1. Apps – There are so many apps out there to help me run my business. Android does have a lot of the same apps but they don’t seem to have the same polish as the iPhone equivalent.
2. Music – The built in music player is much better on the iPhone than any other device I have used.
3. Continuity – I have a macbook pro and iPad, so this was the logical choice. I like not having to use or download apps for multiple platforms!
4. Visual Voicemail - I hate voicemail as it is, but visual voicemail just makes the process just so much easier. No more logging in, putting in a password and using the carriers built in options. Just press and play!

My son is currently eight months old, he is growing very quickly and he is very healthy little man. But I was sitting here tonight and I thought “Boy, I sure have learned a lot from him!” So, I decided to write down the four business qualities and lessons that he has reinforced in me over the past few months. They are very important lessons and his impression of these qualities are priceless to me.

Sharing them with you is very important to me. And yes that is a picture of my son up top, his name is Caden Andrew Nowak! I hope you enjoy; creating this article meant a lot to me!

1. Forget the bad things!
Have you ever noticed when babies hurt themselves, or get disciplined they are sad for a very short while? But not 2 minutes later they are happy and playing again. They have an uncanny knack for forgetting the bad thing that just happened and moving on to good things.

Us grownups seem to take failure very hard, dwelling on it for days and sometimes longer. Why don’t we just take it as a lesson learned, use the experience as a positive and move on or try and do it better next time?

2. Determination
My son is very determined when he wants something, he will spend hours sometime devising a plan to get where he wants (usually where he shouldn’t!) with a single focus. It rarely matters how long it takes or what’s in his way he will keep going.

Why do we quit when the going gets tough, or stop trying when it gets hard? Hardly anything is worth working for if it isn’t hard to achieve! So when the going gets tough, just think of what a baby would do, and get going!

3. Creativity
There is no imposed limits to babies, they haven’t had societies limits imposed on them yet. They believe and think anything is possible. They live day in and day out creating things and imagining the impossible. Look at home many things people have said were impossible, flight for example.

Maybe a little more creativity could help you in your professional life, I know it could help me in mine. Take those limits off your brain and set it loose for awhile, I think you will be amazed at what you come up with!

4. Loyalty
Babies are loyal to their parents while they are young, they completely believe in their parents as their sole provider and teacher. They look at their parents as hero’s and wouldn’t give them up for anything. They stick by their parents.

Being loyal to your customers, business associates, partners and family is a quality that seems to be disappearing today. Yet I believe it is one of the best traits you can have. I would not work with anyone that wasn’t loyal.

I learned some great ways to ask questions to get a better feel for how the person would react and behave in most of the situations in the store. They call it “behavioral interviewing” by eliciting a response from the interviewee about how they would behave in a specific situation rather that a general sweeping answer that is normally used. This puts a little more pressure on the person to give an honest and telling answer about their personality.

On the whole it was a really informative session that I learned a lot of techniques to use in the future. I am more excited that I have senior managers that really take my development to heart, especially with a guy that has been in the industry for a very long time and considers himself somewhat of an expert in his field. There is always room to learn and grow, even if you feel you are an expert!

With all that said, what is the most interesting question you have been asked in an interview?

Provide Excellent Service

Go out of your way to provide the most excellent customer experience you can possibly, this starts with your preparation before you meet with your potential client. Know all about what you are offering, be neat in appearance and well spoken. When the customer decides to buy from you make sure the transaction goes off without a hitch, no one wants to deal with any problems once they have bought, it leaves a bad taste in their mouth about future purchases.

Follow-up

Once the product has been delivered wait a few days and then give the customer a call. This will help you establish more rapport and also if the client has any questions or problems you can help them with it right away, before the client gets angry and calls you. You want to be the first to act in that scenario as it will show the client you really care and build a trust bond between you.

Answer your Phone/Email

Respond as fast as you can to your clients when you are in sales. Most people want instant gratification and if you don’t get back to them in a timely manner they will go buy from someone else, no matter how good your service was. In sales the client is your bread and butter and the last thing you want to do is throw money away because you ignored that call after 5pm.

I am not saying you have to take the phone all the time, but set it up so your client understands why you can’t get back to them. Let them know you are away via your voice mail greeting or vacation responder and get back to them ASAP.

Ask for Referrals

Ask you happy clients for referrals right after a successful transaction. Happy clients will have no problem passing along your name to friends, family and business associates. They may even introduce you to prospective buyer. These leads are hot and usually easy to close. And it is sure nice not to have to “hunt for your meal” all the time. Work smarter not harder!

Building a client base is a great way to make a lot of money and have a successful sales career. I have had a lot of success using the tips above, and helped a lot of people over my sales career. I hope they help you!

What a great day in Canadian sports. What a thrill for those Canadian players! My hats off to team USA as they gave us all we can handle.

Here is a photo I took earlier to cap off the day!

So I am dumping you for a Blackberry Bold 9700, not quite as media savvy but much better for business and I love getting my email as it comes.

Looks like an iPad might fill that iPhone void. Thanks for the great times iPhone!

If you are interested check out Matt Tse at Epic, he is building a great community at Epictech that I would suggest all students check out!

I would also suggest Kory Arsenault at eSchedule for all your web based scheduling needs! He was also the organizer of this great event so kudos on that!

Looking forward to next month!

It has been an exciting past few months, I moved to Calgary with my family on the spur of the moment idea that we wanted a change. I got a great new job that I enjoy working at everyday. I am now working with Chosen Development getting their sales division screaming along, I hope!

Well it is nice to have my own place on the web and I hope you learn something about me while you check this site!