How To Be A Flamingo Among The Pigeons: Standing Out From The Crowd

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StrategyDriven Professional Development Article |Beat the competition|How To Be A Flamingo Among The Pigeons: Standing Out From The CrowdThere is competition within every industry. Whether you’re trying to hang on to existing clients, or you’re on a mission to entice new customers, you’ll face competitors. The key to outperforming other businesses or individuals lies in offering something different and standing out from the crowd for all the right reasons. If you’re keen to be a metaphorical flamingo in a flock of pigeons, here are some top tips to take on board.

Research your target market

The most important step to take when it comes to trying to beat the competition to attract new customers and keep hold of loyal clients is to research your target market. Gather as much information as possible and gain an insight into who your ideal buyer is, what they’re looking for and what kinds of services, features, promotions, and perks impress them. Use feedback from previous customers and get to know new clients.

Work on your USP

If somebody asked you the question, ‘What’s different about your company?’ what would your answer be? Often, customers are faced with a decision when it comes to choosing where to shop or which business to go for. You need to make sure that you have a response to this question, and that your answer is going to appeal to your target buyer. Work on a USP that is going to impress new customers and encourage existing clients to stick with you. If you’re confident about your USP, take every opportunity to promote it and show it off.

Make meetings memorable

If you’re looking to try and impress buyers or you’re keen to create new contacts within the world of business, try and make meetings memorable. If you’re pitching to a panel, for example, bear in mind that the individuals you’re talking to may have seen several other products that day and listened to multiple pitches. Look for unique meeting rooms for rent to set the right tone and create a buzz around your presentation, rehearse in advance to make sure your pitch is slick and seamless, and inject personality and enthusiasm. Do something different to show your products or services off, and try and get the panel involved. Interactive displays work really well, and it’s beneficial to maintain eye contact and keep the conversation flowing throughout the meeting.

Put your customer first

Customers like to feel like VIPs, and there are multiple ways in which you can use customer service to separate you from the masses. Personalize the customer experience, go the extra mile to impress your clients, and encourage them to stay with you after an initial order or purchase. Keep in touch with your customers via emails and social media, incentivize repeat business, and add personal touches at every opportunity. Personalized email subjects, for example, have a higher click-through rate. Invite people to leave feedback and listen to ideas and comments.

In business, it’s vital to be able to stand out in the crowd. If you’ve got a host of companies trying to lure in a customer you want to make your own, you need to be able to promote your brand and catch that client’s eye. Offer something different, create memorable, enjoyable experiences, and show that customer that you’ll always put them first.

Make Yourself Way More Attractive To Employers

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StrategyDriven Professional Development Article |Professional Development|Make Yourself Way More Attractive To EmployersWe all have to work if we want to make something of ourselves. Some of us settle with something low-key and try to get through life with little-to-no fuss, others harbour lots of ambition and strive to be at the very top of their field. If you associate yourself with the latter, then you’ll know by now that it’s more than just a bit of talent and a little luck that will get you there. It takes hard work and a little extra know-how.

If you want to get yourself into a fantastic job, you need to stand out and be exactly what the potential employer wants – regarding both the job in hand and overall poised professionalism. Different people find different aspects of a person attractive and magnetic, so nothing is set in stone, but let’s talk about a few things that can make you a sexier prospect.

Become More Organized

If you work at becoming more assembled and almost systematic in your ways, then, like a lot of things, it will become second nature. Employers like when people have their stuff together as it, more often than not, means they’ll bring that kind of energy to the workplace. If you’re a more organized person in general, you’re more likely to have everything in order and impress during interviews, too.

Work On Your Resume

It’s not the be all and end all, but a good resume will certainly draw attention in a positive way. Sure, it’s nice to have good qualifications and relevant experience, but if you’ve laid it out in a cluttered manner, then employers may just toss it away immediately. Try to make it pretty and easy on the eyes.

Work On Your Skills

This goes without saying, but try to perfect what you’re already quite good at. Nobody will ever master anything completely, but hard work gets you ahead of others. There’s always something you can work on: if you’re looking to work in IT, then you can learn about anything from coding to something more basic like how to send large files online – every bit of knowledge can gain you that extra bit of advantage you need. Things don’t get easier; you just get good at them.

Smarten Your Appearance

This is almost aligned with the idea of being more organized as an individual. First impressions count for a lot when meeting someone – especially a potential boss, so making sure you’re fixed up and looking sharp is important. If you turn up to interview with a part of your shirt untucked or looking a little worse for wear, then you’re going to stand less of a chance.

Volunteer

Working on something without getting any reward other than knowledge and experience is super attractive. It shows that you really want to do a particular job and you’re not just in it for the benefits that could follow. It also shows a great work ethic – a lot of people, understandably, work or do things for others because they want something in return. With volunteering, you’re literally taking a risk and working your backside off just because it’s in your nature to do so.

Fall in Love With Your Career all Over Again

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StrategyDriven Professional Development Article |Choosing a Career Path|Fall in Love With Your Career all Over AgainOne of the things so many people crave these days is a career that they love. There are a lot of factors that you need to keep in mind if you are serious about this, and it is crucial that you do as much as possible to look at how you can make the most of your job. There are so many different factors that can impact our careers and the way we enjoy them, and it is important to keep this in mind moving forward.

Think about the different elements that play a role in helping you adapt to your chosen career path better. Being fulfilled and happy, and getting the most out of your career is so important, and you need to make sure you look at what you can do to make the most of your job. These are some of the factors that can help you to fall in love with your career all over again, starting today.

Rethink What You Want

One of the first places to start is to rethink what you want out of your career. If you can understand this, you will be well-placed to be able to get more out of it. Finding your job as fulfilling as possible is something you need to make sure you get right now, and there are a lot of factors that play a role in this. Make sure you look at reassessing your career path and focusing on what you want to achieve from your job moving forward. By shifting your focus, you are able to be more productive at work and work toward achieving your long-term goals.

Look to Progress

You need to think about where you see yourself in your career path for the next few years. There are a lot of things that play a part in this, and you need to consider what your aspirations are for the future. Progressing in the business is so important, and it is natural to want more out of your life. In a career, you want to see progression and work toward being as successful as possible. This means you need to pursue success and look for opportunities to progress in the company, by way of promotions etc.

Ensure You are Getting the Right Treatment

It is important to make sure you are getting the right treatment in your career. When trying to determine if your career or the company you work for is right for you, it becomes important to look at the way in which they treat you. As a valuable member of staff, you should be valued and treated with respect by the business. You could hire a workers comp lawyer to make sure you are legally protected, and that you are getting the compensation you deserve. Taking steps to make sure you improve your career is so important, and this is one of the most essential parts of the process that you need to think about right now.

Be a Team Player

Being a team player is one of the most important things you can do in your job. The fact of the matter is that you want to make sure you work in a friendly and harmonious environment. This means looking at the best ways of becoming a team player as much as possible. You have to make sure you are focused on improving and enhancing the work-related arena, and being a team player makes you much more likely to be able to enjoy your career more. You want to find somewhere that is pleasant to work, and that plays a massive part in the process of helping you achieve more and work harder. This is why it is important that you do as much as possible to be a team player and work together with your colleagues to really enhance your working relationship.

It is important to have a career that makes you want to get out of bed in the morning. While money is important, it is not the be all and end all of the business world, and this is something to keep in mind. When it comes to loving your job, you need to think about what elements of the business you can benefit from, and what it takes to improve your career path. Come up with ideas that are going to help you rediscover the way you approach your business, as well as thinking about how you can go about enjoying the different elements of your business that little bit more.

4 Business Skills to Improve in 2019

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StrategyDriven Professional Development Article |Business Skills|4 Business Skills to Improve in 2019Most entrepreneurs and business professionals understand that to truly thrive within business, they must have valuable business skills. It’s important to know the importance of investing in yourself when it comes to growing your business. When it’s your own business, you’re the only one who can fully get behind it, bringing in new skills and strengths over time.

Each year, new innovations and trends in business arise. This means that you must be constantly on the ball, sharpening your skills to keep ahead.

Whether it’s learning how to improve your conversion rate on a certain social media platform, or improving your public speaking skills, everyone has their own areas they wish to improve.

Here are 4 key business skills worth mastering in 2019, which will confidently take you and your business into 2020.

1. Technology

It seems that there is no faster moving industry than that of technology. One minute we think we have the most up-to-date smartphone, only to find it quickly replaced by the next big thing.

The same applies for the technology required for businesses. Retail businesses must understand that their point-of-sale (POS) systems will constantly need to be compatible with mobile payment systems, like Apple Pay and Google Pay.

As the world goes mobile heavy, it’s beneficial to have your business accessed via apps. Perhaps to reach wider audiences, you could benefit from understanding how to make short video clips or even podcasts for your business.

All these require a thorough understanding of new and existing technology you may not be familiar with. Assess which aspects of technology could benefit your business and learn how to use them.

2. Social Media

Understanding the evolving social media platforms and how to use them is vital to any business. Whether you run a product-led retail business or service, social media can be used to reach new audiences and potentially increase sake.

Social media evolves rapidly, therefore, any entrepreneur needs to stay on top of the most popular platforms, without falling behind. In 2019, Instagram is constantly updating itself and has become the most widely used social media platform, so sharpening your skills across this platform is vital.

It’s worth studying the effect on social media platforms for both marketing and sales, sharpening your knowledge on how to effectively use them. It may be that only certain platforms would work with your business, but either way, it’s worth finding out.

3. Relationship Building

Communication is the key skill when it comes to relationship building. Without being able to communicate and build mutually beneficial relationships within business, you could be preventing new opportunities arising.

Some of the relationships you build will be more client or supplier based, in which you’ll not only need strong communication skills but that or negotiating and persuasion. These are key for working to anything numbers and financial based, so it could be worth improving your skills within negotiation and sales. You can look at seminars by companies such as Karrass, which teach you tactics and strategies.

4. Failure Management

With all new businesses, you’ll be expected to have highs and lows. No matter how hard you have worked on a plan, an unexpected outcome can happen. Everyone deals with failure differently, but it tends to be those who don’t deal well with mishaps and approach business failure negatively that fail to grow their business.

When you fully understand how failure can come and go, and how to handle it, you can budget for unexpected expenses and mentally prepare. It all comes down with understanding how to respond to a crisis. There are many courses and classes that focus on failure management to help to train you with this.

The above are a hand-picked selection of many business trends which will help you thrive as an entrepreneur in 2019. It’s worth assessing a combination of soft skills and hard skills spreading across technology, processes and personality skills. Both are equally as important, so do analyze your current strengths and weaknesses, and take action accordingly.

Stretch Goals, The Field, and Choosing the Best Path

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StrategyDriven Professional Development Article | Stretch Goals, The Field, and Choosing the Best Path | Stretch GoalsStretch goals are intended to push the organization to higher levels of performance. They stretch all teams and the individuals in those teams. Stretch goals can rarely be met with incremental changes, thus, management and staff must be dynamic and creative in planning how to meet the goals. This situation can be intimidating, but it is the ideal scenario for you to shift your career in a new, more desirable direction. There are two key components to help you make the shift: understanding how the Field works, and discerning the work activity you most enjoy – regardless of “normal expectations” for your position.

Defining the Field, Understanding Its Drivers. The Field – which is also referred to as “quantum reality” – is a matrix of electromagnetic waves that permeate everything. “So what?” you may ask. Consider the following reality as proven via scientific experiments and measurable observations: i) at the base of all physical matter are tiny electromagnetic energy waves, ii) as two electromagnetic waves intersect, they exchange data, and iii) communication in the Field is instantaneous. This reality means that all living and innate matter in our world are connected every single instant.

Okay, so how does one use this massive web of connection to choose the best path in a stretch-goal environment? Think about the basic formula that underpins all success in the workplace – to achieve a high performance rating, you need to understand how your boss thinks, what their expectations are, and what their goals are to attain a high rating from their superiors. Once you understand this, then you can design an effective performance plan. It is the same with the Field: understand what is important to the Field, then you can proactively engage the Field to aid in directing your career path to higher levels of success.

Why the Field supports you. What is the top priority of the Field? Expansion. Everything in the universe has a drive to expand – humans, animals, plants, bacteria, even the universe itself. At the individual level, the human feeling of “excitement” is most closely aligned with expansion. Why? The Field is connected to all things, so it is aware of your strengths and how those strengths can best help it expand. Thus, when you are focused on an activity that you enjoy (that you look forward to, that excites you), the Field gives you a clue you are on the right track via the feeling of excitement.

So find a comfortable spot at work – or even head to your favorite coffee shop – and review all your work activities, ranking them by how much you enjoy the activity. Be sure to include activities or skills that you have been wanting to learn. Next pick the top activity (or top two, not more) and create a plan around that activity, quantifying how your efforts will increase productivity or drive efficiency.

In the Field, a Low Risk. Your unique stretch-goal-plan is – in quantum reality – a low risk. This is because you have centered the plan around what excites you at work, and when excitement is combined with venturing into new territory, it will invariably lead to your growth as a professional. Thus, you grow personally, your wider team is challenged and grows with you, and the project itself will be productive. Put another way, each of these aspects expands – and, thus, the Field expands.

The Fringe Benefits. What about the other goals in your overall career plan? The good news is that by focusing so much energy on just one or two areas, your plan/project will create a larger momentum that will inevitably demand the demonstration of other skills. Besides the leadership and innovation capabilities you show in putting forth the plan, the additional skills of project management, team management, communication, selling, leveraging diversity, conflict management, and budgeting will likely be demonstrated.

Stretch Yourself, Stretch Your Boss… Expand the Field. In creating a plan that will stretch yourself in an area you enjoy, you will also be stretching your boss. They will need to acknowledge the merit of your plan, they will need to consider how best to sell the idea to their superior(s), and they may need to think about who else on the team will perform the duties they had expected you to be doing. All of that is a fantastic challenge for your boss. They don’t want a boring job; else they would not have accepted the promotion to manager. Besides, like you they may be a bit intimidated by the stretch goals, so you will be helping them with an innovative idea for meeting leadership’s expectations.

Understanding how the expansive properties of the Field work, combined with a focus on the top one or two work activities that excite you, ensures the design of a successful stretch-plan. It also raises your awareness of potential opportunities that may arise – whether those are hoped for or unexpected.

Stretch goals are not obstacles to success, they are unique opportunities to customize your path and accelerate your success. Embrace and use them to stretch yourself, stretch your boss…and expand the Field.

Rejection Epilogue. If your boss rejects your stretch-plan, this is not a failure. Remember that the Field is connected to all things, so it will be keenly aware of your focused and organized vision for expanding your career/team, and by default the Field itself. After the rejection, maintain a positive “can do” attitude and keep your eyes open for other development opportunities. Perhaps a mentor will ask you to join their team, perhaps someone outside the company will offer you a job, or perhaps your boss will ask you to lead a brand-new project in an area that you find exciting. As long as you focus your stretch-plan on an activity that you enjoy, the Field will not be able to help itself: It will notice your effort, and, one way or another, it will respond.

About the Author

For 28 years John Jay McKey has been a student of success, building and leading data analysis teams in the banking sector, a Big Four accounting and consulting firm, the Office of Inspector General, and a multinational Fortune 50 company. While commuting from Chicago to Washington DC to work for the OIG, Jay had a personal epiphany that led him on a deep dive into the world of quantum physics. That journey resulted in the writing of Leverage the Field for Success, which explains how one can use what scientists call the universal energy field, the zero-point field, or simply “the field,” to support and accelerate one’s success and/or the success of their team.