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Category: Personal Development

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

The Hidden Value of Imperfection

“No one is perfect but knowing your imperfections will help you spot the imperfections in others.” -Greg Williams, The Master Negotiator & Body Language Expert

When was the last time you met someone that was perfect? If you can recall such a person, you had one of two thoughts. You thought this person is perfect, as you swooned with bliss, or you thought this person is perfect, in a mocking tone to yourself.

No one is perfect. If you’ve associated with someone that’s perfect, you haven’t been with them long enough to see their imperfections. That’s not to speak ill of them because there’s value in imperfection.

The way you view the imperfections of others speaks to the realistic perspective you have of them. That perspective can also keep you from following their leads when such would take you over the edge, off a cliff, into the sublime. Whatever cliché you choose, you get the gist of my meaning. As an aside, that’s also how some people become splayed for swindling.

It’s important to consider the imperfections of those with whom you congregate, because of the shadowy subliminal force of influence they cast. Consider the times when you enter activities that don’t serve your needs or goals, but you do so anyway. Understand, those are moments when you’re moved by unseen forces from your associates. You should consider attributing some sources of your actions to their influence and recognize it as such; you should also attribute your positive actions to such forces. Therein lies the value of an associate’s imperfections. Your recognition of their imperfections will lead you upon a different path.

We all have imperfections. The more willing you are about displaying yours, and accepting others for what their imperfections are worth, the greater will be your recognition of reality. That should lead to greater opportunities for you and those that you engage with … and everything will be right with the world.

What does this have to do with negotiations?

There are benefits to positioning yourself as someone that’s less than perfect in a negotiation; you appear to be more authentic. Thus, what you proport as reality will adopt a more realistic appeal. You may be familiar with the phrase, “keep it real”. That implies that you should keep the B.S. at bay, along with how you present your offers. To maximize your efforts, align your offer/counteroffers with the beliefs of the other negotiator’s reality. The more you match his beliefs (i.e. that which he senses as value and being real), the more valuable and acceptable will be you and your offers.

When negotiating, the display of imperfections can also be a double-edged sword. That sword can serve as fodder or the deliverance of a soul worthy of appreciation and value. You and the other negotiator will make that assessment.

To position yourself correctly, know of the expectations related to the type of negotiator your opponent wishes to negotiate with. Know also how you can match that expectation. Keep in mind that some negotiators want to display their knowledge in a helpful manner, while others will attempt to do so as a form of manipulation. So, be mindful of the role you’re casting as pertaining to how you should cast that role.

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/

#Imperfection #hiddenvalue #Emotion #Lies #Business #SmallBusiness #Negotiation #NegotiatingWithABully #Power #Perception #emotionalcontrol #relationships #liars #HowToNegotiateBetter #CSuite #TheMasterNegotiator #ControlEmotions

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Best Practices Growth Management Personal Development

The Most Powerful Leadership Tool: Systems Thinking

Leadership is challenging because it’s paradoxical. We want control, but we don’t want micro-management.  We want freedom to act, but we don’t want chaos.  What is the best way of thinking about the world (about people and problems) that will enable us to manage the variation in trust and deal with the complexity and this paradox?  The answer is ‘systems thinking.’

Leaders who want to bring out the genius of every employee and who want to optimize results (especially through customer experience and employee engagement) must be skilled systems thinkers.[1]

The Journal of the American Medical Association estimates 27% of all adults over 40 are taking statins.  I am one.  Statins have shown to be very effective in reducing cholesterol and thereby reducing the risk of heart attack and stroke.

After taking statins for about 6 months both my knees began to ache.  After a month of suffering, one morning I awoke and could barely walk.  I couldn’t understand how this could happen.  I had not injured my knees. I never had pain like this before.  I did a bit of online research and found a few comments and one research paper explaining that statins can cause knee and joint pain.

I notified my Doctor that I was stopping my medication. I explained how I was nearly immobilized because of the pain.  There was no relief especially at night. I was losing sleep, I had to stop exercising, and I could not play golf (a beloved hobby). My Doctor concurred and asked me to continue without the statins for a few more days.  The pain started to subside. I could now walk almost normally. Each day I am getting better.

With all good intentions and knowledge my Doctor prescribed a statin that caused a severe impact on the quality of my life.  The statins helped avoid serious heart issues, but they cause severe side effects.  One part of my physical system was helped while another was severely impacted.  Even my wife was impacted because I could not do certain household tasks because of the pain. I also had to sleep on my back to avoid discomfort.  This caused me to snore more loudly and frequently. My wife lost sleep because of the prescription. My wife is part of my system too.

Leaders must appreciate systems. A system is a series of interdependent elements which cooperate and communicate to achieve a specific purpose.  My physical system could no longer function because an attempt to help one part of my system (my heart) created an unintended consequence for other interdependent parts of my physical system.

We can see other examples in the news.  Wells Fargo was fined millions for issuing fake credit card accounts and overcharging customers to lock them into new deals. (Prentice, 2016)  They not only provided monetary incentives for the employees to “sell” these deals, they also threatened employees with loss of employment if they failed to meet the goals.  This is an example of the standard form of control techniques.  Employees had to behave in a certain way. Customers were manipulated.  Wells Fargo management had good intentions.  They wanted to increase sales and its customer base.  They adopted an incentive program that caused unintended negative consequences for employees and customers.

The Obama administration increased its Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standard to 54.5 miles per gallon (mpg) by 2025.  They had good intentions.  They wanted to improve U.S. energy security, reduce carbon emissions and save consumers money at the pump.  The unintended negative consequences were for costs of new vehicles to increase significantly thereby causing consumers to hold onto their older vehicles longer.  The older vehicles have worse fuel efficiency.  The new vehicles were costlier but less safe because they were lighter materials. (The Unintended Consequences of Ambicious Fuel-conomy Standards, 2015)

Ecologists in California argue that the 30 million dead trees are natural assets that provide habitats needed by wildlife.  Firefighters view them as safety hazards that can crash down on roads, power lines, and homes, and that could potentially make the fires bigger and more dangerous.  The good intentions of the ecologists impacted the severity of the wild fires this year. (Upton, 2016)

When there is a problem to be solved, a leader must avoid jumping to conclusions and quick fixes.  The good intentions of fixing problems quickly can create unintended and unexpected negative consequences making things much worse.  Leaders must appreciate systems, use data and a predictable problem-solving method that encourages experimentation.  Optimization means doing the very best with the resources available.  In each of these examples, the system was not optimized.  Leadership failed to appreciate systems thinking.

Sources:

Prentice, R. (2016, September 19). Wells Fargo Goes Far to Cheat Customers, and It Was Predictable. Retrieved from utexas.edu: https://news.utexas.edu/2016/09/19/it-was-predictable-that-wells-fargo-cheated-customers

The Unintended Consequences of Ambicious Fuel-conomy Standards. (2015, February 3). Knowledge@Wharton.

Upton, J. (2016, June 23). 30 Million dead trees could make California wildfires even worse. Grist.

Wally Hauck, PhD has a cure for the “deadly disease” known as the typical performance appraisal.  Wally holds a doctorate in organizational leadership from Warren National University, a Master of Business Administration in finance from Iona College, and a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from the University of Pennsylvania.   Wally is a Certified Speaking Professional or CSP.  Wally has a passion for helping leaders let go of the old and embrace new thinking to improve leadership skills, employee engagement, and performance.

[1] Systems Thinking: Is a discipline of using data to identify patterns, processes, and structures that cause events. It’s a way of thinking and acting to obtain knowledge to make changes in process and structure to improve the interactions between the parts of a system and instead of making improvements to the parts of the system.  Excerpts taken from The Art of Leading: 3 Principles for Predictable Performance Improvement by Wally Hauck, PhD, CSP.

For more, read on: https://c-suitenetwork.com/advisors/advisor/wally-hauck/

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Best Practices Entrepreneurship Management Marketing Negotiations Sales Skills Women In Business

There’s Hidden Value in the ‘Nice Factor’ When Negotiating

“The hidden value of the nice factor is exposed by reciprocation.” -Greg Williams, The Master Negotiator & Body Language Expert

“I don’t know why I made those concessions. The other negotiator was so nice! Something made me want to be nice in return.” Unbeknownst to the speaker of those words, subliminally, he was affected by the nice factor.

Have you ever considered the hidden value of the nice factor when negotiating? Being nice is perceptional, depending on who you’re negotiating with. Nevertheless, it has a place at some point in every negotiation.

The following are ways you can deploy the settle ally of the nice factor to enrich your negotiation outcomes.

Positioning:

Negotiators set the tone for the negotiation at its outset. Note: The outset starts before you’re at the negotiation table. They may set a tone to suggest you should not take them lightly or one that implies they’ll go along to get along.

Some negotiators project a stern persona to convey the sentiment that they’re not to be dallied with; this persona can also be invoked to protect the veneer of insecurity. That’s worth mentioning because you should be watchful and asses if such a demeanor serves that purpose. That can uncover the personality type that you’re really dealing with.

In some cases, a stern type of projected positioning is advantageous. But, if you don’t consider the negotiation style of your negotiation counterpart, it can be the uncoupling of the negotiation before it starts. Thus, you should be mindful of the persona you project at the beginning stages and throughout a negotiation. You don’t want to turn the other negotiator into a more abstinent opponent if he’s not already one. If such occurs, attempt to mollify him by modifying your demeanor. Be nicer.

Soft Negotiators:

Soft negotiators will display their demeanor by presenting a broad smile upon meeting you and a handshake that is appropriate for the encounter (i.e. not too hard, not too soft). As you engage in the negotiation, assess to what degree this may be a façade. You can accomplish that by noting the slight changes in her personality when discussing points of disagreements. If she’s quick to placate you, make sure you let her win points, too. Doing that will enhance the nice factor.

Hard Negotiators:

Hard negotiators may present more of a challenge when attempting to invoke the nice factor. Depending on the degree of their hardness, moderate to obnoxious, the nice factor may not be appropriate. Instead, you may want to adopt a persona that matches the style of the other negotiator to get him to modify his demeanor. If he does, at that point you may consider implementing the nice factor. Depending on the severity of his modification, being nice can serve as his reward.

Negotiation Reset:

Most negotiators don’t like strong tensions in a negotiation. When tensions reach a certain level, negotiators tend to be more dogmatic about the positions they’ve adopted. So, if you find yourself in such a contention, consider employing the nice factor. This may be in the form of making a concession. If you’re not sure if doing that will ease tensions, preface your offer with an ‘if’ statement (e.g. If I do this, will you do ‘x’?). The point of using the nice factor at this point will be an attempt to reset the negotiation to a less pretentious position.

The more positive the experiential endowment you invoke within the other negotiator, the easier the flow of the negotiation will be. That will lend itself to an enhanced negotiation engagement, which in turn should lead to a greater negotiation outcome for you … 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/

#Value #factor #Fight #Negativity #cyber, cyberbullying #Management #SmallBusiness #Money #Negotiating #combat #negotiatingwithabully #bully #bullies #bullying #Negotiations #PersonalDevelopment #HandlingObjections #Negotiator #HowToNegotiateBetter #CSuite #TheMasterNegotiator #psychology #NegotiationPsychology

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Growth Management Personal Development

For the Most CANDID Leadership Feedback, Go Undercover

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Best Practices Growth Human Resources Leadership Personal Development

Professional Workplace Environment Awareness

Are you paying attention to your workplace environment? As a busy leader, your professional attention and commitment is to ensure the workplace environment creates productivity and team effectiveness.

Look around your office right now. Is there clutter everywhere? Does it seem a little crazy or chaotic? Are important files and papers easily accessible? Is it easy for people to collaborate on an idea? Is it easy for people to find where they need to be? Consider creating an attentive workplace by looking at the environment that you create. Do people have an opportunity to move into a quiet room or space, to get things done? Are your meetings productive by considering the environment, to maybe call in others or use video technology? How are you paying attention to your environment? But think about the environment as the wider context, as well.

What can you be doing, as a leader, to pay attention to our environment, meaning a bigger environment? Do you have a recycling program at work? Just maybe even recycling bins beside the printer. Can you offer refillable water bottles or water stations for people to avoid the plastic waste? Could you consider donating unused furniture from the office to charities that could maybe really use it? Do you encourage people to maybe use public transport instead of driving everywhere? There are so many ways, as a leader, we can pay attention to, not just the office environment, but also the wider environment, as well.

When a friend of mine was doing property development, he decided to make sure his building was LEAD certified. Now, while you might not be a big fancy property developer like he is, maybe there are things you can think about when you’re designing a new process, or product, or protocol, that allows you to be more environmentally friendly.

As an Australian, I get that I’m a little crazy about protecting the environment, which means, personally, I do carry refillable water bottles. I do try and use … Well, not always use public transport, but I do try to from where I live. I definitely try to reuse the towels when I visit a hotel, instead of using housekeeping all the time. I definitely try to donate things wherever possible. If I’m not using it, I’m sure someone else can use it.

What are some little ways that you could pay attention to the environment, both at work, and at home? I want to challenge you to just look around and have a think. In our book, Attention Pays, we cover this in the chapter on Global Attention, meaning, how are you paying attention to your community, to the world at large?

Now, you may not be a Tesla driving, environmentally conscious person, but there are little tiny things I bet you could pay attention to at work that would make the environment easier for people to get work done. Or maybe be kind to the environment with the way that you get things done.

How are you, as a leader, truly paying attention to your environment? I would love to hear your comments, so feel free to share them with me directly. It is my belief that when you pay attention, attention pays.

Categories
Entrepreneurship Management Marketing Negotiations Sales Skills Women In Business

What’s the Difference Between a Lie and the Truth?

“A lie is only believable if you accept it.” -Greg Williams, The Master Negotiator & Body Language Expert

Person 1: “I could tell he was lying.” Person 2: ‘How?” Person 1: “Because his words were unbelievable!” Person 2: “I missed that.”

Do you know the difference between a lie and the truth? It’s the degree to which you believe either. Let me explain.

As you’re hearing something, you assess to what degree it may be true; in part, that’s based on what you’ve known to be true from your past experiences. You continue to assess the believability of something the more you hear of it. You wonder to what degree the truth is stretched, at the point when words become suspect. As you continue to listen, once they’re stretched past your point of believability, you then consider the words to be lies.

Intellectually you may be aware of the process stated above. But, do you raise your sense of awareness to recognize the thought process you’re engaged in when it’s occurring? It’s important that you do so. In doing so, you raise your sense of consciousness to what’s said, which means you may become alert to prior passages that you overlooked. That also means, you may have allowed lies to go unchallenged, which emboldens its purveyor to continue lying.

There’s a thin line between a lie and the truth. Sometimes, it’s thinner based on who’s telling the story and who the listener is. To protect yourself in interactions with others, note what’s said, when it’s said, and the environment in which it’s said. In doing so, you’ll gain greater insight into the motivation behind when and why words part from the truth. That will also be the point when your sense of keenness insulates you from the mental depravity that occurs when one is falsely led by lies. You’ll truly be protecting yourself from mental anguish … and everything will be right with the world.

What does this have to do with negotiations? 

Most negotiators will misrepresent the truth during negotiations. It’s a fact and if you don’t think it occurs you’re being pollyannaish. Recognize that for what it’s worth.

Consider this, if a negotiator completely disclosed his circumstances, he’d expose his vulnerability and weaken his position. Thus, to prevent that from occurring, he’ll withhold aspects of his position to enhance his outcome. He’ll stretch the truth to accomplish that means. By noting his stretch point, you gain insight into his source of motivation. That will lend insight into the importance of the point. You can hone that insight to create discomfort for him. Do so and observe how quickly he wants to move from away from that discomfort. As an aside, the more he wants to move from that point, the more angst he’ll be displaying about his uncomfortableness.

It’s said that all lies are born from truth. That means a lie is only a lie to the degree that the people involved believe it to be. In your negotiations, understand the purpose that a lie serves and you’ll have greater insight as to where the truth lies.

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/

#Emotion #Lies #Business #SmallBusiness #Negotiation #NegotiatingWithABully #Power #Perception #EmotionalControl #relationships #liars #HowToNegotiateBetter #CSuite #TheMasterNegotiator #ControlEmotions

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

How to Prevent from Being Slaughtered When You Negotiate

“You set yourself up to be slaughtered in a negotiation if you don’t set yourself up right.” –Greg Williams, The Master Negotiator & Body Language Expert

“What the heck happened in there? They slaughtered us! They out-negotiated us at every turn! Why did we not see that coming?” “I guess we didn’t plan for that type of negotiation with that type of negotiator”, was the reply.

People engage in negotiations because they seek to maximize an outcome. In that quest, some people lose their focus. They use the same negotiation strategies they’ve used in the past and wonder why they get slaughtered when those strategies are no longer effective. To prevent that from happening to you, note the following.

Positioning

Environment: Know what the best environment is to conduct your negotiation in. That environment may encompass doing so in writing, or phone, versus in person. There are different dynamics that come into play when negotiating in different environments. Know the environment that will most benefit your style of negotiating compared to the negotiation style of the opposing negotiator.

Perception: Everyone has an image of who the person is that they’re negotiating with. That persona is based in part on what the perceiver knows about the other negotiator; that stems from what the perceiver has seen, heard, and thought of that person in the past.

Project the persona warranted for the negotiation. Take into consideration the negotiation style of the opposing negotiator in your calculation (i.e. hard (I’ll crush you), soft (I’ll go along to get along)). The perception you cast and how you perceive the other negotiator will determine the flow of the negotiation. To prevent being caught off guard, about your perception of the other negotiator and him of you, be adaptable as to the persona you project.

Strategy

Entity: Know who you’re really dealing with (i.e. what force and sources motivates the other negotiator). Consider how he interprets information and how best to message that information related to the messenger (i.e. your persona). Your message may be received more favorably with one persona based on how that persona is perceived.

Leverage: When assembling strategies, assess how you’ll employ the powers of leverage. Leverage is a tool that can embolden you with positional power (i.e. power you have for a specified time), which can improve your negotiation position. Be cautious of how you use leverage. If you state you’ll engage in an action and don’t follow through, not only will you lose the ability to invoke leverage further in the negotiation, you also run the risk of losing credibility.

End Game

What’s your end game and how will you know when you’ve entered it? You should develop the answers to those questions during the planning phase of your negotiation. The plan should encompass what might trigger the end game phase of the negotiation, how you might promote it to occur if it’s lagging, and what you might do to terminate the negotiation if you discern that your efforts will not get you there.

By having markers denoting possible exit points from a negotiation, you lessen the possibility of staying engaged longer than what’s necessary; staying engaged longer increases your vulnerability by making unnecessary concessions.

Once you arm yourself with the thoughts mentioned above, you’ll insulate yourself from the brutality that could otherwise occur. That insulation will also be a shield that prevents you from being slaughtered in your negotiations … 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/

#slaughter #Fight #Negativity #cyber, cyberbullying #Management #SmallBusiness #Money #Negotiating #combat #negotiatingwithabully #bully #bullies #bullying #Negotiations #PersonalDevelopment #HandlingObjections #Negotiator #HowToNegotiateBetter #CSuite #TheMasterNegotiator #psychology #NegotiationPsychology

 

 

Categories
Growth Health and Wellness Leadership

Do You Have the Guts to be a Great Leader?

Leadership is changing.

Our relationship with work is changing. We want more meaning in our daily lives and that also means more meaning at work. Let’s face it, work is where we spend most of our time and at the end of our lives, work has consumed most of it. We don’t look back and say, “I wish I had worked harder,” but we might look back and say, “I wish I had made a bigger impact.”

Now I am not trying to encourage regret here. My dad, when he was dying, did not realize how many people he had made a difference for. He received letters and emails thanking him for the impact he had made in someone’s life, simply by listing to them, having conversations with them about their hopes and dreams, and encouraging them to see the best in themselves and dare to show it. You know that thing, we think we have to hide. Our vulnerable self, which then turns out to be our golden nugget and what makes us not just a great human being, but also a great leader. Not a weakness, but a strength. Especially as leaders, we tend to think we have to hide our humanity at work.

Let me add here – we knew he was dying for about 6 months, so we spent the time talking about what mattered to him in his life. He reflected and learned about himself even till the end. And I learned so much about making conscious choices by listening to him. I learned to dare live my true convictions and passions and to stand for what is important to me. Even if I would stand alone for awhile. He did, and then people joined him. He was a leader in the 70′, 80′ and 90′ and he passed away in 2001, so you can imagine he was ahead of his time, bringing his humanity with him to work.

Will you stand for something?

Now this is not a tribute to my dad, it is a tribute to leadership with guts. And it is going to take a slightly different turn that you expect I think. I am not going to talk about daring and believing and standing alone and going for it in spite of fear. I am going to talk about, how we take care of ourselves as leaders every day AT work so that we can pay attention, be present and emotionally and mentally available to the people around us.

Stop stressing.

The other side of that could be slow down. But it is not. At least not quite. I do encourage pausing, because that is how we can observe, reflect and then act according to our higher purpose and intentions. Or focus on what matters rather than what is just urgent.

The first step in becoming a conscious leader, a caring leader, a mindful leader, a leader with impact and a culture around her or him that is engaged, committed and healthy… is a healthy leader. We have to come out of survival-mode and work on performance-mode instead.

Most cultures are not practicing healthy habits at work and most are working on survival-mode, waiting for relief around the corner. It is not sustainable to work in that way.

What is important?

What is important for me, is that we can take charge of our health AT work. I had to leave my career to take care of myself. It is simply not fair to ourselves, that we have to choose between our health and our work and that we leave self-care behind, instead of bringing it with us to work.

Will you be the leader who practices good work-habits and leadership self-care AT work? Do you have the guts to take better care of yourself AT work, so that your people can do so too? Do you have the guts to pay attention and listen, so that your people feel that they matter? Do you have the guts to pause and ask, “how are you or what do you think?”

It takes guts to stand for something, to change a culture that is used to pushing forward without taking care of ourselves and include our humanity at work.

To stop the burn-out epidemic we need self-care AT work. Please also read the article “Leaders who lunch are better leaders” too.

Let me give you a few steps to start practicing:

1. Drink water – and drink even more water. Quit the sugary drinks, the coffee with milk and all the stuff you use to keep you “pumped up”. It is not working long-term, it depletes your energy and your health, -and it takes your attention away from what is important because of how the caffein and sugar affects your brain.

2. Get your sleep – 7-8 hours. No discussion. Otherwise you end up looking for sugar and caffein to keep you going. Research now compares lack of sleep with being drunk.

3. Get your 3 meals a day. Make it a time away from the work-mindset. Not only does your body need the fuel (nutrients and calories) to keep going all day, your mind needs the pause to stay focused and engaged all day.

Stay tuned for the next article about how to have a healthy gut and why it matters, not just for leaders, but for anyone who wants to achieve peak performance at work, at home and on the go.

To learn more about leadership self-care and how it can change your culture visit jeanettebronee.com, where you can also learn more about executive health coaching, speaking engagements and company workshops.

Categories
Marketing Personal Development Sales

Building Your Brand Entails Counterintuitive Decisions

We’ve seen it a million times—physical product brands spread themselves too thin before they’re established. Some brands offer too many choices, and their principal message gets lost in the marketplace. And others expand too quickly into territories that they can’t handle, and they lose their dependable status. Why is this?

When a brand can’t achieve its true target market quickly enough, they second-guess their mission, trying to be all things to all types of people. They think they’ll do better quicker by speaking to a wider audience. But instead of being the leader in a close race, they become lost in the bigger battle.

Their sales team may cry, “If only we had (this or that type of) product…” As the pressure to make sales is on, brand builders can easily give in to this persistent plea.

Establishing yourself in the marketplace is hard enough without blurring your core message. We tell brand builders to stick to their guns—the fewer, the better! You have to distinguish your brand when you’re a new player. Sure, it’ll take a long time to draw and keep customers who appreciate your unique approach. But this is when patience and perseverance really pay off.

When we started Barefoot Wine, we entered with a large-size format that wasn’t as common as the standard smaller size of most wine. But this set us apart! It made us a newcomer in the big bottle category. And the choice was simple for the customer—only two types of wine, a varietal white and a varietal red. That’s it! It was easy for both the buyer and customer. People don’t like having too many choices.

We thought, “Could we sell more with a pink?” So, we tried it. It worked! Then we thought, “How about other varietals? And why not expand the line with the smaller, more popular size bottles?” Retailers responded quickly— “Which ones would you like to trade out for the new ones?” We were killing our own brand! Total sales hit a plateau for two years!

Looking back, we should have waited until we were more established in the market before adding more choices. Now, we advise our clients to avoid exceeding their “brand width”!

Another mistake some brand builders make is thinking that their product will sell well in other territories just because it sells well in their territory. The big risk is expanding prematurely, before they know enough or have the money to service what they sell in new territories.

It’s easy to forget about the importance of your own time when selling in your own backyard. Because you are doing all the merchandising, policing, and maybe even delivery, you might not have a handle on the cost of sales in a new territory, where you need to hire people to do this work. And without any new hires, you quickly learn what you’re up against—poor representation, out-of-stocks, and the competition taking advantage of your absence.

We made this exact mistake. We misunderstood the cost of sales in 2 new territories, and we expanded too quickly. And we actually had to withdraw from those markets for many years before we could afford to hire our own representatives there. We tarnished our brand in the process. It took us years to bounce back.

At first glance, it might seem counterintuitive to restrict your territory and your offerings when you’re just starting out, but you’ll be thankful that you built your brand on a solid and simple foundation.

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

Categories
Growth Management Personal Development

To Be an Outstanding Leader, Act Like a Coach

As a leadership expert, coaches fascinate me because if they are a really great leader, they can get players to perform in ways that even the players themselves didn’t know they could do. While watching my kids play sports when they were growing up and supporting the team, I always enjoyed observing the coaches.

While watching my kids in sports, I was reminded of some outstanding leaders that I’ve known throughout my career and how they acted, in many ways, like a coach. Think about an influential boss or leader who had a tremendous impact on you. I’ll bet they, too, served as a coach.

Business, like sports, is a team effort, and to succeed, we need each player/team member to give their best. Outstanding coaches don’t just have a technical knowledge of the game/business, they have a gift for inspiring others.

Here are six things that outstanding coaches know and practice …

  • Each “player” has unique talents and gifts and we should encourage them to play to those strengths. What a waste not to capitalize on each player’s natural abilities and assets!
  • A word of praise goes so much farther than criticism. You may have to look hard to find something to praise, but it will be well worth your effort. Can you remember a mentor complimenting you? Suddenly your posture got straighter and you wanted to live up to those positive words. The same happens with your team members.
  • It’s not important to “put in” what was “left out” of your players; It’s important to draw out what was left in. Find ways to tap into your team members’ inner greatness. Draw out the best that they have to give.
  • Sharing the credit for team success builds everyone’s self-confidence, pride, and trust.
  • They are being watched! Successful leaders know that they must first model the way for their players.
  • Losing one game or making one mistake does not make the player a loser. Successful coaches use those temporary setbacks as teaching moments.

Do you measure up as a leader, a boss, or an executive? I’m sure we can all use some practice in this area. Be prepared, though, because serving as a great coach is a job where you will receive as much in return as you give.

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Jennifer Ledet, CSP, is a leadership consultant and professional speaker (with a hint of Cajun flavor) who equips leaders from the boardroom to the mailroom to improve employee engagement, teamwork, and communication.  In her customized programs, leadership retreats, keynote presentations, and breakout sessions, she cuts through the BS and talks through the tough stuff to solve your people problems.

Photo by Musiena • on Reshot