Perseverance, noun; doggedness, steadfastness,persistence, tenacity; steady persistence in a course of action, a purpose, a state, etc., especially in spite of difficulties, obstacles, or discouragement.
Last week I attended a workshop with a very lively discussion on the qualities of leadership. Most I agreed with, but I just didn't see perseverance as more important than vision, passion, integrity, or decisiveness. I should explain that the facilitators gave a list of 12 qualities and the participants voted on what the group thought were the most important.
So being the ever faithful student, I started thinking, talking and learning about perseverance and discovered it's alter ego "stubbornness". Henry Ward Beecher said it best "The difference between perseverance and obstinacy [stubbornness] is that one comes from a strong will, and the other from a strong won't."
That being said, most of us can identify leaders in our life.
•The charismatic leader in elementary school that organized a surprise for the teacher,or when
•Leadership is trust upon a person like Chesley Sullenberger, the successful pilot on Flight 1549 that landed in the Hudson river in 2009, or•An innovative leader like Steven Jobs of Apple.
Leaders that persevere are identified in hindsight. Colonel Sanders is one that always comes to mind because legend reports that 1,009 restaurants said NO to his chicken.
In 1955, his deal was simple, he traveled from restaurant to restaurant and cooked his famous chicken in the owner's kitchen, if they said yes, they would get small packets of spices and return to him a nickel for each piece of chicken they sold. It was a handshake agreement that eventually was formalized to 600 franchises by 1964 with his famous logo. Now that is perseverance - he knew he had a great product, he had a simple business model and it just took time - he wasn't stubborn, just persistent.
Perseverance is important yet if it is not aligned with your vision, putting it on the back burner may be the best solution until it's time is right!
Copyright 2011 Linda Fayerweather MBA EA
http://www.changinglanes.biz/419-897-0528
linda@changinglanes.biz
Consider working with a coach or a MasterMind Team to make 2011 the year of your dreams!
Establishing Your 2011 Referral Partners
1. Review the results from your 2010 referral relationships to identify the people that you worked with to purposefully and consistently produce qualified, reciprocal referrals.
What do they have in common? With each other? With you?
◦Some of them may represent members of your contact sphere because they are businesses that naturally and traditionally lend themselves to yours. One example of a contact sphere might be a – Realtor, Mortgage Lender, Property and Casualty Insurance (including umbrella), Home Inspector, Home Appraiser, Handyman…or Landscaper, etc.
◦Others may be part of your power team. These are folks that are committed to passing you qualified referrals regardless of their profession or industry. It’s YOU and whoever you choose to surround yourself with.
◦Where did you initially meet them? All said and done there are eight kinds of networks you can access and nurture to build your business:
i. Casual Contact Networks…like the chamber.
ii. Strong Contact Networks…like BNI.
iii. Community Service Clubs…like Kiwanis.
iv. Professional Associations…like SHRM (Society for Human Resource Managers).
v. Social Groups…like The Adventurous Eating Club.
vi. Business Groups…like the Project Managers Club.
vii. Women’s Organizations…like NAWBO (National Association of Women Business Owners).
viii. Online Networking Organizations…like http://www.ecademy.com/.
2. Make a list of the top 5 individuals you’d like to continue to development as referral partners and arrange face to face meetings to discuss:
◦2011 Goals – How many qualified referrals do each of you need to receive each week/month to generate the necessary referral revenue? If you don’t know, check out the Pipeline Calculation at www.referralinstitute-va.com.
◦2010 Accomplishments – How have each of you been recognized within your industries? Empowering your referral partners to toot YOUR horn will definitely help your referrability!
◦Personal Interests – Some folks prefer to connect in a more personal less stressful environment. Be sure to share your hobbies and interests.
◦Current, Active Networks – Which organizations and associations (refer to the above 8 networks) are you participating in? I recommend three AND no need for you both to belong to the same networks. You can always invite your referral partners to come as your guests to make specific, strategic introductions.
◦Expectations for your referral relationship – Your referral partner are one of a handful of colleagues that are actively listening on your behalf. What (exactly) are you counting on each individual to do to help you? How (exactly) can you help them? Agree to specific things to accomplish before your next meeting.
3. Schedule regular monthly meetings and establish an agenda to keep your conversation focused on:
◦Strengthening your relationship. Spend some time reviewing goals, accomplishments and personal interests. Trust takes time. This should help you move forward so that it doesn’t take FOREVER!
◦Identifying potential referral opportunities. Share appropriate profile information regarding the prospects and clients that you’ve been working with for the last month. Do they fit into your referral partner’s target market? If so…
◦Agree to make strategic introductions. Some introductions are a phone call away. Others may take months or years and a multitude of strategies.
◦Evaluating the past month’s activities. Which strategies worked? Keep doing them. Which tactics weren’t so effective? Stop!!!
4. Track your activities. What gets measured gets done!!!
Have you been searching for an easier way to track your referral business? If you are tracking, can you pull a report on a specific relationship to determine the value of the referred business they have sent to you? Can you measure the activities that produced that result? Relate2Profit.com offers a way to measure the referral process, plan out projected referral revenue, control the flow of referred business, document activities with your contacts and even design a reward system for your referral sources!
Position yourself to relationally go further, faster, with less effort in 2011!
Paula Frazier
Referral Marketing Expert & Master Trainer
Referral Institute
540-793-0622 cell
http://referralinstitute-va.com/
