Bruce Baltich, a longtime colleague of mine in Orlando, Fla. shared an interesting point with me recently.  His statement was: 
I want to avoid "commission breath" in my conversations with those that I serve.

Below are three strategies that will help you avoid commission breath, and position you as avaluable resource to your client.

Strategy No. 1: Be honest and direct.
If you don't have a product or service that the client needs, tell them you can’t help them. Then go the extra mile to proactively find that product or service for them.  Your centers of influences and your current network of contacts almost always will turn up a name or two that can fill their need. Yes, you might initially miss a sale of some sort, but the goodwill you will create will be rewarded with future sales and referrals that will far exceed the initial lost sale.

Strategy No. 2: Create new business for your customer.
Pull out your list of your top customers.  When is the last time you referred them business? 
Why so long? They need referrals just like you do. Not to mention, the best way to earn a referral is to give a referral first.
Questions to consider when thinking about a referral:

1. What products and services do my top clients offer?
2. Who do I know that needs those products and services?

Strategy No. 3: The relationship-building lunch.
Now, I'm not talking about an extravagant lunch. Something simple. Some place that's not noisy. In the relationship-building lunch, you are asking questions, finding common grounds of interest, finding ways that you can be helpful. You don't have dog eared papers and contracts to sign. That yells commission breath. And commission breath at a relationship building lunch is bad business.
​
Recently I had lunch with a top client at a local New Orleans neighborhood restaurant. About halfway through lunch the owner asked, "So, why are we really here today?" I looked at him straight in his eyes and told him, "Our sole reason for being here is to build our relationship with you and to tell you we appreciate you and your business."  (May I strongly suggest that you go back and read that last sentence out loud?)
Call to action:  So you've just read 3 strategies that are tried and tested. What action will you commit to implementing these ideas?
Make Marvelous Happen!

Hello Marvelous People:
 
Let’s keep in mind that while “Thanksgiving” may be celebrated at a certain time of the year – the attitude of gratitude is worth living and practicing all the days of our lives.
 
May you enjoy Ana Dutra’s article & share it with all your friends, neighbors, co-workers & relatives.
 
Peace, Love and Gratitude to you & yours!
 
Marvin LeBlanc

Thanksgiving, giving thanks, appreciating, being grateful… a colleague asked me recently if I thought there was any connection between gratitude and performance. Yes, I answered, there is a clear connection. At the most basic level, when people feel truly appreciated for their contributions, results and actions, they give their best, they give it their all. Taking this a level deeper, demonstrations of gratitude are energizing for the recipient and fulfilling for the giver.
 
When people feel truly appreciated for their contributions, results and actions, they give their best, and higher levels of performance are unleashed.
 
Imagine a culture where people feel comfortable and compelled to express gratitude not only for all the good things employees, colleagues, peers and bosses do but also for who they are. As people receive and give grateful feed-back, positive energy is created throughout the organization and, as everybody strives to do their very best, excellence and higher levels of performance are unleashed.
 
The role of leaders in creating such a culture is fundamental. It takes self-confidence, humility and awareness — of self and others — to articulate appreciation for others. It takes believing and understanding that people perform at higher levels when they feel appreciated. Yet, gratitude is appreciation at a deeper level. It is less about what people do and more about who they are and the roles they play in the organization. The impact of gratitude on the leader and on others around him/her can be extraordinary.
 
In some Eastern philosophies where pause and reflection are daily practices, practitioners are invited to acknowledge and express gratitude for things and people that, otherwise, would be taken for granted. As people express gratitude, not only do they benefit from the recognition of something or somebody that makes a positive difference in their lives but so do the recipients of the grateful feelings. As leaders express gratitude for their teams, for their clients, for the organization they lead, the appreciation spreads way above and beyond their inner circle.
 
Gratitude has to be authentic and heartfelt in order to be impactful. It can’t be an obligation or expressed because it is “the right thing to say”. A few days ago, I picked up my daughter at her job helping to organize and deliver birthday parties. As she sat in the car, she had a card in her hands and, as she was opening the card, she said: ”I love to read the Thank You notes — pause — but not the ones like this…”. As I felt her disappointment, I looked at the Thank You note she was staring at. It was a printed, impersonal, and unsigned Thank You, probably one of many distributed to all the people who worked at the party. My daughter was looking for the sincere, personal and authentic Thank You. But, what she received was one of many impersonal pieces of paper. Like the Thank You note my daughter received, canned gratitude is transparent and a waste of time. It cheapens the gesture and it doesn’t create any positive impact. In order to be able to express authentic gratitude, leaders have to truly feel it. In order to truly feel it, you have to be open to be grateful and take the time to pause and reflect about the things and people you are grateful for.
 
So, during this Thanksgiving, I want to invite you to pause. Pause and reflect. Reflect on all the people who should receive your gratitude not only for the things they do, but for who they are, how they behave, what they stand for as individuals and as leaders themselves. And don’t forget to be grateful for who YOU are. Again, not for what you do or what you have, but who you are, the values you possess and what you stand for. Expressions of gratitude create better lives and, yes, improve personal and business performance.

Hello Marvelous People!
If you haven't followed me on Periscope you can do so here - www.periscope.tv/MarvinLeBlanc
This was a recent periscope session. on the meaning of life.  
Enjoy! 
Peace, Love and Gumbo
Marvin 

I have often thought that the sky was the limit for my business life as long as my home life was in order. On occasion, over the 37 years of my marriage, I have experienced how hard it can be if things are not right at home. It is hard to concentrate on business when you are facing issues with the wife or children on the home front. The majority of the time, the heart of the issue was a misunderstanding through the communication process. We assume everyone should act or react the way we would act or react. 
 
For example: The way I normally act in a situation is that I want to get results, so I am too quick to make a decision because I want to solve the problem. I focus on the end goal. My wife, on the other hand, wants security so she will support me in hopes to maintain the status quo. She wants everyone to be comfortable, so she tends to focus on what is accepted.
 
The problem: When I think she is on board, she is really just being agreeable to keep the peace but there has been no real decision on her part to actually change anything.
 
The solution: I need to slow down and give my wife the time she needs to make her decision without a lot of pressure. 

 In our Enhancing Couples Workshop you can learn the different ways you act and reaction in a situation. You can learn the different priorities each other has when needing to make a decision. You can learn each other's strengths and struggles. We can show you how to connect, affirm and even de-stress through the different personalities.
 
Learn each other's unique abilities, your strong points, what good communication truly looks like to your spouse and what are you best at in your relationship.
 
Your Home Life CAN Make Your Business Better!

Gary Southard
CEO and Owner
Rising Star People Concepts, LLC