Blog | The Shuler Group LLC

Remember It’s About Them

September 18, 2017 | No Comments

I have seen a lot of posted articles on LinkedIn about how we should comport ourselves when interacting with others in business or other settings. They talk a lot about the do’s and don’ts. Some of this advice is a no-brainer. Fidgeting/nervous behavior, looking at your phone a lot, and self centeredness are universal “don’t dos.” Others of these statements, however, may not be as universal, and most often have to do with the specific values of the person writing the article. I read blanket statements like… “Don’t be late to appointments”(although this is definitely a good policy, it
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Get More Yes’s

May 30, 2017 | No Comments

As heart-centered, passion-based entrepreneurs, business owners, managers, and executives, our purpose is to be of service, to help make the world a better place in our own way. That means we have to actually sell our products and services. No sale, no changing the world. Frankly, my dear, most of us suck at selling. First, you need an actual process. Yes, really, a sales process. You have to have a plan for having that initial conversation and understand how to lead them into saying Yes to your product or service. You need to follow up. Secondly, you have to be
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4 Steps for Any Successful Business System

May 10, 2017 | No Comments

I recently had some issues with a business who was providing a service for me. I couldn’t get my messages through: no one responded to my emails or my voice mails. What I found out later was that a former employee had done some damage as she left the company, and the staff was dealing with repeated fires. They didn’t have time to deal with me. (And that’s another system to talk about another day.) So, lots of issues, lots of holes, lots of missing or broken systems. And all of it can be repaired. As I put my systems-and-processes
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Give Them a Fish

April 25, 2017 | No Comments

Most of you I am sure have heard the quote, “Give a man a fish, and he eats for a day. Teach a man to fish, and he eats for the rest of his life.” There is a very broad gray space between “teach them to fish…” and “they will eat for the rest of their lives.” A fish can be considered a consumable, an end product, a one-time only deal. A fishing pole can be called a tool. Teaching a man to fish is education and training. End product and tool are pretty clear concepts. Education and training are
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You can’t just wing sales

April 13, 2017 | No Comments

As Mark and I have been traveling around Maryland and even parts of the country to talk about BANK as a sales tool, I’ve been realizing that it’s just that… a tool to fit into an existing sales process. Let me say that again. An existing sales process. You can’t just wing sales. You have to have a process through which you take your prospects. Not just so that they feel taken care of and confident in YOU, but so YOU can feel confident in YOU. If you’re just winging it, then you’ll miss something, make a mistake, say the
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May all your workdays be Wednesdays

April 4, 2017 | No Comments

You might think that I am talking about Wednesdays as being hump day, as in, the middle of the week, all downhill from here, smell the finish line, light at the end of the tunnel etc. In this case it actually refers to my time as a mental health intern when I had very full work days. I worked at a counseling center 3 days a week. Mondays were usually 5 to 6 client hours. Tuesday mornings were full of meetings and then another 4 client hours in the afternoon. Wednesday consisted of 8 client hours and 1 supervision hour…
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5 Pillars of Enhanced Employee Engagement

March 24, 2017 | No Comments

For many of us small business owners and entrepreneurs, we started our business from a deep core and purpose. Heck, even companies that are huge today started out small, and probably from some spark of passion. That spark, that purpose, is what I call the Deeper Why. We all have it personally, even if some of us search to clarify exactly what that it is. And companies have it (or they should, in my opinion). While I could maintain that most business owners and CEOs know their Deeper Why, what about all the employees and team members. Do they know
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Why I’m Not Buying From You

February 15, 2017 | No Comments

Mark and I recently had a representative from a local cleaning company come to our house to give us an estimate of how much it would cost to clean our house. I had heard about them from a direct mail piece, and I was impressed with what I read. Based on their literature and the process they shared (I do love a good system and process), I was ready to sign. And I didn’t sign. As a matter of fact, I don’t know what it would take for them to win me as a customer at this point. I’m sure
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Find Your Hourglass

January 20, 2017 | No Comments

There are multitudes of chores, tasks, and “have to do’s” we dread having to do. Most of us would happily throw out the whole delaying gratification thing if there would be no consequences. There are a few people who are lucky enough to actually enjoy certain things that would fall into the mundane and/or out of our comfort zone for most of us. I am sure there is someone in the world who lives for cleaning, but for the rest of us we will most likely not be saying, “I wish I had done more cleaning” on our death beds.
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Top 10 Duties of a CEO (Are you doing these?)

January 9, 2017 | No Comments

Nowadays, it’s easy to start your business, find resources to help you, attend networking events in all shapes and sizes, and use online tools to market and run your business. The drawback is that there are a lot of small business owners out there who are really glorified service providers or hobbyists. And they’re missing out on running and growing a true business. They need to be CEOs, not worker bees. How does that land for you? Do you consider yourself a CEO, or does that word seem too big to describe you? Do you run your business consciously and
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