Attracting more business

Attracting more business

Despite an eventful year 2009 with Financial Crisis, Recession, Scams, Ups & Downs of Financial Markets, we saw GROWTH also in 2010

A Common resolution for every year would definitely be: “Attracting more business” and being much more successful


Let’s see, what we can target for greater business:

• Work out who is your target market. If you have a niche by industry, location or demographic, you can be very specific in your marketing.

• Develop a large database, it will be crucial for successful marketing and lead generation.

• Never stop marketing. No matter how busy or how successful you are at any point in time, systematically market on a consistent basis. Let me repeat: especially when you're busy.

• Do not prospect for business. Cold calling is for chumps and is an utter waste of time, energy and self-esteem.

• Promote how good you are via the results your clients achieve. Use case studies.

• Test your pricing points

• Service existing clients well enough and invest enough time in developing yourself even if you are too busy doing "work".

• Invest in your People - it's hard to find exceptional people, and even harder to ensure they stay with you

Let’s go ahead with more profitable business

Strategies for Success: It's a matter of Marketing

Strategies for Success: It's a matter of Marketing

It's December 2009 and we need to be convinced of what we will be doing right in 2010. There are two things we need to concern ourselves with in regards to marketing:

• Position - How is the product, Service, Company or Individual 'positioned' in the market?

• Generating Business Leads - Generating enquiries from proactive methods so that people seek you out.

You generate enquiries to create the potential of transforming those enquiries into sales.

Sales has two components which impact upon our business:

• Process - What are the sequential steps that happen after an enquiry is generated?

• Conversion - What percentage of those enquiries translate into real business?


Under each of the four areas above, there are a many techniques, tools and strategies you can employ:


Positioning

• Pricing strategies

• Branding

• Uniqueness

• Public relations

• Newsletters

• And more ...

Generating Leads

• Networking

• Referrals and recommendations

• Teleseminars & teleconferences

• Public speaking & seminars

• Direct mail and email

• And more ...

Sales Process

• Managing the database

• Qualifying leads

• Using a sales coordinator

• Pipeline management

• Following up immediately on leads

• And more ...

Conversion

• Purposeful proposals

• Consultative selling style

• Focus on the client's wants and needs

• Follow-up

• Ask for the business

• And more ...

What have we done? What needs to be done? Will we do it? When?

The New Years are known for new, renewed and refreshed agenda, resolutions, strategies etc… 2009 is not going to be any different from 2010.


It’s not the New Year that work wonders but our new, renewed and refreshed thinking, where we pause, visualize the positive outlook, and move ahead to hope a brighter future


Never stop Marketing. No matter how busy or how successful you are at any point in time, systematically market on a consistent basis.

Let me repeat: especially when you're busy

Strategic Success by Eliminating Execution Failures

Strategic Success by Eliminating Execution Failures

Almost without reservation, businesses have had to face one of their most difficult times in modern history due to the Global Financial Crisis. And, politicians have never had it so easy to explain away inadequate performance.

Now is the time for organisations to be seriously setting their future strategy for 2010-2013. Setting strategy is neglected by many business owners and CEOs because execution failures have given the process of a negative stigma.

Through observation of many organizations around the world over many years, the most frequent and obvious reasons for failure are identified below. Avoid these mistakes and you will be far more successful.

1) Where's your research? Numerous times while consulting to organizations, we find that the most current research on their target markets, customers, competitors, suppliers and alike, are out of date or even worse, doesn't exist. Obtaining factual research for your planning is vital. To not get it, can be fatal.

2) Failing to challenge the data. Be certain to carefully question and debate the conclusions you draw from the data collected. Imperfect analysis will be just as harmful to your strategy as inaccurate data. Build your strategy on firm ground.

3) Not enlisting the best people. Leaders must recruit the best and most appropriate people for strategic projects and for strategy execution. Not infrequently, I've witnessed managers nominate names for a strategic project that were obviously inadequate. The reason being those managers don't want to take their best people out of the field or off the floor. Strategy is too important not to afford the best people.

4) Lacking Involvement. Strategy is always best served when created in consultation with the people who have to execute. Having the CEO/business owner in a closed room with the CFO and a consultant write a strategic plan and then disseminate this to the management team is destined for disappointment. Involve those that matter such as: sales, warehousing, distribution, HR, IT, accounts, and marketing in the process. There is an enormous depth of talent already residing in your organisation.

5) Too little for too many. Having too many initiatives on the board at any one time will dilute attention and the propensity for success. Move a few things forward a mile rather than a thousand things forward an inch. Prioritize your strategic projects. If there are not three "stand-outs" to focus on, brainstorm some better ideas!

6) Resource-lack. All execution plans for strategic initiatives must necessarily include specific resource details. Resources such as: people, time, infrastructure, capital equipment and money. The resource details need to be explicit, encompass all relevant business units and the managers of those units must have buy-in prior to launch.

7) Mis-alignment. Get everyone personally behind the corporate objective. Having developed a purposeful pricing strategy for a new service or product offering is not assisted by sales people who are pitching discounts in the marketplace. This is not the fault of the sales team or their manager. It is witnessed that this is happening because sales bonuses are paid without considering the consequences on the strategic initiative.

8) Mis-communication. Or even worse, no communication. People tell how they admire leaders who share the vision and paint a picture for the future. Communicate with clarity, passion and sincerity the strategic initiatives to everyone, regularly.

Side bar: Bullet points in the company newsletter doesn't cut it!

9) Failure to check the instruments. Good pilots understand that even though they have submitted their flight plan, run the pre-flight checks, taken-off in the right direction and have engaged the auto-pilot, they must diligently check their instruments to ensure that the flight is proceeding as planned and on course to reach their destination.

Leaders in business need to constantly check and measure progress. Review the strategy monthly or quarterly with management and ensure that milestones are being met along the way

10) Unwillingness for the 3 A's. Adopt - Adapt - Accept. Shift happens, change is constant and you must be agile in coping with this.

Adopt a philosophic mentality where you cope with the reality that from time to time the best laid plans go awry. Uncontrollable events intervene in the successful achievement of your goals.

Adapt to the environment and accept a new set of challenges by modifying your strategy.

11) Uncommitted leadership. When the owner/CEO places the bound strategic plan in the bookshelf, so does the team.

Strategic initiatives must be passionately driven from the bridge by the captain in charge of the controls. You must be so convinced of the strategy that it is obvious to everyone you are committed to it and you will maintain persistent focus until it's successful.

Strategy Formulation - Know Your End Results

Strategy Formulation - Know Your End Results

The process of strategic planning, is not that difficult so long as you have the right people coming together, to achieve the same objective, with the mission as the basis for the appropriate questioning by the facilitator.

The results of applying the process of strategy formulation are:

A clear statement of strategy that can be easily retained
A shared understanding and commitment among top managers to this common direction
A vehicle for communicating strategy throughout the organisation
An approach to implementing and managing the strategy
A basis for simplifying and managing long-range an short-range planning
An understanding of the strategy process that can be re-applied
Sometimes, few strategic misconceptions get in the way.

The obvious one is: "Return/Profit must be our Driving Force. That's why we're in business."

Profit is essential, no doubt. Profit is also a key indicator of success by which organisations measure their effectiveness. But it may not necessarily be your Driving Force.

3M has long been known for its excellence in management and high profit earnings. But Return/Profit is not it's Driving Force; Innovation and Products Offered is.

Coca-Cola is known for its worldwide marketing capability, but this is not its Driving Force; Products Offered is.

Gillette has been very successful and continues to make generous profits and generate substantial revenues. But its Driving Force is its Markets Served.

New strategy brings with it, the thrust for future business development, such as taking your current products (or services offered if you are a PKF - Professional Knowledge Firm) in your current markets and injecting them into Extended Markets and even New Markets.

Review the current markets that you are serving and introduce modifications of your existing products and completely new products.

This is what will then drive the Return/Profit for your organization

Are you prepared to succeed?

If your voice mail greeting is longer than 20 seconds, or offers more than two menu choices, you may confuse yourself with multiple choices. Keep it simple.

There's rarely a legitimate reason not to return a phone call in 24 hours or an email within 48 hours. You can have an automatic email notice if you are away for prolonged periods, but a laptop is not a luxury, it's a business necessity.

Refuse to panic. Because a prospective client has not gotten back to you does not mean that you should contact them with a reduced fee, a cheaper alternative, or an offer to check the oil and tyres. Retain your dignity and be willing to walk away from work. Rejection isn't personal. They reflect those buyers who were too dumb to appreciate your value. Don't belittle yourself. Find smarter clients.

If you're not efficient with words while working, the chances are you're not efficient with prospective buyers either.

Move a few things forward a mile rather than a thousand things forward an inch. We all have limited time and energy ... and attention spans. Prioritise your top projects and drive them forward relentlessly. It's about success not perfection.

Have you fulfilled your Mission?

How many times have you heard: "We tried that 10 years ago and it didn't work"?

But you know that if they applied your advice in the way you propose that it would work because it works for your other clients. But this prospective buyer's mindset is holding them back because:

It's a strongly held belief in their mind
It really feels true to them
There is an attachment to that belief because they identify with it
And, disagreeing with them frequently triggers negativity and even animosity
Their mindset correlates with both actions and avoidance
When some of the clients are suggested to increase their fees, we get the same responses:

"We can't raise our rates in this economy."
"We prefer to be mid-stream with our competitors on rates."
"If we raise our fees we will lose business to our competitors."
Mindsets (not circumstances) shape performance and results. Everything you experience is based upon your mindset. Thoughts, opinions, attitudes, innovation, the lot.

Do you have a restrictive mindset or an expansive mindset?

An expansive mindset sees new possibilities and opportunities. An expansive mindset is not defensive but curious, interested in how to make things happen. Better performance and results come from an expansive mindset.

Insecurity is Your Best Security

Insecurity is Your Best Security

Imagine how you would feel if you were in one of the most successful rock bands of all time.

You and your band mates have been together for more than 30 years and you have more money than you could ever need. Every concert is a sell out.

You also have money invested in real estate and have your hand in many other businesses.

Apple even names an iPod after you.

You'd feel pretty secure about money, wouldn't you?

Or would you?

Bono of the band U2 fits the scenario I just described above, yet in a recent interview he said, "Insecurity is your best security." He doesn't take their success for granted and never assumes that the next album will be a success.

There's a lot of truth to what he said.

The desire for security is a limiting belief and puts the brakes on your income.

The belief that you have security, once you've achieved a certain income level or status, is also a limiting belief.

Once you start buying into the security myth you've automatically limited what you can achieve or how much you can earn.

It has been discussed before many times, about how almost every successful entrepreneur seems to have rags to riches story.

The greatest achievements often happen when insecurity is the greatest.

And people who succeed as a result of a difficult childhood or situation usually don't forget where they came from or take it for granted. That insecurity is always there beneath the surface, ready to be tapped.

One should also learn to focus on the 'what', and the 'how' will be taken care of. Remember, you are more than you think you are.

When you focus (thought plus emotion) on what you want, with a positive expectation of success, you activate the power of your unconscious mind, and the 'how' start showing up, often without you even trying to figure them out.

This was just fear, and there is nothing to fear! Like attracts like, so start feeling how you'll feel when what you want is already here. Focus on the 'what' and the 'how' will be taken care of.

Wishing you overwhelming success

Source: Excerpts from a Coaching Firm’s Newsletter

The main thing in life is RESULTS!

The main thing in life is____   RESULTS!

The universe has very precise laws – if you understand the rules of the game and know how to stretch these, you can have a direct impact on your levels of success.

Two key laws are

The law of polarity – everything has an “opposite” or a pole. Every question therefore has an answer. The really successful people ask the right questions. Usually the right question is “what can I do to....”

If you’re not going in one direction, you are definitely going in the other. We are always creating or disintegrating. Absolutely nothing ever stays the way it is. You have to adapt and adjust to change. Therefore constantly creating and changing yourself is key.

The main thing in life is....

RESULTS!

Ask yourself why there is such a huge difference in the results that people in similar situations are able to produce and experience in life.

Setting goals is absolutely essentially. A study of individuals tracked over a number of years has reference. In this group only 2% had set clear goals and written them down. When the group was followed up years later the 2% who had set their goals had achieved more than the other 98% put together! Why is this?

Let’s talk about cybernetic systems.... what they do is measure the deviation from a set goal and then correct the system they control. For example, thermostats on an air con or an autopilot regulating the altitude of a plane are cybernetic systems.

Human beings also have cybernetic systems.

If we change our behaviours, our own cybernetic system in our consciousness and self image often reverts us back to the old behaviour. No matter how hard we try, our cybernetic system “corrects” change behaviours and forces us back to old habits. The important thing therefore is to change the cybernetic system itself, not just the behaviours. This will bring about sustainable change.

What controls the quality of everything in your life?

ATTITUDE!

Attitude is a composite of thinking, feelings and action. Before you change your actions, you need to change your thoughts. We need to focus our energy and intentions on our mind.

There is a huge difference between what we perceive as thinking and true, conscious thinking. In fact only 3% of us actually THINK. Most people block out real thinking by watching TV or spending huge blocks of time on other meaningless pursuits.

In choosing our thinking, we need to build pictures of positive stuff in our lives. Our conscious minds create our thoughts and our pictures. It is essential to remember that we CHOOSE our conscious thoughts. This is an absolute key to determining what goes into the process of creating results in our lives.

These thoughts are then filtered into our subconscious mind. It’s rather scary to think that our subconscious mind can only accept what our conscious mind tells it. It does not have the capacity to reject anything.

Are we always telling our subconscious minds the truth?

Our subconscious minds determine our feelings.

Our feelings in turn are expressed in actions.

And our actions determine results.

It is therefore essential to carefully choose our conscious thoughts, and to really put an effort into what we are thinking

Our senses determine what goes into our conscious minds. Everything we see, smell, hear, taste and touch determines our conscious mindset. Where do you get most of your information? TV? Papers? Radio? What other people are talking about? All the images we are constantly bombarded with?

Ask yourself: Is the information I get into my conscious minds from sources that are mostly

Negative

Or

Positive

?

To what extent are you controlling the inputs into your conscious mind?

The extent to which you are controlling inputs into your conscious mind, determines the extent to which you are controlling your own thinking. In order to profoundly change your results, you need to develop your intellectual mind. This involves actively developing your six intellectual faculties, namely:

1. Our perception: Our ability to see things differently
2. Our will: Our will to change and get results
3. Our imagination: People with great imagination achieve the most
4. Our memory: Forget about the past, especially the negatives and remember the positives that will help you achieve the results
5. Our intuition and ability to listen to that inner voice
6. Our reason

What makes us great human beings is the ability to start changing our intellectual minds, which in turn will alter our emotional minds. Capturing this ability will lead to us achieving our goals and achieving results in our lives.

Isn’t it great to know we have a CHOICE over this?

That we are not merely victims of circumstance, of birth, of the things which have gone wrong in our lives, but empowered, enabled human beings who with conscious living and thinking have the power to CHOOSE our destiny!

Source: Excerpts from a Coaching Firm’s Newsletter

Easy - Difficult

EASY -- DIFFICULT

Easy to occupy place in a Telephone Directory

Difficult to occupy heart of somebody

Easy to judge errors of others

Difficult to recognize our own errors

Easy to hurt those whom we love

Difficult to heal those wounds

Easy to forgive others

Difficult to ask for forgiveness

Easy to exhibit victory

Difficult to assume defeat with dignity

Easy to dream every night

Difficult to fight for a dream

Easy to pray every night

Difficult to find God in the smallest of things

Easy to say we love

Difficult to demonstrate it every day

Easy to criticize everybody

Difficult to better / perfect ourselves

Easy to think of improving

Difficult to stop thinking & really do it

Easy to receive

Difficult to give

Easy to read this and agree

Difficult to grasp & implement it

Are the Brains of Leaders wired differently?

Are the Brains of Leaders wired differently?

Everyone’s brain is wired differently. Successful people will have some differences compared to the average population. I say successful leaders because of what they have had to learn to be good at what they do.

When you practice anything, it changes your brain and leaders have had to practice staying cool under pressure. They experience levels of stress that would overwhelm most people – from having too much to do, dealing with uncertainty and being seen by others. Successful leaders have managed to learn to manage the stress response from all that. If they don’t learn to do that, their ability to think goes down dramatically.

Successful leaders have very good emotional regulation techniques, and you can pick that up in all sorts of tests. It relates to the brain’s “braking system”, which is just behind the right temple. So effective leaders have strong braking systems that are well-developed.

And how did those leaders rewire their brains?

Anything you pay attention to, changes your brain. If you pay attention to the words of Cantonese, you will learn the language and your brain will change as a result. If pay attention to colours or light, that will also change your brain.

For someone who has always been a technician or a performer (like a sales person), when they first become a manager, they need to change their brain. And it is a change that people often struggle with, because they actually have to stop themselves from doing. They have to use the braking system to stop themselves from solving the problem for the other person.

As you practice that, you will get better at it and it will change your brain. If you don’t practice that and you keep doing things the way you did as a sales person, and you keep doing the work for other people, you would become an ineffective manager. Instead of motivating people, you will threaten them.

Is it all about paying attention to the work that you do, then?

It is about adapting to the environment. In nature, the creatures that adapt well are the ones that survive. In the workforce when the situation changes, you need to be someone who can adapt to the new situation.

When you become a manager or a functional head for the first time, you need to adapt and change your brain. Each time you need to rewire your brain, and the way you do that is by paying attention and noticing stimuli in the environment instead of acting automatically. Paying fresh and focused attention is how we rewire the brain.

Are there limitations to the brain?

The brain is an interesting paradox. It the most complex thing in the known universe and has tremendous limitations. And those limitations mostly involve conscious processing of information.

For example, we have a terrible memory. Unless we really focus, the average human’s memory is very poor. We can accurately remember what happened in the last two seconds, and that is what we can accurately reproduce. Beyond that it gets much harder.

Another example is how long you can think well for. It is exhausting to focus for a couple of hours. We think people can do great work all day, but there are big peaks and troughs within our capacity to work well.

So how does that affect something like a brain-storming session?

Keeping it under an hour and doing it in the mid-morning will be extremely useful. Trying to do a brain storming at three or four in the afternoon is almost pointless in some situations.

So it’s better to have it short than a long drawn out process?

If you are doing something that is routine, the brain is tremendously efficient. But when you have to consciously think about your work, then you are using the prefrontal cortex of the brain that is the most inefficient. The prefrontal cortex only uses 4% of the total brain but it tires very easily and this is where a lot of limitations emerge from.

(Courtesy: Sydney-born David Rock, author of the book Quiet Leadership and CEO of Results Coaching Systems International)

TEN WORDS

TEN Words

The most selfish ONE Letter Word…. “I”

Avoid it

The most satisfying TWO Letter Word… “We”

Use it

The most poisonous THREE Letter Word… “Ego”

Kill it

The most used FOUR Letter word… “Love”

Value it

The most pleasing FIVE Letter Word… “Smile”

Keep it

The fastest spreading SIX Letter Word… “Rumour”

Ignore it

The hardest working SEVEN Letter Word… “Success”

Achieve it

The most enviable EIGHT Letter Word… “Jealousy”

Distance it

The most powerful NINE Letter Word…”Knowledge”

Acquire it

The most essential TEN Letter Word… “Confidence”

Trust it

WORK EFFECTIVELY WITH THE INDIANS

Excerpts of Preparation of Seminar on "WORKING EFFECTIVELY WITH THE INDIANS”

Strong Indian Economy has continued to have a global impact

Mentioned below are the excerpts of preparation of Seminar by French, for French Business Community, on "WORKING EFFECTIVELY WITH THE INDIANS”

Its interesting to see the topics and Areas focused.

I found this knowledge interesting and thought of sharing it on my Blog

(This excerpt is translated from French to English)

DATES: October 6, 2009

HOURS: 9H - 17H

LOCATION: PARIS

WORK EFFECTIVELY WITH THE INDIANS

No Purpose and Pedagogy

This seminar will increase an immediate and significant efficacy of the participants in their interactions with Indians. It may be appropriate, especially for participants working "remotely" with the Indians.

The seminar is based both on the more advanced principles of intercultural management and experience "field" of the facilitator. Thus, participants will discover all the main concepts for working effectively with the Indians. All will be illustrated by numerous examples, anecdotes, tips and pointers.

- Participants will be involved very actively in several exercises and group work.

Program

1) Introduction: Understanding cultural differences

In this chapter you will:

- Discover what the Intercultural Cases

- Study the different components of a culture

- Become aware of your "baggage" cultural

- Learn the basics of intercultural management

- Discover the "change curve", the "cultural iceberg", etc..

- Learn to go beyond the stereotypes

2) The Indian culture: the indispensable foundation

In this chapter you will discover and understand the influences of geography, history, religion, on Indian culture and context of your audience

- How to avoid "stupid mistakes"

- Understand the key aspects of Indian culture

- The major philosophical and religious landmarks: Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, etc..

- The puzzle of caste

- The weight of family and clan

- Regional identities and ethnic groups

- The importance of "popular culture"

3) Golden rules:

In this chapter you'll learn:

- The basic rules that must absolutely meet with Indians

- And how to use ...

4) The manager's checklist

In this chapter you will discover the essential elements for success with the Indians:

- The importance of the personal relationship

- The values and behavior of Indians

- The custom and practice in work

- Knowledge live in Cases

- Why spend time in "small talk"

- What does "save face" or "give face"

- Superstition in business

- The woman in business, "Mother India" Etc..

5) Working with Indians

In this chapter you will:

- Discover the major key understandings of Indians in the work

- Differences between "world views" European and Indian world a permanent or a cyclical world

- Strategy and opportunism

- Conceptual and practical

- Learn to communicate effectively with the Indians

- How to use remote communications (mail, telephone, video conferencing, etc..)

- Explore the process of Indian decision

- How to hear and recognize the "no" Indian

- Discover how efficiently a project manager with Indian teams

- How to get the Indians to be "results oriented"

- How to meet deadlines

6) Action Plan

In this chapter, you define an action plan practical and realistic to achieve better and faster your goals:

- Developing your personal action plan

- Develop action plan for your team

7) "review package"

In this chapter you will learn the latest tips:

- How to use the cards

- Gifts

- The use of any translator

- The non-verbal language

- How to use humor

- The dress

- The code of etiquette ...Etc..

Understanding Marketing

You see a gorgeous girl at a party. You go up to her and say: "I am very rich. "Marry me!"

That's Direct marketing...

You're at a party with a bunch of friends and see a gorgeous girl. One of your friends goes up to her and pointing at you says: "He's very rich. "Marry him."

That's Advertising...

You see a gorgeous girl at a party. You go up to her and get her telephone number. The next day, you call and say:"Hi, I'm very rich. "Marry me!"

That's Telemarketing...

You're at a party and see gorgeous girl. You get up and straighten your tie, you walk up to her and pour her a drink, you open the door (of the car)"Marry Me?"

That's Public Relations...

You're at a party and see gorgeous girl. She walks up to you and says: "You are very rich! "Can you marry me?"

That's Brand Recognition...

You see a gorgeous girl at a party. You go up to her and say: "I am very rich. Marry me!" She gives you a nice hard slap on your face.

That's Customer Feedback...

You see a gorgeous girl at a party. You go up to her and say: "I am very rich. Marry me!" And she introduces you to her husband.

That's demand and supply gap...

You see a gorgeous girl at a party. You go up to her and before you say anything, another person come and tell her: "I'm rich. Will you marry me?" and she goes with him

That's competition eating into your market share...

You see a gorgeous girl at a party. You go up to her and before you say: "I'm rich, Marry me!" your girl friend arrives.

That's restriction for entering new markets...

Corporate Consultant

A shepherd was herding his flock in a remote pasture when suddenly a brand-new BMW advanced out of a dust cloud towards him.

The driver, a young man in an Armani suit, Gucci shoes, Ray Ban sunglasses and YSL tie (Corb), leans out the window and asks the shepherd, "If I tell you exactly how many sheep you have in your flock, will you give me one?"

The shepherd looks at the man, obviously a yuppie, then looks at his peacefully grazing flock and calmly answers, "Sure. Why not?"

The yuppie parks his car, whips out his Dell notebook computer, connects it to his AT&T cell phone, surfs to a NASA page on the Internet, where he calls up a GPS satellite navigation system to get an exact fix on his location which he then feeds to another NASA satellite that scans the area in an ultra-high-resolution photo.

The young man then opens the digital photo in Adobe Photoshop and exports it to an image processing facility in Hamburg, Germany. Within seconds, he receives an email on his Palm Pilot that the image has been processed and the data stored.

He then accesses a MS-SQL database through an ODBC connected Excel spreadsheet with hundreds of complex formulas.

He uploads all of this data via an email on his Blackberry and, after a few minutes, receives a response.

Finally, he prints out a full-color, 150-page report on his hi-tech, miniaturized HP LaserJet printer and finally turns to the shepherd and says, "You have exactly 1586 sheep."

"That's right. Well, I guess you can take one of my sheep." says the shepherd.

He watches the young man select one of the animals and looks on amused as the young man stuffs it into the trunk of his car. Then the shepherd says to the young man, "Hey, if I can tell you exactly what your business is, will you give me back my sheep?

The young man thinks about it for a second and then says, "Okay, why not?"

"You're a consultant." says the shepherd.

"Wow! That's correct," says the yuppie, "but how did you guess that?"

"No guessing required." answered the shepherd.

"You showed up here even though nobody called you; you want to get paid for an answer I already knew, to a question I never asked; and you don't know crap about my business. . . " Now give me back my DOG!!! "