What must I do to be Successfully Innovative

Recently one of my Business Associates, Marcia Potts, sent me this brief question on Facebook:

Coach, what to do to be innovative and creative in order to earn some of this kind of doe (Like Apple recent record sales)? I am hoping to have some...even if it is 0.50%.

After some thought I responded as follows:

Hi Marcia, I agree with your wishes. The challenge is (1) To see the immediate future, (2) Understand your customers hopes and aspirations in this new future and (3) Be willing to take calculated risks in helping them achieve their dreams.

A brief question and a brief Facebook answer. But not so easy to do!

To really see the immediate future is to be constantly scanning your particular industry and associated industries and capturing the immediate trends. This is more of an art, a skill really, to differentiate what are just fads from what are truly trends. This is not analysis but synthesis, not breaking down and analyzing information and data but being able to pick up the varying clues and snippets of information and joining them to make a judgement or intuition. I believe Steve Jobs and Apple understood the shift away from desk-work to mobile social communication coupled with entertainment and its implications before most of us.

Then to understand your customers' hopes and dreams in this new evolving environment is not so much asking them through focus groups and questionnaires but in anticipating their aspirations even before they have them. In a sense it is knowing them better than they know themselves. Again the Apple Team understood the evolving dream to be able to easily create and consume personal multimedia content while on the go. This also is not analysis but insight through brainstorming.

And then the final step, to be willing to take calculated risks in helping them achieve their dreams. Apple did this by creating the new MacBooks with iLearn software, combined this with the iPod, iPhone and then iPad. Here again the genius is in the design. As Disney another mega successful creator says in their Process...First Dream and then Dare.

If you are interested in growing your business through Innovation send me an email at coachbengo@gmail.com and I'll be happy to visit you and chat on the possibilities.

Celebrating 8 yrs as a Business Coach

I can't believe it. But its true! When you are having fun time flies.

Its already eight years since I nervously left the security of a high paying/high flying Corporate Marketing Executive job and embarked on the adventure of being a self employed Business Coach specializing in Sales, Marketing and Customer Service. And what a ride it has been. Surprisingly, it has been the best years of my working career.

There have been times that I have missed the corporate flights to exotic lands, the VIP invitations to grand special events, the pictures and name in the newspapers, rubbing shoulders with the who's who and of course the guaranteed monthly salary and pleasant smiles of the bankers.

But I have gained so much more: the opportunity to chart my own course, more time with my family, being able to build a family business along with my wife, developing my God given talents, having time to devote to my church and surprisingly achieving better financial security. And all this in addition to: no more unending office meetings, no more office games and no more manipulated end of year reviews.

Its been an exciting eight years and the adventure has just begun. I have so many more plans, so many more paths off the beaten track to explore. No doubt some will be dead ends but with God's help a few will lead on to Glory.
"Sancho..my armour, my sword...Our destiny calls, and we go
And the wild winds of fortune
Shall carry us onward"

If you are interested in growing your business through Business Coaching send me an email at coachbengo@gmail.com and I'll be happy to visit you and chat on the possibilities.

Focus on Running

Recently, after much persuasion, I started running daily with my younger, fitter wife. In an effort to keep up with her rate of running I have been trying to improve my technique. Gradually I have realized that to run effectively I must run upright, swing my bent arms forward and backward in time with my strides, keep my head level and look forward to a goal far off while at the same time keep a look out for where I will place my next step.

It then occurred to me that running is much like leading a business. We operate a family business, Sandee Communications, offering Sales & Marketing Solutions, and I can see many similarities with my running effort.

We have to identify goals far off into the future and move steadfastly towards them while at the same time staying aware of our immediate surroundings and making immediate adjustments less we stumble and fall. And when we approach one goal we must then switch to another further ahead, always moving forward.

As a family business depending on personal services we have to maintain an identity and image of integrity and so we have to operate upright with our heads held high, not stooping to low dodges for a quick dollar.

And we must manage our strides making sure they are consistent and determined towards our goals, not resting in a comfort zone and stopping well short of our destination.

And swinging our arms rhythmically in time with our strides, keeping balance, reminds me that our day to day management must be in tandem with our strides forward, making sure our planning, organizing, directing and control keeps our organization fit for the immediate purpose.

I am making improvements in my running and I am closing the gap with my wife, now let me translate this success to our business.

If you are interested in growing your business through my coaching services send me an email at coachbengo@gmail.com and I'll be happy to visit you and chat on the possibilities.

Successful Business through Faith

Jesus said to them, "Children, have you caught anything to eat?" They answered him, "No." So he said to them, "Cast the net over the right side of the boat and you will find something." So they cast it, and were not able to pull it in because of the number of fish. ... "Bring some of the fish you just caught." So Simon Peter went over and dragged the net ashore full of one hundred fifty-three large fish. Even though there were so many, the net was not torn. Jn 21 1-19


This Bible passage says to me that our business ventures can succeed with the help of Jesus Christ.


Very often we labour 'all night' only to find that we have caught nothing. We may have identified a good service, prepared a good business plan and worked hard at implementing the plan, yet we find no success. Like the fishermen you may feel tired, discouraged and dejected.

Just recently our business sent out many quotes looking forward to a good catch of projects only to find our nets empty. It is at times like these I turn to Jesus Christ and this bible passage and once again throw our nets down on the right side hoping for a large catch and I am not disappointed.

Business Associate if you find yourself in this position today I urge you once again to prepare your nets, turn to Jesus Christ and lower your nets on the right side with FAITH and I promise you, you wouldn't be disappointed.

If you are interested in growing your business through Faith and proper planning send me an email at coachbengo@gmail.com and I'll be happy to visit you and chat on the possibilities.

Leadership through Service

Rather, whoever wishes to be great among you will be your servant; whoever wishes to be first among you will be the slave of all. St.Mark

The recent war of words between Wall Street and the US political directorate is interesting. Apparently many of the Wall Street institutions have used the “bailout” funds to play the trading floor and make considerable profits in the 3rd Quarter 2009. This despite the fact that lending to small businesses remain tight and unemployment continues to rise. If the political directorate is right (and naive) the hoped for usage of the funds for the betterment of Main Street has not come about. Instead it has been used for self interest of the few.

This leads us back to St Mark’s quotation of Jesus Christ. Unless as a people and as businesses we strive to serve the  many instead of the few we will all be faced with contraction instead of expansion.

As business people our effort should be for the betterment of the many, for both employees and customers. How can we strive in each of our business to serve the bottom of the pyramid? Can we use modern day technology to make our products and services more available for the many?

I suggest we all re-look at our value chain, in particular the distribution end and at our product portfolio to see if we can serve the many instead of the few.

If you are interested in growing your business through Leadership in Customer Service send me an email at coachbengo@gmail.com and I'll be happy to visit you and chat on the possibilities.

Small may be Better

When we consider a number of events coming together in this first decade of the new Century: (i) the recent “developed world” credit meltdown, (ii) the economic recession (iii) the fast accelerating Climate Change Scenario  (iv) the explosive growth in China and India (v) the new age of the knowledge worker - then probably - Small may be Better

Small is lower cost, it creates a smaller carbon footprint, it is more sustainable.

Are we witnessing the dawn of a new age of small: small business, small cars, small homes, small phones, small computers, small movies (YouTube), small consumption, small salaries, small online schools???

Is this just a hiccup in the Global growth train or are we witnessing a paradigm shift in values? Can one's business be small but still great?

If you are interested in making your small business Great send me an email at coachbengo@gmail.com and I'll be happy to visit you and chat on the possibilities.

Persuasive Presenting

Recently I was co-presenting a workshop on Business Communication along with my wife and business partner, Sandee, and it involved participants coming forward and making a presentation in front of the class while being videotaped. It struck me how self conscious we all are when making presentations. So much so that we focus on our mannerisms, speech and delivering the content while forgetting that we are in the business of persuasion.

A business presentation is usually a persuasive argument. You are trying to persuade the audience to believe in your point of view. Therefore your focus should be on the audience not on yourself or your PowerPoint slides. You should be looking at them for cues of attention and understanding. And the audience recognizing that you are speaking to them will increase their listening to your presentation.

I therefore thought I would share a few points that I have learned along the way that helps me be a more persuasive business presenter.

Prepare before you Speak
Before making the presentation, present it to yourself in front of the mirror until you are confident you have a full grasp of what you are planning to say, how you will use it to persuade your audience and how you will counter opposition to your ideas.

Use your Own Style
Speak from who you are, don’t pretend to be someone else. You don’t have to be Barak Obama to get your audience to listen. People want to hear what you really believe — there’s power in honesty. It’s not what you say, but how you say it, and how they hear it that counts. Over 65% of communication is in the non verbals and voice intonation with content being only 35%. Powerful speaking comes in many styles, and even a quiet-spoken introvert can learn to make himself heard.

The goal is not perfection, but persuasion.

Tell a Story
A story is one of the easiest and best ways to make a point. Recently I gave a one day workshop and later in conducting a performance review with my audience, I was surprised to learn, that the number one thing that the audience remembered was a story I told in passing, to make a point. People love stories, and it makes them know you are real. Stories stay with us forever.

Practice, practice, practice 
The best performing athletes at the recently concluded Olympic games all credited their success to the long hours of practice. It is said that world class players probably spend about 30 hours of field practice and film-watching for every 60-minutes of the game. Practice allows them to learn from their mistakes and perform better.

You will be more comfortable in making your presentation by time spent practicing. Arriving early to visit the site, testing the equipment and visualizing the audience can increase your comfort level.

Use Power Point as an aid
PowerPoint, is a useful tool it is not the presentation. You are the presentation. Far too often I see presenters stand and face the screen and present with only a casual glance back at the audience. Start and end your talk with a blank screen, so the focus is on what you are saying. The letter “B” on your keyboard blanks the screen.

- Start with a short story — something emotional, controversial or visual that makes an impact.

- Keep text to a minimum. Don’t read from your slides.

- Less is more. make fewer points per slide.

Make visual contact with individuals in the audience. If you connect with one, chances are you’ll be connecting with them all.

Good luck and persuasive presenting.

Teaching as Selling Ideas

Recently at one of my online seminars a participant asked me the question, “As a High School teacher, how do I sell an idea to my class?” And I thought I would repeat my answer here for the benefit of the teachers.

As a Coach I also am a teacher and I face the same difficulty and I understood her problem. Selling an idea to a class can be difficult, especially if its youths who  are very cynical, but the process is no different to selling a knowledge product or service to a customer.

As I say in my seminars “In todays knowledge age we are all sellers of ideas!” As knowledge workers we work with information to produce and distribute knowledge products and services.

Thomas Friedman says in his book “The World is Flat” that in this knowledge age the competition is global competition between individuals.

Yes, a teacher today is a seller of ideas in competition for the mind of her students against all the other idea sellers out there- the Internet, Facebook, movies, television, peers and the local drug pusher.

So as teachers how do we sell our ideas? We follow the selling process (i) Making the customer feel at ease (ii) Understanding the customer’s needs and problems (iii) Presenting our ideas as solutions to these specific needs and problems (iv) Proving that they are effective solutions (v) Closing the sale

The selling process is a sequence of activities. We do not move on to the next stage before we have adequately covered a step. And if we do prematurely move on we return to the incomplete stage and complete it.

So in stage (i) The teacher is required to make the student feel at ease by gaining his/her confidence. In this first stage we recognize that the student is suspicious of our motives as teachers, anxious and probably intimidated or in some cases distrustful. Before we can proceed to sell any idea we must first gain the students trust. This is done by showing genuine concern for his/her well being and welfare. You must show that you have their best interest at heart.

This calls for dedication and integrity because students are particularly turned off by what they see as double standards or selfish motives. It is often repeated by delinquent students that they joined a gang because the members understood them and cared about them more than their teachers.

Once you have gained their trust you move on to the second stage (ii) Understanding their problems.

I’ll continue with this topic in another episode. Until then - Happy Selling!!

Believe in Your Service

Recently a participant at one of my seminars said to me “Coach I am not doing well in Sales because I am too honest. My Sales Presentation goes well but when it comes to closing the sale I speak the truth and often it results in a lost sale. My peers do not tell the truth and succeed in closing the Sale.”

I could see the anguish and look of hopelessness in her eyes and I was moved by her pain. My immediate response was to use the opportunity to correct an often mistaken belief, that selling is trickery and deception. It is true that some less than honest individuals and companies deceive customers but I do not call them sales persons or sales organizations but crooks. Deception is short lived and cannot sustain customer loyalty.

A true salesperson on the other hand solves a client’s problem with his product or service. All products have strengths and weaknesses. And a master sales person communicates how his product or service’s strengths can solve the customer’s problem. He focuses on the benefits of the service and explains its value and proves it can solve the problem or meet the need. A master sales person, if required, communicates how weaknesses of the product or service can be compensated for with additional service.

In this case my participant had a problem and even though it was in a seminar with others I was determined to solve her problem with my solution. I explained to her that more likely it was either a weakness in her closing skills or a lack of total product knowledge. Either way we would deal with these skills during the course of the seminar. Later during the respective parts of the seminar I paid special attention in helping her build those respective skills. I am glad to report that she left the seminar more knowledgeable and confident in her closing skills.

A successful sales person believes in her product or service. And believes she is truly selling an appropriate solution. If she doesn’t believe the service is a solution its normally because she does not have sufficient product knowledge. I believed in my service and was confident that I could help her overcome her mistaken belief.

If you’re serious about dramatically growing your sales then you must truly believe in and know your product or service and believe that you are truly helping solve the customer’s problem.

Improving sales confidence is one of the areas I deal with in my seminars and workshops. If you would like to dramatically grow your sales then email me at coachbengo@gmail.com or coachbengo@mac.com