Mark Denham | Mark Denham Blog

Balancing The Impossible

July 16, 2012 By Mark Leave a Comment

It’s spoken of like one of the great myths of our time. It’s a fabeled treasure that many have sought after and few have attained. I’m not introducing a new Indiana Jones movie, I’m talking about finding the balance between work and life. We spend much of our time adding and removing weight from each side of this metaphorical scale but it never quite seems to level out. Today the balancing act ends! Here are a few secrets to succeeding in the quest for work/life balance.

Step One – Do What You’re Doing

Live in the present. Focus on what you’re doing in that instant. Worrying about what you have to do later doesn’t do you any good and it’s sure to throw off the scale. When you’re at work, think about work. When you’re having dinner with your family, taste your food and enjoy the quality time.

Step Two – Limit Your Business Trips

You don’t have to make every sale in person and by now you should know which sales will need that extra personal touch. A two-day business trip really takes up more like 3-4 days of your time once you account for jet-lag and playing catch-up. If you HAVE to travel try to make it for one night only.

Step Three – Make Your Family Your #1 Client

Do you turn off your cell phone when you’re with an important client? Then turn it off when you pick your kids up from school and when you’re on a date with your wife or husband. Your family should know that they are a priority and that you’re available to them any time. If you have to, schedule time on your calendar for your family.

The Most Clever Insults Ever Written And Your Success

June 21, 2012 By Mark Leave a Comment

Shakespeare is know as one of, if not the, best wordsmiths to have walked this planet. This video from TED Ed focuses on his clever way with insults but I chose it because if it’s ability to showcase the power of words.

Communication is one of the most important things that factor into someone’s success. Strong and clear communicators gain the ears of the world while people who have a hard time getting their message across are ignored. Better communicators make more sales, keep more clients and develop better ideas.

Sometimes even the biggest problems in business can be solved by improving the communication surrounding them. Be sure to share this post with your friends and colleagues and feel free to share any thoughts you may have in the comment box below.

Filed Under: Business, Communication, Leadership Tagged With: clever insults by shakespeare, ergo office seating, mark denham, shakespeare insults, ted ed videos, ted talks

5 Ways To Make Any Day Better

June 19, 2012 By Mark Leave a Comment

We all have rough starts, but we don’t have to let them ruin our entire day. You can turn that frown upside down and make any day better by following these simple steps.

1. Forget about the past – Just because something bad already happened doesn’t mean that more bad things are already heading your way. Forget about it and move on. If you don’t you’re just setting yourself up for the self-fulfilling prophecy of disaster.

2. Put things in perspective - How bad are things really? Will you still be thinking about it tomorrow? How about next week? If the answer is “No” then you have not reason not to forget about it now. Most of the time you’re better off just forgetting about whatever happened.

3. Redefine “good” and “bad” – If you can look at your life, and all of the good you have in it, you will be able to let the little things slide. “Bad” isn’t really bad when it is heavily outweighed by “good”. Your biggest challenge is to keep all of those good things in mind, or on the scale in this case.

4. Walk it off – If something happened to put you in a bad mood, chances are your whole body will feel it. You’ll lose motivation and want to just go back to bed. Take a quick break and walk around the block. The fresh air and exercise will help to reenergize your body and give you the motivation you need to push past any bad happenings.

5. Hope for the best – It’s very easy to fall into the trap of “expecting the worst” but hoping for the best is so much more fun. When you have a goal or dream in the front of your mind it’s easier to move past any obstacles or challenges that may get in your way.

How do you get past a bad day? Share in the comment box below or on Facebook and Twitter.

Filed Under: Being Positive, How To Be More Productive, How To Stay Motivated Tagged With: ergo office seating, how not to have a bad day, how to be more positive, how to have a better day, how to have a good day, mark denham, ways to be more positive, ways to have a good day

Customer Service Lessons From Legends

June 6, 2012 By Mark Leave a Comment

Most companies are known for what they sell but there are a few companies that are well-known for their incredible customer service. These companies understand that it isn’t just about money–but dedicated staff and extra resources certainly help. This makes it hard for smaller companies to keep up with the bigger customer service giants.

Here are a few companies that are doing better than OK–and some great takeaways any business can put into practice.

1.LEGO: Provide Emotional Support – When something goes wrong start by addressing your customer’s needs. Instead of just fixing the problem, take the time to understand how your customer feels about the situation and them let them know that you understand.

2. Zappos: Hire The Right People – It’s important to make sure those who work for the company have the same values and goals so when it comes to customer service.

3. Amazon: Know Your Customer Really Well - How do you anticipate your customer’s needs? The best way to do this is by understanding the customer experience.

4. Whirlpool’s Maytag: Get Smarter About Social Media – Move the conversation to a more private and personal area. This helps to calm the customers nerves by letting them know you’re paying specific attention to them. It also takes the complaints out of the public eye.

The Leadership Test

May 23, 2012 By Mark Leave a Comment

I just found this test on Forbes and worked my way through it. It was enlightening to say the least. There are several responsibilities that fall on a leader and it has to be near impossible to be great at all of them. That’s one of the reasons I found this test helpful. It helps to identify your strengths and also your weaknesses. That way you have a better idea of where to focus your time. The test is broken down into the categories below.

Section I: Character

Section II: Vision

Section III: Strategy

Section IV: Tactics

Section V: Focus

Section VI: Persuasiveness

Section VII: Likeability

Section VIII: Decisioning Ability

Section IX: Team Building

Section X: Results

Click Here to take the test

Click here to read my recent post on how the book “The Art of War” can positively influence your leadership.

Filed Under: Advice For Entrepreneurs, Leadership, Leadership and Trust, Leadership Lessons, Leadership Tests, Management Tagged With: am i a good leader, ergo office seating, how to be a better leader, leadership quiz, leadership tests, mark denham

Are You Training Your Customers?

May 22, 2012 By Mark Leave a Comment

“The customer is sometimes right and sometimes wrong.” That’s not what we’re used to hearing. This video from the Harvard Business Review talks about how important it is to choose and train your customers. I couldn’t agree more. Bringing in the wrong customers only offers a temporary solution to a long-term problem and usually comes with a fair amount of headaches. Not managing your customer experience, interactions and expectations sets you up for failure as well. Check out this video to get a better understanding of what it means to train your customer.

If you found this helpful you might also benefit from my post about What Your Customers Don’t Want To Hear.

What have you been doing to train your customers? Share in the comment box below or on Facebook and Twitter.

Filed Under: Customer Experience, Customer Service, Customer-Centric, Training Customers Tagged With: choosing clients, choosing customers, client management, ergo office seating, managing your customers, mark denham, training clients, training your customers

9 Ways To Get More Done Today

May 7, 2012 By Mark Leave a Comment

It’s early on in the week and I know that no one wants to think any harder than they have to. That’s why I thought this little graphic was the perfect post. There are nine great ideas to help you get more done without doing an exorbitant amount of reading. The best part of all…you can do any of these things today. Let me know what you think in the comment box below or on Facebook and Twitter.

Filed Under: Business Tips, How To Be More Productive, How To Stay Motivated, Infographics, Productivity, Success Tagged With: being productive, ergo office seating, how to be more productive, mark denham, productivity, productivity tips

101 Incredible Marketing Quotes

May 2, 2012 By Mark Leave a Comment

I found this incredible compilation of quotes and insights from different experts from all over the marketing world. Not all of these quotes will apply to your business but some of them might, and they might be exactly what you needed to see/hear to pull the trigger on your next best idea.

Open publication – Free publishing – More marketing

Which was your favorite quote? Share in the comment box below or on Facebook and Twitter.

Filed Under: mark denham, Marketing Advice, Marketing Quotes, Thought Leader Tagged With: 101 marketing ideas, 101 marketing quotes, ergo office seating, great marketing quotes, mark denham, marketing e-book, marketing ideas, marketing quotes

The Secrets Of The Successful

April 24, 2012 By Mark Leave a Comment

Business is always changing. This means that there is no guaranteed path to success. Entrepreneurs everywhere spend time looking for an easy answer, while the truly successful business leaders know that it takes effort in several different areas to ensure true success. Here are a few ways to make sure you’re on the right path.

Write it down

Writing down your goals gives you a solid reminder of what you’re working for. It also allows you to check and make sure that your efforts and your time are being put to good use. Write down every process and every step you’ve done to work your way towards your goals and write down what you need to do to finally get there.

Be Flexible

Though it’s important to have a plan, you can’t rely on it. Nothing ever works out exactly the way you planned it so it’s important to be flexible when the changes come your way. Being able to adapt and quickly make decisions will prevent any change from slowing down your success.

Listen More Than You Talk

Don’t let your ego prevent you from using any advice you may receive. In fact, you should be seeking out advice and insight from people who have experiences that you can learn from. Don’t ever assume you know everything you need to know and don’t ever think that you can do it all by yourself.

Be Social

The internet is a powerful tool that ends up being relatively cheap. Before you jump into it, take some time to understand what your goals are and how you’re going to use the internet to achieve those goals. Build a community through social media channels like Facebook, Twitter and Youtube.

The 15 Richest People…In Fiction

April 23, 2012 By Mark 1 Comment

Forbes was kind enough to do the ‘research’ and provide the list of the richest characters in fiction. Don’t assume that they are just picking these characters at random, they actually crunch the numbers. They did the math on everything from the Dragon Smog’s treasure stash (The Hobbit) to Forest Gump’s shares in Apple. I thought this would be a fun way to start the week off. Enjoy!

Who do you think should be on the list? Share in the comment box below or on Facebook and Twitter.

Filed Under: Being Awesome, Business, Business Leaders, Running a Business Tagged With: Business tips, ergo office seating, forbes, mark denham, rich fictional characters, the richest people in fiction

Balancing The Impossible

The Most Clever Insults Ever Written And Your Success

5 Ways To Make Any Day Better

Customer Service Lessons From Legends