Terry Ogburn

Goals and Objectives

jannking — Mon, 21 Aug 2023 16:16:04 +0000

Goals and Objectives

Our attitude toward time management is a critical factor in all that we do and everything we accomplish especially in this economy. Everything we are today and everything we will become in the future will be determined by the way we think and the way we use our time.

The clearer we are about our Goals and Objectives, the more efficient and effective we will be in achieving them. Clarity accounts for more than 80 percent of success and happiness. Business Leaders with clear, written goals accomplish far more in a shorter period of time than leaders without them.

Our ability to set clear and accurate priorities on our time will help determine the quality of our business. To achieve great things, we must always be concentrating on the small number of activities that contribute the greatest value to our business.

Before we start something new, we must discontinue something old. We may gain control of our business only to the degree to which we stop doing things that are no longer as valuable or as important to us as other thing we could be doing.

Our ability to earn money is the most valuable asset we have. Keep in mind our earning ability is a depreciating asset, just like a car or a piece of equipment. We must continually maintain and upgrade the quality of our earning ability to keep ourselves at the same high level of productivity and performance.

Every minute we spend on planning saves ten minutes in execution. The purpose of strategic planning is for us to increase our return on the mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual capital we have invested in our business.

Our rewards will always be determined by our results. We will always be paid in direct proportion to what we do, how well we do it, and the difficulty in replacing us. The fastest way to get paid more for our products and services is for us to achieve a greater quality and quantity of results.

Time management enables us to control the sequence of events in our life. Your entire life today is the sum total result of the quality of our choices and decisions to this moment. If we are not happy with any part of our life, it is up to us to begin to make different choices and better decisions.

Try this exercise, analyze the way you spend a typical day. What are the things you need to do more of, sooner, in order to improve the quality and quantity of your output and results?

“Remember, Success is always Within Reach”

#entrepreneur #terry ogburn #Business #Business Development #Business Sales #business coach

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Responsibility

jannking — Mon, 14 Aug 2023 16:14:08 +0000

Responsibility

There are many things we may do to put our business onto the fast track. We can set clear and specific goals for each area of our business and then create strategic or action plans to accomplish them. In this way we plan our work and then work our plan.

We must accept 100% of the Responsibility for everything we are and everything we become in business, especially in this economy. Refuse to make excuses or to blame others for our actions. Here is a thought try putting your whole heart into everything you do for the next few weeks and measure the results.

The key to long term success is for us to dedicate ourselves to continuous and never ending improvement. If we become one tenth of one percent more productive each day, that amounts to one half of one percent more productive each week. One half of one percent more productive each week amounts to two percent more productive each month and 24% more productive each year.

Twenty-four percent more productive each year, with compounding, amounts to doubling our overall productivity and performance every 2.7 years. If we become 24% more productive each year, with compounding, times 10 years, we will be 1004% more productive over the next decade. That is an increase of ten times over ten years.

This is called the Law of Accumulation, or the Principle of Incremental Improvement. It is the primary reason for all great success stories. By the yard, it’s hard. But inch by inch, anything’s a cinch!

Make the decision, right now, to become a 1000% person. Commit yourself to continuous personal and professional development. Read, listen to audio programs and take additional courses. This process will completely transform your life.

Here are some things you may do to put these ideas into action right a way.

Start with an action plan to become a little bit better every single day. Learn and apply one new idea each day to help you to become more productive and effective at your business. If we learn too carry out every assignment to the very best of our ability, we will earn more as a result. The incremental effect will totally amaze you.

Then be patient. Do not expect overnight success or instant results. Become a little bit better each day and watch what happens to our future.

“Remember, Success is always Within Reach”

#terry ogburn #entrepreneur #Business #Business Development #Business Sales #business coach #business coaching

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Ability to Listen

jannking — Mon, 07 Aug 2023 16:09:56 +0000

Ability to Listen

It is a simple fact, the most successful business leaders in the world today are excellent listeners and communicators. Our Ability to Listen and communicate with others will account for our success in both our business and personal life.

All the top salespeople and if we are in business we are salespeople, ask good questions and listen very carefully to the answers. One of the most important skills of listening is simply to pause before replying. When the client finishes talking, rather than jumping in with the first thing that we may think of, take a few seconds to pause quietly and wait.

Excellent listeners are masters of the pause. They are comfortable with silences. When the other person finishes speaking, they take a breath, relax and smile before saying anything. They know that the pause is a key part of good communications.

Pausing before we speak has three specific benefits. The first is that we avoid the risk of interrupting the client if they just stopped to gather their thoughts. Remember, our primary job in the conversation is to build and maintain a high level of trust, and listening builds trust. When we pause for a few seconds, we often find the client will continue speaking. He will give us more information and further opportunity to listen, enabling us to gather more of the information we may need to solve the client’s problem.

The second benefit of pausing is that our silence tells the client that we are giving careful consideration to what they have just said. By carefully considering the client’s words, we are paying them a compliment. We are simply saying that we consider what they have said to be important and worthy of quiet reflection. We make the client feel more valuable with our silence. We raise their self-esteem and make them feel better about themselves.

The third and most important benefit of pausing will be that we will actually hear and understand the client better if we give their words a few seconds to soak into our mind. The more time we take to reflect upon what has just been said, the more conscious we will be of their real meaning. We will be more alert to how their words may connect with other things we know about the client in relation to our product or service.

When we pause, not only do we become a more thoughtful person, but we convey this to our client. By extension, we become a more valuable person to do business with. And we achieve this by simply pausing for a few seconds before we reply after our client has spoken. Pausing allows us to read between the lines and also shows the client that we really value what they have said.

“Remember, Success is always Within Reach”

#terry ogburn #entrepreneur #Business #Business Development #Business Sales #business coach #business coaching

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Significance of Evaluating

jannking — Mon, 31 Jul 2023 17:31:45 +0000

Significance of Evaluating

The Significance of Evaluating any task or activity is how we will determine what our next task or activity should be. The mark of the superior thinker is their ability to accurately predict the consequences of doing or not doing a particular task or activity. The consequences of any task or activity are the key determinants of how important the task or activity really is to us and our business.

Harvard University’s Doctor Edward Banfield concluded after more than 50 years of research, that having a long time perspective is the most accurate single predictor of upward social and economic mobility in business and especially in today’s economy.

Our attitude towards time has an enormous impact on our behavior and choices. Business leaders who take the long view of their businesses always seem to make much better decisions about their time and activities than business people who give very little thought to the future.

Successful CEO’s and Business Leaders have a clear picture of the future. They think five even ten years out into the future. They analyze their choices and behaviors in the present to make sure that they are consistent with the long term future that they desire. Having a clear idea of what is really important to us in the long term makes it much easier for us to make better decisions about our priorities in the short term.

Something that is important has long term consequences. Something that is unimportant has few or no long term consequences. Before starting on anything, we should always ask ourselves, “What are the consequences of doing or not doing this task or activity?”

The clearer we are about our future intentions, the greater influence that clarity will have on what we do in the moment. With a clear long term vision, we are much more capable of evaluating an activity or task in the present and to assure that it is consistent with where we truly want to end up with in the future.

If there is a task or activity with a large positive consequences, make it a top priority and get started on it immediately. If there is something that may have large negative consequences if it is not done quickly and well, that becomes a top priority as well.

Motivation requires motive. The greater the positive impact that an action or behavior of ours may have on our life, once we define it clearly, the more motivated we will be to overcome procrastination and get it done quickly.

Thinking continually about the consequences of our choices, decisions and behaviors is one of the very best ways for us to determine our true priorities in both our work and personal lives.

“Remember, Success is always Within Reach”

#terry ogburn #entrepreneur #Business #Business Development #Business Sales #business coach #business coaching

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War and Business

jannking — Mon, 24 Jul 2023 17:29:45 +0000

War and Business

There are many similarities between War and Business and in both cases the victor is the one who uses Superior Strategy against their competition.

There are three military strategies we should apply to our business every single day. The first idea from the military is called the Maneuver. In military terms a maneuver means that we should be clear about the goal, but be flexible about the process of achieving it.

The key to quality performance is for us to accept feedback and self correct. Peak performers are those who can take information from their environment and even if the information is contrary to all of their planning, they will accept the information, modify their plans, and continue moving forward. They are always open for new ideas and insights.

The second military strategy we may use is the gathering of Intelligence. Simply put “Get the all facts!” The most important thing in business decision making is for us to get accurate information. Facts do not lie. It is important that we get the real facts, not the assumed facts or the apparent facts or the obvious facts, or the hoped for facts, but the real, provable facts.

The key job of the business leader is decision making. The quality of the decisions that we make will be in direct proportion to the amount of time that we take to gather timely and accurate information. The very best thing that we can do, if we have insufficient information, is to delay making a decision at all.

The third military strategy applied to strategic planning is the Economy of Force. Economy of force means that we expend only the resources necessary to achieve the objective and not anything more. It also means that we commit sufficient resources to achieve the objective once we have decided upon it.

Since our own personal energy is all we really have to invest over the course of our lifetime, the military strategy of economy says that we should be very selfish when deciding how we are going to use ourselves. Keep asking, “How important is this?” and more important, “How important is this to me?”

Here are a couple of ideas that we may apply immediately to be more strategic in our business. First and foremost, remain flexible when we are working towards our goals. In times of rapid change, all of our best ideas may be contradicted by new information. Be willing to try different things. Be open to new inputs and ideas.

Then, get the facts! The more and better information we can acquire before we make a decision, the better our decision will be. The very best leaders spend a good amount of time getting the real, provable facts before they take action.

“Remember, Success is always Within Reach”

#terry ogburn #entrepreneur #Business #Business Development #Business Sales #business coach #business coaching

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Making a Sale

jannking — Mon, 17 Jul 2023 17:27:23 +0000

Making a Sale

Have you ever heard “Nothing happens until something has sold.” Our actual ability to sell our product or service to our prospect will determine our profit or loss, success or failure, in business. The sales process, to be effective, must be planned and organized in detail from start to finish. Every word and action must be scripted, rehearsed and memorized. Nothing should be left to chance.

Making a Sale is like cooking with a recipe. We must use the correct ingredients and blend them in the proper quantity with the right timing. All successful Business Leaders have developed a proven sales process that may be duplicated over and over. By using a proven sales system, we may accurately predict the quantity of our sales, the average size of our sales, and the profitability of our sales activities.

It is important to speak directly to our prospects either by telephone or in person who can and will buy and pay in a reasonable period of time. Start with your ideal customer profile in terms of age, occupation, income and education? Who are they in terms of problems, wants, needs, attitudes, and experiences regarding our product or service? If you could advertise for perfect customers, how would you describe him or her?

Our marketing and advertising should be aimed at telling our ideal prospect that our product or service will help them. The ideal prospect knows us, likes us, and respects our products or services and has an immediate need for what we sell.

Establishing rapport and trust with our customer is a must. The prospect will not listen to us or buy from us unless they like us and believes that we are honest, reliable and dependable. Be friendly, straightforward and believable. Be punctual, prepared and properly dressed. Ask questions and listen carefully to the answers. Make no attempt to sell until the prospect is relaxed and comfortable with you. Identify what the customer needs are so we may get them to buy. Ask carefully planned, structured questions so that we may fully understand our customer’s situation.

There is a direct relationship between asking questions and sales success. Plan your questions word for word in advance. Make no effort to sell or talk about your product or service until we have used Stephen R. Covey’s fifth habit, found in The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, “Seek first to understand, then to be understood.”

Repeat back the specific needs or concerns that our prospect has expressed. Position yourself as a trusted advisor, dedicated to helping them solve their problem or achieve their goals with our product or service. Position yourself as a teacher showing them how our product or service works to help them satisfy their needs. Match the prospects expressed needs and concerns to our product or service. Focus on helping rather than selling. Conclude your presentation with an explanation of how the product or service is delivered or used. And by all means invite questions.

“Remember, Success is always Within Reach”

#terry ogburn #entrepreneur #Business #Business Development #Business Sales #business coach #business coaching

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Eliminate Objections

jannking — Mon, 13 Apr 2020 17:24:37 +0000

Eliminate Objections

Objections are signposts that lead us step by step toward closing the sale. Objections indicate interest. The fact is if there are no objections, there is no interest. If there is no interest, there will be no sale.

One of the most powerful ways to Eliminate Objections is to present testimonial videos or letters from satisfied customers who shared the same objection at one time. A video or letter answering the customer’s major concern is an awesome way to demolish the objection forever.

Aside from using testimonials, another way to deal with objections is for us to take the objection and interpret it as a question. Treat the objection as a request for more information. Recognize that an objection is a natural customer response to any offering where there is some risk of purchasing. When the customer says, “It costs too much,” respond by saying. “That’s a good question. Why does it cost more than you were expecting to pay?” then go on to answer the question by showing them the value or benefit of your product or service.

Another way to deal with an objection is to treat the objection as if the customer was asking us for a reason to eliminate the objection. If the customer says, “I can’t afford it,” imagine that the customer is really saying, “Show me how I can justify spending this amount of money.”

Above all, make it easy to object. Most customers do not want to get into an argument or debate with us over our product or service. They will be reluctant to object for fear that we may become upset or adamant. For this reason we must make it easy for the customer to object by responding in a cheerful, friendly, constructive way when they do.

When we do get an objection, hear the objection out completely. Do not assume that we know what the customer is going to say. Often the customer will begin with an objection we may have heard before, but then they will add their own particular concern or problem at the end. Be patient and practice your listening skills. Pause before replying. Questions should be for clarification only.

Determine whether the customer’s response is an objection or a condition. An objection is something that we can answer. It is a problem for which there is a solution. It is an obstacle that may be removed on the way to making the sale. A condition, however, is a genuine reason for not going ahead. If all the decision makers are not present or the customer has no money, this is a condition that renders buying impossible.

Objections are a standard and predictable part of any sales conversation. Our job is to be patient, polite, and positive, asking good questions and listening intently to the answers. If we are courteous and persistent, eventually the customer will tell us why they might be hesitating and give us an opportunity to answer their question and close the sale.

“Remember, Success is always Within Reach”

#terry ogburn #entrepreneur #Business #Business Development #Business Sales #business coach #business coaching

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Financial Success

jannking — Mon, 13 Apr 2020 17:20:35 +0000

Financial Success

Perhaps the most powerful single factor in our Financial Success is our beliefs about money. Whatever we believe, with feeling, becomes our reality.

Whatever we intensely believe will become our reality. We have a tendency to block out any information coming in to us that is inconsistent with our reality. What I have discovered is that successful people absolutely believe that they have the ability to succeed. They will not entertain, think about, or talk about the possibilities that they will fail. They will not even consider the possibility of failure.

We will always act in a matter consistent with our beliefs. The most important belief system we may build is a prosperity consciousness where we absolutely believe that we are going achieve our financial goals. I call this positive knowing versus positive thinking. Positive thinking may sometimes be wishing or hoping. But positive knowing is when we absolutely know that no matter what, we will be successful.

Another principle related to our beliefs is willpower. We know that willpower is essential to any success. Willpower is based on self confidence, conviction and faith. It is based on our belief in our ability to triumph over all obstacles. We may develop willpower by persistence and working on our goals. Willpower may be developed by reading the biographies of successful people, by listening to audio programs, and reading books about people who have achieved success. The more information we take into our mind consistent with success, the more likely it is that we will develop the willpower to push us through the obstacles and difficulties we will experience.

Success is rare. Only one person in one hundred becomes wealthy in the course of a lifetime. Only five percent achieve financial independence. That means that the odds against us are 19-to-1. The only way that we are going to achieve our financial goals is if we get really serious. Remember, everything counts “we have to be in it to win it.”

Self-mastery, self-control, self-discipline are essential for anyone who wants to achieve great success. Control over our thoughts is the hardest exercise in self-mastery that we will ever engage in. Try this exercise, see if you can talk and think about only what you desire and not talk or think about anything that you do not want for 24 hours. Then I think you will see what you are really made of. It is a hard thing to do but with practice, we can reach the point where we are thinking about our goals and desires most of the time. Then, watch your whole life will change for the better.

Start today by continually repeating the words, pictures and thoughts consistent with your dreams and goals. Whatever you repeat often enough, over and over, becomes a new belief. Then set a goal for yourself to think and talk only about the things that you want for the next 24 hours. Keep your mind on what you want and off of what you do not want for 24 hours, you will begin to change your entire future.

“Remember, Success is always Within Reach”

#terry ogburn #entrepreneur #Business #Business Development #Business Sales #business coach #business coaching

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Profitable Solutions

jannking — Mon, 13 Apr 2020 17:18:29 +0000

Profitable Solutions

The art of entrepreneurship is finding Profitable Solutions to problems. Every successful entrepreneur or business leader has been able to identify a problem and come up with a solution to that problem before someone else did. Here are some of the basics for entrepreneurial success.

Consumer needs and wants are unlimited. Therefore, our opportunities for entrepreneurship and financial success are just as unlimited. The only constraint on the business opportunities available to us are the limits we place on our own imagination.

Wherever there is a widespread and unsolved customer problem, there is an opportunity for us to start and build a successful business.

I can remember a time, before photocopiers, the only way to make multiple copies of a letter was with carbon paper placed between sheets of stationary. A single mistake would require my administrative assistant to go through and erase the mistakes on every single copy. This was enormously clumsy and time consuming.

A secretary working for company in Minneapolis began mixing flour with nail varnish in order to white out her mistakes that she was making in her typing. Soon, people in other departments began asking for it. The demand became so great that she quit her job and began working full-time manufacturing what she called “Liquid Paper.” A few years later, the Gillette Corporation came along and bought her out for $47 million cash.

There are problems to solve everywhere. Our job is to find one of these problems and solve it better than it has ever been solved in the past. Find a problem that everyone has and see if you can come up with a solution for it. Find a way to supply a product or service better, cheaper, faster, or easier. Use your imagination.

The key to success in any business is to focus on the customer. Become obsessed and fixated on their wants, needs, and desires. Think of the customer all the time. What is our customer is willing to pay for? Think about our customer’s problems. See ourselves as if we were working for our customer.

Once we have come up with a problem or idea, resolve to invest our time, talent, and energy instead of our money to get started. Most great personal fortunes in the United States were started with an idea and with the sale of personal services.

Most great fortunes were started by people with no money, resources, or backing. They were started by individuals who came up with an idea and who then put their whole heart into producing a product or service that someone else would buy.

“Remember, Success is always Within Reach”

#terry ogburn #entrepreneur #Business #Business Development #Business Sales #business coach #business coaching

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Negotiations

jannking — Mon, 13 Apr 2020 17:16:35 +0000

Negotiations

Everything is timing in Negotiations. A negotiation may be made or unmade by the time it takes place. There is a “too soon” and a “too late” in every situation. Whenever possible, we must plan strategically and use the timing of the negotiation to our advantage. There is a better time to buy as well as a better time to sell in almost every case. And when our timing is right, we will always get a better deal. The more urgent the need, the less effective the negotiator will be either when buying or selling.

If we are in a hurry to close a deal, our ability to negotiate well on our own behalf diminishes dramatically. If the other person is eager to make the deal, they are functioning under a disadvantage that we may use to our advantage. For example, every business should have sales targets for each month, quarter, and for the year. Therefore when we are buying, we will almost always get the best deal if we wait until the end of the month when the pressure is on for the business to hit their targets.

The individual who allows themselves, to be rushed will usually get the worst end of the bargain. Rushing or using time pressure is a common tactic in negotiation, and we must be alert to other people trying to use this tactic on us. People will often tell us that we have to make up your mind quickly or it will be too late. Whenever we hear this, we should take a deep breath and patiently ask questions to find out just how urgent the situation really is. If someone insists that they need an immediate decision, we may reply by saying, “If you must have an answer right now, then the answer is no. But if I may take some time to think about it, the answer may be different.”

You resolve 80 percent of the vital issues of any negotiation in the last 20 percent of the time allocated for the negotiation. Probably because of the prevalence of Parkinson’s Law, which says, “Work expands to fill the time allotted for it,” most of the key issues in a negotiation get jammed into the final phase of the discussions. Up to this part of the negotiation, there seems to be a natural human tendency to procrastinate on the resolution of the most important issues. What this means for us is that we must be patient in a negotiation. We must be prepared for the key issues to be resolved at the last minute. And sometimes we need to walk away.

With regard to timing, whenever possible, we should delay making an important decision. At the very least, do not allow the other person to rush us into a decision by suggesting that if we do not act now, it will be too late. Whenever the item under negotiation involves a great deal of money, a long life of a product, or long duration of the decision, or it is the first time that we negotiated in this area, buy time for yourself. Take at least twenty-four hours, if not an entire weekend, to think over our decision before acting. Use time as a weapon to strengthen your position and to improve your ability to make better decisions.

“Remember, Success is always Within Reach”

#terry ogburn #entrepreneur #Business #Business Development #Business Sales #business coach #business coaching

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