Are You Really Focusing on Your “A” Clients?

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I was talking to my friend and colleague Lewin Williams yesterday. Lewin is a financial services consultant who helps other financial services consultants improve their business. Lewin’s philosophy—the one that has made a big difference for his clients—is simply this:

Focus on your “A” clients.

Now that sounds simple and obvious, doesn’t it? Focus on the 20% of your clients who bring in 80% of the results. Obvious, right?

Except that it isn’t.

If it were really that obvious, everyone would be doing it, ...

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Why Good Magicians–and Good Leaders–Have a Plan B

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[Tweet “Why Good Magicians–and Good #Leaders–Have a Plan B”]

In card magic, there are a number of secret moves, or “sleights,” that all self-respecting magicians must master. I still remember spending hours, days, and weeks practicing maneuvers like the side pass, the Elmsley count, the glide, and many others. I got fairly good, although my professional magician friends can run circles around me. I was a pretty good amateur, but I was never a master.

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Stop Treating Your Stars Like Crap!

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I’ll always remember the first time I met Jay Leno. It was around 1986, and I was the executive producer of Seattle’s legendary comedy TV show Almost Live! Jay was coming into town for some corporate event, and he had agreed to do a guest spot on our show. We’d arranged to pick Jay up at the airport, so at the appointed time I, along with our show host Ross Shafer (who already knew Jay), and a pre-“Science Guy” Bill ...

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You Are NOT Your Customer’s Responsibility

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You do a great job for a customer, and you’re set! That customer will never forget you! Right? Wrong! As it turns out, it is NOT your customer’s job to remember you!

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You Can’t Please Everyone…Nor Should You!

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Are you feeling unloved and underappreciated? That’s okay! You can’t please everyone…nor SHOULD you!

Motivational Speaker Bill Stainton

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The Blame Game – Ever Played It?

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Stop Trying to Fix the Mirror

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I don’t know what world you live in. I mean that literally. I don’t know what business you’re in, what your customers think of you, how people treat you–I don’t know any of those things. I don’t know what world you live in. But one thing that I do know, with certainty, is this:

Your world is a mirror that reflects who you are.

Motivational Speaker Bill Stainton

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The Simple Depth of Mr. Rogers

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award-winning performanceI was flipping through the TV channels last night, trying desperately to avoid any Kardashian-related programming, when I came upon a breath of fresh air. It was a PBS biography of everybody’s favorite neighbor, Fred Rogers, who left us in 2003. I only managed to catch a few minutes of this show, but in it I heard a quotation from Mr. Rogers that I hadn’t heard before:

It is my ...

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It’s Okay to Say “No” to the Wrong Customer

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I was at an event recently where one business speaker asserted that there were four words you should never tell a customer: “I can’t do that.” And he had some very good reasons for this assertion:

Your competitors love it when you tell a customer, “I can’t do that.”

It’s music to their ears.

When you tell a customer, “I can’t do that,” you’re giving them an excuse to look elsewhere, and you’re opening a window of ...

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