What do you expect? By Larry Galler MAY 04, 2011 PRINT / REPRINTS / SHARE ON FACEBOOKSHARE ON TWITTERSHARE ON LINKEDIN | Share MORE PLEASE GO TO; http://www.janiservu.com/ for similar postings!! Advantage Cleaning Services Does Commercial Cleaning In Painted Post, N.Y. 14870!! I''ve come to believe that a good part of our business accomplishments are a direct result of our expectations. Somehow we develop a mental list of the things we expect to accomplish then manage to develop strategies to bring those expectations to reality. Most of the time this mental activity is done subconsciously in the background and that is fine if we are happy or fulfilled with the results. But what happens if we are not happy with the results? Then we didn''t set our expectations high enough. That''s because we let our subconscious mind become lazy. We didn''t demand enough from ourselves. We have to set our expectations higher and we can''t do that subconsciously. We need to exert ourselves into active participation. Imagine the results if we had a method to consciously develop our expectations. Even better, imagine the results if we had a method to consciously stretch our expectations to a level far above those that our subconscious would develop on its own. If we could make that happen, our businesses lives would be richer, more fulfilling, more meaningful, more significant. The difference in process between fulfilling our subconscious expectations or fulfilling our conscious expectations starts by being active, alert, alive, and present in creating our expectations rather than allowing our subconscious to determine our future and then taking the process a step further to create those “stretch expectations.” It requires that we actively exert our intellect into the process by asking ourselves a few tough questions like, “What do I really want?” “How will I get it?” “When will it happen?” What do I really want? Write out your ambitions, your dream for yourself and your business. Write out what it will feel when you get there — What your bank account will look like — How you will spend your leisure time — What your personal life will be like. Once you have written that out ask one question: “Am I willing to invest myself to accomplish these goals?” How will I get it? Create action steps to reach that stretch goal — how many additional jobs per month will it take (or how much of an increase in average sale)? Break that down into months, weeks, and days. How many new customers will that take? How many repeat customers? Will I need more field staff and office staff? Plan for it. Budget for it. When will it happen? Obviously it will take some time so create milestones along the path and timelines to accomplish each one. Then plan your marketing investment with those milestone goals in mind. In a business, this question-and-answer activity doesn''t occur like a bolt of inspired lightening while waiting for a traffic-light to change from red to green. It happens when we take some time, perhaps a series of management meetings which can consist of just one person or a management team. The difference is in actively and consciously knowing what you expect to accomplish versus just passively delegating the task to your subconscious. Make your expectations real, thought-through, and planned. Manage those expectations and you will have a more realistic chance of accomplishing them and doing it faster so you can then renew your expectations and set the new ones even higher. Larry Galler specializes in coaching owners of small businesses to grow their business through effective marketing, customer retention programs and systemizing their business practices. Explore how he can help you during a free coaching session by calling (219)464-9463 or email larry@larrygaller.com. Visit his website at www.oneyeartogreatness.com.