Coaching and Training
the Leader within Each of Us
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Coaching and Training |
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CONTENTS:
Successful people find their passion and follow it with action. Regardless of your stage in life, I bet you care about someone who needs a little nudge. That person you care about may have a vague sense of what they are good at. Or that person may not be listening to you. You may have tried to help them see how capable they are. The need for passionate action in business is discussed in the Harvard Business Review and every work place in the country. The need for passionate action in personal lives is discussed in every heart, at some time, by every person. This new book could not come at a better time. Passionate Action; 5 Steps to Creating Extraordinary Success in Life and Work is a practical guide designed for any of us. It is filled with inspiring stories, activities that work, and case studies. For the price of a pizza you could buy a copy for someone you care about, or you could buy multiple copies. We all need roadmaps. This book will expertly guide you through the 5 essential steps to action-based success. Details and tremendous bonus gifts are at www.action-learning.com/pa.html. You can purchase this book at any online bookstore at any time. However, if you purchase copies at www.action-learning.com/pa.html you will receive tremendous bonus gifts from best-selling authors and coaches. These experts are friends of mine who create a win/win/win. Together, we can share their expertise with those you know who need a nudge. I want to share the book with others. You want to share the book with others. I need your help promoting this book. My goal is to help hundreds of thousands of people find their passion, and experience more success. Actions lead to success! You can help by forwarding this email to everyone you care about. My sincere hope is that they, and you, will experience more passionate action-based success. 2. ADVENTURE TRENDS: Lessons from Moab, UT and Charlotte, NC(Note: Adventure racing is a sport with teammates traveling together in unfamiliar environments. It is a passion of mine. And it is a business metaphor, with good lessons!) A. Primal Quest 2006 in Moab, UT: Last year at this time, Team Action-Learning.com raced in the world's premier expedition adventure race. 94 teams from all over the world gathered at a dude ranch near Moab, UT. We were surrounded by CBS and ESPN camera crews. The museum had images from all the John Wayne movies that were filmed nearby. Thelma and Louise drove their car over a nearby cliff. get the picture? After 3 days of skill and gear testing, we finally began our 10-day 450-mile race through the starkest land in the U.S. At times the temperature climbed to over 125 degrees and some canyons were closed to afternoon travel. Preserving body core temperature and hydration became primary. We rode a massive horse named Tiny, mountain biked forever, kayaked forever, trekked across the desert and canyons forever, and rappelled and ascended the largest climbing sections ever created. Our team finished 37th in the world. LESSONS LEARNED: Focus on the distance. Most teams dropped out because of heat-related injuries. By contrast, we decided not to run. It was a strange tactic, but paid off. We also decided to sleep for 2 hours every day, from 3:00-5:00 a.m. That way we could trick our bodies into thinking they were rested, while focusing on our goal. Just like any business endeavor in my world, or your world, that focus on the distant goal led to our success. Support one another when scared. By day two we were on a surreal, treeless landscape called Turtle Knob, looking down a cliff to the Green River. That cliff was at least 400'. It was our first rappel (descent) of 5 on the race course. A free rappel means that the cliff is overhanging, so once you are over the cliff you will swing around as you lower yourself down to safety. However, I could not move over the edge! Despite the fact that I have taught climbing for over 20 years, I was so scared that I could not move! I feared that I would lose control, fall 400' and SPLAT into the rocks below. I feared I would not see our children. I feared that I did not have enough life insurance. Thankfully, my teammate Jennifer was clipped to me on a parallel rope. Although she only weighs 110, her spirit is enormous. So is her faith. She calmly said, "Keep your faith Doug. Remember, this is why we came here. Trust the rope." And so I went down. My leather gloves turned black because I gripped the rope too hard. And my pants remain black from friction. Over time we did the other rappels. But that moment lingers -- a year later. Everyone gets scared. When scared, we need to support one another. Coaching questions may include: Who can you ask for support? Who can you support today? B. Charlotte, NC is not yet a center of adventure racing activity. However, it could become one. The mountains with 2200' elevation gain are within a 2-hour drive. And the US National Whitewater Center (USNWC), a massive artificial river with 3 channels, the host site for our Olympic kayak and whitewater teams, was just built here. It is a tremendous facility. As an opportunity to promote the USNWC, we created a series of short adventure races here. These are benefit events for the USNWC, because they need to increase visibility, and for the American Diabetes Association, because I have a family history of diabetes. One of my friends, Dr. Gerry Farris, is on the US Triathlon team and is committed to promoting healthy activities in this region. In April we had 60 racers. In May we had 75 racers. We hope to have over 200 racers in October. Details are at www.action-learning.com/adventure if you can join us! LESSONS LEARNED: Build a great team. This idea came like most do, when exercising with Gerry on a training run. When disassociating, such as running, I often get great marketing ideas that help me serve others in my business or personal life. We met the marketing director, Lance Kinerk, who is also an ironman triathlete. Later we went on a reconnaissance run with his staff, including Troy Rutten, the raft guide. Our goal was clear. Then we defined roles. Find your passion and support others. When you build it, they will come. For many years I did not talk about my passion for adventure racing with my coaching or training clients. Then I started to do so. Then I learned that when others saw my passion, and realized that it is a metaphor for supporting them, or their clients, in their business goals. Now I provide corporate training using an adventure racing theme. My hunch is that there is something similar, something tugging at you that is just around the next corner. Our passions change over time. I encourage you to find your passion that supports others. Then determine your next action steps. 3. ACTION STEPS AHEAD: Customer service for you, and financial advisorsMany of my clients are financial professionals. A longer form of this article was published online at Horsesmouth.com, where I am a contributing author. However, all of us need to focus on customer service. I hope these 4 tips help you. Creating Customer Delight -- 4 Tips Beyond customer service, which all successful advisors measure, this top producer measures customer delight. You can too, with these 4 tips. Editor's note: This case is based on an actual client whose name has been changed to protect his privacy. Many successful financial advisors measure customer service, with traditional measures such as process time, customer satisfaction, or portfolio increases. If that's all you are doing, then your practice is falling short. One of the metrics at Bank of America is customer delight, yet Wachovia currently scores higher. Customer delight is measured throughout service industries, from hospital care to fine restaurants to sales experiences. So, how do you create customer delight for your clients? Meet William. William has been an advisor for 4 years, in a fee-based business with $30 million in assets under management and an average monthly gross of $10,000. His business is representative of thousands of advisors. However, his customer delight practices make him unique. Virtually all of his clients are attorneys at big law firms in New York. He describes them as highly educated people. Most were at the top of their class, all of them are very busy, and all are charging at least $300/hour rates. Here are his 4 tips:
My question for you in your business is: What are you doing to create customer delight? Please forward this newsletter to any of your colleagues or friends! To add a colleague or friend to the action-learning newsletter: http://www.action-learning.com/contactus |
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