Crucial Conversations - Life is a Conversation

Lets start this blog out with a riddle.

Water is to fish, as air is to birds, as _____ are to people.

If you hadn't guessed it the ____ is words. My father would share this riddle and meaning with me several times as he mentored me in my first business. The explanation is that fish use water to manipulate their direction, a bird uses air to soar and people use words to determine and make their success in life. Life as it were is a conversation. He would then follow up with in business, 15% of sales is product knowledge, 85% is people knowledge.

Given how critical conversation is to our success I thought I would touch on something that has been termed crucial conversations.

When was the last time you had a crucial conversation? You know, the kind of conversation where you feel a knot in your stomach before the conversation starts. Conflict for many people is very difficult to deal with, and I have seen all kinds of reactions to a crucial conversation. Some people shut down, stop talking and just want it to end. They let this build up, and at some point just disengage from the relationship. Other people overreact, counting on the best defense in an offense strategy and hope to win the battle by attacking early.

If you have ever found yourself in a position where you know you need to have that important conversation with a business associate, friend of family member I highly recommend you consider reading a book called Crucial Conversations by a company called Vital Smarts. This book was recommended to me by a good friend from business school and it has provided some great advice on one of the most important aspects of our life, conversation.


While the book is a must read for any executive, I would like to point out that one of the most important things the book goes into is the art of listening. Covey does a great job of defining this as seeking first to understand then be understood. Listening is certainly more than just hearing what someone is saying. It is interpreting body language, posture, stance, tone to let you know what someone is saying before they even say it. I have heard it said that 80% of your conversation should be listening. If you would like to see how not to have a conversation at a dinner party, check out Brian Regan here in one of the funniest skits I have ever seen.

If any of you have some good material to help us improve our ability to communicate please feel to provide them as resources in the form of a comment.

Tired of Outsourcing? I Want To Do it All Myself

I was just watching a video about the 4-hour Workweek. You may have seen it. You know, the one where you outsource yourself. Find people in China, India, who knows, maybe even in Canada (eh!) to do your work for you.

Maybe I can start outsourcing all my responsibilities so I can sit at home and watch movies while my wife and kids are out camping with outsource ME? I could be way off base, but I actually enjoy working, interacting, and being a part of our franchisees success as well as the trials. I even enjoy writing the odd blog or two, so for now you can all rest assured that this blog was not outsourced.

What are you going to do about it?

How to help your business turn lemons into lemonade to survive & thrive through the bad economy:

I can’t help it; I have to say it. Plug your ears if you don’t want to hear: recession. *Sigh* the “R” word. Sure, this has always been one of those words that we’ve tried to dance around, fiddle and twist, but now there’s no denying it; we are in a recession. So what are you going to do about it? Try this tried and true optimistic mantra: “I refuse to participate in the recession.” Okay, well just saying it isn’t going to make it happen, but here’s some advice to move past the “R” word and back into the black.

1. Network. It’s not enough anymore to simply be passionate about your business. You need to make sure other people are excited about your business too! Networking is a natural way to grow your business. I have seen amazing things come from something as simple as a business breakfast. Utilize your Myspace, Friendster, Facebook, and Twitter accounts (don’t be afraid!). Whether it is making a reservation at a local restaurant, logging into the social networking sites, or participating in trade shows, you need to make personal connections with potential clients and you need to get your name out there.
2. Differentiate. If you look like every other business then the recession is going to hit you the same way it hits them (and that’s a hard hit). Know how and why your business is better than your competitors and be able to offer substantial and compelling proof. Don’t fall into the swing of the “best price” battle that happens with similarly operating companies—stand out and entice the customer by offering new stakes.
3. Broaden. Develop new channels of opportunities. Eventually, every stream of prospects is going to trickle down and run dry. If you are not developing new channels to obtain opportunities then you are setting yourself up for a rather disappointing surprise. Increase your business and protect yourself from any future financial blows by turning on more clientele-flowing faucets.
4. Walk. Shoe Leather Marketing becomes (for whatever reason) a very efficient way to promote your business during a recession. Whether this is due to summer break-ridden college students willing to work hard for commission or because you are reaching a great number of people with little effort, it doesn’t matter. The fact is that in the recession, door-to-door businesses thrive. So set up your summer sales program!

• Scott Abbott
• Five Star Painting CEO

Feel free to check out Five Star's website.

Franchising Isn't For Everyone

Here is why:

1. Investment. Be prepared to invest a lot of money in your Franchise system. This is critical, because if you hope to one day collect a franchise fee you had better have something worth paying for.
2. Experience. If you don’t know someone that has done franchising you need to find someone fast. Franchising is not just about royalties, and franchise fees, it is about creating value, creating a brand, and being a good partner. This is critical, and I can’t express enough how important this piece of the puzzle is. Unfortunately there are some systems out there who are only interested in the fees they collect. If you are in business for the long haul, and I would recommend that you should be, you need to have someone who understands the relationship between franchisee and franchisor and can help you execute on making that relationship come off the way it should.
3. Not everything should be franchised. I have often used, and heard the express “you can’t franchise mediocracy” and it is true. Before you start franchising your business be sure you have some worth franchising.
4. I hope you don’t need sleep. Like anything worth having, a franchise company is going to take a lot of work, mind time, dedication and difficult moments. Nothing was more exciting than adding our first franchisee to our system, and nothing was more difficult than losing our first franchisee.

Feel free to check out our website for more information.