When are you the highlight of someone's day?

The highlight of my day today (as sad as this may be to admit it) was when our printer cartridge got returned from being refilled.

Why?

Because I know every time www.tpcc.com.au return one of our cartridges they also tape a little packet of chocolate inside the package and today I got the cartridge returned to me (which I took as carte blanche to eat the tiny chocolates all by myself).

Now, I know this is only a tiny thing, and it's not the highlight of my day every time it happens - but it always brightens my day significantly.

And what does this highlight set them back? 20c perhaps? 20c to ensure that I am ALWAYS happy to see them. 20c to guarantee that I'm always far more excited about my chocolatey treat than I am the $70 invoice that came with it.

That's a fairly good return on money spent if you ask me.

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By Kirsty Dunphey with 1 comment

Popular... It's All About Popular

I recently went and saw (again) my favourite musical Wicked - based on the story of the witches in the Wizard of Oz.

One of my favourite songs in the musical is called Popular.

Glinda (the one you might know as the good witch) is teaching Elphaba (the green/wicked witch) how to be popular in the song. It's light hearted and witty and all together one of the most fun moments in the musical but as I sat listening to it in my car this morning (for the umpteenth time) I giggled with recognition at the following part:

When I see depressing creatures with unprepossessing features I remind them on their own behalf to think of celebrated heads of state or specially great communicators did they have brains or knowledge? don't make me laugh! They were popular! please-- it's all about popular! it's not about aptitude it's the way you're viewed so it's very shrewd to be very very popular like me!

Having worked in real estate for 16 odd years now I know it's a strange industry indeed and one where "great communicators" thrive. Where else do you walk into a stranger's home and within an hour or so get to a point where they feel so comfortable with you that they give you a key?! Now while you might not instantly think to call this "popular" I say it's a version of popular called "likeable". In real estate - as in so many other industries, if you can't be likeable you won't win the business.

It's why the most successful real estate agents don't all look the same, but all have a way of becoming likeable/popular with enough of their target demographic to earn a substantial income. Take the real estate agent I know who towers over most people at 6 foot and too many inches and is about 2 metres wide (well - almost). He compensates for this somewhat scary outer appearance by being so softly spoken and unimposing that little old ladies feel completely at ease. Take the amazing sales woman I know who could have been a model in a previous life. Rather than amplify her overtly gorgeous presentation - she dresses in a super professional manner never veering towards obvious sexiness and therefore doesn't alienate / terrify half her target demographic.

So how do you work on popular? For me - it was about working on becoming more outgoing and talkative. Naturally I'm a massive introvert. I have waitressing while I was just out of high school to thank for my take on "popular". I worked in a restaurant and quickly learned that being a wallflower wasn't going to work. As months went by I found techniques and ways to come more out of my shell and by the time I went back into real estate again at age 19 I'd learned how to put on my likeable/personable/popular/more extroverted face at work.

You'll struggle to find a course in popular - but if you're in an industry where you're trying to win business (and isn't that almost all of us?), it's an essential skill. Three ways to give yourself a home course in it:

- Study "popular" people - what makes them so likeable? how do they put people at ease? why do you and everyone else like them and want to be around them so much?
- Ask people what your most annoying habits are (ask honest people and brace yourself for the answers)
- Find a way to be likeable in your own way - ask your friends what makes you likeable and amplify that (generosity, kindness, compassion, remembering little details, being a good listener etc)

And remember... "You will be popular, just not quite as popular as .... Glinda".

By Kirsty Dunphey with No comments

Size Shouldn't Matter...

I received some fairly ordinary customer service today and it's not the first time from this particular company. I wrote it off in my head by saying that we're only a small client of theirs and then I thought - hold on a minute. Should size matter?

I'm a client. They took on our business knowing that we weren't BHP and implicit in them taking on our business was, I believed, a promise of a certain level of service.

Here at our little business (Elephant Property), I don't care if you have one $250 a week rental property or 20 at twice that price - you'll still receive a high level of customer service and I'd be horrified if I ever heard the words "you're only a small client" ever leave one of our team member's lips.

Now sure a bigger client may receive additional extras, but there's a base level of fantastic customer service that merely being a client of any size or description qualifies you for if you deal with our business. Shouldn't that be the same at all firms? I say don't take on the small client if you can't offer them at least that.

And remember... a small client can easily become larger and a small client can recommend (or dissuade as it may be in this case many others from coming to you).

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By Kirsty Dunphey with No comments

Your Business Idea Sucks

I get pitched business ideas all the time. Some I think are great, some I wonder how many cocktails the person had before coming up with the idea, some I think are a great start looking for a unique twist and others I think downright suck.

Recently I was introduced to Fiverr by Lara Solomon (@LAROO). The simple premise of the site is that there's a whole bunch of people there who'll do things for $5. Some of them border on the bizarre (I'll be your Facebook girlfriend for a week and make all your friends jealous) but many seem, at first glance, like they could actually be useful (I'll design you a custom MySpace profile).

Long story short, I've become a bit of an overnight fan of this site, tweeting my little heart out (@kirstydunphey) about it after having purchased three different things yesterday and already receiving my first job (five photographs put on transparent backgrounds for @Baby_Teresa) done perfectly and in around an hour after I booked and paid my US$5. We'll see how my cartoon and video, currently on order, go.

My point is not to rave on about Fiverr though - despite how novel and great an idea I think it is.

My point is that if the people who started Fiverr had pitched the idea to me - I might have told them it sucked.

My first thought would be - who would do anything for $5?

And of course, I would have been wrong (check out the site to see how many people are prepared to do a wide range of things for $5!)

So the next time someone tells you your business idea sucks, tell them to bugger off! It doesn't matter if everyone doesn't "get" your idea. It matters that you see a market, it matters that you have a vision and it matters that you're prepared to get off your butt and do something about it.

PS. if the guy who started FedEx had listened to his college professor he may never have started that either.
PPS. And here's my video which has just arrived (bear in mind it only cost a fiverr!)

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By Kirsty Dunphey with 1 comment

To Lunch or M-unch?

Each day most of you get a lunch break… Many will work straight through it (I know I’m guilty of this)… working straight through lunch gets you maybe an extra 40 minutes of work in your day… maybe you're a little more cranky and tired and therefore dilutes the quality of your work… maybe it also means you munch away at your lunch and don’t enjoy it (or don’t notice it’s dubious nutritional quality?)

I’m suggesting this week – instead of just munching lunch at your desk, aim to swap it at least 3 times for one of these other M-unches.

M-unch #1 – the meeting lunch. Invite someone awesome to lunch and have a scintillating conversation or learning experience.

M-unch #2 – the mastermind lunch. Grab a book and sit in a park for 40 minutes and increase your brainpower during lunch.

M-unch #3 – the movement lunch. Grab a friend and get moving. Swim or walk for 30 minutes.

M-unch #4 – the mentoring lunch. Find someone younger or less experience than you and take them out to lunch and share a bit of your experience with them. (Or if you don’t feel you’re ready to take on that yet, ask someone you value to offer their wisdom to you).

M-unch #5 – shout your Mum (or Dad – although D-unch doesn’t have quite the same ring to it) to lunch and let them know that you value the role they’ve had in making you the person you are today.

To Munch or simply Lunch? That is the question for the next week - here's hoping you can M-unch (maximise your lunch).

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By Kirsty Dunphey with 6 comments

How Do We Learn?

If my first experience eating a seafood platter is anything to go by, I can tell you for certain I learn by watching those around me.

I learned my phone technique from the fabulous people I saw around me every day when I worked on my first real estate reception at age 15 (thanks Nat and Janelle).

I learned basic web design from watching my first business partner (thanks Andrew).

I still learn every day how to be a better property manager by watching and working with 3 of the greatest (thank you Megan, Bella and Laurel).

My point... there's no point telling your team to work one way if you're going to demonstrate another in front of them. You will not have your new staff following systems correctly if your senior staff don't set the example, you will not have fearless sales people when it comes to cold calling if the culture in your office says that it's terrifying to pick up the phone and call a stranger and you will not have happy staff if you're an unhappy leader. And finally - along with observation comes the verbal side of it - coaching after the fact to correct and refine.

Oh - and back to the seafood platter. I hadn't eaten one before the age of about 19 and I really had no idea what I was doing. So rather than dig in I sat back for a few minutes and watched everyone else at the table. I saw how to handle a mussel, what to do with lobster and how to deal with fish bones.

I learned by watching.

However, being inexperienced in the world of seafood, I didn't get it exactly right just from observation (as was proven to me when I was politely told that the bowl I was dipping everything into was the finger bowl!) But after a little verbal coaching I was back on track and have never looked back.

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By Kirsty Dunphey with No comments

What Are The Most Valuable Commodities?

In my mind, ingenuity, the ability to be able to create something from nothing and the ability to problem solve all have to be right up the top the list.

That’s why I was so inspired by what some people online are creating out of nothing (well out of duct tape, toilet paper and garbage bags).





(both of the above made entirely from duct tape)



(both dresses made from toilet paper!



(made from a garbage bag)

If the above masterpieces can be created from household items most of us would readily throw away – what masterpieces can you create in the workplace from next to nothing to show your ingenuity and creativity?

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By Kirsty Dunphey with No comments

My New Hero (and she's only 12)

This is my new hero - she's 12 and her name is Lauren.

What she's holding up there is her Dream Board full of things she wants to do, earn, be, have invest in and go to in life.

Lauren's fabulous parents were constructing their Dream Boards when Lauren decided off her own back to head to her room and start clipping and searching and planning for her own future. She was so enthusiastic that her board was the first one completed in their house.

It's an awesome example of someone not content to life drift by them, someone who wants to reach out and create the life she wants.

Just goes to show you you're never too young to start dreaming, planning and working towards your goals. Now if she's 12 and is already a rock star at this - what's stopping you?

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By Kirsty Dunphey with 5 comments

A Little Extra Oomph!

We recently had a little party at our office and our caterer added just a little bit of oomph that has made me since recommend them to a number of other people.

Firstly - I suggested a menu. They quoted on that but then took the time to prepare an extra special menu at their recommendation which cost no more but was far more fabulous than I had planned. Tick for initiative.

Next - Right after the event we received a request for some feedback from them with them even suggesting what they think they could have done better. Tick for caring what we thought of the event.

Finally - Without us knowing it, they took our company logo and colours (an elephant in black and pink) and hand crafted these cupcakes for our event (see photo below). Not only were they a huge hit but they were a complete surprise to us. Tick for extra oomph!

All this has prompted me to recommend them to friends and colleagues - and now to you. If you're looking for a caterer who goes the extra mile in Launceston, I highly suggest you check out The Atrium Cafe.

What are you doing in your business that has a little surprise or initiative factor that will make your clients want to recommend you far and wide?

(and PS - I don't know whether it's just me and cupcakes, but I couldn't write this blog without also mentioning Cutie Cups in Hobart - www.cutiecupcakes.com.au who went above and beyond with these personalised amazing cupcakes from our Baby Teresa launch).



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By Kirsty Dunphey with No comments

Walk Away Or Hold ‘Em?

Quickly think of the 10 people you spend most of your time with and jot them down in any order.

Pick a person on that list at random.

If I told you that in 12 months time you’d be exhibiting more of their personality traits, emulating their success level and experiencing the type of relationships they have – how would that make you feel?

If they’re people you would love to be becoming more like – great. If they’re not?

Well in the words of the immortal Kenny Rogers “the secret to survivin’, is knowing what to throw away and knowing what to keep”…. “you’ve got to know when to hold ‘em, know when to fold ‘em, know when to walk away and know when to run”.

Now – I’m not saying you have to “fold” on any family member, colleague or friend who isn’t living your dream life, but if there is someone in your close circle who gave you a sick feeling in the pit of your stomach when you envisaged becoming more like them. Perhaps it is time to walk away and spend more time with those people who inspire you?

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By Kirsty Dunphey with No comments

How Attractive Are You?

A long-winded discussion on the weekend with friends about relationships got me thinking. My personal belief on the subject at hand that day was that being in love and being in a committed relationship doesn’t mean that you promise never to be attracted to anyone else ever again.

One of my girlfriends stated, and I agree wholeheartedly, that it’s far more flattering and far more of a sign of a great relationship if you are attracted to other people but make a conscious decision to remain committed and faithful to your partner.

I think it’s kind of the same in a business relationship. I’ve always told any sales person that was employed by us that being “courted” by another real estate agency is simply a sign that you’re doing a good job and should be a matter of course.

In fact, if you’re awesome at whatever job you do – it’s likely that at some stage you’ll get a job offer to move elsewhere.

That’s when you get to decide how strong your “relationship” with your current employer is. Have they earned your loyalty or will you be more “attracted” to the offer at hand?

Employers – what effort are you putting into nurturing your relationships with your employees? What do you think your best 3 employees would say if they were approached today by a competing firm?

Employees – it’s a two way street! What are you doing to maintain the relationship? What do you think your current employer would do to try and keep you if you said you were leaving?

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By Kirsty Dunphey with No comments

The Great Valentines Day Caper

I love Valentines Day. I'll admit it - as uncool and lame as some of you will think that is, I get a real kick out of it.

This year on our make up Valentines Day (he spent the real V-Day working) I was annoying my husband by chronicling one of our adventures with a present he got for me on facebook and twitter when I suddenly realised that I wasn't just mindlessly taking photos with my iPhone, I was illustrating two really important things - and all with coloured straws.

The present, as you can see from the photo was a very groovy straw joining kit that allows you to drink out of 2 (or more I've just realised) drinks at the same time while having all the bendy fun you can handle. I'm not sure that the cute kids on the box illustrate that it should be used with cocktails, but you get the point.

The kit consisted of over 200 pieces and after tearing it open my husband and I got to work, each designing our half of the straw concoction, neither looking at each other while we worked (we were far too consumed with our design job). We only saw each others creations when we joined them at the yellow connector after we had completed them. Despite working from exactly the same pieces, our solutions were completely distinct and unique.

Mine is right hand side - all high and a symmetrical across a diagonal point. My husband's (showing his very creative brain) is like a roller coaster and is completely 3 dimensional (which didn't even occur to me).

In a work environment I've always believed that before you do a joint or group brainstorm for issues, each individual should have their own brainstorm first so that they're not influenced or biased and have an opportunity to put forward their best and most creative ideas.

Left to brainstorm this problem together we might have influenced each other and we would have missed the unique solutions to the problem each of us made on our own.

Now - off to find two more cocktails and rework an even more sophisticated straw solution!

By Kirsty Dunphey with No comments

Universal Education

As I write this I'm kicking back after a long and fabulous day in a hotel in Amman, Jordan. The 4.55pm call to prayer has just been broadcast from the nearby striking blue mosque mirroring the one that woke me at 5am. I've spent the day practicing my Arabic while rummaging through an ancient and amazingly preserved Roman city: Jerash.

It's my first time to the middle East and I expected the trip to be my most culturally confronting yet. I'm on just my second day at the moment, but I've been more struck by the similarities than the differences so far.

Of greatest impact to me was a conversation with our driver from the airport yesterday.

He told us so much about Jordan and Amman with the highlight being the huge impact Jordanians place on education. He stated a literacy rate of 96% and told me that while Jordan wasn't an "oily" country, they pride themselves on their "brain factory". He said everyone wants to be more successful and more well educated than everyone else they know. Everyone bar one though: their child. They all want to see their children do better than them. A universal truth indeed.

Its reminded me, when dealing with my international clients in future to respect the differences, but actively seek out the similar motivations and desires that are really universal.

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By Kirsty Dunphey with No comments

Compromise Or Clash

When my husband and I first moved in together I was shocked at his atrocious taste. No – we’re not talking the overly large collection of heavy metal inspired t-shirts here (I would have been unable to get him to budge on them) I’m talking about the fact that he liked CRUNCHY peanut butter?!

Over the past 6 years we’ve grown into the experience of living together. I now eat the crunchy peanut butter and he’s switched to Colgate toothpaste. We’ve compromised and combined rather than clashed for the most part and it’s made our living experience that much more cohesive.

It’s the same experience you’ll find when you go into a business partnership or a team based work environment. Clinging to your own way like it’s gospel doesn’t do anyone any favours. And have you tried the crunchy peanut butter (it’s actually ridiculously good!)

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By Kirsty Dunphey with No comments

With passion and potential is it ever too late to be what you might have been?

I’ve always been really inspired by my father in law who left the forestry industry when he was about my age to become a doctor. I know so many people who stick it out in jobs every day that they don’t love and his story always shows me that if you have the passion and think you have potential – age shouldn’t be an impediment.

I mean if James Cameron (director and writer of Avatar) can decide to pursue a career in film leaving his job driving trucks and if Harland “Colonel” Sanders can have a go at steamboat pilot, insurance salesman, fireman, farmer and soldier before finding his calling at age 66 and bringing us KFC – what’s holding you back?

Thanks to my father in law for the inspiration and thanks to James Cameron – as much as we need truck drivers the thought of Avatar (not to mention some of his other amazing work) not existing is torture!

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By Kirsty Dunphey with 2 comments

Add this to your reading list and don’t be scared by the heart!

I’ll often say that a The 5 Love Languages is the best book I’ve read in years. Now it has a huge love heart on the front cover and has fundamentally been written to help people improve their romantic relationships – however, I’m happy to go on record as saying that it can even be one of the best business books you’ll ever read too.

The principle behind the book is that people primarily show love in one of 5 ways and that’s the way they most like to receive it. Too bad if the person you’re showing love to prefers to receive it in a different way – we’re mostly hardwired to show it in our own way as a default.

After reading the book we figured out that my husband and I have pretty much completely opposite love languages. I like presents and gifts, even if it’s just a rock from the garden or a card. My husband likes acts of service, ie: when he’s painting the deck or vacuuming, that’s how he’s showing me he loves me. (Vacuuming?! How was I meant to figure that one out!!)

The reason I say this book is one of the best business books I’ve ever read is that the same principle applies to rewarding clients and staff. You’ve got to find out what language they speak and reward or recognise them in the same way. Giving a monetary bonus to a staff member that just wants you to take 5 minutes to tell them in a heartfelt way that you appreciate them is almost pointless.

I highly recommend you don’t get scared off the big heart and put The 5 Love Languages on your personal and business reading list for better relationships (with everyone!)

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By Kirsty Dunphey with 1 comment

What’s in a name?

You don’t enjoy lunch by having a “Big Kroc”, even though Ray Kroc is the one really responsible for the McDonalds burger you’re chomping into, not the McDonalds brothers.

And you don’t slip on a gorgeous pair of “Tamara Mellons” to accentuate your calves, it’s Jimmy Choos the ladies desire, even though Tamara Mellon is the founder and driving force behind the Jimmy Choo company.

Even Betty Crocker wasn’t Betty Crocker! She was Marjorie Husted, and in this case Betty doesn’t even exist the name just sounded “cheery”.

So just because you work under an organisation that sports another’s name or identity be it a Harcourts, a Ford, an Ernst and Young or Jones Local Family Store – it doesn’t mean you can’t capture that branding and make it your own.

You can be Jill Jackson the amazing agent who is the first thing people think of when they think “real estate” or “LJ Hooker” in your area.

You can be Tom Bakerson who buys the company “Smith Records” and takes it to the world by making it your own.

In short, anything’s possible under any name. Now I’m off to answer a call on my iJobs phone…

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By Kirsty Dunphey with 2 comments

12 Too Easy Ways To Improve Your Customer Service.

1. Find out your customer’s birthday and incorporate a way to surprise them that also benefits your business
2. Have a trusted friend or advisor you trust walk through your business and comment on anything they don’t love
3. Have a friend call your business with an enquiry while you listen on speaker phone
4. Learn to love complaints. Keep a log of any complaints and actually do something to ensure they don’t happen again.
5. Systematically ask your customers what they like and don’t like about your business
6. Work out a way to give your clients a gift that costs you nothing, but gives them value. The easiest way is through a strategic alliance with another business who wants access to your clients, ie: a photographer, coffee shop, restaurant, video rental store, homewares store etc.
7. Acknowledge every customer as soon as they walk in your door (even if you can’t see to them immediately – a smile costs nothing)
8. And on that note… Smile. When you see customers. When you’re on the phone. When you’re in the street.
9. Make sure customers can identify who your staff are (uniform, name tag, groovy apron, funny hat – doesn’t matter how!)
10. Clearly display your opening hours on your front window and website. There’s nothing more frustrating than standing outside a place of business clueless as to when it opens.
11. Get back to emails promptly (set a minimum standard in your workplace and make sure everyone knows it).
12. Send awesome Christmas cards that are personalised and let people know you actually took the time to think about THEM not just about getting the cards done.

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By Kirsty Dunphey with 2 comments

Change Much?

I used to think I was open to change.

I used to even go as far as to say that I embraced, loved and welcomed change.

I was mistaken.

You know how I know?

3 hours after getting my new Apple Mac laptop I was reduced to Neanderthal like beating of clenched fists on my desk because I could no longer “alt tab”, because “alt s” no longer saved anything and because “alt f a” certainly no longer saved anything as anything else. In fact, my well-worn “alt” key was pretty much redundant and my “alt” loving brain couldn’t seem to handle it.

3 days later I was still claiming that I hated this new shiny silver laptop that had oozed it’s way onto my desk.

3 weeks into the experience I’ve realized I’ve had to re-look at my whole opinions about change. I can’t just say I like change when it’s easy and smooth and intuitive. Sometimes change is going to force you out of your existing habits, sometimes it’s not going to flow seamlessly and sometimes it’s going to be a pain in the butt.

But if what you’re working towards leads to greater utility – might it not be worth it to find an “alt”-ernative to brutally abusing your desk?

And now as my phone rings with a new ringtone I made myself using Apple’s Garage Band and I edited a new movie for my real estate agency made in half the time using iMovie while setting up a new document for www.baby-teresa.com using an Apple template I can just now start to see the rewards for me being worth a bit of short term change pain.

Are you willing to go through some short term change pain – to get better results - or will you just keep short changing yourself because you can’t hack the first 3 weeks?

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By Kirsty Dunphey with 1 comment

Delegate Good Times, C’mon!

This weekend we gave two rectangle pieces of material to my mother in law and asked her to sew them together into a table cover for us. Moments later with a whirl on her sewing machine she handed them back to us, sewed end to end into a really long rectangle, when what we actually wanted was them sewn side to side into a square.

It reminded me of one of the most important lessons in any workplace – communication is key. With a few more words, or a simple demonstration we could have more than adequately shown what we wanted, but we were rushed, and on the phone and didn’t take the time (miniscule as it was).

I’ve seen this time and time again in so many workplaces. Staff are thrown in over their heads and not adequately communicated with and it leaves managers or business owners spouting words like “If you want something done well…” and “Nobody listens to me!”

What can you be taking more time to explain today? So what if it takes you twice as long to explain it if you never need to explain it again and can delegate that task with confidence thereafter?

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By Kirsty Dunphey with No comments