Top athletes, top business professionals, really anybody who's at the top of their game is typically performing at peak performance levels.  With peak performance comes peak physical health and peak business health.  Some of you might be saying, "but Greg, I don't have my own business.  I work for someone else.  Why should I care?"

It doesn't matter if you work for someone else.  You're still running a business.  You have to market yourself, you must master sales skills, you must know and manage your professional finances, improve your professional skills, and have enough fuel in the tank to manage it all.

I'll spare you the physical health lecture for today, and please know that it is critically important to the success of your business.  Your business does have a health level.  How often are you playing doctor and assessing your business health level?  How often do you get your metaphorical checkup?

All businesses, all skill sets, all successful people are constantly assessing their business and how it's living, breathing and functioning on a daily basis.  There are 6 critical areas to your professional and business health.  Neglect or abuse any of them, and your business and success will suffer.

The six areas to master are:

1. Sales
2. Marketing
3. Operations
4. Financial
5. Professional Skills
6. Health
   

Imagine your business is a high performance sports car, and that each of the 6 areas represents a section of one of the tires.  Rate yourself and your business in each area on a scale from 1 - 10; with 1 being you're in trouble and 10 being you've mastered the area.

If you're 8 or better in all these areas chances are your business is very healthy and you're experiencing success.  If not, your wheel is not going to roll smoothly and your high performance sports car, or business, is no longer high performance.  It's time to go to work on your business.

So what can you do?  

• First pick an area, any area that you need to improve 
  
• Identify 3 key variables that will have the greatest impact on improving these areas
  
• Decide if you can either do them yourself, delegate them to someone else, or outsource them
  
• Then, execute that decision - make your plan and get it done.

Your health, your business and professional health must be constantly monitored.  You cannot improve unless you take a step back and play the role of a doctor periodically.  Find out where you are really, and then create and execute your plan to drive to where you want to go.  Don't be too proud to get help elsewhere.  Delegate and outsource whenever possible.  

Make your professional life easier, more efficient, richer, and most of all - HEALTHIER!

Recently I made a major purchase, and I asked the sales representative a question he simply could not answer.  Rather then choose to help me the right way and get back to me, this salesman obviously choose to improvise on the spot.  He not only lied to help the sale along, but he really damaged the credibility of his company in doing so. 


Needless to say I invested my money elsewhere, and unfortunately for him, his boss is one of my Winners Edge subscribers.

So that begs the question - Have you ever been asked a question at a sales meeting you don't know the answer too?  Of course you have.

How do you react to it? Do you fumble your words searching for answers that make sense, or do you lie?  Do you try and fake your way through it, or do you have a plan how to handle such situations?  Well, if you're reading this my money is betting that you're a person of sincere integrity and character. 

Here's the thing, you don’t have to have all the answers all the time. The moment you try and fake it, your prospect or client senses your disingenuousness. Let me say it another way, they know you're lying immediately. 

So what can you do to turn the odds in your favor?   Honesty and candor are always the best approach.


Simply respond by telling the truth.  "I want to provide you with the absolute best service and results possible, and in order for me to do that I'm going to have to research you question further to get you the correct answer."

Your prospect or clients will respect your character and business integrity.  This is true in all areas of life.  So, my point in this week’s article is this:  who do you know that engages in this type of behavior that you can immediately go out and positively influence?  Who's professional life, and more importantly, personal character can you help transform.

Go forth and be a force for good!

Knowing what you know now compared to when you started your chosen profession or business, would you do all over again the same way?  Would you even be in the same profession, or would you make a complete overhaul tomorrow morning and start fresh if you knew you couldn't fail?

Anyway you look at it; most people would absolutely make the changes necessary; whether it be in their chosen profession or their own business.  Professionals have already made the mistakes and paid the price along the way, so they have the knowledge of what not to do and what to do. 

So why don't they, or you, re-engineer your business?   Why do you keep continuing down the same path, reaping the same activities and strategies, and sowing the same results you've always settled for?  The answer is fear.  Even armed with the knowledge that you cannot fail, most people are so overtaken by fear, that they won’t even do what they know to be right. William Shakespeare wrote in, Julius Caesar, “Cowards die many times before their deaths. The valiant never taste of death but once.

Experience is expensive and you always pay upfront.  Well, you've already paid the tab, so why not put that experience to good use.  Take what you know and re-engineer yourself.  You can become anyone you want.  Your business can become its ideal form.  

This economic climate is the absolute ideal time to reinvent yourself and re-engineer your business.  You must position yourself now to anticipate and take advantage of the upswing.  It will come, and when it does, will you be ready, or will you just be content to keep the status quo?

Don't be controlled by fear.  Dance with it, be friends with it, embrace it, and most importantly kick its ass and take your life and business to levels you keep day-dreaming about.  Harness your knowledge of what you've learned and transform now.

Who are your dream clients?

No really, who exactly do you dream about doing business with?  Who will make the biggest impact on your top and bottom line, and who will make the biggest impact on your life?  What do these clients businesses, lifestyles and investing habits look like? 

Some experts claim your list should be 25 people or companies, some 50 and some 100 people or companies.   It really all depends on your sales cycle, industry and the number of clients you are capable of supporting.

For arguments sake, let’s assume you know the exact description of what your dream client looks like, and let’s assume you even possess their contact information (which you must).  Now what?  Now here's the absolute most critical series of questions period:

• What common ground or relationships do you have?
  
• Why exactly should they take your phone call, read your email, or accept your LinkedIn request?
  
• What exactly is in it for them?  And I don’t mean your marketing departments list of company or product and service features.
  
• How will you save them time?  Specifically, how much time, where’s it coming from and why?
  
• How will you save the money?  You must know exactly where the savings are coming from and have concrete results and testimonials to back it up.
  
• How will you save them aggravation?  What sources of stress are you going to cut out?  Can you prove it?

Once you have exact answers to these questions, you can focus on meeting them and building a winning relationship.  Until you have them answered though, the relationship is all about you and your pompous platitudes.  I’m sure those are wonderful, but they don’t support your clients or you long-term.

So, who are your dream clients and why should they become your clients.  Answer those questions and you set yourself and your dream client up to win.

Forgive my rant, but I’ve run into a rash of entrepreneurs lately who want it all yet aren’t putting the necessary effort in.  It got me thinking about entrepreneurship, parenting, athletics, really anything worth anything in life.

Let’s say you’re in your local electronics superstore and you see a television you really want.  The only way to take it home is to pay the price, and the only way to pay the price and take it home is to earn money by paying the price in your profession.

That doesn’t mean waking up at 7 am after hitting your alarm 4 times, daydreaming 80% of the day about what you wish you were doing, spending an hour with friends at lunch or the coffee shop instead of clients and prospects, going home at 5pm, and it certainly doesn’t mean hanging out in front of the TV eating Cheeto’s and surfing the internet for meaningless nonsense.

If that’s the price you’re paying, you’re getting everything out of life you’re asking for – nothing; failure at your job, in your personal life, and your health.  Life will pay you any price you pay it. 

So, if you want real success on your terms with your health, your happiness, your relationships, your business, your sales, and success as an entrepreneur then it’s time to start paying the price necessary.  Here’s your American Express Black Card plan for success (pardon the metaphor):

• Get up an hour earlier.  If 7 is your normal time, get up at 6
  
• No internet, no television
  
• Read something inspirational and uplifting for 15 minutes
  
• Get some form of exercise for 30 minutes 
  
• Review your goals – they’re written out, right?
  
• Eat a healthy breakfast, skip the pork fat
  
• Glance over the days schedule
  
• Get to your office before everyone if you have an office
  
• Schedule a coffee meeting or lunch meeting with any prospect or client – have a thank you game plan
  
• Spend 2 hours prospecting for business, a new hire, or whatever is the most pressing issue for you.  If you’re in sales it better be prospecting
  
• Take a ½ hour and hand write, no email, 5 thank you cards.  You’ll feel better, no one else is doing it, and whomever receives them will never forget your elegance and class
  
• Spend your day hustling with actions that drive you towards your goals.  There’s no such thing as the 4-hour workweek if you want success no matter an author tells you
  
• When everyone else has quit for the day, make one more call, send one more email, review your successes for the day and reread your goals.
  
• Go home and commit that time wholly to your loved ones

Life will pay you any price you ask of it, but you must be willing to hustle, to work your butt off, and commit to do whatever it takes to make it happen.  Don’t be like the entrepreneurs I’ve run into lately.  Get everything you want out of life.  You deserve it. 

There’s perhaps no greater skill that will get you ahead in life further than, listening.  This presumes you’re asking the right questions of course, but for arguments sake let say you are.

I call it, practice not art, because to be an effective listener you must practice every day.  Sadly it’s a skill most people fail miserably.  Most are so focused on what they have to say or contribute that they fail to understand and relate to whoever is talking.  It’s completely disrespectful and self centered.

Yet, effective listening does so much for you.  It builds instant trust with others, because they can tell you are genuinely interested.  You gain valuable insights, knowledge, skills, love, and respect.  If you’re in sales effective listening reveals all the critical information necessary to build relationships, handle stalls and objections, and make deals happen.  If you’re a parent or in a relationship, listening builds bridges of trust, rapport and love.

So how do you become a better listener?  Practice these 7 strategies with every conversation and you will drastically improve your skills and your future.

1. Give them your undivided attention.  Put down the iphone, blackberry, cell phone, stop emailing, texting, and tweeting and pay attention.
   
2. Look them in the eye
   
3. Listen to understand and empathize, so you can put things in your own words
   
4. Repeat back to them key points for clarification
   
5. If you have something to contribute or ask, write it down so you don’t forget.  But do not interrupt their train of thought
   
6. Take notes, nod, acknowledge them
   
7. When they’re done talking engage them with questions and your own insights
   

Follow these 7 strategies, and you’ll open up a world of respect, cause your success to happen easier, and build a more fulfilling future filled with rich and deep relationships and greater knowledge.

Ever hear the expression; “I’m a jack of all trades”?  I cringe whenever I hear someone bragging about knowing everything.  It’s obvious they’re not committed to excellence.

Being the jack of all trades is precisely the problem with the way most people attack their professions.  They feel as though they have to know everything about everything related to their job.  What ends up happening is that they become their own worst enemy.  They are good at lots of things but have mastered none, and therefore never come close to reaching their full earnings or happiness potential.  These people do 10,000 things 10 times.

On the other hand, the most highly successful people in any profession master the fundamentals.  They focus their attention on doing the dozen or so core fundamentals 10,000 times.  They master the core of their vocation that makes them exceed what would be considered the peak for most.

The best strategy for you is to go out and study the most successful leaders in your chosen field, and find out exactly what they are continually focusing on and mastering.  There’s usually between 10 and 20 core strategies that, when mastered, sky-rocket their results. 

The best part of is, their success is completely duplicatable.  Learn from their mistakes.  Learn their success strategies.  Cut down the learning curve.  Master what they continue focus on day-in and day-out. 

Michael Jordan said it best when he talked about mastering the fundamentals being the secret to his success.  Dribbling the ball on every square foot of the court, shooting tens of thousands of free throws, lay-ups, and jump shot from the exact spot every time.  Everything begins with the fundamentals and branches out from there.

I don’t purport to be an expert on many topics, but one area where I’ve absolutely mastered my life (by copying other successful people), is mastering my work life balance.

Do you plug in at home, or unplug?  For most, the line between work and personal life is completely obscured.  In fact, there is no line.  They simply blend together. 

The problem is when your boyfriend, girlfriend, husband, wife, etc. is texting and/or calling you all day long, you’re not fully engaged and committed to work.  You can’t give your all and function at peak performance levels.  It adds an entire layer of stress and anxiety to your already full plate.  The same holds true for personal time.  If you are constantly answering work calls, emails and texts, you’re destroying the time you need most to recharge your batteries.  Worse, you may be destroying valuable personal relationships.

So here’s a 10 point strategy to redraw the line and establish an effective work/life balance:

1. Define exactly what you want your professional and personal lives to look like – set your boundaries
   
2. Make it clear to everyone from your personal life, that when you are at work you are at work and not to be disturbed unless it’s an absolute emergency
   
3. Make it clear to everyone in your personal life that when you are at home, you will unplug unless it’s an absolute emergency
   
4. Hold a meeting with your key work colleagues and define the boundaries with them.  They will respect you more for your honesty.  And since we’re being honest, how many of those afterhours calls and emails could really wait until the next day anyway?
   
5. Also commit to everyone at work that you are there to work and you expect the same from them
   
6. If you have a specific commitment, make it clear in advance to those who need to know.
   
7. When you get home, shut off, or at a minimum, put your cell phone and computer in another room for all meals and connection time.  If I have to define connection time, then there’s a bigger issue present!
   
8. If you’re bound by a deadline or absolutely must engage a prospect or client afterhours, then schedule a block of time and separate you from everyone else.  You don’t want to disrupt them.
   
9. Create a game plan for your personal life of fun activities that you will commit too with loved ones.  Schedule them.
   
10. When you’re at work, schedule any personal activities for break or down times.

Image is everything, and how you present yourself paints that picture.  The best part is you can be your own Picasso. 

I don’t simply mean the clothes you wear.  It’s the whole package that makes up your image:  your professional attire, your business packaging, your social media contributions, and your reputation.  If any of these are out of place or incongruent, you image is in need of a makeover.

Here are 8 steps to creating a successful image:

1. Wear professional attire appropriate to career one level up, i.e., dress for the job you want.  You’ll perform better, be perceived better, and flat out feel better about yourself.
   
2. When you’re not working, still dress better than the norm.  You never know who you’ll meet.
   
3. Polish your shoes regularly. It speaks volumes about you.
   
4. Update your business packaging to reflect and benefit who your real customers are.  Your website, brochures, business cards (if you still use them), and your advertising must deliver a cohesive message that focuses on what’s in it for your customers – not how wonderful you are.
   
5. All your social media accounts need to be linked
   
6. Your LinkedIn profile and photo, should match that of your company website, personal website (if applicable), blog, facebook fan page, and twitter account.  When there’s incongruence, people sense it right away and lose confidence.
   
7. Deliver value messages to your target audience.  Stop spamming everyone with buy now offers.
   
8. Clean up your personal accounts.  If you insist on showing drunken, or inappropriate photo’s and posts, then set your privacy filters with restricted access.  But then again, how professional are you if the message you’re sending your network in private is not G-rated?  That will ultimately transfer to your work life and negatively affect you.  Clean it up.
   

These steps may seem simple, but take a look around.  You’ll find incongruence everywhere you look.  Use every advantage you have.  Image is everything, and you control yours.  What your customer sees, your family and friends and your colleagues is a direct reflection of your level of success.  Control your image and you start taking control of your destiny.

Do you have a weekly sales kick off meeting? 

I don't mean an elaborate over-the-top production, but rather a structured uplifting meeting that focuses on your teams goals for the week and celebrates victories from the past week?

It doesn't matter if you’re working for yourself or your sales team numbers in the hundreds or thousands.  Every team is broken down into divisions, so you can easily manage the process.

It's one thing to set goals for the year, quarter and ultimately the month as company.  It's an entirely different animal altogether to drill down even further and breakdown by the weeks and days.  Anyone can check in once a month and either praise or punish performance, but real leaders, real sales superstars need constant reinforcement and feedback.

They need to feel apart of something bigger than themselves. They need recognition on a regular basis, and the really competitive ones need effective coaching when they're not firing on all cylinders. 

Those not meeting expectations need consistent coaching and feedback, and it’s better to address specifics immediately rather than once a month.  And for these team members not performing, being apart of an upbeat environment surrounded by those who are winning, may be all the advantage they need.

Here are the 4 essential steps to structure a simple, yet effective weekly kick-off meeting:

1.      Schedule the start and stop time for every Monday morning
2.      Keep the meetings short, less than 20 minutes
3.      Have a set agenda (my recommendation):
         a.       Set the tone - play upbeat & inspirational music
         b.      Stretch & get your team movingReview & celebrate last week's successes
         c.       Share successful strategies
         d.      Give rewards if applicable
         e.       Go over this week's expectations
         f.       Congratulate & thank everyone - even the under performers
4.      When the meeting is over email all team members a follow up & thank them again

If your team is spread out throughout the globe you can still meet in smaller groups or via web conference. Technology today takes away that excuse.

Start your Mondays off on the right foot.  Set the positive success mood for your sales team and company for the week and the future.  You will be rewarded with greater sales, a tighter cohesive team, more loyal employees, happier clients and lest we all forget, bigger bottom line profits.