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Economic Storm Coming? What to Do Now.

I get it.  I’ve managed P & Ls through recessions and I understand the options and the challenges.  If you’re not ready for it, sometimes the best you can do during a business downturn is simply play to survive.  This article discusses what you can do before hard times hit in order to expand your choices during.

The Cost of Cost-cutting

Make no mistake:  times sometimes get hard.  For example, if you sold capital equipment into the oil & gas industry during the oil price slide of 2016-2017, you know that there is sometimes no alternative but to “right-size” in response to an uncontrollable market dynamic. Companies need to step up the spending discipline during down cycles.

Cost control is good corporate practice, but it has limits.  Cost control, what one of my first bosses called “frugaling” takes energy and management focus.  Cost-cutting your way to profitability is one of the hardest ways to increase net income. Combining cost-control and growth is even harder:

You can’t shrink your way to growth.

When you start cost-cutting, it’s difficult to maintain customer service and responsiveness levels.  Your people find it harder to be that helpful cheerful voice for your customers.  It’s harder to invest in innovation.  It’s harder to get face-to-face with customers. You are at significant risk of trading customer satisfaction for cost improvement.

As you struggle through needing to “frugal”, don’t mistake right-sizing for a growth plan.

More importantly, don’t mistake a cost-cutting project for a guiding business principle.  It’s a tactical coping mechanism, not a strategy, or a path to long-term success.

Let’s Start With What You Shouldn’t Do

Don’t get taken by surprise.  That company who sells into oil & gas should know that an oil price dip is coming.  One of those is always coming.  Always. Leaders in that industry have absolutely no right to be surprised by the fact that oil prices fluctuate.  It’s just a question of when.  If you aren’t preparing your company for it, you don’t deserve to lead a company.

Don’t start feeling superior to some specific industry, people.  A recession is always coming, too.  Always. Go back and read the paragraph above as if it’s directed at you and your industry, because it is.

You Can Prepare the Hard Way…

Some preparations are really difficult.

  • For instance, you could try to manage your fixed costs down.
  • You could reorganize your financing, trading debt for equity…preferably, patient money. At a minimum, it might be worth it to ask your impatient money to be less impatient.
  • Perhaps you can aggressively build cash during good times. Perhaps you should step up your expense control now so that it doesn’t become need to become dysfunctional later.

These preparations can keep your frugaling from being the kind that damages your company’s long-term health. Keen awareness of customer value (awareness I help clients develop and sharpen) can guide you through prudent cost-cutting.

…Or You Can Prepare a Simpler Way.

Some preparations are more doable (perhaps still challenging, depending on your culture and leadership) but set you up for success – during and after challenging times. I can help with these, by the way.

  • Radically rethink who “sells”. Expand the mission of every customer-facing role in your company. Go beyond current “customer experience” (CX) theory.  Where CX trains your people to “delight”, go further: every person trained in value discovery.  I teach three simple questions and a mindset shift that turn every person into an extension of your sales discovery process.
  • Radically rethink who buys. Typically, one silo at your customer holds budget, but many silos benefit. Get to all of the silos who benefit, and help them realize maximum value from your product or service.
  • Radically re-shape your most important customer relationships. There are specific strategic planning systems that shift key account management from “what all can we sell to this customer”, to “how can we add even more to our customer’s business?”
  • Radically reshape your customer’s perception of the value you deliver. Your customers don’t buy your products or services, they buy business and personal outcomes.  What they are willing to pay for those outcomes can increase if you help them perceive outcomes’ value more clearly.  While you might be able to add new products/services in the medium to long term, your salespeople can add to the value of your existing offerings right now. It just takes the right kind of conversational skills and a little additional business acumen.

Start now.  If the economy tightens, your customers will be distracted, and these will get harder. Also, your competitors will be struggling to take your customers – some will try to buy your customer’s business away from you.

Of Course, You Could Just Not Prepare at All…

You could wing it when the time comes, right? What could go wrong?

Contact me if you would like to discuss what you could do in your business. If you know somebody who might benefit from this article, please share.

To your success!

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Entrepreneurship Human Resources Management Marketing Negotiations Sales Skills Women In Business

“Danger: Are You Being Easily Stopped By Your Thoughts” – Negotiation Insight

 

 

“The danger of thoughts can sometimes lie in not knowing what action to take.” -Greg Williams, The Master Negotiator & Body Language Expert

 

He looked around and had a sense of foreboding. He wasn’t sure why the feeling existed nor its source. But he felt the grip of danger – as he became paralyzed by immobility. Suddenly, the alarm clock sounded. It was then that he realized he was having a bad dream – or was he? He wondered what the thoughts of his dream meant.

Thoughts can move you to action – they can also stop you. How then might you know when to act and when to allow inactivity to be supreme? This article gives you insights about that. It highlights when to stop and when to move forward on your thoughts.

 

Perception of Thoughts:

Some thoughts are more profound than others – they secrete an inner sense of urgency. You may not be able to identify why you have a sensation, but don’t ignore it. More than likely, you’re sensing some form of motivation that’s beckoning your attention. Attempt to hone the source of those signals. Once identified, the hidden message may reveal itself. If you can’t identify it, let it rest – if it subsides and doesn’t return, it may lack importance – if it resurrects itself, there may be more substance to it. Once again, seek to understand its summoning trigger – this time give it more credence in your attempt to identify its meaning. There’s a reason it’s calling you – identify it.

 

Intuition:

“I knew that was going to happen. I had a sense of Déjà vu.” Have you had such sensations – whereby you felt like you were reliving an experience that you were encountering for the first time? If so, that was most likely your intuition motioning to you.

When you’re unaware of a sensational experience, it may reside at a subconscious level – it doesn’t register within your state of consciousness. Nevertheless, when such emotional signals reach for your attention, take note – like motion, your attention seeks to assess potential danger – your body wants to be in a state of comfort.

Once you make an assessment and determine that you’re in a safe space, resume your normal activities. Do so only if your actions are moving towards your goals. If they’re not, question why your thoughts were drawn to what you’re contemplating – was there a message that you overlooked? Before dismissing the thought, make sure you’re not dismissing a call to action. If you identify that call, you will have identified the intent of your intuition.

 

Action History:

You can also gain insight from your past actions – they should be based on your prior emotional queues. Just remember that previous circumstances may not lead to the same outcomes in the future. In observing your past action history, note similarities in your previous thought process and how they might align with your present thoughts. The real purpose of assessing your action history is to have it assist in raising your dominant thought to prominence. They’ll be points as to which direction to take in your assessment.

 

In every aspect of your life, your thoughts are what leads you upon one path versus another. As you learn to control your thoughts, you’ll discover new ways to put yourself on a better path … and everything will be right with the world.

 

 

What does this have to do with negotiations?

 

In a negotiation, your thought process causes you to conflate past occurrences with present situations. Thus, based on the outcome sought in the current negotiation, your assessment will cause you to adopt one action versus another. Therefore, by quickly making an assessment about the danger or lack of in a situation, you become more adaptable in the negotiation. And that will give you an edge in every negotiation you’re in.

 

Remember, you’re always negotiating!

 

Listen to Greg’s podcast at https://anchor.fm/themasternegotiator

 

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/

 

 

#Danger #thoughts #Negotiate #Business #Progress #SmallBusiness #Negotiation #NegotiatingWithABully #Power #Perception #emotionalcontrol #relationships #HowToNegotiateBetter #CSuite #TheMasterNegotiator #ControlEmotions #GregWilliams

 

 

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Best Practices Entrepreneurship Management Marketing Negotiations Skills Women In Business

“How Forgiving Is Your Mind – This Is What Matters” – Negotiation Insight

“To free your mind, release what’s captured it.” -Greg Williams, The Master Negotiator & Body Language Expert (Click to Tweet)

 


Click here to get the book!

“How Forgiving Is Your Mind – This Is What Matters”

 

How long do you allow negativity to grip you in the jaws of despair – hold you mind hostage to situations that make you cling to slights that others thrust upon you? If you hold negative thoughts for an extended time, it might be to your detriment?

Anytime you allow lingering negative thoughts to affect your mood, your mannerisms, or your actions, you allow others to control you. Thus, at times, you must exercise forgiveness to release such anxieties – at other times, you must take aggressive actions.

The following are thoughts to help you assess when to engage in forgiveness and when not to.

 

Let it go:

Everything that’s perceived as being negative, isn’t. Thus, you must assess what is real versus perceived negativity – that perception will, in part, be based on your current state of mind. That’s why it’s important to mend your mind by not allowing too much of the past to cloud your current judgment – it matters to your wellbeing.

Release thoughts that debilitate your mind (e.g. they’ll never let me move into a higher position – they don’t like people like me – I remember the outcome the last time something like this occurred). Some thoughts don’t serve you. Even if such things bring past indiscretions to mind, don’t conflate them with your current situation – that was then and this is now.

By separating the past and present, you insulate your current thoughts from the past – that disallows your past thoughts from afflicting your current thinking. It also frees you to release thoughts that don’t serve you and replace them with those that are more uplifting. In turn, that will take you to a higher mental sanctuary, which will allow you to have a more positive perspective.

 

When not to let it go:

If someone or something is preventing you from achieving your desired goal, challenge them! Fear not for fear’s sake. If you subscribe to attaining an objective, you must do what’s necessary to advance forward. To the degree that it’s important, when others block your path out of spite or unrighteousness, don’t be forgiving – be persistent in moving them aside. There is a time for forgiveness – this is not it!

When it comes to your success and security if you let threats go unabated, you’ll only be postponing future dread. By not addressing situations that outright pose potential harm, you emboldened the source of that threat. If left unaddressed, it may swell to become the cause of your demise.

When something was too threatening, something that caused you to summon more courage, you did so. In so doing you realized, without struggle, you had no advancement. Don’t stop now when confronted by a daunting roadblock – that’s nothing more than a test to encourage you to display more courage – move on, go higher!

By controlling your mind, you control your thoughts, which allows you to control your actions. Control will keep you in a better mental place. You’re the master-of-your-fate. Knowing when to forgive and when not to will help you maintain that domain … and everything will be right with the world.

 

What does this have to do with negotiations?

 

During a negotiation, you can become overwhelmed by emotions – emotions that lead to thoughts of retribution. Unless there’s a sincere need for such, don’t let negative thoughts lead to emotions that cloud your judgment. They’ll saddle you with unneeded consternation as you go deeper into the negotiation.

Being able to forgive perceived slights can be a gift in a negotiation – it can free your mind to think more freely. Knowing when to move against such slights can also be beneficial. Thus, knowing when to adopt the right action is paramount. Therefore, when weighing a conflicting negative thought that might debilitate your mind ask yourself, does this matter? If it doesn’t, be forgiving – let it go.

 

Remember, you’re always negotiating!

 

Listen to Greg’s podcast at https://anchor.fm/themasternegotiator

 

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/

 

# Mind #Matters #Negotiate #Business #Progress #SmallBusiness #Negotiation #NegotiatingWithABully #Power #Perception #emotionalcontrol #relationships #HowToNegotiateBetter #CSuite #TheMasterNegotiator #ControlEmotions

 

 

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Investing Management Marketing Negotiations Sales

Is Discounting That Deal Suicidal? Five Ways to Tell

It’s often tempting to discount your way out of a stressful situation, but sometimes you’re doing more harm than good.  Discounting is sometimes necessary…but often, it’s the biggest mistake you can make.  How do you know when you’re in that situation?

Full disclosure here:  I’m highly biased against discounting. My regular readers have gathered that I’m a pricing hawk, and my clients engage me because of it.  Within the Miller Heiman Group network, value-based pricing was my differentiation.  I’ve managed too many P&Ls to be comfortable with knee-jerk discounting behaviors I often see.

Just because discounting throws away profit dollars, is that any reason to call it suicidal?  Maybe. Maybe not. There are good reasons to discount.  We can go through those in another article if you want, but many times, dropping your price hurts more than this month’s/quarter’s/year’s financials. The pain of discount-trained customers lasts far beyond today’s closed deal celebration.  Or, as mom used to say: “Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should”.

So, what are the signals that discounting is simply a crutch for poor selling/marketing?  Here’s a checklist:

The Value is Already High Enough

Many customers think it’s good business practice to push back on price, no matter how satisfactory.  For instance, sales professionals operating in Latin America tell me that aggressive price negotiation is standard business culture there. These negotiators aren’t looking for any particular number, they’re looking for capitulation. Convince them that there’s no money left on the table for them to win, and they’re done.

Another approach is to walk them through the value justification you’ve been building all through the discovery and proposal-building process. You know, the one you’ve validated with them and their co-workers.  Yeah, the one that builds a value case using the customer’s own monetary estimates.  This is the one your sales methodology helps you build in detail.  You have one of those, right?  If not, consider the value of adopting one.  How many discount dollars (remember, discount dollars = profit dollars) did you give up last year?  Compare that amount to the cost of implementing a methodology which would have captured those profit dollars.  How many more digits in the first number?  So…why are we not talking?

You Don’t Know Your Value

I once worked for a company whose culture practiced “if Sales can’t articulate value, Product can’t discuss pricing”.  This company had enshrined value-based pricing as a pillar of the company culture. Nothing moved for an opportunity until everyone knew what value the customer perceived from our offer.  Once value was known, nothing stood in our way when delivering that value.

In contrast, I recently worked with a company in the middle of a company-driven sales force turnover. The outgoing salesforce was known for building value and never discounting.  Clients would routinely recoup the entire investment in under two months (some as slow as six – still a 200% 1st year ROI). Once clients believed such results were achievable for them, price was unimportant.  The incoming salespeople and weren’t equipped to articulate and validate customer value.  As a result, neither buyer nor seller knew the value of the offer.  Discounting became rampant and steep, and EBIDTA shrank to “shameful”.

If your salespeople can’t validate value monetarily with a customer, they aren’t equipped to have a price discussion.  When they are thus disadvantaged, they’ll want to discount their way out of trouble. This outcome is only partially the sales person’s fault.  Leadership holds majority responsibility in providing tools to prevent it.

You’ve Sold Too Narrowly

Has your sales strategy engaged all affected personas? Chances are that they have not.  Even sales methodologies who teach engaging “all” personas, ignore out-of-normal-scope “optional” personas–who could yield additional value. We intuitively shun the decision complexity of adding personas, without strategically adding personas who are natural allies.  Sometimes adding people amounts to “packing the court in your favor”.

I regularly engage with clients who engage too narrowly.  Customers build a group buying decision dynamic around the organizational silo/department who has a budget.  Too often, salespeople follow this definition of “buying team”, ignoring all of the other silos who benefit from their offer.  Business acumen would guide sellers to expand the buying ecosystem advantageously.

If a sales strategy hasn’t built value broadly in a prospect organization, there may not be enough value to support desired pricing.  Look at it another way.  Your company invested resources in producing customer value, but your sales approach failed to leverage all available value into pricing.  If you can’t charge for the value you produce, how sustainable is your business?

You’ve Sold Too Shallowly

Building some value with a buying persona is good. Building more value is better.  I have yet to encounter a methodology that doesn’t allow sellers to add more value drivers into the mix.  I have also yet to encounter a methodology that equip salespeople all of the value drivers to add.

Your sellers are probably able to sell more value to existing personas. They often don’t have the business acumen, product training, or selling tools to sell full value.  If your customer hasn’t built full value in their own mind, the internal math doesn’t check out.  They might think “the value is too low”, but say “your price is too high”. Those two are the same thing.

You’ve Crippled Your Offer

I once had a client who loved to pare down first opportunities into net-new clients.  The idea was to win a low-risk first engagement, then grow from proven results. This is the familiar “land and expand” strategy. Unfortunately, these first engagements were so narrowed that compelling results were almost impossible to achieve.

Designing the value out of an offer to make it easier to swallow traps the seller into discounting a low-value offer. Worse, it establishes low value for all future “expand” opportunities.  This could easily be “suicide by discounting”.

If your business involves follow-on sales, discounting the entry offer is extremely dangerous; you need a convincing “trial basis, then full price” story.  You also need the initial offer to prove “full price value”; think “full value delivery at small scale”, not “low sticker price”.  Predefined criteria for success should also be part of the equation; force a customer to measure value.

The Road to Failure is Paved with Discounted Sales

I love building profitable businesses. Not opportunistic gouging profits, but real, win-win, value-based profits.  I love helping clients do the same thing.

Please share if you liked this article…or comment…or like.  Contact me if you’d like to discuss in more detail.

To your success!

Categories
Body Language Entrepreneurship Investing Management Marketing Negotiations Operations Sales Skills Women In Business

“Do You Know How To Be A Powerful Negotiator” – Negotiation Tip of the Week

 “Power – something that others grant you, even if you momentarily take it from them.” -Greg Williams, The Master Negotiator & Body Language Expert (Click to Tweet)

Click here to get the book!

“Do You Know How To Be A Powerful Negotiator”

 

He was pompous, screamed at others while demeaning them, and not well-liked – most of his associates detested him! Some wondered if that was why he’d been stuck in the same management position for over a decade. Plus, he was not a good negotiator – he lacked insight on how to use power. He used bullying tactics with his subordinates (i.e. you’d better do this or else), and veiled threats to delude his peers to get what he wanted. Everyone collectively swore they’d get even with him. And one day they did.

Do you know how to be a powerful negotiator?

 

Sources of Power and How To Use It:

Voice inflection – There’s power, or lack of, in the way you speak. You can make a statement that sounds like a question or a question that sounds like a statement simply by the inflection in your voice. To sound more powerfully, apply a deeper tone to your voice when emphasizing words of greater importance. This is especially true when negotiating. A deeper tone on, that’s my best price, conveys more conviction to your statement.

Positioning – Whether it’s your physical proximity to others or the proximity of your words, what proceeds your words impacts their perception. Therefore, be mindful of when you speak. If you speak after someone has delivered a rousing proposal, your words may be received with less enthusiasm. The same is true of your physical proximity to others. If you’re physically close to someone with power, your words will carry greater weight simply because of that proximity. Others will assume that there’s a sense of power bestowed upon you from the power person in the environment.

When negotiating, consider the order of your offers and their alignment with people of power. You can also make a prior offer appear to be better by downgrading the one that follows it – in that case, your message states that the trajectory of the offers to follow will become progressively worse.

Manipulation – A negotiator can gain momentary power through manipulation (for this purpose, the word manipulation is neutral – it’s not good or bad). One can use it to feed the other negotiator’s desires by embellishing the item he seeks from you. By doing that, you heighten his sense to acquire it.

To embellish an item, highlight how the other negotiator will feel, and/or appear to others once he’s acquired it. Take note of his body language as you make your summation. If he slips into a dream-like state while smiling and becoming dreamy-eyed, he’s also imagining the great sensation he’ll experience once he’s acquired your offer – you got him! Continue down that path and extract whatever he’s willing to forgo to acquire the offer. Be careful not to turn embellishment into a lie. That might come back to haunt you.

Likeability – Never underestimate the hidden value of likeability. It’s a factor that has swayed many negotiators. I’ve seen lower offers accepted because of it. It’s easy to be likable with most people – just be pleasant. Warning – with some bully types, you’ll have to meet power with power. Thus, the likeability factor may be a detriment. Instead, seek to become respected – respect will be the source that cedes greater power to you.

 

You’re always negotiating:

In the situation with the manager, mentioned at the beginning of this article, others did exact their toll on him. It occurred when subordinates and his peers combined forces – they informed senior management that they’d no longer work with him. The manager didn’t realize that he’d been negotiating with those folks during his tenure with the company. He used his power recklessly. And now their power was coming to bear against him – senior management fired him.

I love to observe people with power. To be specific, I note how they use it, to whom they extend it, and how they’re altered by it. It’s said that power doesn’t change you – it amplifies who you really are. To that point, always keep in mind, the way you treat people impacts their perception of you. Thus, if they perceive you as an ogre, they’ll be less inclined to assist you in achieving your goals. Therefore, use the sources of power as partners in your negotiations – they’ll increase the perception of you being a powerful person. That will lead to more powerful negotiation outcomes … and everything will be right with the world.

 

Remember, you’re always negotiating!

 

Listen to Greg’s podcast at https://anchor.fm/themasternegotiator

 

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/

 

#Body #Language #Secrets #Negotiate #Process #Business #Progress #SmallBusiness #Negotiation #Negotiator #NegotiatingWithABully #Power #Perception #emotionalcontrol #relationships #BodyLanguageExpert #HowToNegotiateBetter #CSuite #TheMasterNegotiator #ControlEmotions

 

 

 

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Best Practices Management Marketing Personal Development Sales

Five Sales Leader Blinds Spots

We all have blind spots, but not all of us make a point of trying to uncover and cure them.  When the blind spot belongs to a leader, an organization can pay the price.  I see several recurring blinds spots with sales leaders and wanted to share these five.

Not Realizing “After the Sale” is Really “Between Sales”.

This blind spot is driven by silo-limited thinking…or to use management-speak: staying in your swim lane.  Certainly, it’s unproductive to distract sales with all of the issues around service and installation.

That being said, the idea that a customer becomes 100% someone else’s problem when a sale closes is simplistic. It becomes downright dangerous for any industry involving repeat, renewal, cross or up-sales opportunities.  Your mindset in these industries should be one of growing your customer’s business, delivering outcomes so that “after the sale” evolves into a more natural “between sales” cadence.  This starts with making sure that the expected outcomes you discussed to win the sale actually materialize.

The sad thing is that sales groups using any good methodology already gather valuable information on outcomes desired by key personas.  Salespeople gather and use this intelligence to close deals, but don’t turn it over to the people responsible for ensuring those outcomes (installation, implementation, customer success, etc).  When I tell most service organizations this data already resides in their CRM, they are often flabbergasted.

Using Activity Metrics Instead of Predictive Behaviors

Sales leaders know they want their salespeople to be measured on quality, not quantity, but they often struggle with what quality looks like.  One of the traps people fall into is that the wrong activities (quantity measures) are so easy to measure and track, while many of the measures of quality are hard to quantify.  As a famous statistician said, “far better an approximate answer to the right question than a precise answer to the wrong question…”

Measuring meaningful conversations that advance a sale is hard to measure, but it’s what a sales leader is really seeking when they instinctively know they are after quality. Good selling behaviors predict and drive success. Activities, like phone dials, don’t.

There really are ways to measure the quality of selling conversations.  I favor analyzing what the salesperson learned about desired outcomes, new outcomes introduced and value…plus insights into the customer’s buying process.

Not Performing Actual Sales Coaching

Study after study shows that sales managers think that they coach well…while the salespeople they claim to coach don’t think any coaching takes place at all.  That result looks like more of a black hole than a blind spot.

The gold standard of coaching is coaching by questioning. Great coaches guide salespeople to think up selling behaviors through a Socratic (question-asking) approach.  This way, salespeople learn to self-diagnose, internalize, and solve sales problems for themselves over time.

Proper sales coaching like a sales process where the boss/subordinate relationship can get in the way. When it’s easy to direct a subordinate, a questioning approach seems like so much more work.  Additionally, it’s hard for a directive boss to communicate that they have the subordinate’s best interest at heart. This, in turn, makes it hard to influence sellers to expend discretionary effort.

Bottom line, coaching by telling isn’t as effective at changing those great predictive selling behaviors you’re really after.  Remember, telling a salesperson what they should do isn’t coaching any more than telling a customer what they buy is selling.

All Sellers, Not Just Sales

I’ve worked in companies who made sure everyone who touches a customer knows how to have a conversation about customer outcomes and value.  It’s radical, but I know it’s possible because I’ve seen it and led it.  It’s radical in the face of today’s highly structured (and highly turf-conscious) organizations. That’s why I call it “radical value focus”.

This blind spot is so widespread that even sales industry executives try to “widen” our definition of sellers to “everyone who touches revenue” (translation: everyone I can put into a silo led by me). Talk about silo-limited thinking. The standard should be “everyone who touches the customer”, even though this conversation is more difficult.  Even though the CEO needs to get involved in this – a culture change.

Again, I’ve seen it done.  It’s radically value-focused, and it works wonders.

Selling Profitably via Value-Based Pricing

I’ve met sales leaders who measure success by revenue rather than profit.  I’ve worked for them as well.  Unfortunately, I’ve managed too many P&Ls to accept a revenue mindset. In fact, a sales leader who chases profitless revenue will never have a seat at the corporate leadership table…and with good reason.

The purpose of business is to add more value for customers than it costs them to produce.  If sellers can’t capture that value (in the form of price), how can your company afford the costs to produce the value you’re so eager to offer your customers?

Learn how to price to value. When you do, you jointly determine an (almost always higher) win-win, value-based price in conjunction with your customer.  Value only exists in the customer’s mind, so a value-based price should be one that they’ve justified for themselves.

Summary

If these are blind spots for your organization, fill them.  They are intertwined in a radically value-focused culture.

  • Learn how to integrate those value-focused conversations by everyone who touches your customer. Create a more complete value-based picture of outcomes you deliver.
  • Teach value-focused conversations by every seller, not just sales.
  • Turn the teaching into long-term muscle memory through proper coaching.
  • Confirm the value your customer thought they were buying by giving your implementation teams each persona’s value/outcome goals.
  • Price to the value your entire company has learned to consistently deliver to customers.

Does this open any new vistas in your world?  Contact me if you’d like to discuss.  As always, please share and/or comment below.

To your success!

Categories
Entrepreneurship Human Resources Management Marketing Negotiations Sales Skills Women In Business

“How To Ask Powerful Questions To The Right People” – Negotiation Insight

“To get better answers, ask the right people better questions.” -Greg Williams, The Master Negotiator & Body Language Expert (Click to Tweet)

Click here to get the book!

“How To Ask Powerful Questions To The Right People”

She looked at him and became emotionally aroused with each passing moment. Finally, she said, “who are the right people that can answer my questions?” The customer service rep that she was speaking to sheepishly said, “mam, I’m not sure – I just started working here last week.”

How many times have you found yourself exasperated over an unresolved situation? Did you take a moment to examine why you were upset? Such situations usually stem from four possibilities:

  1. You have the wrong demeanor
  2. You’re not speaking to the right person
  3. You ask the wrong question
  4. You’re not asking powerful questions

The following will assist you in addressing all four of those factors.

 

Your Demeanor:

No matter with whom you’re speaking, your demeanor will determine how they interact and respond to you. Thus, your demeanor needs to match the situation. If you display one that’s weak, in the face of a strong personality type, she may dismiss you as not being relevant. If you position yourself through your demeanor as someone that’s significantly above the other individual, he may become uncooperative.

To adopt the best demeanor, before making your approach observe the other person’s mannerisms – assess their feelings and the kind of day they may be having. Based on your assessment, if it’s appropriate, look for ways to compliment them. If they’re in ‘rush mode’, be pleasant and get to the point with your questions.

The overarching point is, position yourself right before posing your questions and you will have won half the battle.

 

Speaking To The Wrong Person/People:

It’s ludicrous to think you can get the right solution by talking to the wrong person. So, before seeking assistance, inquire about the person’s ability to grant your request. If he states that he can’t offer a solution, ask who can.

The point is, don’t waste time presenting questions to someone that can’t provide a solution. Doing so will only further exasperate you. It will also cause you to be less tolerant with the person that can provide a solution to your situation.

 

Asking The Wrong Question:

Depending on the circumstances, it may be correct to ask someone if they can assist you or who’s in charge – posing such questions will begin the engaging process. But if you know with whom you should speak to obtain a resolution to your concerns, don’t dilly dally – get to the point.

Asking if someone has the responsibility or authority to assist you indicates that you’re not familiar with the environment. Use more powerful questions such as those that follow to improve your position.

 

Asking Powerful Questions:

The very first question you ask sets the tone for the discussion to follow. And it should be a question that’s posed to the right person – the person that can grant your request. Thus, the question must be dynamic – one that places you in a position of authority and control. And, as an aside, authority doesn’t have to mean that the other person must sing your praises – it means that he cares enough to assist you. To solicit his support, ask such questions as:

  1. How quickly might you resolve this situation (the assumption being he has the authority and he’s going to resolve your problem)?
  2. How much of a rebate/discount might I receive to rectify this situation (this question suggests that you’re seeking restitution)?
  3. When I speak with a ‘higher authority’, how would you like me to represent our interaction (this question can border on intimidation – be cautious about its use – never attempt to intentionally bully or demean someone – that can cause an unforeseen and unimagined backlash)?

 

There’s power in the way you ask questions and to whom you pose them. Thus, if you ask the right questions in the right manner at the right time, you’ll experience the right outcome more frequently … and everything will be right with the world.

 

What does this have to do with negotiations?

 

Questions are the backbone of negotiations. Therefore, by asking the right question in the right situation, you enhance your chances of getting the answers that lead to a better negotiation outcome. Never overlook the power of posing the right questions to the right people. Asking the right questions can be your silent ally.

 

Remember, you’re always negotiating!

 

Listen to Greg’s podcast at https://anchor.fm/themasternegotiator

 

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/

 

 

#Questions #Right #People #Negotiate #Business #Progress #SmallBusiness #Negotiation #NegotiatingWithABully #Power #Perception #emotionalcontrol #relationships #HowToNegotiateBetter #CSuite #TheMasterNegotiator #ControlEmotions

 

 

 

 

Categories
Best Practices Economics Leadership Marketing Personal Development Sales

Make These Five Preparations Before an Economic Storm

How would you prepare your company if you knew a downturn was coming?  What would you change?  There are a few things you need to think through clearly now; a few preparations you need to make.  You should be doing some of these anyway, regardless of your personal economic forecast, but these “should dos” become “must dos” when the economy slides.

Nobody knows what the future holds, and that includes economists. At some point, though, this historically long economic expansion is going to end. When it does, fortune will favor the prepared.

I don’t blindly follow those who say that a downturn is inevitable simply because the economic expansion has been so long-lasting.  Perhaps I’m still impacted by a company leader saying that in the 1980s, then having that expansion last another two years.  However, there are a few indicators that should give us all pause. One, the shape of the yield curve, has perfect accuracy for the past several recessions.  This may be because this indicator is the aggregated “bet your career and your firm’s money” wager by many of the world’s smartest financial minds, placing much more money than in all of the stock market. Here’s an article that explains it pretty well. I ignored this indicator once and regretted it.

Regardless of your personal forecast, I suggest you go through this pre-storm checklist and give some thought to five issues.

How Will Your People Strategy Change?

Whenever a recession hits, one of the first dilemmas is how/whether to adjust the sales staffing plan. One of the worst burdens of leadership is deciding to downsize. Sadly, your company’s financial condition and financing structure might render this decision easy. Highly leveraged companies and those with short-time-horizon investor populations may not have any option but to lay off and hunker down.

For companies blessed with growth during a downturn — or with patient money backing you — increasing (especially sales) staffing in a downturn takes advantage of competitors’ reduced ability to respond.  While I’ve never been lucky enough to work for a company with the resources to make this happen, the experts tell you to hire…with caution.  There are diamonds in the rough, perhaps stars laid off by financially vulnerable employers, or stars who had better options.  At minimum, I would check the credit ratings of former employers as I prepared to interview a candidate.

Will You Discount? Will it Help?

During a downturn, price pressure will be inevitable. Discounting to win business is a fragile strategy.  Because price declares value, the player who drops price first definitely damages their own reputation (perceived value).  Matching a competitor’s price might bring your value down to their damaged level — unless handled properly.  Maintain a clear view of your value and what it offers to each prospective customer.

Start building value with customers now to minimize how much you’ll need to discount (Helping you do this is what I do).  If you have value, you should be able to maintain some price premium, but as competitors discount, even a solid price premium is applied to a lower base (competitor’s declining price).  By firmly retaining that value premium, you will minimize damage to your offer’s value.

If you can pre-emptively add to your value premium before a competitive price war, you may be able to mitigate some of the damage discounting causes.

Pursuing New Customers

Taking share during a downturn can be challenging.  Most competitors will be fiercely defensive…fighting for survival. How hard do you bang your head against that wall?

Before a downturn, figure out which competitors are already in trouble with their customers.  Your salespeople can sometimes gather this kind of intelligence, but there is an even better source.  Everyone in your company without a sales title who touches customers has a different vantage point based upon trusting relationships – with customer personas who may welcome the chance to resolve a vendor problem.  Train and equip those people to spot competitor vulnerabilities.  While you should always be sharpening this discipline, it becomes much more critical in a down economy.

If your product or service has a potential alternate market, consider exploring one or more of those before a downturn.  Pre-emptively look for opportunities to solve that market’s typical problems in new ways, or to add new value.  A fresh eyes look at your product or service’s possible value propositions and how they could produce novel outcomes for different markets might be in order.

Defending Existing Accounts

As competition escalates, competitors may be coming after your accounts. If you haven’t already, implement an advanced account management program now to pre-empt competitive pressure.  The goal is to make your key accounts more defensible.

The other goal is to grow within your current account base — less challenging than taking share. Account strategy should proactively demonstrate — then grow — your value to customers. Do this, and new opportunities crop up more easily in your existing account base.

The kind of account management program needed is one that focuses on building customer value using a cross-functional team approach.  Once again, your non-sales sellers are key to the success of a cross-functional account management effort. Peer-to-peer executive selling within the value-building charter is another key component.  Contact me if you’d like me to describe such a system in more detail.

Innovation

In a downturn, it’s common to strip R&D to the minimum. With some of the value-focused efforts described above (cross-functional account management and value-focused conversations), you will build a value insights-gathering “engine” enabling you to innovate more inexpensively than you might expect.  I help clients do this all the time, but during a recession, a radical value culture becomes an even bigger competitive advantage.

Another way to achieve some cost-effective innovation is to rethink your capabilities — in terms of what product/service capabilities are used to differentiate you.  These already-developed capabilities are the foundation for new products for existing customers, and are a key element in possible new market expansion efforts; you may see creative new value propositions that your existing technology expertise can capture with relative ease.

Summarizing

If you think a downturn might be coming, get your company’s financial house in order.  The next recession (whenever it does come) doesn’t look like it will be banking-led (the deepest and longest kind of recession), but unconventional economic policies (trade wars, etc.) mean a lot of predictability has been taken out of the economic system.  Agility is always important but will become a watchword during any upcoming cycle.

As you read this article, I hope you see that many of these preparations should be part of your regular management practice.  They become much more critical in a recession, and you’ll be glad you began working on them now.

If I can describe any of these preparations in more detail with you and your team, please reach out.  Otherwise, please like and/or share with your colleagues.

To your success!

 

 

 

 

Categories
Body Language Entrepreneurship Human Resources Management Marketing Mergers & Acquisition Negotiations Sales Skills Women In Business

“Powerful Body Language Secrets That You Need To Know” – Negotiation Tip of the Week

“Every ‘body’ speaks. But not everybody knows what someone’s body is saying – do you?” -Greg Williams, The Master Negotiator & Body Language Expert (Click to Tweet)

Click here to get the book!

“Powerful Body Language Secrets That You Need To Know”

He was overly impressed with her and her accomplishments. His embrace was meant to display just that – his swell of pride for her. But during the embrace, he felt her attempt to break free as a hostage might do at the first glimpse of freedom. He wondered what he’d done wrong. Later he commented to her about the embrace – and the perception he had of her breaking free. She smiled and said, at least you were aware of it – most people aren’t. I don’t like being hugged.

How attuned are you to the #body #language #secrets that people emit every day? If you are aware of such signals, what do you observe the most and why?

The following are a few body language insights that will allow you to understand people better and become a better communicator.

Head Cocking:

The gesture becomes displayed when someone shifts their head to the right or left after its been in a straight or opposite position. It’s interesting to note when it occurs because it denotes someone going into an inward evaluation. Thus, the gesture may originate from something you said or thoughts the person is contemplating.

Eyebrows:

One eyebrow cocked – This sign usually indicates inquisitiveness as to the possible believability of what’s said or outright skepticism.

Lowered eyebrows – Guarded, deception, annoyance, are the signs that this gesture indicates.

Raised eyebrows – Taking in more of the environment – can also denote surprise or interest (note the degree that the eyes widen – that’ll give you more information as to the thought of the person displaying the gesture.)

Palm Hand Gestures:

Hand up, palm facing out –The hand up and palm facing outward signals nonverbally to the other person to halt what they’re saying or doing. As the receiver of that action, you can gauge the degree of the intent by the distance the action extends from the other person’s body. As an example, if they commit the action and their hand is close to their body, the signal is not as strong as if they had a full-body extension of their hand – that would be a stronger gesture because they’re indicating a greater distance between themselves and what you’re saying or doing.

Palm up and open – Accepting, mentally open to receiving information – can also be internal mental contemplation. It can also be a sign of consternation – this occurs if hunched shoulders accompany the gesture.

Feet:

As a body language signal, feet convey more information than most people are aware of. Thus, you should always be mindful of what someone’s feet are signaling.

Feet aligned – When your feet are in alignment with the person with whom you’re engaged (i.e. both sets of feet are pointing at each other), both of you are succinctly engaged with one another – you’re in mental alignment.

Foot pointing away – As someone points a foot away from you, they’re shifting their weight because:

  • Something else has attracted their attention.
  • They’ve received enough information from you for the time.
  • Soon, they’re going to exit the conversation and do so in the direction their foot is pointed in.

Take note of when such gestures occur. Doing so will allow you the insight to shift and control the conversation.

Conclusion:

At the beginning of this article, I posed the question of how attuned are you to the body language secrets that people emit every day. As you see, there are many signals that you might observe. And, if you’re aware when such signals occur, you’ll have greater insight into the mindset of the people you interact with. That will allow you to better understand them and communicate more effectively. Plus, it’ll give you an insider’s roadmap into their thought process and where it’s headed. That too will allow you to help them upon their journey or exit because you choose not to accompany them. Either way, you’ll have greater control of the environments you’re in … and everything will be right with the world.

 

Remember, you’re always negotiating!

Listen to Greg’s podcast at https://anchor.fm/themasternegotiator

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/

 

#Body #Language #Secrets #Negotiate #Process #Business #Progress #SmallBusiness #Negotiation #Negotiator #NegotiatingWithABully #Power #Perception #emotionalcontrol #relationships #BodyLanguageExpert #HowToNegotiateBetter #CSuite #TheMasterNegotiator #ControlEmotions

 

 

 

 

Categories
Marketing Personal Development

Connect Emotionally with Those You Serve

NYC Branded Lifestyle Portrait Keynote Speaker Sylvie DiGiusto looking out window

One way to draw a crowd on social?

Inspire them to “feel” something through your content.

When creating relevant and valuable content, it’s essential that the insights you share inspire your clients to think and envision themselves leveraging these ideas in order to improve their own businesses and lives.

But “thinking” is only one piece of the pie when creating rapport with your audience.

There’s a lot of what I refer to as food-for-thought content circulating around the interwebs as we speak, and, to be honest, it’s pretty damn noisy out there.

That’s why you need to add another layer of intrigue in order to give your content a chance to be discovered, appreciated and shared amongst those who follow you.

When people are prompted to feel something – joy, pain, win, loss, overcoming doubts and fears, etc. – that transforms that particular social post or blog article into something more memorable and shareable.

When you inject an emotional component into the conversation, that brings the words on the screen to life and helps to cement a connection and rapport with those you serve.

It makes the words more personal, and thus, more meaningful to those reading it because you’ve offered a level of vulnerability by sharing these feelings through your content.

It leaves a lasting impression.

As a speaker, author or coach, you have a myriad of moments in your lives from which you can draw that will resonate with your audiences on an emotional level.

Those moments can then be used as real-life examples to illustrate your expertise, life as a business owner and life as a human being.

So, What Are These Moments?

Overcoming Hurdles

NYC Branded Lifestyle Portrait Luis Paredes reflecting to himself

We’ve all been knocked down in a variety of ways in our lives – personally and professionally. If you’re living and breathing, you have plenty of these stories in which to share.

Failed businesses? Getting burned personally and professionally? Rough childhood? Overcoming a self-imposed or physical handicap? Learning disability? I could go on, but, you get the point.

The key to the value and emotional resonance of these stories is not just that you went from utter failure to the top-of-the-world, it’s the emotional labor that went into this ascent that will
truly resonate with your audience.

They want to see beyond the photos taken at the finish line; they want to know about how you reacted to setbacks that almost took you completely off-course.

Feelings of doubt, overwhelm, anxiety, second-guessing the nature of the task or goal – that’s what people relate to because they’re currently going through the same emotional ringer themselves.

And they want to know how YOU got past all of those self-defeating thoughts so they emulate your model to do it themselves.

By sharing the story arc of your struggle to success, you give those you serve hope because you’re living to tell the tale from the other side.

And no, this is not about humblebrags, showing off or grandstanding to get attention.

This is about feeding those you serve with the inspiration juice to help them keep on their path to growth so that they can experience success, as well…

…and when they realize they need to invest in specialized attention to help them get there, guess who’ll they be contacting for that?

Gratitude

NYC Branded Lifestyle Portrait sales and marketing executive Anthony Chaine on laptop

Leading with stories of struggle and challenge isn’t the only way to emotionally connect with your audience.

Expressing gratitude for people, moments, thoughts, kind gestures, and the things we often take for granted is another powerful storytelling option that resonates deeply with your audience.

These types of stories are perspective-shifters and mood adjusters.

It reminds them that regardless of whatever challenge they’re facing at the current moment, there’s a lot in their lives for which to be thankful.

Your post expressing gratitude, whether it’s something small or big, will provide those who read it a much-needed reality check that breaks them out of whatever negative thought loop they are currently experiencing and back into the present moment.

It is through the gratitude that you express that your audience will also get a sense of what matters most to you in life, and it will help fill in the gaps with respect to them getting a better sense of your personality and perspective.

This creates a deeper sense of connection without them ever having a real-life conversation with you. You’ve let them into your world simply by sharing how grateful you are for all of the gifts that exist in your life.

Ain’t nothin’ wrong with putting out some good vibes from time-to-time, 🙂

Who Are You Beyond the Work?

 

NYC Branded Lifestyle Portrait Dr. Brain Lima playing pool

While being a badass superhero who is charged with helping those get past whatever is holding them back is important to share, sharing stories that paint the rest of the picture is also an important piece of the puzzle.

And sharing how the rest of that picture makes you feel – well, that’s even more powerful.

  • What practices do you leverage to stay productive and moving forward, and when did you discover them? How was life before these discoveries?
  • What do you actually do for fun? Any interesting activities and hobbies? What prompted you to pick up these hobbies in the first place, and what keeps you coming back?
  • How about family – how important is it in your daily life? What lights you up about them? How does it feed your motivation to do what you do professionally?

In addition to these quick suggestions, there are many other avenues beyond your work that you can explore and share with people, but make sure you keep one important point in mind:

You need to be comfortable sharing these ideas, and you don’t have to share everything.

For example, I know plenty of parents who keep their children FAR AWAY from their social media feeds. I also know colleagues who have major affiliations with certain social clubs, and they choose not to talk about it.

Figure out the activities outside of your work that both excites and motivates you to share with your audience and stick to that. Regardless of the activity, it’s the fun, fulfillment, and joy that you express in your writing about the hobby, activity or family in which people truly connect.

Rather than simply sharing hard facts and data to illustrate the lessons you want to impart, weave in these real-life stories that evoke emotion and sentiment in order to reinforce the teachable moments.

In the process, you’ll also become more relatable to those reading the posts because you’re sharing human being moments, and human being moments are what ties us all together.

Don’t take any of your life and business experiences for granted – take note of them and leverage them in your writing to create a more well-rounded experience for those who follow your every word.

It’s a magical way to connect with those who need your help the most, 🙂

John DeMato is an NYC branded lifestyle portrait photographer and storytelling strategist who serves speakers, authors, coaches and high-level entrepreneurs across the country. His 50+ page e-book, S.H.A.R.E. M.A.G.I.C.A.L. I.D.E.A.S., lays out the how what and why behind creating a memorable and referable online presence – sign up to get your FREE copy today.