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Month: December 2018

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Best Practices Growth Skills

How to Avoid the Trap of the Treacherous Homophone

 

A homophone is a word that sounds the same as another word but has a different meaning.

Join me in the homophone sand trap. Please note that some of the word pairs aren’t pure homophones, such as the first one: accept/except, and the second: affect/effect. For the purposes of language skills, I believe that they sound close enough to get easily confused.

Accept/except

 To accept is to receive with the subtler meaning of “allow.”

I accepted the invitation with gratitude. To except means to exclude.

He excepted the corporation from his ruling.

Affect/effect

A simple rule for understanding the difference between these two words is to remember that “affect” is a verb mean to influence something. “Effect,” a noun, is the thing that was influenced.

Her reputation affected the results of the sales department.

Her reputation had the effect of changing the closed sales ratio. 

Advice/Advise

“Advice” and “advise” are closely related in meaning.  They both refer to opinions and recommendations. The difference is that advice is a noun and advise is a verb.

I advise you to closely study the P&L statements.

She paid close attention to key performance indicators for the marketing department. 

Bare/bear

People rarely get confused when “bear” refers to the large animal that may chase you.  Confusion occurs with the verb forms of bare/bear.

“Bare” means to expose, whether body or emotions are involved.

He was afraid to bare his feelings.

 “Bear” means carrying, as in water bearer. It may also refer to carrying emotional or other burdens.

He was able to bear the burden of responsibility for his company.

Complementary/complimentary

Vocabulary alert: These two words are notoriously misused.

Both “compliment” and “complement” can be used either as nouns or verbs. That adds to the confusion.

“Compliment” means to praise or flatter. When used as “complimentary,” it means free. Think of the word “gift” which has an “I” in it like the “I” In complimentary.

She treasured the compliment: “Your department exceeded Its goals for the quarter. Great job!”

They were surprised that their purchase entitled them to complimentary financial assessments.

“Complement” means to complete. Complementary colors like red-green, blue-orange, and yellow-purple are opposite each other on the color wheel. When combined in the correct proportions, they complete each other to form white light. If you think of “complete” or “completion,” you will use complement correctly.

The marketing and sales departments work in complementary ways.

Correct use of homophones shows your skill with the English language. Accept my advice so that at a bare minimum you will enjoy the effects of compliments on your writing skills.

Pat Iyer Is a ghostwriter, editor, and one of the original 100 C Suite Network Advisors. Contact her through her website EditingMyBook.com.

 

Categories
Best Practices Body Language Culture Health and Wellness Management

Elevate Your Success with Five Simple Steps

People often convince themselves that highly successful individuals who possess a special gift set themselves apart from everyone else. However, the reality is that your ability to have success, however you define it, can be accomplished with a few simple steps.

Personal responsibility for our actions is seldom championed in society these days, and like it or not, we all live with the consequences of the lifestyle choices that we make every day. We can sit in an office staring at a spreadsheet waiting for our situation to improve or make a few changes that will put us on a path to shaping a better future for ourselves and others. The following are five simple steps you can take to elevate your level of success.

1. Challenge Your Habits and Change Your Routine

It is incredibly easy to fall into the comforts offered by habits and routines, those that make our lives feel like a scene from Groundhog Day, in which the alarm wakes us at the same time every day as we hit the snooze button at least once before jumping into the shower. The familiarity of the daily grind, in which grabbing a coffee as you head into the office before performing the same tasks, can be comforting, yet we often wonder why nothing ever changes.

Our education system tends to encourage everyone to learn one correct answer and basically think in the same way. And when it comes to creativity, only a small number of people might be thought of as “creatives,” but this couldn’t be further from the truth. Technology is increasingly replacing laborious and repetitive tasks with automation. Creativity and critical thinking have become essential skills in the 21st century and possess the power to make you stand out from the crowd.

There are countless self-help books that advise you how to create new patterns and habits to help you achieve your goals. However, simply getting off the hamster wheel of life and allowing yourself to mix things up by both thinking and doing things differently is a great place to start, and it will stimulate creative thought.

2. Surround Yourself with People Who Lift You Up

They say that we become like the five people we spend the most time with, and ultimately they have the power to either inspire or drain us, so maybe it’s time to re-evaluate the amount of time that you spend with toxic individuals who only bring you down.

Surround yourself with like-minded souls on a similar journey or, better yet, those who can see the big picture better than you can. They will help you see failure as an opportunity and will certainly increase your odds of achieving your dreams.

Business is 80% people and 20% everything else, and this illustrates the importance of investing your time in getting to know open-minded individuals who enjoy helping turn others’ dreams into reality. What if you surrounded yourself with inspiration?

3. Fuel Your Creativity

If you begin your day reading the news that reminds you of all the negative aspects of our world, followed by looking at social media sites that show snapshots of lives that are edited to look much better than your own, you will never increase your productivity or creativity. I like to start each day thinking of all the things I’m grateful for. It’s hard to have a bad day when you start your day like this. Try it!

Whether they are stuck in a traffic jam or are on a delayed train or airplane, or even doing household chores, highly successful people unleash the power of refueling their creativity during these moments of “dead time” by reading books or listening to podcasts.

Books and podcasts on subjects that stretch your thinking are a fantastic way to stay inspired and learn new tools you can use to resolve problems that are stopping you from reaching your goals. Try having fewer calls with people who pull you down and don’t help you move forward, and instead call people who lift you up, or watch a good TED Talk or listen to podcasts or audiobooks that offer advice and insights from others.

Removing yourself from a routine or familiar surroundings and going for a walk in a direction where you haven’t gone before instead of staring at a screen will help a lot. Highly successful individuals often find that their brains will naturally join the dots when they expose themselves to new ideas, surroundings and experiences.

4. Bring Focus and Clarity to Your Dreams

Bringing focus and clarity to your dreams while working alone in front of a computer in a dimly lit room is good, but is not enough on its own. Do not underestimate the importance of sharing and communicating your vision with others. It will attract the right people to you who will begin to see where you are going and offer ideas to help you get there.

By sharing your passion for a future vision and communicating the message with transparency on how it will be achieved, you will find people who can help you to create a solid path to achieve your goals.

5. Embrace Marginal Gains

When Dave Brailsford became the manager of Great Britain’s professional cycling team, no British cyclist had ever won the Tour de France. However, he had a simple concept known as “aggregation of marginal gains” that would revolutionize the sport and lead to his team members becoming tournament champions and Olympic gold medal winners.

The philosophy involved improving tiny areas that were traditionally overlooked by 99 percent in the belief that a long list of 1% improvements would be the difference between being champions or losers.

Researching for a pillow that offered the best sleep for cyclists to take to hotels, and teaching riders the best way to wash their hands to avoid infection, were just a few of a long list of improvements that, although they looked tiny, ended up making a massive difference.

Whether you want to lose weight, build a business or achieve any other goal in life, it’s clear that heading straight for the moon with only one step will almost certainly result in failure or demotivation.

Small changes to your daily routine, such as creating a new email signature or changing those boring, stuffy group meetings by asking better questions, could boost your momentum and enthusiasm. All these changes not only deliver long-term improvements but also improve the overall quality of your life.

Will what got you to where you are be enough to take you to the next level? There are entire chapters on how to act in the future in my latest book The Anticipatory Organization. I’ll buy the book, you pay the shipping cost. Click here to order your copy.
Categories
Best Practices Entrepreneurship Human Resources Investing Management Marketing Negotiations Sales Skills Women In Business

How to Use One Secret Trick of Good Negotiators

“To obtain more, ask for more. And, know when to ask.” -Greg Williams, The Master Negotiator & Body Language Expert

There’s one secret trick that good negotiators use that allows them to obtain more from every negotiation they’re in. Do you know what it is?

Good negotiators ask for more than they expect to receive. But wait, there’s more! It’s not just that they ask for more, it’s the way they ask, and the timing that allows them to get more.

Characteristics of Questioner:

The way you make a request should be in part, based on the character of the person you’re asking. Some people are brisk (i.e. get to the point), others are more sociable (i.e. let’s take our time). Thus, it would not behoove you to pose the same type of request to the people possessing the characteristics mentioned. If you did, your request might be met by one and not the other, or neither of them, due to the way you posed the question. In either case, you’d be gambling on the outcome. Posing the right question in the manner that’s more receptive to the characteristics of the person to whom you’re asking a question enhances that outcome.

Verbiage Use:

“Can you …”, “Will you …”, “I need …”, “I want …” are forms of openings to a question that will psychologically appeal to different personality types. To maximize the probability of obtaining what you seek, mimic the verbiage used by the person you’re seeking the outcome from. If you observe that she predominantly uses, “can you help me” when requesting assistance, use that phrase on her. It will have an echoing effect on her; that means, the words will sound like something she’s heard before. That’ll be true to her because they will be the words that she uses. That will place her in a mindset to grant your request more readily.

Setup and Timing:

The one main advantage you have over the other person is the fact that you know you’re going to make a request. The timing of when you do will impact the probability of a successful outcome. To enhance that outcome, consider probing by asking questions that aren’t as direct as the one you plan to use (e.g. What do you think about …?). Be careful not to give too much insight about your real intent. If you do, you might be weakening your efforts.

Another tactic you can utilize is to make a request that’s significantly more than what you’re seeking. Then, by comparison, the smaller request won’t appear to be as large.

Situational and Positional Power:

Along with timing, consider when you have situational or positional power. You have situational power when you’re in a situation where you’re perceived by others as being powerful (i.e. police officer with red lights flashing). Positional power stems from the position you hold at the time when you’re perceived as being in control (i.e. boss over subordinate).

During such times, you’ll be able to make requests with an enhanced probability of having them granted.

Asking for more in any negotiation will always enhance the probability that you’ll obtain more. But you must know how to properly execute your requests to enhance that probability. Using the insights above will do just that for you … and everything will be right with the world.

Remember, you’re always negotiating!

After reading this article, what are you thinking? I’d really like to know. Reach me at Greg@TheMasterNegotiator.com

To receive Greg’s free “Negotiation Tip of the Week” and the “Sunday Negotiation Insight” click here http://www.TheMasterNegotiator.com/greg-williams/

#Trick #Negotiator #Business #Management #SmallBusiness #Money #Negotiating #combat #negotiatingwithabully #bully #bullies #bullying #Negotiations #PersonalDevelopment #HandlingObjections #HowToNegotiateBetter #CSuite #TheMasterNegotiator #psychology #NegotiationPsychology

Categories
Personal Development Sales

Mind Your Own Business

Last week, Yitzchok Saflas hosted myself on the Mind Your Business radio show in New York on 77 WABC. Michael was honored to be in such great company—Yitzchok’s show is ideal for anyone who wants to hear from the best business minds of our time. This radio show is also number 5 in the top 10 Nielsen ratings. You can check out my interview online here: http://www.mybradio.com/michael-houlihan/

The show covered many topics when it comes to building a startup business, including “How to get from ideation to monetization,” and one of my absolute favorites, “How to decipher the true cost of sales.”

Many startups already understand cost of goods, or COGS. This is the cost to create, develop, or manufacture whatever it is you’re selling. Your budget will have a COGS line.

Other expenses could be lumped into the general budget, or maybe even “overhead”. We think that is, by far, the biggest mistake that startups can make. It could lead to a ton of misconceptions that can close your doors forever. The cost of doing business depends on the territory. Selling costs, including promos, shipping, tax, representation distribution management, and many more, could vary greatly depending on the market. We see many startups underestimating the true cost of sales in each market—not the cost of goods. This is a fatal mistake!

We knew there would be promotion, advertising, and merchandising costs involved when we started Barefoot Wine. But hotels, meals, car rentals, airfare, taxes, freight, sampling, salaries, and expenses—we definitely weren’t ready for that. We learned about those costs the hard way.

The good news: Since our product sold quickly, it completely sold out. The bad news: After it sold out, it wasn’t reordered. It stayed out of stock because we didn’t have someone in each territory looking for our brand. We were floored!

“So, even when distributors and retailers have a hot product that sells quickly, they won’t reorder it automatically?” we complained. Their behavior said everything we needed to know. We had to pay to have a representative in each territory, or else it could run out and never be reordered. This is a huge cost of sales. We wished we knew this when we started! It wasn’t enough for us to get in the store—we had to pay more to stay in.

There was one big Midwest chain that wanted to put our product on a promotion for $5.99 in 5 states. We were so excited! It would be a slam-dunk, we thought. But, as Bonnie recounts, “It was just a slam!” In order to get the sale price in two out of those five states, we had to lose money on each and every sale. The taxes were higher in those states than the others, and so was shipping and handling. So rather than making a killing, we were killed—completely by the cost of sales.

One of the final questions I was asked in that interview was, “What advice would you give new startups today?” I replied, “Start in a small place, learn from your mistakes locally where you won’t fatally hurt your brand. Learn the cost of sales. Hire a cost accountant to analyze those costs ahead of time for each expansion scenario. Then, ‘All ahead slow’ with your eyes wide open and your notepad at the ready. You might find out it’s cheaper to do business in South Carolina that it is in New York!”

For more, read on: http://c-suitenetworkadvisors.com/advisor/michael-houlihan-and-bonnie-harvey/

Categories
Best Practices Growth Leadership Personal Development

Why Your B2B Content Marketing Isn’t Ready for Personalization

I am blessed to have a number of B2B companies as clients–each one wants me to help them with their content marketing. And I am luckily able to help them all, except there is one thing they all seem to want but don’t know how to deliver–truly personalized B2B content recommendations.

They see Amazon do it. They see other B2C companies do it. But why is it so hard for B2B?

The main reason is that B2C companies don’t personalize content recommendations so much as they personalize product recommendations. They watch what you (and everyone else) buys and they can determine what you are interested in, and which products relate to those interests. Amazon knows that if you buy one book on Civil War History that you will likely buy another. But if your B2B company sells one of your products to a client, its likely they are done. They don’t need another one.

And that sale is excruciating. What happens after the sale isn’t your concern. You want to accelerate making that sale in the first place. That’s why you want to recommend content. But how do you do it?

You likely aren’t ready. (I’m sorry.)

There are three things you need to recommend content:

Information about the visitor to your site. You probably don’t have any. Sure, you might offer registration, but how many clients actually register? What incentive do they have? And how many registered clients even sign in each time they come to the site? Do you drop cookies so they automatically sign in when they come back? What information do you ask them for? Do you use any Visitor Identification technology to get information about those who don’t register? If you don’t have good answers to these questions, you aren’t ready.

Information about the content on your site. You probably have even less of this, if that’s possible. You probably have no taxonomies that have standardized tag values for topics, industries, and other critical metadata. Or if you do, it hasn’t been updated in decades. And you are hoping that author manually tag the content correctly–which you know isn’t working. You have no automation applied to any of these problems to standardize the findability of content on the site. And you have no automated process to match content to visitors–whatever you are doing is using manual rules in your CMS or Marketing Automation system. So, either it doesn’t work or it doesn’t scale. You don’t think that is how Amazon is doing it, do you?

Information about what is working. OK, this one is something you have right? For every piece of content, you have bounce rates and exit rates in your web analytics system, where you also know every link that is clicked on every page, and the cookie ID of the visitor who did it. Great work, honestly. But where do you use that data? Do you use it for content recommendation, or does it just lay dormant in your analytics system waiting to be displayed on a dashboard? Information that gains meaning when it hits the analyst’s eyeball isn’t helpful when you are trying to scale. You need information in a form for automated processes to act on.

If you have all of these problems (and maybe even more), you might be tempted to throw away your whole marketing stack and buy everything from one vendor, because, surely, they have integrated all of these pieces together and now it will just work. Well, I haven’t seen it. This isn’t strictly a technology problem. You might have all the technologies you need, but you don’t have the processes to acquire clean data and the automation to put those technologies to work at scale.

If it seems daunting, you can throw in the towel, but you can make this work. You just have to stop believing in magic technologies and start believing in well-engineered processes and experts to make them work. You can do B2B content recommendation at scale without breaking the bank. You just need to be willing to step back and solve these three problems that are getting in the way.

Categories
Best Practices Entrepreneurship Human Resources Management Negotiations Sales Skills Women In Business

How Will You Know When It’s Time to Leave?

“Staying too long in any environment depletes your resolution for change.” -Greg Williams, The Master Negotiator & Body Language Expert

When was the last time you found yourself wondering, why am I still here? What purpose is being here serving me? Sometimes, those questions beckon to the beginning of a new journey. They serve as an indicator of change in your life. Those feelings usually manifest themselves in some subliminal emotion you sense. They nudge at your consciousness. They do so in an attempt to move you. They’re saying, it’s time to move on. Pay attention to those emotional signals because they’re calls from the future. They’re summoning you to move from where you are to where you’ll be. In paying attention, take note of the direction you move in. Those same emotions will gently speak to your consciousness along your journey’s path. They’ll indicate to what degree you’re moving in the right direction.

If you think about it, you’ve been moved by silent thoughts and stimuli that have gently moved you out of one environment and into another throughout your whole life. More than likely, when you were younger, you were not aware when those silent thoughts provoked you. At some point, you acquired that recognition. When you did, that was the awakening of a higher sense of awareness that you’d invoked within yourself.

When you sense that it’s time to move on, know what’s motivating you and name it. Assess if you’re attempting to escape an environment or moving towards a greater goal. It’s important to recognize the main source of motivation because, once you identify it, you’ll have greater insight into what caused you to move. There’s a difference between moving away from and moving towards something. The difference resides in the motivation.

To determine the degree you’ve improved, set goals. As you progress towards the achievement of a goal, have mile-markers that indicate the progress you’ve made. By noting that, you’ll know when you need to make a course correction. That will also be the signal that indicates whether it’s time to leave the path you’re on to seek another.

Never be afraid to realign your actions to achieve greater goals. You were not meant to stop striving forward. That only occurs when you die. So, no matter the turmoil you experience, no matter the perceived setbacks you encounter, never be fearful of leaving an environment that no longer serves you. The longer you stay in a debilitating environment, the more debilitated you’ll become. You’ll have less time to revel in the success you seek. If you note the progress you’re making along the path of life’s journey and you’re willing to leave a path that’s going nowhere, you’ll find a better path for your life … and everything will be right with the world.

What does this have to do with negotiations?

Many negotiators have found themselves stuck in a negotiation long after they should have departed. When it comes to negotiations, the longer you stay engaged, the more likely you are to make unnecessary concessions.

If you find that things aren’t going to your satisfaction, consider points that you might use to exit. In such a case, knowing when it’s time to leave can save you a lot of time, anxiety, and stress. And, as a negotiator, that’s something you don’t want or need.

Remember, you’re always negotiating!

After reading this article, what are you thinking? I’d really like to know. Reach me at Greg@TheMasterNegotiator.com 

To receive Greg’s free “Negotiation Tip of the Week” and the “Sunday Negotiation Insight” click here http://www.themasternegotiator.com/greg-williams/

#Time, #Success #Emotion #Business #Progress #SmallBusiness #Negotiation #NegotiatingWithABully #Power #Perception #emotionalcontrol #relationships #liars #HowToNegotiateBetter #CSuite #TheMasterNegotiator #ControlEmotions

Categories
Growth Management Personal Development

The Step Executive Leaders CAN’T Skip Before the New Year

Year after year, the holidays coincide with the end of the year and all that entails. I feel your pain, truly I do. Back in the day, I would get caught up with the holidays and all that they entail, (which I still do, of course), and then jump into planning, goal setting, and resolution making for the New Year.

But I’d skipped a valuable step. I’d neglected to reflect on the past year. While it’s easy to fast forward to future visioning, I’ve come to realize that it’s important to take the time to take inventory on the past 12 months.

Reflecting on the year past is not some soft, fluffy, airy, fairy activity, but rather, can have hard-core, bottom-line business impact. Whether you’re a leader, manager, supervisor, a wannabe, or a dog or a cat person, trust me, this stuff works. Whatever your current role or your aspirations, if you want to advance your career and certainly if you want to become a better executive leader, you have got to commit to learning and growing. And that’s precisely why you need to make sure you thoroughly process and digest your experiences.

Socrates said,

“An unexamined life is not worth living.”

Maybe that’s a bit dramatic, but I do think there is value in taking time to pause and reflect.  One way to do this is to celebrate the wins and digest the lessons. Incorporate the best and eliminate the worst.

Think in terms of MOLO – More Of, Less Of.

What do you want to create more of in your life and what do you want to have less of in your life?

I aim to take time during the last week of the year to conduct my own year-end review. This has actually become a ritual that I look forward to and plan for. You can conduct your own review any way you like. My suggestion is to set aside some time (anywhere from an hour to a full day or more), grab a notebook and pen, disconnect from all, uh, distractions, (namely your texts, email, etc.), and go to a place where you won’t be disturbed.

Ponder these executive leadership questions as you sip your beverage of choice:

1. What gave you the feeling of great accomplishment? Think in terms of what you did really well and how you might replicate that. What do you want more of in 2019?

2. What, or who, are you most grateful for? Feel free to go crazy on this one.

3. What would you do differently if you’d known then what you know now? What do you want less of in 2019?

4. What did you learn? What skills, knowledge, or awareness did you develop?  How are you different this year from last year?

5. What relationships did you nurture or develop?

6. Jim Rohn said that you are the average of the five people you spend the most time with. Who did you spend time with?

7. Who did you look to as a mentor? Who did you mentor/teach/coach?

8. How did you increase your value to your organization? To your direct reports? To your clients or customers?

So before popping the 2019 New Year’s champagne and jumping right into goal setting and resolution making, take time to reflect. I hope these six questions have sparked your thinking and prompted you to take stock of the past year.

WHAT’S YOUR TAKE?:

  • What reflective questions would you add to this list?
  • How do you conduct your year-end review?
  • Pop a comment below and share your practices, ideas, and suggestions with our community.

For more resources on leadership and employee engagement, be sure to sign up for our monthly Ezine and you will receive our report: “7 of Your Biggest People Problems…Solved.”

You might also like:

8 of the Best Kept Leadership Communication Secrets

Serve as the Work Culture Thermostat, Not a Thermometer

Ten Tactics for Leading Through Tough Times

Jennifer Ledet, CSP, is a leadership consultant and professional speaker (with a hint of Cajun flavor) who equips leaders from the boardroom to the mailroom to improve employee engagement, teamwork, and communication.  In her customized programs, leadership retreats, keynote presentations, and breakout sessions, she cuts through the BS and talks through the tough stuff to solve your people problems.

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Categories
Growth Personal Development

Boosting Brain Performance When Traveling for Business

This year I have had a heavy load of international travel. Although I look forward to my business engagements in Asia and Indonesia, sixteen to thirty-two hours traveling can knock even the most seasoned travelers.

For those of you who have scheduled meetings soon after arrival at your destination, whether it be interstate or international, it is critical that you follow steps to ensure that your brain performance has not been affected by your travel arrangements. Think of your pre-frontal cortex as the CEO of your brain. It is this area of your brain that needs to be firing at its best in order for you to be able to make sound executive decisions and rock your meetings at your destination.

I can attest from personal experience how easily you can fall victim to brain fog, memory lapses and poor judgement calls when not taking note of the following simple points when traveling long distance for business.

In my previous blog I outlined the importance of sleep in enabling us to form memories and to clear our brains of toxins. If you do not get enough sleep then there will be lower activity in your prefrontal cortex, which will affect your judgement, impulse control and memory. Take this into account when scheduling your time of departure and your first meeting. Make sure that you get seven hours sleep and try not to schedule flights before 10.00am.

If you have a very long flight consider taking a very small dose of melatonin. However, steer clear of doses higher than 3mg or more ( Aim for under 1mg) to prevent any grogginess the following day, when you will need your wits about you. It is important not to sleep for the full duration of a very long international flight, so that you can take time out to hydrate and move your legs, to avoid deep venous thrombosis. (blood clots) As tempting as it may be to drink alcohol to relax, resist this temptation, as it will further dehydrate you. Remember that your brain is 73% water and requires constant hydration to prevent shrinkage. A decrease in water intake, even as much as 4% can cause a number of issues like fatigue, headaches and brain fog.

Glucose is your brain’s other best friend. This is not to be confused with processed sugar(sucrose) in the various complex carbohydrates that are served on planes. These will help you sleep when you need to, but should not be eaten when you are close to your destination if you want to avoid brain fog. Try to indulge in snacks like grapes, raisins and dates on your flights as they are great sources of glucose.

The less you eat the better you will feel on and after a very long flight. Purchase some nuts for the flight and load up on probiotics and yogurts before and during your travel to keep those gut micro-biomes happy. This will not only protect your immunity, but keep your brain healthy.

As in everything else in life, preparation is the key. I have on a few occasions thought that I could buy what I needed at the airport. Not all airports around the United States or in other countries may have what you require, or the queues may be too long. Take the time to observe these simple steps in your travel preparation and your brain will perform well when you get to your destination.