attitude
It's amazing how many people I meet in the course of my day-to-day life who do not embrace the basic idea that the single most important part of doing business is how they interact with current and prospective clients. Way too often, I'll run into someone - usually an employee, but sometimes (and shockingly) a manager or owner - who just doesn't have a clue or really doesn't seem to care. This happens so often, in fact, that I find my patience growing shorter with the laziness, incompetence or downright rudeness I encounter. It's gotten to the point where I'm
Over and over at seminars and trade shows, watershapers ask me three distinct but interrelated questions: "How do you get into the high-end market?" and "How do you deal with wealthy customers?" and "How do you handle those kinds of jobs?" The short answer to all of them is that I've set myself up for it and am prepared to tackle these projects and clients as they come. To me, it's as natural as breathing. The deeper answer is much more complicated, obviously, and has to do with my understanding that working with upper echelon clients means accommodating an entire range of issues that
During the five years I've been writing this column for WaterShapes, I've been asked by a number of people how I manage to find the time to write this column, make presentations at trade shows, teach at Genesis 3 schools and conduct my own design/consulting business. I get the distinct impression that these questions have much less to do with curiosity about the power of time management than with questions about why I'd even bother to extend my focus beyond my primary business of
Perception is reality: Regardless of whether that's right or wrong, you are judged by appearances. And there's no escaping those judgments because it's basic human nature. If your own appearances mean ugly-looking vehicles, sloppy-looking employees, shabby offices and job sites that look like disaster areas, you will inevitably be judged with that image by the clients who have hired you and by anyone else exposed to those appearances. Personally, I'd rather have them focus on the quality of my work rather than on superficialities such as these, but
Back in February's WaterShapes, I stepped a bit beyond the usual in discussing Harvests of Joy by Robert Mondavi, noting that I'd read the book based on a recommendation from fellow WaterShapes columnist Brian Van Bower. I also mentioned that the book was one of the most important I've come across in recent years. This time around, I'd like to review another of Brian's recommended books - one he suggested during a seminar I recently attended and which has also proved to be wonderfully useful and extremely influential: Samurai Selling: The Ancient Art of Service in Sales by Chuck Laughlin and Karen Sage with Marc Bockmon (St. Martin Press, 1993). Until I read this book, my sense of what Samurai were all about was based on no more than warrior movies and video games. What I learned instead is that Samurai based their lives entirely on a concept of service (of which warfare was only a small part). The authors use the philosophy of the Samurai to define
During a presentation to a recent conference for the swimming pool and spa industry, I tossed this nugget to the audience: "By a show of hands, how many of you in this room believe that most people think highly of our industry? Please be honest." It was a mixed group of more than 160 people representing manufacturers, distributors, manufacturer's representatives, retailers, service/maintenance firms and, in the majority, pool and spa builders. Even with all of these different segments of the industry in the room, not a single hand went up. As one who often
Watching the arc of a learning curve can be fascinating - particularly when you're not the one who's going through the process. This is why I take such pleasure in
Whenever I'd call my mother on the phone when I was a kid, she'd start the conversation by asking me, "Are you smiling?" Back then, I never gave her greeting too much thought because that's what young people do: They ignore their parents' wisdom until they realize at some point just how smart the old folks could be. As I've grown older and gained experience in business and life in general, it has occurred to me that my mom's question is important and even a bit profound. At first blush, this notion of smiling on the phone is sort of silly. After all, no one sees your face when you're on the phone, so who cares about the expression on your face? But the truth is, this question of whether or not you're smiling on the phone has everything to do with
Several years ago, at a time when I was still pretty wet behind the ears, a young, attractive woman invited me to join our local Chamber of Commerce and attend a meeting with her. "Sure," I said. "I'll give it a shot." I showed up for the event and met a bunch of banker types, and it seemed like everyone was a vice president of something or other. I was just starting to get comfortable when the woman who had invited me explained that it was customary for new members to stand up and tell everyone about his or her business. As luck would have it, I didn't go first. Another guy stood up before me and talked for a few minutes about his carpet-cleaning business - a trade he obviously found to be less than stimulating. He spoke in a monotone voice and made carpet cleaning sound like, well, carpet cleaning. Inspired by his lack of enthusiasm, I decided to
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