The 7 surprising benefits of a 'Thank You Card'

"It is a basic desire of all humans to feel appreciated and yet some give out appreciation as if it were coming straight out of their bank account"

 

 

1.  It makes you more likeable.    It's easy and natural to like anyone who appreciates who we are and what we did. 

 

2.  Thank You Card...is a great marketing tool.    What is the purpose of marketing tools?  To make your client feel positive about you and your company?   A hand written thank you can do that and it costs pennies.

 

3.  It's the classy thing to do.   We are busy and so is our competition.   It's easy to take our employees, clients and peers for granted.   That's what most do...except of course the classy people.   They say thanks sincerely and often.  Want to stand out from the mob...say thank you!

 

4.  Others notice.   Those lucky enough to get great thank you cards often show them off to others.   You create great impressions of yourself by being showing gratitude.

 

5.  Thank you cards have a lasting effect.   I recently saw a thank you card I gave to a friend on his fridge a full year after I originally gave it to him.   A verbal thank you would have been long forgotten. 

 

6.  Big advantage for small business.  Big businesses might send out those generic thank you cards but they rarely hand write a message!  And an ounce of personalization is worth a pound of professionalism. 

 

7.  Prepare to persuade.   So you want to make the big sale?   Research says for most major sales you may have to make 6-7 contacts before you can expect a successful outcome.   To do that you need to leave each contact with your client with a good feeling about you.   Thank them for their time so they will be receptive to another visit.

 

Who to give thank you cards to?

 

* clients

* employees 

* vendors

* friends and family

* peers

* new contacts

* anyone who does you a kindness

 

What to thank them for?

 

*  the businesss

*  their time

*  friendship or loyalty

*  a referral

*  a compliment or testimonial

*  their work (quality, efficiency and effort)

 

Make it special?

 

* hand write a message inside because it makes it more personal

* if your hand writing is not good...print but make it neat or it diminishes the effect

* make the message personal not generic

* take care in picking out your card and don't cheap out (that shows)

* humor goes a long way to warming up the recipient but isn't always necessary and      sometimes is not appropriate...you decide.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pssst....thank you for taking the time to read this, it is much appreciated!



 

 



 



How to become lucky

"Lucky people talk to more people, do more things and take chances every day"

Who wouldn't want to be lucky?   Well the truth is we can all be luckier than we are today.   All we need to do is take more chances. How many times have you heard this...you can't win if you don't play!  What the line should be is....you can't win if you don't take a chance.

So if you want to get lucky and make a new friend or find a new partner? Take a chance and strike up a conversation with someone new every day.

Want to find a new business opportunity?   Take a chance and contact someone successful and ask for some help.

Always wanted to write a book?   Take a chance and start writing today.  Or take a chance and contact an author and ask for advice. 

Got a great idea that you are doing nothing with?   Take a chance and share the idea with others to see if it is viable.  So many worry that others will steal your idea but if you don't take a chance and test it, it probably never see the light of day.   That's where regret is born. 

Want to win the lotto?   Take a chance and...buy a ticket...the odds are terrible but you can't win if you don't play.  

Want to become lucky?   Take a chance on something every day.   Sooner or later your luck is going to improve.....I guarantee it!  (the odds are in your favor)

My brilliant conclusion.....people who are luckier than me and probably just taking more chances!   I can fix that....

The strange power of note taking

"Taking notes can make you appear to be more intelligent and persuasive"

 

 



More intelligent....

Our brain makes assumptions all of the time.   Some we are aware of but most are subconscious assumptions.   Strange as it may seem we interpret a note taker as being more intelligent.

We perceive the note taker as being focused and thorough.  It brings up images of Doctors and Lawyers who must get things recorded accurately.   It also makes us feel that every word we say is important.   And anyone focused so intenly on what I say must be intelligent.   Right?

More persuasive...

When someone is trying to persuade us and starts out by sincerely trying to understand our thoughts and beliefs, we pay attention.  And we assume they are sincere because they take the time to record our thoughts.   Note taking causes us to feel important and which in turn lowers  our resistance to that person.  We feel appreciated and understood.

When the cops are interviewing witnesses they take notes on what they are told.  One of the reasons is because they know that the person being questioned is going to give more accurate answers when they see that their answers are being recorded. 

The effect of note taking is also that most people start to open up and reveal the real objections to the persuasion.

And here's the real good stuff...

"When they feel they have been heard and understood their minds are open to hear what we are going to propose"

Note taking is a poweful persuasion skill!

Do...

*  Use a quality pen not one of those company logo pens you swiped from the convenience store

*  Use a quality pad or portfolio.   Extra points... if it has a leather cover.

Don't..

*  Try to write down every dang word.   That would be annoying.  Just jog down important points.    Extra points...if you say something like...'excuse me but that seems important I'd like make a note of that'

Bonus...

When you are note taking you do less talking and more listening!

 

 

7 traits of the super successful

Sometimes I set out to write an article and then find out that someone has done all of the heavy lifting for me.   This link is an eye opener.   Please read it because I am certain that you will not only enjoy it but open your eyes to the super successful traits...enjoy!

http://www.inc.com/lewis-schiff/super-successful-wealth-building-traits.html

and just so I can say I contributed something to this post.....

How to seduce luck

Chapter 11

How to seduce luck

　
“the more fun I have the luckier I get”

I find it useful and amusing to think of luck as a lady, but you ladies might find it more pleasing to think of luck as a male hunk like a George Clooney look-a-like, you go right ahead. So where I refer to Lady Luck you can substitute it for Lord Luck. The idea of seducing luck, to attract good fortune juices up my creativity. So play along with me and let’s have some fun.

“your luck will never exceed your belief’s”

This is no hocus pocus, it is a fact….those who believe in luck are more lucky than the non-believers. This is partly explained because those who believe in luck tend to be more extroverted and therefore make more contact with others, leaving themselves open to more opportunities for luck to occur.

It seems so obvious to me that the more face to face contacts you have the more possibility for luck to come into your life. Nowadays, it’s too easy to have contact through the social media like Facebook. I like Facebook for many reasons, however it will never replace the real thing. There is so much more going in face to face, belly to belly exchanges.

It takes real live human contact to create intimacy. And the deeper we connect with others the greater the chance for luck to bless us.

“to seduce Luck, it is a huge advantage to be likeable”

If you can’t be handsome or beautiful you should at least be loveable. As with anyone you want to seduce, you need to catch their attention and the quickest way is to be noticeably likeable. Being likeable includes the traits of; being humorous, curious, playful, generous and focused on others instead of yourself. The ego centered and arrogant have to do things the old fashioned way and work heir tails off, because Lady and Lord Luck are like us, in that they are attracted to those who are attractive to other people.

“Lady and Lord Luck love good times and good people”

The lucky get luckier because their good moods actually allows them to take in more visual information than those in bad moods. They are more attentive to their surroundings and notice opportunities more readily. These serendipitous folks are that way because; they feel good and are more willing to try something new, just for the fun of it.

As an experiment, I wrote on an index card…Why am I so darn lucky? I carried that card around with me for a few days and had some ‘Mind Wandering Fun’ with it. When I thought of a reason for why I am so lucky I wrote it on the back of the card. Wow, it wasn’t long before I filled up the card and 4 more to boot. Turns out, I’m a lot luckier than even I thought.

The most interesting outcome of my little experiment was how it lifted my spirits. I felt lighter and happier. One morning I stopped in at the convenience store to pick up a coffee. When I entered the store the clerk greeted me with, ‘how are you today Eduardo?’ I laughingly told her, ‘I’m great and feeling lucky today’. She laughed and I proceeded to get my coffee. When I went to pay she said…’this one’s on me, I like lucky people’. And that’s pretty much the way my day went. I was believing I was lucky and people I came into contact with, wanted to reach out to me to get some of my good vibes. I highly recommend you try it!

“open yourself up to more than you wanted”

When you are too fixated on what you want, you may miss that Lord or Lady Luck wants to give you even more. It is helpful with your desires and wishes, to tag this phrase (it’s powerful)….‘this or something better’. I often wonder how many times when I limited myself by being focused on only one thing or one person and missed the chance for something better. I sure don’t want to limit Lady Luck’s gifts.

“you can’t stumble upon luck sitting on your butt”

The Roman philosopher Seneca said, ‘luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity’. Or as I once heard a motivational speaker say, ‘roast duck doesn’t just fly into your mouth’. It would be just silly to think that luck is going to find you without any effort on your part. On the other hand, I’m not entirely buying Seneca’s line either. There is more than preparation (hard work) and opportunity required…there is most frequently luck as well. We would do well to do all the can to facilitate luck.

“the lady wants to be appreciated”

There are many logical reasons why expressing and feeling gratitude attracts good fortune. First, it puts in you in the good feeling state that luck likes. Next, that which gets rewarded gets repeated. Just like the ladies, Lord Luck loves a compliment and a gracious thank you. The more grateful we are, the more we increase the possibility of good fortune. No excuses permitted, there is always something to be grateful for. In fact, there is always a lot be to be grateful for.

“don’t hang out with the unlucky”

I know this may seem harsh but the reality is those who are constantly attracting bad luck are going to continue to bring more bad luck into their lives (unless they were lucky enough to buy this book, I said somewhat modestly). This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do things for unlucky people. Just don’t spend too much of your time with them, until they change the behaviour that’s attracting that bad luck.

“be the luck you desire”

No, that doesn’t mean I’m going to dress up in drag to attract luck! Lady Luck wouldn’t like me to be anything but my manly self. What I mean is that while you are waiting for Lord Luck to favour you, be someone else’s luck. Isn’t that a beautiful idea? There are always those with less luck than you, so it’s fun and easy to become their luck. The Lady and the Lord, find that very seductive!

“seduce everyone to increase your luck”

You never know who is going to lay some luck on you. Sometimes it comes from the most unusual sources. So it makes good sense to seduce everyone you come into contact with. Make them feel good and who knows what good fortune they might bestow on you. Besides it’s fun and easy game seducing everyone.

“ready fire aim”

Your chances of being lucky go up dramatically if you take more chances. So be bold. Mistakes are just the way we learn. Sometimes you are right and sometimes you just luck out. If what you are tying doesn’t work, make some changes and try again.

You’ll be a lot luckier if you remember this…‘don’t try harder, try different.’

“never forget, it’s just a game”

Take life or luck too seriously and you squeeze the fun out of it. There will always be some mystery and surprise when it comes to luck and love and that’s the way it should be. Seducing Lady or Lord Luck is the most fun you can have with your pants on….good luck!

“luck is looking for the needle in the haystack and finding the farmer’s daughter”
(unknown)

Secrets of Con Artists





Confession...

While I was studying how con artists work, I came to the realization that they use a lot of the same techniques  I teach in persuasion courses.   YIKES!   The only difference between con artists and me is 'intent'.  

I teach persuasion techniques in order for you and clients to reach a mutually beneficial outcome.   However, there is always the possiblity that some people will use them to manipulate you.  I'm comfortable with my intent.

So how do con artists work?

1.   Extreme likeability.   Con artists appear to be generous and kind.  The will often give you small gifts or do you favors to win your confidence. They project warmth and sincerity and confidence.   The attitbutes of people we might say are charismatic.

2.  Client intelligence or should I say victim intelligence.   A con artist wants to know everything possible about his/her mark.   They want to know your likes and dislikes.   To gather this 'intel' they will search your social media, do internet searches and ask a ton of questions to get to know you. The idea is to get you to talk twice as much as they do.  And who doesn't like to talk about themselves?

3.  Seek the similarities.   First they want to find out everything they can that they share in common with you.   Next, they will fake similarties to further gain your confidences.   They want to appear to be similar to you so that you will lower your resistance.  This builds trust and likeability. Often it will feel to their victim that they have found their soul mate or a brother or sister. 

4.  Ask for a small favor followed by a much bigger favor.   This is the 'Ben Franklin' principal.   Old Ben found out that if you ask for a small favor, the other person starts to like you (after all he did a kindness for you) and then is more open to a bigger favor later.  This has been researched and proven to work.

5.  Learns your emotional triggers.   Your passions, your hurts and your desires.  And most common amongst con artists is to appeal to your greed.

6.  Listen and make adjustments.   Not every con goes smoothly so they are careful to listen and observe everything you do and say.    They need to pay attention to your body language....to read you like a book.  Only when everything looks positive will they attempt to give you their amazing pitch or plead for your help.

7.  Show immense gratitude and appreciation for who and what you are.  It is difficult not to like and trust someone who sees the greatness in you that others don't appreciate. 

8.  Repeat back what you say to them.   This makes you feel like they really are paying intense interest in you.

9.  To gain your respect they will show you their (fake)  accomplishments and credentials.  This works even  better if someone else does the bragging about the con's attibutes.  After all he is too humble to brag, right?

10.   Only after they feel that you like, trust and respect them will they make the pitch that is going to seperate you from your money.

I'm not trying to teach anyone how to be a con artist however how can it not be a good thing to know how they operate.   If you gut instinct tells you something isn't right..trust it.   However, if we all good at that intution thing no one would ever get conned. 

Bonus....whenever someone is trying to sell you something observe how many of these techniques they are using?  It will be an eye opener.   Cheers!