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July 2008 , 114th Edition |
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| Current Edition |
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| The Coaches Corner |
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The Coaches Corner with Katharine Giovanni
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The Fan
I've been
getting some interesting calls
lately. In the last ten days,
I've gotten more "panic" calls than
I've had in a long time. The reasons
for the calls vary. Some people are calling because
they're worried about money and the
recession. Others call because the
"you know what" has hit the fan and
they need help figuring out what to
do. I've had several of these.
Since I'm
pretty good at putting out forest
fires, I thought I would share some
tips when you come across your own
"forest fire" .
First, let's chat
about your perspective and focus. So
... the "you know what" is hitting
the fan right? It's your
entire world right now. You're
focused on it, dreaming about it,
living it, breathing it and trying
to get out of it ... am I right?
Well, I've said
this before but it bears repeating
... there is
a universal principle out there
called the Law of Focus. It's a
natural law similar to the Law of
Gravity. This law suggests that what
you put your attention to … grows.
So if you put your attention to
fear, a lack of money, and start to
think that the sky in your world is
falling, then your “sky” will fall.
If we put out negative thoughts and
actions and constantly focus on the
negative, we will attract
negative back to us. It will become
our entire world. Conversely, if we try
our best to see the positive, then
we will attract the positive back,
and this will become our world.
As the
late Peter Jennings once said in a
newscast I was watching a while
back, “the mind/body connection
has become serious science.”
What you decide to focus on, and the
direction you decide to go because
of this decision, will determine
your company’s reality and its
direction.
So ... as I said
before, the crap is hitting the fan.
How do you stop looking at it?
Focus on your future. Focus on where
you want to go instead. I'm not
telling you to ignore it (mostly
because you can't) but you sure
don't have to focus all your
attention on it!!
Here are some
tips ...
-
Stop watching
the news. It teaches us to be
scared, and reminds us on a
daily basis what we should be
afraid of.
-
Cut some
pictures out of a magazine and
pin it to the bulletin board
above your desk. Pictures of
where you want to go ...
limousines, private jets, your
dream house, your dream office,
your dream car, your ultimate
vacation destination ...
whatever. Something that will
remind you where you are going
and what you are working
towards. I have several on my
own bulletin board as they
remind me on a daily basis where
I am going.
-
Listen to
music. Whatever music empowers
you and makes you feel good.
Dance. Sing out loud! It
will lift you up.
-
Don't listen
to the naysayers who are saying
you can't or shouldn't. Turn
your ears off and run your
business (and your life)
from your heart, not your head.
TRUST what your intuition is
trying to tell you. Listen to
it, you know it's never wrong.
Get quiet and focused and listen
to that small voice deep down
inside of you. It knows the
direction you should go, and it
knows how to get you there.
Trust it.
And what if you
fall? What if the sky does
fall down on you?
That actually
happened to me. Want to know what I
did when it happened?
First I cried ...
Then I got really
really angry ...
Then I calmed
down and started to think. That's
when I realized that I had just
learned what not to do. Once I
realized the lesson, I was able to
stand up and dust myself off. Sure,
it hurt like hell but I was able to
slowly move forward knowing that I
wouldn't do that again! I then
forgave everyone involved (including
myself) and moved on. I let go of
all judgments, resentments and
anger. I let go of it all and walked
away.
We then
regrouped, refocused, reorganized
and tried again.
Did we close the
business?
No.
Want to know why?
Because even
though falling flat on my face
hurts, it actually makes me even
more determined to succeed. If only
to prove them all wrong.
So keep going
everyone! Don't give up and
keep your eye on the prize.
Oh ... one more
thing ...
Try to stop
looking at the fan.
Until next time!
Katharine
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News
from Triangle Concierge |
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Due
to the 4th of July Holiday here in
the United States ...
Triangle Concierge will be closed
for vacation from Saturday June 28
to Sunday July 6. All orders placed
after Friday June 27th at 12:00 noon
will be shipped out on Monday July
7th. We will have limited
access to email, but will be
checking it periodically.
Thank
you! Have a wonderful holiday
week!!!
Katharine and Ron |
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We're bringing our acclaimed
workshop to ATLANTA from August 7-8!!!
GAS HELPER
SPECIAL - The first 10 people to
register will get an additional
$50 off. To learn more, please
CLICK
HERE
Our Masters at
Home Program also has a GAS
HELPER SPECIAL this month ...
click here for more
information |
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| Quote of the Month ... |
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Most of the important
things in the world have been
accomplished by people who have kept
on trying when there seemed to be no
hope at all.
Dale Carnegie |
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| Feature Article - 1 |
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Generate Word of Mouth in Six Steps
By Alan Fairweather
Let me ask you a simple question -
do you want your customers to say
positive things about your business
to other people? I bet you do,
because as we all know "word of
mouth" is one of the most effective
and low cost ways to find new
customers. And the most effective
way to generate "word of mouth" is
to provide extraordinary customer
service.
Remember - the difference between
ordinary and extraordinary is just
that little bit "extra." So what is
that little bit extra?
I recently decided that I needed a
new pair of training shoes. I was
suffering from sore calves after
exercising and put it down to the
state of my shoes. (And before you
say anything, there's no way I'm
putting it down to old age).
A visit to a local sports shoe store
resulted in me walking up and down
the length of the store in my bare
feet with my suit trousers rolled up
to the knee. Two sales assistants
were sitting on the floor watching
my progress.
After much discussion between us
they recommended two pairs of shoes
that I should try. New shoes were
purchased; no more sore calves and I
told you it wasn't old age.
These sales assistants provided that
little bit "extra."
They made me feel important, they
were warm and friendly, they
responded to what I had to say and
they listened to my complaints about
my aching muscles. I've now
recommended that sports shoe shop to
several people.
Research tells us that customers
want two basic things from a
supplier:
Firstly, they want quality core
service. - In other words, they
expect your product or service to
work, to do what you say it'll do.
(However, do this alone and you'll
only provide "ordinary" service).
Secondly, they want friendly caring
service. - They want to be
acknowledged, to feel that someone
is interested in them as an
individual and that they're cared
about. (This is what provides that
little bit "extra").
Here are Six Steps to add that
little bit extra and generate word
of mouth:
1. First impressions are vital - It
therefore makes good sense to
consider what you look like and
sound like. In a face to face
situation it's important to make eye
contact and smile. On the telephone,
it's not what you say as an initial
greeting that matters, but more
important how you say it.
2. Warm and friendly - This is what
most people want and it makes your
life easier too.
3. Use names appropriately - A
person name is one of the warmest
sounds they hear. It says that you
have recognized them as an
individual.
4. Respond - If a customer says
something, the intention was for you
to hear it. And if you hear it, it's
a good idea to acknowledge it.
5. Actively listen - When you think
about it, most people aren't very
good listeners. We'd all rather be
talking. You have to work hard at
listening particularly if you want
to let the other person know that
you care. Many people listen but
don't show that they're listening.
You've got to do all the nodding
head stuff and look like you're
interested. And remember over the
phone; occasionally make some
indication that you're still there.
6. Close positively - At the end of
an interaction it's a good idea to
make a positive statement on a
business level and a personal level.
Say something like - "If you have
any further problems then please
phone me on this number and I'm sure
you'll enjoy your holiday next
week".
Make no mistake about it, providing
friendly caring service creates that
little bit extra and generates word
of mouth for your business.
About the Author:
Discover how you can generate more
business without having to cold
call! Alan Fairweather -"The
Motivation Doctor" - is the author
of "How to get More Sales Without
Selling" To receive your free
newsletter and free e-books, visit
the [http://www.howtogetmoresales.com
target= _blank ]Motivation Doctor.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Alan_Fairweather
http://EzineArticles.com/?Generate-Word-of-Mouth-in-Six-Steps&id=100497 |
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Ron's Rants with Ron Giovanni |
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Ron is always ranting about something. Sometimes he rants because something irritated him, other times he offers a life or business tip to help people out.
From politics to family life to sensitive issues, you can bet that Ron will rant about it. He understands that not everyone will agree with him! He's not trying to change opinions, he's just ranting.
Here’s Ron’s Rant for the week …
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Hi
everyone,
I hope
you are all ready for a great
summer! I understand that
we
are all concerned about the
economy and how we all are going
to handle the next 6 or 9 months
that all of these so-called "in
the know people" say we need to
be prepared for. The prices of everything just
keep going
up and up. However, what seems to be the most
important item that affects us
is the price of gas.
What
amazes me most about the gas
issue is that it is something
that has been coming for a long
time, but yet nothing ever gets
done about it until we are hit in
the face with it. Why is this
great country of ours (and the
many other industrial countries
throughout the world) such procrastinators? Is it
about dollars and cents? Some
say yes, it is always about
dollars and cents. I guess it
is and always will be, but if
our big time businesses do not
get off their butts and be more
creative, and not just sit at their desks
counting stock shares and get
back to being creative again,
dollars and cents will continue
to fly out the window! No doubt
for fuel as it owns us!
I can remember when I was
a little kid and saw all those
cars of the future. I often wonder
where are they today? There are no cars of the future
now because we have the same old
combustible engines we had when
I was a kid. Yeah I know it has
changed, but not one car of the
future is anywhere to be found.
So yes, it is all about the
dollars and cents. To be able
to bring us those cars of the
future, we would
need free thinkers who are not held back
by the bottom line, we would
need inventors who can bring
their ideas to the forefront
without someone squashing it
before it makes out to the
drawing board.
We need
independent thinkers who can
make us less dependent on
others, especially those selling
fossil fuels. We all depend on petroleum
as it controls every facet of
our lives. We need independent
thinkers from around the world
to explore, develop, invent,
write and create so that we are
no longer controlled by oil. We need to think hard and think fast.
Let’s all take life back and not
have one thing control us.
Which
brings me to something else that
is irritating to me, mostly
because I
hear it on the news every day. How
much more it costs to
travel because of the cost of
gas. I hear people are canceling
vacations because of this cost.
Now I understand how hard it is
for people who drive for a living,
and the long trips back and forth to
work ... it’s enough to drive a
person mad or broke! Over the last few
weeks, several friends of mine
are telling me that gas is
going to kill them for their
trip. Some have even said that
they will cancel their vacation
because of gas prices. Heck I
read an article about families
doing ‘staycations”
... which are
staying home and doing vacation
type day trips. Yes, Staycations! Now I know that
the price of gas has gone up 40
to 45% over last year’s prices,
and yes that sounds like a lot,
but is it ?
Let's do
some math ...
Let see
... if you used two full tanks of
gas to travel to and from your
vacation destination, and it cost
$90 last year for the round trip,
this year it might cost $135. Would this be a
reason to cancel a vacation?
Not in my opinion! There
are many ways to make up the
difference. Everything goes
up when you are on
vacation, gas is the least of
problems, at least for me. Why
don't they try to ...
-
Cut
out eating out as much
-
Don’t order lattes, have a
coffee instead
-
Eat
pizza, hoagies and burgers
instead of expensive meals.
-
Rent
a smaller property off the
beach instead
of bigger house on the beach.
Yet when I
hear people say that their
vacations are so expensive
because the gas is going to kill
them for their trip, I just have
to scratch my head. I've heard
this
from friends, family,
on the news, and from
those fabulous talking head
guests who are always popping
into the news
with their theories and
opinions. Whenever I hear this,
I have to bang my head on my
desk and ask them
why? Yes ... why are they using gas
costs as a reason? If it
is not the gas and just the
economy, I can go with that, but
gas prices should not be the
reason for not traveling and
making memories with your
family.
I just heard it on
the news
by one of the talking heads who
actually was Secretary of
something or other with our
government, but he just said
that if we drive more we will be
paying the bad people who are
charging all this money for
fuel. I am not making this
up. Wow, and here I thought it
might have been due to the weak dollar
or possibly the demand from
around the world,
but what the
heck do I know, I'm just a
simple business person. So if
this Secretary of whatever says
that, then it must be true and all
the other stuff is just junk
fed to us.
Listen,
take your family on a trip and enjoy it.
Make memories because your kids grow
up fast and will soon be in
college, so please make the
memories. However, if you really have
to then I guess a “Staycation”
is the way you have to go. There
can be memories to have there
to. But like I wrote at the
beginning, don’t be controlled
and let others run your life. There are a lot of ways to
adjust for gas prices even if it
is only $40, $50 or even $100
dollars more this year, it
should not be the reason for not
traveling.
As the
sign says in my house ... Live, Love
and Laugh ... but most of all enjoy
all that you possibly can
because life needs to be lived
on your terms, not on the
terms of others.
Ron
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| Feature Article - 2 |
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3 Ways To Keep And Build Unshakable Confidence
You Can't Get There From Here
By Bette Dowdell
A man stops to ask directions,
only to be told, "You can't get
there from here. If you were in
Freeport, you could get there, but
you can't get there from here."
So he asks how to get to Freeport.
"See. That's the hard part. You
can't get to Freeport."
We laugh, but too many of us are
behaving as if this were serious
information about the journey called
life. If, in fact, you can call
stuck-in-a-rut a journey at all.
Too many of us invest in the "can't
get there from here" scenario and
give up before we take the first
step. The Chinese saying, "The
longest journey starts with a single
step," doesn't apply because we
won't take that first step.
And what is this misinformation that
causes us to give up without trying?
"Well, you came from a dysfunctional
family. You can't expect to get to
success from a start like that."
"You blew it when you didn't go to
college. You'd be better off if you
learn to be content where you are."
Or we're too young. Or too old. The
wrong color. The wrong sex. Our
history has blemishes. We're too
poor. Come from the wrong place. The
list is endless.
The fact is, people are willing to
stand in line for a chance to tell
us why we can't get from here to
there, there being where our dreams
are.
And they're wrong. What we've come
through provides the gas in the
engine for where we want to go.
We've learned a lot from our
so-called "problems," and it's stuff
that can't be learned any other way.
We just need to let it motivate us
and not let it drag us down.
But we won't even try if we keep
listening to the naysayers. Who are
these dream killers? They're people
coasting through life without
dreams, mainly because they don't
want to do the work that dreams
entail. The way they see it is if
you don't try, you can't fail. You
also can't succeed, but apparently
that's less painful to them than
risking failure. And don't bother
trying to explain to them that
failure is a building block to
success if you keep on keeping on.
If the quit-now gang consists of
casual acquaintances, we can just
tune them out. It's harder if
they're friends. They're not going
to change just because we have a
dream. And they don't want us to
change because our success will
reflect poorly on them.
If they can't talk us out of it, and
we persist in following our dream,
they'll dump us like a bag of wet
garbage. And that's just fine.
Anybody who wants to hold us back
isn't really a friend. We'll need to
find new friends who prefer
goal-setting to coasting, Full of
dreams themselves, they'll
understand. And cheer us on.
Dealing with dream killers is
hardest if it's our family who
insists we shouldn't try to be more
than they say we are. We can try to
show them how they would benefit
from our success. We can try to
press on toward our goals in spite
of all their talk of defeat.
But if they're pulling us down
faster than we can climb up, we may
need to love them from a distance.
Or we can give up our dream, stay
down, and spend our days mourning
our loss of what might have
been-dead people walking.
The important thing to remember is
we can get to some place good from
wherever we are-if we're willing to
start the race. Regardless of where
we've been, everybody has to start
somewhere, and where we are now is
the only place we have for starting.
Where you are now is your place of
new beginnings.
Go get 'em, Tiger. Or Tigress, as
the case may be.
About the Author: Bette
Dowdell is a former IBM Systems
Engineer, small business consultant
and software company owner whose
avocation has always been teaching
the Bible to just about anybody who
will listen. Read about Bette's
books, check out her Meeting Life
Head-On blog, listen to her speak
and subscribe-free-to her original,
take-the-hill quotes at
http://ConfidentFaith.com. Article
Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Bette_Dowdell
http://EzineArticles.com/?You-Cant-Get-There-From-Here&id=1241971
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Calendar of Industry Events |
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To see a complete listing of upcoming workshop dates, please click here
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AUGUST 2008 |
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August 7 - 8
TRIANGLE'S ACCLAIMED MASTERS CONFERENCE!!!
Atlanta, GA For more information, please
click here |
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SEPTEMBER 2008 |
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2008 ICEA Annual Professional
Development Conference: Building the
Network
September 24 - 27,
2008 The Grand
Hyatt Tampa Bay
For more information, please
click here
Katharine will be teaching a
pre-conference workshop as well as a
general session.
You can't afford to miss this great
event!!! Network with concierge
from all over the world!!! |
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NOVEMBER 2008 |
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November 6-7
TRIANGLE'S ACCLAIMED
MASTERS CONFERENCE!!!
The Concierge WorkshopTM
The Capital City Club
Raleigh, NC
For more information, please
click here |
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Click here to read some comments from our clients. |
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HTH Mobile
Health |
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HTH Mobile Healthsm
--
It costs you nothing to sign
up!! Plus, it's a great
benefit for your clients!!
Triangle Concierge, a global
leader in concierge consulting,
has announced a partnership with
HTH Worldwide
to provide its global health and
safety databases to Triangle's
clients. The partnership enables
concierge in the U.S. and Canada
to provide their clients access
to global healthcare and safety
information from their wireless
mobile devices, laptops or
desktops via subscriptions to
HTH Mobile Healthsm.
Help travelers manage health
needs in 180 countries from any
cell phone or computer. Find
emergency or urgent care
centers, carefully-selected
English-speaking doctors,
translations of medications
and medical conditions, pharmacy
practices and even security
alerts!
BOOST REVENUE! Earn commissions
on subscription sales of HTH
Mobile Health.
For more information, or to sign
up
and earn commissions,
please
click here
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The Concierge Directory |
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Triangle's Reciprocal Link Program
There is no fee to put in your listing (all we ask is that you link back to us on your website). Best of all there is no cost to consumers who are looking to hire a concierge! Our directory will give you more presence on the web, and will make it easier for people to find you.
For more exposure on the web, we also suggest joining the International Concierge and Errand Association at www.ICEAWeb.org. Not only do they have a terrific directory, but there are some incredible benefits to joining as well!
If you would like to exchange links with us and get your company listed in our free directory, then please visit our website for the details at
Triangle Concierge Inc. |
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Administrative Details |
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The Triangle Times is a monthly newsletter that offers a mix of business and motivational articles and is sent out to clients from Triangle Concierge, Triangle International, NewRoad Publishing, and KatharineGiovanni.com. Please pass this newsletter along to anyone you like. We hope you enjoy it!
This is a 100% Opt-in ezine. You purchased one of our products, or subscribed at one of our websites. This newsletter is sent ONLY to those people who have requested it.
Copyright © 2008 by Triangle Concierge, Inc. All rights reserved.
No duplication.
If you would like to subscribe to this newsletter, please click here: http://www.kickstartcart.com/app/join.asp?MerchantID=38298
PRIVACY STATEMENT: We will not distribute your email address to anyone. Period.
CONTACT US: 3650 Rogers Road, #328, Wake Forest, NC 27587, Tel: 919-453-2850
Fax: 919-453-2851, info@triangleconcierge.com
WEBSITES:
Triangle Concierge - www.triangleconcierge.com
Katharine’s Book Site - www.katharinegiovanni.com
NewRoad Publishing - www.newroadpublishing.com
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