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Month: September 2017

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Growth Leadership Skills

The Perfect Pitch

Most people believe that this is the most important part of the sales process; however, in my experience, I believe it to be vitally important however is only a tiny piece of the puzzle. The sales presentation has nothing to do with having a fabulous company brochure, proposal document or a fantastic company website.

By the time you deliver your presentation, your prospect should be 80% of the way towards making a buying decision. They will have typically decided “if” they are going to buy from you, you are simply now presenting “what” they are going to buy from you.

Selling is a transfer of enthusiasm. It is creating a ball of energy and passing that to your prospect, so that your customers are as excited about receiving it as you are delivering it. Being enthusiastic talks straight to the subconscious mind and promotes enthusiasm in return, which itself is a catalyst to a buying decision.

In theory you should be able to present your products or services with no major props. I am not saying that this is the only way you should present. However, if you can do that, you will then only add marketing material that supports your presentation and not hide behind your literature.

Now every successful presentation follows a structure. Be it a quick elevator 60 second pitch, or a detailed sales proposal, the same structure applies.

Every presentation should include a beginning, middle and an end. This sounds simple, but the number of presentations that I see that are all middle is still in abundance.

Beginning

Your beginning is really your chance to set the scene and educate your prospect that your meeting has moved on and they will soon have a decision to make. The two main ingredients for your beginning are always to make a powerful opening statement that sets the scene.

“Its great to talk with you today and demonstrate how we can help create your perfect…”

To then put your audience at ease by letting them know what to expect by sharing your agenda with them.

“I will share with you a little about how we work and what makes us different, explain our range of services and give you 3 different options for your desired holiday. I will then find out what questions you have before you make a decision on the way forward”

By giving them a verbal or written agenda they understand what to expect and it helps you to keep control.

Middle

The middle of a presentation is where the main responsibility is to give your audience enough information to make a buying decision. I would always look to consider three main areas.

  • Your history and credibility – Let your listeners understand all about you and your company. Share the type of companies that you work with and instil confidence in your audience that you are more than capable of delivering for them. This is not a huge section but is vitally important. Drop in names of existing customers and words that others have used to describe you.
  • Product or service overview – Always provide a shopping list of all your products and services in every sales presentation. You never know what they may also be interested in buying from you.
  • The one product/service for them – Finally give them your recommendations for the solution that they make a decision on today. Remember to keep this as simple as possible.

You will need a powerful opening and close to your middle to keep attention. Keep questions to a minimum throughout your sales presentation and if necessary they must be simple, closed and bring positive engaging answers so as not to lose control.

End

Providing your presentation was interesting enough, at some point you will have lost the full attention of those listening. This is because something you said had interested them and they started to think about applying your solutions and may have missed something.

Because it is paramount that they feel they have all the information before they make a decision, it is essential that you summarize before closing. Your summary is simply telling them what you have told them. Once you have summarized, you must then close by asking for a decision.

I would encourage you to prepare a default presentation for each of your products and then tailor it each time you need to use it. That way you are always perfectly prepared.

Categories
Growth Human Resources Management Personal Development

Are White Men Really Losing in the Diversity Game?

I recently gave a talk about employee engagement and organizational culture in Boston. Near the end of my presentation, the topic of gender parity came up for discussion and I shared my thoughts on Massachusetts’ new law (which goes into effect next year) prohibiting employers from asking about a job applicant’s salary history. This is the first statute of its kind in the country and other states are already in the process of passing similar laws. Personally, I think it’s a step in the right direction toward the greater goal of diversity and inclusion in the workplace. Women have traditionally been paid less than men in the same role, so lawmakers’ intent is to eliminate this pay gap by requiring employers to compensate workers based on their value, not their previous salary. I feel proud to live in a state that leads the way for diversity, inclusion, and equity because I believe in the importance of all three. Massachusetts has historically been a forerunner for worker and human rights, notably passing the nation’s first minimum wage law which specifically guaranteed women pay commensurate with the cost of living.

Of course, the concepts of diversity and gender parity are not without detractors. After my talk, one of the audience members approached me to express his concerns. There were quite a few more women in attendance at this event, so I wasn’t terribly surprised that he waited until most of the room cleared before sharing his views. The man told me that, after a long career in the tech space, he had come to resent all of the diversity initiatives being foisted upon him and other members of his cohort — highly-skilled, white, middle-aged, men — because they made him feel deprived of opportunity and that his contributions were cheapened. “I’m so sick of this diversity stuff”, he said.

Rather than educate him on the business case for diversity and spark a lengthy debate that would keep me from my lunch (I can get hangry), I decided to take the path of least resistance and just hear the guy out because he seemed dead set on his opinion. I listened to him lament the diversity-driven hiring practices that favored women or minorities over equally qualified white men. He also argued that women taking maternity leave should not be paid as much as men because they aren’t adding the same amount of value to the organization during their absences. As he continued, a thought struck me: Men like the one with whom I was speaking aren’t trying to put anybody down. They just prefer a meritocracy wherein people are rewarded based on what they can do, not what they look like. At best, they simply see no personal value in supporting diversity efforts. At worst, they feel discriminated against when organizations take any kind of affirmative action to elevate marginalized groups of employees.

This all comes down to the challenge of engaging Caucasian males in the push for a more diverse and inclusive modern workplace. Deloitte recently made headlines and raised eyebrows when it announced the dissolution of its Employee Resource Groups. Their objective in doing so is certainly laudable: Bring white men into the diversity conversation by replacing ERGs with inclusion councils to convene employees from disparate backgrounds, including senior executives. That way everyone can gather and discuss how the organization could better serve diverse talent and customer bases. But will it work? I used to co-lead a Women & Allies ERG, and I will admit that both interest and impact among men were pretty low. So maybe it is time to rethink the way we foster diversity and inclusion.

A good place to start is taking a look at the concerns white men are raising. There’s a lot to unpack just from my relatively brief conversation with the man at the event. For example, let’s follow his train of thought about maternity leave and pay equity a bit further. What if a woman isn’t pregnant when she’s hired? Should she still be paid less based on the possibility that she might get pregnant and take a leave of absence down the road? If she chooses to have a family, should she be deemed less eligible for a promotion because her commitment to the company seems lacking? What if her husband decides to take paternity leave while she goes back to work right away? Should his pay get docked? What about a man who plans to adopt and needs to take time off from work to bond with his child? The argument that women should be paid less or treated less-favorably because they have child-rearing responsibilities just doesn’t hold up. It oversimplifies a very complicated issue and puts people in the unfair position of having to choose between job and family.

Still, thoughtful examination won’t necessarily stop white men from feeling like they are somehow being slighted by all this focus on diversity. There are plenty of reasons behind their resistance, such as men’s propensity, on average, toward being competitive and not wanting to lose their position in a hierarchy. Whatever the cause, it’s important to involve them in the process and help them understand that diversity and inclusion are meant to benefit everyone, not unfairly give preference to one group over another. Perhaps Deloitte is in the right vicinity, if not on the right track, with its new D&I strategy. Discussions about issues pertaining to diversity shouldn’t be relegated to peripheral interest groups who haven’t the captive audience nor the organizational clout to make a difference. Those at the top (roughly 95% of Fortune 500 CEOs are white men) must be involved and invested. It’s simply a fact that diversity is and should be a critical priority in today’s ultra-competitive, hyper-connected business climate. Consumer preferences can ebb and sway, leaving rigid, old-school companies unprepared to respond. Businesses need new and different perspectives to stay relevant. They need a diverse workforce to survive.

I once had a manager who told me “Business is all about relationships.” It really is. The relationships a business forges with its customers are crucial; that’s a given. But first leaders have to establish and nurture relationships with the people who connect the business with its customers: its employees. Diversity isn’t about reaching quotas or excluding members of a certain group. It’s about cultivating an environment that attracts and engages the best talent from all walks of life. It involves building strong relationships with those employees so they feel inspired to help their company thrive in a complex and diverse global economy. That’s how the best organizations will win. And who doesn’t like winning?

About the author:

Jonathan D. Villaire is a bridge-builder, truth-teller, and advocate for empathy who helps leaders understand how to effectively engage their employees and, more importantly, how to stop disengaging them. He founded Cognize Consulting with the aim of giving supervisors, managers, and executives a new perspective on employee engagement: See employees as human beings, not as human capital. Understand how to create an employee experience that increases retention and attracts top talent. Engage employees with a leadership mindset of empathy, curiosity, and humility. He is a speaker, coach, and author of the upcoming book The Stepford Employee Fallacy: The Truth about Employee Engagement in the Modern Workplace.

Categories
Management Marketing Skills

Process Focus: Finding Your Needleshop, Not a Haystack

Process focus is all about giving you a system, strategy or scenario that can lead you through understanding a key area of your business, helping you get more of what it is that you want. 

I’m pretty sure one thing you really want is more new business. If you want new business, start at the beginning. I’m sure many of you spend a lot of time, effort and energy on marketing your business. 

However, there’s a key difference between sales and marketing. Marketing is all about getting bees around the honey pot. Your business is the honey.

The difference with sales is that we get to choose our customers. Provided we go looking. The art of great salesmanship is like fishing. It’s knowing what fish you’re looking for, where to find them and what bait to use. That way, when you go fishing in the right place at the right time with the right bait, you catch the right fish. That’s what Process Focus is all about this month. It’s about getting what you focus on.

We communicate it to you in so many ways. The brain is processing so many pieces of information. If you’re looking for anybody and everybody at the same time, you’ll find nobody. If you get specific on what it is you’re looking for, you’re far more likely to spot opportunity. A simple test on this, might be anytime in your life where you’ve looked at buying a new car. When you’ve looked at buying a new car, what’s often happened, is you’ve decided what it is that you’re buying. And in the period of time between you deciding and collecting the said vehicle, you can’t help but see tons of those vehicles everywhere you look on the road. I promise you that it wasn’t the strategic marketing campaign from the company you were looking to buy from. They were there already. It’s just that you’ve set a part of your brain to be able to identify, spot and look for them. This is exactly what we need to do to find more of the right kind of customers. So please take time to consider exactly who your target customer is. How many of them are you looking for?

Consider how many new customers you’d like to acquire in the next 12 months. Maybe break that down to how many new customers you’d like to have per month. And then define exactly what they look like because then you can go looking for them. Some of the things that you might want to consider are:

Where are they located? 

If you have an account management or a servicing responsibility, look for those customers in a simple geographic region. That way getting face-to-face to them adds value to them, then being able to access you easily adds value to them. Could you have enough of the right kind of customers purely located around the simple geographic region that you can service correctly?

How big are they? 

Are you targeting single person micro businesses? Are you targeting Fortune 500 companies? You might even be appointing your business where you’re looking to make a step change, to change the type of customer that you’re looking for.

What industry are they in?

Getting industry focused can really help you find what you are looking for.

Who exactly is the decision maker within that type of business? It might be one person. It might be more than one person. But really define who that is because actually, what you’re not looking for is an organization or a type of organization. You’re looking for an organization in a certain location of a certain size, and a certain person within that organization, because without that person you’ll never get the decision.

The more focused you get and the more you define your target market then you might realize that you have more than one target market. But the more you define it, the easier it is to find it. Coupled with the fact that once you know exactly who it is that you’re looking for, you can share it with others more easily, and they can help you find more of the right kind of people.

Categories
Growth Human Resources Leadership Personal Development

Belle’s World – Being

Do you truly know what your natural state of being is or what leadership books label as “your authentic self”?

Every leadership book at some point focuses on being your “authentic self.” However, in today’s changing paradigms of how we live, work and play people are no longer truly aware of what is their “authentic self” or natural state of being. The environment and the factors around them have changed and many individuals are still trying to adapt to the acceleration of technology and what impact it makes in their life. Others are realizing that the paths they had set out for themselves, based on who they, are are no longer there to follow. Many individuals have had changes in their life they never expected whether it be early deaths of loved ones, divorce, breakups, moves, career changes or even loss and the list goes on for each person. We don’t continue to be in the same authentic state when life altering changes happen to us. These changes have an affect on how we think, feel, act and even make decisions in the future. Many people become stronger with each step they have to take to overcome the challenge of obstacle in front of them.

Leaders are becoming better at being real in the the corporate arena. However, we still have rules and perceptions of how people should behave in this environment. There are internal perceived prejudices against those individuals who may sport tattoos, piercings (beyond earrings), color their hair vividly, dress differently etc. It is hard for these individuals to then become leaders because they are not easily accepted by the team and organization. Yet these individuals could be brilliant in their thinking and help the organization move forward. They are risk takers willing to be authentic to themselves as every leadership book says but they are not able to get the full support because everyone should be mostly the same. We are biased on what is on the outside rather than truly understanding the natural state of being for each person.

One thing many books do not teach is how do you stay self aware through this process of change around us. Individuals just keep moving forward with what they think is who they are without reevaluating if that is truly how they want to be and live. When massive life changes happen like divorce – you change. Your internal norm changes and you must evaluate how this event has affected you. Your own authentic self may have changed a little and its important that you become self aware of it otherwise you will continue on paths that will make you feel unhappy or unfulfilled and you wont know why. After my second divorce I had been at AT&T for three years and three different cities. At the time, I was at AT&T HQ in Downtown Dallas, TX. I had a great role as a Chief of Staff in the Marketing organization and I loved the role and the challenges it provided me. At first, I used to be in power suits with heels, long hair and always dressed in a traditional corporate manner. However, as I went through processing the major change happening in my life I wanted to bring out my creative side within work a little more. The changes happened slowly but between what I outwardly was perceived to almost two years later the physical difference was noticeable. I had short hair (almost spiky), blue contacts, cowboy boots (all the time), fashionable but tasteful clothes and an attitude that helped me truly be creative to find solutions and push the business forward. By bringing my inside self to be more noticeable on the outside I was able to do better in my role and even get more noticed. I still remember the day, our brilliant but conservative CMO telling me that she really admired my new style.

Just a note – The CMO was a brilliant lady who came up the ranks as a sole female officer and dressed and thought conservatively yet supported some of the most innovative thinkers in her organization. Even though she wasn’t quite there she understood the importance of letting some of us shine in our own ways. If I had not taken the time to understand who I wanted to be at this critical time I wouldn’t have been involved in things that eventually led me to have my next role at AT&T which truly allowed me to be a leader in innovation and exposed me directly to many of the things I work on today.

There is no cookie cutter process of becoming self-aware through change and challenges. However, there are some basics that each person must process for themselves. It is an iterative process that takes time and true dedication to wanting to be self – aware. Some people are afraid of change even if its coming from their own internal psyche. If you want to be a better leader and help others go through the self awareness journey you must do it yourself. Our team supports the process of getting deep into who you are and where you want to go in this changing paradigm. We help you find your current state of being and how you can bring that authentic self to every aspect of your life.

Do you know your current state of being?

Welcome to Belle’s world. Everything in this world is based on a bell curve. Our media concentrates on giving advice to make everyone be a part of the masses.

This is a weekly series of Urvi’s insights on her perception of the world. They say perception is reality and she lives in her own fantasy world. This allows her to delve into the human element of our lives, helping individuals decipher their own souls, to understand, who they are and what they want, in the journey of life.

Belle’s world explores the extremes and goes beyond the surface. Ready to read about some of the “elephants in the room?”

Contact urvi, to discover your self-awareness that will unleash the innovation mindset within you and help you become both emotionally and financially wealthy. https://www.radicalroamer.com/ belle-s-world #thehumanelement

Categories
Growth Human Resources Leadership Personal Development

Belle’s World – Motivation

Do you know what factors motivate or discourage you?

I completed my second half iron man yesterday – September 24, 2017 in Cozumel, Mexico. For those that don’t know – a half iron man is 70.3 miles comprised of a 1.9 mile swim, followed by 56 miles on a bike and ending with a half marathon (13.1 miles) run (or in my case a walk). My timing was horrendous at 8 hours 55 minutes and I technically didn’t get an official time that would be accepted by the Ironman organization. However, I finished just as I did in 2013 with a time of 7 hours 39 minutes.

My motivation to do a second half ironman was to beat my first time. It’s good to note that I was basically one of the last 5 participants, both times. A second motivation was that I was never an athlete but I know I have the mental capacity to finish things no matter the time and I wanted to challenge myself physically. As a swimmer I knew I could beat my time from 2013 which would give me a little boost to get on the bike course pretty quickly. I completed the swim in 39 minutes compared to 41 minutes in 2013. 2 minutes may not seem like a big deal but it is when you are swimming with 100’s of people around you and the water is slightly choppy. I felt great coming out of the swim when I saw that I had beat my original time. Now I had to tackle the 56 miles on the bike.

In 2013 I took 3 hours 34 minutes and had struggled at the end. I got on my bike and rode 2/3 of the way enjoying the view and feeling good about the ride. Then I hit the town center and because I hadn’t done some detailed due diligence I thought I had about 5 – 8 miles to go. I had 18.6 miles to go. A couple miles in, I hit an internal physical wall. My legs were starting to lock up on me and I was feeling dizzy. I finally reached 9 miles to turn around to go back up the course into the city and had to stop. I asked how many miles I had left and he said 9.3. I was highly disappointed, tired and my motivation went down except for the fact that it was the last stretch of the bike portion. I had to finish the bike portion – I had already done the majority. I couldn’t let myself down. I also knew I had already added a whole hour to my time and that would mean I would have to run some of the half marathon. The lesson in the bike portion was my negligence on understanding the details on how many miles I had left after the town center. In my mind I had finished almost 85% of the course before I reached the town center when in fact I only finished 2/3. Lesson 1 – If I had mentally prepared how long each part of the course was I probably wouldn’t have hit the internal mental and physical wall and lost some of my motivation to do the race. It was the first time I almost felt like quitting. I felt sick to my stomach and I was already very tired. Knowing the facts can either motivate or discourage you. Knowing the facts because I should have done the research would have motivated me to ride smarter in the first 2/3. Knowing the facts when I had drained my engine discouraged me even more but my mental strength allowed me to keep going and stay safe by taking breaks along the last stretch of the bike course. I knew my internal motivation was to finish this race no matter what and that outweighed the facts that I had calculated the bike portion wrong.

As I dismounted from my bike to go into the run portion, my mind and my body had to switch to a different thought process. I had 13.1 miles to do on my tired feet with my body already exhausted. I started looking at the time and realized I would have to go a little faster than a 15 minute / mile walk to finish. I thought I could walk the first half and run the second half. I started the walk and realized that people were already finished with the entire race and I still had almost 3 hour 15 minutes to go. I felt motivated because I knew it was 13.1 miles and I could finish in 3 hours 15 minutes. However, somewhere in between mile 2 and mile 3 I heard that the course closed at 3. I started panicking in my head as I wanted to finish! I had calculated the course closing at 4 that would give me enough time to just barely make it. So I set about trying to ask race officials on the course what the cutoff time was on the course. I was highly discouraged after hearing about the 3 PM cutoff time. I came all the way to Cozumel to be taken off the course and not completing my goal. As I was going into my second lap on the course I asked the officials the same question. Mind you, I don’t speak Spanish and most of them were only Spanish speakers. The two officials mentioned the 3 PM cutoff time and we would be taken off the course. This is one area I had done my due diligence I had calculated the times correctly – making cutoff 4 PM. I was already upset so I could barely get the questions out because I felt like crying. I think internally in my own way I was. I had completed 57.9 miles and I was being told that I wouldn’t have the chance to finish. After asking two more officials I found out that the cutoff time was 4 PM as I had thought.

However, at this point I had lost 20 minutes which was critical to my on time finish. I stopped crying internally and told myself I only had about 6 miles to go and I would finish no matter what. I was about 10 minutes to the finish line and I was told the course was closed but if I could finish I could still cross the finish line. I was happy and sad at the same time. It meant I would finish but it also meant that I definitely didn’t beat my last time but I also didn’t meet the cut off time. So lesson number 2 is that if you have done your due diligence trust in yourself and be confident that you know what you are doing. If I had just pushed through knowing that the cut off was 4 PM I would not have been discouraged when I had heard otherwise. Lesson number 3 was that because I knew I was confident in my calculations I took the time and effort to get to the right answer to help motivate me to get back on track. Make sure dig deeper if you are getting conflicting answers. Getting the facts right will help keep your motivation on track.

As I came around the last 200 meters of the run a girl who had already completed the run and about 27 years old came next to me. She started speaking in Spanish and I had no idea what she was saying. I responded in English and she quickly switched over to ask where I was from and started telling me that I only had 200 meters to go. She was going to stay with me till the end. I mentioned that I was disappointed that the course was closed and she responded with – “You are almost there and finished.” This stranger saw me at the end and motivated to put my last bit of strength to finish strong. Lesson number 4 is that my motivations in life are fully supported by being emotionally wealthy with the love of my family and my life family (friends who are family.) When you have a positive attitude even strangers will support you and motivate you for the moment.

I have realized for myself my motivation comes from my internal strength but also my family and closest friends. I knew many of them were cheering me on even though I wouldn’t know till later that evening. I heard their voices in my head and they were proud of me for attempting a second half iron man and I know were even prouder that I accomplished it even though I didn’t get an officially accepted Ironman time. I am motivated by the love that I receive from the people in my life and am grateful to have them accept me as I am. I live my life, to my own drumbeat, and the people in my life support me which is my motivation to be as is.

It is important to understand where your motivation in life comes from. It helps you through the struggles – real and self induced (ie half iron man)! It is also important to know how to conquer discouragement and know the it is real and will happen.

Do you know your motivational and discouragement triggers?

Welcome to Belle’s world. Everything in this world is based on a bell curve. Our media concentrates on giving advice to make everyone be a part of the masses.

This is a weekly series of Urvi’s insights on her perception of the world. They say perception is reality and she lives in her own fantasy world. This allows her to delve into the human element of our lives, helping individuals decipher their own souls, to understand, who they are and what they want, in the journey of life.

Belle’s world explores the extremes and goes beyond the surface. Ready to read about some of the “elephants in the room?”

Contact urvi, to discover your self-awareness that will unleash the innovation mindset within you and help you become both emotionally and financially wealthy. https://www.radicalroamer.com/ belle-s-world #thehumanelement

Categories
Best Practices Entrepreneurship Management Marketing Skills

How To Use Mind Probing Questions to Negotiate Better

“Rest your mind when reflecting, move to action with conviction.” -Greg Williams, The Master Negotiator & Body Language Expert

When it comes to negotiating better, the questions you ask will be the gateway through which success awaits. The more probing the questions, the more engaging will be the mind. The more engaged the mind becomes, the greater the opportunity to alter the state of mind.

The following are mind probing questions you can pose to yourself and the other negotiator to achieve greater negotiation outcomes. By thinking deeper about the negotiation mindset you should possess, you’ll also deepen the thoughts that you engage in during the negotiation.

Questions to ask yourself and to consider about the other negotiator:

Do you know where you’re really going in the negotiation (i.e. end goal), and the detours you might have to make/take, if you encounter roadblocks you’d not considered? When putting your plan in place for the negotiation, you should consider the style of the other negotiator, what style you’ll display in response to the opposing negotiator’s style, and how you’ll attempt to sway his perspective once the negotiation has begun.)

Do you know how long it might take to reach your negotiation goal and what other obstacles might compete for your time and attention? In this sense, you have to consider how time might be used for and against you. The longer it takes to reach a negotiation outcome, the more likely you and the other negotiator may fall prey to the pressures of time, which means, you may make concessions that are not beneficial to the outcome you’re seeking.

At what possible points might you exit the negotiation based on what you’ve achieved or not achieved at that point? Always have exit points in mind whereby you’ll exit the negotiation if it’s not going according to your plans and you don’t see the opportunity to salvage a plausible outcome.

What’s your ‘fallback position’ if you have to exit the negotiation? You should always exit a negotiation by letting the other negotiator feel respected, even more so if you don’t come to an agreement when you exit.

What body language and other nonverbal signals will you be vigilant of in seeking added meaning to a statement or question made by the other negotiator? Negotiators exhibit body language signals that give insight into their mindset when they make offers/counteroffers. The better you are at deciphering such signals, the greater insight you’ll gain into what’s really on that negotiator’s mind.

What is the opposing negotiator really seeking from the negotiating, and what will he really settle for compared to what he says is his best offer/deal? The way he makes such statements (i.e. leaning towards/away from you when making such a declaration, exhaling strongly after making the statement, raising/lowering the tone of his voice, etc.)

Be very aware of the questions you ask during a negotiation. The quality of the questions will determine the quality of the answers you receive, which will enhance or detract from your opportunity to enhance the outcome of the negotiation. By being vigilant to the body language signals that are displayed, you’ll receive hidden meanings that’ll add value to the answers. Thus, by asking mind probing questions, coupled with reading body language, you can increase your negotiation win rates substantially … and everything will be right with the world.

Remember, you’re always negotiating!

 

 

Categories
Best Practices Entrepreneurship Human Resources Management Marketing Skills Women In Business

The 4 Word Secret to Confident Public Speaking

Today I had a first session with a new client whose primary focus is public speaking. Her story is common: While she’s confident in front of her team, when addressing larger groups, high-stakes audiences or people she doesn’t know as well, her heart starts to race, her face gets flushed, palms sweat, and a whole litany of self-defeating “what if” scenarios race through her mind.

What if I forget what I want to say?

What if I make a mistake?

What if they’re not interested in my topic?

What if I don’t seem expert enough?

What if I can’t answer a question?

 This kind of self-destructive talk is what is referred to as “head trash.” It piles up, festers, and can become overwhelming if you don’t get rid of it.

So I said to her: “I’m going to tell you the secret to changing everything and speaking with confidence. It’s four little words, and I want you to write them down in big letters and tape it to your bathroom mirror, computer, refrigerator or anywhere you’ll see it regularly, got it?”

“Got it,” she said, and grabbed her pen.

Then I told her the secret: “IT’S…NOT… ABOUT… YOU.”

She finished writing it down, then stared at the paper, processing its meaning.

“Here’s the thing,” I explained. As a presenter, you’re now in customer service. Your job is to make sure that the audience has the best experience possible. Do you love your topic or at least think it’s really important? Share that passion with them, and help them understand it.

“Don’t worry about being self-conscious when making eye contact with people. Each person there wants to feel like you’re talking to them personally. Look at each person so they know that they matter to you, that they feel like they’re part of the event.

“When you go to hear a speaker, or when someone is talking to your team, are you sitting there silently evaluating them the whole time, waiting to catch them in a mistake, or are you just hoping that they’ll be interesting and give you some important information? Of course it’s the latter. You don’t want a speaker to fall flat; that makes everyone uncomfortable. You are subconsciously rooting for their success, because if they have a good speaking experience, you’ll have a good listening experience, and that’s your main interest. That’s exactly what your audience is hoping for too.

“How do you feel about that?”

“Truthfully?” she began, “As soon as you said that, I felt instant relief. If I just focus on taking care of the audience, then I’m not worrying about my own perfection, whatever that means. It suddenly feels like a very realistic, attainable goal. I can do this.”

With that, I encourage you to take out your “head trash,” and turn your attention to serving your audience. A good place to start is with the goal of being the speaker you’d want to listen to if you were in audience. Put them first, and you’re guaranteed to come out on top.

********

Do you have questions or comments about the issues in today’s post, want to know how to apply them, or how to help others with them? If so, contact me at laura@vocalimpactproductions.com or click here to schedule a 20-minute focus call to discuss them with me personally!

 

 

 

 

Categories
Entrepreneurship Personal Development

7 Ways of Making it Happen

We have all had great ideas and I often hear stories from people talking about things that they could have done, but for one reason or another never got around to making happen. In this short article, I want to share with you 7 simple pointers to help you step up to the plate and start making your ideas a reality.

make it work on paper

1. Make it work on paper – The first action should always be to sit down and make your plan a reality on paper. Run the numbers and check that your great idea makes commercial sense. Understand what the numbers look like and be confident you can achieve the number of customers you require.

tell the world

2. Tell the world – Once you are set on your idea then you should start telling as many people as possible. Telling people not only promotes your new idea, but also makes you accountable. The more people you tell, the more likely you are to make it happen.

sell it first

3. Sell it first – Instead of spending an age designing and perfecting your plans, the first step should always be to acquire some customers. Only once you have a customer are you really in business.

perfection is overrated

4. Perfection is overrated – Just getting started is the hardest part, so instead of perfecting your idea before taking it to market, get it to a point where it is fit for purpose and then continue to develop it in real time.

plan and review

5. Plan and review – Plan in regular check points to monitor progress and design your next actions.

accept failure

6. Accept failure – On the road to every great success are countless failures. Accept that to succeed, you will make many mistakes. What is important is that you continue to learn from them.

keep moving forward

7. Keep moving forward – Momentum is an essential quality in growing any business. Set your goal at the beginning, make it clear and then keep striving towards it.

That’s my simple summary of taking your idea and making it a reality. Please remember that nothing happens unless you make it happen.

Categories
Growth Human Resources Management Personal Development

You Can Lead a Horse to Water… But Can You Make an Employee Engaged?

There’s an old proverb used by many to describe the leader/follower dynamic with respect to employee engagement: “You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink.” This is a way of saying ultimately people will only do what they choose, even if you show them the way. In other words, just as a horse has to choose to drink, an employee must choose to be engaged.

Well, yes and no. Getting the horse to drink is the desired outcome, but what happens up to and during that point will influence his willingness to do so.

    • If you’ve been running the horse ragged without any time to recuperate, he won’t have the energy to make it to water.
    • If you’ve been shouting at the horse and beating him with a stick, he won’t trust you no mater where you’re trying to lead him.
    • If the terrain is rocky and you force him to walk in busted, rusty horseshoes, he isn’t going to be all that thrilled about going the distance.
    • If you feed the horse 1 pound of oats a day when he really should be getting 3 pounds, he’s going to focus on finding food elsewhere instead of following you.
    • If the water is polluted or tastes funky, the horse isn’t going to drink.

Here’s what I’m getting at: If the employee experience at your organization sucks, employee engagement isn’t likely to happen. Too many leaders fall into the trap of thinking a lack of engagement is the employee’s fault; that they’re choosing not to be engaged. Take a good look at what it’s like to work for you before making that judgement. And start with the basics — a reasonable workload, an empathetic leadership style, effective tools to get the job done, fair pay, and a healthy work culture. Then make adjustments if anything is wrong. As a leader, it’s your job to create an employee experience that makes them want to go above and beyond. 

Horses need to be enticed, not forced, to drink water. What kind of employee experience are you creating, and is it enough to entice engagement? Remember, employees don’t engage themselves. Leaders engage employees.

Categories
Entrepreneurship Marketing Personal Development

Sales is a Philosophy

Every business that fails to acquire new customers at some point will fail in business. The acquisition of new customers is essential to be the lifeblood or the pulse of any business growth, and there will always be natural wastage. So bringing new customers on board is incredibly important. In this article, I want to talk to you about a mindset focus, rather than a process focus, as normal. A simple shift in the way you currently see things or believe things may well have a dramatic increase or an impact upon you and your business. Lets look at sales–the acquisition of new customers, the winning of new business and understand whose job it is to do so. Who’s really responsible for the acquisition of new customers?

In every business that I’ve been involved in, before I got involved, there was a huge divide between the sales side of the business and the operational side of the business. Sales is the sales team’s job, and the operational team is there to deliver the activities and the actions that result in the product or service being created. For me, sales is a philosophy, not a department. Everybody sells. I want you to look at it quite simply–that there are two departments. One department is selling and the other department is selling support. Those are the two critical roles. People will fall into one of those two camps. So, the responsibility of everybody outside of the sales team is to support the sales team, be it delivering on the promises that are made, ensuring that the products and services are delivered in a way that is fitting with the explanation, and ensuring that the administrative processes that follow allow sales people to sell more effectively. Where you can get the two working coherently, you get massive uplifts in results. This has been crucial in the success of every turnaround project that I’ve been involved in. Turning around retail operations in major department stores, furniture retailers, or football retailers, have all come from creating this coherent response where everybody understands that they all contribute towards the sales process. If you’re building a business that looks to connect with its customers, where it has long-term relationships with these customers, everybody who is involved in any customer-facing role needs to be aware of how they impact upon the sales process.

Let’s look at this in a number of ways and see where people make an impact, so you can really understand and illustrate the point that I’m making to you. Number one is identifying new prospects. You have sales people on a regular basis looking to identify the next person they can speak to. In simplistic form, if you have a dream customer, a most wanted list or a prospect list, sharing that list with everybody within your organisation may well create an opening or an opportunity that doesn’t yet exist. You don’t know who knows who, but when you share stuff, stuff happens. The more people that know what it is that you’re looking for, the more chances you’ve got in finding it.

Let’s look again at another area that is usually impacted upon by other people in your business. The first impression on a customer or potential customer is incredibly important. When the phone rings, the way in which that phone is answered will set the tone and the expectation for how your customer believes your business to be run and what results they can expect from it. There’s a sales responsibility there for the people that answer your telephones.

The uplifts that I’ve enjoyed purely by looking at all of the areas where sales and sales support teams cross over are huge. Where we’ve made it work, we’ve seen an increase in revenue, in profits. We’ve seen no late payments from our customers because we’ve impacted sales skills upon our cash collection teams. We have no bad debts. We get preferential treatment from our suppliers because we stand out. We understand the impact and importance of managing great relationships with our suppliers. When favours need to be called upon that allow us to win new business, fulfill challenges and stand out from the crowd, our suppliers look upon us favorably because of the way they’ve been treated up until that point in time. We can increase operational efficiency, because our selling support teams are fully aware of the part that they have to play in supporting the sales team. So paperwork moves quickly, jobs get fulfilled quickly, stuff gets ordered quickly. Those are things that we’ve seen with clients in the past. We’ve seen improved staff product productivity when everybody is chasing the same rabbit. You can’t chase more than one rabbit. It’s remarkably difficult if you’re trying to chase too many different outcomes. Everybody pulling in the same direction will lead to far better results. You gain more free time when everybody pulls in the same direction and understands that they have a role towards the sales team.

Overall, what you really get is improved communication. In every area, people understand what their purpose is. Everybody is accountable for better sales results–not just one person. Look at everybody in your business and look at every process within your business. Does it support your sales process or does it hinder it right down to the delivery? One of the best examples I’ve got of the final touch with a customer is in furniture retail. We took time to train the delivery drivers on basic sales skills, how that delivery driver would act, what they would install, what packaging they would take away, and what lengths they would go to ensure that the customer was delighted. They knew what was expected of them so they could over deliver. We then helped them understand that they were the final part of the customer experience, so we said, “Let’s make it a good one.”

Let’s make sure they thank the customer for their business, are courteous and shake hands”. We even went one step further. We trained delivery drivers to ask for referrals and some of them got them.

You can get everybody pulling in the same direction. You can get everybody sales-focused, everybody focused on the task at hand of acquiring more new business. Your sales results will go up because everybody is pulling in the same direction and everybody is selling.