Happy New Year? I sure hope so. My question for you this week as we embark on a new year is: “What are you going to do to make 2011 better than 2010?”

You often hear experts make comments about the silliness of New Year’s Resolutions. I don’t think they are silly at all; I think it’s good to look at the year gone by and make some promises to yourself for the New Year. But, I also know the hardest promises to keep are the ones we make to ourselves. So this week think about 3 things you could do better in 2011. Three specific things that you are going to do to improve your business and your life. Write them down and share them with your spouse, significant other, friend or family and ask them to push you to get the 3 goals done.

Yes, it’s true, we shouldn’t have to wait for the calendar to turn over to make a goal and then chase it down. But, since a New Year is here, just do it right now!

If you need help improving your business and your life, come see me in February at my annual Leadership conference; click here for details.

I also wanted to let you know that our office will be closed from December 27th-December 31st. We will re-open on Monday, January 3rd.

Merry Christmas to you from my family to yours.

It’s a pleasure that I get to come into your life each week. I enjoy sharing my ideas with you and I hope I have helped you.

I wish you the best of luck in 2011 and I hope to see you soon.

Talk to you next week.

We all need to understand it is far easier to sell more work or more products to a client than a prospect. Why is that? Because you have a relationship with the client; they trust you. There is a connection. And in sales you will never be successful until you learn to connect with prospects before you try to convince them to work with you or buy your products.

You know the feeling; you don’t buy from the pushy car salesman at the local dealership. But you might buy from the car salesman that goes to your church and has said hello to you for the last 15 years. You don’t buy the copier from the guy that walks in your office boasting his machine is the best and would be perfect for your office but you do buy one from the lady who came in and asked you to go through her questionnaire to see if they were a “match” for you and then kept in touch for months in a nice, calm way slowly building confidence and a relationship in the process.

So, while it is very important to look for new clients, don’t do it at the expense of taking care of the current clients you have. Make sure you are talking to them and make sure you are showing them everything you can do for them. I have been able to turn little clean-up clients into clients who have had us re-landscape their whole property and then let us take care of it. We are their landscaper “for life,” or at least we hope we are!

Talk to you next week. If you’re not signed up for GROW! 2011….why?

Santa Claus is coming to town and December is without question (in my mind) the most unproductive month for business owners across the US and beyond. I don’t have any research to back that up; I just feel that’s the case. Oh, sure, March madness can give offices a run for the money or, well, you get the idea. Not as much gets done in December as it could and should and that’s my great idea for the week.

With the holidays upon us, now is a time to reflect on the year gone by and ponder the upcoming year. If you use December effectively, you can use it to put a plan in place to make 2011 way better than it could be otherwise. Planning means taking some time to yourself and thinking about what you want out of your business. What do you think sales can be? Be realistic. What can profits be? Be realistic. Who are some new clients you want? Where are they? How can you meet them? What are your marketing efforts going to consist of? How much are you going to spend? Listen, I could go on for days. Here’s the deal—ALL PLANNING IS GOOD!

The mere act of sitting down in a quiet place thinking about your future is the best use of your time and December is a great time to do that. Don’t let December slip away; don’t get in a rut; now is the time to work hard, get focused and put a plan in place to make 2011 GREAT, not just good.

I can help you do this in many ways. I offer coaching and consulting and I have an incredible learning opportunity for you coming up in a little over 60 days. It’s my annual conference GROW! 2011. Sign up by clicking here. I am teaming up with the very talented Joe Calloway (www.joecalloway.com). Look, I’m going to insult you. YOU’RE A FOOL IF YOU DON’T COME TO THIS EVENT!

What Joe and I have planned for you and for what it costs, there is no better investment you’ll ever make in your business. Just trust me and sign up. Or by all means, call my office at 1.866.Grunder and ask for me; while I am on the road a lot, Nancy will find me and I will call you back personally and answer any and all questions. Or we’ll give you some past attendees to talk to and let them tell you what my teaching has done for them. Isn’t it time you quit using the winter to sit around and feel sorry for yourself and not do much of anything? Make this winter the one you set yourself up to win!