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Category: Personal Development

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Marketing Personal Development

Here’s a Creative Way to Leverage Your Event Photos

How do you stand out from the Speaker crowd?

Be creatively generous.

Recently, I was hired by a speaker colleague, Jen Slaw, to capture candid, event photos of her presentation to a group of accountants.

I mean, how can I say no to a speaker who juggles as part of her presentations, right?

I mean, don’t get me wrong, I love shooting speakers of all persuasions, but, when props are included in the mix, it makes for an exciting time:

 

Although she is very familiar with my work through the NYC chapter of the National Speakers Association and knows how I make a concerted effort to capture magical moments big and small, she made a point to tell me that she wanted a large portion of the images to capture attendees participating in the group activities.

And, so I did:

I was curious to know why she specifically requested these types of photos.

She mentioned that these specific images were going to be bundled together and emailed to the event organizer as a thank you for their participation.

What a creative way to leverage these images!

I had actually never heard of one of my clients doing this before, and yet, it makes so much sense.

It offers yet another reason why it’s a no brainer to invest in a professional photographer to cover your presentations and workshops, especially if they have interactive and team-building components.

By offering these images to the company or foundation that hired you, you’re ingratiating yourself by going the extra mile and offering extra value to their members and employees.

As a result, when their next monthly, quarterly or annual meeting comes around, guess who the organizers will be calling again to present?

In addition, when other departments within the organization conduct their own monthly, quarterly or annual meetings, the opportunity for you to be referred to them increases exponentially because of your thoughtful and generous add-on.

As for the attendees, these candid images offer them a fun and personalized memento from what otherwise would’ve been an endless meeting of talking heads and powerpoint presentations.

Also, when you share these images with attendees, it affords them the chance to post some of their favorites on social in order to share the wonderful experience they had while listening and participating during your presentation…

…which is, by the way, a great way to promote you to their networks.

The best part?

If you already hire professional photographers to cover your events and talks, you can simply ask them to focus more on the audience to capture these moments, and the work is done. You’re already making the investment and are tailoring it to help create added value for your clients.

If you don’t, perhaps now you can see the versatility and value of candid event images beyond posting them on your social media feeds and blog articles.

At the very least, you will make the attendees smile, which counts for something, doesn’t it, 🙂

 

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.

Categories
Growth Leadership Personal Development

Coaching People to Move through Discomfort

In a webinar that Anthony Amos gave for us at Tortal Training, he made a comment that we’ve been thinking about ever since . . .

“Good training coaches people to move through discomfort.”

The more we think about that comment, the more we realize how wise Anthony is.  After all, discomfort is one of the main reasons people silently resist training . . .

  • Sales trainees learn your company’s strategies and scripts for structured selling . . . but some never admit that they feel uncomfortable about “asking for the buy” and closing sales.
  • Some mature trainees who are returning to the workforce might be reluctant to admit that they feel insecure about using new technologies.
  • Executives in your leadership training programs take part in workshops that encourage them to work closely with other departments . . . but some of them secretly feel defensive about sharing too much information with the heads of other divisions.
  • Some of the phone representatives who you are training to make cold sales calls never admit they hate to pick up the phone and call people they don’t know.

Dealing with Discomfort 

Before you can overcome discomfort, you have to find ways to uncover where it lies.  Here are some effective ways:

  • Start asking for “mood feedback” as soon as training begins. Asking a question like, “everybody good with that?” or, “anybody got a problem with that?” consistently through training can set up an atmosphere that encourages trainees to open up about any areas of discomfort. If you keep the mood lighthearted and fun, trainees will be more likely to say what is on their minds.
  • Anticipate and deal with possible “hot button” issues when designing your training. If you think about who your trainees are and what you would like them to learn, you can often identify areas of discomfort ahead of time and teach to them.

Effective Coaching Techniques for Areas of Discomfort 

  • Use simulations. If a trainee for a calling center job says that she fears having to deal with angry customers, let her handle two or three simulated calls from dissatisfied customers. (Other trainees can play the part of the callers.) Once she sees that she can handle those calls well, she will gain the confidence she needs.
  • Use videos in your training. If you can show employees dealing with situations or issues that you expect will cause trainees to feel discomfort on the job, you can proactively train employees to perform better.
  • Let trainees break into small sub-groups to discuss what they are learning. Trainees who are reluctant to air fears or concerns before a room full of other trainees are often willing to share their feelings in small groups of their peers. One good technique is to ask each group to appoint a leader to collect comments and then report them to the entire training class.
  • Consider using anonymous feedback. You can ask trainees to anonymously write down their areas of discomfort on index cards, or have them text the training leader. Once those comments are collected, your trainer can talk about them openly with the entire group.
  • Be respectful of trainees’ feelings. You want to keep the mood light but resist the temptation to poke fun at trainees’ fears. If a trainee opens up about something that is on his or her mind – something that is a concern – part of a trainer’s job is to discuss the issue respectfully and carefully.
Categories
Growth Leadership Personal Development

The 7 Cornerstones of Leadership

What does it take to lead effectively? “Leader” is such a broad term that encompasses so many traits—it’s difficult to answer with just one requirement. Then you have different meanings of leadership. Are we talking about political leaders, thought leaders, or band leaders?

For those of us who teach entrepreneurial culture and entrepreneurship, leadership means taking a business concept from idea to profit. In other words, it means to create a business and become a target for acquisition—setting a great example for your team along the way.

Here’s our short list of what it takes to be a good leader:

1. Be sensitive.

The ability to see opportunities before they come. The ability to see the effects of your actions beyond the present. And the ability to think up a solution to any problem, looking for answers. A leader recognizes the limits of their own skills and allows others to take charge and solve marketing and technical problems. They are humble enough to be open to others’ opinions who might have more experience in certain areas.

2. Be innovative.

The ability to examine a problem and come up with a solution. The willingness to try out your solution in the real world and start from scratch if necessary. A great leader knows that innovation doesn’t stop at the product—it continues to work through all challenges necessary to get the product to the market and keep it there.

3. Be tenacious.

The willingness to keep going even when the solution costs twice as much and takes twice as long. The wisdom to surround yourself with optimism, with people who believe in their solutions—giving them the encouragement to stick to it. A leader must also validate, recognize, and encourage their own people to keep going and improve. They must give clear direction and set standards for improvement. This way, everyone on their team thinks that progress is being made.

4. Be empathetic.

The ability to seek and understand what different people want in different relationships, whether it’s with customers, vendors, or employees. The ability to understand and satisfy each level of customer between them and their end-user. A good leader communicates others’ needs to their people in a way that they can relate to. Leaders focus on how satisfying their customers make sales happen.

5. Hustle!

The ability to quickly seize an opportunity. The willingness to seek and hire only those who hustle. A leader must have a sense of urgency to meet their customers’ deadlines as well as their own. They must have a sharp sense of priority in order to complete the tasks that must be finished first.

6. Be decisive.

The ability to not only make a decision but to also make a difficult decision. The ability to see that it’s more beneficial to make a decision on time with 50% of the data than to miss an important opportunity by waiting for 100%. With this skill comes the ability to admit making the wrong decision in order to learn from it. A good leader must give their people permission to make a mistake, as long as the mistake ends up improving the company’s policies and procedures—forever!

7. Share.

The willingness to share the wealth. The ability to find strategic allies who will profit from their success. And the desire to reach equity- and profit-sharing agreement with crucial teammates to secure their long-term buy-in, motivating them to make necessary sacrifices to find success. Leaders also share their obstacles with others, respecting their advice and encouraging them to participate in the problem-solving process.

There have been hundreds of books written on this, but from our real-world business experience and from working with other like-minded entrepreneurs, we’ve learned that these are the essentials!

Leaders lead. Everywhere. They lead their own people and they lead the market. Some people put leaders on a pedestal and glorify them. It isn’t easy being a leader. It comes with delayed gratification, anxiety, and just plain fatigue. Some of us may only remember those leaders who have succeeded. But every leader has failed in order to find success. They each have doubts and must bite the bullet. But thanks to all the leaders out there, we have a high standard of living, great jobs, and a certain level of security. Leaders can take a business from idea to profit. And they set an excellent example for anyone who follows them.

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

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

Are There More Powerful Hidden Secrets Concealed in You?

The more powerful you are, the more powerful you’ll be. To become more powerful quicker, unlock the powerful hidden secrets that reveal your power.” -Greg Williams, The Master Negotiator & Body Language Expert

The evening was turning ugly – It appeared an impasse was at hand. Then, Amie spoke – “since John said he was not trying to insult you and he apologized, how would you feel if what you perceived to be an insult hadn’t occurred? Would you feel better?” With that, Harry said, “I’d feel a lot better.” Then she said, “well, let’s continue from the point of you feeling a lot better.” Everyone smiled, became congenial, and continued with that demeanor for the rest of the evening. Amie’s friend turned to her and said, “I didn’t know you had hidden powers. Are there more powerful hidden secrets concealed in you?”

Tapping Into Your Powers:

Do you know what hidden secret abilities you have? Just because others can’t see your hidden powers doesn’t mean you have to keep them concealed from yourself. Do you know how to tap into them? Those questions were meant to make you think. Because, if you don’t know there are hidden secret abilities in you, you won’t know how to tap into them. To reveal them …

  • First, sense that there’s more power living inside of you. That’s the catalyst, the starting point, at which you’ll move it to a higher sense of self-awareness. To do that …
  • Note how you feel in different environments based on the people you’re with (e.g. their status, their skills, your relationship to them, how they perceive you, how you want them to perceive you).
  • Observe how you feel when others give you feedback through what they say, how they say it, and/or what they do when you’re in different environments. In some cases, you’ll become emboldened. At other times, you may shrink. Take note of why you experienced either. That will allow you to uncover more of your hidden powers.

Embracing Your Powers:

Everyone possesses hidden abilities. You have such secrets concealed in you too. Over time, you’ve accumulated coping strategies that have allowed you to become more powerful. In some cases, you’ve held some of that power back for fear of what might occur if you unleashed it. If you identify fear as a source that prevents you from being more powerful, ask yourself what are you fearful of. And what’s the worst possible outcome that could occur if you confronted that fear. Again, you’ll be tapping into the source of the hidden power within you. That’ll be the beginning process of releasing that power and giving it life.

As you get older, you become more emboldened – you castoff concerns about what others think of you. You state, take me for who and what I am. The point is, you don’t have to wait until you’re older. You can do that right now! Doing so will allow you to unleash more of the powerful hidden secrets concealed in you … and everything will be right with the world.

What does this have to do with negotiations?

Sometimes, when negotiators negotiate, they have a tendency to be overly adventuress or overwhelmed at the negotiation table. In either case, their power, or lack of, is the cause of that state. Therefore, you must be aware of what’s motivating you during your negotiations. Too much false bravado can sink you. Too little means you’re leaving too much on the table.

Negotiations occur in every aspect of your daily life. Thus, the better you negotiate in any environment, the greater the outcomes you’ll have. If you’d like to have those greater outcomes occur more frequently, learn to tap into more of the powerful secrets concealed in you.

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/

#Secrets #Concealed #Hidden #HiddenSecrets #Negotiate #Process #Power #Powerful #Emotion #Business #Progress #SmallBusiness #Negotiation #NegotiatingWithABully #Power #Perception #emotionalcontrol #relationships #HowToNegotiateBetter #CSuite #TheMasterNegotiator #ControlEmotions

Categories
Best Practices Growth Leadership Personal Development

The Power of Perspective

Why Perspective Matters

Today’s business environment, markets, and industries are nothing if not complex and multi-faceted. Apple owning Amazon $30million a month despite competing across multiple verticles attests to the complexities of the relationships that business leaders face daily. However, with every new relationship, with every new facet that we see in business and organizations, the complexity is only compounded by the fact that every one of us views these differently. This matters in working on customer and employee experience, product design and customization, marketing and sales outreach, financial and investor relations, every single aspect of business that involves people. Moreover, that is every part of our companies.

Putting Different Viewpoints Together

Being able to see other’s viewpoints, and putting yourself in someone else’s shoes can become one of the most challenging pieces in creating better relationships. After all, we all know our customers and what they want, but have we taken the time to truly understand what the customer goes through when interacting with our business.

One of my favorite stories is from Expereince Enterprises is how they had a call center manager call into his system and the (almost predictable) results that came about.

Taking the time, asking genuine—open-ended—questions, and reminding ourselves that our businesses are not one-sided, makes a difference in how we can grow and differentiate our organizations.

Omnipotence and Adaptability

None of us knows everything, and fewer of us can see the complex picture of today’s business ecosystems. Every strategic framework that I have seen and used presents an intriguing structure, but most leave more questions than answers.
Filling the gaps in our knowledge is essential, but to truly grasp, interpret, and act on this information we need people. We need different viewpoints, experiences, ideas, and motivations to become successful.

Moreover, this allows for increased adaptability and resilience in our organizations. The ability to critically think around problems, solve issues by using old ideas in new ways provides for far-reaching implications in our practices. It is not about re-inventing the wheel when anything goes awry but finding ways to reimplement and adapt old knowledge in new ways. Being mindful of the various perspectives, ideas, and abilities within an organization allow for this to happen. The greatest mistake in business is often saying, “We have always done it that way” and allowing no further room for additional input.

Ed Brzychcy is former U.S. Army Infantry Staff-Sergeant with service across three combat deployments to Iraq. After his time in the military, he received his MBA from Babson College and now coaches organizational leadership and growth through his consultancy, Blue Cord Management.

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

His Body Language Screamed “Alert: Gullible Liar!”

“Reading body language is like seeing someone’s thoughts. Reading body language accurately gives you the ability to know what those thoughts are.” -Greg Williams, The Master Negotiator & Body Language Expert

Something about his body language caught my attention. It screamed, liar!

A man entered my car on the train and announced to everyone that he needed $15 for a train ticket to get to his 13-year old daughter. He said she was at a location where the train ended. He went on to say that someone had already given him $2.

One person gave the requester $5. From there, the requester walked through the rest of our car seeking more contributions. One gentleman said to him, ‘sit beside me – I’ll buy you a ticket.’ The requester said, okay, I’ll be right back and kept walking – he made his way out of our car and into the next one on the train. The gentleman that offered to buy the ticket and I looked at one another and smiled. We knew the requester would not be returning, and he didn’t return.

 

What body language gestures do you think the requester might have displayed? The man that gave our train friend $5 was taken in by his story. On the other hand, the man that offered to purchase a ticket suspected the requester’s story was illegitimate.

When reading body language, be observant of your intuition and a person’s gestures. Your intuition is very attuned to detecting lies.

Intuition:

Intuition is a nonverbal silent signal that secretly conveys information. If the signal was audible, you’d liken it to a knock at the door, the ringing of the phone, or a loud noise. In all cases, it attempts to attract your attention – it seeks your higher sense of awareness.

When you have an emotional sensation whose source you can’t identify, don’t discard it. Instead, raise your sense of awareness to become more attuned to the message that’s seeking your attention.

Body Language:

For a perspective of someone’s intent, observe their eyes, head, hands, feet movements.

Eyes – The requester on the train searched people with his eyes to detect easy marks. He was looking for those that smiled and made eye contact. People that lie will go to the extreme of displaying too much or too little eye contact. They may display too much because they’ve heard that people who lie avoid eye contact. In the latter case, they’re not aware of that. So, since they know they’re lying, they attempt to avoid eye contact to conceal it.

Head – When the requester thought someone was empathetic to his plight, he locked onto that suspect and nodded his head in that direction. The head nodding was a subliminal message stating, you and I understand one another.

Hands – Always watch someone’s hands when they’re talking. In the case of the requester, I noted that his hands moved away from him when he professed the desire to get to his daughter. And they stayed there. Had he gestured in the distance where she was supposed to be and then drew his hands back to his heart or chest as he professed his desire to get to her, he would have been more believable. As it was, his gestures said, there is no daughter at the end of the line. He just wants everyone to think there is.

Feet – When it came to the requester’s plea, once he detected that those close to him would not assist, he made quick movements to get away from that area. When someone is lying, they’ll display feet movements that attempt to put distance between themselves and the lying environment they’re in.

Being able to read body language gives you an advantage in any environment – that’s especially true when negotiating. If you’d like to have x-ray type vision that allows you to see inside of someone’s mind, enhance your ability to read body language … 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

 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/

#BodyLanguage #Liar #Beware #Negotiate #Process #Power #Powerful #Emotion #Business #Progress #SmallBusiness #Negotiation #NegotiatingWithABully #Power #Perception #emotionalcontrol #relationships #HowToNegotiateBetter #CSuite #TheMasterNegotiator #ControlEmotions #BodyLanguageSecrets

Categories
Marketing Personal Development

Here’s Why Stock Photography Can Hurt Your Brand

Fan of stock photos? Here are my two cents on it…

Why spend money on stale, stock photos when you could spend money on juicy, branded lifestyle portraits?

I’ve come across a TON of speakers who use stock photography for not only their social posts but their websites, digital ads, and printed materials.

WHY?

Actually, the better words to use here is STOP THAT NONSENSE RIGHT NOW!

How come?

Because stock photography is not you. It’s not who you are, who you serve, and why you do what you do.

And everyone who sees them recognizes that they are not uniquely you.

It’s sending a generic message through generic photos that are available to everyone who is willing to pay for them.

You Are Not Generic

You have a personality and illustrate emotions through your facial expressions and body language in a unique way, which are all visual cues to those who view these images.

They paint a broad and vivid picture of how you operate.

NYC Branded Lifestyle Portraits SPeaker Coach Pia Silva podcasting NYC Branded Lifestyle Portraits SPeaker Coach Jez Cartwright on computer NYC Branded Lifestyle Portraits Speaker Coach Author Michael OBrien playing with yoyo NYC Branded Lifestyle Portraits Speaker Coach Tricia Brouk brainstorming

If you are in the business of transformation, the last thing you want to do is leverage stock images as the visual punctuations to the sentiments of the insightful and inspiring stories ABOUT YOU that REPRESENT YOU to your audience.

Your Expertise is Special

you have a gift in some shape or form. Don’t water it down with visual imagery that was created without you specifically in mind.

Give yourself the best opportunity to present yourself powerfully and purposefully by creating an image content library of photos that are unique and special to your life and business.

Unlike stock photos, these types of images break the fourth wall between you and those you serve because they illustrate aspects of your process, how you brainstorm, work with clients, and spend your free time.

They create rapport and connection, and give the audience an opportunity to visualize how it would be to work with you. And, if they can envision working with you, that’s one step closer to converting them into a paying client.  

Remember one important point – you are in the business of building relationships, so every touchpoint – social post, blog article, website, etc. – counts. Make them count more with images that clearly have you, your brand and business front and center.

Does that mean you need to post lifestyle portraits of yourself every single day?

Absolutely not.

There is other image content that you can incorporate into your portfolio. Add in a wide variety of image content that has personal and special meaning to you.

Start with the way you work – what does that look like? Branded photos of your desk space, the technology you leverage and the way in which you work throughout the day will help you become more relatable to those you serve.

But, that’s all a warmup.

You can also create image content with books, mementos, photos of your family, kids, hobbies, and other fun activities that help serve you in your quest to show up in the world the way you want, especially when it comes to how you serve your clients.

Own your expertise.

Own your business.

Own your brand by sharing visual imagery that is uniquely aligned to you and those you serve. This will create a much more impactful relationship between you and them.

Take a pass on the stock stuff – your community will appreciate you for it, 🙂

 

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.

Categories
Best Practices Entrepreneurship Industries Skills Technology

Smart Construction: How AI and Machine Learning Will Change the Construction Industry

These days, seemingly everyone is applying Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning. I have written about disruptions in the manufacturing industry, such as Industry 4.0, while illustrating the Hard Trends that indicate where improvements will be made in the future.

The construction industry, which makes up 7% of the global workforce, should already have applied these technologies to improve productivity and revolutionize the industry. However, it has actually progressed quite slowly.

Growth in the construction industry has only been 1% over a few decades while manufacturing is growing at a rate of 3.6%. With the total worker output in construction at a standstill, it is no surprise that the areas where machine learning and AI could improve such statistics were minimal. Yet, those technologies are finally starting to emerge in the industry.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is when a computer mimics specific attributes of human cognitive function, while machine learning gives the computer the ability to learn from data, as opposed to being specifically programmed by a human. Here are ten ways that AI and machine learning will transform the construction and engineering industries into what we’ll call “smart construction.”

  1. Cost Overrun Prevention and Improvement

Even efficient construction teams are plagued by cost overruns on larger-scale projects. AI can utilize machine learning to better schedule realistic timelines from the start, learning from data such as project or contract type, and implement elements of real-time training in order to enhance skills and improve team leadership.

  1. Generative Design for Better Design

When a building is constructed, the sequence of architectural, engineering, mechanical, electrical, and plumbing tasks must be accounted for in order to prevent these specific teams from stepping out of sequence or clashing. Generative design is accomplished through a process called “building information modeling.” Construction companies can utilize generative design to plot out alternative designs and processes, preventing rework.

  1. Risk Mitigation

The construction process involves risk, including quality and safety risks. AI machine learning programs process large amounts of data, including the size of the project, to identify the size of each risk and help the project team pay closer attention to bigger risk factors.

  1. More Productive Project Planning

A recent startup utilized 3D scanning, AI and neural networks to scan a project site and determine the progress of specific sub-projects in order to prevent late and over-budget work. This approach allowed management to jump in and solve problems before they got out of control. Similarly, “reinforcement learning” (machine learning based on trial and error) can help to collate small issues and improve the preparation phase of project planning.

  1. More Productive Job Sites

Professionals often fear machines will replace them. While intelligent machines will take over first repetitive and eventually more cognitively complex positions, this does not mean a lack of jobs for people. Instead, workers will transition to new, more fulfilling and highly productive roles to save time and stay on budget, and AI will monitor human productivity on job sites to provide real-time guidance on improving each operation.

  1. Safety First

Manual labor not only has the potential to be taxing on the body, but also to be incredibly dangerous. Presently, a general contractor is developing an algorithm that analyzes safety hazards seen in imagery taken from a job site, making it possible to hold safety briefings to eliminate elevated danger and improve overall safety on construction sites.

  1. Addressing Job Shortages

AI and machine learning have the capacity to plot out accurate distribution of labor and machinery across different job sites, again preventing budget overruns. One evaluation might reveal where a construction site has adequate coverage while another reveals where it is short staffed, thereby allowing for an efficient and cost-effective repositioning of workers.

  1. Remote Construction

When structures can be partially assembled off-site and then completed on-site, construction goes faster. The concept of using advanced robots and AI to accomplish this remote assembly is new. Assembly line production of something like a wall can be completed while the human workforce focuses on the finish work.

  1. Construction Sites as Data Sources

The data gathered from construction sites and the digital lessons learned by AI and advanced machines are all tools for improving the productivity of the next project. In this way, each construction site can contribute to a virtual textbook of information helpful to the entire industry.

  1. The Finishing Touches

Structures are always settling and shifting slightly. It would be beneficial to be able to dive back into data collated by a computer to track in real time the changes and potential problems faced by a structure — and AI and machine learning make this possible.

Given the inevitable changes on the horizon, and the potential for costs to drop up to 20% or more with increased productivity, professionals in the construction industry must pay attention to Hard Trends, become more anticipatory, and ultimately learn to turn disruption and change into opportunity and advantage.

Know What’s Next

Discover proven strategies to accelerate innovation with my latest book The Anticipatory Organization. Follow this link for a special offer.

Shape the Future–Before Someone Else Does It For You!

Categories
Best Practices Growth Personal Development

7 Rules That Will Make Your Emails Rule

Is your mailbox full? Ours sure is—every day! Do you read each and every email? We don’t. Because there are simply too many! Most messages are spam, and as a result, we miss quite a few important things. We’re sure you’ve discovered a few quick scanning methods, like looking for senders you recognize, subject lines that sound familiar, and replies to your latest email chains.

In a business world driven by email, how do you write effective messages that will actually be read? We don’t mean marketing emails either. There are far too many courses and books on that subject. (And frankly, we wish they’d stop.) But how can you write effective correspondence that will sort through the distraction, confusion, and noise in your recipients’ inbox?

We’ve used email since the days of “You’ve got mail!” And here’s what we have learned:

  1. Protect the Subject

Create a subject line that’s easy for you and your recipients to spot among the crowd. Make sure it’s pertinent to the topic and no more than three words in length. If the sender has looped in to another email to start a new conversation, change the subject to reflect the new topic. Change it back if the subject shifts again. Your recipient will appreciate the consistency.

  1. Keep the String Going

Once in a while, your recipient might send a reply message from a different mailbox. This could possibly change the subject line and the sender’s name. And more importantly, this can disturb the ongoing trail of emails on the same subject. If this happens, find the trail on the previously used email address, and paste it into the bottom of your response. This way, both of you will able to see the conversation’s path more clearly.

  1. Who’s Watching?

One of the biggest mistakes we’ve all made before is to “reply all” when we didn’t intend to. Double-check who’s CC’d on the message before you hit Send. A new recipient could’ve been added or someone else could’ve been removed. This is especially important when emailing larger organizations. They’re trained to move CCs around depending on who they want on the message. Sometimes letting their boss go from the chain removes a bit of pressure.

  1. Get On Your Phone!

If there’s a disagreement, misunderstanding, or miscommunication via email, pick up your phone and figure it out verbally. You’ll be surprised at what can be done during a personal and friendly phone call instead of a contentious and lifeless email. And NEVER fight through email. It’s emotionally draining, time-consuming, and both sides feel like they have to get the final word in. A lot of these arguments can be solved in just five minutes on the phone.

  1. Obtaining the Evidence

Email memorializes everything that has been said. Unless you want it to come back at you later, keep conversations away from email and on the phone instead, or even better, in person. But for this same reason, email is a great way to document what was agreed upon. We like to discuss verbally, whether on the phone or at a meeting, and then summarize the points, action items, or consensus in a memo that lets others know, “This is our understanding of what we’ve agreed to. If you have any additions, corrections, or comments, please respond by tomorrow at 5pm or we will assume that this is our understanding.”

  1. Only One Thing

Have you noticed that when you send someone an email with a few instructions or tasks, only the last one is acknowledged or completed? People only remember the highway entrance ramp, and the highway exit ramp. Everything else is all meshed together. So, keep things simple! Ask for one thing per email. If you have several requests, create a separate email chain for each, or even better, send a new email each time they complete a request. This way, you can keep it all on the same trail.

  1. Keep Things Friendly

Say something nice about your recipient in the message’s first line and the PS, and sandwich your message right in between. Break paragraphs up into two or three-sentence smaller paragraphs. If they can see the end, they’ll more likely read it. Let them know you’re open to a phone call if clarification is needed. And don’t forget to thank them for their completion or previous response. If their boss is CC’d, you should note how effective they are, even if they really aren’t. They’ll be more likely to live up to a compliment that makes them look good in front of their bosses. Once your business with them is finished, be sure to thank them publicly, with their boss copied on the message. They will both look forward to working with you again!

We could go on forever about email best practices and etiquette, but these are the general rules of thumb that will make your emails “rule!”

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

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Best Practices Investing Management Personal Development Sales

Selling Value: It’s No Longer Enough

Selling value is great, but it isn’t the solution it used to be.  The world – and customers — have changed around static solutions, and now we need to rethink the whole idea of selling value.  Selling Value can no longer be the responsibility of any single corporate function.  It needs to become a company-wide culture.  Specifically, we need value-focused culture, or simply Value Culture.

There are four reasons why selling value is no longer good enough.

Sales Have Lost the Handle on Full Value

For many years, companies have delivered sales training to sales organizations, and salespeople have improved how they sell. The sales training industry has established “world class sales” is something that exists inside of the sales silo. Now, we have extensive research on what “World class sales performance” looks like…but only viewed within the arena of sales, sales ops, and sales enablement.

The business world has shifted around the sales performance industry, though.  For the past few decades, though, companies have splintered their customer interface into many specialized roles:

Sales (hunters), account management (farmers), business development, inside sales, technical sales, demo specialists, sales development (appointment setters), installation, customer success, tech support, customer support, operations, finance, underwriting…

Salespeople don’t contact — much less have credibility with – all of the customer personas these specialist roles work with constantly.  “Sophisticated” companies train their specialists to deliver a great “customer experience”: customer interactions which promote the brand promise— or at least, eliminate weak links in the customer arc.  That’s not remotely what’s needed. Customer experience training doesn’t equip anyone to discover any of the value gaps from their unique vantage point.

Any company not training every customer-facing role to uncover potential value is failing to leverage potential competitive advantages.

Selling Value Has Come To Mean Less and Less

Even for Selling organizations who haven’t splintered, selling value has become less and less effective.

Customers have splintered and siloed themselves as well.  Your product or service touches more customer specialties than it used to…even if it didn’t become more sophisticated and capable.  Dividing your total value proposition into narrower and narrower customer slivers can reduce the total value your salespeople sell.  Every specialty your sales people fail to bring into the buying decision represents less value offered.  Selling value doesn’t have the same impact it used to.

Sales organizations need to navigate more complex customer organizations.  Meeting this challenge means raising the level of business acumen in your selling organization to find more “value leverage points”.  Sellers need to combine business acumen with customer acumen to find those leverage points in each organization they encounter.

Value Selling Seldom Leads to Value-Based Pricing…

 Frankly, I’m not very impressed with many current “value selling” methodologies.  Average sales training teaches reps to apply benefits to each single persona. The best value selling methodologies only teach reps to sell beyond benefits, to customer outcomes…which is value. I haven’t run across any (OK, anyone else’s) value selling methodology which influences a customer to build their own cost impact statement of those outcomes.

Current value selling helps win sales, but is only short putt away from selling at a profitable price. I love winning a deal as much as the next guy, but I’ve help P&L responsibility: what’s the point of winning a barely-profitable deal?  Your company lives on profits:  a profit stream – not a revenue stream – is what funds innovation, investment, all of your fixed costs…and yes, commission checks.

Pricing is Profit.

If your value selling initiative doesn’t draw a clear, bright line to selling at a value-based price, you’re dropping out of the race with the lead…in the home stretch.

Hoarding Value Insights Cripples Your Company

Value uncovered by the sales organization …used to win sales…even at a value-based price…can represent a few open loops in a company.  An organization-wide value culture closes these loops.

Value insights gathered via value discovery need to inform many other organizations in your company:

  • Marketing. First, content can be tightly focused on the value your company is uniquely positioned to offer.  Clicks and opens relating to those value points are worth infinitely more than those on more generic click-bait content.  Leads that germinate from outcome-based content are gold.  Crap content generates crap leads.  Second, you have persona-focused value insights which can drive tightly targeted, highly relevant sales support content. Collaterals that focus on specific “buying journey sticking points” are deal-movers.
  • Product Management and product training. Product training that describes persona-specific outcomes is the gold standard that few organizations practice.  Roadmaps and product strategies informed by a rich database of value insights are also far too uncommon.
  • Innovation. The virtual call center, a staple of today’s world, was invented at a cost of zero (OK, we had to develop a few new powerpoint slides), simply by combining two products together.  The key to this innovation was a value insight.  When product developers have a deep well of value insights to draw from, inventions and innovation are radically improved.

Your World has Changed. How Will You Respond?

To combat these evolving challenges, you must establish a value-oriented corporate culture.  Culture crosses silo boundaries, countering the unintended consequences of specialization.  There are techniques, tools and technologies that can help.

If this resonated, or spurred some thoughts, like, comment or share. If you’d like to talk further, contact me.

To your success!