The Mini Bucket List

The bucket list—

What one thing would you rather be doing right now?

Anything in the world? …

If you could go there and do it right now, what would that one thing be?

Talk of the bucket list has to do with the need for fun, risk, pleasure, midlife crisis and to do what right now is not doable… the concept of the bucket list assumes plenty of resources and time and money and the ability to execute them and implement one’s bucket list.

Not so fast…. Most of us don’t have the time or money or resources to go around the globe and to see the Kilimanjaro in Africa or to go check out the Pyramids of Egypt. Most of us are lucky to get a vacation once a year and perhaps go camping or stay at a Holiday Inn.

Hawaii might be a possibility for some of us, a very few, but for most of us were a bit stuck.

This being stuck is far more than just a lack of resources— it’s a lack of imagination and thinking out of the box. When you really take the time to think about what is possible and doable within your resources and means some really cool example start to emerge…. I call this the mini bucket list.

There are several Mini Bucket List things that we can get done on a local or regional basis. We still have the physical ability to set do some. The idea of something fun and risky and pleasurable before we die is a good idea. The physical decay of our bodies preclude us from doing many of the things that we’d really like to do that are very real radical…. But it still leaves us with many things that become extremely doable.

Here are some of the aspects of a many bucket list….

1. Affordability

2. Realistic

3. Pleasurable

4. Satisfying

5. Risk/perceived risk

6. Exhilarating

7. Local or regional

8. Ability to execute and implement

9. Legal moral and ethical

10. Out-of-the-box…

If you take the time and sit and think you can come up with at least 10 things you like to do before you pass, which are local and affordable and doable. Some of these might include:

1. Lunch or dinner out at the best place in town

2. A golf weekend, the best place available

3. Afternoon movies

4. Hike & picnic

5. River rafting

6. Two hour massage

7. Full Spa makeover

8. Kayaking

9. Fly to Vegas on a deal

10. Rent a cabin in the woods…. Much, much more.

The idea becomes obvious and the execution becomes painfully necessary for those of us who’ve created and lived in routines for years. The Mini Bucket List becomes therapeutic, in that it gives you some empowerment still have a little fun and a conservative and realistic way and still break the bonds of routine and rut. This becomes therapeutic in that it is risk-taking, and yet the perceived versus actual risk is actually pretty safe.

It fills the need for fun, risk and enjoyment.

Write your list.

Book the trip.

Surprise your spouse.

And get out of here!

Really, Get out of here!

Alive Presentations

How To Make Your Sales Presentation Come Alive!

 

Arnold Sanow- www.arnoldsanow.com

 

Just knowing the features and benefits about our products and services does not guarantee sales. To sell our products and services we must be able to tell stories and create pictures in the minds of our customers to excite their imagination. A story can either be dull and uninteresting or it can come alive. To put imagination into your sales story and increase your closing opportunities answer the questions below.

 

    Get out the list of your product and service’s persuasive features and benefits to your customers. If you don’t have a list make one. Next to each feature and benefit put the answers to the questions below. (a feature is the characteristic about your product or service and the benefit is the result)

 

1.      What’s the most dramatic statement I can make about this feature and benefit?

 

2.      What’s the most arresting visual presentation of this feature and benefit to set a customer thinking about it?

 

3.      What’s the most searching question I can ask about this feature and benefit to set a customer thinking about it?

 

4.      What are the most interesting success story or sales examples I can give to back up the claims I make for this feature and benefit?

 

5.      Which are my best, most impressively written testimonials, the ones most likely to get attention either because of the person giving the testimonial or of what it says.

 

6.      What is the most dramatic action I can perform to hold and impress my customer while dealing with this feature or benefit?

 

7.      What is the most compelling logic I can find in relating this feature and benefit to others?

 

8.      What is the most effective demonstration I can make of this feature and benefit?

 

9.      What customer participation can I devise, in this feature and benefit so that my customer becomes part of the act?

 

10.  What practical test can I suggest for proving the validity of my claim for this feature and benefit?

 

     To further increase your opportunities and kick start some life into your business, ask yourself, your staff and your customers these questions about your product and services:

 

     Can the products/services be put to other uses? Can it be adapted? What else is like this? What other ideas does this suggest? What could we copy? What could be modified?,  Given a new twist? Changed in color, meaning, sound, motion, odor, form, shape?  Any other changes possible? Can it be magnified? What can be added? More time? Greater Frequency? Stronger? Higher?  Longer? Shorter? What can we substitute? What else instead? Other ingredients? Rearrange? Change the schedule? Reverse it? Combine it? Different Purposes?

 

       Remember that you only get one chance to make a good impression. By putting some “zip” into your sales presentation you’ll close more sales and see your business skyrocket to the top!

 

Better Thinking

This outcome model was shared by Dr. Richard Borough , my personal friend.

It’s great way to make decisions and to think through goals, objectives, and strategies.

1. What do you want, and by when?
2. How will you know, if you’re getting it?
3. When you get it, what will be better?
4. What resources can you pull together?
5. What are the steps involved?
6. Who will need to do what?
7. What’s the step-by-step game plan?

The seven questions applied to almost any issue will yield a clearer picture and a more fine-tuned strategy in dealing with the issues at hand.