This week we’re all thinking about one of our newest members, Anthony Connor, who will be the final bit of training into the next few days before he goes off to Barcelona next weekend to take part in his first Ironman event. Which consists of…
2.4 mile sea swim…
112 mile cycle ride…
26.2 mile run…
…all to be completed in less than 17 hours. Those of us who heard his inspiration slot the other week are probably all still reeling from the sheer tenacity that Anthony possesses, because two years ago he suffered a massive stroke. His first challenge was simply to learn to walk again. But his determination was such that a 5k race was his next goal, then a 10k run, and he kept on working at his fitness until this endurance event. So whilst many of us have done our bit for charity in recent years, we’re all supporting him in his fundraising efforts because he’s challenged himself in the last two years in ways that we could probably never dream of.
His fundraising page on Justgiving is here http://www.justgiving.com/anthonyconnor1 – so let’s do something worthwhile this week!

This week, Mike Donovan treated us to an insight of what helps motivate him in business, especially the success he’s created with Network M. It comes from W. Clement Stone’s book which explains that sales is, essentially, applied common sense.

Right from the beginning – when meeting with potential customers for the first time – you should have a plan to help with your presentation. For Mike, he created the RASP approach – Reliability, After Sales Service, Specification and Price. This all helps to maintain a focus – and all you have to do is close the deal!

Andy Snowden used the Inspiration Slot to remind us all that it is often faster and more cost efficient to do a job properly the first time. Rushing, cutting corners or using inferior materials often result in expensive and time-consuming efforts to put the problem right afterwards. It doesn’t cost any more to do a proper job!

However, we’re reminded of the wise words of John Ruskin, who said:
“It’s unwise to pay too much, but it’s worse to pay too little. When you pay too little, you sometimes lose everything, because the thing you bought was incapable of doing the thing it was bought to do. The common law of business balance prohibits paying a little and getting a lot – it can’t be done. If you deal with the lowest bidder, it is well to add something for the risk you run. And if you do that, you have enough to pay for something better.”

Last week, Tanya Simister gave us a new perspective on turning a negative comment into something positive during our weekly Inspiration Slot.
“Receiving a response of ‘No’ does not mean failure, in fact ‘No’ can be the most empowering word. It can mean that you’re busy and if you said ‘Yes’ then the service may not be up to your usual standard. People are often prepared to wait, if you are busy, as that can give an insight into your business and also the quality of your work.
When selling, people are searching for a response of ‘Yes’ but if you work out how many answers of ‘Yes’ you want, then turn it on its head and work out how many ‘No’ responses you expect to receive to achieve that desired number. Set your ‘No’ goal higher because this will increase your ‘Yes’ quota and thus your sales.
So never be afraid of failure as it can ultimately equal success – as Richard Fenton and Anita Waltz’s book “Go for No!” says “Yes is the destination, No is how you get there.”