I recently sat down with Anthony Reinhart, Communitech's staff writer and a former reporter at The Globe and Mail, to discuss the upcoming Commnitech Level Up event in Waterloo. Click here for the full article titled "Sales in the Info Age: It's About People not Product"

The success of your future business depends upon meeting the objectives that you established as part of your master business plan. When you engineered your master plan, you may have included projections with multiple options. Now that your business has been through a several real-life scenarios, you can clearly see that some of the projections were realistic, and some were not. This is to be expected in any business and it creates opportunities to realize a more refined perspective.

The iPad is a spectacular device! Although I have a laptop (MacBook Pro), I hardly take it with me. 99% of the time, all I head out the door with is my iPad. Almost all the applications in my business are cloud-based, and almost all the documents I deal with are digital. I use a case from iLuv, which can quickly convert my iPad into a computer with a keyboard for those times when I need to create more extensive content. 

Successful business transformation depends on deep and strategic client relationships. And the sales force is critical to the development and nurturing of these relationships. Not only do we need to refocus our attention on the customer and put them at the very center of our universe, we must also become strategic enablers helping customers achieve their strategic objectives and grow their business. 

Jeffrey Immelt of General Electric, who is considered to be one of the world's most successful CEO's, applies optimism to his approach to performing business:

“I'm an optimist. I've always believed the future is going to be better than the past. And I also believe I have a role in that. The great thing about human beings, myself in particular, is that I can change. I can do better. If you can get up every day, stay optimistic, and believe the future is better than the past, those few things get you through a lot of tough times.”

Immelt's optimistic leadership since 2001 has made General Electric more competitive during a tough economic decade, and today the international company continues to innovate and diversify.

Pressing forward against adversity is the beginning of winning. If you look around you, you can easily find many cases of resourceful people and companies that have succeeded against tough odds. Take, for example, the Walt Disney company. Walt Disney was one of the world's most renowned creative business people. He led his cartoon studio from the 1920's through decades of turbulent change including two world wars and The Great Depression into a global enterprise and a family watchword. Family tragedies, bankruptcy, workers' strikes, technical difficulties and other challenges for years forced Disney to reconsider how his goal of providing entertainment for families could be done better. Today,  the empire of theme parks as well as the legacy of animation distributed in popular media and all the associated products are a permanent part of world culture.

At the CAPS 2011 Annual Conference the guest panel was asked about their negative and positive experiences with a professional speaker they have worked with. When asked to share an experience with a speaker that gave an extra "WOW!" factor, Adrian Davis made the list. Cameron Hay, ex-CEO of Unitron Hearing spoke candidly about his exceptional experience with the CAPS Toronto Chapter President throughout the years. Forr more information on how you can book Adrian Davis for your next event, click here.

Are you constantly searching for the next best approach to attracting more and better business?

Let's take a look at how your relationships with your clients help you to stay in the leading position with them. You are in friendly relationships based on your abilities to continue to meet your promises with your clients. Your promises not only include delivering what your clients need and ask for, but there is also an understanding that you will go beyond their usual expectations. Very likely that is how you won their loyalty in the first place. When your organization is compared with others, your clients recognize that you are superior because you are active in their business, while your competitors are complacent. As the leading contender in the race for value, you exude excitement for their businesses.

How engaged are your people?

Your clients appreciate that you are  a very important part of their success because you have helped them to accomplish their important goals and you continue to be there for them. Your winning customers appreciate your abilities to move their existing business forward and to define or develop new strategies as their business changes and as new undertakings become evident. Your genuine interest in them and their enterprises has been proven. Your clients developed their strategies with the confidence of knowing that you and your enthusiastic support for them is unfailing. They can steadily rely on you as a partner in creating and maintaining their flow of success. They are engaged in your business just as you are invested in theirs.