Let’s face it, your advertising dollars work 24 hours a day. Why not have your potential clients greeted 24 hours a day?
If you want to start growing your Law Practice and you’re willing to invest $68.95 per month, call today and ask for Dirk or Stuart Moeller (We’re a family business with 27 professionally trained receptionists and we’ve been providing 24 hour service since 1949).
How to Make Changes Easily
“Life rewards action – not intention, not insight, not wisdom, not understanding.” - Dr. Phil McGraw
It is human nature to want more out of life and then complain about not having it. Few people take action on making improvements on getting more out of life, why is that? In my opinion, they don’t know HOW to start making any improvements. Think about it, we don’t have an owner’s manual for our lives, but we do have many sources for inspiration and guidance in making choices in our lives. But, that is another article.
So, for this article we are going to concentrate on how to make improvements in your business life.
We all want more money, more clients, more time, and we don’t want to work any harder than we already are. What to do?
Your goal is to make a list of all the key areas that you want to improve and then break it down to the “ridiculous”. By that I mean break it down to each facet or step necessary to identify the action that is necessary to make that improvement. Think of it as a recipe. You want Pot Roast for dinner, so where do you start to end up with a delicious Pot Roast on the table.
So, as you see in the example, the first step is to “get in the car”, then” go to the store”, etc. Now you have the first step identified in having that Pot Roast dinner. Every business decision is done in the same manner, some of us intuitively do this, most don’t.
Until you have identified the REAL first step, change is virtually impossible. I use many tools to make changes in my business life and to achieve my business goals and the first step is to identify the FIRST STEP.
You can use this same technique in making personal changes and making and setting goals.
Now that you have the mechanics of making changes, let’s talk about the psychological aspect of making changes. For most of us, change is not comfortable. So, we will talk about change from that perspective.
Once you have identified the steps necessary for change, you will need to SUPPORT your decision. Why is support do important? Well, if you could have made the changes easily you would have done it already and you wouldn’t be reading this article.
We are assuming that you are in a position to make these changes and you want support to make the changes easier for you and the company. Finding support may come from sharing your decision and then asking for support from the employees, the other officers of the company or from someone closer to you. Regardless, you are seeking support.
If you are running a small operation or even a sole proprietorship, you may seek out a mentor or a coach outside your operation. I use my associates and my family for support on some of my business decisions because the right kind of support challenges you to think bigger.
If you are challenge driven, then sharing your decisions and asking for accountability from someone you admire will make you take bigger, bolder action and push you to the next level of success.
That brings us to ACCOUNTABILITY. Why is accountability so important? Again, if you could have done it on your own, you would have done it already. Without accountability you WILL procrastinate and make excuses. Having someone hold you accountable keeps you from sabotaging yourself. Been there, done that, got the T-shirt.
Two down, two to go. ACTION. Action that is inspired, action that is focused. We all have seen people that are constantly “busy”, but accomplish little. Why are they like that? How do you NOT be like that? It all stems from lack of vision or a lack of understanding what is first, second, third, etc. We already covered that, so… Go to your list and act on the first step, then the second step, and you will accomplish the goal. Don’t let the “busy” things steal your time, stay focused on the ACTION to get you to your goal.
Her is the last step. MEASURE IT. If you can’t measure it, you can’t achieve it. Where are you in the list of steps? Did you do step 3 before step 2, is step two done? Measuring your progress allows you to see tangible results which are necessary for you to stay on track.
I suggest you have a note placed in a prominent location that reminds you to check your progress often. It could be something as simple as “Is what I’m working on right now “busy” work or is it ACTION within my goal?”
1) Since most of your sales originate from a telephone call you should be committed (a little bit obsessive if need be!) to returning all telephone calls promptly. Returning phone calls within 30 minutes or less will IMPRESS future clients. Worst case scenario is to follow the Sundown Rule. The Sundown Rule simply means that all telephone calls are returned the same day on which they are received. Survey’s have shown, time and time again, that most people end up choosing the first professional company they end up talking with. If you’re meeting with a client, traveling in an air-plane, taking a shower, having dinner with your loved ones, etc… Business Connections can be that Personal Link with your Potential Client while you’re unavailable. Business Connections Receptionist’s are ready to greet your callers 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
2) Make sure we (Business Connections) have accurate instructions that allow us to Direct Connect Urgent Callers to your Mobile Phone. For example, a Law Firm wants us to Direct Connect Callers “Looking to Hire an Attorney”, calls from a “Judge’s Office” or calls from a “Court House”. Non-urgent messages are e-mailed to their Office. Clients with Smart Phones (I-Phone, Blackberry, Palm, etc…) can get their messages anywhere. Please fax account instruction updates to 503-370-2444 or e-mail dirk@bcanswer.com or stu@bcanswer.com
3) Update your Website and set-up your business with a Facebook Fan Page and Linkedin Fan Page. Internet Search Engines and Social Networking are replacing the Yellow Page industry. How much longer do you think the phone books will be around? People 35 to 55 years old use Google instead of phone books. People under 35 ask their Friends on Facebook. Here’s a Facebook Example. Let’s pretend you have 200 friends on Facebook and your Mother wants to move to Phoenix. There’s a good chance you have a Facebook friend who either lives, grew-up or knows a good Realtor in Phoenix. You post the question and within a few hours you have a few Realtors that have been recommended. All done from your I-phone or Blackberry.
4) Business will continue to go where invited and remain where appreciated.
5) Reputations will continue to be made by many acts and be lost by one.
6) People will go right on preferring to do business with friends
7) Go-Givers will become the best go-getters
8) The extra mile will have no traffic jams.
9) Performance will continue to outsell promises
10) Enthusiasm will be contagious as ever.
11) Know-how will surpass guess-how.
12) Trust, not tricks, will keep customers loyal.
13) Quality will be prized as a precious possession.
