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Month: April 2021

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Best Practices Entrepreneurship Human Resources Negotiations Sales Skills Women In Business

“Insider Advice On How To Use ‘How’ To Win More Negotiations” – Negotiation Tip of the Week

“No one knows more the value of advice than the person that benefits from it.” -Greg Williams, The Master Negotiator & Body Language Expert (click to Tweet)

Click here to get the book!

 

“Insider Advice On How To Use ‘How’ To Win More Negotiations”

 

People don’t realize they’re always negotiating.

There’s a stealthy ploy that great negotiators use in negotiations to get inside of their counterpart’s head. It can put the other negotiator at ease or put him on edge. How do they do that, you may ask? It’s by using the word ‘how’ during their discussion. Its use is so alluring that most people engaged in a negotiation don’t realize the spell that has captured them until it’s too late to adjust to it.

So, the question is, why is ‘how’ so powerful in a negotiation? What gives it power? And how might you use it to win more negotiations? The following answers those questions while outlining how and when to use ‘how.’

Click here to discover more!

Remember, you’re always negotiating!

 

Listen to Greg’s podcast at https://c-suitenetwork.com/radio/shows/greg-williams-the-master-negotiator-and-body-language-expert-podcast/

 

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

 

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

 

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Categories
Growth Human Resources Personal Development

Boredom Is Bad for Training

by Evan Hackel

Boring training is bad training because people who are bored tune out and do not learn. That could explain why so many professional trainers like to exhibit such high levels of energy. They burst into a training session at the start of the day with so much oomph that it is hard to imagine how one ounce of boredom could remain in the room.

Yet boredom is sneaky. Even if training gets off to a rousing start, it can sneak back in and infect trainees.

Boredom Is Serious

Boredom, which has been defined as “an unpleasant state arising in monotonous situations,” does more than just limit people’s ability to pay attention. In studies, it has been linked to serious problems. When people are chronically bored, they are more likely to drive too fast, to become negative or depressed, and to engage in dangerous activities like smoking and drinking alcohol to excess.

In 2014 Colleen Merrifield, a doctoral student at the University of Waterloo in Canada, wrote her thesis about boredom. Entitled “Toward a Model of Boredom: Investigating the Psychophysiological, Cognitive, and Neural Correlates of Boredom,” it makes for very useful reading for training designers.

“Despite the breadth of research related to boredom,” Dr. Merrifield writes, “surprisingly little research has been devoted to understanding the psychological, behavioral, physiological, and/or neural underpinnings of the construct itself. Without this understanding, it is difficult to establish criteria to identify and measure the experience.”

Chasing Boredom from the Training Room

If even the most energetic trainer cannot banish boredom from training, what can? Let’s look at some strategies that work.

  • Deliver information in visual, aural, reading/writing and kinesthetic formats. You can learn more online about those styles, usually grouped under the VARK acronym. In practical terms, that means designing training that includes videos, moving around the room, reading and written exercises, as well as compelling slides and visuals. Training that utilizes the four VARK aspects is less likely to become boring.
  • Design training that doesn’t conflict with trainees’ energy highs and lows through the day. These highs and lows, also called circadian rhythms, cause most people to have high energy during the morning hours, followed by a slump after lunch and then another uptick in the mid to late afternoon. In designing your training day, you should avoid reading, taking tests, or listening to talks right after lunch – a time when energy levels fall. Engage your learners in work simulations, games, or interactive exercises instead. If you have a quiz or evaluation for trainees to complete, schedule that first thing in the morning, when energy is high. Timing your training around circadian rhythms decreases boredom and boosts receptiveness to learning.
  • Invite trainees to decide what they will learn. During the planning process, for example, you can ask your salespeople to submit their top frustrations and roadblocks – then design training to explore them and provide solutions. Or if your trainer is agile and resourceful enough, trainees can suggest topics to explore while training is taking place. If you can keep training grounded in what people genuinely want to learn, boredom doesn’t have a chance to intrude.
  • Let trainees complete some materials on their mobile phones and tablets. After all, not every unit must be completed in a face-to-face training session, or even in a company’s computerized training room. Some materials, including interactive quizzes and videos, can be delivered to your employees over evenings or weekends. Mixing these options in with classroom training can provide variety that keeps training engaging and vibrant.

About Evan Hackel

Evan Hackel, a 35-year franchising veteran, is a nationally recognized expert and speaker on franchising. Evan is founder and CEO of Ingage Consulting, and CEO of Tortal Training, a leading training development company. Evan is an active advisor in the C-Suite Network. He is also author of Ingaging Leadership Meets the Younger Generation, and host of “Training Unleashed,” a podcast covering training for business. Contact him here, follow him at @ehackel, or call 781-820-7609.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Categories
Best Practices Growth Management Personal Development

Leader! Do You Speak Up So You Can Lead Up? Four Reasons Why You Should

In 2017, a man I went to college with and knew as a very driven and accomplished leader crashed into another vehicle in oncoming traffic – he was not injured. However, it turned out he was overspeeding after he had just slashed his wife’s throat at home and was fleeing the scene. Many were both surprised and outraged with anger about why she did not speak up regarding any challenges they had in their marriage. He also never spoke up about any help he needed to garner the support required to resolve the problems that ultimately ruined what would have been a remarkable career and a beautiful home.

You see, speaking up is not only about the concerns or challenges one faces in one’s personal or marital life, but also what one encounters in business. It is not speaking up that kills you, whether slowly or instantly. There is no shame in the game of business if one is to be successful and excel. You have to recognize where your shortcomings are, what areas you need help with, and who you need to communicate the desire, deficiency, or discrepancy to, so you can rectify them.

If you are a leader who cannot speak up for what you know is a problem or an obstacle to your success and accomplishments, you will likely lose followers because they cannot stand down if you cannot stand up for their cause. You will either sink or drown; it’s a matter of what and whom you’re going down with, or whether you are going down alone. However, to excel, four reasons that could save your business and potentially your leadership health are:

  1. For the benefit of the collective team. Often, it is not as much about you as it is about others on your team who need a voice that no one else in your position can provide them. If you are in a post that commands influence, making your voice heard to advocate for those who need it is imperative and expected for everyone’s benefit. Organizations such as the Small Business Administration can help with advocacy of a desired need. A value of leadership is the opportunity to lead others toward a better life. If you cannot provide the collective team’s voice, such as advocating better compensation and workers’ benefits, your value to the team diminishes. Make your voice heard for others.
  2. Suggests compliance and consent. Not saying anything when you should, implies concurrence with the outcome or situation. Being silent without action when a situation is evolving or when it has occurred presents an impression that you are complicit in the behaviors, actions, or inactions at hand. To this end, an excerpt in The Chronicle discusses some pros and cons of ethical compliance. There is undoubtedly a time to be quiet and a time to be vocal by standing up so you can lead up. You lead up by acting on a situation where it would otherwise hinder your success, your efforts, or your growth in relationships with others. See something, say something so that others can excel, and you can too.
  3. Catalyst for change. Often, those who are most vocal about their perspectives are catalysts for transformational change. Leaders do not succumb to the status quo or resist change. In fact, they welcome change because it provides a forum to innovate and elevate new ways of doing business. The Harvard Business Review discusses how you can have change agents in your own organizational culture. When leaders drive change because they speak up for a change they see should occur, they open new doors and bridge new gaps that would otherwise not be explored. Leaders drive change, and change is good for the growth and health of an ever-dynamic world.
  4. Create awareness and build trust. If you have a perspective that no one else has heard off, share it to bring awareness to the cause or notion. Being silent when you have something to share is not leadership, and it’s inconsiderate. Creating awareness of the perspective you have may eventually or in the interim help someone else succeed in their endeavors. In the story shared at the beginning, if the couple in question had sought help by speaking up, someone would have intervened to save a life. Similarly, in business, making a friend, support group, or reputable organization such as a leadership development or coaching organization can help catapult your business to the next level of organizational transformation. Seeking such support will ultimately build trust and engender awareness with those you lead and serve.

In a world where inequalities, rage, and social unrest reign supreme, leaders in all spheres will be compelled to raise their level of self-awareness and enhance their leadership insight so that they can create decisive outcomes for those they lead.  Knowing when to speak up to lead up and when to stand down so others can lead is essential as it is compelling. Speak up!

Categories
Best Practices Marketing Personal Development

Marketing Has a Marketing Problem…

MARKETING HAS A MARKETING PROBLEM

Don’t Make These Common Mistakes

 

How to Attract Customers Today?

Right now, EVERY business is wondering how to reach customers to grow their business. And how to build and attract an audience of loyal customers and fans online? It has become the biggest marketing problem every business is dealing with.

One of the greatest challenges we all face today is our ability to stay relevant to the audience we want to reach. If we’re not relevant, our customers will ultimately find a business that is. In the digital age, creating a strategy to build an audience and engage customers online has become the core business challenge. What’s worse, is that most of us are failing at it.

To become the leading voice in our fields, we’re being told to create content and marketing assets to get our message out: pay for ads, write books, start podcasts, become speakers, publish blogs, create videos, blast email campaigns, create social accounts and YouTube channels. So we are, but the truth is, so far, according to recent reports, it isn’t working that well.

  • 94% of B2B businesses claim to be doing content marketing
  • only 9% rate their efforts as highly effective

While we’ve all been taking steps in the right direction, our marketing efforts over the past decade have been more reactionary attempts that lack a clear approach to attract the audience we really need.  Until now…

Up until the digital age, competition consisted of only three differentials:

  • Speed
  • Quality
  • Price

 

Where Was This in the SWOT Analysis?

But now, that’s all changed. Business leaders today have the added pressure of answering not only why a customer should simply buy from them versus their competitor, but also why people should like and follow them to consume their content.

 

 

Businesses today are not just brick-and-mortar stores anymore. We’re digital networks focused on common goals, values, and beliefs.

Today, the primary currency in business is our ability to create awareness for the problems we solve for customers. The question is “How?”

 

Produce Content THEY Actually Want

As trivial as it may sound it’s surprising how many businesses produce content that lacks focus on the customer’s interests.

Whether we like it or not, we’re all part of the media landscape which makes us media companies. Even if you don’t want to accept the responsibility, the writing is on the wall.

“The customer comes first.” How many times have you heard that? But when was the last time you applied this “rule” to your marketing? When you think more like a media company rather than an advertiser, you give your customers the content they want.

 

Put your customer at the heart of your strategy by creating an inbound audience that comes to you by providing quality content that adds value to the situation they face.

 

The Customer Is in Control. Not You!

Mike Volpe was the original CMO of HubSpot, a leading tech platform for marketers. He had been with HubSpot since he was their fifth employee. Volpe helped scale the company from 12 beta users to 1,000 employees generating $150M in revenue with a successful IPO leading to a $1.78 market cap. Today, they’re valued at over $500M.

How did they do it?

In part, they created content to attract and add value to their ideal client marketing companies. Mike focused on creating content to help other marketers be successful. By teaching potential customers how to be impactful in their messaging and marketing strategies, HubSpot became a tool, or resource, for best marketing practices taught by HubSpot.

“You don’t want to interrupt the content that people are trying to consume but be that content they want to consume. The buyer is in control, but you’re still marketing as if that’s not true.” – Mike Volpe

Another way of thinking about Mike’s lesson is to stop creating content that is less about promoting a product and more about respecting your audience by finding out what their interests are and acknowledging them

 

Buyers Consume Information. Give it to Them!

If you weren’t reading this right now, you’d be consuming information somewhere else. Do you know how much time the average person is consuming information online today?

Over 11 hours each day — that’s how much time. US adults are spending more than 11 hours a day on average, or about two-thirds of their waking time, consuming media information.

Customers now have a new level of control over how, when, and where we’re permitted to attract their attention.

Companies that put out 16 or more posts a month receive 3.5 times more traffic to their website than companies that post four or fewer posts per month. According to the Content Marketing Institute, content marketing attracts three times the number of leads than outbound marketing and costs 62% less. Small businesses with blogs get 126% more lead growth than businesses without them.

 

 

Help Them Reach Their Goals Faster

The truth is marketers have become more fixated on HOW to promote than WHAT consumers actually want or care about.

Ask most people what they think about marketing, and they will tell you it’s an ad or some form of promotion. Marketing has a marketing problem. In the real world, marketing is just the process of building relationships and satisfying customers. Customers who understand their buying power know they have many options.

The brands that win more customers are the ones who put their customers ahead of their desire to sell more stuff.

The core of the human experience is looking for solutions we need and those in which we feel we belong. People want to feel that they’re getting closer to the goals they have set out to achieve on their journey.

Which passion are you sharing with them in this journey? What journey or goal are you ultimately looking to connect and achieve with your audience?

 

Bring People Together

We join tribes to surround ourselves with people who share the same journey and want the same outcomes. Our tribes bring us together around a common goal. So, build one. Whether it’s politics, religion, national identity or a brand, people are hungry to define who they are and what they want.

We join communities and clubs to find other people who are like us.

We do business with brands that “get us” and who understand what really drives us forward. This is why the largest, most successful brands think of themselves and communicate as “movements” instead of products and services.

 

 

 

Isn’t There Already Too Much Content Out There?

A surprising 84% of people actually expect and want brands to create more content for them!

Unfortunately, our attempts are letting consumers down in a big way, especially considering 60% of branded content is reported as poor, irrelevant, and fails to deliver. That’s a massive gap in consumer expectations and what we’re delivering against so far!

Most businesses produce content to fill sales quotas rather than produce content designed to inform, delight, or entertain audiences.

Instead of promoting and floundering like every other business, we now have the opportunity to publish information people actually look forward to learning and enjoying. Whether through articles, videos, or podcasts, we can publish content designed to help our audience achieve the results they desire.

 

Today, business leaders are learning that most businesses fail because they fail to capture the attention of the customers they really want.

Grow your results faster with a few of these tips to avoid the same marketing problems your competitors do.

PS. If you found this article helpful, you may want to learn why Content Marketing is the Only Skill You Really Need!

 

For more information visit tylerhayzlett.com

Categories
Best Practices Entrepreneurship Personal Development

A Small Omission That Undermines Your Credibility on LinkedIn

A Small Omission That Undermines
Your Credibility on LinkedIn

Time and again we hear that people come to conclusions about others in a matter of seconds – and they do so based on very small cues. Therefore, when communicating our brand online, paying attention to the “little things” is quite important. One of the little things that packs a huge negative wallop to our eminence is the absence of a logo in our Experience, Education and Volunteer sections. This is an issue on many executive profiles. In this article I discuss:

  • how the absence of a logo can be interpreted
  • remedies for the lack of a logo for a company over which you have control
  • remedies to missing logos where the logo exists within LinkedIn’s database
  • some strategies to explore if the logo is not in the database

How is the Absence of a Logo Interpreted?

The absence of a logo is always negative, but it is most damaging if the missing logo is for your current role with a company for which you are among the top executives (e.g., Owner, Founder, President, CEO, Principal Consultant, etc.). For example, if you are the founder of a company but your LinkedIn profile shows no associated company logo, it may be interpreted that you have a hobby rather than a real business – that you are not serious about your endeavor. Simply put, this error is a primary way that senior executives undermine their own credibility. But if you have made this error, it is totally within your power to fix it. (More on that later.)

Another interpretation people may reach when there are job positions and other entries in one’s LinkedIn profile that do not have associated logos that is that the person is either careless or clueless. If the appropriate logo exists within the LinkedIn database but it is not shown on the person’s profile, either of those assumptions may be correct. Of course, there are situations where there is no logo shown because no logo exists in the LinkedIn database. This can happen if the company is currently out of business or if it is too small to have bothered to create a Company Page and therefore have a logo within the LinkedIn database.

No Logo – and You Control the Company

The good news is that you are in control here. With very little effort you can fix this situation, thereby removing the impression that you have a hobby rather than a real business. The reason that your logo is not showing up is that you need to create a LinkedIn Company Page for your business. When you create a page for your company, you upload the company logo to LinkedIn’s database, making it available to display not only on the Company Page but also on your profile and on the profiles of all employees and board members.

To create a LinkedIn Company Page, you need:

  • a company website
  • an email address that goes to your company’s domain, and you have associated that email address with your LinkedIn account
  • a logo (a square image, at least 60 x 60 pixels in size, in JPEG or PNG file format)

See directions for setting up your company page here.

When you have created your Company Page and uploaded the logo, you and other employees need to delete the company name from your profile, then you can immediately re-enter it, selecting your company’s name and logo from a dropdown menu. The logo will then show up on your profile.  The result – everyone associated with the company will be appropriately branded – a huge win LinkedIn makes available without charge.

By the way, once you have created your Company Page, you need not do anything else with it. It will not become a burden on your time. On the other hand, you could use it as an additional way to amplify your online brand.

Remedies to Missing Logos – Where the Logo Exists Within LinkedIn’s Database

Some of the reasons the logo is not appearing on a profile might be:

  • the company/organization’s name is misspelled or entered incorrectly (for example, searching for The Ohio State University under “Ohio” doesn’t work because the university’s name is The Ohio State University)
  • the company/organization’s name has changed

If you’re not sure how to spell the company name or of the company’s current moniker, search for it on Google. When you’re sure, then delete the company/organization name from your profile and re-enter the name correctly, selecting the company’s name and logo from the dropdown menu LinkedIn will provide.

Strategies to Explore If the Logo Is Not in LinkedIn’s Database

Some absent logos can be addressed by finding the logo of the company/organization’s parent group, then adding the Division or Chapter with which you are associated in the job title line. For example, suppose you were a member of the board of directors for the local chapter of a national charity. You might find that several local chapters have Company Pages on LinkedIn, but the chapter with which you are associated does not. In this case, on the company/organization line of your LinkedIn profile entry for your board of directors experience, enter the national charity and its logo. But to not be misleading, since you were not on the board of the national charity, on the line with your role, list “Board of Directors for the [name of the chapter].”

If the company you worked for is no longer in business but was acquired by another company, list the current name of the (acquiring) company. If there is sufficient space, in your job title line, note in parentheses (formerly [name of company when you worked there)]. If there isn’t enough room for that in your job title, add that information to the first line of your description of the job.

Of course, some companies just won’t have logos.  You’ll just have to do without them. But by making sure you’ve claimed all the logos you can, you will minimize the toll that the lack of logos can take on your personal eminence.

Savvy executives pay attention to their LinkedIn profiles. They know that even small things – like logos – are important to the way others perceive them.

 

LinkedIn for the Savvy Executive - Second EditionIf you are a C-Suite executive or senior leader who would like to improve your LinkedIn profile and presence, I can make it easy for you. I have a track record of working effectively with C-Suite executives and senior leaders to create LinkedIn profiles and other executive-branded materials that help them show up as authentically and powerfully online as they do in person. I also mentor clients on LinkedIn etiquette and effective posting strategies to ensure their success. Contact me through my website: www.carolkaemmerer.com or profile: www.linkedin.com/in/carolkaemmerer.

Other resources for you and your team:

For a virtual or in-person presentation on personal branding via LinkedIn, contact me. I am a member of the National Speakers Association, a Certified Virtual Presenter, and an Advisor to the C-Suite Network.

My NEW book Second Edition: LinkedIn for the Savvy Executive: Promote Your Brand with Authenticity, Tact and Power is available through online booksellers. For a quantity discount or signed copies, contact me directly.

 To receive my monthly articles in your email inbox, sign up for my monthly emailing here.

 

Categories
Growth Personal Development

Words of Wisdom From a Natural-Born Leader

Are you a natural born leader? According to Gallup, only 1 in 10 people are, the rest of us just have to work a little harder at it.  Writing a book or posting a YouTube video about leadership doesn’t make anyone an expert. You need to back it up with experience. 

 

Keith Krach does. He is definitely a natural-born leader.

 

Not only has he lead multi-billion dollar companies like Ariba and DocuSign and was the youngest vice president in General Motors history, he just finished a stint as Under Secretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment for the United States.  

 

That’s quite an impressive resume.

 

Keith took time out of his busy schedule to join the C-Suite Network for our Digital Discussion Leadership Series.  

 

Besides his business’s undeniable success, Keith’s wisdom is well-known. On his website, he has a section full of “Krachisms” which he defines as a personal mantra to live by, a cross between excellent business advice and personal affirmations to lift the spirit of one’s thinking. 

 

Let me tell you, Keith dropped plenty of those during our conversation and Q&A session with our C-Suite community. Here are just a few: 
 

(Note: these quotes may be edited for brevity and accuracy. To hear them unedited listen to the episode of All Business with Jeffrey Hayzlett below) 

On Transformational Leadership: 

 

“The definition of a transformational leader would be a leader who challenges the status quo and inspires, mobilizes, energizes, and unifies a high-performance team to achieve a noble goal that will leave a profound and long-lasting impact. As long as you have a noble cause in your heart, anybody can be a transformational leader.” 

 

Dealing with challenging problems: 

 

“If somebody will bring me a problem, it’s like ‘Hey, bring me a solution with it!’”  

 

“Every now and then, a problem arrives on your desk that there’s no answer for. The mere fact that it arrived on your desk and you have a great team working for you. It just means that there’s only a probability of success in the solution. What do you do when you get one of those on your desk? I follow a three-step method. First: I assemble the best experts I can find. Second: make sure that (the experts have) different temperaments, talents, and convictions, so they have (a) diversity of thought in terms of functional expertise so where they’re coming from. Then the third step is to suppress the egos and have them focus on the problem. Then you listen. So, when you go to bed at night, you can sleep and say, ‘I know that I had the best brains focused on it, and it was diverse, and there’s only a probability of success.’ You can’t dwell on it.”  

The three things you need to scale a business: 

 

“I always say there are three big things in terms of getting that team to build a high-performance team. The first one is a noble mission. This is what we’re after, and it’s going to mean a lot if we accomplish it. The second is you need an enemy. If you don’t have one, make it up. That stops the water cooler talk. Let’s go get ‘em, you know. The only thing that’s funner than winning the deal is ripping the esophagus out of your competition. To be honest with you, I never said that, but maybe some people have. 

 

Then the third thing you need is a plan. That’s where the playbook comes in and the playbook has been a framework that I’ve used with every company I’ve built.  

 

That’s your vision, your mission, your values, your team rules, your long-term goals, your strategy all boil down to execution.” 

 

On building a best executive team: 

 

“As CEO, your most important responsibility is building a high-performance team. I believe the company with the best team wins. Every quarter I would look around my executive team, and I would say, can I upgrade one of these roles and, by the way, the key is to keep that executive.” 

 

On serving his time as Under Secretary of State:  

 

“We have so much to be grateful for, particularly in this country. If there’s anything that I learned (from) my time out in Washington is the value of freedom and the value of democracy. Democracy is an experiment. The United States, it’s 200 and some years old, and it goes against all the laws of physics, that you know the natural state of things, the bad King, the dictator, and the Emperor. You got to fight every day for that. So, to be thankful that we can live in such a great country.” 

Those words of wisdom are just a sampling of the key insights Keith offered during the discussion. To say he’s a natural born leader is an understatement. Keith and I have been friends for some time now and the wisdom he has acquired is unparalleled. To hear them all, plus a great story about how DocuSign took on Adobe head-on and eventually dominated the category, click here. 

 

If you’d like to be a part of these Digital Discussions and participate in our Q&A sessions, consider joining the C-Suite Network. For less than the cost of a business lunch a month, you can be a part of a growing community and get the tools you need to become the most strategic person in the room. Click here to learn more.