YOU INC.

How To Attract Amazing Success Into Your Life And Business

By John McGrath; LeadsPress, 2006

It's an exciting time for

business people. There
have never been so many
opportunities in the world
of business as there are
today. We can all achieve
more than ever before and
in a much shorter
timeframe than we
previously could have
imagined.

on how to turn your current

business into a worldclass success.
read the summary

Yo u I n c . b y J o h n
McGrath shows you how
you can take advantage of
these opportunities by
creating the business of
your dreams. This book
offers major strategies and
practical, easy-to-do tips

About the Author/s:

John McGrath is one of the
most influential figures in
the Australian property
industry. He is the Chief
Executive of McGrath Estate
Agents, Australia's largest
property services group,
selling over $2 billion in
residential property in
Sydney in 2005. The
company became the first
real estate company to be
ranked on BRW's Australia's
Fastest-Growing Private
Companies List and is a 3time recipient of BRW's Fast
100.

for author info

Inside This Book Summary:

The Big Idea
Building A Foundation For Success
You + Business
You + Leadership
You + Sales

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BusinessSummaries.com

I. Building A Foundation For Success

To succeed in life and business, you need a
solid foundation for success. This means
cultivating a positive attitude, letting go of self
doubt, taking care of your health, setting your
goals, finding your passion, and doing the hard,
persistent work to change and get ahead.
Anyone Can Succeed
The biggest obstacle to achieving success is
your own negative self-belief. So the first
foundation of success is to believe that you can,
and deserve, to succeed. Dare to dream and
take risks. If you don't, you may never
experience positive change in your life. Think
positive thoughts at every moment.
Define Success For Yourself
Define what success means for you. You can't
get there if you don't know where you are going.
Look at the various areas of your life family,
relationships, career, business, health,
personal development and finances and think
about what you expect for yourself in these
areas.
Set goals short-term, medium-term, and longterm goals. Review them regularly, even daily,
because this is the best way to stay focused
and motivated.
Change Yourself
If you find yourself underperforming in any or all

About the Book:

Author: John McGrath

Publisher: LeadsPress
Date of Publication: 2006
ISBN: 91-8056-650-1
Number of Pages: 252 pages

You, Inc. by John McGrath

of these areas, you need to realize that you can

change, and quickly. Rapid change is possible.
You can turn yourself around a lot quicker than
you think. All it takes is an attitude change. Let
go of all the negative self belief and doubt that
tell you you can't do it. Ask yourself what it is
that holds you back and let go of it.
Focus on how other people have turned their
lives around and become successes. If you're
just starting a business, for example, don't think
about the fact that 90% of businesses fail in the
first five years; read about the 10% that
succeed.
Analyze yourself honestly
Are your current skills, habits and actions what
you need to achieve your goals? Do you need
to adjust or refine your methods, time
management or workspace? Do you have the
right team? Is there anything you need to leave
behind?
Find out what you need to change within
yourself to make yourself fit for success and do
it. This includes managing your health. You
need to manage your food intake, exercise
regularly, get the right amount of sleep, manage
your stress, and maintain balance in your life.
Nine Strategies To Move Ahead Fast
1. Be totally clear about what you want
2. Know that anything is possible
3. Surround yourself with great people
and BIG thinkers
4. Always do what you promise to do
5. Set high standards for yourself and
others and don't accept anything else
6. Focus on what matters and what you
can control
7. Put in place systems that deliver every
time
8. Take action now momentum leads to
greatness
9. Keep doing whatever it takes until you
achieve your outcome this entails passion,
energy and persistence

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II. You + Business

One good way to achieve success is to study
successful people and businesses, and then
adapt their strategies to suit your life and
business.
The Five Worst Business Mistakes And
How To Avoid Them
1. Lack of clarity or not knowing where
you're headed
2. Fighting fires rather than building
firebreaks - or getting mired in the details
instead of putting systems that do the work
so you can concentrate on the big picture
3. No plan
4. No accountability
5. Poor time management
How do you avoid these mistakes? Be clear
about what you want to achieve for your
business, design a business plan, ensure
accountability, and manage your time well. The
key to a good business plan is brevity, so make
sure your business plan is short and to the
point, can be easily understood by the rest of
your team, something that can fit into a
powerpoint slide and can be easily learned by
heart. Put in place mechanisms that would hold
people accountable.
Learn to prioritize and do the most important
tasks first-- these are keys to good time
management. Set up a time management
system. Giorgio Armani does only eight things
a day. If one doesn't get done in an hour, he
moves it to the next day. He only works on eight
projects at a time. Designer Phillipe Starck's
office only takes calls from 1PM onwards. The
answering machine takes calls before then,
with the message, The morning is for thinking,
the after is for doing. We're thinking at the
moment, please leave a message.
The Essential Mechanics Of Any WorldClass Business
Here are a few tips to get you started on

You, Inc. by John McGrath

building your business, putting systems in place,

and starting operations.
A. Invest in advance of growth
This means setting your goals or imagining where
you want your business to be, and then
backtracking through all of the steps you would
have to take to get there. So if you want to
increase your profit by 500%, you need to ask
yourself: How would my business look if it were
doing five times the revenue and profit? And then
ask: What would the systems need to be? What
technology needs to be put in place? What would
the people look like? What would the energy of the
office be?
This means getting organized: hold key meetings
to discuss your goals, create plans, projects, and
to-do lists, gather and collate information, and
create the systems.
It's a good idea to craft a one-page business plan
for each part of your business to make sure your
plan and goal are clear and easy to read.
B. Top Ten Time Management Strategies
1. Live your life in day-tight compartments.
this means only focus on what you have to do
today. Never look beyond today, so you don't
feel overwhelmed by what you have to do for
the whole week, month or year.
2. Develop a morning ritual. To get
momentum early, do something positive in the
first hour or two after you wake up, whether it
be exercise, having breakfast, holding a
morning meeting, etc.
3. Have an Ideal Week in place. Plan an
ideal week so you can set time for your core
activities and fit all other activities around
them.
4. Super Seven outcomes each day, week
and month. Create a list of top seven
outcomes you want to achieve this month,
week and day. Not just operational stuff, but
significant strategies as well.
5. Chunk your tasks into 30-60 minutes
bites. Break down major tasks into
manageable 30-60 minute bites. People often

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put off major tasks by saying, I need six

hours to do this. But never get six hours free
so the thing doesn't get down.
6. Master the one-minute telephone call.
Most businesspeople spend the majority of
their time on the phone so you need to
become an expert at getting off the phone
quickly.
7. Determine and eliminate the five most
common distractions. If a coworker drops in
on you 10 times a day, you need to tell
him/her that it might be better to meet after
work.
8. Say NO to things that are not important.
This is hard, but you need to do it to be able
to say YES to the things that are important to
you and your business.
9. Be specific about outcomes and issues.
Develop some dialogue that will help you
and your team get specific about making
decisions and setting goals.
10. Never leave the scene of a decision
without taking action. People get paralyzed
by the fear of making the wrong decision.
Recognize that some of your decisions will
be wrong, but it's more dangerous not to
decide at all.
C. Create The Right Structures and Systems
This means putting the right people in the right
places, and creating good systems and
mechanisms for them to work. When you've got
the right structures and systems in place, you
can move from working in the business to
working on the business. You have a team of
people reporting to you about what's happening
in their areas, so you are free to focus on the big
picture.
In any business, there are three key roles sales,
marketing, and operations. Make sure you have
bulletproof systems for all three. Even if you
have a small business, and you're in charge of
much of the work, create an organizational chart
and fill in a name for every position. Then ask
yourself: If I were to build my team in the near
future, what would be the key position they could

You, Inc. by John McGrath

that would free me up? Then maybe you could

recruit someone in operations so you can work
more in sales.
Check up your KPIs or Key Performance
Indicators regularly. These are the measures that
help you keep track to see how your business is
going. These can include sales listings and
leases signed (for real estate), market share, and
how much cash you have in the bank. You can
track your KPIs weekly, monthly or some other
way.

About the Author/s:

John McGrath is one of the
most influential figures in the
Australian property industry. He
is the Chief Executive of McGrath
Estate Agents, Australia's
largest property services group,
selling over $2 billion in
residential property in Sydney in
2005. The company became the
first real estate company to be
ranked on BRW's Australia's Fastest-Growing
Private Companies List and is a 3-time recipient of
BRW's Fast 100.
In September 2002, John won the Ernst & Young
Entrepreneur of the Year Award for the Services
category in the country's eastern region. In April
2003, he was awarded a Centenary Medal for
service to business.
He is also the author of You Don't Have To Be Born
Brilliant, You Can, The Most Valuable Lessons I
have Learned, You. Inc, and The Ultimate Guide to
Real Estate.
John will discuss how to give your business the
competitive advantage it needs to get ahead, and
how to find new opportunities to keep you there.
He will also share his insights on why the
foundation of a successful business lies in the
business model and why it's vital to get your
business model right from the very start.
To know more about the author,
http://www.arec07.com.au/s_john.html

go

to:

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Create effective systems for internal

communication. One of the most effective ways
is via email it's fast, seamless, and direct.
Other means are Zap emails to give positive
feedback to team members, group voicemail
that you can send to the whole team every
month to give updates on what's happening to
the company. An inhouse caf is also a great
way to share information and build
relationships within the company. Quick
meetings are also good short ones are best
because they help disseminate information
and get quick answers to questions. Make sure
meetings are short, have an agenda ready, and
only invite people who need to be there. Start
and finish on time.
Ten Strategies To Turbocharge Your
Business
If you want an instant boost for your business,
here's what you can do.
1. See more qualified customers face
to face. Those are people who are in the
position to do business with you right now,
or people who are ready to buy. Ask a
series of questions when you're on the
phone with a potential customer and then
decide on the basis of his/her answers if
they're ready to decide. If you can see five
customers a day, it's going to have a
tremendous impact on business.
2. Send information in advance of
meetings. You can drastically improve
your sales if before meeting a customer
you send him/her something meaningful,
like an information package on your
products/services.
3. Expand your Rolodex. The people
you get to know, the way you treat them,
and the quality of your relationships with
customers, employees and suppliers, are
all critical in building a business. These
days, mobile numbers and email can be
more permanent than home or office
addresses so make sure you have these.

You, Inc. by John McGrath

4. Utilize technology. Technology allows

you to do an increasingly greater volume of
business, so take advantage of any that will
move your business forward.
5. Take more shots. The more openings
you take advantage of, the more chances you
get of finding something valuable. So take
more risks.
6. Get aligned. This means finding a
common cause that everyone in the team
could commit to. This can happen by crafting
a company vision and mission. It also gives
everyone a sense of pride at creating
something great.
7. The Positive Feedback Loop. This is
the loop you create when you do a great job
with a customer, who spreads the word to
some other people, who then come to you. If
they're satisfied, they in turn spread the word
to more people, which means more sales for
you. This in turn attracts good salespeople to
work in your company, and so on.
8. Don't let perfect get in the way of
better. This means you can't always have
everything perfect, but this should stop you
from making small changes to make things
better right now.
9. The inspired profit mechanic. This
means keeping your eye on the goal of
making profits. While making your business
grow, getting more customers, improving your
brand, etc, always remember that the end
goal is to make profit.
10. The importance of continually reinventing your business. To be successful
in business requires constant review and
reinvention. Ask yourself: What should you
stop doing poor recruiting, poor service
delivery, etc? What do you need to upgrade,
change, improve, etc? Also remember:
incremental improvement is important, but it's
thinking outside the box that can lead to
quantum leaps in business.

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III. You + Leadership

Your balance sheet at the end of the year
depends on the quality and performance of
management and leadership in the business. If
you're not happy with your team, take
responsibility for the situation. Ask yourself
what you can do to improve it.
Set An Example
As a leader, you need to take the lead in
defining the company mission and values. This
is usually the statement of what you want your
company to be, achieve, and do. You also have
to set an example for the company's values,
which can include integrity, honesty, openness,
passion, innovation or efficiency.
You are also in charge of making sure there is
clarity about roles and responsibilities in the
team. At the same time, you need to get the staff
thinking beyond their daily work tasks to How
else can I add value to the company?
Avoid Us Versus Them
Watch out that arrogance, materialism or
inequality does not infiltrate the
management/leadership level, as this will
create discord in the company, or an us versus
them mentality between employees and
management. Ensure transparency, fairness
and open communication. Minimize office
politics.
Create A World-Class Corporate Culture
This is the energy that a company puts out
there. And as a leader, you are responsible for
creating the buzz that can catalyze and
cultivate a great corporate culture. For this, you
need to have a high level of energy yourself.
Always try to be in the best frame of mind, greet
everyone, from the receptionist to senior
managers the same positive way. Make an
effort to get to know everyone, even if you have
a big business.

You, Inc. by John McGrath

If you want to improve your corporate culture, a

few small tweaks can get you started. This
includes giving recognition and rewards for a job
well done, and doing mentoring (set up a buddy
system of old and new staff, for example).
Finally, it's all about creating trust. Be a leader
your people can trust, and trust your people to do
the right thing.
Recruit A World-Class Team
They always say that good people are hard to
find, but the truth is, you get as many good
people as you deserve.
First of all, you need to make the best quality
recruitments. Look for these things in any
potential employee:
Passion-these are people with
excitement, enthusiasm and energy
Determination-- these are people who
can face challenges
Flexibility-- these are people with an
ability to adapt to change
Ambition-- these are people who want to
get ahead, but don't mistake it for arrogance
or one-upmanship.
Balance-- these are people who are
prepared to work hard, but also have a life
outside of work
Integrity these are people who uphold
honesty and truthfulness
Clarity-- these are people who know
where they are going, what they want and
what they expect
Responsibility-- these are people who
are able to manage themselves and their
work, and won't blame others for their
mistakes.
Personality these are people with a
pleasing disposition
Leading and Keeping A World-Class Team
The success or failure of a business usually
comes down to the behavior of an individual or
small group, because the culture of a business
arises from the habits of leadership.

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So if you want your business to grow, you've got to

grow. This means doing the following:
Get to know your people. Walk around,
talk to employees, listen to what they have to
say. Make sure everyone has an opportunity
to talk to you face to face.
Manage your talent. If you're a business
owner or manager, 90% of your job is talent
management, because 90% of your
problems and successes will come from
people. This means assembling the best
team possible and keeping them on board.
Focus on three key groups: your
people/staff, your customers, and your
shareholders. Make sure all of these groups
are engaged, excited about what they are
doing (and about your company), and
understand their value to the company.
You can assemble a great team, but to
keep it, you need to ensure that they feel
fulfilled in the work they do. This means
ensuring that your people continue to grow,
improve their skills and live up to their
potential. Create a learning environment: set
up a self-development library where the staff
can borrow books or audio tapes, encourage
the sharing of new ideas, offer trainings and
regular information forums,
Come up with self-assessment tools and
ask the team to go through them. Selfassessment and other evaluation tools help
you and your employees identify your
strengths and areas for improvement, and
find ways for effectively improving them.
Be consistent in how you treat your
people. Be careful not to favor others too
much, even though they may be generating
more revenue or doing more work. It's
important to recognize good work, but you
must put in place a consistent rewards and
recognition system for this.
Give praise at random and publicly, but
criticize in private. The best way to deliver
criticism effectively is to sandwich it between
praises. Start with a positive statement about
something they've done or are doing well.

You, Inc. by John McGrath

Then ask questions around the issue; give

the person a chance to bring the problem
up himself/herself. Often, people turn out
to be great self-critics. Offer your support
or suggestion on how they can improve.
Finish up with some positive feedback.

IV. You + Sales

If you're in sales, you need to have a solid
foundation for sales success. First of all, this
means getting the right salespeople to work
with and for you.
Getting Great Salespeople
Good salespeople have energy and passion,
because selling is really all about transferring
your beliefs, passion and energy for your
product/service to your customer.
Good salespeople know self-management.
Because big-ticket item sales environments
are not highly-supervised, your salespeople
should know how to create their own systems
for good time and self management.
Good salespeople today are no longer into
hard-sell, because most customers don't buy it
anymore. A salesperson with a consultative
approach, one who treats customers as
equals, one who listens and can customize a
solution to their problems, can be more
successful.
Since most sales aren't made on the first or
second call, you need salespeople with
determination and follow-through. You also
need salespeople who know how to handle
rejection.
Finally, great salespeople are those who have
a desire to do better, and always keep their
focus on the customer. They are people with
positive self-belief, and are willing to work
hard.

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Recognize The Importance Of Prospecting

Good prospectors know that the phone is their
friend. Depending on your business, you
should do one to two hours of phoning
prospects every day. Create a prospecting
list. Draft and rehearse a prospecting script.
Make prospecting appointments. This will
make you stop putting off prospecting and
actually doing it.
Don't be put off by the thought of being
rejected. You need to remind yourself that the
no's you get along the way are part of the road
to yes and your ultimate success.
Review Your Strategy
Always ask yourself: what worked today?
What's not right yet? Do a quick review with
every sales appointment. Think about the
objections the customers made that you didn't
have an appropriate response for. What could
you have done differently. If you can, ask the
customer if you didn't get the sale, what was it
that made them decline your offer.
Six Major Sales Mistakes
You also need to avoid the following:
1. Not following through on promises
made
2. Not keeping in touch
3. Not handling and resolving conflict
4. N o t s e t t i n g a n d m a n a g i n g
expectations
5. crisis management versus time
management
6. blaming and excuses

until they find the time to see you. Those last

three feet you walk from the time they see you
and you get to share their hand are crucial.
You need to make sure you give the best
impression. Don't look messy and
disorganized. Don't be tired. Don't smell of
alcohol or garlic. And don't blow it. You've got to
make immediate impact, create immediate
rapport, and get straight to the issue.
Of course, it doesn't stop there. You need to be
prepared with your presentation, you have to
look confident in your product/service, and you
have to be likeable and genuinely interested in
the customer. Remember, people always do
business with the people they like. And always
follow up and follow through.
Overcoming Customers' Fears and
Objections
Customers often need emotional and
intellectual support when making decisions.
You need to help them get over the fear of
making the wrong decision, as well as their
doubts about your product/service.
One great way you can provide this support and
overcome objections and fears of customers is
giving list of all your previous clients with phone
numbers to potential customers and tell them
they can call anyone if they have questions or
doubts about you or your product/service.

The Last Three Feet: Making A Great First

Impression
Usually, you make an appointment to see a
prospective customer, wait in line to see them,

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You, Inc. by John McGrath

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