Abes bagels/Mums scones !

Edition 118 Monday 28th November 2011

Hi,talk about fear, I have never known anything like it and hope I don’t ever again…yes the old Auckland Sky Tower was certainly responsible for instilling the fear of heights in me. It was about this time each year that my dad used to take us to the Farmers Trading Company building in the City as a Christmas treat(yeah right). The trip included some christmas shopping, lunch, hooning around the legendary rooftop kids playground…..and a visit to the ‘sky tower’ viewing platform. Unlike its modern day Sky City equivalent the Farmers tower still ranks as one of my worst childhood memories. So you wont catch me lining up to visit our customers on the highrise building projects around town. This was something I sheepishly recounted when asked to talk about my worst fears at a Toastmasters meeting recently……interesting how you wish you could but you never do forget this embarrassing stuff.

Thankfully the weather gods smiled favorably on the Green Gorilla sales team as we took time out to recognise and celebrate a busy and successful year of taking on the big guys….well done team, long may the fun and excitement continue.

Mums fresh baked scones and jam provided an afternoon tea  highlight on the Sunday motorbike ride to Devonport as we had fun relaxing with family and friends and making the most of the weather.

I hope you also got a chance to relax and catch up with friends and family this weekend to recharge the batteries in anticipation of another big working week ahead….have a good one, cheers Jonesey !

Harry Jones is loving his new improved and enlarged back yard, lots of room for good mates Oscar and Katie to create havoc in the hood.

Failed in business in 1831

Ran for the legislature and lost in 1832

Failed once again in business in 1834

Sweetheart died in 1835

Had a nervous breakdown in 1836

Lost a second political race in 1838

Deafeated for Congress in 1843

Defeated for Congress in 1846

Defeated for Congress in 1848

Defeated for US Senate in 1855

Defeated for Vice President in 1856

Defeated for US Senate in 1858

The man was Abraham Lincoln, elected sixteenth president of the United States in 1860.

I had such a cool week, it started amazingly with heaps of feedback from so many of you about positive customer service experiences, thanks to all of you who took the time to share ‘upbeat’ info.

Then after a lean couple of weeks with following up proposals and sales tenders it all happened and we got some long awaited authorisation to proceed from some of my oldest quotes in the system ! WINS are beautiful when you have pursued them so relentlessly without getting the nod, what a buzz. The amazing thing is that it becomes infectious and we found that by feeding off each others success we ended up having one of our most successful new business sales weeks ever!

Just like with Abraham Lincoln’s track record above the key thing he never stopped doing was believing he would ultimately be successful….like all good sales people ! It is hard to stay positive at times when it seems everything is against you or things are not looking likely to break your way. I never stopped believing we could win the business but I would be dishonest if I didn’t admit to having lots of doubts along the way,awesome feeling, looking forward to working hard for more wins soon.

“Frustration,Aggressiveness,Insecurity,Lonliness,Uncertainty,Resentment,Emptiness-these are the elements of the failure(F.A.I.L.U.R.E.)mechanism.These are the enemy.” Maxwell Maltz

Razzle, Dazzle !!

                                                      

Edition 117 Monday 21st November 2011

Hi,its hard to beat the adrenalin rush of a motorbike ride, it has been far too long since the Suzuki Retro got to stretch her legs, memo to self don’t let it happen again this Summer. We took the opportunity to check out some of the worlds best triathletes this weekend in the Auckland ITU event on the city of sails waterfront. How cool to see Andrea Hewitt, Kris Gemmell and Bevan Docherty on the podium and at the top of their game on the world stage…..roll on London Olympics ! Certainly made me keen to get back in to it in the new year all going well. She is a tough road saving the planet but hey someone has to do it and this weekend I was on call representing Green Gorilla Bins at the coal face, the sharp end of the environmental cutting edge. It was a buzz as all hell broke loose and our customers got into the building, construction, DIY swing of things. It was a pleasure to sign plenty of business as the enquiry came thick and fast, thanks to all our customers for their continued support and positive feedback. I love providing exceptional customer service and it is especially rewarding when good service self fulfills and manifests itself into referral and additional business.The personal touch combined with a small willing and enthusiastic team determined to deliver on the service promise is a powerful combination for any business. I was encouraged to dig out a framed poster I bought at the Avondale Market a few years ago that says it all in my view. It is a picture of a giant lion and says…….”Customers are King in our business, customers make paydays possible” The poster has pride of place at my desk. I never thought I would enjoy working the weekend so much, crikey making money is simple and can be lots of fun.

I hope you had fun too this weekend with family and friends. Have a great week…..cheers Jonesey!

Harry Jones the planet saving hound is a proud member of the Green Gorilla team!

I saw this poster on a Toyota dealership wall once;

What is a customer?

A customer is the most important person ever in this office…in person or by mail.

A customer is not dependent on us…we are dependent on him or her.

A customer is not an interruption of our work…they are the purpose of it. We are not doing them a favour by serving them…they are doing us a favour by giving us the opportunity to do so.

A customer is not someone to argue or match wits with. Nobody ever won an argument with a customer.

A customer is someone who brings us their wants. It is our job to handle them profitably to them and ourselves.”

Ever since seeing this I have used it in every role I have ever held in a company. It says everything about the importance of customers to a business. It is a creed or ethos that should be followed by every business. Ideally,every employee should refer to this before , during and after every day in a business serving customers. As my $10 poster from the Avondale Market above so rightly said without customers paydays are not possible. We would all do well to remember this in our jobs because it is obvious that a number of businesses lose sight of this and struggle because of it.

This weekend has been a timely reminder for me and for us all as we approach an important part of our financial year where making every post a winning one is essential prior to the break….good luck !

“Customer service isnt about satisfaction. Its about dazzlement.” Chip R. Bell

Ordinary bloke, extraordinary New Zealander!

                                                      

Edition 116 Monday 14^th November 2011

Hi, the road back to fitness is a long winding one, there is the odd hill for good measure. I have had setbacks and these have thankfully been off set with some little wins along the way. I will never underestimate the importance or value of fitness and health nor will I ever not listen to my body again…..time is a great healer. That said I am ahead of schedule (of course) and happy with my progress. No,Cameron Brown the champion Iron Man is not shaking in his boots yet but he needs to keep an eye out.Boris the injured Jones cat is also proving time is his best friend as he continues to recover slowly. The minor birds who nest annually in our letter box are thankful Boris is temporarily off the predator list! After making do for a number of years with a make shift BBQ and resisting the temptation to upgrade I finally weakened, mortgaged the house(again) and got a new one ! Crikey it is scooby doo, almost too scared to wear it out, I am sure I will get over it as the summer and festive season approaches rapidly…..bring it on.  

I hope you had a relaxing weekend with family and friends. Have a great week, cheers Jonesey!

Harry Jones the #1 BBQ assistant hound chef welcomes the new oven with open paws!

“It has been very humbling. It shows that New Zealand is full of good bastards.”

Jup Brown….Kiwi Legend

I love reading inspirational stories about ordinary blokes or blokess’s just like you and I who achieve extraordinary things. I have been following one such story about someone who fits the bill perfectly.

Jup Brown is definitely one of those people in my eyes. He has just completed a run of 2900km in 67 days through New Zealand . That is one and a half times the length of New Zealand and 40-50km for every day along the way! The 38 year old plumber from Wanaka ran to raise awareness and money for The Stroke Foundation. Tragically there are 45,000 stroke survivors in New Zealand who need help to reach their full potential.

He was inspired and accompanied by his good mate Nick Chisholm, the amazing thing about that is Nick became a stroke victim as a 27 year old after a rugby accident. It left him unable to walk or talk! Incredibly Jup ran a 100km fundraiser earlier that raised $40k to buy Nick a special bike so he could make the NZ run! Two ordinary blokes combining their amazing enthusiasm and determination to do their bit for many other similarly affected kiwis, an extraordinary success story

I remember watching an interview on Campbell live as they set off and being moved to tears as they were both interviewed with Nick answering questions by pointing to letters on a board that made the words of his reply !...incredible. I will also always remember Jup saying to the reporter that the marathon he was about to embark on had taken on a special significance as his dad had also recently had a stroke! In classic bloke style he had said to his dad after the stroke “you better not die mate or I will come to the funeral and punch you in your coffin.” The following is a powerful extract from the article that sums it all up perfectly, I hope you get something positive from it to launch your week!

 “Jup has simple advice for people who are battling adversity in their own lives:”Keep trying and believe that nothing is impossible. We all have challenges in our lives but you never know what you can achieve if you keep at it. Dream big because you determine whether you will get there or not. I know that after running this I will never say that something is impossible again. But the best advice I can offer is…get a lot of people to support you. The people I have met have given me the power and mental strength to achieve this.”

“There are always people worse off than me, and we need to remember that” Jup Brown (ordinary bloke, extraordinary New Zealander)

Funny that.....

Hi ,funny, if trees could talk I am sure they would laugh and joke when they watch us religously sweeping up leaves underneath them! I particularly hate trying to sweep a leaf that is lying shiny side up as the broom slips across the top, I get ratty and tired with those ! Funny what you think about when you are doing this monotonous yet semi- enjoyable weekly task. I remember one of my first jobs involved sweeping leaves in autumn from under the giant oak trees lining the streets of Devonport. On a windy day there were more leaves falling than I could ever hope to sweep, nearly killed me trying to keep up….must have looked hilarious to the locals who all stopped to admire my desperate efforts. All that aside our yard briefly looks nice after it is swept although probably to the total amusement of the big Pohutukawa on our boundary. Funny also how good having a swept yard can make you feel along with other simple stuff like walking the dog, planting vegies and sowing a new lawn,rigging a new clothesline,cleaning out chest of draws and wardrobes or hanging a favorite picture . These were all things we managed to get done this weekend after promising ourselves to do so for a few weeks. Most satisfying and rewarding to sit back and admire some honest toil around the homestead.Funny again how it is the simple things that don’t cost you millions of dollars or too much time yet give you the most simple joy in life. Funny how easy it is to lose sight of that sometimes as we all seem to be moving so fast these days, slow down sweep some leaves, watch the new grass and plants grow and soak up some of lifes simple pleasures see how much better you will feel…….funny that!

I hope you had a relaxing weekend achieving something you have been meaning to do too with family and friends. Have a great week, cheers Jonesey!

Harry the hound loves his new lawn and is doing his bit to landscape and fertilize it!

“Our job is to avoid the pitfalls, seize the opportunities and be home by six oclock”

 Woody Allen

I am the official timer at our next Toastmasters meeting. It has been a while since I was the timer and it is a timely (excuse the pun) reminder of not only the importance of the role but for me the importance of staying on time generally. The role of timer is as it suggests is to keep the meeting on track and ensure that every role in the meeting is timed and stays to the agreed time. One of the great things about Toastmasters is that everything has a time allocated to it. This assists members to prepare material that fits with the time allocated to each particular task. I am looking forward to the role and to organizing myself to be able to do the best job possible in assisting the ‘Toastmaster’ run another effective and powerful meeting.

So that is the ‘what’ and ‘how’ of the Toastmasters role, now what about me as an individual?? A different story, as I mentioned recently about my driving habits, I have a bad habit of not allowing enough time to get to meetings and always have to rush meaning I am invariably late…..not a good look ! Have you noticed when you are running late you get every red light and end up behind every grandparent heading to the local housie or RSA meeting (sorry Mum and Dad!) but its true ! What is it with that?  Or…..I will leave it until the last minute to prepare a presentation, tender document or quote after in some cases having had weeks to do so ! And then I will rush around panicing to get the thing done on time unsettleing everyone in my wake and ending up with a rushed job and often placing the business at risk. A former manager once said to me “CJ you have all the time there is and no one can give you anymore” How true that is, “like the hour glass of time, these are the days of our lives.”So my advice to you in true Toastmasters timer fashion, two key things;1)You live in Auckland,always allow extra time to get where you are going and get there early and 2) Never put off till tomorrow what you can do today!

“Next week there cant be any crisis. My schedule is already full.” Henry Kissinger