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THE HERO I N S I DE R
www. yol of sky l aw. com (305) 702-8250 SEPTEMBER 2018
FROM THE
Yolofsky Office
Here comes the fall. Leaves change colors, (we pretend that happens in South Florida), college football starts, and suddenly 2018 seems shorter. The summer was an exciting time, between reorganizing a client’s business and attending WealthCounsel’s 2018 Symposium. While there, I learned from some of the best in the business. The fall though is famous for bringing families’ focus back to education. Kids are still getting used to the new workload, whether in middle school or kindergarten. I can remember the academic rude awakening that was freshman year at the University of Illinois. For us, education is a continuous, lifelong process. We instituted a professional reading program at the firm last year. Coming soon, we’re launching a new community education initiative. We are creating a “Good Books” page on our website where you can participate in or start developing your own reading program. Also, 100 percent of the proceeds from any books purchased through our program will be donated to a local charity!
HOMEWORKHELP 5 Ways to Support Great Study Habits in Your High Schooler
From homecoming dances and Friday night football games to hours spent playing Block Dude on your TI-84 graphing calculator, high school is sure to leave you with plenty of fond memories. But no matter what kind of student you were, we’re willing to bet you aren’t too nostalgic for all the time and energy spent on nightly homework assignments. Still, if you’re the parent of a high schooler, you should consider spending a little time helping your student hit the books. This is easier said than done. When your kids are young, helping them with their education can be as simple as having them read aloud to you. But homework gets significantly more challenging in the high school years. You’d be forgiven for not being able to answer your student’s questions about calculus, mitosis, or the meaning of a Shakespearean monologue. However, there are many great direct and indirect ways you can help your high schooler study effectively. SET A SCHEDULE. First and foremost, you should help your high schooler set aside clear blocks of time for homework and studying. This will help your child establish a routine, which leaves less time for hemming and hawing before getting started. It can also prevent your student from putting off long-term assignments until the last minute, resulting in less stress and a better night’s sleep before a big test or presentation. The great thing about setting a schedule is that it is a teachable moment in itself. Consider letting your high schooler be the one to plan out the details of their schedule. Giving them this responsibility will underscore multiple organizational skills, including the importance of planning ahead and setting attainable goals. They may find that they didn’t set aside enough
Have a wonderful
month and keep being a hero to your family.
–Yolofsky Law
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HELP THEM GET IN THE ZONE. Providing your high schooler with a quiet, distraction-free study area is one of the best indirect ways to help with homework. Maybe you set aside a time and place in the house where all members of the family observe “library rules,”minimizing all noise and outside distraction. If this isn’t possible in your home, taking your student to an actual library can be just as effective, especially during exam season. Most importantly, have a hard-and-fast rule about cellphone use. These devices can prove extremely distracting, regardless of setting. Sometimes students can feel frustrated or embarrassed when they struggle with an assignment. If you worry your high schooler is beating themselves up over a subject, it’s important to be understanding and let them know support is available. If you can guide them through an assignment (without doing the actual work for them), great! Otherwise, you can reach out to teachers and the administration to see if tutoring options are available. LET THEM KNOW IT’S OKAY TO ASK FOR HELP.
BE THEIR STUDY BUDDY. When midterm papers and tests roll around, students have a lot on their plates. While you can’t take a chemistry exam for them or write their report on the Battle of Waterloo, you can play an active role in the preparation. For test prep, making flashcards and using them to quiz your student on the subject matter can be a great way for them to learn and for both of you to spend quality time together. For essays, ask your high schooler to explain their thesis to you. Act as a sounding board for their ideas and help them outline the structure of their essay before they start writing. Ultimately, these tips boil down to being supportive of your young adult. Giving them the independence to learn positive habits while holding them accountable to their studies can be a difficult balancing act. But so long as you’re able to have an open dialogue about their homework load and you make clear that you’re there to help them, you can be a great ally in your child’s education.
time in the beginning, or they may realize they work more efficiently at a different time of day, but these mistakes will teach them how they study best. STAY IN THE LOOP. While it can be a good idea to hand over the reins and let your high schooler decide the details of their study schedule, you should still keep yourself abreast of what projects they have going on and when they are due. As behavioral therapist and certified school psychologist Natascha Santos says,“Parents are the ultimate prompt.” This doesn’t mean that you have to track every assignment your high schooler is given, but it does require an open dialogue with them about their school work. Asking questions like“Do you have any big tests coming up?”or“When did you say that paper was due?”can be a gentle but effective reminder to your student to keep an eye on their due dates, regardless of whether they feel like going over the details of every assignment with you.
The Secret to Lead Conversion It ’s All About the Relationship
FOLLOWUP, FOLLOWUP, FOLLOWUP
In the business classic“How toWin Friends and Influence People,”Dale Carnegie showed us that the secret to sales success builds on showing a genuine interest in other people and rests in the relationship that develops from there. The concept may not be much of a secret anymore, but it’s as important as ever in the sales cycle—and toomany people aren’t following through on it. It turns out that Carnegie was onto something. Did you know that just 2 percent of sales happen during the first touch? Two percent . Let that sink in. That means 98 percent of sales happen sometime after that first touch. In fact, ample research supports that 80 percent of sales happen after the fifth follow-up. If your sales team isn’t following up past that first touch with a prospect, there’s a slim chance they’ll convert. With the direct correlation between touches and conversion, it’s clear how important it is to follow up and nurture relationships with leads. We can look back to our good friend Dale Carnegie and thank him for sharing his wisdom about relationships. If you want to nurture and convert your leads, you’ll want to instill Carnegie’s principles into your sales team. Considering howmany quality leads get away, there’s always room for improvement in developing relationships. How can you start building that lead relationship today?
It’s all about the follow-up—or lack of follow-up, if you’re wondering why your leads aren’t converting. You’ve probably experienced it yourself: You have a great interaction with a company and express interest in their product, but then you never hear from them again. That company just lost you, a hot lead. You can’t buy if you’re not presented with the opportunity to do so. Make it easy on your consumer base by implementing a follow-up system. The habit of nurturing leads stems partly from company culture and partly from systems and processes— it’s something of a chicken-egg situation. If you don’t have systems in place tomake follow-up part of your sales process, it’s not going to be a priority for your team. And if you don’t have a culture of determination and relationship-building in place, the systems and processes don’t matter. Entrepreneur and business transformer Robert Clay recommends a five-no strategy— follow up with a lead until you’ve heard no at least five times. IMPLEMENT A SYSTEM
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Parent-Teacher Etiquette to Support Your Child’s Development Involved But Not Overbearing
Helicopter parents are the bane of every teacher’s existence. With the return of back-to-school season, it’s vital to find a happy medium
need is the added pressure of concerned parents bearing down on them. If you can approach a teacher from a position of understanding and be willing to give them the benefit of the doubt, you’ll be off to a good start. 2. Show up and keep an open mind. Ask any teacher in the country, and they’ll undoubtedly tell you that one of the best predictors of a child’s success is whether or not their parents make an appearance at parent-teacher conferences. Your engagement should go beyond that. Use the teacher’s preferredmethod of communication to stay in semi-regular contact with them—always ensuring that you keep an openmind about any praise, suggestions, or concerns they have about your child.
devices, one of the worst things you can do is swoop in to solve their problems for them at the slightest hint of adversity. Maybe that D your kid got on their algebra test really was their fault. It’s important to acknowledge your child’s missteps, but you should also try to equip themwith the tools necessary to advocate for themselves. Learning to articulate what’s going wrong or what they need from their teacher will help them to develop positive and effective communication skills. The key is to work together with your child’s teacher without being overbearing. Don’t come in with guns blazing at the first sign of an educational slip. Think of your kid’s schooling as a collaborative effort —maybe one in which you’re a little less involved than the teacher — and you’ll be giving your child the best chance of success.
between the tiger momwho bares her teeth at the smallest setback in her child’s schooling and the laissez-faire parent who is totally disengaged from their kid’s education. Here are a few tips to keep you involved in your child’s educational development while fostering relationships with their teachers in a way that won’t drive all of you up the wall. 1. Be a little empathetic. Teachers are some of the hardest-working people in the world, wrangling the disparate needs of around 25 children day in and day out while attempting to get them to actually learn something. It’s a high-stress, low- paying job. In the midst of grading 300 research papers written by 12-year-olds, the last thing they
3. Teach your child to take responsibility. Aside from leaving your kid completely to their own
Take a Break
Late-Summer
PANZANELLA
Ingredients
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1 small loaf French bread, cut into 1-inch cubes (6 cups) 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
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1/2 red onion, thinly sliced
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1 cucumber, sliced into rounds
•
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20 basil leaves, chopped
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Salt, to taste
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2 large tomatoes, cubed
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Vinaigrette
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2 red bell peppers, seeded and cubed
Directions
1. In a large sauté pan, set to medium-low heat and add olive oil. Add bread and 1 teaspoon salt, and toss often for 10 minutes or until toasted. 2. In a large bowl, mix vegetables and herbs. Toss in bread and your favorite vinaigrette and mix again. 3. Serve immediately or let sit 30 minutes to allow the flavors to meld together.
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(305) 702-8250 Hours: 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. www.yolofskylaw.com One Financial Plaza 100 SE 3rd Avenue, Suite 1000 Fort Lauderdale, FL 33394
INSIDE THIS ISSUE From the Yolofsky Office PAGE 1 5 Ways to Support Great Study Habits in Your High Schooler PAGE 1 The Secret to Lead Conversion PAGE 2 The 3 Keys to Parent-Teacher Etiquette PAGE 3 Take a Break! PAGE 3 Late-Summer Panzanella PAGE 3 Can You Say No to a Client? PAGE 4
When You Can’t Say Yes 3 Ways to Say No Without Losing a Customer
Has a client ever asked you for something you didn’t have the resources to provide? Have you ever had a request to do something that’s against company protocol? Do clients want you to bend over backward on a task that isn’t worth the ROI? On these occasions, you are perfectly justified in saying no. But clients rarely like being turned down, so it’s important to learn to say no without losing a paying customer.
what they need. This way, you get to say no while still being the person who helps the client get what they want.
possible. Clients can be more accepting when they understand something better.
MAKE CLIENTS FEEL HEARD
ASK FOR CLARIFICATION
In every interaction, people want to feel listened to. Even when you have to say no to a client, making sure they feel heard and respected can go a long way towardmaintaining that goodwill. Acknowledge the issue they are having, empathize with their frustration, andmake sure your client knows you are listening by using their name and saying,“I understand.”You can’t say yes to every request, but you can remind clients that you value their support and appreciate the effort it took for them to contact you. Saying no is not bad customer service. When you take the time to say it the right way, you’re actually doing the client a favor because it means you aren’t wasting their time.
If you have changed anything in your company, be it the software interface on your website or your pricing structure, youmay have frustrated
clients who demand things go back to the way they were before. Since that’s not an option, try to determine exactly what they are upset about. By asking a client why they prefer the old way, youmight learn that they are having trouble accessing
OFFER ALTERNATIVES
Maybe a client has asked for something you don’t traditionally offer. Unless this is a rare opportunity to branch out and begin offering a new service to all
important information in your new software or that the new price increase is beyond their budget. Armed with this information, you can hopefully find a solution for what’s really troubling them. This is also a good time to explain the reason behind the change, if
clients, it doesn’t make sense to run yourself ragged fulfilling a niche request. Avoid the fear of letting your client down by referring them to another place where they can get
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