable scenarios
• Figure out the worst possible scenario
• Looking at available resources
• Compare strengths and weaknesses of individuals

Organized

• Prepared the group and make them part of the plan
• Is everybody trained?
• Are the other departments ready
• Is the work force motivated?
• Is the right material ordered?
• Is the equipment ready?
• Are spare parts available for the equipment?
• Does everybody understand their roll?

Direct the teams

Monitor the output

• Watch and make certain everything goes to plan
• Direct and organize people when something is out of sync
• Be aware of outside forces that might will influence the plan’s outcome

What is the difference between a Leader and a Manager?

A leader can be a manager, but not every manager is a good leader (don’t ask me where I read this)

A manager monitors the output and the productivity of the team there are responsible for. Most of the time a manager was given their position by promotion a leader’s position was given through trust.

Something  happen last week that made me think off the difference between a manager and a Leader again. I will write about this in two blogs (otherwise it is to long).

First I thought I grab the thought on (at least for me)………………………….

What is a Leader?

• Guides others toward a common goal,
• Showing the way by example,
• Creates an environment in which team members feel actively involved in the entire process.
• Is not the boss of the team
• Is the person that is committed to carrying out the mission.

Qualities of a good leader

Listens:

• Open minded to new ideas
• Open minded to new ways of doing things
• Everyone in the group will be heard.
• Listen to ideas
• Accept constructive criticisms.

 Focused:

• Remind yourself and the group of the goals and mission.
• You need to on track and keep others on track,
• Keep the team will motivated and it be more productive.
• Schedule time to meet with your Team
• Establish and check-in about the goals you hope to achieve.

 Organized:

• A leader set’s the tone for the team.
• A leader who is organized helps motivate team members to be organized as well.

 Available:

• Holds frequent group and personal meetings
• Questions or concern can be addressed right away and can be handled sooner

 Include others:

• As a leader, you should not do all the work.
• Poor use of time is when you do everything yourself and prevents your Venture from growing.
• Leader should work with his/her teammates
• Learn how to delegate responsibility
• Being mindful of everyone’s interests, goals and strengths.

 Decisive:

• You are not always going to be able to reach a compromise.
• Don’t be afraid to make the final decision, even if some team members disagree with you.

 Confident:

• Confidence is one of the most important characteristic of a leader.
• If you don’t believe in yourself and the success of your Venture, no one else will.
• Show that you are dedicated, intelligent, and proud of what you are doing.

Please give me a day and I will have part II…what is a manager.

When you are given a possible contact name and number of a person that is interested in what you have to offer do you truly follow up with this person?

Be honest ………..

Every time …most of the time ….or occasionally?

Experience has taught me that about:

95% of the receptions are very eager to talk to the person.

55% take time to make the first initial contact over the phone or email with in 24 hours

30% will talk to the person during a one on one meeting only once

6% will close the deal

1% will keep of following up with the referral, prospect

The rest will just fall through the crack and never will be followed up on even after the first initial contact.

By now the 80/20 rule no longer exists…it is more like 10/90 or 5/95 at best.