Your Values, Your Business. Yes, You Can Build A Dream Business Based On What You Value Most.
Your Values, Your Business. Yes, You Can Build a Dream Business Based on What You Value Most
When we begin a conversation with a client, weâll typically ask: âWhat type of business do you think is right for you?â
Mind you, itâs not that we expect that individual to have everything figured out. Some people may know what they want, but may not look at the reality that accompanies that. Others arenât sure at all but do know they want to control their own destiny. No matter where youâre coming in, weâll typically take a more introspective approach and encourage you to ask deeper questions internally about your lifestyle before choosing a business.
Now, why do you think we would be so interested in what you value and the life you want to have? Yes, these are important but what does that have to do with owning a business?
Know The Business Behind The Business
Think about this: If youâre going to be a successful owner, youâre going to be heavily involved in that business for at least the next 10 years and probably more. If the organization doesnât match up with your values and lifestyle, you may have some buyerâs remorse.
To illustrate how buyerâs remorse could happen, letâs say that youâre intensely passionate about a product or service â weâll use dogs as an example. Since you have such a love of dogs, you figure that owning a pet store franchise is your true calling.
Sounds like a terrific fit, doesnât it? Not so fast.
You may have a love of animals, but we still have to talk about what you will be doing as a business owner. In this case, you may be spending a great deal of time involved with inventory management, stocking shelves and a host of other responsibilities that take you away from playing with the puppies.
Doing what you love has to align with business responsibilities, which makes it crucial to take a hard look at each franchise opportunity to ensure your perception meets reality. This involves a series of deep questions that can force you to give careful consideration to why you want to become an owner and what you want out of the business. Because once youâve addressed these questions, youâre ready to pursue an opportunity on your terms, based on what you value most.
4 Deep Questions Before You âJumpâ
- What are your strengths?
When you think back to times in your career where youâve been promoted, why was that? How did that happen? Was there something about that type of work that energized you? - What type of work environment and style do you prefer?
Do you like working with people or independently? Are you a teacher? An organizer? Are you motivated by sales? Do you dread event planning? Do you believe you can thrive in a customer-facing role or do you see yourself as more of an operational leader behind the scenes? - What do you like to do most?
Believe it or not, one of the areas we look to as evidence of what you enjoy is your prior education. What did you go to school for, even if itâs nothing to do with what you currently do today? That shows a degree of passion. - What does your family situation and schedule look like?
Make no mistake â this is a big one. If you have a spouse and children, how would owning a business change your current situation at home? What are you willing to give up?
Is your family on board with this commitment? Thereâs going to be a ramp up period to get the business running strong enough that you can pay yourself the salary that you want, including minimum expenses. It may take 12-24 months to turn a profit â are you comfortable with that? If so, is it because your spouse is working and can take some of the pressure off? Is it based on savings that you have or through an SBA loan?
You know your strengths, your work style, your greatest passion, and have a loving family thatâs got your back for the next 12-24 months to pursue the next exciting chapter of your career in business ownership. Thatâs great â but thereâs still one more vital component to your success that we canât neglect â an outside perspective from a highly experienced franchise consultant who can help guide you to the right franchise opportunity that aligns just right with your values. Thatâs where organizations like On Pace and @revenue come in - weâre here for you!
The GIF is a Gift!
The GIF is a Gift!
First, I believe we need to address a very important issue. Deep breath because there will be a lot of emotions here. Do you pronounce if GIF or JIF?
Allow me to settle the battle for once and for all. It doesnât stinking matter.Â
The Psych
Now that we have that out of the way letâs talk about this novel little addition is changing the face of business. As always, the first thing I get excited about is the psychology behind the form of communication. An easy piece to understand is the mere-exposure effect. This phenomenon explains that we have a preference for things that we are already familiar with. In our society, media is the most common denominator. I know, there are always going to be outliers. There is generally at least one in every crowd that wants to loudly tell you how they have never watched TV or that they keep themselves pure of the mind pollution of popular media (UhâŚ.ok...cool. Iâm gonna talk to this other 99.999 % of people). Most people have some common experience and when you can use that commonality to express a thought or emotion it has more resonance for the recipient.
Most of the time GIFs are used to communicate emotion. EMOTION, the cornerstone of communication! Take into account  Albert Mehrabianâs 7-38-55 Rule of Personal Communication.
If you are relying only on words to communicate your message you are leaving 93% of your ability to communicate on the table. We also know that people make decisions (about everything) based on emotion and back it up with logic, so if you are effectively communicating to and connecting with emotion, are you doing your level best to get the recipient engaged with your message?
The Culture
As a company that uses GIFs heavily in our communication, I reached out to some of our newest members. Here were some of their responses:
âWell, gosh. Who wouldn't want to be around some humor in a company culture? I think a little mechanism like a GIF goes a long way, more than people probably might give it credit for. It shows that you're among friends, or at least that we're all in this together. Without it, you might risk the communication feeling like a cold directive. There's SO much room for the tone of an email to be misinterpreted. Using humor within that communication makes you appear warmer, friendlier and more accessible. All good things that any company culture should want to have.â -Dan Gershenson
âUsing a gif is like finding that perfect Hallmark card at the store. Couldn't have said it better myself. It just sends the perfect message, unlike texts. It adds inflection and there is usually no denying what the other person is trying to say. More often than not, it puts a smile on my face and lifts my mood." -Laura Wilson
âFirst, my lack of knowledge about pop-culture and trivia made me hesitant to follow, but after just my first few experiences, using GIFs takes a weight off my shoulders as a writer. I can lean more on my GIF selection to set the tone. I don't have to be funny - I can just find something funny instead.
To me, GIFs establish a shared emotional connection through pop culture. As humans, our brains connect differently with faces, naturally assimilating to other's perceived emotions. When we see someone happy, we feel happy. This is two-fold when we connect with another through shared experiences of favorite comedians or movie scenes. The art of GIF-giving is selecting one that your audience will 'get' and can easily connect with.â -Megan Robinson
Just last week we entered a NEW client intake meeting (not yet full clients) and they mentioned that they were so happy when I used a GIF in the email because they automatically knew that we were cool (read that as âwe are like youâ), we have a sense of joy and humor, and that we were going to be fun to work with. A tip of my hat the Mr. Sinatra dancing in the rain!
If your internal staff and your new clients appreciate it, how can you create a GIF-embracing culture of your own? Well, start with a few rules and tools.
- Use an email plug-in tool like https://giphy.com/ that will allow your team to add images on the fly. They simply need type in a search term like excited, happy, or raining and a small list of images will pop up for them to click on and add to the email, slack channel or the like.
- Encourage common sense! This is not a place for profanity or lewdness just like ANY OTHER part of your work.
- Know thy audience! If it is your initial conversation with someone and you donât know if they have a sense of humor to speak of itâs probably not what you want to lead with. You need to have a few exchanges with someone before you will know if this is something that is a fit for them.
The Business Plan
According to Forbes â[Other] businesses have had success using  GIFs in email marketing campaigns. A case study of Dellâs GIF-centric marketing campaign was done by MarketSherpa. They compared metrics of the  GIF campaign with other quarterly campaign reports and found that Dell saw a 42% increase in their click rate and a 109% increase in revenue.â
To meet the demand, many of the tools you already use are adding GIF searches to their services. Facebook, Twitter, Mailchimp just to name a few have adopted the movement. Â Want to create one of your own?
Forbes even gives you a step-by-step so that you can show off a product or even a great part of a speech.
At the end of the day you have to decide if it is brand congruous for your internal team and your external communication, but for me and my houseâŚ.we will GIF IT UP!
How We Inspire Clients To Tackle Sales In The Office And In The Field!
How We Inspire Clients to Tackle Sales in the Office and in the Field!
Sales cannot stop once the contract gets signed!
Your sales process is part of your brand, part of your culture and the lasting impression that people take from your business. At @revenue, we know that creating a powerful process that both your sales team and your internal team can follow will allow not only for more sales but greater customer service and increased value per client!
If your business is ready for powerful growth, it's time we talked. 312.720.1399 x1
3 Reasons YOU Should be on Stage
3 Reasons YOU Should be on Stage
There you are, Â sitting in yet another conference listening to a speaker review something that you have heard 100 times before and all you can think is, âGood GRIEF!â (I assume you watched the Peanuts as a child, too), âI have so much more powerful information to share, things that would actually give this audience some REAL value!â Well...let me give you 3 reasons why you should get yourself together and get on the next stage.
**Please do NOT remove the current speaker from stage - letâs find you one of your own!**
- The more you have a microphone in your hand the more of an expert you are.
Listen, the raw truth is that no one is going to call you an expert until you say it first. There is no âauthority fairyâ that is just waiting for you to reach a magical point of experience, education or innovation to give you your set of wings. You have to take the leap.
On a physiological level, the simple appearance of being on stage (in front of a room speaking with authority) creates a subconscious understanding that you have information to give and that you are an authority. The more often you are seen on a screen, stage or in print the more people know and begin trust you. As you start that relationship, with 10 or 2,000 people at a time, you have an opportunity to connect with them much more quickly and deeply when it is time for the next step.
- Â The Bloom Effect
In this content-heavy world, we are all looking for opportunities to create effective blogs, articles, videos, newsletters, and on and on. With one speaking engagement, you can use that single event to spread your marketing message wide.
- Post on your site
- Write your speech and a blog at the same time
- Video your speech and create 5-7 short burst videos
- Spread through your social media
- Engage with other organizationâs social media, website, event programs
- Cross promote with other speakers at the event
- Etc.
- Be the Change
If you are not in business to change the world and make it a better place, this is not for you. For those of you that have the vision, that truly believe that what you do has a major impact on your clientâs lives, you need to plant the seed. Our organization is focused on changing the lives of SMBs through providing them with the profit they need to care for their families, invest in their communities and create abundance for others. If that is truly what we are here to do and we keep it under wraps, we have failed tremendously.
This is why we take stages with a message of professional love. We tell the stories that give people a reason to care. We create empathy, provide tools to foster change and lift others up around us. If you were to apply those ideas to your business and look at your impact through a community if not worldwide filter, what would your keynote speech be?
Not sure where to start? Letâs find some time to chat...who knows, the next âchatâ you have might be on stage! Â
marie@revenue.wp10.staging-site.io
Gratitude: Mission Critical
I have so much chaos in my life, it's become normal. You become used to it. You have to just relax, calm down, take a deep breath and try to see how you can make things work rather than complain about how they're wrong. Tom Welling
I experienced this first hand as the waves of love and assistance poured out after Jimâs passing.There were never the words to say âthank you,â to the people who helped me survive, return to my life and start moving forward. It was scary to realize I could never fully express how thankful I was. Whoa - big. Too big. ButâŚ.
This year I think itâs time to take some brave steps to that place of radical gratitude.
I am not talking about cheesy cheese: âWeâre thankful for youâ flyers offering a 10% discount on yackity schmackity. BOOOORING, and also not gratitude. Itâs a tired sales techniques and itâs insulting. Stop it.Iâm talking about a lifestyle of gratitude. A business practice that celebrates the blessings that come from each lesson, client and coworker.
If you have a hard conversation that allows you perspective - CELEBRATE.
When you have a miscommunication and you are both able to get back on the same page and team - CELEBRATE.
If you have a week that is simply full of laughter - CELEBRATE.
I know this is going to trigger a bunch of knee-jerk noâs. Itâs going to be expensive, itâs going to take work, I am so busyâŚ.Yep!
Ok, it doesnât have to be expensive, but it does have to come from the heart and that takes effort. But guess what people do when they feel valued? THEY GIVE MORE! They try harder, they return the favor and they take it to other parts of their lives. So be a part of RADICAL GRATITUDE...what can it hurt?
What if you were able to ask every single client and employee or vendor at your org if they felt that you are grateful for their contributions? How many of those answers would you be afraid to hear? I implore you to make gratitude part of your mission. Empower your staff to show acts of gratitude grand and small. What could a $50 a month âGratitude Budgetâ do for your company, internally and externally?
Letâs start now: thank you for reading this blog!
Marie Hale is the owner and co-founder of @revenue, a sales and marketing collaborative dedicated to changing the world, one business owner at a time. Marie was also very proud to have been honored with the Midwest Women in Tech Leadership Award in the area of Marketing & Media 2017.
Women in Leadership - This is our REVOLUTION
As leaders, what is our responsibility here? Listen, I donât expect we dive headlong into every issue, headline or whisper, BUT, we do have a responsibility to stand up and say, âYes, this system is broken.â And it applies to both women and men. BUT we are the generation of leaders that can fix it. We are the women that can lead from a place of pain and secrets to a structure of honesty, safety, and education. We can prevent future incidents from continuing to be commonplace. And you donât have to be in Hollywood to do it.
Allow me to use the example of a nonprofit I work with. They found out one of their mid-level instructors had allegations leveled against him for past incidents at a different job. They reacted boldly and simply, even though through their name got pulled into the mix.
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They made no excuses. It didnât matter that they didnât know. They wholeheartedly lived their values and making excuses or second-guessing anything had no room there. They addressed the situation publicly and immediately.
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They placed no blame. This is a tough one. We all want to point the finger when a woman says that she has been victimized and attack the accused. NOT YOUR PLACE. We can offer loving support, resources and mentoring, but it is not our place to be the judge and jury. We need to take the person at their perception and help them process instead of tearing away at an event that we were not present for.
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They created a safe place. At every level of their organization, they created a safe person, an anonymous email address.They made it available and accessible for every part of the org and ensured anonymity and protection with a  no retribution ever policy.
This will not be a quick fix. As women, we have an additional responsibility to lend a hand, because there are too many of us that say, âMe Tooâ. Â You may have become an accidental leader, or you may have planned for your leadership for your entire life, but if you are a leader you bear the responsibility of facilitating change and protecting those in your posse. The best thing is this isnât a political issue! It isnât a grey issue. Itâs an opportunity to keep others safe and that is a value we should all share.
Marie Hale is the owner and co-founder of @revenue, a sales and marketing collaborative dedicated to changing the world, one business owner at a time. Marie was also very proud to have been honored with the Midwest Women in Tech Leadership Award in the area of Marketing & Media 2017.
Dream Bigger
Dream Bigger
Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light, not our darkness
That most frightens us.
We ask ourselves
Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?
Actually, who are you not to be?
Your playing small
Does not serve the world.
-By Marianne Williamson
âMarie, I have something to tell you,â my client began, âwhen I started dreaming about my business and setting goals I was stretching to see myself at 400k in my first year. I thought I was calculating something wrong when I saw that I had booked 800k, but when I realized that I would have more than a million dollars of business on the books before my year was even close to its end I gotâŚâ He took a deep breath, âI got scared.â
Sounds like a great problem to have, right? We all roll our eyes at those who tell us that their businesses have grown too quickly, but epic growth not only brings with it a bevy of technical issues but a lot of emotional issues that we arenât prepared for.
Questions come flying through our brains like:
- Does this mean that I should expand my business?
- Should I raise my rates?
- Do I want a bigger business?
And the truth is, this can be a scary and lonely place to be.
I would like to offer you two words that can greatly impact your future, wherever you are in your journey. Dream Bigger. If your goal, your dream, your plan doesnât stretch you, make you uneasy or is something that you could do in your sleep, you arenât dreaming big enough. If you donât feel a little nervous when you review your goals every month (not your numbers), you are playing too small.
The next part of Marianne Williamsonâs poem goes on to say that âwe are all meant to shine like children doâ, and there is so much truth in that. If your business doesnât light you up, if you arenât on fire, take some time and reassess why the heck you are working so hard.
How do you know when your dream is big enough? Gut check time.
- What impact would achieving this goal have on my life? If there is no true impact...push further.
- How does this align with my values? If your goal doesnât allow you to exemplify your values (ex. Itâs more than just a number) or the impact of your goal on you financially doesnât allow you to achieve a personal goal that matches your values itâs time to realign.
- When you take time to put your goals into actionable steps, can it be done with little to no effort? You should want a little sweat to happen on your way to your dream, it makes it more thrilling to achieve.
This year, I had to realign personal goals this when my whole life suddenly changed; my partner suddenly died. I had to learn how to dream again, how to figure out what will bring me joy, abundance or peace when my dreams were suddenly and uncontrollably altered and out of my control. Learning to dream big is a practice, a muscle, a gift you must work on for yourself.
United Airlines and the Case of the Walking, Talking Brand
United Airlines and the Case of the Walking, Talking Brand
Nobodyâs perfect, right?  Yep, nobody.  But when youâve had a week like United had last week, you have to take a good long look in the mirror and decide what you really stand forâŚas a company.  In todayâs reality of the constant state of video, social media, and public opinion, companies have to be careful about how they present themselves, especially when you are in the service industry.  It is not often we have a front row seat to what is sure to become a classic PR case study in what not to do, so letâs take advantage of this moment.
When the events of April 9th first hit social media, Unitedâs CEO, who had just the month before won an award as Communicator of the Year, responded quickly. Â His first reaction was to say he was sorry that the airline had to âre-accommodateâ passengers on the flight. Â Then, he announced that United employees had simply followed policy. Â Finally, he expressed what seemed like sincere regret for the way the whole debacle had been handled. Â Now, the company is changing firm policy regarding how passengers are handled in cases of overbooking, especially when employees are the ones bumping paying customers.
I absorbed all of these events with utter astonishment. Â United is a big company, with presumably many of the âbest and brightestâ in every facet of the industry working there, EVEN in public relations. Â I couldnât believe that at every stage of this event, the actions leading up to it, and the actions that preceded it, they had made such obvious mistakes. Â For the sake of argument, letâs assume that customers have an adequate number of potential airlines to choose from when traveling, and United doesnât currently benefit from an airline-favorable oligopoly where customer service falls way down on the priority list because customers ultimately have to choose from only a handful of less than desirable options. Â So basically, letâs assume that United wants to please customers to grow revenues and has to actually compete.
In that light, how do you process the actions of United? Can you? Â In the book of everything I know about business, coupled with common sense, I cannot. Â But the good news is, we get to benefit from the lessons of their (giant) mistakes.
Iâve been saying for a long time that service businesses are more complicated and require far greater leadership than product companies do. Â Your brand isnât just your logo or your website design. Â It is walking around in every single employee you hire, mentor and train. Â When you run a flourishing service business, your brand is constantly working. Â Growth in a service business means that you cannot separate the brand from the people like you can in a product business. Â You have to get it right every day.
So, letâs cover the ways in which United failed to get it right and how they could have done it better:
Top 3 Silent Cash Flow Leaks for Small Businesses
Top 3 Silent Cash Flow Leaks for Small Businesses
by Elizabeth Andrews
Running a small business is often an all-hands-on-deck operation and a lot can get lost in the shuffle. With years of experience working hand in hand with businesses, I have seen all kinds of things that cost businesses time and money. With companies big or small, these are the top 3 things that consistently eat away at the bottom line.
ISSUE #1: Â Invoices Aged Over 30 Days
Collecting payments tends to be the most costly part of running a company. Â Companies commonly donât have clear payment terms or tend to soften them to win the sale. With no plan of action to tackle unpaid invoices, many companies resort to a phone call and hope the client answers and pays.
FIX: Preparation and Preplanning.
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Clear contract terms and documented payment agreements
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Collecting (and securely storing) payment information for contracts or service agreements.
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Recurring billing plans using accounting software or payment processor
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Use of a simple customer interface to make payments
ISSUE #2: Â No Reconciliation Process
âReconciliationâ may be a new term. It is defined as âthe key process used to determine whether the money leaving an account matches the amount spent, ensuring the two values are balanced at the end of the recording period.â
For companies with linked accounting softwares and bank accounts, many think of this as a hands off task. However, human intervention is necessary to make sure your accounting books square up. When companies finally dig in, they find a variety of things:
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Unpaid Customer or Vendor Invoices
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Fee Increases from Vendors
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Duplicate Charges
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Unaccounted for Cash Withdrawals or Deposits
FIX: Two options, both will assist in cash flow and tax reporting:
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Schedule time: Â Block out a couple hours each month on your calendar as a recurring event. This will ensure regular attention to finding leaks.
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Hire an hourly professional: Time is money. Bookkeeping professionals are efficient and as they learn your business, it will take less time to complete your reconciliation. Another set of eyes is also beneficial to see things you may have missed.
ISSUE #3: No Review of Services or Fees
This is common with mom and pop businesses all the way up to Fortune 500 businesses. Many companies donât take the time to kick the tires on the fees they are paying to vendors. Because many take the stance of âIf It Isnât Broken, Why Fix It,â they are commonly overpaying. I have met with companies that have let 10+ years pass and overpaid thousands of dollars.
FIX: Knowledge is Power
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Find your contract end / renewal dates for vendors. This may require reaching out to get copies of contracts.
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Request an account review 6-9 months before the end of your contracts. They may find you now qualify for a new tier or reduced pricing.
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Ask your tax or bookkeeping professional for recommendations.They are looking at companiesâ expenses everyday and may have insight into where costs might not line up with industry standards.
Reach out to your local chamber of commerce, LinkedIn groups, or associations. Let othersâ hindsight be your foresight.
Guest Blog by Elizabeth Andrews, with Calibr Merchant Solutions  www.gocalibr.com,Â
Have They Told You Lately That They Love You?
Have They Told You Lately They Love You?
About a decade ago a client of mine used the phrase âprofessional loveâ to describe how they felt about the work we did together, the results and our working relationship. As a result, Iâve spent the last 10 years always holding that as the bar for my client interactions. After working with many dozen sales professionals, mid-level manager, Directors, VPâs and CEOâs there are so many reasons why professional love exists in some relationships and is lacking in many others.
For some leaders, they couldnât care less how their staff feels about them. These are of course not leaders but simply people in authority, often by default. These folks typically donât understand the need to be emotionally intelligent in order to maximize the potential of their people and therefore their business. Iâll give you an example: I worked with the CEO of a 12-year-old $500,000.00 business. It became abundantly clear in only a few weeks that the reason why this business could not get past a moderate dollar amount in a high ticket service industry was that the leader was only concerned with one thing, his ego. Despite suggestion and the specific direction he simply did not value his people or the internal relationships. Had he recognized their talents as equal to his and shown them some love, they would have helped him double or triple sales in no time. Â Who wants to go to work and KNOW that youâre not appreciated nor respected? This so called "leader" was not in professional love with anyone but himself and his staff could feel it.
One of my daily mantras is simple, you must love them first.
And, as in any relationship, we show love in a variety of ways.
- Be the best you can be for each other.
In business, this means to focus on strengths and bolster weaknesses. If youâre a leader, study how to be better. If youâre a janitor, equip yourself with the tools needed to be most efficient. Talk to any Doctor and they will tell you that they are taxed with being their best or people may suffer or even die. Why should we take our profession as any less impactful? Be sure to put one another first and to serve one another. Keep in mind that this also means that we should expect the best from our teams and our clients. Donât settle for second best, donât settle for weak attempts, if youâre giving it your all, itâs a lot easier to demand your teamâs all.
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Love only works with trust.
As in the example above, without trust, there is an imminent failure in any relationship and business. How we translate trust to our teams and clients is critical. What I find best is to identify the strengths I talked about in #1 and create the environment for each to maximizes their strengths. Donât give up on an amazing sales person just because they are weak at doing CRM entries (which is every superstar sales person). FIND SUPPORT STAFF THAT CAN HELP THEM. Your profits will be higher if that superstar stays out on the streets closing deals. Then, TRUST THEM. Donât micromanage, donât monitor their e-mails, donât stop giving them projectsâŚâ trust, but verifyâ-Ronald Reagan.  Verification comes through accountability. I wrote an article, conducting an effective 1:1 meeting which outlines how to hold your team and clients accountable to their commitments. However, if we start with management and not trust, we set our people up for mediocrity.
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 Love cares.
Itâs okay to like and care about one another's personal lives and to take part in important causes of your staff. I was out to dinner with a friend the other day and she mentioned that their staff was all taking work-time to donate to an animal shelter. Why? Because each employee (about 10) have important causes and each month an employee arranges to do something for their cause and then the ENTIRE team buys into that cause and works together. Iâm sure you can imagine the camaraderie, respect and âloveâ that comes with this. Of course, the leader has to be bought in and understand that work time does not translate to clock punching. The time invested in these activities pays off in spades when your team is united, caring, committed, involved and loyal to each other and their united success. The lives of your people and the revenue of your business will prosper. The ENTIRE team buys into that cause and works together. Iâm sure you can imagine the camaraderie, respect and âloveâ that comes with this. Of course, the leader has to be bought in and understand that work time does not translate to clock punching. The time invested in these activities pays off in spades when your team is united, caring, committed, involved and loyal to each other and their united success. The lives of your people and the revenue of your business will prosper.
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Love is recognized and rewarded.
Think about your spouse, children or any loved one, we show love with hugs, kisses, gifts, servitude, etc. In the work environment, these manifest themselves in âat-a-boyâsâ, bonuses, smiles, rewards, dinners, happy work environments, etc. In his book Drive, Daniel Pink teaches at great length that the days of the stick and carrot are no longer. He also talks about if-then rewards vs now-that rewards. Love is not conditional so work reward shouldnât be conditional. Almost every sales manager tries to get results with if-then rewards. You know, âIf you hit the goal then you get more moneyâ. This is far less effective than when you show your love/reward with no expectation. This can be tricky and is a real mental shift for many. Â If you have any questions or would like to connect about this, let me know. I show my love by working with SMB leaders to drive great success. I do this in a variety of ways and not always for money, sometimes just for love.Â