"BIG" is GOOD !!!!!

Edition 124 Monday 30th January 2012

Hi, happy birthday Auckland, and thanks to our city forefathers who decided we should all receive an annual Anniversary long weekend to celebrate! Anniversary weekend is a time for us Jafa’s to reflect on what a great place we live in. It’s a day we can take some time out to enjoy one of many jewels in Aucklands crown.I hope you were able to do just that either in parks and forests or on beaches, boats,islands,mountains or tracks there is certainly a lot to do and be grateful for if in this great city.

The following is favourite extracts from a Herald article over 100 years ago describing the Anniversary regatta on Waitemata Harbour, check out the amazing word pictures, I love this…..

“The harbour gleamed and rippled so that one understood why the Maori’s named it ‘Waitemata’ or ‘shining water. Shining it was with a thousand hues-golden and opaline. And over its broad expanse swept scores and scores of whitesailed boats; the finest squadron of sailing craft in the southern world manned by the finest class of sailors. Purely from a scenic point of view yachting on the Auckland Harbour was something worth studying. The stately beautiful creations gliding with noiseless speed over the water, their sails white against the clear surface of azure blue made pictures fascinating. So varied so extensive are these sailing grounds that none among the oldest of Auckland yacthsmen knows them all,and he who knows them best longs the most to still explore”.

Nothing has changed over the years as yesterday the Harbour came to life again with thousands of Aucklanders taking to the sparkling Waitemata against the background of Mt Victoria, North Head, Bastion Point and triple coned Rangitoto Island. Yes we are blessed so best not to be complacent about where we live, best to get out and enjoy it,happy birthday Aucklanders…cheers Jonesey

 Harry and the Hendersons love anniversaries, long weekends and any chance to party hard and then sleep it off while the vacuum chokes on the furry fall out !

 “Fish where the fish are”……A learned fisherman

This quote might seem obvious but every day, week, month sales people everywhere waste a lot of time fishing for sales in all the wrong places.

Its all about knowing your products and target market for them. Again this may seem obvious but too many sales people and companies don’t know their customers or their market?

Here is a recent example of mine……there is a large multi national company that is a prime candidate for our range of environmental services. I am responsible for sales to that customer. They have a staff cafeteria located in their head office that is also open to the public. Not many people know this but I was lucky enough to find it out through one of my contacts in this company. I now make a point of meeting this guy over a coffee in their café. By doing this I have been introduced by him to a number of the other divisional managers who are now also contacts. I have also established that most of their divisions are members of their respective industry associations (eg; Master Builders, Contractors Federation etc) This is called fishing where the fish are and can result in a lot of leads and sales being made. It is not rocket science and good business for sales people to quickly establish where the fish are by simply asking plenty of questions and for referrals to other contacts within the same industry sector. I asked for referrals last week when I was with a good customer and received two full pages of leads from within their industry sector. I was pleased that our hungry green gorilla sales team had called on most of these but receiving the list was a good result.  I called on a govt department last week and asked about others in the same sector and discovered they were about to combine their environmental requirements into one tender. We got the short list of preferred tenderers! Lessons; 1)Find out where the fish are and fish there 2)Always ask for referrals 3)Join industry associations related to your business 4 )Read industry publications related to your business.

“Excite, Ex=excellence, c=customer,i=integrity,te=team” Mega Mitre 10 internal values…….. BIG is good!.....best of luck sales sizzzzzzlers!!

BIGB

K.I.S.S.

                                                      

Edition 122 Monday 16^th January 2012

Hi, Happy New Year and welcome to the start of 366 days (yes 2012 is a leap year !) full of opportunity, challenge, success, failure, happiness, sadness, wins, losses, grins, frowns, laughter, tears, celebrations, deliberations and above all else excitement ahead.

Life is too short to drink bad coffee so we were happy to beat off all other Trademe bidders for our very own Breville Barista machine complete with milk frothy thingy. The Latte’s and Flat whites were cranking and legendary status was soon reached at café 48 ! Needless to say the caffeine investment has paid for itself many times over (doesn’t take long at $5 bucks a pop !).

We were also lucky enough to do a deal on a pre loved leather lounge suite for a bargain so decided to sneak it in to the budget and the house as our chrissy present to each other,problem is we love it so much we have spent a lot of time relaxing on it in the last few weeks….yes,the perfect gift.

To that end I have enjoyed finishing the Shaun Quincy book Trans Tasman Trespasser 2 about him rowing the Tasman single handed emulating his Dad (recommended amazing read). I also read a book called ‘Ultra Marathon Man’ about a guy Dean Karnazes who was an amazing athlete who pushed his body to unbelievable extremes to cover hundreds of miles without stopping. In one example he ran from his home in San Francisco 100 miles through the night to the start of a marathon in the Napa Valley, he arrived 5 minutes before the start grabbed something to eat and then proceeded to chop out the marathon in 3 hours 15 mins !!! another recommended read.

We moved 10km to the local store 3 times in 2 weeks and in between caught plenty of Zzzzzzzzzz and enjoyed hosting family for chrissy day and friends. We boogie boarded and exercised between naps, watched TV movies and generally embraced the change of pace…life doesent get any better.

Boris the cat has mended well and is now out of his cage and loving his new dedicated ‘dog free ‘ area downstairs. The free spa pool trial nears completion in Ranui Heights and life is generally good for the Joneses, hope the same goes for you and yours….looking forward to another big one !

I hope you all had or continue to have a relaxing and enjoyable festive/holiday season with family and friends and that 2012 has started and continues well for you privately and professionally.

 Have a good one, Cheers Jonesey

Harry the hound loves being in the ‘Dog Box’…only place for a hound to be truly happy !

 “In the Dog Box?......flowers help” Seen outside flower shop Henderson…..clever marketing.

Crikey another year is upon us and already off to a flying start, things to do , people to see sales figures to meet. Tough times don’t last, tough people do though.

Lots of hype about new year resolutions and goals as you come to expect at this time of year.

Rather than come up with an elaborate list of goals and things you are committed to changing I am in favour of a K.I.S.S. solution …. Yes there is no substitute for keeping things simple my friends.

So….here is what you do……you only need one goal, one focus for 2012……..wait for it…………………:

GOAL 101……Continually strive to improve everything you do this year………..so;

• If you are in sales …sell more every day, week , month continually challenge yourself.
• Seek opportunities to improve, training, reading books, join clubs, industry groups
• Communicate more effectively……join Toastmasters (you knew it was coming !!)
• If you are trying to give something up, try harder seek more help get better.
• Help others get where they need to go and you will grow, develop and achieve yourself
• Be a better, son, daughter, mother, father, friend, husband , wife, partner…commit.
• Get it?.......go to it………good luck, have a great year.

“If its to be… its up to me”.   Daily quote for all ‘Upbeat’ people to say as they look in the mirror!