Twitter will not triple your Web traffic overnight.

A press release will not get journalists banging down your door.

Harsh truths, I know, but ones you need to hear. The problem with small businesses and marketing is they want instant pudding. They want to see a spike in sales or Web traffic instantly, and that simply doesn’t happen unless you’re Old Spice. Freshly showered men aside, all your marketing efforts should lead to one thing: trust.

Why Trust Is Important

Is trust necessary? Not really. You could sell a thousand widgets to a thousand people and never see them again. Or you could work to build trust with these customers, and rely on them to become your brand evangelists, to let them tell others how great you are because you’re a trustworthy company. Let them blog, tweet and share their love on Facebook.

Trust keeps customers coming back. If what you sell costs a lot of money, it gives them the confidence to drop the $100, $1,000 or $10,000 on your product.

How to Build Trust

Every component of marketing is about trust-building, if done properly.

• Social Media. Face it: You probably haven’t bought much from brands on Twitter just because they’re there. If a brand you’re following is having a promotion, you might click the link and buy. But that’s promotion. Not marketing. So your role in social media is to use it as a channel to build trust. Create conversations, whether they’re related to your industry or not. Share relevant links, even if they’re not from your own blog. Interact. Give people a reason to seek your brand out on Facebook or Twitter. A great example of a brand that does this is Mabel’s Labels. Under @mabelhood, the brand shares bloggers’ links and rallies behind its supportive followers. They’ve created a community that translates into trust, and then into sales.
• Press Releases. Sometimes trust is just about being there consistently. Putting out a press release each month can go a long way to say, “Hey! We’re still here doing awesome things.” And while journalists may not be clamoring to publish your news, searching for keywords that lead them to one press release after another from your brand certainly shows that you’re consistent. And consistency is one of the cornerstones of a healthy relationship, is it not?
• Blogger Relations. If you’re smart enough to be working with bloggers to spread the word about your products, kudos. But how you work with them can have just as much impact on your brand as what they think of the product. First off, pay your bloggers. Their time is as valuable as yours. But be there for them too. Make sure they know you’re partners in the blogger outreach campaign you’re working on, and make sure to address any questions or concerns they have before they post. If you build that trust, they’ll go beyond the call of duty for the campaign and talk about your brand on all the social channels, resulting in bonus play for you.

Leap of the Week: Where to Go From Here

If I’ve put you into a tailspin, don’t worry. Keep doing what you’re doing in marketing, but shift your thinking.  Don’t focus on how many (or few) website visitors that last Facebook contest netted. Instead look at how you built the trust of hundreds of loyal fans. If they are engaged in what you’re doing, you’re successfully building that trust. Keep it up, and those relationships will come to fruition.

MOTIVATION
You run the 5k to lose weight, stay in shape, raise money for cancer. Maybe to prove something. It’s on your bucket list. You made a bet. Only ten pounds to go. Achievement is thrilling.

All fine reasons.

INSPIRATION
The runner’s high. My body simply has to run. When I run, I feel closer to life.

MOTIVATION
You write the book, the blog, the brochure to raise your profile so you can sell more stuff, serve more people. You compose and package your thoughts. A 1000 words a day until you’ve crossed the finish line.

All fine reasons.

INSPIRATION
I have something to say that needs to be heard. When I write I feel bigger, freer, like God is using me well.

We seem to need motivation to get stuff done. Typically there’s a lot of “measuring” that happens in the realm of motivation. Check lists and goal posts and markers and such. There is often a fear of loss involved. We are on duty. All perfectly natural.

But beyond finish lines and well done, is a different call. Inspiration.
It is magnetic and progressive. Its reasoning cannot always be reasoned — I just gotta do it. It busts you outta shouldsville into the unfenced field of freedom and possibility.

Inspiration is a completely different force of creativity.

What is motivating you?
What is inspiring you?

What is pushing you?
What is pulling you?

Leap of the Week:

Follow the pull. It’s the first step toward flying.

Chasing sucks. Prospects, clients, people who owe you information, drawings, money. I hate having to chase. Most of us have to do it–A LOT. Most of the time we go into the bottomless pit of voice mail hell to be tortured by the digital demons therein. Here is how to get your phone call returned more often. There are no perfect strategies that guarantee 100% response; even the IRS auditors don’t get 100% return calls. But you can do much better if you follow this approach.

Quick note: This skill focuses on getting a returned call from someone you have already met. Prospecting is a different skill.

Step 1: Tell the person what you want.
Calls that say “Call me when you get a chance” are relegated to someone’s “B” or “C” priority list. (When was the last time you were working your “B” priority list?). If your voice mail says “Give me a call back, I have a couple of things I want to review with you,” then you are never going on that person’s radar of must-do priorities.

Tell the person you are calling what you want right at the beginning of the call. Make certain your voice mail is not longer than 40 seconds- they won’t listen to it. What do you tell them you want? A document, a phone call, an email, a piece of information- whatever it is that you want, ask for it and ask for it fast. I’ll give examples below.

Step 2: Speak in terms of time.
Tell them:
* How long the returned call will take. (3 minutes, 11 minutes, “less than a cup of coffee” are all good increments)
* Must-talk-by date and time. Your message needs to say, “This call has to happen by….” And then give the date and time. End of day tomorrow, Friday by noon, this afternoon before 3:45pm. Success goes up if the window is later than 4 hours from now and no later than 24 hours from the point of your voice mail message you are leaving. If, by some miracle, you are actually talking to an administrative support person, the time issue is the same, just ask to book the appointment.

Step 3: Declare consequences.
To create urgency you need to declare consequences. Notice I used the word “consequences” not “threats.” Consequences are the natural and understandable outcomes of an action or inaction. You are telling the person you are reaching out too that if he does not call back to you this will happen. Factual and without emotion. Here are some approaches:

* Negative Option – If you do not hear back, you will assume the answer is “no” and you will act accordingly.
* Time expiration – If you do not hear back, time will expire on the offer and what has been offered will be rescinded.
* Delay of Progress – If you do not hear back, then the proposed date for start or end will not be attainable and will be delayed.
* Positive Option – If you do not hear back you will take that as tacit approval and will move forward with the previously agreed upon actions.

Examples:
* “Bill, this is Tom from XYZ. I need the final drawings we discussed by noon tomorrow in my email or I will not be able to honor the delivery date of next Friday. Please give me a 30 second call when you have sent them to confirm. Thanks.”

* “Sue, this is Joe from PDQ. I need confirmation of the wire transfer by end of business today or we will not ship. Please give me a call back by 4:00pm to ensure shipment. Thanks.”

* “John, this is Deirdre from Pinnacle. I only need 3 minutes to get the details from you I need to give you the proposal you requested. If we connect by noon today, you’ll have my proposal before you pack up to go home. Thanks.

* “Frank, this is Alex from Acme. A call no longer than a cup of coffee will sort out the issues you raised about the proposal. We have been out of touch for over a week- that usually means bad things. If I don’t hear back from you by end of day tomorrow, I’ll take that as a definite “no” and assume you are not interested in the proposal. Thanks.”

What you should notice is that
1) This approach takes a forceful and direct tone, rather than a subservient and weak tone.

2) The messages are short. People rarely listen to long, detailed voice mails. They scan, much like we scan our emails. They store the things they intend to listen to later and delete everything else. They rarely get to what they say and eventually it solves itself or they delete it.

3) Action requests, time frames and consequences are clear.

Tom Searcy is a nationally recognized author, speaker, and the foremost expert in large account sales. Tom is the author of RFPs Suck! How to Master the RFP System Once and for All to Win Big Business and the co-author of Whale Hunting: How to Land Big Sales and Transform Your Company.

Leap of the Week:

In order to make this exercise easier,write a mini script for your phone messages. Leave dates, times and specific requests blank so that it can be re-used. Have it in front of you when you are making your call so that you don’t stumble and veer off on a tangent and end up on the “B” priority list. Be prepared and get better results!

Most of us have such psychological “blind spots,” aspects of our personalities that are obvious to everyone but ourselves. There’s the mother who complains, “I don’t know why little Horace is so violent—I’ve smacked him for it a thousand times.” Or your gorgeous friend who believes she has all the seductive allure of a dung beetle. Or the coworker who complains that, mysteriously, every single person he’s ever worked for develops the identical delusion that he’s shiftless and incompetent. As we roll our eyes at such obliviousness, some of us might think, What about me? Do I have blind spots, and if so, what are they?

You can find the answers if you care to—or more accurately, if you dare to. This is the roughest mission you can undertake: a direct seek-and-destroy attack on your own pockets of denial. Denial is far trickier than simple ignorance. It isn’t the inability to perceive information but the astonishing ability to perceive information while automatically refusing to allow it into consciousness. Our minds don’t perform this magical trick without reason. We only “go blind” to information that is so troubling, so frightening, or so opposed to what we believe that to absorb it would shatter our view of ourselves and the world. On the other hand, becoming fully conscious of our perceptions—simply feeling what we feel and knowing what we know—is the very definition of awakening. It creates a virtually indestructible foundation for lasting relationships, successful endeavors, and inner peace. Hunting down your blind spots is a bumpy adventure, but it can lead to sublime destinations.

Identifying your own blind spots is an exercise in paradox, because if you’re aware of a problem, it doesn’t count. It’s like tracking the wind: You can’t observe the thing itself, only its effects. The tracks that a blind spot leaves are repetitive experiences that seem inexplicable, the things that make you exclaim, Why does this always happen to me?

For example:

1. You keep having the same relationship with different people.
All of Macy’s friends are “takers,” emotional parasites who drain her and give nothing back. Steve’s three ex-wives all had extramarital affairs. No one in Corrine’s life—her children, her coworkers, her mother—ever responds to her feelings.

These people don’t know that they carefully choose friends and lovers who match certain psychological profiles or that their behavior elicits similar reactions from almost everyone they encounter. It would take you about five minutes with Macy to see that she’s so self-effacing she actually resists normal friendships, gravitating only toward takers. Steve’s friends will tell you he falls for women who remind him of his mother, an enthusiastic practitioner of promiscuous sex. Corrine is so reserved that even the most intuitive people can’t read her moods. All three have gone through life blaming their relationship patterns on other people’s shortcomings.

2. Your luck never changes.
Over years of life-coaching, I’ve become more and more convinced that we create our own “luck.” I’m not saying that there’s no such thing as blind fate, but I am saying that choice is far more powerful than chance in determining the pattern of our failures and successes over time.

Many of my clients have lost jobs in the recent economic downturn, but those who were previously doing well in their careers are finding ways to learn from their experience and bounce back. Those who complained of relentless bad luck before being laid off have slid further downhill. A client I’ll call Shirley recently complained, “When my sister was fired, I thought we’d bond because we both had the same bad luck. But then she started her own business, so it turns out that for her getting fired was good luck. Just like always, she gets all the breaks.” As I punted Shirley to a psychotherapist, I wondered if they train Seeing Eye dogs for people with her kind of blindness. If so, Shirley will almost certainly develop a dog allergy.

3. People consistently describe you in a way that doesn’t fit your self-image.
If tracking patterns in love and luck isn’t enough to reveal your blind spots, there’s another way to go after them. You just have to notice what people tell you about yourself—the things you have always cleverly ignored or routinely discounted. Complete the following sentences as accurately as you can, and you might be closing in on a truth you haven’t fully acknowledged.

• “People are always telling me that I’m…”
• “I get a lot of compliments about…”
• “When my friends or family members are angry with me, they say that…”
• “People often thank me for…”

If you heartily agree with all the information that pops up in response to these phrases, you’ve simply reinforced an accurate self-concept by recalling times when others have validated your perceptions. But if any of the descriptions seem strange, incongruous, or flat-out false, consider the possibility that your image of yourself may not be accurate—and almost certainly doesn’t correspond to what other people perceive. By the way, you may well discover that you’re blind to your positive characteristics as well as negative ones. Some people (especially women) may be so biased against being arrogant that they overlook or dismiss their own best qualities.

Getting Rid of Your Blind Spots

If the evidence suggests that you have blind spots, you can try to eliminate them with a simple mindfulness exercise. You already know what’s in your blind spot; it’s just that looking at it makes you extremely uncomfortable. Only by being very gentle with yourself will you become able to tolerate more awareness. So as kindly as you can, ask yourself the following questions:

1. What am I afraid to know?
2. What’s the one thing I least want to accept?
3. What do I sense without knowing?

Whatever comes into your mind, do nothing about it. Not yet. If you feel even a hint of some new realization, you’ve taken a huge step. More insights will arrive soon, and the kinder you are to yourself over time, the more likely you are to experience major breakthroughs.

Hunting for your own blind spots, like trying to examine the back of your own head, is much less efficient than soliciting feedback from others. This process combines the attractions of strip-dancing and skydiving, making you feel completely exposed yet energized by the sense that you could be catastrophically injured. Ever since I saw that first printout from my group psychology class, I’ve known how valuable honest feedback can be, how much precious time it can save in my struggle to awaken. I still have to force myself to go looking for it, but when I do I almost always benefit.

Leap of the Week: For a week, ask for blind-spot feedback from one person a day, never asking the same person twice. Just say it: “Is there anything about me that I don’t seem to see but is obvious to you?” You’ll probably want to start with your nearest and dearest, but don’t stop there. Surprisingly, a group of relative strangers is often the best mirror you can find. I’ve worked with many groups of people who, just minutes after meeting, could offer one another powerful insights. Like the emperor in his new clothes, we often believe that our illusions are confirmed by the silence of people who are simply too polite to mention the obvious. Breaking the courtesy barrier by asking for the truth can change your life faster than anything else I’ve ever experienced.

Handling Feedback

Any feedback is scary. The kind that addresses topics so uncomfortable you’ve stuffed them into a blind spot can be almost intolerable. That’s why, before you even ask for an honest appraisal, you have to have a strategy in place for processing it.

1. Just say thanks.
When others discuss your blind spots, you may have a violent emotional reaction. Remember: All of the upheaval is a product of your own mind. You do not have to dissuade or contradict the other person in order to feel calm. Instead of launching into an argument, just say thanks. Then imagine yourself tucking away the other person’s comments in a box. You can take them out later, examine them, decide whether or not they’re useful.

2. Dismiss useless feedback.
There’s real feedback, and then there’s the slop that’s merely a reflection of the speaker’s dysfunction. Fortunately, you can tell these things apart because they feel very different. Useless feedback is nonspecific and vague, and has no action implication. It demotivates, locking us in confusion and shame. Useful feedback is specific and focused. It can sting like the dickens, but it leads to a clear course of action; when you hear it you feel a tiny lightbulb going on upstairs.

“No one could ever love you” is useless feedback. “You project a lot of hostility, and it scares people” gives you information that you need to make healthy changes. It’s safe to assume that useless feedback is coming from people who are themselves shame-bound and blind. The best thing to do with it is dismiss it and focus on the information your gut tells you is valuable.

3. Absorb the truth.
Neurologist Oliver Sacks wrote about a man who, virtually blind from early childhood, had an operation that restored his sight when he was middle-aged. Though the man’s eyes now took in visual information, his brain wasn’t used to making sense of it. He couldn’t differentiate between a man and a gorilla until he touched a nearby statue of a gorilla; then the difference became immediately clear.

This confused state is similar to what you’ll feel when you’ve accepted feedback about what lies in your blind spots. You’re not used to this new set of eyes, this novel image of self. I remember feeling incredibly clumsy just after the revelation that I can be very dominant. I felt a little as if I were talking while listening to headphones: I couldn’t correctly gauge how I was coming across to others. Slowly, asking repeatedly for feedback, I began to see my own behavior more clearly. My false image of self gave way to a more accurate model, and I learned to avoid accidentally stomping on people with my conversational style.

Deliberately, methodically eliminating your blind spots simply intensifies the natural process we all endure as life teaches us its rough-and-tumble lessons. If you undertake this accelerated journey, you will learn much more in much less time (albeit with a few more scrapes and bruises) and achieve a deeper level of self-knowledge than you otherwise would have.

Just observing the truth about yourself without judgment or spin will begin to change you. It’s well-nigh impossible to see yourself more and more clearly while continuing to act without integrity, or in contradiction to your life’s real purpose. Eventually you may come to see what Marianne Williamson meant when she said, “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us.” To see your truest nature is to recognize that you have a capacity for goodness far greater than you ever dreamed, with all the awesome responsibility that entails. It’s a difficult proposition, but in the end the view makes it all worthwhile.

Thank you Martha for a great article reminding all of us Leapers that we truly are the biggest blocks in each of our own road trips!

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Prepare Before Each Call

If you are going to call someone out of the blue its important to be professional, and on topic. Research your target, find out if they are hiring, how big the company is, and what their philosophy is. Its amazing how much information you can gather using tools like Linkedin, jigsaw, and Google. You should have a basic understanding of each company before you pick up the receiver. Quality is far more important then Quantity. Take notes of your research and have them handy during your telephone call. Also have main points of conversation written out, it keeps you on track.

Develop a Professional Greeting

Its important to distance yourself from the typical sales call “Hello, are you interested in my product.” Set the tone of the conversation with a professional greeting. This is not the time to sell your product, you have no idea if they need or want it. Start with something simple like: “Hello, I’m Rupert and I’m calling to introduce myself, and my company.” Keep conversation light, and simple. Make it an enjoyable conversation, show them you’re interested in them, and connecting. “We’ve had huge growth in your area and I wanted to connect and say hello.”

State Your Purpose

Respect your prospects time, don’t spend 10 minutes on pleasantries. Its important to lay a foundation of rapport before discussing your product but be mindful of time spent. Within 30 seconds they should have a clear understanding of your product. Without going into full details provide an overview of your products features and benefits. Touch on 3 main points maximum, give opportunities for questions to arise, this involves them in the conversation and confirms interest. You can even joke with them saying “I know you must receive countless calls, and I understand my product is not for everyone. This call is about discovering if I can help your business.”

Take Time and Thank Them

Its so important to thank people for their time. If you’ve got a low margin, low cost item a simple “Thank you for your time” will suffice. If you’ve got a large product that costs thousands of dollars I would recommend stepping up with a hand written note sent to them. This is a great opportunity to stand apart from the rest of the competition. How many times do you receive hand written notes from companies looking to do business with you? Take 5 minutes and make an impression. If sending mail is not within your budget, use Social Media. Is the prospect on Twitter? Publicly thank them.

Ask for Follow Up

You should always leave each meeting or telephone call with follow up. This creates movement for the sales cycle. When you contact someone you should follow up with an email for contact information if they seem un-interested, or a future telephone call if interest is present. Avoid a standard follow up and customize for each client. If they showed concerns with value, provide case studies, if they were concerned with quality, provide client testimonials. Tailor the follow up experience for a smooth sales process. Remember, if you don’t schedule a follow up, you’re not building rapport.

Leap of the Week:

Remember people hate being sold, but love buying. Empower the potential client and move the deal forward.

Big thanks to Owen Clark from Byzhub.com for this great idea!

The next time you are with 4 people who you know and are close to, ask them for 6 minutes of their time. Prep them that you are going to tell them your 45 second infomercial about what you do and while you are talking you want them to think of 2 questions each.

As soon as you are done your 45 seconds, ask them one at a time what questions about your business they came up with in their heads. DO NOT answer these questions, instead write them down, get 2 questions from each person to total 8 questions.  You should actually be done in 3 minutes!

The answers to those questions are now your next 8 blog posts, do one blog post a week and now you have 2 months of content.

Keep your answer simple, because simple is hard enough, think of a catchy headline for your blog post and after you create your post, figure out six 140-character posts that you can schedule/publish daily on twitter at various times to drive traffic to your blog.

Do not sell, Add Value only.

Not only will you learn way more about your business in the next 2 months then you have in the last year, but you will also be positioning yourself as an expert too. Your daily social media activity is activity based, meaning, become a crack addict, social media is like grout, you can fit it into the cracks of your day.

Leap of the Week:

Thanks again Owen for reminding us that content can be simply created, and that the best lessons are learned by asking and listening!

Have fun with this one Leapers!

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Clients are the lifeblood of any business. Without them, your venture simply doesn’t exist. On the other hand, some clients are so bad that your business, not to mention your personal sanity, is better off without them. So what do you do when you have a client that pushes you to the brink? You fire them! That’s right, you fire them! I have fired a few clients in my career and although it’s not  fun or easy to do, it’s necessary.

Here’s how to give 10 of the worst offenders the pink slip without burning bridges:

1. The bargain shopper:

As a general rule, the client who pays the least will expect the most. The words “I need this done cheap” should strike fear in your heart, not because of profit margins, but because this client will nickel-and-dime you within an inch of your life for extra work, support and other nuisances that were not in the original scope.

How to get out: This one’s simple: Raise your rates, if only for this particular client. The bargain shopper will move on to the next firm that offers a better price, as he’s concerned only with the bottom line, not the value of your work.

2. The client who can’t make deadlines:

This client wants you to have his project as your top priority, because he’s on a tight schedule and needs to get something produced right away. You agree, assuming that you’ll have all of the information you need to get it done quickly. Unfortunately, your client drops off the face of the earth, ignoring your requests for approvals and other correspondence, until your previously agreed upon due date comes and goes. At this point, you’re both blaming each other for the project’s delay, and it’s not pretty.

How to get out: Establish the fact that you are not able to meet deadlines, unless your client is able to meet theirs. Instead of setting a concrete date, make it contingent upon receipt of information, such as a certain number of days from the signed approval date. Don’t accept any future work from this client, as his habits are not likely to change. Instead, tell him that you’re experiencing a high volume of work and offer to refer him to another firm.

3. The client with a not-so-small project:

You get a call out of the blue from a new customer who wants you to complete a small, simple project. He thinks it should be easy and uncomplicated, so he’s only willing to pay a small fee. You agree that this is fair, until you realize the client is going to make this small project a major pain with endless changes and additions that were not a part of the original budget.

How to get out: If you agreed to do a certain amount of work for a particular price, deliver it and do a good job. But if this client pushes boundaries, clearly inform them that extra work will cost extra money. If they refuse to respect your rules, invoice them for any unpaid work and stop the project in its tracks. Give them what you’ve produced up to the point where you severed ties, but only if they’ve paid for it.

4. The one who’s never satisfied:

Even if you come in under budget and over deliver, this client just isn’t happy with your work. He may have something in his mind that he just can’t communicate to you, and when you don’t deliver this idea that lives in his head, he’s disappointed.

How to get out: Ask the client to clearly describe or sketch what he’s looking for, or even send you an example. He may want a product that looks like his friend’s, but he’s afraid to say so. If you’re already done with the project and you’ve done a great job, don’t sweat it. Make it clear to the client, citing any agreements that you’ve made, that you stuck to the scope of the project and delivered exactly what he asked for. You don’t want to have him bad-mouth you or stiff you on an invoice. Consider offering to do additional work on this project if he can provide more clarity on his desires. If he would like to hire you again in the future, you may want to tell him that your business has gone in a different direction.

5. The client who wants you to be something you’re not:

Some clients have a clear idea in their heads of what they’d like to see from your work. Often, this is good news, but if their preferred process doesn’t line up with the way you like to operate, you may end up butting heads.

How to get out: To reason with this client, you can explain why you prefer to do things the way you do. After all, you’re the expert. If he simply doesn’t understand or refuses to accept your methods, it’s time to cut ties.  Delicately explain the problems that his requests create for you and let him down easy. If you can, refer him to a colleague or competitor that you know can deliver what he wants. A referral is key, because you don’t want him to be unsatisfied and claim that you can’t do your job.

6. The one who expects you to deliver more for the same price:

This client just doesn’t understand the concept of an estimate. You’ve laid out what is to be done and agreed to a fair price, but at every step of the way, this client has “just one more little thing” to add that may seem like nothing to him, but in reality takes a lot more time and effort than you originally agreed to.

How to get out: When faced with a client who nickel-and-dimes you with extra work, there’s only one way to fight back: Nickel-and-dime him with invoices. Of course, let him know it’s coming before you do it. Tell him that your two-hour support call today was free, but any ongoing extraneous work will be billed at your standard hourly rate. If he requests your services again down the line, tell him you’re too busy and refer him to a competitor that you feel like torturing

7. The know-it-all:

The know-it-all thinks he understands how to do your job, because last weekend his cousin showed him the basics of the computer program you use. Of course, he doesn’t realize that he needs your expert skills to use this tool in order to effectively produce his project. He’ll tell you exactly what to do and how to do it, turning you into a production house instead of letting you do what you do best.

How to get out: First of all, do your best to remove any references to your name or company on work you’ve done for this client. Why? Because he’ll probably try to tinker around on his own and completely alter your work in the process. At this point, it’s best to stop the project, get caught up on outstanding invoices and give him whatever you’ve completed so far. He’ll probably hand it off to his cousin to see if he can finish it.

8. The next-100-days client:

This client doesn’t pay until he’s good and ready, or worse yet, until he’s been paid by his client. For anyone running a business, this is just not acceptable. You have bills to pay, too!

How to get out: If it’s worth your trouble, send this client to collections for any unpaid debts. That should send a pretty strong message. In any event, refuse to take on more projects until they’re caught up. If you continue to work with this client, set up a strict payment plan that includes charging interest on overdue invoices. If the client cannot abide by the new plan, he will likely move on to another company. Good riddance!

9. The one who wants your home phone number:

If your client calls you after hours or on weekends to relay ideas or just check in with you, you have a problem on your hands. This client does not respect boundaries and is likely to expect round-the-clock service, no matter how frivolous the request.

How to get out: Unless it’s a true emergency, don’t field calls from this client when you’re not available. If for some reason you end up in a conversation with him outside of your normal working hours, stop him firmly but politely, before he can even start. Offer to pick up the call again on the next business day, then do it. This client really just wants to know that you’re there for him, so be there, but do it on your terms. If he continues to push his way into your personal time, let him know that you’re raising your rates, astronomically of course, to make up for the high cost of maintaining your relationship. The cost to continue working with you will prove to be too high, and he’ll bother someone else. Alternatively, you’ll make loads of money.

10. The one with 100 lawyers:

This client is always threatening to sue you for some reason or another. That time you made a typo, even though it was directly copied from the material he gave you? He’s going to sue you for that. You were two days late on your deadline because he dragged his feet getting you what you needed? He wants you to discount your invoice by 50 percent, or he’ll get a lawyer involved.

How to get out: This abusive client is bad news and a major pain. You don’t want to actually go to court with him, because even if you win, the outside perception is never good, and he’ll definitely bad-mouth you to everyone he knows, win or lose. He’s almost certainly all talk, but it’s irresponsible to test him to find out if he can back it up. As much as it may drive you crazy to give in to his threats, do what he wants, within good reason of course, then slowly back away. Given that he’s argumentative, it’s probably not a good idea to let him know exactly why you’re breaking it off, so just tell him that you’re moving your operations to Yemen.

This article was inspired by By Inside CRM Editors

Leap of the Week: Do you have a less than ideal client that is eating up your time and making you lose sleep? Is the client worth the loss in momentum and the stress? Perhaps it’s time to apply one of the above techniques… It’s time to clean house and make room for your ideal clients! Well…what are you waiting for? I guarantee that it’s much easier to do it than to dwell on it.

Let me explain it to you.

Women are not interested in growth, they are committed to life.  Men are not interested in life, they are committed to growth.

(No, this is not true of all women, or of all men.  This is, however, the truth for most women entrepreneurs, and for most men entrepreneurs.)

Follow me here.

The essential something about women is understood by every man I have ever met.  Women have more energy than men.  Much, much more. They can do more things than men can do.  They are accustomed, as mothers, as daughters, as workers, as wives, as sisters, as friends, to step in to get the dishes done, the dinner cooked, the shopping handled, the breakdown fixed up, the relationship nurtured, the bills paid, the son and daughter cared for and put to bed, as well as gotten up in the morning to eat breakfast, to go to school, to complete their homework, to handle everything that has to be handled, usually before it needs to be handled…women are immense, culturally, physically, emotionally, spiritually, socially, friendshiply…name me a man who can do what any woman not only can do, but has done, and will continue to do, and I will show you one man in fifty million.

I have never met that man.  Never.

I have continually met that woman.  I would say, most women I have met fit that picture.

But, given all that, how in the world — or more importantly — why in the world, would a woman think about growing, growing, growing her company, even if it was absolutely necessary to grow it for it to succeed?  Well, entrepreneurial history says she wouldn’t.

But, that’s only because her nature is to be here for all and everyone.

And there’s simply not enough time for her to do that and grow a company of her own.

Men are not so called.  And even if they were, they wouldn’t listen.

Because men find themselves, identify themselves, with what they do.

Women find themselves, identify themselves, with who they are.

So, something must be done for women to help them discover how to be themselves — who they are — while growing a company which is a complete reflection of themselves — who they are — without giving themselves up.

That’s the rest of this story.

I’ll bring it to you next time.

I can hardly wait.

Leap of the Week: We want to hear from our male and female readers on this very topic. What are your initial thoughts & opinions? Does this post resonate with you, or does it make your blood boil? Let’s get this dialogue started. Please share your comments below as we would like to hear what you have to say.

Here are 7 Steps To Help You Make Better Decisions compiled by Catherine Price, author of 101 Places Not To See Before You Die.

1. Identify your goal
As David Welch, Phd. professor of political science at the University of Waterloo in Ontario and author of Decisions, Decisions: The Art of Effective Decision Making, explains, “People who aren’t self-reflective are going to end up making bad decisions because they don’t really know what they want in the first place.” Before you turn your life upside down, ask yourself: Do I really want a different career? Or do I just want different clients? Don’t make a decision based on the wrong problem.

2. Eliminate choices by setting standards
If you’re trying to buy a digital camera, list the features you’ll actually use. Any camera that has them is therefore good enough for you; ignore anything fancier. Speaking of which…

3. Don’t worry about finding the “best”
How good you feel about your decisions is usually more important than how good they are objectively.

4. Be aware of biases
They can lead smart people to make dumb decisions. For example: We hate to lose more than we like to win, which can result in behavior such as holding on to a tanking stock instead of accepting a loss. We remember vivid examples more than facts, which is why plane crashes stick in our heads more than statistics on air safety. And we’re susceptible to how information is framed – a “cash discount” is more appealing than “no credit card surcharge”. Keeping these biases in mind can help you think clearly.

5. Try not to rush
People tend to make poorer choices when they’re in a bad mood or under a lot of stress. When facing a complex decision, use your conscious brain to gather the information you need, and then take a break. Go for a walk. Spend half an hour meditating. Take a nap. Have a beer. The idea is to give your unconscious mind some time to do its work. The decision you make afterward is more likely to be the right (or at least a perfectly acceptable) one.

6. Don’t sweat the small stuff
When possible, eliminate the need for decisions by establishing rules for yourself. You will go to yoga every weekend. You will not have more than two glasses of  wine. You will buy whatever toilet paper is on sale.

7. Do a post-game analysis
After each decision you make, ask yourself how you felt afterward and what about the experience you can apply in the future.

Leap of the Week:
Decide on one thing that you will start doing this week that will no longer require a day to day decision.

My decision is this one:
I will go to my morning yoga class every day that I don’t start coaching before 9:00am. Period. Ah… I feel great about making that a “non-daily decision”. I will finally stop asking myself at 5:30 in the morning,”should I go to yoga today?”

So Leapers, what will you do to STOP asking yourself the same bloody questions day after day?

“I use to be really good at selling other people’s products and services, but now that I am selling my own, I feel like I am begging for work.”

This one is popular too:

“I always end up reducing my price, otherwise I don’t get the job.”

Well here is what “sales machine” Geoffrey James and I have to say about that! Below are 8 very important rules to help all of you sales people and small business owners out there increase your sales while creating strong brand equity.

Selling for a small firm or a small business definitely presents challenges even for top sales professionals. Why? Because your company is small, your prospects probably don’t know much about it. Money is tight, which means that you don’t have the luxury of spending lavishly to promote your products or services. Your business probably lacks the sales support that reps in big firms take for granted. And so on, and so forth…

That being said, there are tremendous advantages to selling for a small business, if you know the rules. Whether you are a sales person for a small business or the owner/sales person of your own business, these rules can play an important part in your success.

• RULE #1: Never Apologize.
  Sales people and small business owners shrink their credibility by taking on an apologetic air, trying to explain away the inexperience or the size of their firm, and then energetically go into “fear mode”. Customers smell that kind of fear from a mile away and are often more than willing to use it to their advantage by demanding steep discounts or even amusing themselves by making you jump through meaningless hoops. Don’t let that happen to you. You are much more than you think, no matter what size business you have.

• RULE #2: Consider Yourself the Customer’s Equal.
  Rather than being apologetic, you must convince yourself and reflect the value of what you and your business have to offer. Rather than dwelling on your inexperience or small size, constantly emphasize the unique value of a truly new approach to the customer’s problems. And rather than “begging for business”, be hard-nosed and ready to walk out the door. Being passionate but not attached to the outcome is key. And as for jumping through hoops, your company is a business, not a dog and pony show.

• RULE #3: Treat “Weaknesses” as Strengths.
  Customers may not know anything about your small business, but they don’t have any negative preconceptions either. Support may be scarce in your small business, but that’s an opportunity to get creative and more independent.  A small company can pivot and adapt much faster than a bigger one. Remember, many decision-makers who won’t talk to cookie-cutter sales reps from established firms, will take the time to talk with somebody with original ideas and a new approach to solving their problems.

• RULE #4: YOU Are the Brand.
  It’s a fact that customers buy from people they know and trust. When you’re selling for a small business, YOU are the brand name, the reputation, the trust-ability, and the reliability that the customer is buying into.  A sales rep working for, say IBM, needs only the label on a business card to create credibility. With a smaller business, that trust and credibility must come from YOU and the way YOU present yourself to the consumer.

• RULE #5: Be an Entrepreneur.
  Because your small business lacks the support infrastructure of a larger one, in most cases the only person you can really count on to get things done is yourself.  You’ll need to be extremely careful about your time and resources, and constantly find creative ways to get things done quickly and easily. Remember, activity multiplied by hours spent must equal sales results. Make certain that everything you do leads toward the results that you seek.

• RULE #6: Match Each Request with a Counter-Request.
  Insist that anything the customer asks you to do, gives you the right to ask the customer to do something comparable in return. That policy not only ensures that you’ll not be taken advantage of, but also gives you frequent opportunities to strengthen your competitive position and move the sales process forward. For example, if a customer asks you to provide them with an RFP based upon 35 pages of detailed questions, explain that you’ll only do so if you’re guaranteed a meeting with decision-makers to present your solution.

• RULE #7: Be Willing to Say No.
  Never give in to a customer who’s being unreasonable or demanding things that don’t make sense for your company. Your larger competitor can perhaps afford to kowtow to get the business. You, however, don’t have the luxury of being anything less than the best – and the best in any industry NEVER truckle. That doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t be cooperative, but in all your dealings be aware of your worth and the worth of your company to the customer.

• RULE #8: Never be afraid to bail.
  Don’t let wishful thinking propel you into wasted effort. If it becomes clear that the deal doesn’t make sense for your company or will take too much time and effort to close, it’s not worth pursuing. For example, if you’re being told you can’t meet with the decision-maker, you aren’t going to get the business. Period. So move on, without regrets.

Leap of the Week:
What’s one thing that you connected with from this blog post and can start implementing this week? Remember, YOU have something of value to offer. Get out of your own way, STOP being the best kept secret. Start viewing your own business as if it belonged to someone else so you can feel more comfortable talking about the solutions that it has to offer. After all, that’s what selling is all about!

Good luck and let me know how it goes.
Isabelle