You decide

“Today I am in control because I want to be. I have my fingers on the switch, but have lived a lifetime ignoring the control I have over my own world. Today is different.”
― A.S. King

Earlier I used to avoid making decisions, but I am improving myself and making decisions all the time now and taking action. Sure I find myself wondering ‘what if this will go wrong’, but that is the only way to learn. Remember during  your  childhood how  you  learnt cycling , the only way you learnt was by   making  the decision to go out on to the Road with your bicycle and trying  to  balance, by  doing  so  there  was  a  chance you may get it right for the first time, or  fall flat  straight, but  you  dint  give  up as that  was  only  way  to  learn  cycling as decision  was  yours .Making decisions and taking responsibility for them puts you ahead of so many people in the world who are allowing others to make the decisions for them ,which  I  feel  is  suicidal 

 

you  might  have  heard  about  a man  who was riding home on his donkey, while his boy walked beside them. A traveller came along and said, "Father, it is not right for you to ride while you make your boy walk. You have stronger limbs. So the father climbed off the donkey and let his son ride. Another traveller came along and said, "Boy, it is not right for you to ride while you make your father go on foot. You have younger legs."  

So they both mounted the donkey and road on a little way. A third traveller came along and said, "How stupid! Two fellows on one weak animal. Someone should take a stick and knock you off its back!" So they both climbed off, and all three went along on foot, the father and son left and right, and the donkey in the middle.  

A fourth traveller came along and said, "You are three strange companions. Isn't it enough if two of you were to go on foot? Wouldn't it be easier if one of you would ride?" So the father tied the donkey's front legs together, and the son tied its back legs together. Then they put a strong pole that was lying beside the road through its legs and carried the donkey home on their shoulders.  

 

It’s an Aesop fable, this story. The man, like all men, didn’t set out to carry the donkey. He was on his way to sell the donkey but he listened to people and  decided , and like all men who listen to people, he ended up carrying the donkey. The saddest thing about this man who carried the donkey is that he did it for a good reason. His heart, like most hearts, was in the right place. His ears weren’t. He listened to anyone who had something to say  and  decided  at  every step-  

Aesop meant to say that you can’t please everyone.  And by  doing  so  you  will end  up carrying  the donkey  .  I learnt that, as Aesop said, sometimes, there’s nothing that one can do that will seem right to people. That it’s wrong to even try to do something that will appease everybody because that will break you in the end, But the biggest thing I learnt is that It  is better to  listen but  act  as  per  your instinct  and  experience 

 

. yes  as one  of  the  wise  man said  

 

‘’ it is  better to  take advice from an expert or somebody who has experience with the situation. And be careful of taking advice from people who have no experience with the decision you are making’   finally YOU DECIDE’ 

 

 “Trust your instincts, and make judgements on what your heart tells you. The heart will not betray you.” If you allow others to make decisions for you instead of making your own decisions, then they are running your life. In effect, you're giving them control and you are living the life they think you should have. Who's life do you want to live? There  is vast difference  between  taking inputs  and  feed  back  from  others and  deciding  then simply acting or  reacting like  a  puppet  

 So …

… Practice making decisions. On  your  own .  Start small, but make decisions and take responsibility at every opportunity and change the things you are not happy with in your life.  You will get better and better at decision making and each decision will take you a step closer to your success.

Setting priorities in life

Spend time with those you love. One of these days you will say either, "I wish I had," or "I'm glad I did." Zig Ziglar

There are things which are important to us in our lives and at same time there are things which may be clearly worthless. Setting priorities in life is all about separating things which are important from things that do not hold much significance. Ability to set priorities is something that can be easily mastered provided you know where you want to head forward in life. But to start with, do we even know what is important to us and whether the time we invest is getting its real worth. This and many other questions need to be pondered upon as we dig deeper into this subject

I  remember reading  some  where  story  of a professor  who stood before  his class With some  items in front of  him. When the class began, he picked up a large empty Jar  and proceeded to fill it with rocks about two inches in diameter. He then asked the students if the jar was full. yes  They  all  agreed that it was full.
So the professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly and watched as the pebbles rolled into the open areas between the rocks. The professor then asked the students again if the jar was full. Again  everyone shouted that indeed  it  was  full

The professor picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. The sand filled the remaining open areas of the jar. “Now,” said the professor, “I want you to recognize that this jar signifies your life. The rocks are the truly important things, such as family, health and relationships. If all else was lost and only the rocks remained, your life would still be meaningful. The pebbles are the other things that matter in your life, such as work or school. The sand signifies the remaining “small stuff” like material possessions. If you put sand into the jar first, there is no room for the rocks or the pebbles. The same can be applied to your lives. If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff, you will never have room for the things that are truly important. and  by  the  time  you realise it  will  be  too  late!!

I  am  not advocating that  we  need  to ignore  small stuff   yes , we need material things also but  it depends  on  which  goes first inside  the  jar . Pay attention to the things in life that are critical to your happiness and well-being. Take time to get medical check-ups, play with your children, go for a run, meet  your  friend . There will always be time to go to work, clean the house, or fix the disposal. Take care of the rocks first – things that really matter other  things  will  follow . Set your priorities. The rest is just pebbles and sand.

We pass though different stages in our lives. Each stage with it brings new challenges that have the potential to make or break us. What we pick ultimately becomes part of our destiny. When it boils down to choices, priorities help us to clear the confusion and put things in right perspective. When we know what is important for us in our lives, our efforts and energy gets streamlined in a definite direction to help us achieve the impossible. Setting priorities in life is more of a skill which helps us remain focused and value things that matter the most.

Make the decision today to take back control of your life. Set right priorities, pre-plan your life and starting living on purpose

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customer experience

I read  some where that 75% of a sale is experience driven. The Other  day we  wanted  to  buy Washing  machine and   visited  a  showroom  let  us  call  it  X .Expressionless  Salesman took us through the  shop  ritually without answering  our  queries regarding  the  brand  displayed  ,more  over  he  lacked  enthusiasm  , icing  on  the  cake was   When we vocalized that we would prefer to see all  brands  before deciding the older guy behind the counter joked about confusing him and  his  staff . As a result of that experience we walked out of that showroom without purchasing . The second   showroom  call  it  as  Y  was attended by  experienced personal who give  his    full  attention ..He  explained with passion and  created positive experience  for  us . We were able to select the brand that we wanted and  lady behind the counter was attentive and courteous. We walked out buying the  brand  we  wanted and   believe  me I  felt  that some of the washing machine  brand had a better features  than the first showroom  we visited, or maybe it's because we didn't get to  see fully the  brands  in  showroom x or  maybe  the  attended in showroom Y  made  us  comfortable and  satisfied us    with  all  queries

The point of my article is not to rave about the showroomY, but rather to emphasis the importance of creating the experience for your buyers. By creating the experience you increase your sales rate by I  dare  to  say more  then 90%.

There is a vast difference between being a happy customer, and being a truly satisfied customer. If you want to increase your sales in a grassroots way, focus on improving the customer experience. Keep in mind the critical element of emotion, and its role in sales and marketing. Please your customers immensely, and they'll come back for more. And, they'll bring their friends. Your success in sales is directly determined by the way you are perceived,

Consider this analogy: if you flip on a red or blue spigot on a water cooler, you get either extremely hot, or extremely cold water. In either case, if you stick your hand in that stream of scalding or freezing liquid, you’ll usually react in a fairly significant way.Customers react in much the same way toward their experience with your business: only an excellent experience, or a terrible one, will generate a response. if the experience is tepid, the customer will go on their way without remark.

These tepid or lukewarm customer experiences are the ones we want to address. You may have previously felt that as long as the majority of your customers walked away happy, without a complaint, you were doing well. If you want to take full advantage of the customer you worked hard to find, making them happy just isn’t enough.

Experience driven marketing is about creating a customer experience that is more than just acceptable…So how do you provide a truly satisfying customer experience?

 Here are several aspects to consider :First and  foremost Be an expert on your product or service. You should know more than your most knowledgeable customer. Memorize product specifications and features, and be familiar with any complex vocabulary relating to your product or service..Second most  important Be  Enthusiastic and be reasonably excited about your product or service! You don’t have to do somersaults, but make sure to smile, make eye contact, shake hands where appropriate, and maintain an up-beat attitude.  Moreover this  helps in  Connecting  with the customer emotionally.  This  I  feel  is  very  important  ,do  you  think you  would  like  to hear from a sales person with  a dead  pan  expression ?. In fact,   expert  feels that emotion accounts for 85% of a buying decision  and .that "people base their decisions on a complicated mixture of emotion and reason," and that "emotionally satisfied customers contribute far more to the bottom line than rationally satisfied customers do."

More over with  my experience in  sales over the  years I will  share  with you  one  important lesson   that please  leave the  formal business  speak at  home ,BE friendly –Enjoy what you  do ,Have fun in helping the prospects to make the  right  decision  on the  product  you   are selling  thereby helping  them to EXPERIENCE

“Get closer than ever to your customers. So close, in fact, that you tell them what they need well before they realize it themselves.” – Steve Jobs