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Without This Key Element,
Your Business Is Worthless
  Featured Case Study
Nearly EVERYTHING Worthwhile in Your Life Involves This One Crucial Element: RELATIONSHIPS

Greetings from CET HQ!

If you stop to think about it, our existence revolves around relationships: relationships with coworkers, relationships with family, relationships between companies (vendors, customers, etc.), relationships between companies and people.

And as a rule, the better our relationships are (as a person or business), the more successful and satisfied we are with our circumstances.

On the other hand, dysfunctional relationships are perhaps the leading source of stress and dis-ease. One surefire way to torpedo a great day is to damage or lose a relationship. This might mean jeopardizing a personal friendship, or losing a business client.

On the other hand, improving a relationship or creating a whole new relationship can mark the start of a VERY GOOD DAY. People thrive when there are an abundance of healthy relationships to enjoy.

Friendship tigerw

So What Are You Doing About It?

There are myriad ways to improve relationships, but there is one way that is PROVEN TO WORK: Decide to Improve and follow through by taking action.

What does that look like? For starters, deliberately seek ways to make things better Ask questions. Work on your relationships by taking classes or participating in some type of give and take feedback loop where you can discover what works AND what doesn't work. Do customer service training. Listen and respond.

The more practice you get, the easier it will be. That only makes sense right?

What are the benefits of building great relationships?

Here's a quick list of a dozen ways relationships can make a difference.
  1. Build credibility with customers and colleagues 
  2. Generate loyalty and a supportive climate
  3. MORE business connections and customers
  4. Bigger sales
  5. Deeper trust and more future business
  6. Satisfied and happy employees
  7. Better personal relationships with family and friends
  8. Improved teamwork and streamlined problem solving
  9. Motivate and inspire others
  10. Enhanced efficiency and less corrections
  11. Reduce wasteful arguments and hurt feelings
  12. Build self esteem and self confidence

Partners
Who are your primary partners?
And what have you done for them lately?

The best relationships also have some type of feedback mechanism so there are constant course corrections. These minor (or major) corrections are what keep us on track. Think of them like a compass directing you where you want to go. Without a frame of reference telling you that you are heading in the right direction, you may be way off track - especially when the relationship might be encountering cloudy conditions.

One way to build a feedback system is to get the stakeholders in a relationship together and create one. Corporate Explorer Training's CAP Feedback Module is designed to do just that in a fun and participative session. CAP is an acronym for Clear, Authentic and Productive, which is how effective feedback should work.

What happens if you don't have a proper feedback system?

  • Time and effort wasted as unnecessary work is done
  • Resentment builds up and festers
  • Misunderstandings happen frequently
  • People feel out of touch
  • Care and loyalty go out the window
  • Customer goodwill is frittered away
  • Miss Communication visits all the time
  • Repeated instructions and direction are required
  • Energy is sucked away

If you find yourself struggling in a relationship, ASK for feedback directly. Why are you NOT getting along with someone? Why did your client decide to purchase services from another vendor? This information, while sometimes awkward, is invaluable.

The bottom line is this: Relationships will make or break your business. If you are constantly striving to improve, the chances are you will be successful in identifying effective means to build great relationships. This translates directly into growth and profitability.

At the end of life, people's happiness is often a direct function of the number and quality of the relationships they have enjoyed during their years.

Knowing this, it only makes sense to consciously work on your relationship skills at every opportunity. Once it becomes second nature, you'll be amazed at the results you are experiencing.



Best Regards,

KW Signature

Kerry Ward

kward@CorporateExplorerTraining.com

Toll Free  877-924-4504
How Skittles Created Massive Media Buzz and a Huge Number of New Fans Using Social Media
Skittles

Handing over control of the content on your web site homepage to a horde of Twitter users is risky. But that is exactly what the Mars Company did with its Skittles brand.

Any tweet (a tiny message sent via Twitter) by ANYONE that mentions the word 'Skittles' automatically appears on the home page of the site.

This strategy was controversial as a number of people post profane tweets - thus the age verification step when viewing the site. However, there was no censorship over what appeared within the Skittles site frame.

The end result for Mars and Skittles was that they leveraged this social media to create relationships with a HUGE number of people. The free publicity resulting from the buzz created by this gambit created countless new relationships with consumers and media outlets.

Smart, huh? We're still talking about it in this newsletter, in fact.

Click the link below to see what the fuss is about. Keep in mind, you may have to verify age and click 'Chatter' to view the Twitter content.
http://www.skittles.com/
Family Relationships Are a Great Place to Practice Saying 'YES'!
A Summer Adventure Tale

Indigo Adventure

Each summer I like to have an Adventure with my daughter - just her and I. My wife appreciates the quiet house for a few days while we're away. And Indigo, who just turned 10, is a hardy traveler who can happily rough it. This opens a myriad of options to us.

This year, Indigo and I said 'YES' to a number of unique opportunities that resulted in an action-packed and memorable long weekend. Among the activities we sampled were:

1. A visit to uninhabited Twin Islands where cliff jumping was the order of the day!

2. Survival at Sea Training with Cap Sante International demoing their Castaways Program - complete with 'sharks'!

3. Rock hounding and gold panning in Silver City, Idaho, a wild west mining town.

4. Overnighting in style at a HAUNTED Masonic temple from the 1860's with no plumbing or electricity.

5. Getting an ATV tour of the surrounding mountains with my friend Vern.

The only reason we were able to string together such an extraordinary series of experiences was because we were willing to say ... 'YES'.

Yes, we're interested in the Castaways program. Yes, we'd love to visit you in Silver City. Yes, we'll sleep with the ghosts! (Who you gonna call when you don't have a phone?)

Yes, we had a phenomenal time.

You can too if you simply embrace opportunity when it appears.

Click the link below for a more complete accounting of the weekend - with VIDEO evidence, too!

http://www.corporateexplorertraining.com/blog.php

Links
Corporate Explorer Training
Canadian Outback Adventures
Toronto Team Building

Featured Program:

communication exchange

Cross Boundary Communication Module:

With the complexity inherent in most businesses, facing communication challenges is inevitable. This fun and action-packed training module gives your people the tools they need to interact effectively. The fact that the training includes activities utilizing slingshots with marshmallow ammunition just adds to the overall uniqueness and impact!