Coaches Corner is brought to you every second Thursday by our resident business coach Felicia Lee who specializes in working with women entrepreneurs on business growth and development.

An article I read noted that young successful CEOs have a common trait – they are ever optimistic about opportunities that surround them.

Numerous studies have shown that people who are optimistic are healthier, live more abundant lives, are creative, resourceful, and accomplish more.

Successful entrepreneurs often see possibility within every situation, even when market conditions are unpredictable.  They believe in the possibilities.

Being optimistic and positive is a frame of mind that you can choose to embrace.

For example, when you go shoe shopping (which is one of my favorite activities), as you look at the array of shoes on display in the window, do you think “oooohhh, I like those, but they probably don’t have my size …” or “wow, those are cute, but I don’t think they have it in black.”?

Of course not.  You go in the store, hopeful and optimistic about the possibility of finding a great pair of shoes that will make you look fabulous.

So go take that first step towards a new opportunity.  How?  It’s not all that different from shoe shopping – you seek it and pursue it.  Here are some examples of what you might do to get started:

• Brainstorm on new business ideas
• Create a new partnership or alliance
• Network and meet people that are not in your industry
• Do something new in your business or life
• Learn about and model after someone who is successful
• Take a class to expand your skills
• Have coffee with an old friend, someone in your referral network or a past client
• Do one thing that is bold and crazy
• Double your goals and work out a plan to accomplish them
• Read a book that makes you expand your thinking
• Put yourself in an unfamiliar situation and enjoy the experience

What opportunities will you commit to create or pursue in the next 30 days?

One opportunity you can take is to sign up to the first ever WomanzWorld Academy `Startup Success in 60 Days or Less’ program  on Saturday 1 May. Details to come of this super exciting online business coaching program.

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If you are in business, you probably already know a few things about sales.

The sales process generally runs something like this:

Build rapport, inform your customers about the product, deal with concerns or objections and try not to pressure them too much. Let them make the decision and if they walk away, leave them with your contact or information so that they can make the purchase later on (or even better, get permission to contact them at a future date).

The first step of the sales process – building rapport, is often overlooked or done hastily.  Being our own biggest fans, we likely  jump quickly into  informing customers about products.

However, if you invest a little more time into building rapport, you’ll find that your customers come to trust you more, listen more, and be more open about what you have to offer.  The rest of the sales process becomes that much easier once someone likes you and trusts you.

What if you are not the type that makes small talk easily? Building rapport needn’t be cheesy.  Just be your open, friendly, and helpful self.

One of the best ways to build rapport is by focusing less on what you have to offer, and more on understanding the needs of your customers.

Ask them open-ended questions about their business, listen to where the pain points or motivations are, and find out more about what they are currently doing and where they would like to be.

My parents use to say to me – you have two ears and one mouth for a reason.  Listen twice as much as you speak.  I hate to admit it, but they are right!

Exciting News: I’m delighted to be offering a one month Entrepreneurs Startup Program on May 1st in conjunction with Felicia Lee, Ghost CEO Advisor.

This will be an online program exclusive to Women Entrepreneurs who want to kick start their business. We’ll take you through every aspect of starting up a business with daily activities to help you take action, fantastic templates and group coaching calls. To register your interest email me

Related posts:

1. Coaches Corner: Steps to Streamlining Your Business Many of us start businesses because we want flexibility and...
2. Coaches Corner: Get Your Pitches Reviewed I've been doing a lot of pitch reviews lately with...
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Many of us start businesses because we want flexibility and control in how we spend our days and the number of hours that we work in our business.

It’s ironic that, a few years down the entrepreneurial path, we often find ourselves running from task to task, often ending the week not knowing what we’ve accomplished.

If this sounds a little too familiar – sit back for a moment and take a quick look at how you’re running the business.

Do you have systems and processes in place?  Or are you too busy juggling everything that it’s hard not to drop balls.

Here are a few questions for you:

• Do you have a system for tracking opportunities that come your way?
• Do you use a sequence to turn prospects into clients?
• Do you have a weekly schedule (that you follow)?
• Do you spend time looking for things – paper, phone numbers, files on your computer?
• Do you know where your business stands financially?
• Do you handle your customers’ inquiries and issues consistently?

Your business is made up of different systems – sales, marketing, financial, administrative, communications, client support, etc.  Setting up consistent methods or processes lead to having consistent results.

If you want to grow, if you want to hire, and even if you want to sell, it is imperative that you have these systems documented.  Knowing how to do any of these in your head doesn’t count as having a system!

So where and how do you start?

Pick an area that you want to tackle first.  What’s causing you the most stress?  Where are things going wrong?  What is taking up a lot of time?

Document what you are currently doing, then take a look to see if you can make improvements.  Set a desired outcome for each process, and use tools like diagrams, flow charts, duty rosters, process maps, or checklists – anything to get the information out of your head and onto a piece of paper.  Then test your new process, and make improvements over time.

I’m often asked which area to tackle first, if there are no systems in place whatsoever.  I’d say take a look at how you manage your time.  Be intentional about how you spend each day, so that you can dedicate the right amount of time and effort to the areas that need attention in your business.

What systems are you going to implement in April?

Another excellent post from our resident coach Felicia Lee, Ghost CEO Advisor. If you want to speak to Felicia about coaching opportunities with her then please email her and mention WomanzWorld for a special rate.

NEWSFLASH: I’ve almost completed by first ever eBook that will help you and your business rock the Social Media world – or at least get you up and running with the best of the basics.

It’s a compilation of the Social Media Workouts for entrepreneurs  I’ve been posting throughout March and better yet it’s free!

I would love to launch it on my birthday this Saturday so watch out for details!

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I’ve been doing a lot of pitch reviews lately with my clients.  They polish off their presentations or proposals, and they run it by me as if I’m the client.  We go through what they think is good and what they think needs to be polished.

I used to give my clients feedback right away after the presentation, but lately I have changed one thing.  I ask them to provide their own feedback on how they did first, before I dive in to provide my comments.

I am amazed at how different the conversation is from that single change.  Usually they are right on the mark when it comes to what they thought went well.  Where we usually differ is on what they thought needed improvements.

Here are the a few areas that often need tweaking:

• Features vs. Benefits – It is so easy to go on and on about features rather than benefits, because we want to make sure our clients “get” what we are offering.  You want to cut this down to just the essentials, and focus on how your customers’ lives are going to be much easier because of your offer.  When they are ready to go into the details, they will ask you for it.  Don’t bore them with the nitty-gritty before they are ready.
• Hooks – Do you talk about what it would be like to work with you (or your products) throughout the presentation?  Paint them a picture.  Tell them how others have used your services or products.  Describe the process as if they have already bought from you.   Use examples that they can relate to.  Anticipate their questions and objections, and answer those throughout your presentation instead of waiting till the end.
• Customize – If you are spending the time to do a presentation, make sure you customize your materials to your customer’s business or process.  There is nothing more annoying than watching a “canned” presentation, especially if it’s a one-on-one meeting!  Are you demonstrating understanding of their pain points and processes?  Did you incorporate their logo into your presentation?  Are you using their terminology?

When your pitch is ready, make sure you run it by a few different people:  someone that knows your customer, someone that works in your industry, and someone that is outside of your industry and has no idea what you do.

You’ll get a much better sense of where you need to change things after hearing their feedback.

Related posts:

1. Coaches Corner: The First Step to Sales Success – Building Rapport If you are in business, you probably already know a...
2. Coaches Corner: When To Walk Away From Your Customer As women, we are sometimes programmed to help others. We...
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By Felicia Lee, Ghost CEO Advisor

It’s been such a joy to watch and participate in some of the 2010 Winter Olympic activities.  I’m quite inspired by the Olympic athletes, especially in their stories and journey.

Olympic Gold Medal (Photo by Natalie)

So many have always known that they’ve wanted to become an Olympian ever since they were little kids.  Some have been called “too ambitious”, but have not allowed naysayers to come between them and their ambition.  Today I want to take a quick look into this thing we called “Ambition”.

Are you ambitious?  What does the word “ambition” mean to you?  Do you feel uncomfortable talking about your ambition?

Does it conjure up negative connotations like self-centredness, egotism, or perhaps manipulation of others for your own purposes?

In my coaching sessions, I go over my clients’ business goals, and I usually ask them to aim for what they want, not what they think they can achieve.  Sometimes I really have to stretch them.  I find so many women uncomfortable with being public about their ambitions.

Many think that ambition is only condoned once they have first satisfied the needs of all their family members – husbands, children, elderly parents, and others.  Otherwise their ambition is called into question.  So they settle for something less.  Something that is maybe a little bit easier to achieve and won’t rock anyone’s boats.  Often, they pack their ambitions into storage, to be dusted off one day in the future, but certainly not today.

Today I challenge you to think about your ambition

What have you always wanted to achieve or to be?  Are you living your passion?  Are you taking steps, if slowly, to get there?

Your ambition doesn’t happen unless you intentionally map out a plan for how you’re going to get there.  Here are two factors to consider:

1. Your competency i.e. getting really good at what you want to do, and
2. Building a support structure to provide the proper recognition for your achievements.

Today, there are fewer issues around women achieving competencies – there is far less discrimination in getting into the schools or programs that you need to and getting the job or the promotion, and there are plenty of resources and support for starting and running a business.

However, I see women having more challenges in building the recognition and support they need to sustain the journey to fulfilling their ambition.  We tend to shy away from asking for appropriate acknowledgement of their contributions or to demand appropriate support.

We feel selfish when we don’t subordinate their needs to those of others.  We also tend to downplay accomplishments, and have much more difficulty tooting our own horn.

Yet recognition is such a fundamental emotional need, and can play a big part as the motivational engine that drives our pursuit.  Just take a look at why Olympic athletes compete – they are all going for gold, and the recognition that a gold medal brings.

I would encourage you to dare to be ambitious with your pursuits in the first place, and then take a look at the two steps again.  Do you have steps in place to become competent, and do you have a support structure to provide recognition and so motivate you to keep going?

Listen Up: You could win a complimentary 45 minute coaching session with Felicia valued at $150.

This can be in person or if over the phone so it doesn’t matter where you are in the world. Just answer these 2 questions in the comment section below:

1. What is the key area you need the most help with as an entrepreneur? (i.e Financial advice, marketing, social media, business plans)
2. What do invest your money in most? (i.e business books, courses, products, advice, outsourcing)

Competition ends Sunday 7th March at midnight PST. Winner will be announced and contacted on Monday 8th.

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As women, we are sometimes programmed to help others. We see problems, we know exactly what needs to be done to solve them, we run in to fix them, and all is good. And this is a good thing most of the times.

In corporations large or small, women are often the ones who notice what needs to be done, get the work done, and are the glue that hold everything together. If you are a mother, you know that you are often the first one to notice that your child is upset, is uncomfortable, needs to be fed, etc.

However, we may run into roadblocks when we transfer this desire and this know-how to working with potential customers. Have you experienced working with a potential customer where you can see exactly where they are struggling and where you have the perfect solution for them, but you can’t get them to buy from you for some reason?

You go over the benefits, how your product or service can solve their current issues, how implementing your solution will save them tonnes of money and time? And nothing. They walk away, they say they’ll call you back, and maybe they do, or maybe they don’t.

I’m going to challenge you today to stop helping them. Stop jumping in and offering to help, offering to give your products or service at a discount, or worse, for free. Just walk away. But before you do – ask them a few questions.

Ask them if they are seeing the challenges that you see in their business. Ask them if they have a plan to resolve it. Ask them how they’re going to fix it. And then walk away.

The key is – you can only help people when they are ready to be helped. People hate being told what to do, what to buy, where to buy it from, especially if they don’t already trust the person giving them advice. Your solutions, or pitch, or whatever you call it, will fall on deaf ears if your potential clients aren’t attentive to the fact that they even have a problem. And you telling them what their problem is doesn’t really go over well.

So instead of giving the solution, ask the question. Get them to think about whether they are doing well with their current course. Could things be better? Could they be more efficient? What problems are they not even aware of? Do they have a plan on improving things? How are they going to do it? Then leave them with your contacts and an opportunity for a further discussion.

When they call you back – they would have had some time to think about their issues, and they’ll be a lot more receptive to what you have to offer.

Felicia is a business coach specializing in working with women entrepreneurs on business growth and development. She is the Founder and President of Candeo Communications Inc, a strategic partner of the leading Ghost CEO program in development for professional and business women.

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Are you an innovative or creative entrepreneur?  Do you often have new ideas, and if you do, do your ideas usually come to fruition?  Or are you more the type that has loads of reasons on why your ideas won’t work?

I recently discovered something called the Disney Creative Strategy, which is apparently how Disney is able to continually innovate new ideas and bring them to the market.  It goes something like this:

There are 3 departments in Disney:

1. The Dreamers
2. The Realists
3. The Critics

The Dreamers’ jobs are, well, to dream.  Flying elephants – great idea!  Monsters that generate their city’s power by scaring kids – bring it on! Once the Dreamers have come up with ideas for a new movie, they take the concept to the Realist Department.

The Realists make the idea into a plan – they create the storyboard, the flow, the characters, and determine a plan to make the vision come to life.  The plan then gets submitted to the Critic Department.  The Critics’ role is to determine where and why the plan wouldn’t work.  Then the feedback is taken back to the Realists to implement.

The key to why this works really well is that the Dreamers are never exposed to the Critics in this process.  If they were, most dreams and visions would be crushed at an instant.  The only way to allow the creative process to germinate is to provide a safe environment for the dreamers and the critics to do their jobs, without running into each other prematurely.

We each have a dreamer, a realist, and a critic in us.  Do you allow your dreamer and your critic to sit in the same room?  Do you think of a million reasons why your ideas won’t work before allowing the dreamer in you to even finish the thought?  Strive for a way for the dreamer and critic within you to do their part, and you’ll be more likely to see your creativity come to life.

If you are intrigued, read “the Opposable Mind” by Roger Martin.  See how great leaders intentionally hold opposing thoughts and ideas in their minds or organizations to create healthy tension, significantly improving the decision making process and outcome.

Now go make room for your dreams to come true!

Felicia is a business coach specializing in working with women entrepreneurs on business growth and development. She is the Founder and President of Candeo Communications Inc, a strategic partner of the leading Ghost CEO program in development for professional and business women. Felicia is skilled in creative problem solving, and has a natural ability in inspiring her clients to take their business and professional development to the next level. Her experience includes building and bringing new services and products into markets, developing business opportunities for entrepreneurs, creating networks and connections for entrepreneurs, and being a mother to two amazing daughters. She holds an Electrical Engineering degree and an MBA from the University of British Columbia.

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I’m super excited to announce that WomanzWorld now has it’s own expert Coach on board for us all to benefit from.

I recently met the bright and vivacious Felicia Lee and was instantly impressed. From a corporate career to Entrepreneur and now a fantastic Ghost CEO Advisor, I leapt at the chance to collaborate with her. The result is ‘Felicia’s Coaching Corner’.  You can tune in every second Thursday for your own personal coaching session, ask questions, learn and engage. But don’t let me tell you why this is going to be incredible, here’s Felicia to introduce herself to you!

Hi, my name is Felicia, and my passion is centred around empowering women to be the best that they can be in their entrepreneurial journey.

Entrepreneurship is very much like running a marathon. You don’t wake up one day and just go run the whole thing without having a plan. To be a successful entrepreneur for the long run, you need to build your foundation, train and stretch yourself, adjust when things don’t go the way you intended, and move forward towards the finish line one stride at a time.

I am delighted to be able to run along with you on this path. My goal as a business coach at Womanzworld is to provide you with the tools and strategies to enable you to grow your business. I will be posting articles and tips about once every two weeks, covering topics from strategies to sales and marketing, to systems and strategies. You can think of me as your water stop, your cheerleader, and your coach on race day.

I would like to invite you to participate, share with us your ups and downs in running your business, ask lots of questions, support your fellow women entrepreneurs and learn from each other!

So first of all, please do introduce yourself in the comments section, tell us about your business, and a business goal for 2010. We will do a random draw at the end of January and send a lucky winner a tool that we use for our clients on “How to Talk so that Your Potential Clients will Listen”.

About Felicia

Felicia is a business coach specializing in working with women entrepreneurs on business growth and development. She is the Founder and President of Candeo Communications Inc, a strategic partner of the leading Ghost CEO program in development for professional and business women. Felicia is skilled in creative problem solving, and has a natural ability in inspiring her clients to take their business and professional development to the next level. Her experience includes building and bringing new services and products into markets, developing business opportunities for entrepreneurs, creating networks and connections for entrepreneurs, and being a mother to two amazing daughters. She holds an Electrical Engineering degree and an MBA from the University of British Columbia.

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As women, we are sometimes programmed to help others.  We see problems, we know exactly what needs to be done to solve them, we run in to fix them, and all is good.  And this is a good thing most of the times.  In corporations large or small, women are often the ones who notice what needs to be done, get the work done, and are the glue that hold everything together.  If you are a mother, you know that you are often the first one to notice that your child is upset, is uncomfortable, needs to be fed, etc.

However, we may run into roadblocks when we transfer this desire and this know-how to working with potential customers.  Have you experienced working with a potential customer where you can see exactly where they are struggling and where you have the perfect solution for them, but you can’t get them to buy from you for some reason?  You go over the benefits, how your product or service can solve their current issues, how implementing your solution will save them tonnes of money and time?  And nothing.  They walk away, they say they’ll call you back, and maybe they do, or maybe they don’t.

I’m going to challenge you today to stop helping them.  Stop jumping in and offering to help, offering to give your products or service at a discount, or worse, for free.  Just walk away.  But before you do – ask them a few questions.  Ask them if they are seeing the challenges that you see in their business.  Ask them if they have a plan to resolve it.  Ask them how they’re going to fix it.  And then walk away.

The key is – you can only help people when they are ready to be helped.  People hate being told what to do, what to buy, where to buy it from, especially if they don’t already trust the person giving them advice.  Your solutions, or pitch, or whatever you call it, will fall on deaf ears if your potential clients aren’t attentive to the fact that they even have a problem.  And you telling them what their problem is doesn’t really go over well.  So instead of giving the solution, ask the question.  Get them to think about whether they are doing well with their current course.  Could things be better?  Could they be more efficient?  What problems are they not even aware of?  Do they have a plan on improving things?  How are they going to do it?  Then leave them with your contacts and an opportunity for a further discussion.

When they call you back – they would have had some time to think about their issues, and they’ll be a lot more receptive to what you have to offer.

Felicia is a business coach specializing in working with women entrepreneurs on business growth and development. She is the Founder and President of Candeo Communications Inc, a strategic partner of the leading Ghost CEO program in development for professional and business women.

Exciting Offer: Ghost CEO have put together a fantastic `Startup Business Builder ePack’. With over 50 pages of materials and worksheets, you will never again say to yourself, “What should I be doing?” because this ePack gives you all the right tools to take away the challenge of running your business so that you can focus on building your business.  It’s normally $99.95 but Felicia is offering WomanzWorld readers 40% off until 1 March 2010. Click here to check it out!

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