People Power - July 2009

By Scott Humphrey

I can’t remember a time when there was so much uncertainty about the future. At 46 years of age, I am considered old by everyone under 20, young by everyone over 60, and middle aged by the one who really matters; myself. But I have been around long enough to see many economic cycles. I know what it’s like to feel like you don’t have any control over what is going on around you. The reality is there are things we can’t control.

I remember going to Phoenix in the month of August back in the late 1970s. It was the hottest place I had ever been, with the temp topping out at 115°. I was told that you didn’t sweat in the desert because of the lack of humidity. I remember proving that theory to be incorrect. A Humphrey can sweat anywhere. In that situation, I could not control the climate, but I could control how I responded to it. I could have stayed outside and complained about the heat, but instead I chose to stay in an air conditioned environment whenever possible. Are you following my point here? You may not be able to control everything around you, but don’t spend your time worrying about what you can’t control. Instead, do something about the things that you can. 

If you’ve read my past articles, I’m confident that you remember me writing, “If you want something you’ve never had, you must do something you’ve never done.”

I’m amazed at the number of people who live their lives frustrated at their inability to succeed. They continue to run into a wall of resistance. Their answer seems to be to run into that same wall faster and harder. Ultimately this will lead to stagnation or, worse yet, a downward spiral. Any person over time will settle rather than continue to hit that wall. Zig Ziglar calls this flea training. He notes that if you place a flea into a jar with the lid on it, it will continually jump up and hit the lid. After all, it wants out of its current predicament. In a few minutes, you will see that it is no longer jumping high enough to hit the lid. No one and nothing likes continually running up against resistance. Ironically, after five minutes you can take the lid off that jar and the flea will not jump out. Even with the lid gone, the flea has created a lid in its mind. That story describes many people I meet, especially in this economic climate.

We’ll, I don’t believe in walls, and I don’t believe in lids. I do believe in speed bumps. Some people see challenges, I see opportunities and possibilities. In other words, if your goal is success, you can get there from here, but if the road you are on has been washed out, you have to go another route. Speed bumps don’t stop you. They simply slow you down as you maneuver from where you are to where you are going.

With that in mind, here are some practical things you can do to change your present and your future potential for success:

Look Where You Haven’t Looked
There is no doubt that business isn’t coming through the door like it once was. At Shaw, the number one request we get from dealers is for us to drive customers into their store. Our dealers have great closing ratios, but it’s very difficult to close a customer who doesn’t come in. The question you must begin to ask yourself and your staff is, “Where are we looking today for customers that we haven’t looked in the past?” Here are a few creative suggestions:

• Be willing to speak or have a representative of your retail establishment speak at community functions. Community organizations are always looking for guest speakers, and each audience is full of potential customers. A creative speaker will tie in elements about their retail location into their presentation. They will discuss the unique way they do business. In short, they will create an identity for their store and a separation from their competition. This is why one of the best investments you can make in your downtime is a course on presentation skills for you and or your staff. There are plenty of highly regarded leadership training programs that can help you with this.

• Contribute to community events. One creative example is to contribute a coupon to a goody bag for a local charity run, triathlon, marathon, etc. Most of these events provide freebies and coupons to participants. Offer to provide to the organizers 10% off coupons to go into the bags. The coupon could read, “Even tired feet feel good on our flooring. Come to Sam’s Carpet and present this coupon for 10% off your flooring purchase.”

• Schedule meetings with loan organizations and real estate companies to discuss with them the importance of new flooring in selling a home. You can offer a discount to them for using you and allow them to extend that discount to individuals who are fixing their homes up for re-sell. 

The opportunities are limitless. Be creative. Have a brainstorming session with your staff to determine ways to go out and get customers instead of standing around the store waiting for them to come to you.

Focus Where You Haven’t Focused
In 2003, Erik Weihenmeyer became the first blind person to scale the summit of Mount Everest. Even experts predicted that his climb would end in disaster. After all, they reasoned, “If you can’t see where you’re going, how can you possibly get there?”

We often think of focus as something that’s visual. In reality focus has much more to do with what you can’t see than what you can. Focus is about believing in something so strongly that you can see it without observing its physical presence. Tiger Woods was asked how he read a putt so accurately. As the world’s number one golfer it was apparent he was doing something that others were not. Woods responded, “I’m not reading a putt. I’m watching it go into the hole.” Woods’ focus and visualization are so good that while others are reading the putt, hoping they got it right, in his mind he has already seen it go in.

Where many of us miss our opportunity is in our inability or unwillingness to focus on the journey and not just the destination. We have to begin to realize that we spend so little time on the peak. The majority of our time is spent getting there…if we are talented and blessed enough to get there at all. 

So instead of focusing on making money, we should focus on building mutually beneficial relationships. Instead of focusing on getting the most out of our people, we should focus on creating an environment and the right opportunities so our employees can perform daily at their highest level. Instead of focusing on making our kids turn out right, we should focus on daily setting an example in performance and character that our children can follow.

In the midst of writing this I went to see one of my best friend’s sons play in an all-star game. In their final at bat, they were down by seven runs. Another child on the team came into the dugout and said “It’s over!” He was a bit startled to hear me say, “No Cade, it’s not over. You’re about to score eight runs.” He turned in disgust and walked away, but in a minute he was back. “Mr. Humphrey,” he said.,“how do you know we are going to score eight runs?” I replied, “Because I believe you can, Cade. Do you believe you can?” He looked uncertain, so I went on. “Have you ever known someone that scored eight runs in one inning before?” This was a bit of a set up, as I knew the very team they were playing had been tied with them two nights earlier before scoring 17 runs in one inning and closing out the game. I reminded him of this, then I closed my little motivational message by saying, “If they can do it, why can’t you?” He promptly stepped up to bat and singled. Your belief will ultimately determine your actions. Your action will determine your habits, and your habits will ultimately determine your destiny. 

Do What You Haven’t Done
My friend and coworker Casey Johnson has a saying that I have adopted as my own: “Expect nothing, blame no one, but do something.”

A dream without an action is a waste of time. Focus without active commitment has no greater value than staring into space. Peter Marshall said, “Small deeds done are better than great deeds planned.” 

All of life is dependent upon action, but not action without direction. As I have already noted, the natural response in moments of desperation is to work harder and faster. Remember those old Tarzan shows on TV? Every other show, someone would fall into quicksand. The natural reaction when that happened was to fight desperately to get out. Unfortunately, the harder they struggled the faster they sank. 

Wanting desperately to survive and thrive is natural. Wanting it and not being willing to do anything about it is not. Albert Einstein said, “The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look and do nothing.” 

This is the time to invest in you and your people, to look at the speed bumps in your life as opportunities. No matter how you feel about your current situation, consider it a wake up call, and commit yourself to being better by the time the economic situation improves. As you practice the three principles I have expressed above, you will again be in charge of your destiny, and each day you will begin to notice that you and your life are becoming what you visualized. 

Copyright 2009 Floor Focus 

Related Topics:Shaw Industries Group, Inc.