Wednesdsay May 12, 1999 THE OAKVILLE BEAVER D7 Business Change habits...sell better B y D ave A nderson SPECIAL TO THE BEAVER \ Have you ever had the feeling there were a lot more sales out there; you can see them; you can feel them; you can almost reach out and touch them, but there is some kind of a barrier between you and those sales? If you have been in your own busi ness or selling positive in excess of 18 to 36 months, that scenario will ring a bell. The good news is those sales you see are out there and available to you. The bad news is so is the barrier. Obviously, if you could remove the barrier, it would be to your benefit. The primary agenda o f this wonderful computer we have between our ears is to create habit patterns. Habit patterns are good. They give us the ability to move into other areas o f learning. For example, if we had to relearn how to tie our shoes every day, V e would never get to work. There is a down side to habit patterns. When you store a habit pattern, you store a fixed skill level. When you operate on a fixed skill level, you get fixed results. Your brain's agenda is to create habit patterns. It does that with absolutely everything. Within 18 to 36 months of starting your business, your brain decid ed you now knew how to run the busi ness and it habitualized the process. You now operate your business on that pro gram automatically and habitually 99% T h e ^ B U S I N E S S t - , D o c t o F ^ of the time. Those fixed habit patterns give you fixed results. (You can't expect different results if you keep doing the same things.) In business, we call it plateauing and it can kill you. That habitual way you run your busi ness is the barrier between you and get ting at those extra sales you see. If you want sales to increase, begin analyzing everything you do. W hy are we doing this? W ho said this was the best way to do this? How else can we do it? W hat's the advantage to the customer? To us? Give me three other ways to do this? How do our competitors do this? Get your people involved. Let them re-analyze every business system. They will soon find new and better ways to do things. You will be amazed at how quick ly you can change results by changing habit patterns. The game starts with your decision to get off your habit patterns and do something. P.S. The only goal you can set that your brain cannot habitualize is to be constantly learning. Dave Anderson is available for sales meetings and annual conferences, 705- 526-7661. G e t in _ " " G a m e , call: (416) 341-1234 OUTSIDE TORONTO 1 888-O K G O JAY OR VISIT OUR WEBSITE AT www.bluejays.co SKYDOME BOX OFFICE-GATE 9 8:30am -6pm , seven days a week COMMERCE COURT 8:30am - 6pm M onday to Friday OR TICKETMASTER LOCATIONS. Industry plaudits for business specializing in cruise vacations By Nienke T. Jonkm an ADVERTISING FEATURE Oakville CruiseShipCenter has a lot to be proud about. The successful trav el agency that specializes in cruising and leisure travel won three top sales achievements for Ontario region at a recent awards ceremony. "I 'm not surprised," said owner Sharon Stroh. "We have an amazing sales team that is truly focused on cus tom er satisfaction. Their excellent product knowledge and com m itm ent to m eet and exceed the custom ers' desires is what has put us on top." Oakville CruiseShipCenter received Top Sales Award for CruiseShipCenters in Ontario for 1998. They were also honoured with highest sales awards from Holland Am erica Line and Encore Cruises. The awards were presented by Ontario CruiseShipCenters' president Bill Courian and his wife Lynn. Oakville CruiseShipCenter is part of a 60-store franchise. Although licensed as a full-service travel agency, Oakville CruiseShipCenter's main focus is on leisure travel. "Cruising is the fastest growing travel segment within the industry," said Stroh. "It has the highest repeat factor and the highest customer satis faction level." She credits the popularity o f cruis ing to the convenience and quality vacation it provides to the customer. "You can be as lazy or as busy as you want-- it's your choice," she explained. "You can visit more than one island in the Caribbean, or more than one city in Europe but only pack and unpack once. If you choose to have a lazy holiday you 'll be pampered, if you choose to have a busy holiday there is always something fun planned." Leisure travel also offers adventure, education, history, architecture, culture, romance and excitement. At Oakville CruiseShipCenter, the staff get to know their customers on a personal level to understand their tastes in travel. "Vacation time is a very important time, and we understand that," said Stroh. "People carefully choose their doctors, lawyers, dentists and accoun tants-- travel agents need to be chosen carefully too, because you only travel one to three weeks in a year. You want to enjoy it." They have many regular customers who depend on their expertise to arrange the perfect vacation, without surprises. As a m atter o f fact, it seems their reputation has spread w orld wide-- they have regular clients in north O ntario , B ritish Colum bia, England, Scotland, Germany, France and even Australia! Stroh is quick to add another impor tant feature of a good travel agent, "Even though vacations are good 99.9 per cent o f the tim e, in those few cases when something does go wrong we act as advocates for our clients and make sure everything gets sorted out." You will find O akville CruiseShipCenter at 300 Randall Street in dow ntow n O akville. Last Septem ber they m oved two blocks north from their original Lakeshore Road East location. They now have a bright, roomy office and plenty o f free parking in the back. Congratulations to the team: Linda Pimak, Patricia Dallow, Ann Bressmer, Lise W oollam, M arianne Corradetti, Pam ela M anning, Karen C rosw ell, Gaetane Urevig, M arlis Holloway and Howard Parker. Office hours are M onday to Friday, 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m., and 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturdays. The sales team are also happy to meet clients after hours by appointment. For more information call 338-8083. C h a r i t y D r i <v e 1 C A N A D IA N A SSO C IA TIO N T C I 1 DIABETES CA N AD IEN N E ASSO C IA TIO N DU DIABETE COGECO Digital Cable TV w ill o ffe r you m ore p rogram m ing , d ig ita l q u a lity p ic tu re and sound, and m ore choice. Plus d ig ita l radio, fea tu rin g 30 d iffe re n t genres. W hat's more, it w ill come w ith a d ig ita l navigator - an in te ractive v iew ing gu ide th a t te lls you all abou t the program s and a llows you to plan w ha t you 're going to view in advance. 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