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Category: Entrepreneurship

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Best Practices Entrepreneurship Human Resources Management Personal Development

Strategic Alignment Drives Sustained Results

There are seven ways for your company’s strategy, culture, and operations to align. Only one delivers sustained results.

• Are your business results falling short of expectations?

• Are you blindsided by hidden costs, disengaged employees, and unnecessary complexity?

• Are you sick and tired of fighting your competitors and internal roadblocks?

Unless your strategy, culture, and operating model are synchronized, you are wasting time, alienating employees, and leaving money on the table. The few minutes you spend reading the rest of this blog, will explain how a strategically aligned company is positioned for sustained results. Let’s define terms!

Your strategy is your overall plan to win in your marketplace.

As you develop your strategy, you get to choose your marketplace and you get to define what is a win. The only reason a company might choose not to have a strategy is because they are comfortable in their market position. Having no strategy is a certain slow death for a company. Market forces will eventually consume that company. Do you want this to happen to your company?

Your culture is the sum of the beliefs and behaviors your employees bring to work every day.

Each company’s culture is unique. Your culture is formed by the values lived and breathed by each employee, every day on the job. I’m not talking about the slogans hanging on the walls or the T-shirts. I’m talking about the accumulated employee beliefs and behaviors which arrive at work every single day. This is ‘who you really are.’ This is ‘your identity.’ This is how ‘your brand is created.’

Your operations are simply how things get done at your company.

• What needs to be done?

• Who does what?

• When does it get done?

• How will it get done?

These are your systems, processes, and procedures to deliver your strategy to the marketplace. Your resulting operating model translates your strategy into the daily operating instructions to be performed by your front-line employees. Now that we have defined strategy, culture, and operations, I challenge you to reflect on this question? ‘How satisfied have you been with your company’s growth and profitability over the past ten years?’ If you are not pleased with your results, ‘What are you going to do about it?’

The first thing that must change is, your mindset.

Begin to visualize strategy, culture, and operations as the ‘life blood’ of your company. When you successfully synchronize your strategy, culture, and operations, you are in a strong position to ‘chart your company’s course’ and begin to ‘experience your company’s vision.’ When strategy, culture, and operations are not in sync, your strategy, culture, and operations counterpunch each other until the ‘best man wins.’ Employees become disengaged; complexity surrounds what should be, simple changes; and you are consistently ‘leaving money on the table!’

So, how do you know if your strategy, culture, and operations are aligned?

Let me walk you through the process. First visualize your strategy, culture, and operations as three circles. Each circle represents strategy, culture, or operations. The question that matters is: ‘How well do your strategy, culture, and operations circles intersect?’ See the diagram to the left. The top circle represents strategy. The left circle represents culture. The right circle represents operations.

Strategy, culture, and operations and inter-depedent, and simultaneously impact each other. The numbers one thru seven in the diagram above, represent the seven ways your strategy, culture, and operations can align with each other. Let’s briefly describe each. After you have reviewed the descriptions, think about: ‘Which alignment sounds most like your company?’

Alignment 1 – Strategy Rules!

You have a great idea, but you have no clue what to do with that idea. Your strategy is developed and distributed, however, strategy is not a standalone step. You must make your culture and operations integral parts of your company’s strategic plan development.

 

Alignment 2 – We Decide, You Do!

 

Results when strategy and operations are in alignment and your culture is supposed to just, ‘Follow Along.’ Have you ever wondered why some of your company’s ‘initiatives,’ underperform?

Alignment 3 – The Dream!

You have in your head, ‘that idea.’ In your mind you can see it, feel it, and touch it, as if it were real. But, you’re the only one who sees it. The dream has not been translated into an executable game plan.

 

Alignment 4 – Silo / Turf War!

Results when your culture and operations are in alignment, but there is no common overall strategy. Each unit / department creates and act on the strategies they individually create. Say hello to politics, back stabbing, and game playing.

Alignment 5 – Culture is King!

Here, it is extremely important that people work well together. There are very few HR issues to deal with, but, there’s no strategy. No one knows how operations fit into the picture? A overall balance is needed.

Alignment 6 – Everyone’s on Board, I Hope It Works!

Results when your culture and strategy are in alignment, but you’re ‘rolling the dice’ with operations thinking, ‘it should work.’ You begin your new initiative, have your kick-off meeting, post your slogans, wear your T-shirts, but don’t spend a dime, nor give a second thought to operations.

Alignment 7 – Sustained Results!

When your strategy, culture, and operations are aligned, five things are crystal clear:

• You know who you are.

• You know where you are going.

• You know how you will get there.

• You know when you will get there.

• You know you will have sustainable, scalable results.

So, what will strategic alignment look like at your company?

Your company is in strategic alignment when you can:

• Embrace marketplace turbulence with your agile workforce.

• Consistently deliver your execution plans better, faster, and more cost effectively than your competition.

• Maintain a workforce of ‘owners’ who are excited to come to work each day.

• Maximize the return on investment in your people, your equipment, and your capital.

Just imagine:

• The resulting positive impact on profitability.

• Planting the seeds for your company’s future growth.

• Consistently beating your competition ‘to the punch.’

Can you really afford not to align your strategy, operations, and culture?

We’ve come a long way together. So now, in the comments section, please let me know:

1. Which alignment best represents how your company operates today?

2. How is that working for you?

Want to know more about strategic aligning your strategy, culture, and operations, sign up to receive my blog at www.GrowCompanyPofits.com.

Wayne helps CEO’s eliminate hidden costs, disengaged employees, and unnecessary complexity. How? Ensures your strategy, culture, and operations are aligned to deliver sustained results. Optimize ‘The Business Value Formula’ –> Recipe + Resources = Results.’ Learn more at www.GrowCompanyPofits.com

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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!

 

 

 

 

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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.

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Best Practices Entrepreneurship Human Resources Management Marketing Skills Women In Business

Truth Versus Lie

“Truth Versus Lie”

Have you ever been deceived, or lied to? The answer more than likely is, yes. When that occurred, how did you feel? Were you happy, elated, or overjoyed with a sense of exhilaration? Again, probably not.

Here’s the point, when we label an occurrence as a lie, it takes on a different meaning per the way we act, versus thinking of it as the truth. Nevertheless, in some situations, because someone has lied to us, we move towards a more positive outlook in our life but we don’t realize it at the time. Even though we may not know it at the time, that person has done us a favor. Now, I’m not suggesting that you seek to associate with those that lie to you to have them extend a favor. Instead, be mindful of the benefits derived from not being told the absolute truth about something, per the benefits it may hold for you. That may sound strange, but in life we get what we expect, so expect something good out of the situation.

The next time you catch someone in a lie, appreciate the fact that you’re seeing the person in a different light and be glad of that additional insight. You can use it to improve yourself, which might mean getting away from that person. If that turns out to be the case, you’ll be moving your life upon a path of future discovery and  be away from the environment that’s not serving as well otherwise … and everything will be right with the world.

What does this have to do with negotiations?

In a negotiation, deceit can reign supreme, as negotiators go about playing jet-eye mind tricks to position the other negotiator. It’s expected that neither will be so transparent as to disclose their full negotiation position. So, if it’s expected in a negotiation, and you’re always negotiating, why do you allow it to be permissible during a negotiation and not in other aspects of your life? The answer lies in the fact that you more than likely see one aspect, negotiations, as being something more formal than other aspects of your life. In essence, it’s the mindset you possess in one situation versus another. If that’s the case, and you’re the person controlling your mind, you can give the meaning of a lie a meaning that’s beneficial to you. That doesn’t mean you have to drop your guard, it means, be mindful and understanding of what you’re guarding. Do so … and everything will be right with the world.

Remember, you’re always negotiating!

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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.

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Entrepreneurship Management Personal Development

Getting In Front of More of the Right Kind of People

Time and time again I stand in front of audiences full of Sales Professionals and business owners and ask for a show of hands to the question “Who would like more customers?” and see a room full of raised hands. When further questioned to how much more? the room responds with words like “Lots” or “As much as I can get.”

What continues to surprise me is that regardless of the size of the business, the number 1 challenge to sales people is that they just wished they could get in front of more of the right kind of people. I have literally stacks of proven ideas to get you in front of more of the right kind of people however it is the constant oversight of the basics that I see continually preventing us reaching the success we are all capable of.

We all want more business and we know that activity drives out results, however it is having a winning strategy that allows high levels of activity to deliver high quality results. Lets just take a step back and consider how being brilliant at the basics can give us the winning edge, stand out from our competitors and get in front of more of the right people.

1. Stop looking for a needle in a hay stack

Striving for more and having huge ambition are qualities that have fueled the sales profession since the start of time. This enthusiasm is also a huge barrier to us creating the opportunities that are available to us. Too many sales people are simply out striving for more, without having complete clarity for what more looks like. This results in any success being created purely from their massive activity levels.

Surely before you rush out into the market it makes huge sense to step back and decide exactly what your ideal customer looks like. As sales people we have the privilege of being able to choose our customers, the big mistake is that most do not execute that choice. I see every future customer as no more than a missing person. Instead of looking for anybody and everybody, get laser focused on exactly what your ideal customer looks like; to the point that you could describe them to a stranger like you would a missing person. Once you have that focused description in your mind you will see opportunity more often, get more of the right kind of customers and be more targeted in all of your activity.

The additional benefit you gain once you can explain each of your target markets is that you can utilise the support of others to help find them. Just like a missing person , you can describe them to everyone you meet and let them introduce you to people or opt in to be a potential customer themselves.

What I am not saying is that you will only deal with people that fit your perfect description but simply being more targeted on your activity means you get lucky more often. I view it as just like playing darts. Every time that you throw a dart you are aiming for something specific. You don’t always hit it yet each time you miss you still contribute to your score.

2. Asking for the one thing that everyone loves to give

What I have learnt about decision makers is that they are typically busy people, massively value their time and often have a significant ego. Given the fact that they are also often very well protected by gatekeepers; crafting the perfect message to catch their attention at the right time can be a huge challenge and mean that you never get your opportunity.

There is one thing that every important person loves to give and can allow you to be sat in front of the most guarded of people with relative ease. This simple technique has resulted in me winning appointments with countless CEO’s, Sales Directors, Celebrities, Sports Personalities and multi millionaire business owners. The technique in question is simply asking these people to share their opinion on something.

Very often we are simply looking for the smallest of opening to get in front of these important people and that gives us the chance to start a relationship and carve out an opportunity. Everybody loves to be asked for their opinion as it shows that you respect them. Keeping the remainder of your request vague triggers the emotion of intrigue and means that they have to see you just to find out what its all about. I am sure you all have something that you could seek the opinion of your most wanted prospect.

3. What I learnt from a fudge shop

A short while ago I was shopping in Stratford upon Avon when one of my little girls needed to use the bathroom. As the girls went off to use the ladies I was left doing the one thing that I hate the most; waiting. This resulted in me scanning the cobbled streets on a Saturday morning looking for something to occupy my mind when I was then surprised to see a small boutique fudge shop absolutely teeming with customers.

It was remarkably busy and was certainly the busiest shop on the street and I was trying to work it out. I was certain that all those people had not woken up that morning and made a special trip just for the purchase of fudge. I continued to watch and moments later the shop emptied and then out came an attractive girl with a tray of samples, stopping passers by and enticing them back into the shop. Minutes later the shop was full again and I had joined the crowd to see inside. A few minutes later I left the store £6.80 lighter with 3 bags of fudge.

This taught me a number of things. It reminded me of the ability to sell things to people that they had not already decided to buy, the power of creating a crowd but above all else it demonstrates that if you show people what you do as opposed to tell people what you do you attract far more potential customers. You see if the shop had a sign saying that it produced “The finest fudge in town” it would have attracted far less. It was the fact that it stepped out and demonstrated the quality of its produce that attracted the crowds.

4. Bin the brochure

Sticking with the theme of showing your potential customers rather than telling them what we do, it continues to surprise me why so many company brochures and websites do no more than tell the potential customer what is done. Lets be honest and ask ourselves how often the leaving of a brochure has resulted in a customer ringing us up at a later date being ready to take the next step?

If we want a tool to help us get through doors then it must be of value to the recipient; something that they can use, will be around a while and ideally demonstrates your expertise. In my business this is easy as I use my books and cd’s for this purpose but what could it be in your business?

Think about the challenges your target customers have and look to provide them with a tool that will help them overcome this challenge, show that you know your stuff and also demonstrate that they may need some help to overcome this. I have seen marketing companies use SEO guides, Engineering companies provide technical explanation guides, Catering companies provide useful tips on arranging your event and countless others. By demonstrating your expertise and providing something of value then when they realise they need your service you are the only company in question.

5. How a TV detective taught me something magical.

You may or may not be familiar with the television detective of the past called Columbo. He was famous for one set of words that he would produce as leaving a conversation, when the suspects guard was down and would allow him the chance to gain the key piece of information he needed to solve the crime. As he was leaving he would simply say “Just one more thing…” and it was this that allowed him to have the full attention of his suspect in a vulnerable position and ask the killer question.

We often find ourselves in conversation with either key prospects or people who could lead us to our key prospects yet find it difficult to get the conversation we would like. Just imagine how you could create “Columbo moments” in these conversations and then either introduce your key opportunity or ask for an introduction into the key person within the organisation you are prospecting.

6. If you don’t ask….

We all know how that sentence finishes yet quite often the reason that we are not getting the opportunities that we would like is that we are not asking for them. It is highly unlikely that we will gain more appointments with key decision makers than the appointments that we ask for. With many people looking to avoid confrontation and hide behind email and direct mail to gain the attention of their prospects you can achieve a lot by just picking up the phone. In doing so we must be precious of the fact that their time is precious.

We are looking to sell the appointment and not our product or service. Keep the conversation short, give as little away as possible and be certain that it is just a short meeting. The goal is to make it very easy for them to say yes. Ask for their opinion, say that the meeting will just be 10 to 15 minutes and then confirm that with the time you are asking for the meeting. By asking for a meeting at ten to the hour, quarter to the hour, ten past the hour or quarter past the hour you will have far better conversion rates than asking for appointments on the hour.

By offering just 2 dates that you are available followed by the words “when suits you best?’ typically brings an agreement to one of those dates or the suggestion of an alternative. Every way round you still get your appointment.

7. The missing ingredient

I am sure in the ideas that I have shared there are a number that you can take away and action to help you improve your results in winning meetings with decision makers. There is one simple quality that can quite often be the difference between success and failure. Once you have decided on your ideal target for a business opportunity, how hard to you try and keep getting knocked back before you give up? I have had the privilege of studying and interviewing a huge number of very successful people and learned a lot about what it takes to reach high levels of success. What I have learnt from countless “overnight success” stories is that none of them happen overnight.

The prizes worth winning never come easily and persistency, resilience and hard work are all qualities that are essential when knocking down challenging doors. People love doing business with those that want to work with them. Sometimes people will continually put you off just to test how much it means to you. That’s why its worth picking your prospects carefully and ensuring that you are prepared to see it out till the end and do whatever it takes.

Categories
Entrepreneurship Personal Development Women In Business

Daily Habits of Highly Successful People

Jump-Start Your Day. One of the first habits of successful people is they don’t hit the snooze bar several times before finally rolling out of bed and easing into their day. They hit the ground running!

Read and Reflect. Hitting the ground running doesn’t mean their life is a whirlwind of chaos and confusion. Instead, highly successful people invest the first hour of their day to lead their life from quiet.

Fuel up. Highly successful people eat food that taste great and is nutritious. Since they have a lot on their “plate,” they make sure the food on their plate fuels their body.

Work hard. Highly successful people work harder than others for two reasons. (1) They usually enjoy their work, so work feels more like play than work. (2) They know hard work beats talent every time talent doesn’t work hard.

Work smart. Successful people also work smart. They set goals. They prioritize those goals. Then they take steps each day to accomplish those goals. Focused work is one of the most important habits of successful people.

Don’t Complain. Successful people are not immune to bad things; bad things happen to all of us. What makes highly successful people so successful is they don’t focus on the event, but instead on how to best respond to the event. This is why their outcomes are often successful no matter what circumstances they face.

Exercise. Regular exercise is one of the best routines you can establish in your life to become highly successful. You’ll be in better shape. You’ll have better energy. You’ll think better. You’ll be more positive. You’ll even be happier. (That’s why I do yoga and spin each day).

Serve. Contrary to popular opinion, highly successful people do not focus primarily on money. They focus on serving and giving because serving and giving creates value. Value often leads to financial reward, but successful people know the reason behind financial reward is value, so they focus on creating value and serving others.

Run at problems and decisions. Average people run away from problems and decisions. Successful people do the opposite. They run at them.

Invest in Yourself. Did you notice everything listed above is about investing in yourself? Yet highly successful people go even further to invest in themselves. When they really want to learn something, they look for ways to supercharge their learning. They attended conferences, take classes, hire coaches, and even join mastermind groups. Of all the habits of successful people, this might be the most powerful because of the principle of The Slight Edge.

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 connie@pheiffgroup.com or CLICK HERE to schedule a 20-minute discovery call to discuss with you personally.

 

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

David, Goliath, and the Investor Pitch

I had the distinct honor and pleasure of coaching five Hero Club entrepreneurs in preparation for their pitch at the C-Suite Network Investors Summit in San Jose on September 11-12th. It was an exciting event and helping people with great ideas, products, and services tell their stories in a compelling way is one of my favorite parts of the job.

All five CEOs were terrific, poised and articulate with a solid pitch and great visuals, and they all reported being approached afterward by interested parties; what more could we ask for? But in retrospect, one pitch stood out uniquely, and offers a lesson about overcoming the odds and expectations, and why you should never underestimate anyone – including yourself.

David Williams is the CEO and superintendent of Village Tech Charter Schools in Cedar Hill, Texas, just outside of Dallas. Various people I spoke to after the fact confirmed that, before his presentation, there had been a general wondering about why a non-profit, specifically a Pre-K – 12 school, was pitching in Silicon Valley. At best, most admitted preliminary assumptions of it being something of a charity case, like when the older kids let the little one play with them, even though they know he’s not in the same league. There seemed to have been minimal expectations for his performance. Perhaps not so surprising was the fact that David himself later confessed to having similar concerns leading up to the event.

David may not be alone. How many times have you anticipated an event or opportunity with trepidation, based on feelings or concerns of inadequacy, of not belonging? Sometimes there’s a bit of the “Imposter Syndrome” that creeps in when surrounded by other highly expert, highly experienced, and/or highly reputed people. It might also occur if you’re just generally not comfortable presenting to large groups, if the event is particularly high-stakes, or if it’s your first time in the spotlight in a new context such as a conference presentation, in the media, or in this case, an investor pitch. The enormity of the pressure to perform and succeed in the public eye is enough to make most people’s hands shake – even if only a little.

But to David’s credit, he rose to the occasion and proved that he was not going to let this Goliath of an event get the best of him. He knew what was at stake, and he knew how much he wanted it for his company, his school, his teachers and his students, and that was the motivation he used to prepare for it.

The biggest challenge was the need to shift from “teacher” mode to “business executive” mode. Knowing your audience and figuring out how to angle your point so that it speaks to their unique perspectives and interests is a critical factor in the art of persuasion, and one of the most common areas where people fall short.

When speaking to an audience of teachers and school district members – his comfort zone – stories of children’s experiences and anecdotes of their funny and heartwarming comments will successfully convey all sorts of implicit information about the success of a program. But to a room of business executives and investors, those stories are just the sprinkles on the sundae: added for a little color and sweetness, but of minimal substance. We had to shift the focus to problems and solutions, to data and dollars – a philosophical shift that makes most teachers’ stomachs churn with disdain. And the whole thing had to be done in eight minutes.

To me, the key to his success was the fact that he was able to adapt his content to meet the needs and expectations of his audience, while still remaining completely authentic, and true to himself, both in preparation and on stage. This is often one of the greatest challenges we face when we find ourselves in new contexts with unfamiliar audiences.

I know inside he didn’t like having to cut out some of his favorite stories, but we found a way to use a couple of them in ways that made statistics personal, and humanized the call to action. And David was already a confident and competent public speaker, so it was really a matter of applying those skills with a different focus, and convincing himself and others that he was a much of a leader in the business world as in the academic sphere.

Sure, there were investors there who weren’t interested in adding a brick-and-mortar enterprise to their portfolios. But it was clear by the end that he was the crowd favorite and had earned the personal and professional respect of everyone there. The little non-profit venture had set the bar for what everyone else believed an investor pitch should look and sound like. As I heard several people say with genuine admiration that day: “He killed it.”

The moral of the story is that even when you feel like you’re out of your element – or even out of your league – do not let yourself be intimidated by the Goliath. Seek whatever guidance you need to put the pieces together, and play to win.

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Are you preparing a pitch, or do you have questions about another critical presentation? If so, contact me at laura@vocalimpactproductions.com or click here to schedule a 20-minute focus call to discuss it with me personally!

 

Categories
Entrepreneurship Personal Development Women In Business

It’s My Prerogative

I’m working with a new client who reminded me our emotions could quickly and easily derail our goals. Mix your emotions together and you come up with a lethal cocktail.

“There are four emotions sure to undermine our goals:

fear, uncertainty, doubt, and shame.”

~Michael Hyatt

Seasons of life change often. Each season of life brings new events. Such as job change, divorce, sickness, or something else. Our emotions are then subjected to fear of the unknown, shame, uncertainty of our abilities, self-doubt, and acceptance.

Before respectively earning the title of Unstoppable DIVA, I did not speak. I would avoid social interaction. My colleagues just assumed I was anti-social. If I did attend a social event, I would have a glass of wine to relax my nerves.

An event that derailed my behavior, its called divorce. Initially it was embarrassing and the shame consumed me. My self doubt and fear of the unknown was too much to bear at times. Everyone was looking at me, they knew about me. Or so I thought.

Perspective

As I’ve come to learn, it’s human nature to have these feelings – these emotions. It doesn’t matter if I’m coaching corporate executives, entrepreneurs or speaking. These emotions are a common affliction.

There’s no manual or playbook telling us how to feel or behave. It’s our prerogative to make it up as we go along. The nerves of acceptance by clients when launching new products still creep up on me. When I speak I still get those butterflies in my belly. The truth is if you don’t feel that way, you’re clearly egocentric.

We will always endure these emotions it’s human nature. It keeps us real. Just don’t allow the emotions to derail your goals.

Realization

I came to realize when developing my programs I must focus on my audience. They want to know how I can help them, they’re not thinking about me. Everybody is infected by emotions at every season of life. When I realized I wasn’t alone in the divorcee club, I got out of my way, got out of my comfort zone and I felt better about me. The wart on my nose went away.

Socializing became enjoyable. Asking for dollars became enjoyable. Owning the title of UNSTOPPABLE DIVA became natural. I was stepping out and using my emotions to keep me on track to reach my goals.

Emotions could derail your goals. It’s up to you to keep your goals in perspective and overcome the negative influence around you. It’s your prerogative. Let’s Be Unstoppable Together.

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 connie@pheiffgroup.com or CLICK HERE to schedule a 20-minute discovery call. I will be happy to discuss with you personally.