Celebrate all your successes from 2018.
By successes, I mean anything that you did or experienced in the last 12 months that made you feel good about yourself.
Here are some of my own successes…
• I discovered a dozen new fiction authors that I really like reading. Some of these authors have written multiple books so I have some great reading ahead of me.
• I had the opportunity to help out a close relative who is going through some major health challenges. I discovered that doing small things like tidying up their garden, painting their fence and mowing their lawn gave me a real sense of satisfaction and it made their life a lot easier at the same time.
• I had dozens of long walks on the beach this year and these walks helped me relax and also come up with some really useful ideas to improve different parts of my life.
• I've tried some new marketing strategies this year in my business and have enjoyed some nice wins that I wasn't expecting.
• I found a number of new tradespeople who were super helpful and were great to do business with.
As you can see most of these successes are not earth shattering.
However when I think about these successes I feel more positive.
So I invite you to celebrate your own successes as well.
By taking time to focus on your successes you will feel more positive.
And this is a great way to finish the year on a high note.
Success strategy two:
Say 'thank you' to the many people who have helped make a positive difference to your business.
These people could include key clients and customers, helpful suppliers, valued advisers, enthusiastic supporters and many more.
I think December is a great time to positively recognise all these people.
An excellent way to say 'thank you' is to send these people a hand written note saying you really appreciate what they have done for you during the year.
A hand written thank you note is very rare in business and is always appreciated when it is sent out.
You might like to say something like this in your note:
Hi Mary, just a quick note to say a big thank you for all your help and encouragement during the year. Your support made a big difference and I really appreciate it. Kind regards. John Smith.
For special supporters and clients you might like to send a small gift as well.
(If you would like details of an inexpensive, and highly memorable gift idea that you can send your special clients and supporters just send me an email using the email address at the top of this column. This gift idea is something these people will love and it will promote your business in a very positive way at the same time.)
Success strategy three:
Set up a programme of RPI for 2019. (RPI stands for 'Regular Positive Inspiration.')
This just means you expose yourself regularly to positive ideas that will help improve your results in some way.
If you own or manage a business, an important key for long term business success is your ability to attract new customers and clients and convince them to spend money on the products and services you offer.
In other words sales and marketing is a critical factor for your business success and is something you should devote time to getting good at.
So be on the lookout for helpful marketing resources and ideas.
Have a great week.
"What the New Year brings to you will depend a great deal on what you bring to the New Year" - Vern McLellan
Action exercise:
Take a few minutes and write down at least a dozen successes you have enjoyed in 2018. Write down big and small successes. Give yourself a nice pat on back for all these achievements.
- Graham McGregor is The Added Value Marketing Expert™. Register at his website www.addedvaluemarketing.com and Graham will give you a free copy of his brand new free guide 'Easy Sales with Added Value Marketing'. (This guide contains ten time tested strategies that any business can use right now to create easy sales and delighted clients and is with Graham's compliments.)
