Booking a hotel room throws up many different variables. I find it very difficult. Especially when you have never visited a holiday destination before. Recommendations from friends and using online social proof sites (Trip Advisor and the like) are the usual starting points. However, to make a final decision means making many calculations and assumptions with the perilous question of “what are we willing to compromise?” Then after some in-house power struggles, you throw-the-dice hoping for everything to work out well.

Good decision making does not come naturally to me. There, I said it! I admit it!!!

I am naturally a very emotive person, and particularly when I was younger I would allow emotions to cloud my judgement. The result would be poor decisions resulting in a loss of time, money, and opportunity. To make matters worse, my emotions and ego would then stick up for my poor decisions leading to defensive behaviours and justification. The justification didn’t change the result, nor did it make me feel better.

No matter what your business, it seems that the achievement of the big C – Consistency is the Holy Grail.

Consistency ensures that customer expectations are met no matter who they are, or when they use your services/product. This then creates brand loyalty and brand advocates to advertise your business for never ending growth. Sounds simple… right…?

Walking into a retail environment, whether it is a butcher, a salon, a shopping centre boutique, or a cafe, there are some sights I see which I know are hurting business results. I call these my “cringe-moments”. When I was a retail manager I swear that I would commonly have these moments every time I walked into my store. Now, there is an element of being the fun police here, and for that I apologise, well… just a little bit.

It is true what they say. Being a small business owner is a lonely existence. To offset this loneliness you can always take comfort that many other people in your network are going through the same thing. You can also gain support through the many business communities and on-line groups that exist.

I am about to give away one of my biggest go-to secrets in regard to how I work, how I present, and the basis for almost every sales strategy I have put in place. If you have ever heard me speak, or if you hear me in the future you will now be able to recognise this foundation tool that I use to great effect. It is the concept of “The Power of Three”.