"You don't know what you've got 'til its gone."

The Lyrics from the Joni Mitchell song Big Yellow Taxi seemed quite apt last night.

My wife got home after a perilous ten mile journey. The roads had completely frozen and she'd had to drive on sheet ice all the way. She'd seen at least one driver lose control of their car and end up in a ditch.

At this time of year thoughts turn from reflection about lasts years achievements (or lack thereof!) to what next? What do we want to have achieved by the end of the coming year.

It's easy to get suckered into making New Years resolutions, but you know what happens ... by the end of January ...

This morning the first thing I read was an inspiring blog post by Christine Kane about how better to start your year.

Over the past month I've been reading a 400 page book about Executive Development. It has contributions from over 40 'gurus' and on the whole it's been a very good read.

Before reading each chapter I've first read the short biography of the chapter's author. Although these are written in the third person, I imagine that the authors wrote their own brag-a-logues.

On reading one biography I couldn't help noticing two, yes two, errors. First there was "leading leading" and then "for a large international organizations".

And, these had this impact on me.

"So, Clive ... what makes someone good at selling?"

This question is often asked by someone when I facilitate my signature "selling your ideas" workshop. The conversation usually goes something like this"

"So, Clive ... what makes someone good at selling?"

"That does."

"What?"

"That!"

"Oh ... asking questions?"

"And that."

"What ... listening?"

"What do you think?"

:: LONG PAUSE ::

"OK, I'm sold!"

So Lynn (my wife) gets her car's tracking checked this week at a big tyre place - you know the one where you can't get quicker than their fitters. The service was a bit slow, which in my experience is pretty normal for tyre places.

Today she had the follow up customer service call. (Seems everyone is doing follow up calls now.) When asked what she thought of the service she tells them, "it was a bit slow and disorganised." The 'phone operator notes this but does nothing to placate her. No £10 off your next tyres, or something smart like that.

When you talk to a client you hope that they'll listen to you and take your advice. And, for them to do that, you need their trust.

How do you use impact impact to gain your client's trust?

It's simple - you take the spotlight off your needs and shine it on theirs.

Try this. Next time you have a conversation with someone you want to influence, ask yourself these three questions:

1. Is what I'm about to say useful and relevant to them?
2. Why is this important to them, right now?

Recently Seth Godin wrote:

"4% less does not get you 4% less.

Doing 4% less may very well get you 95% less.

That's because almost good enough gets you nowhere. No sales, no votes, no customers. The sad lie of mediocrity is the mistaken belief that partial effort yields partial results. In fact, the results are usually totally out of proportion to the incremental effort."

I couldn't agree more. Yet, I still see lots of mediocrity everywhere I turn. It makes you curious ...

"It is funny how judges both in real life and on Strictly Come Dancing lose touch with the views of ordinary people" - John Sergeant

John pulled out of the Strictly Come Dancing Show today - because he might just win it! A shame really because he's been taken into the hearts of so many ordinary people in Britain. I for one had never watched the show until I heard about John's attempts to dance. As someone who has a poor sense of ...... timing, I can truly relate to John's attempts (and hard work).