s women entrepreneurs, business leaders, and trailblazers, we often use the cry of Sisterhood as our mantra. Yet, I find that we are not living up to that sisterhood at times.
In my business, I work with entrepreneurs. I help them to develop their businesses. Some of my clients are keynote speakers. They hire me to get them speaking engagements, coach them within their businesses or help to manage their businesses. A good portion of my clients are women.
Lately, I have been calling on some women organizations to book my female clients for their events. What I discover is that some of the events have “Women Empowerment” and/or “Sisterhood” as the themes. Yet when I speak with the event planners, they say things like we don’t pay our speakers! What!? Watch the video to see my opinion on this matter…
Let me know your thoughts on how we can improve this and really stand behind “Women Empowerment” in the name of “Sisterhood!”
“Go for it.” “Dig!” This was my high school volleyball coach yelling at us in practice. She always reminded us to Be Proactive. We shouldn’t wait for the ball to get to us before we move. We were to anticipate where it was going and move towards that area. She encouraged us to get in the right position in order to get to the ball first. Our volleyball team was not the best in the area. Frankly, we were dead last! But her lesson stuck with me over these years.
A few years later, I encountered this concept of “Be Proactive” again when I was introduced to Stephen’ Covey’s The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. With this principle Covey encourages us to Be Proactive about the scripts that we use for our lives and take responsibility for them. He also encourages us to engage with others in a positive manner in order to broaden our circles of influence. This will often put you in the right position to succeed, to get to the ball first.
Being proactive serves me well. When I worked in the corporate world, if I knew of a position that was available in an area that would help me to grow in my career; I would learn what were the qualifications for the position in order to assess how my credentials stacked up against the requirements. I was setting myself up to get to the ball first.
If there were any gaps, I worked to gain the knowledge and the experience to fill those gaps. I also spoke with the people doing the job to learn the pros and the cons of the position. This helped me to make an informed decision of whether it was a right fit for me or not. This also allow others to know that I was serious about my interest in the position. Being proactive also boosted my confidence level. More often than not, I would get the position…hitting the ball right over the net.
The times that I wasn’t proactive about taking action were generally times when I didn’t achieve what I wanted. They were times when I fell short of the goal. Being reactive puts me at a disadvantage more than not…in other words losing. Do you find this to be true also for you?
Stephen Covey advises that we can be proactive by using self-awareness to select the right scripts for our lives. We must also take responsibility for these scripts, because we are the ones who chose them.
In his podcast #131: How To Make Politics Work in Your Favor, keynote speaker and author Dre Baldwin uses the word Politics in an unorthodox way to demonstrate how not Being Proactive can hurt you. He states that if you lose a job position that you wanted to someone else, it is your own fault. You didn’t develop your “Politicking” skills to be proactive about getting the position.
Mr. Baldwin also shares recommendations for Being Proactive through better “politicking” techniques. The first thing he recommends is to improve your people’s skills. Sounds familiar…this is part of Covey’s recommendation not necessary stated in the same way. Being proactive about learning how to work best with others is a strong part of being successful. There are other steps that Mr. Baldwin shares to help you can develop your “Politicking” skills to gain more success. Listen to the podcast here #131: How to Make Politics Work in Your Favor.
Being Proactive in life has it’s advantages. Here are some of the benefits of practicing Being Proactive:
Save you Time and Money
Make you more prepared to handle most situations
Gets you the guy or girl (had to throw that in there)
Recognize earlier on when to make a change
Develops Self-confidence
Expend less energy
Brings peace of mind
Looking back I can definitely say that Being Proactive feels a lot better that being reactive. What are some methods you use to Be Proactive? Let me know. I’d like to hear from you.
For those of you that are in reactive mode, what are you waiting for? “Go after it!” “Dig!” Put yourself in the right position to hit the winning ball now!
Thank you for reading my post. Please hit the “follow” button at the top of the page to allow me to share more Purposeful thoughts, ideas and experiences with you. Feel free to leave a comment or share the article with others.
Marlene M. Bryan is a Distinguished Toastmaster, DTM. She is a certified speaker and leader by Toastmasters International. She is currently member of the Public Relations Team. She provides her services to over 3800 members throughout the district. Marlene is the owner of Small Biz Evolution, LLC. She is a Speaker, an Author and a Business Manger/Agent for Professional Speakers.
Drained and hungry after a flight from Florida Philadelphia, Dawnna St. Louisand I decided to get something to eat at one of the airport restaurants. :We decided to eat at Legal Sea Foods. I ordered soup and salad. When: the server, Edwin, brought our food I noticed that the salad did not have cranberries. I really thought cranberries will add a nice flavor to the salad.
I asked Edwin if they had cranberries. He said he would check. It was about 6-8 minutes before he reappeared with the cranberries. Pleasantly surprised, I told him I thought that they didn’t have it, because it took a while for him to get back. Edwin said: “We don’t. I went around to the Chinese restaurant to get them. I knew they have them.”
Wow! Dawnna and I were so impressed by this. Edwin could have simply said: “No, we don’t have them,” and continue on with his day. But he didn’t. Edwin provided superior customer service by going out of his way to give me with what I wanted. You know that earned him a great tip.
Now, you may say that this was not so significant. It was a small gesture and he was doing it for tips. For me, it was a big gesture. One that left me with a great impression not only of Edwin but of Legal Seafood. I will definitely visit the establishment again.
Edwin’s actions is a great example of the way customer service will win you new clients. As an entrepreneur, you cannot discount the value of providing your clients with the best customer service that you can. Here are some tips I gathered from my experience with Edwin:
Listen to your clients: Take the time to hear what challenges your client is facing, or what he or she wants. When people know that you are truly listening to them, they know you care. Therefore, they are more apt to do business with you.
No shouldn’t be the first answer: Before you say “No,” think of the issue your client is experiencing or what they want. Is there a solution that you can provide that will not cost you a lot of money, time and significant effort to provide it? By providing the solution, does it bring greater dividend in the long run? If so, go ahead and deliver it.
Let them know what you did: This one may not feel right to everyone, but I learned early in my corporate career that sometimes you have to do this. How will they know that you care enough to give them this special service, if you don’t tell them? It is similar to telling your manager what you did to deserve a raise or a promotion.
Don’t discount the Power of Great Customer Service: More than likely you have experienced good and bad customer service. Lately, it seems that the latter occurs more often than the former. Ensure that your company is delivery customer service that your clients are willing to tell people about it and recommend your company.
Provide the proper customer service training: Lack of proper customer service training for your employees can kill your business. I have seen it often enough. You may save money up front by not paying for training, but you will lose much more if your staff doesn’t know how to provide your clients with good customer service.
Lesson learned: Superior Customer Service = Happy Clients = Revenue Growth.
Upon leaving the restaurant, I asked Edwin if the restaurant had a Tweeter account. I told him I wanted to send out a tweet about how impressed I was by his service. He said he didn’t know if they did, but he was so happy I was pleased with his service. He raised his hands above his head, pumped his fists and chanted: “Edwin, Edwin, Edwin.” Dawnna and I had no choice but to laugh. Edwin’s gesture made me feel that I had truly entered the City of Brotherly Love. What a great way to start our business trip on a hight note.
Thank you for reading my post. Please hit the “follow” button at the top of the page to allow me to share more Purposeful thoughts, ideas and experiences with you. Feel free to leave a comment or share the article with others.
Marlene M. Bryan is a Distinguished Toastmaster, DTM. She is a certified speaker and leader by Toastmasters International. She is currently the District 47 Public Relations Officer, and leader of the Public Relations Team. She provides her services to over 3800 members throughout the district. Marlene is the owner of Marlene M. Bryan, Corp and Small Biz Evolution, LLC. She is a Speaker, an Author and a Business Coach.
