Entrepreneur

Stop Saying “I’m Sorry”

Several years ago, I went to lunch with a colleague of mine whom I really respect, and hadn’t seen in some time. She is bright, articulate and has done very well in her financial career. She asked me what I had been up to the past few years, in my business and my family.

When I got done filling her in, she surprised me by saying, “Can I give you some feedback?” To be honest, I wasn’t sure I wanted to hear it, but I replied, “Sure.”

And she said, “Stop saying you’re sorry for everything. It really takes away from your story and more importantly your power. Since we’ve been sitting here, twice you’ve apologized, once for going on too long with a story, and second for what you considered a “rant”. You don’t need to do that.”

And since then, I’ve tried to be very conscious about not apologizing for things that don’t require an apology and other personal offenses such as, “I’m really sorry for bringing this up”, or “I know this is a really stupid question”, or “I hate to ask you, but..”

Now, there certainly are times when saying “I’m sorry” is warranted. That’s when we’ve hurt someone’s feelings, or missed an appointment, or after an argument and such, but apologizing for taking up too much space, or too much time, or too much airtime, is totally unnecessary.

And this unfortunate, silly little habit is primarily used by women. I noticed it today in my networking group. One of the members (a female) had a lot of great stuff going on with her business and she had shared longer than usual, but not at all an inappropriate amount of time. After she got done, she said, “Oh, I’m really sorry to have gone on so long, so sorry”.

And for me, that little apology totally negated all the really powerful things she had accomplished in the last two weeks of her business. It made her look small and I’m sure made her feel small by saying it.

Start noticing when and where you are saying “I’m sorry” and try to discern where the habit came from. How does it make you feel when you do it? The first step to changing this bad habit is to notice.

And men, I’m asking you to please kindly point out to all the women in your life, when you catch them apologizing for something that does not require an apology.

So women, PLEASE stop apologizing for taking up space, or air time or when you refuse requests you don’t want to do. Because when you do, what you’re really saying to the world is “I’m sorry for being me”.

Mandy works with talented, high energy self employed professionals and very small businesses who struggle to market their business effectively, stretch their capacity and play a bigger game. Mandy’s client’s receive proven, specific information on what they need to do to get more clients and grow their business. As a result, those who coach with Mandy increase their business, get more clients and make more money, faster and easier than they ever would have on their own. Sign up for her free Cd “7 Productivity Secrets of Successful Entrepreneurs” right down below.

Who Are You Trying to Impress?

by Mandy Schumaker Leave a Comment

Be you, be true, be strong.

Danielle LaPorte

The best conversations with my kids always happen after school, when they are having their afternoon snack and I’m preparing things for dinner. Yesterday was no different. I was asking my five year old son, Cade, about his day, and I said I had noticed he hadn’t mentioned his best friend (as of last week) Brendan much anymore and he said, “I can’t stand Brendan, he’s always trying to act like he knows everything and be somebody he isn’t.”

Hmmm, I thought. How interesting. So I said, “Can you give me an example of what he does?” So he preceded to tell me that Brendan (according to Cade) acts like he knows the answer to every problem, even when he doesn’t, that he tries to act older than he really is, and he tries to impress (yes, Cade’s word) the teacher and everyone else.

So I said, “Well, if Brendan isn’t your best friend anymore, who is?” And he said, “Andy”.

I asked, “Does Andy try to impress everyone?” and Cade said, “No, he acts like his real life”.

His “real life”. You gotta love it. Inauthentic behavior snagged at age five.

Of course, we’ve all tried to impress people in various situations in our life, but why do we do it? So we can feel bigger or better than others. It’s all ego stuff.

It’s probably not a big deal when we do it on a small scale and it is certainly not a big deal at age five. But, when we aren’t authentic and are trying to impress others in our relationships, work, businesses, etc its noticeable…even at age five. And people trust an authentic person more than someone who’s not.

Consider these questions:
-Where in your life are you trying to impress others?
-Where are you not being your authentic self?
-What do you have to force yourself to do, be or have?
-Where in your life can you help make others feel enough?

The biggest reason we try to impress others all comes down to not feeling like we’re enough. Like we’re not smart enough, rich enough, funny enough, happy enough, pretty enough, and good enough. One of my favorite lines from the movie, The Breakfast Club was, “spend a little more time trying to make something OF YOURSELF and spend a little less time trying to impress people.”

Or as my son, Cade puts it, “Act like your real life”.

What Problem Are You Solving?

by Mandy Schumaker Leave a Comment

I recently had the privilege of volunteering as a coach at Portland, Maine’s, first Startup Weekend. It was fun, interesting and eye-opening!

On the first evening of the event, over 40 people took to the stage to pitch their idea for a business. They had sixty seconds to do so and were supposed to answer these four questions:

Who am I (introduction)?
What problem am I solving?
How will I solve it?
Who else do I need on my team?

The most amazing thing happened! Only five out of the nearly 45 entrepreneurs who pitched their business, answered this question: What problem am I solving?

And here in lies the problem.

Most of the people said something like this, “My idea is to start an organic soda pop business.” Or, “I love to drive motorboats, so I thought it would be cool to start a rental boat business,” blah, blah, blah.

So many times when someone thinks they have a good idea for starting a business, they fail to answer the question, “what problem am I solving?”

And when pitching your business, whether it’s to get money, win a contest, attract an investor or resources, you MUST remember to answer this question and clearly define, what problem am I solving? Typically a pitch only allows you a set amount of time to lay out your business idea, so it’s crucial right up front to answer this question.

One of the best ways to address it is to tell a story about the problem. Now, of course you probably couldn’t tell a story in a sixty second pitch, but you certainly could tell one in a 3-10 minute pitch. And storytelling, by far, is the best way to capture people’s attention.

Also, you need to remember the problem you are solving stems from your perspective and experience. However, it’s absolutely critical that you do some market research to figure out is there really a problem? And of course, do enough people, besides you, believe it’s a problem?

Lastly, I’d like to point out, that even if you’re not pitching your business, or perhaps you already have an established business, the question, what problem am I solving, needs to continuously be in the forefront of your entrepreneurial mind every day! This is the kind of mindset that makes for a successful business!

Stop Hoping for Mind Readers

by Mandy Schumaker Leave a Comment

Every week night, my kid’s lunch boxes sit on the counter, waiting to be filled for the next day. And nine times out of ten, it’s me who fills them-a job that for some reason drives me crazier than it should.

My husband, who I will say, right up front, will do anything I ask him to do-note the operate words “ask him to do”.

When my husband comes home late from a meeting, or networking group, I make a point of doing all of the nightly chores, so he can just come home and relax. However, when I am out late and come home, I always find those darn lunch boxes right there on the counter, waiting for Mama to fill them.

But….

Have I ever asked him to make the lunches, or told him how I’ve felt about this? No, because for some reason, I think he should just “get it”. Read my mind, I guess. But for all the gifts and talents my husband has mind reading is not one of them.

I share this story, because I often see this scenario with many of my clients. There’s something they really want, or need in their business, but they don’t ask for it. They aren’t clear with others about what they want. This might be from employees, business partners, life partners, or it could be around asking for the order, or the opportunity to serve, or for a raise or promotion. Maybe it’s around getting a referral or a testimonial.

People aren’t mind readers and when you expect them to be, you are doing two things.

One, you are putting your future in the hands of mind readers (which there are very few in this world). And two, you relinquish your ability to control your own destiny.

Why don’t we ask for what we want? There’s a variety of reasons: fear of rejection, a belief that asking makes you selfish. Sometimes we don’t know how to ask, or perhaps we are indirect communicators, so it’s never clear on what we’re really asking for. And sometimes subconsciously-as in my case-we don’t think we should have to ask!

So if you are somebody who has trouble asking for what you want? Or feel you should “just be happy with what you have”, or afraid to ask because you might be seen as greedy or selfish, join me, Thursday, March 21^st 1-2pm EST for my fr*ee teleclass, “How to Ask For What You Want”. Click here for more information. And be sure to leave a comment below about the topic-I’d love to hear from you!

3 Signs It’s Time to Raise Your Rates

by Mandy Schumaker Leave a Comment

One of the most challenging things to do as an entrepreneur is to develop your pricing, particularly if you are in the service business. Because most of us struggle with valuing our products and services, and when starting out, we just want to get new clients, so our tendency is to establish pricing that is too low.

I spoke this week with a very talented events planner who shared with me a great story about how she learned her prices were way too low. She had been hired by a bride to help her plan her wedding. In the process, the bride shared a Google Doc with her not realizing that on the document were the bride’s notes pertaining to other wedding planners she had spoken with before she hired her current events planner.

The events planner told me, she could clearly see that her prices were “way lower than everyone else on the document”. The bride had also made other comments next to several of the other events planners she spoke with such as, “never called me back”, “didn’t like her attitude”, and next to the event planner she hired, she wrote, “loved her energy, really nice”.

The very talented (and very smart!) events planner immediately raised her prices!

So here’s three signs you need to raise your prices.

1-Raise them right now-because I guarantee they are either too low or on the low side. Every time I work with a new client-the first thing I do is raise their prices. It’s hard and they rarely want to do it-but one, it gives them renewed confidence and two, they ALWAYS get more clients-so without reading number two and three below-raise your prices!

2-You’re starting to resent doing the work for your current prices. Whether you know where you stack up with your competitor’s pricing or not, there comes a time in our businesses where we start feeling resentful that we’re not making enough money for our time. I have seen this over and over with my clients-it’s some kind of intuitive sense that it’s time to tweak their rates again.

3-Your practice or business is full. Whether it’s a program you offer, or you’re in a service-based business, when you’re full-it’s time to raise your rates.

Just to clarify, it probably isn’t a good idea to raise your prices on current customers and clients. I’m not saying don’t ever do this, but if you’ve been in business 3-5 years, you have probably tweaked and changed your rates frequently over the time you’ve been in business, and you don’t want to always pass along those price increases to the clients who’ve been with you from the beginning. At some point, you may have to give a price increase to your long-term customers, just not every time you raise your rates.

So, take a look at your pricing-does it make sense? What’s it based on? An hourly rate? Is there logic behind it? Do you feel good about it? Do you feel valued from it?

Remember, you can always test it along the way, before you make a wholesale change, but reviewing your pricing every 6-12 months is a very worthwhile, and lucrative exercise.

5 “Must’s” for Hiring the Right Salespeople

by Mandy Schumaker Leave a Comment

For most people, “sales” is a dirty word. And I’ve found in my experience, most small business owners and entrepreneurs don’t like to sell. They view it as doing something “to someone” rather than “for someone”.

So, they often go out and hire someone to do the dirty work for them…in other words, sell for them. However, often times things end up in a bigger mess than ever before.

Why is this?

To be honest, business owners don’t put the time into developing a job description or at least a one-sheet on expectations of the job. So no one is really clear on the expectations-the business owner knows what they expect-in their head, and the salesperson doesn’t have clue what’s expected. What’s their goal? Who should they be calling on? Who’s an ideal prospect for the business? How many calls should they make in a day? Can they work from home? What are the hours? Do they turn in call sheets? All of these questions (plus many more) need to be spelled out for salespeople to be successful.

Secondly, after the salesperson is hired, the business owner is SO grateful to have someone else doing the dirty work of sales, they just kind of let them go, giving their new salesperson lots of rope to do their job…and usually just enough to hang themselves!

And third, the business owner does very little training with the new salesperson. Usually because they are so anxious for the salesperson to start making sales, and they believe that since they weren’t successful at the sales role, the salesperson must know more than they do.

Add all these up and voila-you end up with a big mess!

Here are the 5 Must’s for Hiring the Right Salespeople:

1-Job Description Develop a solid job description for the position-before you even advertise for the job. This doesn’t have to be complicated. Think of it as creating an ideal salesperson profile for your company. What characteristics do they have? What’s their experience? What’s their weekly goal, monthly goal, yearly goal? How will you measure their performance? Can they work from home? Will they turn in call sheets? You must be very clear with YOURSELF on what you are looking for before you even start interviewing for the position.

2-Don’t hire the first person Too often, business owners are so ready to get someone in the position selling, they tend to hire the first or second person that comes along. That’s okay, if you’re sure the first or second person who applies is the best candidate, but I would bet rarely does that happen. Try and get a good selection of resumes for the position. Share your ideal salesperson profile (see #1 above) with friends, family, neighbors, associates to see who they might know or recommend. Have a first interview with at least (I said at least) four or five candidates. Then have the top two or three back again. Have them speak to others in your organization (if you have other team members or employees), or maybe you have a colleague in another business who’s opinion you respect who would be willing to interview the top two candidates. Get as much different perspectives on the candidates as you can.

3-Yes, call references I am always amazed at how many clients I speak with, who are unhappy with their sales hires, who never called a single reference. Not only should you call the references your candidates give you, but also call those that they DON’T give you. For example, if you notice on their resume, they worked at a particular organization that they didn’t give a reference from, try and find someone you may know, or that your colleagues may know who can connect you with someone from that particular company. LinkedIn is a great source for this kind of thing.

4-Train, train, train Make sure you have some kind of plan in place to train your new salesperson. Remember, nobody can sell your product or service like you can. It’s your baby, you created it and really, trust me, even though you think you can’t sell, no one else will be able to talk about it with the passion you can. So even if you think you can’t sell, you must instill all the product knowledge and passion into your new hire. Don’t just turn them loose on the road. And training by the way, means sharing the ideal salesperson profile with your new employee, because they must know what you expect of them! Including giving them some kind of goal(s)!

5-Follow up, offer support and manage them Notice I didn’t say “micro-manage” them. Most good salespeople do not like to be micro-managed, but they do want support, follow up and frequent feedback (both good and constructive) on how they are doing. Don’t just let them go without daily or twice a day check-ins. Communication is crucial in building a successful relationship with your new hire.

Yes, this all takes time, but the pay-off can be tremendous. You don’t want to have a lot of turnover with your salespeople-it’s not good for customer service, relationships or perceptions. Having the right person in your sales position can make a huge boost to your bottom line-if you put in the time and do it right!

Entrepreneur

Footer

Sign up for updates