True onboarding is the purposeful integration of new and potential “Participants” (see the definition of The Great Workplace) into the organization to maximize their contributions quickly and effectively and to create a true “community” (people who help the organization achieve its purposes) within the organization that is sustainable and vibrant. It reduces the time to productivity and takes advantage of the High Excitement new participants bring to the table.

I wanted to introduce you to the on-board process with an article written by Robert Schepens, President of Champion Staff. He does a great job helping you understand why it is important.

For your reading pleasure, he is Bob’s article: http://thegreatworkplace.com/598/onboarding-is-not-just-a-fancy-term/

Sincerely,

Ron Finklestein
330-990-0788
www.akris.net
ron@akris.net

My good friend Robert Schepens, is part Native American and he often reminds me of the Native American saying “Akita Mani Yo.” This saying means “Observe everything as you walk your path (in life).”

Observing everything as we walk our path is hard to do. It requires both internal (our reactions, feeling and emotions) and external (our environment, others and our ecology) awareness. It requires seeing things we often pay no attention to.

It requires us to understand our life and the meaning of our life as defined by the contrast between ourselves and others. This contrast is what is observed. In this contrast lie the secrets we miss, the lost loves, the beautiful flowers that we ignore, the pain we inadvertently inflicted and the joy others experience. This observing shows us the pains of others that we missed, the opportunities lost, that opportunities missed, the opportunities we gained. It shows the joys that passed us by.

In NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming) this is referred to as “Our perception is our reflection”. Stated another way, what we see and perceive is what we notice and what is reflected back to others.

If things are not what you want, shift your attention to notice the things you do want. What more customers? Shift your attention to being grateful for your existing customers. Want more love in your life, be a more loving person. Want more friends, be a better friend. Remember to Akita Mani Yo.

Ron Finklestein
Someone who is learning to be a better student.

ron@akris.net

330-990-0788

It is a statement of fact.

There are many assumptions made in that statement.

One of the primary assumptions is we belong to the human race. Because of our membership in this august society, we know how to build safe, effective, successful and lasting personal and business relationships that allow all parties involved to grow, prosper and get results.

I am not sure this is a valid assumption.

Why?

Many of us have not been taught know how to build rapport, connect with others, understand the best way to support others and know how to ask them to support us. This is evident by the divorce rate; as many as 50% of marriages end in a divorce (Source divorcerate.org.) What is interesting to me is that the divorce rate drops the older we get. For example the divorce rate is 38.8% for American males age 20-24 versus 6.5% for American males age 35-39. It would seem the old men get the more they understand relationship strategies.

The question is how can we shorten that learning curve?

In business, according to Grant Thornton, 97% of all business owners want to strengthen the customer relationship.

SCORE suggests that 64% of all small businesses fail because they do not know how nor do they understand the value of marketing. Marketing is nothing more than a process through which companies build strong customer relationships. I could go on but you get my drift.

To address this problem, I teamed up with Dr. Tony Alessandra, one of the world’s foremost relationships strategies experts, to create a web site that teaches you how to build safe, effective, successful and lasting personal and business relationships.

The web site is called People Smarts. In this site we address relationship strategy issues, presentations skills, collaborative selling skills, marketing, personal growth and development, how to treat people the way they want to be treated and a host of other important and powerful topics that, when applied, will help you create more effective relationships to get the results you want and need.

The site contains a full array of videos, eBooks, PDFs and MP3 to support you in your personal, sales, business and leadership development needs. We invite you to explore and try out this site.

In lesson one (which you have access) you will learn the different between the Golden Rule vs. Platinum Rule and experience the overview of all functions of relationship strategies. In addition, you will receive an introduction of the two dimensions of behavior. In this lesson, you will be presented with a very simple model that has been validated with hundreds of thousands of people. It is a powerful guide you can use to improve communication and morale, build better work groups, and develop better relationships with co-workers, supervisors, customers, vendors and others.

I invite you to give People Smarts a try. To learn more go to www.akris.net.

If you have questions please feel free to call Ron Finklestein at 330-990-0788 or email him at ron@akris.net.

This powerful tool can also be used in you place of business for all your employees. If you would like more details about this opportunity ask Ron and he will provide the details.

Ron Finklestein

www.peoplesmarts.ws

admin@peoplesmarts.ws

330-990-0788

The article contain my thoughts on how to deal with chaos, since our entire nation (and the world) seem to be living on the edge.

If you are interested in subscribing to my other articles, please go to www.businessgrowthexperience.com and optin. The articles published on www.ronfinklestein.com are distributed to my subscriber on  www.businessgrowthexperience.com automatically. If that does not interest you, you can use the rss feed on the menu bar at www.ronfinklestein.com and accomplish the same results.

Additionally, here is a related article about results that I felt would be of interest.

To your success,

Ron Finklestein
www.aboutbusinesssuccess.com
330-990-0788
ron@akris.net

Small business owners typically do not take the time to measure the results of the actions they take.

Many small business owners cannot document where their business comes from. Does the business come from referrals? Does your business come from cold calling? Does your business come from direct mail? Does your business come from the internet?

If you don’t know where your business is coming from, how do you know where to spend your time, energy and money?

Let’s say most of your business comes from cold calls over the phone. How would you measure the effectiveness of cold calling? Let’s say it takes 50 phone calls for you to make 10 appointments and for teach 10 appointments you make one sale. What this implies is that you are tracking the number phone calls you are making, you are tracking the number of meetings that you’re getting, and you are tracking the number of closes you are making.

If you are making your 50 phone calls and not getting your 10 appointments we know that there is a problem with your approach. If you’re making the 50 phone calls and you’re getting the 10 appointments but are not closing any sales, then we can get very clear on what you’re saying to the customer to close the sales.

WHAT YOU MEASURE GETS YOUR ATTENTION!

Here is the real reason measuring everything is important: when you know what works you can train someone else to it exactly the same way. You already put in the hard work to determine how to be successful. Because you have done this work you can now train somebody else to do that. This will allow you to free up time to move onto the next aspect of the business that requires your attention. If it does not work, you know where to begin to fix the problem.

Let’s look at another example: direct mail. When you are doing direct mail piece, industry standard suggest that a 2% return is the norm. What this means is if you sent out 100 pieces, 2 people will want to buy your product or want to learn more. If you are measuring your results and you find you are getting a 10% return, then you want to figure out what you did to achieve that return so you can create a measurable, repeatable and predictable process to get the same results over and over. The next time you do that direct mail piece you may change, for example, the headline. If your response rate goes down then you know the headline was working really well. If the response rate goes up than you keep using the new headline. But never change more than one thing at a time. If you do, you will not know what changes cause the response to change.

Let’s take a look at accounts payable. I once worked on an accounts payable process where each clerk was processing 75 invoices per day. After we documented what they were doing and redesign the process, productivity improved to 300 invoices per day per person. This freed up significant resources, improved cash flow and improved morale. They now had a performance benchmark that was used to determine pay increases. Management then took the money saved and used it in other areas of the business that required attention.

MEASUREMENT IS THE KEY!

As you can see, measuring results is very important. But let’s make one more distinction. And that distinction is the difference between results and accomplishments. I define results as actions that lead you forward to the goals that you have defined in your business. I define accomplishments as actions they keep you busy but don’t take it or to any specific goal. Without goals, it is easy to be accomplished and not achieve the desired results.

To your success,
Ron Finklestein
www.aboutbusinesssuccess.com
Ron@akris.net

I have a good friend who is a publisher for four social media ezines. These magazines have over 14m subscribers. This is a optin list from people who have interest in Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin and Google +. His regular at rate is for each $50K per page.

Because of our relationship, he has made me an offer of $10K for two pages. The problem is I do not need two pages. I would like to offer the second page to any interested parties. I would pay $5K for one page and some lucky person can have the other page for $5K.

If you are interested, send me an email and I will send you the link to the web site with the details.
Opportunity goes away 9/15/11.

Ron Finklestein
330-990-0788
ron@businessgrowthexperience.com

1. Many people want great relationships but they cannot tell me what that means. If you are married, what behaviors would you like to see your significant other perform that makes you realize you are in a great relationship. Start with the end in mind. Know what you want from the other person.
2. What do you have to do differently to get the desired results? Many times it is as simply as letting the other person know what you want. Don’t expect the other person to be a mind reader. If you want more time together, ask. If you more alone time, ask? If you want your children to get better grades, ask. If you want the garbage taken out ask.
3. If you ask and you don’t get the desired results, ask why. Maybe you want the garbage taken out and the other person agrees and then it doesn’t get done. Maybe you wanted it taken out now and the other person thought tomorrow would be ok. Be clear on what you want.
4. Ask yourself, “What will I give up to get the desired results?” If you want more time together and you are out with the boy four nights a week or you frequently work late, something has to change. How important is this to you?
5. What does the other person need from you to do what you want? A relationship is a two way street.   There is a give and take involved in every relationship. Maybe you need to stop taking the other person for granted.
6. How will you measure your results? Like any other activity, building great relationships takes time and energy. If you are not getting what you want, how do you know?

For example, my wife and I were talking one day and I was my usual “solve it and move on” frame of mind. She stopped me and said “can’t you just listen and not try to solve everything?” I thought about her response and the next time we had a discussion, I asked her if “I was just listening or helping solve a problem.”  She was delighted by my question and she told me what she wanted.  Now when we talk she will say something like “do you have time to help…” or “I need to think out loud, do you have time to listen…”

Step one: She told me what she wanted. She wanted me to listen. (Results she wanted.)

Step two:  I needed to be quiet and listen. (Implement a new behavior.)

Step three: Going forward I asked her what she wanted which made her feel heard.

Step Four: I had to give my need to be right and solve everything.

Step Five:  My wife needed to be heard and understood, I wanted to hear her and understand her.

Step Six: New behavior for her: She asked if I would listen or help. New behavior for me: I learned not to assume she wanted me to fix something.

This is a simple process. It does take some practice and a little risk in asking for what you want. Try it.

To Better Relationships,

Ron Finklestein
www.businessgrowthexperience.com

ron@akris.net

330-990-0788

“You are very good at what you do!”

“Yea, how do you know?”

“Do you have friends? Do you have a job? Do you have others that care about you? Do you care about others?”

“Yes.”

“Then you are doing something right!”

We tend to focus on what is not working.

We focus on what is going wrong.

We tend to focus on what others are doing to use.

We tend to focus on the “how” and not the “why.”

We forget we do things right every day. If we did not we would not be alive.

If you know what you want to do but lack confidence start paying attention to what you are doing right. Focus on things that you do that works.

It could as simple as finishing a report on time, appreciating others, or making friends. It could be you closed a new client. Enjoy the moment and know they are other things you are doing right.

Notice things that others are doing for you and thank them.

Notice the things you are doing for others and be grateful that you can help others.

We need to get back to what is important – the why.

I have a client that was having some trouble. He built a dream board and posted pictures of all the things he wanted for his family. Every morning he looks at the dream board so he is reminded why he is doing something.

Find your why. Live your why. Watch your confidence increase every waking moment.

To your success,

Ron Finklestein

330-990–0788

ron @ businessgrowthexperience.com

www.businessgrowthexperience.com

Being comfortable is also known as being complacent.

I am not unhappy in my work, no need to change.

I am not challenged but I make good money. No need to change.

Things could be better but they are not so bad I need to do something different.

I make too much money to change.

I am too old (too young) to change.

I could go on but you get the message.

Our competition is complacency. How do you motivate (maybe inspire is a better word) to change if they are not in enough pain.

How do you motivate someone to change if they have no goal or vision for their life.

Complacency is that place between heaven and hell. No pain, no progress, no risk, no happiness, no joy, no nothing.

Just existence.

Not a fun place to be is it. We have all be there. You are not alone. It may not be your fault but it is your responsibility

Dream of what could be. Dream of what is not. Feel what it would be like to experience your dreams. Think about your dreams. Share your dreams. Too hell with what others think. Be playful. Be joyful (even when there is nothing to be joyful for.)

Not everyone will like you. So what. If everyone likes you that is a big problem.

Not everyone will hate you. That is good. You can start to surround yourself with like minded people.

Life is only as good as you allow it to be!

To your success,

Ron Finklestein

330-990–0788

ron @ businessgrowthexperience.com

www.businessgrowthexperience.com