According to a survey conducted by Arizona State University’s W.P. Carey School of Business, about half of all American households experience customer service-related problems. Over two-thirds of those customers were “very” or “extremely upset” about the company response when they complained. ... Views: 2226
A couple of weeks ago I shared with you “3 Positive Strategies to Deal with an Eeyore Vampire Boss.” I knew there were flocks of negative bosses everywhere, but evidently more than I realized.
Your overwhelming response prompted me to remember some of my Eeyore Vampire bosses. The one who was ... Views: 1837
“Overwhelm” is a constant theme in our coaching conversations lately. Business professionals have this sense of more effort and fewer positive results. There’s more to do than there is of me to do it.
How do you deal with overwhelm?
Here are 3 things you can do starting right now to move ... Views: 1822
I watched a sandpiper scurrying around the beach looking for something to eat. At least that’s what I thought he was doing. But he used most of his time and energy to chase away other birds. If another sandpiper approached his territory, he quickly ran over to chase him off. Then another bird ... Views: 1808
Shoppers will crowd the super centers and malls starting Thanksgiving evening in the U.S. In fact, over the next several weeks, retail stores will do 50% or more of their business for the year.
So where will you go? And who will you do business with?
Create a Work Positive impact with ... Views: 1708
Remember the saying, “Do what you love and love what you do and you’ll never work another day in your life?”
Sounds great, but how do you do that?
Here are 3 Ways to Positively Love Your Work:
Love What You Do for Work
The physical and mental activity of your work must reward you ... Views: 1652
Ever find yourself striving to Work Positive and your Eeyore Vampire boss is doing everything he can to prevent it?
You’re in good company. Negative bosses—Eeyore Vampires—swoop in with alarming consistency on our coaching clients despite their best efforts to Work Positive.
How do you ... Views: 1626
Watching NCAA March Madness Tournament college basketball games, I’ve learned again the supremacy of team versus a star-player-plus-four approach. Sure the “one and done” star freshman who’s merely passing through for a year on his way to the NBA might be thrilling to watch, but several such ... Views: 1594
Just because the U.S. government can afford a shutdown doesn't mean you can. You have a family to provide for, bills to pay, and hopefully a retirement to fund.
So despite all the news about the federal shutdown, what can you do to succeed in a shutdown?
Check out these 3 Positive Ways to ... Views: 1531
Everyone is watching their budgets and doing more with less. So how do you grow and increase profits most effectively?
Here are 3 Low Cost Tips to Positively Profit at Work.
Discover
Business is a discovery mission. You have multiple opportunities to discover more customers, niches, and ... Views: 1519
There may be only one day a year devoted to giving thanks, but expressing thanks year round and doing it well is one of the most profitable business strategies you can have.
Numerous studies reveal that when you thank your customers, they spend more money and tell their friends about the ... Views: 1502
Zig Ziglar describes well the essence of the fifth core practice, “Receive,” of a Work Positive lifestyle in which you increase sales with greater team productivity so you get out of the office earlier: “When you help others get what they want, you get everything you want,” he said.
What goes ... Views: 1493
It costs too much to do business with some people.
Who are your “some people?”
How much time do they steal from your enjoyable customers? How much energy do you give them? How much attention that can be more profitably invested in your ideal customers’ relationships?
You’re throwing ... Views: 1479
Our attention has been riveted by one person’s heinous actions and the consequences felt in Newtown, CT. Complete understanding of this tragedy defies our intellect. However, we do choose how to respond.
While I pray such disaster avoids your area, reality suggests some variation will ... Views: 1442
While studying Great Depression businesses created by successful entrepreneurs, I discovered five core practices that were daily habits for them. They asked themselves five questions daily that charted their course to success.
You become a successful business person, also, by asking yourself ... Views: 1413
The time changed for most of the U.S. last weekend. We “fell back.”
How does this change affect you? Pretty much like any change does.
Here are 3 Timely Strategies to Positive Change:
Acknowledge the Change
Like most change, the reversal back to Standard Time came without our ... Views: 1405
When my younger brother and I went trick-or-treating as kids at Halloween, he was scared of ghosts. When he was very young, he had eye surgery a couple of times. All of the OR people wore white. He associated their white dress and the white sheets of “the ghosts” with pain.
Like him, we ... Views: 1383
It’s challenging enough for most of us to do more with less at work as we’re all forced to do in this economy. But when Eeyore Vampires—negative people—invade, the dark shadows take over.
I refer to negative people as “Eeyore Vampires” because just like Winnie the Pooh’s friend, Eeyore, ... Views: 1380
I live in a part of the U.S. that received a once-a-decade snowfall last week. At least 12,000 flights were cancelled. Millions of people were home from work, rearranging untold numbers of meetings and assignments.
Such rapid change is commonplace in our world today. Snow is forecast. Other ... Views: 1348
When we connect with someone on LinkedIn, we welcome them with an invitation to read free chapters of one of our books. We hope just one idea will coach the reader closer to achieving business dreams.
One connection recently replied, “Thanks, but I don’t have time to sit down and read a ... Views: 1347
Most business professionals today that we coach are overwhelmed. They get to the end of the day with an ever expanding to-do list and fall exhausted into the evening commute. They return the next morning after reversing the commute and fall exhausted into their desk chair, thinking, “Here we go ... Views: 1339
College basketball’s annual trek up the Final Four mountain has started.
While the school names change from year to year, the qualities of championship caliber teams are consistent. What are they? And how can you learn from them to win championships at work?
Here are 3 Key Strategies to ... Views: 1334
Did you see Paul McCartney performing for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee? The world still loves the music of The Beatles fifty years later.
They’ve sold 600 million albums internationally with 20 songs going #1 on the U.S. Billboard charts.
So how did The Beatles achieve such amazing ... Views: 1329
When my wife was pregnant with our first child, she really wanted a certain kind of baby crib. It even had a name—the Jenny Lind crib.
Frankly, at that point in my life, I didn’t have enough money to buy it, but I really wanted to purchase it because it meant that much to my wife. I was ... Views: 1311
When we connect with someone on LinkedIn, we welcome them with an invitation to read free chapters of one of our books. We hope just one idea will coach the reader closer to achieving business dreams.
One connection recently replied, “Thanks, but I don’t have time to sit down and read a ... Views: 1283
I was lying flat on my back in the grassy outfield, trying to come around. I had drifted back from my third-base position for the Little League team White Sox into shallow left field to catch a fly ball. I missed the ball with my glove and instead caught it with my forehead.
Someone said, ... Views: 1283
Dr. Norman Vincent Peale talked about how a constantly bent bow will break. The bow needs pressure released to function well.
Dr. Stephen Covey extolled the seventh habit of sharpening the saw. If you saw without a break to sharpen, you work harder with less production.
In today’s ... Views: 1281
Announcements of office parties are met with either go-for-it’s or groans.
The go-for-it’s are the ones who enjoyed last year’s party or just look forward to any social experience.
The groans are the persons who remember last year’s with disdain or generally avoid socializing with their ... Views: 1271
Your customers aren’t sure what to expect from you right now.
Election year uncertainty casts a negative anxiety over doing business that political ads only exacerbate. Customers aren’t sure who cares, who to trust, and who is on their side.
How do you engage this adversity so as to ... Views: 1258
I was lying flat on my back in the grassy outfield, trying to come around. I had drifted back from my third-base position for the Little League team White Sox into shallow left field to catch a fly ball. I missed the ball with my glove and instead caught it with my forehead.
Someone said, ... Views: 1258
I watched a bit of the last Presidential debate. Up until the point where the debate morphed into one big interruption.
Interruptions intrude into political debates, marriage conversations (and other intimate activities if you have children at home), and your work flow.
How well do you ... Views: 1250
A friend of mine told me about his customer experience with an oil change. He arrived before the shop officially opened, simultaneously with another customer. She tried the door, found it open, and walked in. He followed.
The two chatted, waiting for the attendant. When he arrived from the ... Views: 1248
You’ve made your reservations. You’ve paid your deposits. Now it’s time to go on vacation.
Have you planned to have a great time?
Or, do you just hope it will happen and work avoids intruding on your experience?
Here are 3 Tips to Positively Enjoy Your Vacation More:
Demonstrate
In ... Views: 1236
While watching the London Olympics track events, I noticed that the announcers analyzed most of the shorter races by talking about the runner’s start. “She got off to a great start” or “He had a lot of ground to make up from a poor start.” While most of the focus is on who crosses the finish ... Views: 1232
10 Ways to Live Positive on a Dog’s Budget
Dr. Joey Faucette, Author, Coach, & Speaker
Gas prices are going up daily and food costs are at an all-time high. We have cut our “fun budgets” way down. So how will we enjoy spring in a fun, positive way?
Positive Coach, speaker, & author of ... Views: 1188
College basketball’s annual trek up the Final Four mountain began this week.
While the school names change from year to year, the qualities of championship caliber teams are consistent. What are they? And how can you learn from them to win championships at work?
Here are 3 Strategies to ... Views: 1184
The banks aren’t calling to loan you money to grow your business…or start one. So how will you expand in the most profitable manner?
Here are 3 Low Cost Tips to Positively Profit at Work.
Discover
Think of business as a discovery mission. Daily you have multiple opportunities to discover ... Views: 1180
“How do you know you’re doing what you’re supposed to be doing for work?” the college student asked me.
A middle-aged guy and I had the same discussion recently as he transitions careers.
The answer lies in your heart; what you “Believe” about your work, the third core practice of a Work ... Views: 1168
So who’s come into work bleary-eyed from the late-night Olympics?
Here’s what I’m discovering from these athletes that is creating some gold for my businesses…and can for yours, also.
Ignore Conventional Wisdom and Limits
After he didn’t win gold in his first race, the pundits spun ... Views: 1160
The San Francisco Giants won the World Series…again. That’s two of the last three seasons, a rare achievement.
What discoveries are there for you in their success as you seek to increase sales with greater productivity so you can leave the office earlier to do what you love with those you ... Views: 1158
You’re increasing your sales. Your team is more productive. You get out of the office earlier to do what you love with those you love…
…and yet there’s something missing. You struggle to keep all the business plates spinning simultaneously. It’s exhausting to be you some days. Your family and ... Views: 1146
The most common sentence I receive in coaching today is, “We’ve gone through a lot of changes and more are coming.”
Ironically, each client believes their situation is unique.
It’s all of us.
Some of us are excited by it. Others are terrified. Most are just trying to keep up.
So how ... Views: 1134
The snow finally melted to reveal a spring-like day. The calendar called my wife and I to activity—to act on our plans for the blueberry bushes to grow fruit.
Positively successful people understand that it’s a process to grow personally and professionally. They Work Positive with themselves ... Views: 1120
Daily someone sends something to us that promises to get our message out there and insure we are heard above the competition for our customers’ attention.
It reminds me of trying to quiet my two-year-old daughter’s department store tantrums by yelling. The only attention I received was louder ... Views: 1116
“Dr. Joey,” she asked. “Why is it to be gone on vacation for one week, I have to do two extra weeks of work? One before I leave, and the other when I get back?”
Have you ever wondered that?
Sure seems that way, doesn’t it?
Here are 3 Strategies to Avoid Vacation Anxiety:
Describe ... Views: 1110
U.S. citizens cast their vote for the next President, Vice-President, and a host of congressional leaders this week. Attention focuses on this once-every-four-years activity with a virtual obsession.
Yet, there is a more important vote you as a business professional cast and more often than ... Views: 1098
The truck in the next lane weaved toward me. I looked over. He was texting.
The car ahead of me at the now-green traffic light didn’t move. “She’s on Facebook on her phone,” my wife said.
The SUV zoomed ahead of me, and then slowed down. And again further down the interstate. Each time, ... Views: 1097
Recently, I delivered a keynote presentation about business growth, “Fence Posts to Trees,” to the top forty emerging leaders of a U.K.-based pharmaceutical company. I ate with one of their five senior VPs during the meal that preceded. He lives in Scotland, commutes to London weekly, and ... Views: 1095
Welcome to the 2012 Election—the Year of Negativity. Like the weather, everyone’s talking about it, yet no one is doing anything about it…
…yet it does have a negative effect on your business.
The advent of 24/7 information channels creates a constant media feeding frenzy of irrelevant, ... Views: 1093
What one word describes what these three scenarios share:
Many states have passed a “no texting while driving” law.
The gallery is quiet while a golfer putts.
You are overwhelmed at work.
So what’s your one word? Mine is…
…focus.
Texting diverts your attention from driving and you ... Views: 1088