The Facts May Not Be The Whole Truth!

Many people falsely assume that when one gathers the facts, he always finds the truth. While many times that may turn out to be the case, there are many other times when facts don't lead someone automatically to the truth. Pete Townsend wrote, "The facts don't always reveal the truth, but the truth always reveals the facts." Although, at first, this may seem somewhat inconsistent, in far too many instances it is the case. Consider this when you make decisions/ judgments, and especially when you evaluate what you are being told by any sales representative, especially professional Real Estate agents/ salespersons/ Brokers, as well as financial advisers. It's not merely about telling the truth, but rather how you couch the facts!

1. Not all situations are automatically "black and white" matters. In many real life instances, there are often cases where there is far more "gray." Statistics, for example, are often manipulated to offer a certain desired set of facts, but those facts are often not the entire story. How a survey item for a poll, for example, often determines the results that might be gathered. For example, in today's world, most of us have been, at least somewhat, adversely impacted. Therefore, if the question asked, "Are you satisfied with the economy?," nearly everyone would answer no, and the number would show a large dissatisfied situation. However, if questions such as, "Do you agree with the President's approach towards the economy?," the numbers might show different results. But, if the question was, "Do you agree with the President's approach, the opposition party's approach, or neither?," we most probably would get an entirely different set of responses. It then, of course, depends on who is being asked, and how the data is being collected. Another example might be that it might be a fact that membership, for example, diminished during someone's tenure in office, but does that make the truth that it had to do with that person's leadership? Or was the situation inherited? As you can see, there are a number of variables involved.

2. On the other hand, when something is the truth, all the facts must align with that truth. Truth is based on legitimate facts, and the legitimate and honorable handling of those facts, as well as the ability to accurately interpret things. So many leaders fail to achieve their objectives because they simply see a set of facts, and those facts end up forming what they perceive as truth. Truth is composed of various and numerous facts, and without the training to interpret them, or the commitment to research the details, or the integrity to utilize those facts in a non- biased, non- prejudicial manner, many individuals in leadership mishandle facts to "prove" their version" of the truth. Honest and real truth cannot and does not have versions - it is simply the truth!

How many times have we heard people use a certain set of facts to justify or prove their point of view. Just because a particular set of facts might be interpreted in a certain manner, that does not make that the truth.

Why Budgets Are Important/ Essential, & The Process Is, & Should Be Treated, As A Serious One?

Almost all well-run businesses and organizations prepare budgets at least annually. Unfortunately, very often, the budget process becomes more of a formality, required process, or activity, than a useful document. While budgets should be part of a careful and detailed process and analysis of a businesses or organizations needs, and how to get there, it is much more common that the budget is merely a "bunch of numbers" that "have to be" prepared, than anything useful. "Let's just prepare it and get it passed" is an often stated opinion. "It doesn't really matter, because we'll just change it if we need to anyway," is repeated ad nauseum, making the entire process little more than a waste of time and energy. Why expend the time, monies and resources on preparing a budget, if you're not planning on using, and taking advantage of what it can do for you?
 
 Dictionary.com defines "budget" as an "estimate of expected income and expenses, and when used as a "verb (used with object)," as "to allot (money, time, etc.). However, the definition does not detail the important functions that a properly prepared budget can and will provide. Budgets should not be merely a bunch of meaningless numbers that have been thrown together to prepare the document. Only if a budget has been prepared utilizing "zero based budgeting" does a budget reach its full potential.

Who should use a budget? The answer - nearly everyone? Whether you are looking to your personal finances, etc, are considering the costs/ rewards of any venture (e.g. selling a home; investing in a particular investment, etc), or you are either a for, or not - for - profit organization, proper use of a well - prepared budget, will generally position you, etc, towards the best possible approaches, solutions, etc.
 
When either preparing or reviewing a budget, first carefully review the income (or revenue) side. How has each line item been calculated? How does each number compared with the actual for each of the last three years? What methods, techniques, or "revenue growers" are to be used in this upcoming cycle? It is important to recognize, when one prepares a budget, to be very conservative with revenue or income estimates and projections, and very aggressive in calculating expenses.

Expense items need to be reviewed very carefully, item by item. Commonly, businesses or organizations use the "previous budget plus" concept, which means it simply takes what was spent (or even worse, projected to be spent) in the previous budget cycle, and a specified percentage is simply added across the board to most expense items. When budgets are prepared this way, they are truly the waste of time and effort mentioned above. However, when each item is analyzed on a "needs" and "effectiveness" basis, one often realizes that monies are expended in many areas that do not provide the required result, while in other areas, more funds may need to be spent. One then also develops the philosophy of "thinking outside the box," and developing creative methods to more effectively spend funds, or "get more bang for the buck." One using this method develops an important document that guides decision making, as well as provides direction. A properly prepared budget should not be revised during its cycle, unless there is some sort of emergency or other form of extraordinary circumstance.

Budgets should always include at least one realistic reserve fund. The reserve fund may be exclusively for unanticipated maintenance and repairs, or for some other unanticipated need. When budgets do not include reserves, they almost invariably need to be tweaked and readjusted during the cycle, thus weakening the intended and important purpose of a properly prepared budget.
Anyone who reviews a budget should ask a lot of questions, and request a detailed budget, as opposed to merely a summary budget. Some of these include; 1) What items make up that line item, and how are they broken down? 2) What alternatives were considered in this area? 3) Have we evaluated alternatives regarding utilities and telephone, etc.? 4) Which program worked the most effectively and why? 5) How do we market, and why do we market the way we do?
The above are simply a sample of some worthwhile questions. The most important thing to do is always ask questions about anything that you do not find clear. Do not be embarrassed - chances are if you find something confusing, so will others.

Budgets can be the most important process used by a business or organization, or simply an exercise. Each of us owe it to anything we believe in, to explore all alternatives and possibilities. Many nay-sayers like to state that "It's only a small amount. It won't amount to anything- it's not large enough." Nothing could be further from the truth. Budgets are refined by making many small adjustments in multiple areas. You'd be amazed how much the total of all these adjustments add up to. Think of the adage, "You know how you eat an elephant - one bite at a time!"

5 Key Considerations To Close The Sale

Wouldn't it be great if a sales person, who was properly trained and motivated, would be able to not only give a great presentation, but could also effectively and consistently close the sale? The very essence of the word sales presupposes that something is sold, but unless the sales person consistently closes his presentation by asking for the sale and being prepared for the possible objections, the sales closing ratio is dramatically reduced. Zig Ziglar examined what presented the biggest challenges to selling and put it this way, "Every sale has five basic obstacles: no need, no money, no hurry, no desire, no trust." In my nearly thirty five years in sales training, marketing and sales related field, I have discovered that those obstacles can be overcome when the individual is properly trained and motivated.

1. If the obstacle is that the potential customer does not perceive that he has a need, it is a sales person's job to find, create and communicate the need. This requires effectively listening and asking relevant questions, in order to discover precisely what someone's hot button may be. A hot button is what motivates and excites that individual, and propels him to take action.

2. When we are told that there is no money, it may mean more than one thing. It may mean that someone actually does not have the money, or it may mean that you have not adequately demonstrated the need. When someone says they have no money, that is precisely the time to ask the individual if money were not a factor, would he then be willing to proceed. Great sales and marketers are great listeners, and develop meaningful rapports with potential customers or clients.

3. One of the most common reasons that sales are not closed is that many people prefer to procrastinate for as long as they can, and thus are not only in no hurry to make a decision or take an action, but focus on ways to delay doing so. Again, what differentiates the top sales person from the rest is his ability to motivate people to action, and demonstrate why taking action now is so important and relevant to that individual.

4. If a potential customer appears to have no desire, it often means that you have either not listened effectively, discovered that person's hot button, or effectively communicated your message in order to motivate him to take action.

5. People will not buy from people they don't trust. If you come off as trying to sell, especially if it appears that your main interest is in making a sale, the vast majority of people will not trust your motivations or integrity. Rightly or wrongly, sales people are not held in the highest esteem, and therefore, it is often wiser to think of yourself as a customer representative, or offering something of importance, than simply selling. Maintain your integrity at all times!

Understanding these obstacles, and also understanding the five steps needed to handle and overcome objections, combined with asking for the sale, results in the optimum results. Remember that each of us sells either a product, a service, or ourselves each and every day!

Price Is Always Important, But Rarely The Only Issue (Nor Even The Most Important)

Especially in challenging economic times, people seriously consider how much things cost and what the price is. When I was the Chief Operating Officer of a natural products manufacturer years ago, I remember that our price point was a serious consideration, in order to best position our products optimally in relation to others.

However, while pricing and costs are important factors, when it comes to conferences and conventions, a far more important factor is almost always perceived value. In my three decades of hotel negotiations, event planning, and conference and convention planning and operations, I have witnessed repeatedly, situations where organizations over-emphasized only the price that participants would pay. In doing so, they often neglected creating a program and agenda that would attract attendees. Sometimes even more importantly, these organizations did not sufficiently emphasize the attendee's conference experience, and when that attendee went "back home," rather than being the organization's best ambassador, he reported a less than stellar experience.

The almost laughable, if it were not so incredibly short-sighted, part of this is that the amount of "cost savings" that these organizers implemented, had little impact on attracting significantly more attendance. However, at the same time, this reduction created financial risk for the organization and an inability to provide a superior attendee experience.

Organizers must recognize that a small price decrease in the fee for attending a conference often has little real impact on attendance. If it works at all, it only works in local events, where there are few expenses incurred by attendees besides the registration fee. However, many conferences require travel and hotel costs, and those costs often "dwarf" the registration fees.

In addition, if an organization is going to lower its registration fee, by how much will they reduce it? How much is a significant enough reduction to encourage additional attendance? What will be the overall impact on what conference organizers can do, when revenues are reduced?

I have heard numerous conference and convention organizers state that the reduced revenues will be offset by increased attendance. However, what these organizers often under-estimate is the true cost to the conference per attendee. If it takes more attendees to generate the same revenue, and registration fees are reduced by, for example ten percent, how much will attendance have to go up to offset the drop in revenue combined by the true cost per attendee? In many cases, a ten percent registration fee reduction will require close to a twenty percent increase in attendance and registrations.

Unfortunately, like many things done by many organizations, their conferences are often run by well-meaning individuals, who are, nevertheless, less than professional conference and convention coordinators. Organizations must analyze both the short term and longer term ramifications of addressing solely the registration fee issue, without, at the same time, analyzing the perceived value aspect. It is essential that organizers fully understand all aspects involved, including, especially, understanding their niche or target market.

This same mindset must be utilized when one selects his real estate professional. Nearly everyone inquires about the commissions being charged, but is that really what should be the most important, or primary question? In real estate, the commission becomes part of the selling price, so if one professional is capable of making the procedure more stress - free, by pricing the home to sell (from the start, rather than promising often unreachable, pie-in-the-sky prices), holding the clients hands throughout the process, saving time (and thus costs, by getting the deal closed sooner, etc), shouldn't that be more important? After all, if an agent does not feel strongly enough about the value he brings to the process to explain, and negotiate his commission, how will negotiate best for you, when the process gets to that stage?

Think about value, rather than merely price! True - price matters, but it's only part of the bigger picture. As Paul Harvey famously says, "And now you know the rest of the story."  

Economic Data: How We Gather & Interpret Information, & The Results

Economic data and financial news might be the most analyzed and, at the same time, the least truly understood information in the news today. For example, was the fact that China's economy continued to grow good or bad news, and is its less than stellar performance positive or negative, and why? One analyst might report that China's continued growth was indicative that there was still growing worldwide demand, which should be good for the world's economies. At the same time, other analysts saw this growth as occurring as a result of the Chinese government pumping large infusions of monies into their economy, and at the same time, artificially keeping the value of the Chinese currency "cheaper" than it would be if it were permitted to be freely traded on world markets. Still another economic analyst stated that this growth is causing runaway inflation and an overheated economy, that the analyst then referred to as "The flip side of the American economic problems." As we later learned, some of the reported data may, or may not have been accurately reported or gathered, but isn't the real point, why, and how, we react to any sort of blip?

The economic analysts breathtakingly await the various weekly "reports," including the jobs reports (which should actually be referred to as the 1) Those submitting new preliminary unemployment applications; and 2) The official unemployment rate. Then, they argue about the numbers, which are invariably either better or worse than "expectations." Whose expectations, and why do we continue to refer to them if the actual numbers are almost either better or worse than anticipated? The official unemployment or joblessness rate is another curious number because it only includes those that are still actively searching for employment- that is, are presently collecting unemployment benefits. Therefore, this does not refer our count the under-employed, the consultants whose income have dwindled, commissioned salespersons incomes, or small business owners (who are ineligible for unemployment benefits). Many believe that the approximately r% official rate becomes closer to 10 or 11%, when these situations are also included.

The inflation rate, or the manner in which the Cost of Living rate are calculated is another controversial situation. If gas at the fuel pump, and home heating oil have risen dramatically, and airfares are significantly higher, and tolls and train fares have jumped, and food per ounce is significantly more money, am I the only one that wonders how the official inflation rate is stated as being very, very low, yet when oil prices dropped dramatically to current levels, our stock market is adversely affected, while nearly every consumer has benefited at the pump, and heating their homes. We argue about tax breaks, etc, but isn't a lower oil price, far more impactful than any tax change mentioned. Terms like seasonally adjusted, commonly used, essentials, non essentials, etc., further confuse the issue. Suffice it to say that I doubt there are too many people who believe any inflation number. Of course, for we conspiracy theorists, we might find it curious that the same government who has a vested interested in keeping the official numbers low (political, Social Security Indexing, government union contracts, etc), are also the ones that calculate this index.

One month we show improvement in housing starts or housing sold. Another month a drop. However, is this an increase or drop from what levels, and how long does a homeowner have to wait to have his home sold today versus a few years ago, and at what price point.

The point of this discussion is simply that we should all be cautious and beware when we see these financial and economic indexes and numbers. While they no doubt, may have some limited value, I question whether that value makes up for all the 'spin," confusion, and misinformation that we receive whenever any of this data is released.

The Difference Between Ego & Excellence

One of the least understood behaviors is what most of us refer to as being egotistical. While some individuals voice much bravado and appear to be applauding themselves and patting themselves on the back continuously, someone with a truly healthy self image does not find that type of self praise necessary. The reality is that if someone speaks about achievements in order to demonstrate experience and expertise, and they were real achievements, that is not bragging, but if someone exhibits false bravado and overstates his achievements, then it is simply self promoting. Walt Whitman stated, "If you have done it, it ain't bragging." When you seek, for example, a Real Estate professional, or personal financial representative, beware of self - serving comments made, and delve more deeply, to determine whether it is merely ego, or is it true excellence!

1. There is often a huge difference between mere experience and true expertise. Just because someone has had some experience, it does not mean he has learned sufficiently from it, for it to provide some advantage or expertise. I'm sure we have all met people who appear to be egotistical, whose behavior ends up being more based on insecurity and the need for attention, applause, gratitude, etc., than it is related to any type of superior knowledge or expertise. For example, in politics, when a politician points to his record, it can either be a case of bragging, or true excellence. Was he actually the cause of the positive results? Were there actually any positive results at all? Especially as it relates to politics and politicians, there is often a distinct line that gets blurred between true achievement and excellence, versus falsely taking credit or distorting one's achievements. This is caused partly by convincing one's self that they were actually excellent and actually believing it, a desire to win and election, political spin, ego or false ego, or being delusional. Similarly, in any service industry, who you select, must be more based on their attitude, intention, etc, and less on rhetoric, etc.

2. I have been involved in the event industry for well over thirty years. During that time, I have come across quite a number of people who thought of themselves as being event planners or event experts, while the reality was that they, at most, chaired a program, event or a committee, and perhaps got involved in certain aspects of the event planning process. Therefore, when it comes to event planners, while I can state that I will guarantee cost savings and superior event planning and superb results, that statement is not bragging but rather the facts based on my years of experience, my gained expertise and knowledge, and the results I have consistently achieved. On the other hand, it is bragging when someone who perhaps was involved in previous events but does not possess the prerequisites to be considered expert, claims to be an event expert.
Bragging is only offensive when it is untrue. Otherwise, it may be merely a recitation of the facts. In either case, however, it should be done with tact and without being offensive.

Distinguish carefully and thoroughly, between mere ego, and true excellence. Seek the best one can be, and gaining relevant experience and expertise, rather than merely ego - fulfillment. 

The Power of Constructive Criticism

Although many of us dislike when others criticize us, when we are the recipients of fair and constructive criticism, it generally places us in the best possible position to achieve to our full potential. One of the most difficult activities for most people is to be objectively introspective, and to be both willing and able to identify both our strengths and weaknesses, and take needed actions to address any items that we might be able to improve upon. Think about these words from Sima Qian, whem he stated, "Though bitter, good medicine cures illness. Though it may hurt, loyal criticism will have many beneficial effects." However, unless we are both willing and able to listen to criticism, and then to learn from it, and take proactive steps for improvement, the curative impacts of an honest critique will never reach its optimal effect. Regardless of one's field of endeavor, no one is ever perfect, and we all can potentially improve and do things better. If one is in a service industry, such as real estate professionals and investment advisers/ representatives, keeping one's eyes wide - open, and being aware of personal strengths and weaknesses, helps you become better! A constructive, well - intentioned, fair critique, is enormously helpful, for self - improvement!

1. What is the difference between mere criticism and constructive criticism? While it is generally quite easy for anyone who looks to identify issues that are less than perfectly handled, etc., the mere identification of these issues generally serves little constructive purpose. Constructive criticism is not about nit - picking, nor should it ever be used as an avenue for blame, insinuation, etc. Let's take for example how this difference impacts reviewing an event. The angry criticizer will simply bring up what went wrong, and act like he is attacking the event coordinators, often somewhat unfairly, and nearly always not constructively. On the other hand, constructive criticism reviews every aspect of the event, and while perhaps giving a less than favorable overall review, focuses on how these issues might have been addressed, and should be done in the future. It may require a thorough examination of negotiations, including skills, requirements, methods, and other basics. It may discuss technical issues, such as room setups, banquets, meetings, food and beverage items, etc. Or, it may involve a discussion about costs, priorities, etc. Another focus might be on marketing, etc. If done in a positive manner, the coordinator of the past event, who may have tried hard but simply not been fully prepared, will feel appreciated and maintain his motivation and commitment, while gaining valuable knowledge and insight for the future.

2. In my over three decades of consulting on leadership issue, I have on numerous occasions been asked to evaluate and "rate" individual leaders, in terms of their performance, preparedness, commitment, etc. Because I feel blame and negativity is rarely constructive, I approached these tasks with the objective of making these leaders far better at what they do. By identifying not only what went wrong, but how to remedy and rectify in the future, a less than stellar performing leader can eventually be molded into a true leader.

Constructive criticism is one of our most powerful teaching and training tools. Those who use critiques as a method to teach and motivate have discovered what a fabulous impact they can have.