Education

Getting Lucky

November 20, 2018 | By: deaneparkes

In business as in life it is often said some people seem luckier than others. Perhaps there is some substance to this regarding the upbringing we had however I feel the biggest part of LUCK is being prepared so when opportunity comes your way you are ready for it and, for that matter, able to recognize it. Luck is mostly the ability to be prepared.

So, with this in mind what are some things we can do in business to be prepared for LUCK to shine on us?

Be friendly– Research has proven there is a direct relationship between friendliness and success in life. A smile can go a long way to improve customer service. Research has also shown working for a negative boss or in a negative work environment increases your risk of heart disease by 33%. A friendly business is a healthier business in more was than one.

Exercise & eat well– There is no luck involved in good health, often it takes discipline and some sweat however research has also proven healthy people generally enjoy more success in life.

Love what you do – If you honestly do not like your job and feel you are not  contributing or have purpose, do something else. You may not be able to change right away however make a point of finding out what it is you enjoy doing and find a way to do it.

Read before getting up – research has proven people who read 30-60 minutes each morning on a topic they want to excel at end up having tremendous improvement. If, as an example, you want to increase your customer counts begin reading from books on marketing, advertising and public relations. I guarantee you will enjoy more success than ever before. Also, you will have prepared your mind to be aware of opportunities you had no idea existed before.

Write down some goals – A study was done at Yale University of graduating students where they revisited them 10 years after graduation. It was found 3% of the students had accumulated the wealth of all the other 97%. When looking over the research the only deciding difference was all 3% had written goals while the others did not. Perhaps read a book about writing goals for your AM reading.

Network – The old adage ‘it is not what you know but who you know’ is a deciding factor in our success. I find the health industry is quite easy to get to know a lot of people. Take the opportunity to go to trade shows, meet fellow retailers, meet suppliers, meet industry experts and build some relationships. I know of many independent retailers who have good relationships with other similar retailers and they share what works for them and what challenges they face. Independent retailing can be a lonely business at times and having a support network can really help.

Training – I meet many people in business whose only training has come on the job. Sometimes what ends up happening is you have people with 1-year experience repeated over and over for many years to come. Even elite athletes and musicians have trainers as they realize there is always room for improvement. In retail there are so many key areas it is difficult to be strong at everything. Consider sales, marketing, finance, inventory management, customer service, merchandising and other trainings. I feel product knowledge is over rated compared to learning ways to build strong relationships with customers, creating more customers and making shopping a valued experienced for your customers.

Hire better than you – everyone has strengths and weakness. To have a strong business requires understanding our strengths and improving on them and hiring people who are strong where we are weak. I have met some business owners over the years that feel they must make every decision. Generally, each of these people has had little growth over the years and often complains about how well others do. Some have even said ‘why are they so lucky’?

Dress for success – Volumes of research has been done on this subject even down to proving facial hair, on men, is a detriment to sales success. I have personally seen the positive effect wearing a uniform had on my selling ability in retail. I may have felt uncomfortable at first, wearing a ‘smock’, however when I noticed the positive response and increased average sale this feeling of uncomfort quickly faded.

I read recently that ‘you cannot expected to have change in anything in your life if you approach it from the same state of consciousness’. This is a gentle way of saying – ‘a fool is someone who keeps doing something the same way expecting a different result’.

If you feel you have been ‘stuck’ in any area [and who doesn’t at some point] then hopefully you can find ways to prepare yourself for changes which will bring unlimited luck into your life.