Creating Value

Posted on October 24, 2011 by pdncoach
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I have a rather innovative coaching client who is an entrepreneur in the information technology business.  One of the many great things about being a business coach is the opportunity I have to witness the birth of some truly great ideas. I often get to see them just as they first germinate, much like a forgotten acorn buried underground begins to spring forth toward what will eventually become a mighty oak tree.

My client burst forth with another new idea recently and, of course, began to struggle with marketing questions right from the outset of product invention.  How much should it cost to the customer?  I suggested a very basic question he should consider is this: Should his pricing strategy be built on volume or margin?

He wisely replied, “I want it built on value.”

Value is the issue, and a couple of other things that will help your decision-making with regard to marketing, sales and product launching:

  1. Difference between Marketing and Sales – Marketing is having the products that people want to buy; and Sales is helping people buy what they want from you (and/or your network). 
  2. Three Elements of Cost – Financial, Time and Change. Remember the difference between these three elements, and the nature of their currencies.

Value is produced from the prospect’s Commitment to Change
You can tap into a prospect’s Commitment to Change to increase their perceived value of your product (for example, with your marketing language and sales strategy).

People want to buy what they need from someone who understands what they want. 

Do you understand what your prospect’s value?

How might you help them recognize their own Commitment to Change, so they will buy what they want – no more or no less – and so they will buy it from you?

Join me at the Intersection of Purpose & Now.
Posted in cost, marketing, pricing, sales, strategy, three elements of cost, value | Leave a comment

Letter to a Person Being Coached

Posted on October 21, 2011 by pdncoach

Following is a letter that I send out to every one of my coaching clients at the end of what I call Phase 1 coaching. All my clients receive some form of this letter, whether I have coached them as individuals or they are part of a cohort, whether their reasons for hiring me were to increase sales, become a more effective leader or more satisfied in their careers.

If you have benefited from having a professional coach, how does this letter speak to you? If you have never enjoyed the many benefits of being coached professionally (Why not? :), how might this letter speak to you anyway?

Find your potential inside.

Congratulations on completing Phase 1 coaching! By now, you have put yourself in control of your own continuous development. You have not just completed another training program; you have learned what it takes to create sustainable change.

You should have a deeper sense of who you are, who you want to become, what you want to achieve…and how you will be successful. You have a plan for developing your potential to become the leader you can be – one that will make greater contributions to the ongoing success of your organization.

Leaders are made, not born. In fact, everyone has a capacity for leadership. It’s just that few use it. Those few have developed their leadership skills and a passion for life that attracts others to them. They have a clear sense of purpose for living, they continually achieve goals based on that purpose; in fact, they live life on purpose…and it shows. They improve the quality of life for themselves, for their families, for their organizations, for their communities and for the world around them.

Unless you plan to stop living, your goal-setting and goal-achievement days are never finished. If you have not defined a balanced set of personal and professional goals:

  • How can you prioritize them? 
  • How can they motivate you? 
  • How can you attain them? 
  • How can you be successful? 
  • How can you attract other successful people? 
  • How can you live life with a “magnificent obsession”? 
  • How can you make life a “magnificent obsession” for the people around you? 

Attitude is the magnet that will draw your desired results into view – IF your attitudes are positively charged. If your attitudes are negative, they will push you away from your goals. Will you need to face the negative attitudes of others? You bet. Just remind yourself that it is your belief and attitude that will determine your success. How you lead your life not only determines your future, it also determines the future of those around you. You are responsible.

What is your future and how will you invent it? How will you help others invent the future? Your future and the future of your organization will be determined by your ability to guide, direct, coach, and motivate individuals towards the accomplishment of goals through a continuous process of goal setting, planning, achieving, and evaluating. You have the tools you need to be successful, to evaluate continuously where you are and where you want to go.

“Courage becomes a reflection of a growing desire to become the kind of person you want to become, to have the kind of life you deserve, and to be the successful leader you are meant to be.” When you do what you say you are going to do, you will know what it really means to be complete, balanced, whole…to be successful.

Every life has a reason. Discover your purpose; test it by living each day On Purpose.

With great admiration,

Mark Sturgell, CBC ~ “Your coach for life”

Join me at the Intersection of Purpose & Now.
Posted in coaching, coaching letter, leadership | Leave a comment

Preparation

Posted on October 19, 2011 by pdncoach

Preparation = the action or process of making ready or being made ready for use or consideration.  

Preparations = something done to get ready for an event or undertaking.

When you think of “being prepared”, you most likely are thinking and acting intentionally; you are doing something now to ready yourself for something else in the future – something anticipated and planned.  I believe – no, I KNOW – there is another kind of preparation, the kind that transcends our own intentions.

Perhaps your current circumstances, actions and thoughts are also preparing you for the unanticipated.

Then
In 1988, I took a promotion, quite frankly, to escape from a rather evil new boss.  I actually turned down the promotion three times before accepting the fourth offer.  The job required me to make an undesired relocation to an undesired line of work – a direct service position helping people with disabilities become employed.

The executive who kept offering me the promotion knew my situation; he also knew my talents, perhaps better than I did.  I turned down the offer three times because:

  1. I did not want the job.
  2. I did not want to live in the community where I would need to relocate.
  3. I wanted to find my own job to pursue my writing and media relations career, not do job placement for others!
But I was becoming desperate and unable to find a position that met my expectations. I finally told the executive that the only way I would take the job was to “buy myself some time”, and that wasn’t fair.  His response?

“Mark, take the job. I think you will be great in this position; I think you will come to love it and I think you will stay for a long time.  If you do, you’ve done me a favor. If you don’t, and move on quickly, I’ve done you a favor.”

I took the job. I stayed nine years.  I become very good at it, helping more people into gainful employment than most of my professional peers. I completely recreated how the job is done, and began accepting speaking and training engagements on how I achieved success by doing things with a new approach.  I wrote a self-published book to help my clients.  After nine years, my work earned me an opportunity to move into the training and development field (five years directing a university-based corporate training operation) and today I am a business coach and founder of my own successful business (for the past nine years).
I didn’t know those unfortunate circumstances would lead me to a whole new career, to discover my purpose. I didn’t know this move, for which I was completely unprepared, would lead me into Right Livelihood.

For nine years, I wondered “Why am I here? Are you preparing me for something?”  I asked God the same questions in my prayers and spoke about it with others.  I got specific, too: “God, are you preparing me to be the parent of a child with disabilities?”

Now
In fact, I was being prepared for the life I now lead, not only starting my own business and the incredible opportunity to make a living at the work I do, but in August 1998 I became the parent of a child with Down Syndrome – my incredible son, Ryan, who is now age 13.
Sure, I now make my living helping professionals in business prepare for the future, develop vision, achieve goals, satisfaction and success.  I help people with dreams become leaders with vision – the purpose I discovered during those nine years of working with people with disabilities.  But I also respect the unknown, those things that are beyond our control, even beyond our knowing or anticipation.
I respect those things that are beyond our anticipation yet for which we are being prepared, for which we are intended.  Do you believe this?  What might happen if you did?  How might you appreciate the challenges you now face differently?
Join me at the Intersection of Purpose & Now.
Posted in career planning, disabilities, preparation, Purpose | Leave a comment