7 Habits of Winners In Business

Do habits affect our winning in life and business?

Is there a common thread?

Why do some people and businesses always seem to win?

The Habits of Winners In Business
To succeed greatly in business, there are additional habits that you need to develop, as well. One of these habits is the determination to win, to succeed, to outperform your competition and to ultimately be successful. This competitive instinct and determination to win in the face of any obstacle or difficulty is a chief motivating power that drives entrepreneurs and eventually assures successful careers.

The determination to succeed is an absolutely essential habit for you to develop, through practice, by never considering the possibility of failure. Instead, you use speed and flexibility to find solutions to problems, to overcome obstacles and to achieve business goals, no matter what is happening around you.

This decision, or attitude toward winning, motivates and enthuses other people and enables ordinary people to achieve extraordinary results.

And according to BuzzSumo, “The number of pages Google has indexed over 7 years from 2008 to 2014 has increased from 1 trillion to 30 trillion.

This means one thing: more competition.

You have to be at the top of your game.

As businesses create more and more content, it results in more “noise,” which inevitably makes it harder to bring attention to your business and content.

1. BE OPEN TO NEW INFORMATION

Develop the habit of questioning your assumptions on a regular basis, especially when you experience resistance or temporary failure. Many people leap to conclusions and assume things about their customers, their competitors and their markets that have no basis in fact at all.

Always be prepared to ask yourself…

What do I base this assumption on?
What are my facts?
What evidence do I have?
What is my proof?
And most important, be prepared to ask, “What if my assumptions about this customer, product, service, market or competitor were not true at all?
What changes would I have to make?”

The most dangerous assumption that an entrepreneur or businessperson can make is that there exists a large enough and profitable enough market for a particular product or service. Very often this is not the case at all.

The primary reason for the dotcom implosion was because there was no real market for the products and services that the dotcom companies were offering. They fell into a false form of thinking called “argument by assertion.” People often get caught up in an argument because it is asserted loudly and vigorously, even though it may have no substance at all.

Assertion is not proof.

Only facts are facts. It is essential that you develop the habit of sorting out facts from fantasy, and making your decisions based on demonstrable, provable truths with regard to customers, markets, products and services.

2. THINK BEFORE ACTING

In a fast changing business world, an important habit that you can develop is the habit of thinking before acting. Often, when we are pressured from all sides with decisions that have to be made, we leap to conclusions and make decisions without carefully considering all the possible ramifications of those decisions.

Instead, develop the habit of buying time between the pressure to make a decision, and the actual decision itself. There is a rule that says, “If the decision does not have to be made now, it has to not be made now.”
Your mind is incredibly powerful, and never more so than when you give it time to reflect upon a decision before you make the decision in the first place. Make it a habit of asking for a day, or a weekend, or even a week or a month, before you make a final decision. Put it off as long as possible.

The very act of allowing the various pieces of information to settle in your brain will enable you to make a much better decision later on than you might have made if you decided too
quickly.

It is amazing how many people say, “If I had just thought about that for a little while, I would have made a completely different decision.” This is almost always the case. Make it a habit to delay and defer decisions as long as you possibly can.

They will invariably be better decisions when you finally come around to making them.

3. EXCELLENCE IS THE ANSWER

Another key result area is the habit of thinking in terms of quality all the time. Customers only buy a product or service because they feel that it is of higher quality in some way than that of competitive offerings.

How do your customers define quality?
What qualities or attributes of what you sell cause them to buy from you in the first place?
What quality elements do they see in your competitors?
How could you offset these elements to get them to buy from you?

4. REORGANIZE YOUR BUSINESS CONTINUALLY

The other habit you can develop is to build your business is the habit of organizational development. This habit requires that you continually look for ways to organize and reorganize your business so that it functions more efficiently and effectively in getting the results you desire.

You continually move people around to assure that the job gets done better, faster and with less friction or interruption.
Some years ago, if a company announced that it was going through a “major reorganization,” it would be a sign that there were serious problems in that company. Today however, with the rate of rapid change in the business world around you, you and your company should be in a state of continuous
reorganization.

Every day, week and month, you should be thinking about how you can deploy and redeploy people and resources to assure the highest level of productivity, performance and output.
Within the context of organizational development, you should develop the habit of not only learning and growing continuously yourself, but also thinking in terms of training and learning experiences for the key members of your staff.

Sometimes, one additional skill is all that a person needs to dramatically improve his or her productivity and contribution to the organization.

5. BASE YOUR CONTENT ON INDUSTRY TRENDS

Get in the habit of following industry trends and then choose topics for your articles based on what’s trending at the moment in your industry.

Although this may not have the longevity of evergreen content and get you shares for years to come, it is a viable social media strategy for quickly amplifying your immediate reach.

Here’s the logic behind this technique:

you know for a fact your audience has an existing interest in a particular topic
you can prove it by analyzing metrics such as shares and engagements
you’re likely to get plenty of shares and links by creating high quality content based on that topic.

But how do you know what’s hot at the moment?

Well, there are several ways to tell:

You could simply pay attention to social outlets such as Facebook, Twitter, and even Reddit
You could stay on top of industry publications to see what’s being talked about
You could check Google Trends
Or you could streamline your efforts by using a great tool like, BuzzSumo.

6. BUILD MEANINGFUL RELATIONSHIPS

Successful marketers know that relationships are the fuel behind business success. To keep the pipeline full, you must build meaningful relationships with both consumers and other business owners.

A recent Gallup study found that most business owners inherently understand that “running a successful company is a collective effort that requires interaction with a range of people: suppliers and potential investors, employees and customers, peers, competitors, public officials, and members of the media.”

How You Can Establish This Habit

Most business professionals have built a gold mine of relationships over the years, but haven’t mastered how to turn them into mutually beneficial connections. Your goal is to compile a list of relationships that will allow you to consistently connect with people vital to your success.

Here’s how to create that list:

Define your perfect client and referral partner. What qualities make them ideal?
Make a list of your top 100 contacts based on the qualities you’ve defined above. This list should include prospects and potential referral sources.
Schedule one hour each week to connect with everyone on your list. This contact could be through social networks, social media groups or a handwritten note.
Be a giver as you interact with your top 100. Offer your time, resources, knowledge, encouragement or support.
Repeat each step weekly.

7. NEVER BE SATISFIED

The fifth habit you can develop is the habit of continuous innovation. As we discussed earlier in this chapter, you should encourage everyone to be thinking creatively all the time. Apple is a great example of innovation. Hard to believe the iPhone came out only 10 short years ago, and look at the innovation that has taken place.

One way to encourage creativity is to ask each person to bring an idea to each weekly staff meeting. Start off the meeting by going around the table and having everyone contribute their ideas. Lead the general discussion about these ideas.

When someone comes up with a great idea, lead the group in applause for the idea. Thank and congratulate the person. Encourage them to keep thinking in this way throughout the week.

The most important area for you to apply the habit of continuous innovation is to your products and services. Remember, fully 80% of products and services being sold today will be obsolete within five years. You must be developing and producing product and service innovations as a regular part of your business activities. If you don’t, your competitors will. One major innovation by a determined competitor can put you out of business.

Be a leader, not a follower.

About Blair

Blair Evan Ball is a Social Media Coach and founder of Prepare1, a company that works with businesses, individuals and non-profits. He is a former executive with a Fortune 50 company, and his national division did $1Billion+ in sales annually.

Blair has written three e-books: Facebook for Business Made Easy, Facebook Pages for Business Made Easy, and WordPress Blog Setup Made Easy.

Blair also educates, trains entrepreneurs and business professionals how to amplify their brand, increase revenues, and raise more funds.

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