The Three Most Important Words For 2019.

Already hitting small obstacles in 2019? You started out so well and now, for some reason, you seem to be hitting the same wall that you always encounter when you try to make an upward move in your career.

Let’s talk "VCP". It's an old BNI acronym for the words: VISIBILITY & CREDIBILITY = PROFITABILITY. Simply, if you are more visible to the people that matter, you then have an opportunity to show your credibility. And if you succeed in convincing them about your credibility, you then access profitability, or the ability to grow your business.

This simple acronym can easily be applied to executives in corporate or business owners trying to grow their business. We get caught in our career — DOING our business — but forgetting to GROW our business. We forget the simplicity of VCP. For example:

VISIBILITY — When was the last time you stepped out and networked aggressively outside of your contact sphere?

If you're an executive:

• When was the last time you went to lunch with a key player outside of your group? Do you do it every week? You should.

• When did you reach out to your peers in your industry (outside of your company) to have lunch?

• When did you reach out to leaders in your community (not industry) to have coffee/lunch?

• When was the last time you spoke at an industry meeting? Went to an industry meeting?

If you own a business:

• Get out and meet people. Your office neighbors, colleagues in your industry.

• Join a networking group. Make it a regular event.

• Use signage, brochures, blog, guest speak at client events. Be a billboard for your business.

CREDIBILITY — 

• Do what you say you're going to do. This is a major dysfunction of many executives and businesses. They say YES to too many things, they over-promise (people pleasers) and under-deliver.

• Over-Deliver. Always add something special and extra to every client deliverable. Surprise them!

• Ask past clients and managers to talk you up (i.e., on LinkedIn recommendations).

• Build up a history of knocking it out of the park. Be assertive, be bold!

If you start with VISIBILITY and add CREDIBILITY, you will quickly encounter PROFITABILITY.

• Businesses will begin to get more clients, better clients, bigger clients.

• Executives will begin to get the better projects, more exposure, promotions and more money.

VISIBILITY & CREDIBILITY = PROFITABILITY. Make it Happen in 2019!

How To Make Your Boss & Clients Happy All The Time.

Five simple words. Three if you don't count the hyphens: Under-Promise And Over-Deliver.

But time and time again, what do we do? Over-Promise And Under-Deliver. Which one makes our boss and clients happy?

Why do we do this? Why do we constantly over-promise what we can do, bunch up our priorities, and then disappoint when we deliver late? And why do we do this again, and again, and again?

Here is a scenario to stop this dysfunctional cycle:

• It's Monday. You are given a project/task to do. Your boss or client asks when you can deliver it.
• You know in your heart, you can easily complete it by Wednesday. And if you work extra-special hard, Tuesday night.
• So you say, "I'll have it to you Tuesday night. WRONG! This is where the train derails.
• You should say, "I'll have it to you Friday. Is that okay for you?"

Your boss or client will respond in one of three ways:

1. 80% of the time - "That sounds fine. If you can get it earlier to me that would be great."
2. 15% of the time - " Oh. Can you get it any earlier to me? Say Thursday?"
3. 5% of the time - "That won't do. I need it by Wednesday. Can you do it?"

First, why do I have you buffer the time from Wednesday to Friday? Simply, because stuff happens. Unexpected calls, emergencies, breakdowns, other clients, other projects, home emergencies, etc. You get where I'm going.

Unfortunately, we don't plan for these things to happen. But they do - all the time. So you need to buffer. What happens in this scenario?

1. You deliver on Thursday (comfortably) instead of Friday and your boss/client thinks that you're a genius (and hard worker).
2. You deliver on Thursday (comfortably) and your boss/client thinks that you are a person of their word.
3. You tell you boss/client that Wednesday will be very tight and you might have to move around some projects/tasks. You deliver on Wednesday.

If you begin to do this with all of your projects/tasks, you will find that your time is better used AND your boss/clients will love you.