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How Can a Small Effort Result In More Profits?! Being Humble Being humble = having or showing a low estimate of yourself. Above is the dictionary's interpretation of being humble. Now, you may be thinking that if you were supposed to be a leader, why would you want to have a low estimate of yourself? I’m glad you asked! I would change the dictionary's interpretation slightly so that it reads: 'Not having or showing a high estimate of yourself or your importance' A leader cannot have an over-inflated opinion of his/her self or their importance. One of the 3 Killers of Success is having an ego; it simply prevents anyone from respecting you and ultimately following you. It's not a good idea to call yourself a leader while nobody will follow you! Being humble is actually a relatively easy skill to master, but so many managers etc don't get it right. First and foremost, never think that your answer/solution is always going to be the right one, and never ignore other people's input and advice. Ultimately as a leader, the final decision will be yours but you absolutely must listen to concerns from people around you. Nobody is perfect, and overlooking one simple factor can result in making the wrong decision. Your role as leader simply means collating all the facts and possible courses of action from everybody you can, and acting upon it in an efficient and effective manner. Have you ever known a President, Prime Minister or other World Leader who simply had his/her own agenda? A government leader will have a group of people close to him/her at all times to offer advice and guidance. Experts will be called in to offer advice when needed. No one person has all the answers, however a group of people usually will - especially if you have surrounded yourself with the right people (this is explored in a later chapter). Being humble also involves admitting when you've made a mistake. As mentioned before, you can never be correct 100% of the time, but when you make a mistake you absolutely must admit it. There are so many leaders that will try to hide their mistakes, but this leads to lie upon lie and the situation tends to get out of control. If the mistake were bought to the attention of others when it was made, the problem would be easily controllable through good teamwork and a quick response. You will gain so much more respect from others by simply telling the truth and maintaining your integrity. I cannot stress that point enough. Always be honest, especially with yourself! Another fatal flaw for many leaders is simply not accepting that there is a problem until it's spiralled way out of control - as before, it could have been fixed if the leader had been honest and accepted that a mistake had been made. Chapter Summary · It is not possible to be an expert in everything, so do not pretend to be! · Take advice and guidance from your team and make decisions based on facts! · Admit when you have made a mistake – to yourself and others around you. You will be respected more for your honesty! · Do not let problems spiral out of control. Deal with problems as soon as they arise! How is this relevant to your online business? To wrap up this chapter, we should explore the concepts in relation to your online business. Respect is so important in your online endeavours. You can’t just put up a website and expect people to buy from you. Your visitors do not know you; therefore they have no basis to form their respect for you. By being humble in all communications with your customers or prospects you will earn respect and TRUST. The biggest mistake you can make is coming across as a ‘know-it-all’. Lets be realistic, if you receive an email from somebody that claims they know the ‘best way to do this or that’ and you ‘shouldn’t listen to anybody else’, alarm bells start ringing. Personally, my inbox is flooded with messages everyday that tell me their program is ‘amazing, and if I don’t join I’ll probably never be successful’ – I delete these messages instantly! You will not get good results with this kind of communication. If I receive an email that says that this program is not yet as successful as others, but is attracting interest – or something along those lines, then I am much more likely to, at least, visit the URL and read more. The simple reason for this = he/she has gained my trust. They were honest about the program/opportunity and didn’t feed me a load of over-inflated ‘I WANT YOU TO BUY FROM ME’ rubbish! Forums, as you know, are a great place to network and generate subscribers, sales and JV Partners. Being humble is essential when posting in forums. I want you to know that I’m talking from experience here; I have made the mistake of sounding like I’m Mr Perfect! Use forums correctly and your business can explode, but you have to be thinking all the time. Before every post, preview your message and read it from another person’s perspective. I’ve started doing this now, and it’s surprising to see how many times a message comes across in the wrong way. Also, if you make a mistake, post a new message with an apology and you will be instantly more respected for doing so. Ok, above are just a couple of examples of how being humble can make or break your online business. The most important point to note is ‘be humble in every communication you make, whether it’s with a customer, visitor, subscriber or other online marketers. The truth is, there are far too many people out there that will do anything to get you to buy. All it is to them is money, money, and money! Don’t get me wrong, money is great, but the joy of helping others is much more rewarding and will lead to a greater income in the long run anyway! Helping = Trust & Respect = Customer Returns + Referrals = Nice Profits!! So many people do not understand the concept of helping people for free – it’s very powerful! Just a final note; If a subscriber, customer etc asks you a question that you do not have the answer for, then please do not make the following HUGE mistakes; 1. Guess the answer
The correct procedure should be; 1. Email the customer immediately and tell them you are unsure of the answer but you will find out and get back to them,
Your customer will now trust and respect you greatly. You were quick to respond, and you were honest. Following that, you took the time to find the answer for them and saved them the trouble of finding someone else to ask. I sincerely hope that you understand how powerful something so simple is – many people don’t. Your customer will come back for more and will say good things about you to others. Referrals are ESSENTIAL – it’s free marketing just from looking after your existing customers correctly. I hope you have picked up on a few things in this opening chapter. Your task today consists of 2 parts: 1. Brainstorm all areas of your business where being humble is important. The best way to get this done is by making a list of everybody you communicate with in any way, your list will be bigger than you thought. Remember, this includes any website visitor, as you are communicating via your content. 2. Read through all communications material (i.e. Pre-set emails, website content, sales letters, forum posts etc). Read them from another person’s perspective and change necessary areas based on what you have learned today.
This article was posted on March 03, 2006
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