Special offer

Armonk, NY Real Estate News

By Grant Schneider, Your Coach Helping You Create Successful Outcomes
(Performance Development Strategies)
According to the American Marketing Association, “Marketing is the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large”. That is a complex statement. Marketing is simply defined as being top of mind when your prospect is ready to buy. Know your target market. It is important to define the parameters of your ideal prospects because it will help you to focus on those areas and people with whom you have the highest probability of success. When defining your market less is more. Start by identifying your competitive advantage and determining who is most likely going to benefit from doing business with you. The tighter you focus that market on your competitive adv...
Comments 7
By Grant Schneider, Your Coach Helping You Create Successful Outcomes
(Performance Development Strategies)
  Fear of change is an emotion that can become paralyzing.   Recently, a CEO told me about some things happening in his long operating business.  The business has had years of successful sales and profits.  Since the business was making money the business continue to operate, sell, and market the same way.  The reasoning was, if it’s not broke don’t fix it.  Although the long standing business model had produced great sales and profits, recently the business has experienced a decline in sales and profits.  In short, there have been changes in the economy and the market.  In order to remain successful the business owner knows that he will need to change.  But not just any change will do.  Changing the right things and taking the right action is crucial.  Here are 5 beginning steps to tak...
Comments 0
By Grant Schneider, Your Coach Helping You Create Successful Outcomes
(Performance Development Strategies)
Selecting employees is one of the most important functions of a manager.   Sadly most organizations fail at hiring the right people.  This occurs at organizations with a human resources department as often as it happens with the small business owner.  The good news is that you can begin to hire the right people.  Jim Collins and his team laid out the principle in the book Good to Great.  It is as simple as “Getting the right people on the bus, the wrong people off the bus, and the right people in the right seats.”  It may be simple but it’s not easy.  You will need to change the way you hire people. Here is a simple fact.  Managers tend to make hiring decisions by looking at background in the industry, jobs held before, and job history.  Many companies even do background checks.  They s...
Comments 0
By Grant Schneider, Your Coach Helping You Create Successful Outcomes
(Performance Development Strategies)
Do you ever wonder why you are taking a course of action, asking your staff to follow then turning and finding no one there?  The reason for this could be that you and your staff are not on the same page?  While that is personally frustrating how much money is that costing you? You can change that.  Here’s how.  Become a focused leader who empowers engaged employees who in turn create loyal customers leading to growth and success.  Let’s start with the focused leader.  You may be the owner, the manager, or CEO but that does not mean you are seen as the leader.  You appoint yourself CEO but your team will follow you if you are the leader.   As managers we can influence the process through which people recognize our leadership by creating an environment where people will join “the team” b...
Comments 0
By Grant Schneider, Your Coach Helping You Create Successful Outcomes
(Performance Development Strategies)
  Developing a high performing team certainly does require clear cut vision and values.  In fact, I discussed this very thing in last week’s blog.  Next, you need to inspire those on the team to do their very best.  You start, of course, by getting the right people in the right jobs.  This includes not just testing skills and knowledge but also examining attitudes and behaviors.  You now have the right people.  Now what? Help your team use their strengths to push their performance to new levels.  Unfortunately, many of us spend time trying to correct weaknesses.  I have told this story before but it is a great illustration of what happens: How many of you are parents?  When your child comes home from school with his or her report card and it shows, for example, an A in math, B’s in hist...
Comments 0
By Grant Schneider, Your Coach Helping You Create Successful Outcomes
(Performance Development Strategies)
  Many people start a business and develop a plan to market and sell their product and service.  But if that is all they have, in my opinion, two key ingredients are missing--vision and values.  Surprisingly, many businesses can not say why they are in business nor can they articulate their basic business foundation and founding principles.  Why you are running the business is more important than how you run it.  If you find that statement hard to believe then read on. Any successful business needs to have vision—that is what the business will look like when it is successful.  Your vision is your dream and as Walt Disney said, you have to have a dream if you want to have a dream to come true.  Of perhaps greater importance are your values.  These are you ideals you live by.  These are y...
Comments 13
By Grant Schneider, Your Coach Helping You Create Successful Outcomes
(Performance Development Strategies)
  Regardless of what we sell we are all really in a service business.  People do not buy what we sell.  They buy us.  If they truly buy you then they are a loyal customer.  Nothing is more important to a business than a loyal customer.  You can be making a lot of sales and have a good income but you will not have that for long if you don’t have loyal customers. What is the best way to have a steady stream of loyal customers?   Under promise and over deliver.  Exceed your customers' expectations.  Here is an experience that I just had. Due to a spike in temperature in the Northeast this week my central AC was working overtime.  I realized on Thursday evening that the system was not cooling.  I called the after-hours number at my HVAC provider.  The person at the other end told me that th...
Comments 6
By Grant Schneider, Your Coach Helping You Create Successful Outcomes
(Performance Development Strategies)
  "Never tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do and they will surprise you with their ingenuity."  -- Gen. George S. Patton "Lead me, follow me, or get out of my way."                 -- Gen. George S. Patton On this Memorial Day weekend we pay tribute to our fallen brave men and women in the armed forces.  It is also fitting to honor the great leadership lessons of our past military leaders.   It is not surprising to me that many great civilian leaders that I have known have received their leadership lessons in the US military.  The leadership in the US Armed forces inspires and demands that each person does his or her very best.  Now that doesn’t mean that everyone has to have a management style like Patten.  Those were his traits.  People with totally different traits suc...
Comments 8
By Michael F. Levy
(Grand Lux Realty - Armonk and Westchester NY)
I thought it might be helpful to gather some of my most useful articles for homeowners and home buyers in Armonk, NY.  I hope you enjoy these. Why Armonk New York is a Great Place to Live Home Purchase basics - tips on buying a home in Armonk Tips for Your Kitchen and Ways to Go Green Big DIY Savings 7 Ideas For Lowering Your Energy Bill and Becoming More Green  
Comments 1
By Grant Schneider, Your Coach Helping You Create Successful Outcomes
(Performance Development Strategies)
  Any smart business owner knows that a business must have adequate controls.  But is being in control preventing your business growth?  Being controling can prevent your business from growing.  Why are owners so controlling?  The reason is that most businesses are started by people who are very involved in the product or service.  That is natural.  The owner has to spend a lot of time working in the business to make sure that the product or service gets out, the money gets collected, and the bills get paid.  That is very important for business survival.  Here is a problem that comes up all too often.  A business owner or agency owner spends most of his or her time working IN the business and virtually no time working ON the business. Why is this problematic?  When you start your busine...
Comments 7
By Grant Schneider, Your Coach Helping You Create Successful Outcomes
(Performance Development Strategies)
  I just read and commented on a blog by Amanda and Jared Christenson about motivation.  They made great points and I would like to write a follow up blog on goal achievement.  Everyone is always talking about setting a goal and writing it down.  We hear that all the time.  So why isn’t everyone that espouses this doing great?  In fact, why do very few New Year’s resolutions go unfulfilled?  “WHY” is indeed the operating question. I ask people I coach this question all the time, “Why do want to do this?”  Frankly, if you do not have the WHY the HOW will not matter.  Motivation and goal achievement are interrelated.  Notice that I did not say goal setting but rather achievement.  You can’t motivate yourself or motivate others.  You need instead to reach down and find that motivation and ...
Comments 1
By Grant Schneider, Your Coach Helping You Create Successful Outcomes
(Performance Development Strategies)
  Every organization is only as good as its people.  It is important to select the best people.  After you have hired the best people you challenge as a leader in to keep them engaged.  Engaged employees will lead to loyal customers and loyal customers will lead to a sustainable business.  In our business climate it is not enough to be good, you must exceed expectations.  You need a cohesive and effective to make it happen.  Everyone has different talents and it is important to leverage those talents.  The power of your team is only as effective as your weakest link. To begin with creating a winning team begins with creating a culture that allows your employees to challenge, to question, and to create.  Get to know all of your team.  Don’t just spend time with people with whom you are c...
Comments 4
By Grant Schneider, Your Coach Helping You Create Successful Outcomes
(Performance Development Strategies)
  Many businesses are started each year.  Many don’t last.  Michael Gerber, in his book “The E Myth Revisited”, discusses the reasons.  The e-myth or the entrepreneurial myth as described by Gerber incorrectly assumes that the desire of the new business owner or entrepreneur, plus capital, plus a profit goal will result in success. But this has not spelled success for business and the lack of true understanding of what it takes has caused businesses to fail.  Some businesses may survive due to external dynamics and timing but they will become stagnant and the owner will feel like a hamster on a wheel.  There is a lack of entrepreneurial leadership. Let’s take an example.  There are numerous great cooks and chefs that feel that because they understand how to create a great meal that, the...
Comments 0
By Grant Schneider, Your Coach Helping You Create Successful Outcomes
(Performance Development Strategies)
  Last week I participated in brainstorming with some realtors and other business owners.  The topic of time management came up.  To be sure, many people have problems managing time.  In this case the agent was having trouble managing time primarily because he was unable to manage his customers’ expectations.  This agent wants to do everything to make the sale however he is frustrated with what he described as his customers’ unrealistic expectations.  Although time management is the symptom this is really a problem with managing customer relationships.  No one likes to say no.  However, many times when we are afraid to be honest with potential customers we end up disappointing the customer anyway.   In most cases you disappoint a customer because that customer believes that you promised...
Comments 11
By Grant Schneider, Your Coach Helping You Create Successful Outcomes
(Performance Development Strategies)
  I use my GPS in my car all the time.  However, this past week my GPS froze rendering it unresponsive.  It was a frustrating experience for me.  My GPS has become my dashboard that tells me much more than how to get from point A to point B.  It helps to keep me on time.  Even when I know the route I use the GPS to tell me my arrival time and I will know if I need to make a call or an adjustment if I encounter unexpected delays.  It also has an internal computer where I can download business trip data for tax purposes.  All in all, this GPS is something I depend on and I felt out of control when it stopped working. How similar is this to your personal GPS; the one for your career, your business, and your personal life?  Are you using a GPS for these critical areas of your life?  Here is...
Comments 10
By Grant Schneider, Your Coach Helping You Create Successful Outcomes
(Performance Development Strategies)
  Most organizations do annual performance appraisals.  This process alone is one of the most universally disliked systems. Why? Appraisal systems do not focus or focus enough on two very important areas—Employee Development and Results.   Getting top performance from your team is more about motivation and inspiration than it is about attaching blame. In order to have a high performing team you need to look in the mirror and ask, “Am I a person who inspires and encourages others?”    Why not take this challenge:  ask your co-workers – specifically your direct reports and your boss (if you don’t have co-workers – you can also get feedback from your clients and vendors).   Ask them what they feel is your biggest leadership challenge and what you can do to improve it.  Asking others for th...
Comments 0
By Grant Schneider, Your Coach Helping You Create Successful Outcomes
(Performance Development Strategies)
There is a difference between a consultant and a coach.  Which one do you need?  That depends on what you need.  You should know the difference before you hire either one.  Coaches and consultants both help facilitate personal development.  However, their approaches are very different. A coach works with individual clients to help them achieve results and sustain life-changing behaviors in both their personal and professional lives. Coaches address the whole person, with an emphasis on uncovering blind spots and producing right action that leads to more fulfillment, more balance, and more effective processes for living.  Coaches do not tell their clients what course of action to take.  Instead, they ask questions. They help them to look inside themselves so that the client can maximize ...
Comments 7
By Grant Schneider, Your Coach Helping You Create Successful Outcomes
(Performance Development Strategies)
Why do people fail to take action?  Do you ever feel that if someone, or maybe even you, would take the action necessary to succeed or excel that you could truly reach your potential?  Think back over what you did today.  What did you do in the first few hours after you got up?  Was it similar to what you did when you got up yesterday, and the day before and so forth?  There is truth to the expression that “we are creatures of habit”.   Our habits have a lot to do with why we fail to act. Habits can be good but they can also be harmful.  A bad habit can cause us to continue to do things that are non-productive or worse.  For example, you might have a habit of taking the easier option, doing something that doesn’t push you out of your comfort zone.  That comfort zone exists for us becaus...
Comments 7
By Grant Schneider, Your Coach Helping You Create Successful Outcomes
(Performance Development Strategies)
What results do you need to achieve success?  Do you need more sales or more profits?  Do you need to update your marketing or create marketing?  Do you need to update or create a better infrastructure in order to get to the next level?  Regardless of how you answer these questions one fact is abundantly clear.  It is the people who achieve results.  That is true for any size organization and it is also true if you are a sole practitioner.   Let’s start with you and your personal leadership. Ask yourself these questions: ·       Am I the best I can be? ·       Am I goal directed and do I provide goal-directed leadership to my employees? ·       Do I lead by example? ·       Am I motivating my people? ·       Do I invest my time in the right things? ·       Do I create a culture of accou...
Comments 4
By Grant Schneider, Your Coach Helping You Create Successful Outcomes
(Performance Development Strategies)
Like many of you I have read articles about Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer’s decision to discontinue allowing work at home.  As of June all employees must come to an office.  Whatever you think about the decision one thing is very clear.  Teams of employees need to be accountable for results.  In the case of Yahoo, Mayer had discovered that employees were not being held accountable.  How did she know?  She looked at data which showed that very little work was being done through the company’s online systems.  The results lately at Yahoo have been lagging other tech companies.  The decision may be right for Yahoo.  Time will tell. Many businesses have workers that don’t come to the office.  But you can create a culture of accountability.  Every organization and every leader needs to set the exam...
Comments 5