10 Ways to Keep Making Your Clients Happier and Happier!

According to Forest Research, it costs five times more to find a new customer than to retain a current customers. Sometimes, small changes have a big impact on how customers perceive the quality of your service and make the difference between loyalty and high churn rates.

Here are ten ways to increase customer retention for service businesses.'

1. Call your clients regularly.

Communication makes everything easier. Schedule periodical calls with your customers to share updates about how things are going and to ask how happy they are with your services on a scale from 1-10, 10 being best. If they do not give you a 10, do not ask why but ask what it would take to make it a 10. If they give you a 10, ask what they particularly appreciate.

2. Create valuable content.

Share new market insights, your opinion on the matter, and opportunities that your clients might not be aware of yet. Generating valuable content shows that you are on top of your game and improves brand awareness. Clients will also be likely to share your content or recommend your services to their connections based on publicly available content.

3. Become an authority in your field.

Your should always strive to be the best company in your market. If people see your business as a leading brand in the market, they are much more likely to stick to you. They have confidence in you because the consensus confirms that they already have one of the best providers.

4. Reply to your emails promptly.

You should always reply to your emails within 24 hours. If possible, within one hour. It is much more effective to reply saying that you received an email and that you will reply as soon as possible instead of waiting several hours and responding with a long detailed email. Quick response times show that if something important comes up you are always on top of your inbox.

5. Be decisive.

Clients  hire you because you are the expert. You cannot afford to be uncertain what's best for your clients. Your confidence has to come across in your discussions. Avoid "if" in your emails or calls. Anticipate questions that require research, do the research ahead of time and have all the right answers at your fingertips.

6. Value your client's point-of-view.

Clients are experts in their field as you are in yours. You need to listen to ideas and inputs from your clients because they have worked with their own customers longer than you and can make your efforts more efficient. If you are providing a service to an end-customer, listen to their needs and personalize your service to their liking.

7. Add a personal touch.

Adding a personal touch to the relationship such as a hand written Christmas card or an email about your work anniversary. It shows that you care and enforces your position as the top of mind choice for your customers.

8. Be realistic and do not over promise.

It is better to under promise and over deliver. On average, unhappy customers share their experience with 20 people or more while satisfied customers share their experience with three or four people. One way to avoid the nay-sayers is to set realistic expectations from the get go and take on only clients that are happy with that.

9. Identifying opportunities proactively.

Don’t wait for customers to ask you what else can be done to improve performance. Come up with ideas and new strategies to proactively tell your clients how they can get more out of their budgets. This will show your customers that you care about making sure their investment in your company is helping them grow continuously over time.

10. Be clear and transparent.

State clearly what you do, how you deliver your services, and what customers can expect from you. Customer loyalty increases also based on how mistakes are being handled. Studies show that up to 70 percent of unhappy customers transform into loyal customers if the mistake has been fixed exceeding their expectations.

Customer retention is an essential part of a service business model because existing customers are easier to upsell and more profitable than constantly acquiring new customers while having a high turnover.

By Rocco Baldassarre, CEO of Zebra Advertisement

When It Comes to Communication, Less Is More. Period.

I bet you didn’t know that the average American consumes 34 gigabytes or the equivalent of 100,000 words over 11 hours a day from all media sources. I would assume there are similar numbers for other countries.

What does that mean to you? It means we’re all overloaded with information, communication, and entertainment and our attention spans are getting shorter and shorter. But then, you already knew that. So what’s the big epiphany?

Did you ever stop to consider that, if you’re spending more and more time generating more and more content that people have less and less attention for and interest in, then maybe, just maybe, you might want to focus on doing less and having a greater impact?

If you buy into that premise, and you should, let me introduce you to a concept called media overexposure. If people see too much of you, they get sick of seeing your face. More to the point, they become sort of numb to your presence and stop paying attention to anything you have to say. The same thing happens if you spam them with stuff they could care less about and waste their precious time.

The way to avoid that is by blogging, posting, tweeting, updating, emailing, texting, calling – whatever form your communication or marketing takes – only what matters. Not what matters to you. What matters to them.

If you don’t know what matters to them or even exactly who “them” is, then you don’t have much of a marketing or communication strategy and you probably shouldn’t be sharing anything at all until you figure it out.

The best example I know of this sort of thing is Apple. Apple has a starkly minimalist communication strategy. They only communicate when they’ve got something important to say, and when I say important, I don’t mean important to Apple, I mean important to its users.

The result of that kind of strategy is what’s called a media vacuum. You know what happens when there’s a vacuum in place of information people want to know? The media gets sucked into the vacuum. That’s what creates a buzz. That’s a good thing. And it only happens when you go dark.

There’s an old line: How can I miss you when you won’t go away? Same thing.

Most highly accomplished entrepreneurs and business leaders understand this concept. We actually have a number of terms to describe people that don’t understand it. We call them self-serving, self-promoting, attention-seeking, spamming, egotistical blowhards who do more harm than good for their business.   

Some say if you want to be heard over the noise, make sure your content is crystal clear and to the point. That’s absolutely true. But that assumes what you’re saying is even relevant to whomever you’re saying it to. The vast majority of content blasted at me everyday doesn’t even come close to meeting that criterion.

Since I’m sure you want to avoid being called any of those unpleasant terms, here’s what I want you to do. Before you blog, tweet, retweet, post, email, or message anything, ask yourself if it’s something that whoever’s at the other end of the pipe will find useful in some material way.  

If not, don’t do it. Less is more. And yes, I do follow my own advice. 

by Steve Tobak, Invor Consulting

7 Ways Leaders Can Achieve Big Wins

Leaders should reflect on their businesses monthly, quarterly and annually, looking at what did and didn't work. It's the only way to keep pushing the needle forward and grow.

And while every company's challenges are unique, there are a few things all leaders can do to ensure they see bigger wins in the upcoming year. 

1. Develop backwards timelines.

People focus on weekly or daily to-do lists, but they don't always look at the bigger picture. Help staff see through this lens and ask them what they want their yearly contribution to be and how will they achieve that? Whether it's helping cut costs, growing annual revenues by a certain percent or building national brand awareness, encourage them to think about the future. Then create a backwards timeline of how to get there month by month, week by week, and day by day.

2. Invest in the term 'accountability.'

Staff should hold themselves accountable and be accountable to their colleagues. Being accountable means taking ownership on a project or assignment, and taking full responsibility for any shortcomings. It encourages a more aggressive attitude towards completing a goal, because there's more purpose and passion when a promise is made to a team.     

3. Practice 'corporate grandparenting.'

This is a management and retention strategy of creating relationships with employees two levels below where someone sits in the corporate hierarchy, allowing for an open dialogue beyond direct reports. While mentorship programs operate to advance an employee's hard skillset, discussions that take part through corporate grandparenting are more about bigger picture things like corporate values and how the employee can contribute to the end goal.

4. Refill an empty organizational chart.

Business leaders need to look at a blank company organizational chart on a quarterly basis, then refill it. This doesn't always mean exiting someone from the organization but making adjustments. Consider moving employees with strong work ethics who aren't producing to a different group. If the employee is currently a revenue producer, would it make sense to put them in non-revenue producing role?  Would their energy be suitable in a different group that lacks morale? The slightest change can make the biggest difference. Also, during this reorg, think about new business opportunities. If the company were to get a flood of new business, which unit would be overwhelmed? Which team would be understaffed or lack the skills to do the job? Then, fix the problem before it happens.  

5. Conduct stay interviews.

Stay interviews are interviews conducted between a high-potential employee and their manager with the sole intent to retain employees and keep them happy and motivated. It's a performance review on the company to understand what top performers are most excited about or motivated by and what might tempt them to leave. Stay interviews help companies avoid turnover by pinpointing employee pain points before they are out the door.

6. Create a mentorship program.

A leading reason people quit companies is because they don't feel invested in. A mentorship program allows for one-on-one developmental training from tenured staff, which helps increase employee retention. It also gets new hires assimilated to their roles and to the company culture faster.

7. Commit to inspire.

Inspiration has to come from the top. The leader has to take full responsibility and accountability for how his/her staff is developing and make tough decisions when needed. Reflect on last year and consider the hard decisions that were made. How would they be handled differently if they resurfaced this year?

by Tom Gimbel, Founder and CEO of LaSalle Network

Say 'No' to These 5 Things for an Immediate Life Improvement

The word "no" gets a bad rap in the entrepreneurial community. It can feel like a selfish assault to say "no" to someone when you heavily rely on the help and support of others.

However, there’s an enlightened difference between saying "yes" and "no" that is dependent on the circumstances surrounding the request or event. Saying "no" to things can be just as important as "yes" in your growth as an entrepreneur and for the growth of your company.

How can you tell when you’re saying "yes" or "no" at the right time? Honestly, it’s all in a gut check about how the response makes you feel.

Saying "yes" to the right things makes you feel good. You get energized, pumped up, excited and eager when you’re saying "yes" to the people, places and actions that bring you closer to your vision.

If you’re saying "yes" and feeling drained, lethargic, dreading the next step or wondering why you agreed to whatever you’re about to do, you need to learn the positive effects of saying "no."

"No" sets boundaries. "No" creates more room for the “yes” stuff in your life. "No" can feel just as rewarding, positive and fulfilling as "yes" when it’s done right.

Here are five important things to say no to this year:

1. "No" to tasks you can easily outsource instead. 

Entrepreneurs consistently need more of two things: money and time. You can create more money, you can scale more income, but you can’t create more time. There will always be 24 hours in a day, no exceptions.

Since you can’t control the amount of time you have access to, focus instead on the amount of time you can leverage from others. Outsourcing is a fantastic way to keep momentum in your life and your business.

Is your time best spent cleaning? If not, hire someone to clean. Is your time best spent preparing meals or answering phone calls? You can outsource both those things. Look for all the ways and places you can say "no" to tasks that you could easily (and probably affordably!) outsource.

2. "No" to actions that don’t match your vision.

Before you say "yes" to any request, ask if it matches your vision. There are a lot of great speaking opportunities, podcast interviews, charity events, mentoring opportunities and so many more potentially limitless lists of activities and events to get involved with in your life. However, just because something is a good cause, great product or smart idea, doesn’t mean it’s intuitively the right fit for your vision.

Say "no" to actions or events that don’t match your vision. Remember, you need to leverage your time because you can’t create more, so say "no" to things that don’t contribute directly to your best version of your vision.

3. "No" to things that distract and destroy your time.

We’re already back to talking about time! Time is your most precious resource, so why let any activity distract or destroy that? This is about setting boundaries with others, regardless of business or pleasure.

Have a friend who loves to gossip? You don’t have time for that anymore. Either say "no" to that conversation or don’t answer the phone. Do you have staff members who are prone to long stories or talks of sports scores? Decide carefully whether those activities enhance your time or kill it. Friends want you to go to Happy Hour every Friday night? If you aren’t getting real value out of those interactions then it’s time to let them go.

Say "no" to the things that don’t make you better and that waste your time.  

4. "No" to things that aren’t healthy for your mind and body.

You don’t have time to be sick or feel sluggish. You just don’t. Take your health and well-being very seriously, because right up there with time is your health so you can enjoy your time and your business.

You know the saying, garbage in, garbage out? Make sure you’re saying "no" to any garbage you’re putting into your mind and body. "No" to negativity. "No" to fake, bad food. "No" to lethargy. Just say "no" to the thoughts, activities and fuel that isn’t good for you. Fuel yourself with the right no’s to stay healthy.

5. "No" to things that aren’t up to you or in your control.

There are things in this life that are inevitably out of your control -- lots of them, actually. So you have a choice. You can fret and freak out about things such as the government, the economy, your partner, the weather or any other variable outside your power, or you can chose to say "no" to the stress that comes from getting upset about things you can’t control.

This isn’t about giving up, it’s about knowing you’re going to get through whatever storms may come. Frankly, giving in to worry or the illusion you can control the outcome only creates stress and wastes time.

Say "no" to the belief that you can always be in complete control. Say "no" to the undue stress that comes from trying to change outcomes that aren’t up to you.

by Matthew Toren, Serial Entrepreneur, Mentor and co-founder of YoungEntrepreneur.cc.

8 Daily Habits That Will Make 2015 Explosive

The new year is here and most entrepreneurs are looking at how they will raise their game in 2015. Many of you may want to ramp up your personal development and productivity to a whole new level to reach some major goals.

When it comes to finding success and achieving your goals, many times the most important struggle is the one that you encounter in mundane daily life. To truly find success in your life, it is important that you take the time to do the little things that matter most. Small changes to your daily routine can translate into monumental success in all of your endeavors.

Here are eight things that you should be doing, if you aren’t already, habitually.

1. Get up early

Getting up early is about more than just getting up on time. When you get up early, before most people, you have a quiet and relaxing time to get things done. Imagine being able to sit down and go through emails or handle daily tasks without your message notification buzzing or your phone going off. By getting up early, you are not only giving yourself some extra time in the morning, but you are giving yourself some extra valuable time that will allow you to get even more done.

2. Read

You should be reading every single day. Never let a day go by that you don’t grow in some area of your life. This doesn’t necessarily mean crushing an entire novel in a few hours, but put aside a little time to read, preferably 20 to 30 minutes. When you read you help stimulate your thought processes, and may be surprised by the ideas that you come up with. Reading things such as magazines or newspapers can also help you stay abreast of the world around you, a trait that can only be helpful, no matter what industry you work in.

3. Exercise

Even if it is just for 30 minutes, it is important to start exercising daily. Exercise can help release endorphins that can naturally boost your mood and your energy levels. Not only will you feel happier and more energized but those who work out regularly report lower levels of stress.

4. Practice gratitude

This can be a hard one for some people and it’s something that unfortunately many of us need to consciously practice. When our lives get consumed with work and personal demands it can be hard to remember to show gratitude to those that we interact with. Try to make a conscious effort to practice this. As it starts to become more natural, you will be surprised by how many doors open and how many new relationship you can form by showing sincere gratitude to those around you.

5. Schedule your day before it starts

Having a set schedule is a powerful tool when it comes to making the most of your day and being as productive as possible. To have the biggest impact with your time, try making your schedule the day before. This way the moment you wake up you will know just what is ahead.

6. Focus on high-priority tasks first

Many people actually often put their high-priority tasks on the backburner and end up saving them until the last minute. This may be because the task is daunting, or because they think they will have more time to dedicate to the endeavor. No matter what the reasoning is, challenge yourself by starting with focusing on your high-priority task. Get it done first and then focus on smaller things. After being in the mindset of tackling a high-priority project, your less demanding tasks will be easier to complete. It's a small change but one that can improve your effectiveness drastically.

7. Always go the extra mile

Do a few extra (meaningful) tasks every day that go beyond what your actual requirements are. This can mean just a few extra sales calls beyond your quota, or working for an extra 30 minutes before shutting down. By putting in a little more effort than required you can start getting the attention of your superiors or clients, get more done during the workday and feel a new energizing sense of motivation and satisfaction.

8. Improve in one area each day

This area can be something small or large and it can be in your personal or professional life, but make it a goal to improve in one area of your life every day. This can be improving your jogging speed while you work out, getting more emails done in a certain time period or improving on your elevator pitch.

No matter what it is, take the time to really try to improve one small thing, and before you know it the improvements in your personal and professional life will surprise you.

by Timothy Sykes

Increase Your Conversion Rates with These 7 Landing Page Must Have's

A massive pay-per-click and SEO budget can deliver high-quality traffic to your website, but if you are sending that traffic to poorly optimized landing pages you are essentially throwing your money down the drain. If you want to convert more of your traffic into leads, sales and revenue make sure that your landing pages feature the following seven elements:

1. Attention-grabbing headline

If your landing page headline doesn’t grab instant attention, you risk losing a potential conversion in mere seconds. A great headline gives the visitor a quick overview of your offer and gives them a reason to stay on the page. Make sure it grabs attention and it is clear -- and don’t be afraid to test several headlines to see what your audience responds to the best

For instance, split-test a statement headline against a question-asking headline and see what performs better.

2. Visually-appealing design

Your landing page must look great if you want to attract conversions. A sloppy “thrown together” looking landing page isn’t going to inspire trust. Also, avoid using readily available templates. Consumers come in contact with these templates all the time and they all begin to look the same. You need to differentiate yourself from all of the other offers out there.

If you are going to spend money to push traffic to your landing page then invest some of your budget into the design.

3. Strong call to action

An effective CTA (call to action) commands attention and encourages the visitor to complete the action, whether it is a purchase, placing a phone call or completing a form. To increase your conversion rate, you are going to need to create very effective CTAs. So many people will throw together a CTA and sit back and wonder why the conversion rates are sub-par. Invest time and energy into developing CTAs that help you reach your conversion goals.

4. One clear offer

I will often see landing pages that offer a free trial or consultation as well as a downloadable ebook. You want to avoid doing this as it just confuses the visitor. If you want to test multiple offers that is fine, just split-test multiple landing pages each featuring one offer. 

A single clear offer makes the entire process much smoother. For example, if you are running a pay-per-click campaign, your ad copy, landing page copy and offer should all be relevant. If a consumer clicks on your ad and then hits your landing page that has two offers it can cause a major hiccup in the conversion process.

5. Badges of trust and credibility

The average consumer is marketed to around the clock. Everywhere they look they see advertisements that claim to offer the best product or service. They are naturally skeptical, so make sure to include information on your landing page that builds trust and displays credibility.

Include badges of trust, such as the Better Business Bureau or industry-specific accreditations. Testimonials and media outlets that have covered your brand can also help to establish a level of trust and credibility.

6. Goal-specific form

You will often hear people say that “less form fields are always better,” but this isn’t necessarily the case all of the time. If you are just creating an email list, then yes, you can get away with just asking for a name and email address. If you are trying to generate a lead for your business then you need to worry about collecting the information that will create a high-quality lead rather than worrying about how many form fields you have.

If a high-quality lead for your business means you need a name, email address, phone number and a few other specific pieces of information, then don’t be afraid to require it. Determine what information you need and ask for it.

7. No distractions

Every single visitor that hits your landing page is a potential conversion. You want to do everything that you can to prevent distractions -- you want your visitor to focus on your call to action and nothing else. 

by Jonathan Long, Founder & CEO, Market Domination Media

The Gift of Time

The holiday season is often spent frenetically buying gifts, attending or hosting parties, and celebrating the end of one calendar year and the start of the next.

This activity is in addition to your regular work and life activities. It can be exhausting!

I think we all would be well-served by taking a close look at how we spend our time each day. Are we choosing the most effective ways to act, interact, and behave? If we slow down for a few minutes and analyze how we spend our time, we can refine our choices to serve ourselves and others better.

First, start by being intentional about you.
Create a personal constitution made up of your purpose, values, and leadership philosophy. What is your purpose, your “reason for being” on this planet? Specify what you do, for whom, and how it serves others. Map out the life values or principles that guide what is good and right in your view. Then, define your values in behavioral terms so they are observable and measurable.

Next, define your leadership philosophy. What can your team members expect of you? What do you expect of them? To what end are you leading people?

By formalizing your answers, you’ve created a “best-case scenario” that can serve as a benchmark for how you spend your time.

Second, track how well your time investments match your personal constitution.

Spend a couple of weeks noting the activities you engage in daily and how much time you spent on those activities. With an accurate map of how you spend your time, you’ll be able to assess how to tweak your activities to serve others — and yourself — better.

For example, if you value service, you might enjoy interacting with and waiting on customers. That time may inspire you, but might it make more sense to serve your internal, primary customers (your employees) well first? If your team members feel engaged, connected and valued, they’ll serve many more customers well than you can alone.

If you value relationships, you might spend time with your team members and customers but don’t spend as much time with family or friends. Being a good spouse or partner or neighbor or parent takes time, energy, and intention.

Once you map out how you spend your time, you’ll be able to assess where to make changes.

Third, refine, refine, refine.

Make slight revisions to where you spend your time so as to live aligned with the things you value. Delegate authority and responsibility to engaged, talented team members. Leave work early an afternoon a week to attend your child’s sports matches. Get enough sleep — you’re not fun nor productive when you’re sleep-deprived.

Small changes can make a big impact. Make the gift of time — your time — count by balancing your investments in the things that matter most.
What do you think? What would a time analysis show in your current work & life responsibilities? What small changes will make the most positive impact for you and your team and family?

by S. Chris Edmonds

3 Skills to Help Your Team Complete Key Projects

Project management is a must-have skill if you want to run a successful business. Use these 3 strategies to plan ahead, stay on task and finish strong.

How is work most often accomplished at your small business? If yours is like most companies, you and your managers create projects to complete a task—developing a website, designing a marketing piece, creating a new product or service, and the other activities that are critical to the success of your business.

And while it's critical to have some type of organized method to get those tasks completed, many small-business owners don’t use a standard system for accomplishing work tasks. The problem with that approach? It can cost you money—if you're consistently reinventing the wheel to get work done in your business, it will definitely impact your bottom line.

Using project management skills to get your projects done will help you create effective systems so you can more easily achieve your goals. The good news is, you don’t need to have formal project management certification to create a system that works for you. Being proficient in the following three key skills will take you a long way to success.

1. Project Planning

Planning is key to successfully completing the objective at hand. You need to be clear about the expected outcome and the tasks that need to be accomplished to get it done. The first step is to identify the scope of the project. How big is it? What are the boundaries? Who is it for? I like to call this "creating your box." You're literally identifying how big your project will be, along with what’s in (and out) of the box.

Then you need to make sure you brainstorm every single task that needs to be accomplished to get from idea stage to the final outcome. Don’t worry about putting the tasks in order—just brainstorm what you think needs to happen. Once you’re done brainstorming, arrange the tasks in the most logical sequence for getting your project completed. As you put them in order, it’s possible you may think of additional tasks—that's OK, just add them in.

You’ll also want to include your estimated budget for the project. Be realistic when creating your budget—erring on the conservative side can be detrimental to your bottom line. While this may flex one way or another during completion, having an initial budget will help you stay within your budget.

2. Team Management

Whether you use employees or contract staff, you want to make sure to include every team member who has a part in the completion of your project. Determining whom you need with what type of skills before you begin will help you more realistically plan your project. Take a look at all your project tasks to determine exactly what type of talent you need to complete each task.

Once you have your team together, define who will do what and when. Make sure you clearly identify those tasks that have dependencies between different team members.

Having one team member fall behind on a task that others are waiting for can put your entire project in jeopardy, so be sure to clearly designate roles and responsibilities for each team member. It’s a good idea to create a spreadsheet or tracking form that includes task, team member and timeline to use for the duration of the project.

3. Communication

There's no such thing as communicating too much when you’re working on a project with multiple people. So, when planning your project, be sure to designate topics, people and timelines for communication of a specific nature, such as team meetings or weekly emails.

In addition to general, day-to-day communication about the project, you should include both short-term and long-term ways that people should stay in contact. You want to stay on top of what’s happening in the short term and solve any problems that could be stumbling blocks, but you also don’t want to lose sight of the long-term goal.

The best way to do this is to set up a schedule of communication activities. These will include both individual and team meetings. In order not to waste your team’s time spinning their wheels with inefficiency, plan what will be covered in each meeting in advance—this will help your project run more smoothly.

Also plan to have regular check-ins with your entire team. These should be held at least weekly for a project that has a long duration and as often as daily for a project that has a shorter timeline. You should discuss both the general health and status of the project as well as address any immediate issues that need to be resolved.

Make sure your team understands when to communicate what information and what constitutes a “show stopper” situation. Nothing is worse than moving along blindly thinking everything is going fine with your project when it’s not.

Following a few key project management activities will help you and your team successfully pull off any work project, no matter how big.

By Denise O'Berry, Author, Small Business Cash Flow: Strategies for Making Your Business A Financial Success

Yes, You are Creative -- Here's How to Find the Spark!

It still hurts to think about it. It was early in my career and I was facing a big challenge. How do we involve a large group of manufacturing employees in a new and unpopular strategy? People were counting on me, and I had nothing. My boss said “Come on Gretch, just be creative.” I smiled but my stomach turned another notch.

The truth was we were trying to be creative. We had already rejected a lot of ideas because they seemed too far out, too much work, too bold. We were running out of time and corporate kept asking, “What’s your plan?”

Finally during one of those long team conversations, someone said the word “passport.” Believe it or not, with that one word, everything changed. We riffed around the idea of a passport being a way to get to somewhere new and exciting. The thought of multiple stamps generated the idea to create special events tied to the coming changes. From there grew a program that was a little far out, a lot of work and definitely bold. When we rolled it out, employees embraced the approach and over time accepted the new strategy. Looking back, I see why our plan was a success. It was novel, engaging and hands-on.

Like everyone, I’ve had my share of hits and misses in the creativity department, but I’ve learned that creativity generally doesn’t arrive like a gift from the sky. Most of the time it takes work, patience, and the belief that with persistence, you will find the right idea you need to make something better than expected.

In this blog post, I’d like to share a few tips I’ve learned that may spark your creative juices.

First, let’s start with the questions you should ask yourself.

1. What has worked before and why? Think about a time when you developed a creative approach to anything. Let that experience come back to you. How did you arrive at your successful idea? Did it come during a jog or driving into work? Was it an idea that came after a series of other thoughts? Did you put it away for a while and then return to it? Take a step back and observe neutrally. How did this idea come about? How did you build on it? Who else did you involve? What made it successful?
2. What didn’t work and why? On the flip side, think even harder about ideas that didn’t work the way you thought they would. What feedback did you get? What did you observe that indicated your plan or approach didn’t have the desired impact? What would you do differently knowing what you know today? Did your gut tell you all along it wasn’t quite on target? Did you listen?

Now consider the things that inspire you and how you react
Write down some things you really like — they can be a travel experience, book, movie, piece of art, time in history etc. Think why they leave an impression on you or how they help you think about something in a new way. My best ideas are sparked by something that captivates me — a blog, a line from a song, a story I can’t forget. I’ve learned that when my antennae go up, I need to pay attention — there’s something interesting here and I don’t want to lose it.

Once you’ve written the elements that spark your thinking, consider the following.

1. What do I like about this (music, movie, app etc.)?
2. What about it challenges my thinking?
3. What about it makes me feel uncomfortable? Is there something I can learn from?
4. What ideas, visuals or concepts in it bring up new ideas? Why?
5. How can I learn from that (the interesting idea)?
6. How can I apply this to my current situation/life/challenge?
7. How does this inform my thinking going forward?

This process allows you to make connections between interesting ideas and your current challenge. I highly recommend Mark Levy’s “Accidental Genius – Revolutionize Your Thinking through Private Writing” for step-by-step instructions on how private writing can help you draw out new thinking on just about any problem or opportunity you’re facing.

Putting it to use
Once you’ve started “noticing” what sparks your brain to think of new ideas, capitalize on it. Here are my suggestions to capture and build your creativity:

1. Keep an idea book. Get a notebook and keep it close to you at home and work. When you have an idea or something grabs your attention, write it down. Definitely include those stray thoughts that seem may seem innocuous. I promise you won’t remember it tomorrow if you don’t take a minute to write it down today. Discipline in this practice is your number one way to make sure your good ideas have the chance to flourish.
2.  Sit with it. Once you’ve written your idea down, put a reminder in front of you. For me, it’s the white board in my office. I refer to the white board each day and make it a point of including those random thoughts. I’m not memorizing exactly, I’m just planting them in the background for future use. After that I let them simmer in my brain. Generally once or twice a week, I will set aside a few minutes to think more deeply about each of these thoughts. Eventually they are transferred to my idea book or erased from the white board.
3.  Ask for help. Have a buddy — or two or three – to bounce your ideas off of. See what they think, listen to their reactions and watch their expressions. Maybe they can build upon your ideas or bring a new one altogether. These sessions can be very fruitful ways to generate good ideas that started with just a kernel of a thought. (Think “passport.” ) Be sure to invite people into conversations that think differently than you. The clashes of style can bring about exciting, disruptive ideas.
4.  Take a walk. Another great way to let your mind go is to take a walk. Just 10 minutes away from your work or office can improve your thinking and bring new perspective.
5.  Expose yourself to new experiences. Novel experiences can create new thought patterns that lead to new ideas. Seek out something different to give your mind new things to think about.

Everyone can be creative. Developing this practice has brought me exciting, successful ideas and increased my enthusiasm for my professional work and personal interests. Try a few of these tips or come up with your own; you may be surprised by how creative you really are.

Written by Gretchen Rosswurm is the vice president of global corporate communications and corporate social responsibility at Celanese, a global chemical company in Dallas. Throughout her career, she has advised leaders on communication strategies to enhance employee engagement and improve business results.

8 Ways To Energize Your Next Meeting

Tired of boring, soul sucking meetings? The truth is, they’re not only monotonous and tiring—they’re sapping your resiliency. We are all under pressure at work—and these stresses ignite our prehistoric "fight or flight" response. This means a rush of cortisol, adrenaline, and other stress hormones are coursing through our bodies. Unfortunately, we’re not doing anything to burn those hormones off and release the "bliss molecules" that intense fighting or fleeing would generate.

But there’s a solution. By including more physical activity in our lives, we can condition how our bodies respond to stress. In other words, we can build our resiliency—enabling us to recover from stress faster, and create a higher threshold before the stress response kicks in. In order to achieve this increased resiliency—as well as to get more energy, focus, and productivity—follow these eight simple strategies during the many meetings you attend every day:

1. Set An Expiration Date 

Make it a rule that meetings don’t go longer than two hours without taking a break. Often times the tendency is to try and "push through" in order to get things done, but the truth is that after two hours people have checked out. Allowing participants 10 to 15 minutes to get recovery will make your meeting more productive over the long run as they’ll come back refreshed and ready to focus.

2. Take A Stand

Make it okay for people to stand up whenever they need to. Some people become uncomfortable sitting for long periods or they may need to move a bit to keep their energy up. They can stand at the back or sides of the room and still participate.

3. Make A Game Of Musical Chairs No One Can Win

Remove the chairs from the room so everyone stands for the duration of the meeting. Not only will it keep everyone from multitasking or getting tired and zoning out, it will also most likely shorten the duration of the meeting!

4. Take It To Go

If you’re only meeting with one or two other people, make it a walking meeting. Walking increases blood circulation to the body and brain, delivering more energy for physical and mental performance. If it’s not conducive to walk outside, find a route within your building or take it to the stairwell.

5. Go Low

Serving sweets, chips, and soda during meetings may seem like a good idea, but in reality all of these things lead to an energy crash. These foods are high glycemic, which means they get broken down into glucose (energy) and released into the blood stream very quickly. Within about 30 minutes a precipitous drop follows this rush in blood glucose—leaving people low on energy. Serving low glycemic foods high in fiber, protein, and healthy fats slows the release of glucose in the bloodstream, resulting in more sustained energy.

6. Lose 15 Minutes

Make your meetings 45 minutes instead of an hour. If you schedule meetings for an hour, they’ll always take at least that long. I’ve had many corporate clients shorten their meetings and manage to accomplish just as much as longer ones. Some of them have even gone to 30-minute meetings, are getting the same amount of work done and the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive.

7. No Multitasking Allowed

Nothing kills the energy and productivity of a meeting like people not paying attention. At the outset of every meeting ask for everyone’s full attention and make a pact that no one will multitask. Have everyone set their phones and electronic devices on a separate table.

8. Get Moving

Studies have shown the longer we sit, the more our energy, focus, and productivity wanes. Set a timer and pause every 30 to 45 minutes to lead everyone through a brief series of stretches and small movements—they don’t even have to stand up.
Have them reach both arms forward to stretch their backs, then instruct them to clasp their hands behind their backs and lift their arms to stretch their chests. Shoulder rolls, neck rotations, spinal twists and straightening the legs several times are a few other options for small movements to get the blood and energy flowing. Stress isn’t going away, but we can build our resiliency, increase our energy, and improve our performance.

Jenny C. Evans is the author of The Resiliency Revolution: Your Stress Solution For Life 60 Seconds at a Time (Wise Ink Creative Publishing; November 2014). She is also founder and CEO of PowerHouse Performance, where she works with thousands of C-suite executives, leaders, and employees worldwide to help them improve their resilience, performance, and productivity, while enhancing their health.