Volkmar Völzke's BLOG

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🤸 We All Love To Change, Don’t We?

There are a million reasons why companies (and people) need to change. If you boil them all down, you end up with just two basic root causes for any change in life and in business: 

  • We HAVE to change.
  • We WANT to change.

Yes, it’s that simple! Now guess which root cause the most successful people and businesses apply most of the time. You got it: they WANT to change. Why? Because they have the desire to become better, to explore new horizons, to improve situations. 

On the other hand, most problems that businesses and people face stem from the fact that they only change when they HAVE to. The problem is that change often comes too late and at a high cost. However, there is another downside which is even more important: we get addicted to accepting the status quo until something or somebody else pushes us somewhere else. Many people live their entire life in this reactive mode. The same happens with businesses – before they drown. 

Here comes the good...

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👌 I Guess You Don’t Want To Be Excellent

Would you agree that excellence is a substantial competitive advantage for any business if the competitors are less excellent and excellence matters for customers? Sure, the answer is yes. 

Why is it, then, that so many businesses are so far away from true excellence I wonder if their leaders truly have excellence as a goal?

Technically, it is not too difficult: Just do everything in an excellent manner. And here is the issue: the word “everything” is the challenge. 

Almost all businesses are excellent at one or two things. Often, it’s the product and perhaps the customer service (even if the latter is questionable for most companies). However, as mentioned: EVERYTHING counts in excellence. 

So, what can you do to develop your organization closer to excellence and by that gain a substantial competitive advantage? The key is systematic training in all areas of your business.

Here are three steps to do it the right way: 

  1. Clarity. Clarify to...
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😱 How To Scare Away Good Customers

I constantly find it amazing how many companies truly do their best to turn away their customers or avoid finding new ones.

Yes, I know that this sounds a bit cynical, but it is confirmed in real life almost each day. Let me share three examples in which you might even find practices of your own company, at least to a certain extent. I’ll then give you some ideas about how to change these practices for the better. 

The owner of a restaurant in Zurich / Switzerland was staring at my wallet when I pulled out my credit card to pay and mentioned: “I see you have cash. Why don’t you pay with this? You know, I have to pay a fee for credit card transactions!” When I confirmed that I still want to pay by credit card he stated that we have to wait a while for the machine to pay. And yes, he let us wait another five minutes to do so. I will certainly never go there again nor will I leave a nice review on Trip Advisor. By the way, the food was not bad and the...

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🏆 What Is Your Victory Today?

What are two of the most essential sources for inspiration, a fulfilled life, and high productivity – and ultimately for a sustainably successful business?

The answer: variety and victory. Just take a look at children (which is always a good option because they are not yet biased by all our subjective belief systems):

They constantly try to create something and then celebrate their victory. Let it be the sand castle at the beach, the fortress, the model railway, or whatever: the sequence constantly goes like this: create, succeed, and celebrate victory! 

The same applies with you as a grown-up: What were your best feelings in life? Exactly, when you created something that worked and you got credit for it. In other words, you celebrated victory!  

Here comes the key question for your role as a business professional: Why do so many businesses celebrate so few victories?

If we just accepted the fact that personal victories are a key source of higher inspiration and...

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📈 Are You Growing Or Dying?

You probably know the saying that there is no standing still in life. You are either growing or you are falling behind. Look at nature: what’s not growing is dying. 

What I find more surprising is the fact that many organizations are like a protected area for those who are satisfied with the status quo.

Many people in those organizations have lost all hunger for growth. They are living their lives like a being that is moved here or there without a real drive to stand up and say: “It is me who gives direction!” 

I’m not making the case here for starting a revolution in your organization (even if this would sometimes be needed). What I’m saying is that you only live up to 10 percent of your capabilities as a human being if you stop growing. 

And to provoke it even more: It is amazingly selfish not to grow personally at the highest rate possible. Because you are gifted to help other people living better lives, to make a positive contribution...

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👁 The Sparkling-Eye Indicator For Team Success

Some time ago, I was at a business award ceremony, at which the best family businesses were rewarded based on several strict criteria. What I found more interesting than the award ceremony itself (lots of semi-interesting speeches), was the conversations before and after the official program. 

Here is why: A pattern emerges at successful businesses compared to the average, and this pattern is not around great products and processes (both are a must-have to compete at all). They are also not around the best talent or the greatest locations.

No, the most significant difference is (drumroll …) the sparkling in the eyes of the owners, the CEO and every other member of the organization. 

This sparkling in the eyes is not something of a “soft factor” or some “nice-to-have” trait when everything else is great. No, exactly the opposite: This sparkling is the root cause of all greatness in any business. It reflects pride, care, passion,...

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🙌 Yes, Yes, Yes!

Some weeks ago, I was writing about the areas in which you need to say “no” to yourself in order to achieve higher success levels (“No, no, no”, click here). This week, I want to turn the viewpoint around and look at a few things that you probably do not say “yes” to often enough. 

The point is this: most people live a life and run businesses and teams below their possibilities. And one key reason is that they hold themselves back when it comes to stating a clear “Yes”. 

The counterintuitive root cause is often our fear of success. Yes: Fear of success! Subconsciously, we are quite often afraid of the consequences should we actually succeed. We fear the new lifestyle out of our comfort zone, the exposure to the public, maybe the flood of customers, and even the new kinds of people we will meet after our great success. 

The consequences of this fear-based hesitation for your team and often the entire organization are...

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⛱ How often do you write a new swimming pool?

What would make your business or your team dramatically more successful? Not just a bit, but substantially! Do you have the answer? Here it is: By becoming THE go-to address in your market for both your potential customers and your potential staff members. 

THIS is key. Anything else is cosmetic. Why? Because all businesses that magically attract customers and employees can choose with whom they want to do business. They can decide the prices and the scope of their delivery. 

Paul McCartney once famously said that if he wants a new swimming pool for his house he just needs to write a new song. This is because he knew that each song the Beatles published would become a hit and easily pay for a new swimming pool (and lots of other things too). 

Consequently, one of my standard pieces of advice to my clients in terms of dramatically growing their business is to shift the focus from praising their product, their service, or their company, towards creating a celebrity...

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👎 No, No, No!

Yes, say more “no”! And I don’t mean to other people, but to yourself. You have probably heard it often that we need to say “no” more to accomplish more in life. However, most of this advice is directed towards the outside world, to influences from others. 

The thing is this: the more we focus on blocking things from outside, the less we focus on discipline for our own mind.

Often, we take the outside influence as an excuse for not behaving better on the inside. 

The inconvenient truth is this: most success comes from disciplining ourselves in the first place, and only then should we look at the outside world. 

So, here are my top 3 suggestions, to what you should say “no” to yourself.

Share this with your team and act accordingly. You will see your performance increase instantly. 

  1. Say “no” to accepting low standards. We all have times when we "let things go”, when we sort of take it easy. My point is...
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⏰ Reminder: Your Daily Routines

Over half of the year has passed, so I think it’s time for a little reminder about your daily routines. What is your daily performance level? Are you satisfied with your daily results or do you see room for improvement?

Here are three proven tips on how you can grow your performance each day: 

  1. Start fast. The first minutes of your day set the tone for the rest of your day. If you take it easy during the first 30-60 minutes, you signal to your subconscious mind that you can relax the entire day. If you do this repeatedly, you will have a hard time ever achieving high-performance throughout the day. That’s exactly what you see with many people.
  2. Eliminate decisions. Each decision we make requires energy and willpower. The most accomplished people eliminate decision needs wherever possible, e.g. on breakfast choices, what to wear, etc. By this, they have more energy for the truly important things.
  3. Schedule power blocks. Work for 60-90 minutes on one task with no...
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