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Best Practices Human Resources Management Marketing Negotiations Sales Skills Women In Business

How to Make Your Words Colorful to Inspire People

 

“To inspire people, touch their emotions. To touch their emotions, use colorful words that paint pictures in their mind’s eye.” -Greg Williams, The Master Negotiator & Body Language Expert

To inspire people, you must touch their emotions. To touch their emotions, use colorful words that paint pictures in the mind of those you seek to inspire.

Since words communicate feelings, they move people to action. To become better at inspiring people and moving them to action, take note of the following insights.

Colorful Words:

Some words are more vibrant than others. And the way you form them makes you appear more powerful. As an example, if I said, ‘we can achieve our goal’. Depending on the modulation of my voice, some people will become inspired and moved to action. But, if I said, ‘if we stand strong, united as a single force, we can overcome anything – we can achieve our goal!”, with the same modulation as the first example, more people will become inspired.

Here’s another example. “Through a forceful fight, devoid of fright, we can forge our way to victory!” Out of the three examples, you’re probably moved more by this one. I’m sure you can sense the sensational difference too. The last two examples where more moving, more inspiring, more colorful. They had more rhythm, too.

Rhythm:

The rhythm in which you deliver your words also impacts their perception. You may have observed the rhythm in the second example. The words stand, strong, united as a single force. They set the tone and rhythm for, ‘we can overcome anything – we can achieve our goal!’ Where rhythm is concerned, the more your words end on a beat, the better they sound to someone’s ears. Then there’s alliteration.

Alliteration:

Alliterations can also be impactful and lead one to become inspired. They can move a listener to action due to the rhythm and pictures they create. Forceful, fight, and fright, were the words used to alliterate and paint a picture in the third example. Those words were the backbone upon which life was given to, “Through a forceful fight, devoid of fright, we can forge our way to victory.” I’m sure that example conjured up more imagery in your mind’s eye. I bet it was more inspiring, too.

When it comes to inspiring people, the more colorful words you use, along with rhythm and alliteration, the greater the image you’ll paint upon the perception of their mind. That will also be the source by which you’re able to inspire them.

By taking note of what’s mentioned above and employing it during your efforts to inspire others, you’ll increase your degree of influence, be perceived as more of a leader, and become more admired. You will have reached a higher summit in your life … and everything will be right with the world.

What does this have to do with negotiations?

In a negotiation, words are the means through which you communicate your position. To be more impactful, you need to be aware of how to use those words to move the other negotiator to your perspective. By utilizing the examples mentioned, you’ll be well on your way to accomplishing that mission. Thus, if you want to win more of your negotiations, don’t take those insights lightly. If you do, you do so at your peril.

Remember, you’re always negotiating!

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

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

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

#words #inspire #InspirePeople #Best #Thoughts #Emotion #Business #Progress #SmallBusiness #Negotiation #NegotiatingWithABully #Power #Perception #emotionalcontrol #relationships #HowToNegotiateBetter #CSuite #TheMasterNegotiator #ControlEmotions

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Best Practices Management Marketing Personal Development Sales

Five Reasons Your Salespeople Aren’t Good In the C-Suite

If your well-trained salespeople are having trouble getting into the C-suite, you aren’t alone.  It’s pretty common. There are a couple main reasons, some of which are easier to correct than others.

I’ve been in the sales training game for almost a decade, and have engaged with a a lot of sales forces in a lot of industries. Through my past experience as an executive, bolstered by my work selling to them, I’ve observed a couple of major problems.

Problem 1: The “Salesperson Doesn’t Add Value” Loop

This is a problem wider than just C-suite selling.  The sales profession has hurt themselves.  CSO Insights published a research note which describes what they call the apathy loop(contact me if you’d like a copy). The basic idea is this:

  • When sellers act unremarkably, customers no longer consult them (currently B2B buyers prefer company salespeople 9thout of 10 information resources…ouch!).
  • Sellers self-inform using one or more of the 8 better information sources and self-diagnose their solution.
  • They then distribute a requirements document and ask sellers for proposals/bids/etc.
  • The request traps most sales teams into a response every bit as standardized and unremarkable as the customer expected in the first place.

Sellers need to add value–go beyond customer expectation– to break out of the apathy loop. Challenger salespeople shake up a customer’s thought process by challenging (hence the name) assumptions and thought processes – generally by “telling”.  Insight sellers might ask questions or tell stories.  Perspective sellers build credibility, then offer business insights. These insights might take the form of:

  1. Enlarging – or shifting– the customer’s conception of their situation and/or problem.
  2. Altering – ideally expanding — outcomes that a client envisions and desires.
  3. Helping a group improve the quality or efficiency of decision-making. This kind of perspective is useful, but doesn’t move an executive’s needle – today’s topic.

A lot of training programs “yada yada” business acumen:  they tell sales people to “just use yours” to provide perspective. Has everyone in one of your selling roles really mastered the business acumen to provide insights?

It’s pretty hard to provide insights into something you don’t understand.

Some of the highest end sales forces in the world buy their sales people MBAs.  You can build a lot of business acumen for a lot less…why are you choosing none at all?

Problem 2: Executives Only Want to Talk About Executive-Level Topics

Top executives organize their companies.  That is, they define and arrange organizational silos, then direct how work flows between them. If an operation or process lives inside a silo, execs don’t generally want to hear about it. Instead, executives summarily refer functional-level subjects down into the silo (and place the offender on their “time-waster list”).

The work of getting executive time is often the work of making your topic relevant to them.  While sellers should show the same respect for every persona’s time, the stakes are higher for executive meetings.

Only approach an executive on a topic/issue they will value.

If you don’t have anything, wait until you do.  If your people can’t tell the difference, they need more business acumen.

Of course, your training and enablement included techniques and practice for talking to executives (it did, right?).   Now, did you feed them executive-worthy issues…or the business acumen to find topics for themselves?  Or, did you simply tell your sales people to “get out of your comfort zone.”?  How did you coach actual conversations? Did you get out of your comfort zone in training and enabling them?

Problem 3:  Customers often buy in silos.

Another reality: your customer reinforces the apathy loop via their own org chart. Organizational silos shape buying processes by simply existing. Companies tend to self-examine their needs through a silo filter. Requirements, RFIs, RFPs, etc. often signal how narrowly your customer is thinking through their own problem.  The easy – almost automatic — reaction is to follow the customer’s self-limiting thought process.

Remember the customer who called your salesperson in after internally developing their own requirements? Have you explicitly trained your reps to ask:

  • Who had input into the proposal?
  • What other functions and silos were consulted? How heavily was/will their input be weighted?
  • What functions/silos weren’t consulted…and why not?

If you haven’t trained reps to ask these questions, do you think they formulate and ask these questions on their own?

If your solution positively impacts more than one customer silo, you need to make sure you uncover every possible ally.  Remember, cross-silo benefits are often a valid reason to engage with an executive.

Problem 4:  Perhaps your selling activity is siloed too.

Maybe you’re unconsciously reinforcing the apathy loop yourself.

Your sales methodology is just as effective across silos as within, but I haven’t seen a single trainer encourage thinking outside of the box…well…silo. Ask yourself: what explicit skills, analytics, or tools did I give my people to carry their methodology across silos to hunt for value gaps?  If you didn’t train and coach them to apply methodology outside of the comfort zone, you’ve reinforced a discomfort zone…and strengthened the apathy loop.

Business acumen provides a foundation.  Sales people rely on their business acumen to talk comfortably about bigger business issues across organizations.

Articulating different ways your product or solution could impact functions and roles across a target company requires a different kind of product training.  I know of some great tools to help sellers understand the networks of value their product/service can have at a customer.

Problem 5:  You’re Rewarding Mediocrity

You may have also erected another barrier to your own success:  your compensation plan.  Do you have a compensation plan and discounting review processthat incentivizes sellers to get outside of the apathy loop and discover value? Or, do comp plan and discounting process reward commoditization equally? Humans– buyers and sellers — take the easiest route to an end.  If sellers can, they will make discounted sales by sticking inside of the apathy loop: meeting expectations, acting unremarkably and not differentiating themselves or their offer. Ability to manipulate your discounting/price exception system is all that’s required.

Sales People Want to Be Great.  Let’s Help Them

I am happy to talk about how to help close all of these gaps.  Contact me if you’d like to discuss further.  As always, like and share with your networks if you think they might find value.

To your success!

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

How to Use Stop-Loss Brackets When You Negotiate

“Knowing when to stop can be a life-saver. Using a stop-loss bracket helps to identify where you are in that process.” -Greg Williams, The Master Negotiator & Body Language Expert

When you negotiate, do you use a stop-loss bracket to control your emotions and the flow of the negotiation? You should, because if exercised properly, it prevents your emotions from hijacking your decisions during the negotiation.

It’s important to have a stop-loss bracket in place because, if you’re not sure about the lowest offer you can accept, you may not maximize the negotiation’s potential. If you’re unsure of the top bracket, you run the risk of losing what you’ve gained and/or upsetting the other negotiator.

Setting Stop-Loss Brackets:

You create a stop-loss bracket in the planning stage of a negotiation. Below the bottom bracket are offerings you can’t accept. Above, is the upper bracket point that you should consider not exceeding – That’s due to the potential subjection of losing the gains you’ve acquired. If you exceed the upper bracket, you might appear as being greedy.

To set the brackets, assess your worse and best-case scenarios. Do this for the least and most you think you can obtain from the negotiation. Do the same per the thoughts you believe the other negotiator has about his brackets. You can assign a probability to each bracket to increase its potentiality (e.g. 40% chance of losing if I go above/below bracket). You’d make that appraisal based on the information you’ve gathered per the needs, reasons, and wants the other negotiator has for negotiating with you.

Once you’ve made your evaluation, test it in a mock negotiation with a counterpart that understands the needs of the party you’ll be negotiating with. That process may uncover thoughts you’d not considered. If they do, consider altering your brackets to reflect the new insights you’ve gained. You may flirt with adjusting your percentage probabilities, too.

Controlling Negotiation Flow:

As you engage in the give-and-take of the negotiation, test the other negotiator’s bottom bracket by making a ridiculously low offer – this will also help set his expectations for what he can achieve. Be careful not to insult him. To avoid that, prior to making the offer, you might consider saying, “Please understand that I’m under tight guidelines per what I can offer in this situation.” Having stated that, you’ve prepared him for what’s to come. Once you make the offer, observe his reaction.

If he accepts your low offer, consider lowering what you thought his lower bracket would be. If he immediately rejects your offer without giving it real consideration, you may have to test him again or think about slightly upgrading his lower bracket. Throughout the process, he’ll be assessing your brackets, too. So, consider how you’ll respond to his offers. The exchanges that both of you have with one another will control the negotiation flow.

Conclusion:

Stop-loss brackets are excellent to control yourself and a negotiation. Since you know what you can accept before you sit at the table, you don’t have to involve your emotions.

To make the process work better, know when you’re near your lower and upper brackets and those of the other negotiator. Once you reach your upper bracket, test it by asking for something slightly above what you’ve acquired – do it gently. As an example, you might say, “I really appreciate the effort that you’ve put into nearing the agreement that we’re about to make. I’d like to ask you for ‘x’ if you can do it.” If he grants it without making a counter-request, you’ve just received something in addition to what you had. If he requests something in return, you know you’ve reached your stopping point. Either way, you’ll be in a better position … and everything will be right with the world.

Remember, you’re always negotiating!

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

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

#Persuasion #StopLoss #Bracket #Negotiate #Process #Power #Powerful #Emotion #Business #Progress #SmallBusiness #Negotiation #NegotiatingWithABully #Power #Perception #emotionalcontrol #relationships #HowToNegotiateBetter #CSuite #TheMasterNegotiator #ControlEmotions

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Best Practices Investing Management Marketing Personal Development Sales

The Secret of Selling … and Business: Mind the Value Gaps

Selling — and business — isn’t about what your customer says they want as much as it’s about what they value. Sure, translating from the first to the second takes skill, but that’s the reality. Customer value is at the heart of sales, marketing, customer experience, innovation, operations…everything in your business.

Value is the energy – the unseen force behind all business. Without value received in each direction, no transaction would take place. More profoundly, it drives every part of a customer’s buying process, like reading an advertisement, clicking on a web link, or agreeing to take a sales call. Nothing happens unless a prospect considers each next step worth his/her time. That is, they perceive a value gap: the expectation of a desirable outcome.

For most of the past decade, I’ve taken a deep dive into the craft of selling. However, I’ve always viewed selling not as a siloed corporate function but as a part of a bigger whole, combining my general management, value and pricing expertise with knowledge in sales and marketing. When you treat sales as its own silo, you leave a lot of potential growth and profits on the table.

Customers Buy…to Fill Value Gaps 

Selling skills and methodology training all takes different paths to the same goal: uncovering value gaps, then showing the customer to fill them. These could be gaps the customer understands and describes…or those they don’t know to ask for. The sellers that confine themselves to customer-described value gaps are the ones that look –and sell — like everyone else…and compete on price.

Your expertise in your product or solution means nothing if you aren’t also an expert in your customer’s business. Only then can you help your customer achieve creative, differentiated outcomes.

The Way We Sell Today Leaves Value Gaps Ignored.

Companies silo themselves into functions. This is both good and bad. Silos are centers of specialized expertise, but they are also fertile ground for tribal dysfunction (according to anthropologists who study organizations). Think of all of the functions in your own company who regularly contact your customer. Now think about how many value gaps those “non-sales” roles uncover on a daily basis, but don’t do anything with. Finally, ask yourself what value-creation opportunities you are wasting.

Everyone who comes in contact with a customer should be considered a seller. Then, every seller in your company needs to be attuned to looking for value gaps. More important than closing such gaps when they can: carrying any/all value insights “back to the hive”. When your organization gathers a more holistic view of a customer – and all their value gaps – you put yourself in a better position to compete.

Customers Don’t Help.

Selling companies aren’t the only ones who silo themselves. Even more important, customers try to buy in silos. For example, a piece of hospital lab equipment might be sold to the lab silo, assisted by resources in purchasing, contracting, and perhaps facilities. However, if that piece of equipment fails – or even worse, starts giving incorrect results – think of all of the silos who are impacted. The list includes doctors, nurses, patient records, billing, legal, scheduling (for re-tests), loss prevention, finance, administration…and of course, purchasing, contracting, and the lab silo. Think about it this way: when that equipment is running properly, all those departments are still impacted and are potential areas for innovation and value creation.

Most B2B offers deliver value company-wide, but many sellers are oblivious to anything outside of the conventional selling box. Business acumen helps sellers analyze how an offer benefits to other areas of the company. When all of your sellers have business acumen, they’re equipped to sell outside of a customer’s compartmentalized buying mentality.

Even if you don’t buy into lofty goals like feeding customer-focused innovation, think narrowly and tactically. Silo-limited customers with narrow buying processes lock salespeople into poorly differentiated selling processes. The same organization scheme that focuses on expertise and drives efficiency restricts a broad exploration of solution impacts. If your offer delivers out-of-single-silo results (most do), limiting yourself to within-silo selling is an act of self-commoditization.

If You Invest in Differentiating Your Product/Service, You Gotta Pay for it

When a business generates value for a customer through a differentiated offer (product, service, or solution), a sale is made. Generate enough value and the seller can charge more than their costs. They can then reward their employees for building differentiated products, forge strong relationships with valued suppliers, invest in even more differentiation, and yes, share profits with investors.

As you can see, focusing on value gaps closes a lot of loops in an organization. Your sales silo can strengthen those loops or break them. Unfortunately, some metrics make a sales organization still look good while still delivering profit/value dysfunction. I regularly see scoring systems which focus inside-the-sales-silo only, instead of holistically.

It’s About Uncovering and Closing Value Gaps.

By “it”, I don’t just mean sales. I mean “a world-class business”. All sellers (everyone who touches a customer) should participate in uncovering gaps. Every function in your company participates in closing gaps. Don’t let how you’ve siloed your organization stands in the way. And don’t let your customer’s silos limit the value you bring.

If you want to talk about it some more, contact me. As always, share and/or like if you found this article worth your time.

To your success!

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

What Moves You the Most Fear: Reward or Pain?

“The difference between fear, reward, or pain, is the emotional state that either creates in you.” -Greg Williams, The Master Negotiator & Body Language Expert

Do you know what moves you to action the quickest? I know it depends on the circumstance you’re in. But sometimes, we’re moved more by fear than reward or pain.

You should always be aware of what moves you to action in any situation. Doing so allows you to be more aligned with your decision-making process. And that allows you to understand why you choose to engage in certain actions.

The following are thoughts to consider when assessing how to decide about an action you’ll take. Being aware of those observations will also help you identify the source of motivation that’s controlling your thoughts.

Fear: Most people are motivated more by the fear of loss versus the reward of gain. You can test yourself by examining something that’s of value to you. Assess to what degree you’d feel pain if you no longer had it. Now compare that to other items (i.e. people, things) that you value. Now how do you feel? Through that quick simulation, you’ve prioritized what is of value to you. And, you’ve assessed the emotional state you’d be in if you no longer had it. You can make the same calculations when weighing the benefits of possibly acquiring something new versus not doing so because of where that process might lead. Also remember, something new carries intrinsic risks – it’s unknown – it has no history and thus no track record. It might look good in the beginning and be fraught with hidden dangers to come.

Reward: This can be a great motivator. But you should also note why you’re driven by a reward. If the driving force is to escape what you’re moving from, you should consider that fear might be the predominant source that’s motivating you. That’s important because you don’t want to think you’re driven by reward when the source is fear. The two motivators are directed by different mindsets within you.

The true motivation of reward might appear as you being happy and seeking more to enhance that feeling. As a result, you’re willing to take a risk to obtain what you seek. Always question when seeking a reward what the hidden risk is. Question to what degree it’s the loss of something that you’re familiar with. Thus, make your calculations appropriately to determine if you’re propelled by moving towards or away from something.

Pain: Pain can be a feisty motivator. On the one hand, most people attempt to avoid pain. Then, there are those that embrace it as a source to grow from. Either psyche may be the motivator that moves you to action.

Like the association that fear and reward have to one another, the avoidance of pain can be the conductor that divides one direction from another. That’s to say, if you’re predominately attempting to avoid pain, you may forgo the risk of reward. If you’re immune to pain, you may be more daring. Again, there’s a thin mental line that separates the mindset that’ll move you in one direction versus another. Know what that mindset is.

Always attempt to understand the sources that motivate you. They’re the lifeblood of your being. Thus, the more you know the process that controls its flow, the better you’ll be able to direct it … and everything will be right with the world.

What does this have to do with negotiations?

In a negotiation, you’ll be motivated to take action based on fear, reward, or pain. If you’re aware of the driving force that motivates you to action, you should be better positioned to control those actions. By being in greater control of yourself, you’ll be in greater control of the negotiation and the other negotiator. That means that he won’t be able to easily ‘push your buttons’ … and everything will be right with the world.

Remember, you’re always negotiating!

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

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

#Fear #Reward #Pain #Negative #Stop #Thoughts #Emotion #Business #Progress #SmallBusiness #Negotiation #NegotiatingWithABully #Power #Perception #emotionalcontrol #relationships #HowToNegotiateBetter #CSuite #TheMasterNegotiator #ControlEmotions

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Entrepreneurship Investing Management Marketing Negotiations Operations Sales Skills Women In Business

Persuasion – How to Use It in the Negotiation Process

“To become more persuasive, magnify your subject’s needs. Also, know how and when to give or take those needs away.” -Greg Williams, The Master Negotiator & Body Language Expert

“I attempted to coddle him as a method of persuasion. It didn’t work! He told me to put my offer where the sun doesn’t shine. I was speechless!”

What forms of persuasion do you use in your negotiation process? Every negotiator attempts to motivate her opponent through persuasion.

When considering how you’ll persuade another negotiator, you must consider her personality type, the situation you’re in, and the negotiation environment. Those variables will have a large impact on your use of persuasion in the negotiation process.

The following are a few thoughts to consider when deciding how you’ll address those variables in your negotiations.

Personality Type:

In the opening scenario, it appears the negotiator used the wrong form of persuasion – and was harshly admonished. Here’s something to consider when attempting to persuade someone based on their personality type.

  • Takeaway – Most people are more motivated by a fear of loss. That means, they’ll protect what they’ve gained rather than risking its loss for greater gains.
  • You can assess someone’s risk adversity by extending an offer of something they want, making it conditional upon their immediate acceptance, and taking it off the table if they decline. Later in the negotiation, make reference to that offer and observe their reaction. If they give an inkling of wanting it, they’re displaying the effect that the takeaway had. Even if they do accept the offer, you will have gained insight into the degree of risk adversity that they’re willing to undergo. You can use that insight throughout the negotiation.

Negotiation Situation:

Every negotiation is shaped by the value sought. That means the degree of effort applied is based on the perceived value and expectations of the outcome. Thus, if there’s a low expectation of value, the need to persuade or dissuade will be in direct correlation to that expectation. Keep that in mind when utilizing the following thought.

  • What losses have the other negotiator incurred in the past and what effect did they have on him – Having this insight allows you to invoke the painful memories of what occurred in the past. Your subconscious suggestion is, you don’t want that to happen again, do you? You can also use that information as a lever to persuade him from not straying into dangerous negotiation waters.
  • Different situations will influence the need to project different behaviors. Understanding the conditional behavior that shapes that mindset will indicate whether to use coddling or disdaining tools of persuasion.

Negotiation Environment:

The negotiation environment plays a huge factor in your ability to persuade someone. You can use surroundings to summon past emotional experiences. To do so consider these questions …

  • Who else is in the environment and what influencing persuasion is their presence casting on the other negotiator?
  • What has been the experience in the past that the other negotiator has had in environments like this?

Subliminally, we’re moved to adopt certain actions based on the environment. Thus, some actions would not be adopted if the surroundings were different. Having control of these variables allows you to project a greater degree of persuasion.

Other Things to Consider:

There are other things to take into account when assessing how you’ll be more persuasive in your negotiation. Such as …

  • Ethnicity
  • Gender
  • Culture
  • Position (superior vs. subordinate)

I will address the above variables in a later article.

As you can see, there are many ways to use persuasion in a negotiation. Above are just a few of those ways. There’s one thing that’s irrefutable, if you misuse your efforts of persuasion, you’ll diminish your negotiation efforts. To lessen that probability and to enhance your chances of having a more successful negotiation outcome, consider implementing the thoughts above … and everything will be right with the world.

Remember, you’re always negotiating!

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

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

#Persuasion #Use #Process #Power #Powerful #Emotion #Business #Progress #SmallBusiness #Negotiation #NegotiatingWithABully #Power #Perception #emotionalcontrol #relationships #HowToNegotiateBetter #CSuite #TheMasterNegotiator #ControlEmotions

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Marketing Personal Development

Here’s Why Your Book is a Content Goldmine for Social Media

NYC Branded Lifestyle Portrait Thought Leader Pia Silva Book Baddass Your Brand

Pull Quotes from your Book and Leverage Them on Social

Creating consistent content that illustrates your expertise, life as a business owner and life as a human being is a lot of work – ask anyone who’s done it for any amount of time!

For me, it took YEARS to get to a place where I consistently posted valuable, informative and inspiring content that aims to create solutions for those I serve. But, when you’re a published author, your social content creation workload has been drastically cut down! How so? Well, that book that you’re currently promoting also happens to be a goldmine of social media content.

Quite frankly, there’s a lot of meat on that bone in terms of repurposing content!

The moment that I find out that I’m working with an author, I immediately get excited at the prospect of diving in and building out content pieces from that book that repurposes their expertise that they’ve crafted and honed over time. This presents a unique opportunity to create a solid foundation of content by creating a hyper-focused strategy that can offer a lot of content for months, even YEARS, on end. During pre-session strategy calls with my author clients, I first direct them to identify interesting passages, chapter titles, and sentences throughout their books, and use those words to create short, social media posts that elaborate on the concepts introduced in those words and phrases.

Usually, I instruct them to specifically choose passages that they can build a unique story around that teaches a lesson that is relatable to the audience they serve.

Example of Repurposing a Chapter Title

For example, I was working with an author/coach client the other day, and as we were flipping through his book, and we came across this page:

NYC Branded Lifestyle Portrait Thought Leader book

I asked him if he felt he could write a valuable story that’s not the same anecdotes that he mentions in the book that focused on fear in a way that would serve his audience.

I suggest that clients mix it up and not always use verbatim passages from the book in their social media as a way to keep their content fresh and not literally a complete copy/paste job. Does that mean pulling entire paragraphs are illegal in some way?

Of course not – but, mixing in new stories with what you’ve already written allows the author the opportunity to provide some variety. It allows offers those in your audience who’ve already read the book a new spin on what is an old theme for them.

In any case, he had no problem creating a new story around the FEAR chapter title, and that’s when I snapped this photo and it became a part of his image content portfolio.

It’s that simple.

Why Not Simple Repurpose Content with Words Only?

I’ve often heard the counterpoint that it’s just easier to copy/paste the chapter title, sentence or passage into a simple text graphic for social.

And they would be right – it is MUCH easier.

That’s always an option, sure, but, the whole point of creating social posts is to gain your audience’s attention and inspire them to act on whatever call-to-action you set out at the conclusion of the post – comment, share, sign up for an offer, pick up the phone and call you, etc.

If you simply create a text on-screen graphic of the quote, yes, that certainly works, but, there is more dimensionality to an actual shot of the book itself – it’s more tangible, more real. It gives the impression to the viewer that they are reading the book themselves.

Photos like this draw people in by breaking down the fourth wall between you and them, and thus, becomes more relatable.

When you factor in that you’re competing against the rest of the noise in your audience’s newsfeeds, leveraging compelling images like this will help inspire them to stop, look and read…

…oh, and buy your book, as well, 🙂

John DeMato is an NYC branded lifestyle portrait photographer and content creation expert who serves speakers, authors, coaches and high-level entrepreneurs across the country. His 50+ 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.

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Best Practices Investing Marketing Personal Development Sales

The Sales Initiative With the Highest ROI

There are so many initiatives to choose from in sales performance area — it can be hard to prioritize, but limiting discounting is a no-brainer.

Which one has the highest ROI?  For most businesses, the highest yield comes from building a systematic approach to pricing and discounting.

Here’s the math.  For the average company making 10% pretax profit:

  • One dollar in new sales yields 10 cents of profit.
  • One dollar in avoided discounting – on all the deals you’re already winning — increases your company’s profits by that entire dollar.

Certainly, every business has different issues and challenges, so exceptions exist.  However, controlling “discounting spend” carries a built-in 10:1 advantage in ROI. In all of my years of experience consulting sales organizations, and leading others, 10:1 boils down to “a worthwhile issue to explore” (being married to a Brit has developed my skill at understatement).

Your pricing and discount approval system might be invisibly killing your company.  If you are a CEO, CFO, CRO, CSO, in Sales Leadership, or Sales Enablement, you are probably suffering a profit leakage. Worse still, many companies aren’t even measuring or tracking the problem.

What’s Your Discount Spend Per Year?

At this past week’s Sales3.0 Conference, I conducted an unscientific “man in the lobby” poll on company processes around pricing and discounting. I had conversations around this question:

How many dollars in discounts did you give out last year? I don’t just mean discounts based upon invoice terms. Include any reduction in price below list, standard, or typical (for semi-custom and custom products).

Nobody I talked to could answer.  Think about that: a significant number of sales enablement and sales leaders I talked to didn’t even track discounts given.  Gut check time:  do you? Given the profit impact of discounting, this begs the question “why?”.

Pricing and discounting is my specialty, of course.  If you would like to address the issue, I’m happy to give you my best thinking about your situation.  Contact me. If you don’t have a crystal-clear analysis of your discount spend, call me anyway.  As you can see from my informal poll, you are in good company.

How Do You Distribute Discounts?

To make you feel even less alone, let me share a few more common situations. Many companies give discount dollars out reactively. Discounts often go disproportionately to:

  • The salesperson is best able to game the system, possibly the squeakiest wheel.
  • Reps reporting to the regional manager who used to be the salesperson above.
  • Whiniest customer.
  • Most politically connected channel partner.
  • ..I could go on.No need to, though, is there?

These schemes not only kill profits, but they also demoralize your salesforce.  Everyone in your whole company knows who gets the discounts.  If the distribution doesn’t make good sense, word gets around.  Especially if you are paying your salespeople on revenue instead of profit, you are steadily stirring a pot of resentment.  Some of your salespeople think that “favors” (a perversion that only sales-compensated teams believe in) are being doled out to select “golden children”.  This can have an effect on morale and retention, in addition to the direct “profit surrender” effect above.

When you discount vs. when you can build value

It’s no mystery that sellers combat discounting by building value in the customer’s mind. I don’t favor the term “selling value” because value is only in the customer’s mind, and “selling” sounds too much like “telling” to the untrained ear. Here’s the thing, though.  As the graph below shows, your ability to build value has pretty much faded by the time the customer wants to discuss price and discounts.

Ability to sell value vs discounting

Here’s the good news: Most sellers need only a few simple tweaks to their regular selling process and methodology, and coaching those tweaks is straightforward for sales leaders.  I don’t want to sugarcoat it, though:  these tweaks require coaching sellers through a behavior change.

Here’s the better news: when your sellers build value,  prospective customers have clearer expectations of their outcomes — financially and personally. Very often, they have a higher preference at a premium price.  It often happens that the premium price is more resistant to competitive price discounts than the lower price you might have agreed to without using good value discipline.

Who Can Build Value?

Here’s the best news of all: it all works even better when everyone who touches your customers is on board.  Your product can trigger value in many unexpected corners of a customer’s company, and the more of these you find, the more value there is to be built.

What does Great Look Like?

A robust, disciplined price exception system can work a lot of ways.  In fact, it may have the same process steps and participants you have now.  The process steps are less important than changing what gets discussed during those steps.

Price exception decisions need to use much more objective information than most do today.  When they do, they are harder to game, and can be deaf to whining.

Coaching salespeople to build value becomes part of the sales culture.  Luckily, this doesn’t have to complicate coaching.  When a seller can articulate value built, coaches know they’ve done a great job with the entire sales process and methodology. It’s only when sellers can’t articulate value that coaches need to diagnose problems with detailed methodology and skills coaching.

Finally, sales shouldn’t be the only department who cares about revenue instead of profit.  That value system keeps sales leaders from making the transition to general management.  It creates culture problems in organizations.  To that end, your compensation plan may need to change.  If your people aren’t paid on profits, they’ll settle for profitless revenue.  Even if you can’t measure profits precisely, pay them precisely based upon a consistent profit estimate

Pricing is Profit.

Every dollar of additional price on a won deal is a dollar of profit for your company. Discounting discipline is a great way to stop profits from leaving your firm.  An investment in shaping up your discounting discipline is one of the highest return on investment places you can apply your company’s scarce resources.  If you know how many dollars in discounts you gave out last year, what would happen if you could only prevent 10% of those lost profit dollars?  20%?  5%? Now compare that number to the cost of other sales performance initiatives you’ve implemented. Does this shape your upcoming priorities?

Contact me if you’d like to explore your situation together.  If you found this post valuable, please share with your networks, like, and/or comment below.

To your success!

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

How to Use Micro-Expressions to Negotiate Better

“The mind conceals hidden thoughts. Micro-expressions expose them.” -Greg Williams, The Master Negotiator & Body Language Expert

Are you aware that you can see the thoughts of other people? It’s not a magic trick. It’s accomplished by observing micro-expressions. Microexpressions are displays of emotion. They last for less than a second. They occur before the brain has a chance to alter the displayed emotion. Thus, the display is a genuine reaction to the stimulus that caused the emotion to be displayed.

There are seven microexpressions that are generic to everyone on the planet. That means if a stimulus occurred to someone in Europe or Asia, or anywhere in the world, the reaction would be the same.

This article identifies the seven microexpressions and how their recognition can be used in a negotiation.

Fear – Why do we become frightened? In part, it’s a way we protect ourselves. But fear can be debilitating too. In a negotiation, accurately detecting fear will give you an advantage. To obtain that advantage, you must know what the other negotiator is fearful of.

When detecting genuine fear, look for raised eyebrows, widened eyes, and parted lips with the bottom lip protruding downward.

Anger – People become upset in degrees. When it reaches a point of nontolerance, that’s when it becomes anger.

When negotiating, always be mindful of the other negotiator’s temperament, as well as your own. In both cases, when one loses one’s cool, that person can become irrational. Manipulation can easily occur at that time. Thus, they’re opportunities contained in such a mindset if you know how to advantage your position.

There are two main differences between the displayed microexpressions of fear and anger. With fear, eyebrows are raised and they’re lowered when displaying anger. In addition, with anger, one’s nostrils will flare like what a bull might exhibit prior to charging.

Disgust – In a negotiation, this is a temperament that we see when someone is not in agreement with our statement, offer or counteroffer. The other negotiator may say yes to the offer. But if he has his upper lip lifted and his nose turned up in a wrinkle while doing so, he just displayed the microexpression denoting disgust. It’s important to note the distinction between his words and actions because his statement of agreement is not as firm as his body language is indicating.

Surprise – Expressions of surprise can be good or bad (e.g. That’s better than I thought, or there’s no way I’d go for that.) You can recognize surprise by raised eyebrows, wide eyes, and a mouth that’s agape. Fear and surprise have these characteristics in common.

When negotiating, note if the expression of surprise stems from happy or sad expectations. If the other negotiator is too happy about an offer you’ve extended, you might consider reducing it.

Contempt – This gesture is conveyed by a sneer with one corner of the mouth turned upward. The meaning is, “I’m not enamored with this – I might think it’s insulting.’

Take note when you observe this gesture because it can lead to disgust and then anger.

Sadness – When sadness is displayed it’s done through drooping eyelids, lips turned down, and a change in the voice’s inflection and tonality.

If a negotiator displays sadness, it may stem from him realizing that you have the upper hand and there’s no negotiation wiggle room. If that’s a reality, don’t beat him up. You don’t want to turn that into anger, which might lead to unimagined responses.

Happiness – You’ll see this in the form of wide-eyes, a smile, raised cheeks, and a degree of exhibited gaiety.

When perceiving happiness, take note on what caused it but don’t let your guard down. If it’s genuine, you’ll sense an easy flow in the negotiation. If contrived, it may be an attempt to lull you into a false sense of security.

Negotiators look for advantages in every negotiation. Being able to accurately detect microexpressions can be the advantage you need. So, if you want greater advantages during your negotiations, look for the advantages that microexpressions offer. You’ll be a greater negotiator with greater outcomes … and everything will be right with the world.

Remember, you’re always negotiating!

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

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

# microexpressions #Power #Powerful #Emotion #Business #Progress #SmallBusiness #Negotiation #NegotiatingWithABully #Power #Perception #emotionalcontrol #relationships #HowToNegotiateBetter #CSuite #TheMasterNegotiator #ControlEmotions

Categories
Marketing Personal Development

The Art Of Visual Punctuation

NYC Branded Lifestyle Portrait Speaker Coach Kristi Data

See the art of visual punctuation in action…

…as illustrated by one of my clients.

It’s one thing to simply talk about how to properly leverage your image content.

I mean, I can talk – and HAVE talked – until I’m blue in the face about how important it is to use your images in a way that visually punctuates the sentiment and emotion of every story that you share with your audience.

It’s quite another to see it actually play out effectively on a living, breathing, social media feed.

One of my clients who is an expert at leveraging her images to visually punctuate her content is health and nutrition speaker/coach, Kristi Data.

I conducted a session with her a couple months ago, and since that time, she’s been burning up the socials with a barrage of image content that, quite frankly, makes me smile every time I see a new post pop onto my newsfeeds…

…not because everything she writes is sunshiney and happy-time, mind you; my joy derives from the way that she identifies and leverages photos from her massive, image content library to aptly compliment the informative and inspiring stories and lessons she shares with those she serves.  

Although Kristi posts a variety of branded lifestyle portraits and cameraphone images of herself, the posts that truly capture my attention are her quote posts.

Quote posts are when you incorporate a phrase, sentence or paragraph directly onto an image – usually positioned in the space opposite the person sitting in the frame –  in order to give your audience the chance to easily digest the sentiment before they move on to read the story listed in the caption.

These images are a wonderful way to simultaneously create a powerful piece of content, while also being visually attractive enough for your audience to stop, click and read the post.

I went to her Instagram feed and pulled a couple examples to specifically illustrate what I mean. Although Kristi generally complements these quote posts with a long-form story, I just want to focus on the actual image content for the purposes of this conversation.

VISUAL PUNCTUATION EXAMPLE #1 – REFLECTIVE

NYC Branded Lifestyle Portrait Speaker Coach Kristi Data

This image/quote pairing is wonderful for many reasons.

Her facial expression immediately reads as focused and reflective as she works on her phone. When you factor in the dramatic lighting on her face, that further enhances this sentiment because it creates a very moody vibe, which speaks to the “moments when you think you can’t go on…” section of the quote.

In addition, the black and white tone strips away all potential distractions in the frame, which allows the viewer to focus on only two things – the facial expression and the words. And, since the words are adjacent to the expression, the impact of the overall message is extremely palpable.

Everything in this image aims to visually punctuate the quote, which then compels the viewer to scroll down and read on to learn more.

VISUAL PUNCTUATION EXAMPLE #2 – EMPOWERMENT

NYC Branded Lifestyle Portrait Speaker Coach Kristi Data smiling

I’m a sucker for capturing magical smiles – it’s ever-present in all of my work, which makes sense since I work with speakers, authors and coaches who empower their clients get past what’s holding them back in order up to show up in the world exactly the way they want.

A natural smile is a testament to this goal.

In the case of this image, Kristi’s smile is a wonderful visual punctuation of the sentiment of “choosing her(self)” over other influences in her life that doesn’t serve her ultimate goals and purpose in life.

Whereas in the first image where black and white served to enhance a reflective and pensive tone to the image, the color in this photo serves as a perfect compliment to the empowerment tone of the quote.

It’s bright and lively – and that’s how you will view life if you choose you over all else, 🙂

It’s addition by subtraction – and this photo visually punctuates that sentiment.

VISUAL PUNCTUATION EXAMPLE #3 – CATCHY

NYC Branded Lifestyle Portrait Speaker Coach Kristi Data Headshot

I love the play on words here, and this portrait – her expression, in particular – truly visually punctuates that catchy sentiment.

I wouldn’t say her smile is devious or sneaky, but, it has this level of quirk and smirk to it that aptly complements the “slay” portion of the phrase on the right side of the image.

I’d also say that her smile has a certain level of confidence and badassness to it, which also visually supports the phrase, overall.

On a more technical note, her text placement on the image is lovely because it falls directly in line with the severely out-of-focus portion of the image, which gives it a natural resting place within the image.

When you create your own quote posts, be sure to place your text in the image in a way that doesn’t obstruct or distract from the main area of attention – in this case, her body and face. If you do, it will disrupt the visual balance of the frame and not present itself as well as it should.

VISUAL PUNCTUATION EXAMPLE #4 – AFFIRMATION

NYC Branded Lifestyle Portrait Speaker Coach Kristi Data reflective and pensive

In this post, Kristi used a black and white image again to enhance a sentiment of reflection, but, this time, the image is meant to visually punctuate a powerful affirmation.

Before I took out the color in this photo, her top is burgundy and the wall is a salmon/pink – all of that color is a bit distracting, so, choosing a desaturated image only serves to bring the audience’s attention to her facial expression, head angle, and the quote itself.

What I find very compelling about this image/text combo is that it feels like Kristi is saying this affirmation over and over again in her head, as she looks down and repeats it to herself as if it were her daily mantra.

It’s an interesting and powerful way to visually express the importance of this sentiment to her audience.

Her reflection on the right side of the frame only serves as an amplification of the importance of repeating this positive and empowering self-talk to yourself – and, I mean, it does add a cool, visual wrinkle to the image overall, too 🙂

As you can see, when you capture a variety of branded lifestyle portraits across a wide emotional range, you have a lot of creative opportunities to leverage these images in a way that visually punctuates the sentiments of the stories and messages that you share with your audience.

My hope is that you will see the flexibility within your own image content portfolios and start creating magical posts that move your audience to get past what’s holding them back, 🙂

John DeMato is a NYC branded lifestyle portrait photographer and content creation expert who serves speakers, authors, coaches and high-level entrepreneurs across the country. His 50+ 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.