Category: Personal Development

Who Do You Blame for Lacking Leadership Communication Skills?

Post author By Jennifer Ledet
Post date July 17, 2018
No Comments on Who Do You Blame for Lacking Leadership Communication Skills?

In any of your training as an executive leader, have you heard the term tête á tête? Probably not.

Down on the Lousiana bayou, I’ve often heard this term. When Mama said to me, “We need to have a tête á tête!” she wanted to have a talk with me head to head and eyeball to eyeball. It also meant I was likely in some kind of trouble. (I seem to remember a lot of those tête á têtes, and that’s because I had/have a tête dur – a hard head – and was always causing some kind of misère in one way or another!) In a business setting, though, it would simply involve having a one-on-one conversation with someone, an in-person meeting.

How often do you Facebook message the guy in the cubicle next to you rather than walk over and have a tête á tête? Do you send a text to your friend to see how she’s doing after a serious family problem instead of giving her a call or dropping by to visit?

Of course, there are times when emailing and texting are the most appropriate forms of communication. I believe, though, that as a leader, you’ll realize a huge amount of value when you connect with your team members in person. Call a meeting when you need to or walk over and meet in person!

Do You Blame the Meeting Itself?

I’ve heard the complaints before: “But most meetings completely waste my time. I’m suffering from an agonizing condition known as death-by-meeting!” More often than not, it’s because the leader and/or attendees failed to properly prepare, or include the right people, or keep the meeting focused and productive. Don’t blame the meeting itself!

Each time you have intentional person-to-person meetings, you can see your fellow team member roll his eyes at your new procedures, or cross her arms in disagreement, or nod his head in excitement. It’s invaluable in helping you “hear” what’s not being said! Yes, using email often seems more expedient and efficient, but not if you consider the cost of what you’re missing by not conducting an in-person meeting.

When you take into account that your tone of voice and body language are completely removed from your written message, you leave a lot of room for interpretation (or misinterpretation), assumptions, and misunderstanding.

Do You Blame the Medium?

As an executive leader, when communicating crucial information to team members, think strategically about the medium you use. If you want to get honest feedback, express concerns, or give performance feedback, your objectives are best served if you meet tête á tête. Connect with others rather than talk at them.

One of the managers I was training talked about his team members this way: “I sent him a message and I TOLD him to . . . .” And I’m sure he did tell his team member what he wanted done. But did he give the person a chance to ask questions or paraphrase back to the manager his directions? Did the manager actually demonstrate what he wanted done? I doubt it.

Our text messages are often so cryptic and riddled with abbreviations and code words, you can’t know if the recipient understood your message or whether your code was misconstrued.

For example:

HTH! CWYL mayB F2F!

Translation:

Hope that helps! Chat with you later maybe face to face!

The power and efficiency of sitting down eyeball to eyeball – tête á tête – with your team members for a person-to-person convo is underrated. You’ll be surprised what you hear that’s not being said. So who do you blame for lacking leadership communication skills? I think you can draw your own conclusions . .

CHIME IN! What will you:

start doing,
stop doing, or
continue doing

to ace leadership communication with your team members? Use the comment box below to share your action plan with us!

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Are You There Yet?

“Perception is driven by attitude and attitude is driven by desire. To be more successful in life, you must allow your attitude and desire to be driven by actions.” -Greg Williams, The Master Negotiator & Body Language Expert

“Don’t blame me for your mediocrity when you’re not willing to take the actions required for greater success.” That was the retort exchanged between two individuals that shared a relationship.

To advance in life, one must be willing to take the actions required to move from one position to another. It’s okay to dream, but until you put your dreams into actions, they’re nothing more than images in your mind; they’ll never become your reality. Worse, if not acted on, they could turn into nightmares.

When seeking greater achievements, you must be mentally prepared to enact the actions necessary for those achievements. One achievement becomes a steppingstone to higher achievements. Thus, you should never view yourself as reaching a final-destination, because if you have life, you should seek to achieve more in life. By doing so, you leave a doorway through which knowledge and future opportunities may enter.

Understand that a hopeless mind doesn’t serve you. It’ll leave you in a state of hopeless situations. You’ll be drained by your mental energy leakage, which otherwise could serve as fuel to lift you higher.

You create your own success in life. Where you are today is not where you were yesterday. Where you’ll be tomorrow is the design that you engage in today. That means you’re the person in control of your life. So, if you don’t like yourself or where you are, change it! You have the power, you have the control. Exercise that power and control to take yourself to a better place.

Here’s the point, even if you’re in a very happy and successful place in life, life will change. That means, what exists today will not exist tomorrow. Thus, you must constantly change with life. Once you do, you’ll become part of the evolution of life … and everything will be right with the world.

What does this have to do with negotiations?

The outcome of many negotiations is somewhat of a foregone conclusion before they start. That’s due to the mindset the negotiators possess as they prepare and enter the negotiations.

If you constantly seek to advance a negotiation, based on the determination you display to achieve your quest (this would occur in the planning and implementation stages of the negotiation), you’ll be empowered with more confidence. The other negotiator will perceive your confidence and address you in a more serious manner.

Never shortchange yourself in a negotiation by thinking that the other party has more resources from which to out-negotiate you. That may be true but remember, David slayed Goliath. He did so by adopting a strategy that gave him an advantage; that began with David’s mental attitude and adopting a strategy to achieve his goals. It’s the strategies that you employ in a negotiation that will give you an advantage too. The first strategy starts with the way you think. Don’t limit yourself by possessing limiting thoughts.

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/

#Business #SmallBusiness #Negotiation #NegotiatingWithABully #Power #Perception #emotionalcontrol #relationships #HowToNegotiateBetter #CSuite #TheMasterNegotiator #ControlEmotions

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

How to Combat Bullies That Use Disinformation When Negotiating

Post author By C-Suite Network
Post date July 12, 2018
No Comments on How to Combat Bullies That Use Disinformation When Negotiating

“The difference between disinformation and a lie is the degree that one doesn’t want to disclose the truth.” -Greg Williams, The Master Negotiator & Body Language Expert

“He said there were four other companies competing for the contract. He told us that we’d better submit a very low bid if we wanted to be the winner. Later, I discovered there were no other companies bidding. He used disinformation to get us to lower our bid.” That was the information disclosed in a debriefing session after members from an organization had engaged in what they thought was a negotiation opportunity to acquire additional business.

Bullies use disinformation in negotiations to enhance their negotiation position; this can be anyone in a perceived position of authority, be they in that position for a short or long-term. Some people label disinformation as lying. The difference between the two is the severity with which the bully wishes to keep you uninformed via the information he delivers to you. It’s very important to confront the bully when you become aware that he’s using disinformation tactics because, if you don’t confront him, you lay yourself bare to more deceit.

Here’s how you can confront, combat, and conquer a bully that utilizes the tactics of disinformation in your negotiations.

Confront

First, identify why the bully is using disinformation as a tactic. Understand what he’s attempting to conceal and what he believes he’ll achieve by doing so.

Once you have a handle on what you believe his intent is, verify your assumptions by confronting him with them. Note how he responds to your queries. While misinformation (i.e. he’s misinformed) can be thought of as him possessing unintended callousness, disinformation is more strategic. In using disinformation, the bully is signaling that he’s going to be more devious in dealing with you.

Combat

One way to combat a bully that employs the tactic of disinformation is to use the tactic on him. It’s even better if he knows that you’re using it. You can state to him that you’re doing so because, if he’s not going to be forthright, then you won’t be either. You can adopt a stern body posture/image to enhance your message. Just be aware that this may take the negotiation into a territory fraught with angst. Thus, you should weigh the degree that you combat him against the possibility of completely alienating him.

Conquer

To conquer the opposing negotiator that’s using this ploy, be prepared to combat him until he relinquishes its use. That may require using leverage to ‘out’ him to others about his usage, along with stating that you won’t allow yourself to be treated in such a manner. It may also require that you threaten to end the negotiation if he persists. Recognize that you’re playing hardball at that time and to win, you may have to get bloodied and/or dirty.

Negotiating with someone that uses disinformation as his ally can be a vexing proposition. The better you can identify this tactic, and the reason it’s being employed against you, the faster you’ll be able to address it. That will help you determine how and to what degree to continue in the negotiation … 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/

#UseDisinformation #disinformation #combat #negotiatingwithabully #bully #bullies #bullying #Negotiations #PersonalDevelopment #HandlingObjections #Negotiator #HowToNegotiateBetter #CSuite #TheMasterNegotiator #psychology #NegotiationPsychology

Investing Marketing Operations Personal Development

Why Perceived Value is a Choice

Post author By MIchael and Bonnie Harvey
Post date July 11, 2018
No Comments on Why Perceived Value is a Choice

It’s difficult to give people a good deal! This is especially true when your prices match products that aren’t known for high quality. We discovered this perceived value problem when we started Barefoot Wine. Our idea was to deliver 10-dollar-bottle quality for 5 dollars. Seems like a hit, right? Wrong!

We were faced with the perception that anything sold for 5 dollars must be mediocre, because most choices at that price point were, well, mediocre. Their producers said, “What do you expect for 5 bucks?” And we were grouped into that same mentality. So what if we were written up for quality in all the industry journals, and we won gold medals and Best of Class in open pricing competitions? “It can’t be any good at 5 dollars!” we’d hear.

It took years for us to demonstrate Barefoot’s excellent quality at the 5-dollar price point. Marketing consultants advised us to raise our prices, both to demonstrate “quality,” and to separate our products from the 5-dollar “cheapies.”

We held our ground. We kept our price, and added signs of value to our packaging instead. We used multicolor screening on the logo, gold foil ink, we covered the fill line with longer capsules, and we were the first in the wine industry to add gold medal stickers on the bottling line. But that wasn’t all! We added third-party accolades with point-of-purchase merchandising materials. When we won a competition, we’d stop what we were doing and get the word out to retail buyers and on the shelves in that territory within 24 hours.

What about the price? Eventually, we “communicated quality and value” by increasing it by 1 dollar and then offering a 1-dollar discount immediately. This way, people perceived the value like this: “This is a higher quality product and it’s on ‘special’ for a limited time.”

Ultimately, these tactics were pricey, but in the grand scheme of things, it’s what was necessary to avoid the “cheap” stigma. Permanently raising the price would’ve ended up discouraging the customers who had already discovered our value, hurt our volume, and put an end to any recommendations coming from our growing clientele.

We learned an unforgettable lesson in perceived value from a New Jersey storeowner we were trying to sell. When we were in the parking lot, we saw a storefront with giant signs that covered up the windows entirely. They were just prices—not even associated with any brands or products. Just numbers. But they were huge! 6 feet high! They said, “3.99” and “5.99.” We were confused.

So, we asked the owner, Abe, “Hey, what’s with the big prices in the window?” and he responded, “You’ve got to qualify the customer! Everybody has $3.99 in their jeans. It puts them at ease. They can afford to come in. They know that at least something in here is $3.99!” So, here was a storeowner using absolutely nothing but a gigantic sign with prices to draw customers. Wow!

Abe continued as our jaws began to drop, and said, “Turn around and tell me what you see.” As we examined the store, we saw many products, each one with a big sign sticking out. On each sign was a two-foot-high price—$4.99, $8.99, $12.99, even $19.99. We said to Abe, “Big prices?” Abe got excited: “They are big prices, but not high prices. BIG PRICES!”

He showed us one particular product. “Ya see that one over there? I had it for $5.99 and no one would buy it. Now it’s at $8.99 with a much bigger sign and I can’t keep it in stock!”

Abe’s customer base saw the bigger signs as a limited-time special, marked down from an even higher price. Wow—it worked!

There are a million suggestions and ideas out there about how to tackle the value perception challenge, but the best and most current resource we have is from the cofounder of Ninja Outreach, Dave Schneider. Dave has excellently defined the issue that brand builders run into when trying to seem valuable without breaking the bank. He offers the most helpful and all-inclusive list we’ve ever seen of ways to enhance your brand’s perceived value. Take a look!

And if you’re interested in learning more about our successes and mistakes while building Barefoot Wine, check out our New York Times Bestselling book, The Barefoot Spirit: How Hardship, Hustle, and Heart Built America’s #1 Wine Brand. You’ll learn a lot, and you’ll get a good laugh too!

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

Best Practices Growth Management Personal Development

Pay Attention to Support Staff and Behind-the-Scenes Employees

Post author By C-Suite Network
Post date July 10, 2018
No Comments on Pay Attention to Support Staff and Behind-the-Scenes Employees

Giving Behind-the-Scenes Staff the Attention They Deserve.

What’s your commitment to your staff? Are you giving your support staff of employees who are behind the scenes as much attention and recognition they deserve? I’d like to give you five ways that you can pay even better attention to your behind-the-scenes employees, and show them how committed you are to their success.

I’ve been privileged to work with my Maria for over 12 years. Now, my Maria is affectionately called the “Queen of Neen” by all of my clients. I could never do what I do without my Maria. I have a position where I am so fortunate to have several people who work with me on my team. Now, notice that they work with me, not for me. These talented team members need to be acknowledged and recognized for the value that they deliver. So, how are you doing that with your support team? Here are five ways I’d like you to consider where you can be even more professionally attentive and committed to your support staff as much as your front line of support.

#1. Train. First of all, training employees on your mission, vision and values is as important as policy and procedure and the protocols, but in your mission, vision and values. Send them to conferences and development seminars to help them in their daily work. Encourage them, and provide for them, industry and position-related books that will help develop them. Share TED Talks and blogs. Training your support staff and committing to their development makes them better at their job and makes your life even easier.

#2. Meet. Maria and I have regularly scheduled one-on-ones, and the reason this is important is not just for me to share with her things I need to be done. It’s for us to talk about her development, our strategy, review all of these things. She drives the agenda, not me. Can you schedule one-on-one so that your support team gets that individual attention from you? Maybe it’s by phone, face time or Zoom. Maybe they actually get to be in your office, but can you meet regularly with your support staff?

#3. Seek. Seek their feedback and input because they get an unusual view of the world that maybe you don’t get to see. You see, support staff talk to other support staff. People who know me well know that I often say that, “Assistants rule the world,” and assistants do business with other assistants. When you are looking at your process, procedures, sales, and protocols, can you seek their input too? Furthermore, seek their feedback on your ideas and how they may be perceived by others outside of customer-facing teams. Ask them if there’s a better way to do something, a more clever, a more productive way because they look at the world differently to you and their perspective is so valuable.

#4. Review. Now, review in our world means that every summer we take time to review the way the business is going. We look at all of the ways that we organize things for a checklist, for travel, for client work, for invoicing. The team and I review everything coming up in the next six months, operations manual, and more. The summer is better for us because it’s a quieter time for me when many of my corporate clients are on vacation. But review processes do you have in place to truly pay attention and commit to your support staff? We want to always make sure that we are delivering the best value for our clients, and so for us, that means we have to constantly be in review.

#5. Celebrate. Finally, celebrate with your support staff when you’ve had a great win or a fantastic year or closed a sale. For instance, when we released my book, Attention Pays, we were so excited that it was number one best new release on Amazon. We were super excited that it became the number one bestseller for 800 CEO-READ that month. Now, that was a huge team effort, and my Maria who has been with me for a long time, she and I went out that night and we celebrated. Celebrate your wins with your team too; because they work so hard to help you do what you do.

In conclusion, ask yourself: How are you paying attention to your support staff? What are you doing to recognize and acknowledge the work that they do? For some, it might be just a handwritten thank you note. Others may need a shout-out at the team meeting. It might be tickets to their favorite concert or sending them to a conference or maybe sending them some great books to review. Either way, it’s time to pay attention to those you depend on, your support staff.

Tags employees, recognition, staff, support

Growth Management Personal Development

The Leadership Tip That Could Save YOU and Your Team

Post author By Jennifer Ledet
Post date July 10, 2018
No Comments on The Leadership Tip That Could Save YOU and Your Team

Just last night, I learned that one of my clients had a serious workplace accident, probably caused by an employee working distracted (thankfully, the worker survived with relatively minor injuries). If you’ve turned on your smartphone, your television, or opened your web browser today to read this article, you’ve heard about car accidents, fires, and other tragedies, often caused by … rushing and distractions.

The fact is, certain times of year are more hectic and even chaotic than others. As a leader, your task is to help your team to remain focused on the really important things. On any given day, though, we are inundated with so much stimuli it can be difficult to finish a thought, much less a task. Team members need your leadership, coaching, support, and guidance to navigate through the sea of information and stimuli. Here are a few

Executive leadership tips to save you and your team:

Slow down. I know. You don’t want to hear it. It even may seem impossible. How could you slow down? As we barrel through our days at breakneck speed, it can be difficult to notice what is going on around us. Of course, this is how accidents and mistakes happen. As an executive leader, you also need to pause long enough to notice and “hear” not only what people are saying, but what they are NOT saying. Keep in mind that everyone experiences stress differently and you want to tune-in to body language as well as words.

Establish guiding principles, values, and priorities through which your team should filter all of the distractions bombarding them. Author Stephen Covey says that we should not just prioritize our schedules, but we should schedule our priorities. Figure out what is most important, share these priorities with your team (don’t assume they know), and then help your team to focus on those priorities like a laser.

Let go. For my fellow control freaks, I know this can be tough. Recognize that you cannot – and should not – do it all yourself. Learn to delegate more effectively. Objectively consider (gasp!), if some tasks have to be done at all.

Reflect. Even if it means setting the alarm to go off a little earlier in the morning, schedule yourself some time to process and “metabolize” your experiences and plans. Stepping back from the day-to-day can help you and your team to see your way forward more clearly. (Personally, I find that journaling helps tremendously with this process.)

So the key takeaway? That one tip that might save you, your business, and/or your team, is to . . you guessed it . . slow down. Breathe and have some boundaries. They may seem simple, but we could all use a reminder from time to time. As a business owner, and busy wife and mom, I have to work on these practices every day. Like the song says, “Slow down, you move too fast… and you may even get to … feelin’ groovy!”

JOIN IN:

What would you add to this list of leadership tips?
What strategies do you use to create greater focus and ensure safety for yourself and your team?
Please leave a comment on my blog below and share your insights with the community.

To receive solutions to your people problems in your inbox every month, and to receive our report: “7 of Your Biggest People Problems…Solved,” click here.

Bureaucracy or Trust? Choose One!

Post author By Wally Hauck, PhD, CSP
Post date July 10, 2018
No Comments on Bureaucracy or Trust? Choose One!

The old cliché reads, “Actions speak louder than words.” It’s true. It’s especially true when a leader wants people to trust him/her. Besides agreeing on this cliché, can we also agree how important trust is to the performance of a team and performance of an organization?

Successful leaders must be proactive in their approach to managing trust because it has such an enormous influence on what I call the performance troika: organizational performance, employee engagement and on customer experience. Successful leaders must behave (take actions) in ways that create an environment that shouts, “I trust you!”. The four key elements of the Autonomy Card can help leaders send this important message of “I trust you!”.

In May 2018 two brothers aged about 5 and 7 decided to help an under privileged child in a foreign country. They wanted to sell lemonade on a hot spring day. Mom and Dad thought it was a great idea because it could help teach the boys entrepreneurial business skills, customer service skills, and charity. What could be better? The Denver Police disagreed. The Denver Police were forced to disagree because someone called to complain. The boys did not have a permit and they were selling lemonade too close to a Denver Arts Festival.

In a bureaucracy. young boys cannot be trusted to run a lemonade stand for fear they will not do it according to the rules set up by local bureaucrats. What lesson are the boys learning from this? Is it how to be an entrepreneur? How to be a good citizen? How to care for others less fortunate? NO! They learned they can’t be trusted by some neighbors and some bureaucratic administrators who have control over economic decisions of a 5-year-old and 7-year-old boy.

A bureaucracy is an environment that is opposite of an environment of trust. A bureaucracy is an enemy of engagement and customer experience because of its inflexible set of impersonal rules and regulations which demand specific actions. The rules are more important than innovation. The myriad of rules prevents creative thinking by individuals especially for responding to the continuously evolving customer needs and expectations.

In environment of trust, individuals make the decisions, from their perspective, that best serve a clear purpose and vision. This autonomous environment is easy to understand and sends a clear message, “We trust you to make the best decisions!” A successful leader knows the key elements that provide autonomy and trust. Leadership is challenging and paradoxical. You want to have rules, but you don’t want to have a bureaucracy. Understanding and developing the key elements of The Autonomy Card can help address this challenge.

The Autonomy Card

There are four key elements in the Autonomy Card. These can allow a successful leader to trust employees while optimizing decision making and innovation.: 1) Clear legal and ethical standards, 2) Clear values behaviors, 3) Clear mission, vision, and strategy, 4) A commitment to optimize customer experience.

If these four elements are clear, and employees admit they are clear, will provide the autonomy that allows them to make decisions and to be engaged. The Catholics call this subsidiarity. It’s the ability to make decisions to solve problems at the least centralized and most competent level possible.

Clear Ethical Standards

Successful organizations often have very clear ethical standards listed in an employee handbook. These rules provide guidance in basic subjects such as company intellectual property, use of company materials and equipment, substance abuse, discrimination, harassment etc. These are the very basic, are common sense, and are useful as a reminder to all.

Clear Values Behaviors

Clear descriptive behaviors allow employees to know how they will be treated. For example, if treated with respect, they will have less fear to speak up. If they will be coached and not criticized they will be more likely to take risks. If they keep their agreements others are more likely to keep their agreements and everyone will feel safe. Specifying these behaviors contribute to creating a safe, creative, trusting environment.

Mission, Vision and Strategy

A clear mission explains why a company exists. A clear organizational vision explains where the company is going and what it will look like in the future. A clear strategy provides the suggested priorities about how to live the mission and move toward the vision.

Customer Experience (Internal and External)

Consistently providing great customer experiences generates long lasting benefits such as loyalty, referrals, and higher profitability. This focus includes both internal customers (colleagues) and external customers (those who pay for the products and services).

Once these four elements are clear and employees make an agreement to make decisions consistent with them, it’s time for the Autonomy Card.

The Autonomy Card

If the answer to all four questions is YES, do it!

Is the action consistent with legal and ethical standards?
Can it be done with values behaviors?
Is it consistent with the mission, vision, and strategy?
Will it enhance customer experience?

It may be scary to adopt the Autonomy Card because it sends a clear message “I trust you!” and sending that message requires courage. It is easier to create a bureaucracy than to create a trusting environment.

What if the Denver boys could have been allowed to form and run their lemonade stand? What benefits would it have generated for them, their family, their neighbors and the disadvantaged children? What would higher trust do for your organization? Try the Autonomy Card and see.

Check out the interview on C-Suite Best Seller TV to learn more about how to stop leadership malpractice and replace the typical performance review: https://www.c-suitetv.com/video/best-seller-tv-wally-hauck-stop-the-leadership-malpractice/

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.

Best Practices Entrepreneurship Management Negotiations Women In Business

What is Strategic Planning?

Post author By C-Suite Network
Post date July 9, 2018
No Comments on What is Strategic Planning?

Strategic planning is your road map to success. It brings a sense of focus, improves business self-awareness, and motivates employees to work towards a common goal.

Pick specific priorities by determining the direction of your organization.

Create a plan of action with key players within your organization and external experts/consultants/coaches.

Allocate resources by using resourceful thinking.

Be flexible.

The process of strategic planning involves exceptional interpersonal skills, as it promotes the open and creative exchange of ideas, including putting disagreements on the table and working out effective solutions.

It is important to exercise attention to detail and using SWOT analysis is a great way to recognize assets and risks:

Strength – attributes of the business that can help achieve the objective

Weaknesses – attributes of the business that could be obstructive to achieving the objective

Opportunities – external factors that could be helpful in achieving the objective

Threats – external factors that could be obstructive to achieving the objective

Strategic planning is essential for the success of your organization.

Michelle Nasser, International Executive Coach , Speaker, Author “Leadership Assessment for Success”, Podcast Host “Michelle Nasser Show”

www.michellenasser.com

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

When Should You Act More Like A Stubborn Child

Post author By C-Suite Network
Post date July 9, 2018
No Comments on When Should You Act More Like A Stubborn Child

“Childlike behavior can be advantageous to adults when adults use them in an adult-like manner.” -Greg Williams, The Master Negotiator & Body Language Expert

“He was told that he should not act like a stubborn child. Then he became more obstinate.” Those were the words exchanged by associates as they discussed the behavior of a friend of theirs.

When they were children, most adults possessed a limitless amount of imagination and a boundless degree of determination. As they became older, more mature, their childlike actions were abandoned so that they could be perceived as fitting into their environments. Unknowingly, conformity to those environment norms may have cost them opportunities.

Do you recall your childhood? When you sought a specific outcome, how determined were you to achieve it? How many ‘adult rules’ did you break in your efforts to uncover the solution to your quest? Then, you got older and supposedly wiser, which meant, you left those childish ways behind. Truth be known, those childish ways served you well then and they can serve you well, now.

When you find yourself in situations that you really want to get to the bottom of why certain actions occurred, or if you want to enhance the probability of a particular outcome, be persistent in uncovering a solution.

The point is, you will only receive in life what your actions indicate you’re willing to put forth to achieve. If something is denied you and you don’t put up a fight to get it, you send the signal to the holder of that source that what you sought wasn’t really that important to you. Either way, you’ve set the stage for future interactions and degree that you’ll fight for what you want. Thus, if you give up easily when requesting something, the person to whom you make that request knows that he only has to say no a few times and you’ll slither back into your den of mediocrity. Your hopes for future opportunities will lackluster and you’ll have no one to blame except yourself.

When it comes to achieving more in life, when appropriate, consider acting like you did when you were a child. Ask why, how come, who else, type of questions. You’ll be rewarded with greater outcomes in life … and everything will be right with the world.

What does this have to do with negotiations?

Some negotiators use stonewalling tactics to keep you from reaching your goals. They may do so to enhance their negotiation position. If you use probing questions (e.g. why can’t that be done, who else might be able to approve this, what do you suggest we do to avoid this impasse), you’ll receive greater outcomes from your negotiation efforts. That’s true because you’ll acquire more insight into what’s really behind the other negotiator’s efforts to disallow your request. Once you know that, you’ll be better positioned to hone in on the discovery of what he’d rather keep hidden. Your probing with questions, like you did when you were a child, will reveal those hidden opportunities and bring them to light.

#Business #SmallBusiness #Negotiation #NegotiatingWithABully #Power #Perception #emotionalcontrol #relationships #HowToNegotiateBetter #CSuite #TheMasterNegotiator #ControlEmotions #Psychology #Perception #ControlLife #Control #leadership #HowToImproveYourself

Sales Skills

Three Sales Strategies for Even Keel/Indifference

Post author By Mark Boundy
Post date July 9, 2018
No Comments on Three Sales Strategies for Even Keel/Indifference

Indifferent or “Even Keel” mode happens when a buying influence sees no compelling reason to change what they’re doing. Because any change (including a purchase of something different) needs to overcome the uncertainty and interruption factor of that change, indifference happens any time the perceived value an improvement doesn’t outweigh the perceived cost of change. To get someone out of Even Keel, you need to change their perception somehow: reduce the perceived cost of change — or increase the perceived payoff from making that change.

Indifference is common, threatening many sales opportunities by causing the prospect to default to the status quo. It’s often the biggest competitive threat in play. Great sales professionals prepare for indifference so they can plant the seed for perception change during that next meeting…the only one they can count on ever getting.

I was recently asked for a list of the strategies that a sales professional can use to get a buying influence out of “Even Keel” or “indifferent” mode. He’d read in The New Strategic Sellingabout waiting for the person’s perception to change, and knew there had to be more options available.

Perception is personal. Thus, changing perception should be about people. Let’s examine whomight serve as catalyst for changing a buying influence’s perception to leave indifference behind. There are three sources of perceptual change:

The prospect changes their own perception based upon perceived change in their environment or situation.
The sales person is the agent of change. That is, the sales person influences the process of changing the prospect’s perceptual change.
A credible (to the prospect) third party acts as perception-changer.

Here are some thoughts on the three strategies for dealing with indifference, to help you prepare for your next sales interaction:

Let the buying influence (BI) change their own perception.

I list this strategy first because many sales people don’t consider it fully. When you are taught to “take control of the call” or something similar, the strategy of letting the flow of events do your work for you is counterintuitive. While it’s not always the shortest path, it works directly on the perception of the prospect. There are a couple of variations.

1. Let them fail on their own. When this option works, it works great. Prospects are likely to transition directly into “I’m in trouble” mode, which is highly leveragable. It also means you need to politely maintain contact. Be the one with share of mind to get their first call, then be the most responsive. Unfortunately, this route can take a long time. This option is one of the few viable options when the prospect is so overconfident in their current solution that their willingness to listen to anyone is limited.

2. Let them watch as a competitor begins to win. This is a variation of the ‘let them fail” option. Only certain buying influences will be in a position to see this or care that it’s happening: affected sales people and sometimes top executives (it can be less impactful to User or Technical buying influences).

The Seller changes the Buying Influence’s perception

Note: credibility is foundational for this strategy. If a prospect doesn’t trust what you are telling them, you can’t build a case for change. I work with my clients to establish and build credibility at all times — for this reason and more. Once you’ve got credibility, you can:

Show the prospect that reality isn’t as acceptable as they perceive it; that potential losses from doing nothing are higher than they perceived. Help them see their problem more broadly (in MHGroup terminology: help them change their Concept, or solution image.). My readers, who are familiar with my focus on customer value will recognize the imperative to uncover unrealized value.

Uncover and crystalize needs. With deeper investigation, implicit needs become explicit.
Examine the impact of any existing gaps in more detail. What is the “impact of the impact” (including monetizing it).
Think about the prospect’s role in the sale and in the decision dynamic for ideas on possible perception changes. This will help you prepare some high-impact discovery questions.

Mutually discover that you can help them solve a business problem that they didn’t see being connected to your solution. Again, you need credibility with this prospect to secure time to do extra discovery…or to do it in small bites over time. This means expanding their concept.

Find a sufficiently compelling personal win,tied to a result. If a buying influence sees an adequate (but previously not compelling) business benefit plus a significant newly-realized personal win, that business benefit will become one they are willing to advocate to their peers. Some possible wins:

Be the first to respond to a budding problem.
Propose a solution before a rival within the company does

**Have a trusted third party change the target’s perception.**

Much of what I said about salesperson-led change above applies below—if your credibility is less than needed, this option might be a good one. To execute this strategy when needed, you’ll need credibility with that third person. Here are some options:

A co-worker changes their perception. This person’s credibility will be the key to their mind, and helping that co-worker find a role-appropriate gap may be needed.

Might you need to coach that co-worker? How?

Executive adjusts their perspective. Credibility with the target prospect is not a big problem when it’s their boss. Making sure the buying influence saves face or comes out with a personal win should be a point of emphasis.

A Coach changes their perception. A Coach is anyone who has credibility with your target, and who wants your proposal to succeed (Miller Heiman Group alumni: there’s one more criterion. Quiz: what is it?). These people can advance and promote the case for change. Caution: don’t let your coach cross the line to selling on your behalf, or do anything that damages their own credibility with other buying influences.

Takeaways:

Every salesperson soon learns that status quo is often the biggest hurdle to be overcome in many sales situations. Buyer inertia is a presence in just about every sales situation, and salespeople need to be able to deal with it.

Salespeople need to build credulity in every customer interaction. This lays the foundation for everything they try to accomplish in the future:, open the prospect’s view to new options , establish value of options…even gain the right to secure a meeting in the future.

Pre-plan how you will bring value to every interaction. Using your domain expertise in your offer/solution/service/product is of limited value to most prospects. Apply that domain expertise with insights and knowledge of the prospect’s unique business situation, and your perspective can have that rare value sought by today’s more sophisticated buyers.

If you’d like to talk about creating value with prospects, it’s a skillset I am passionate about helping my clients improve.. Comment below, or contact me directly (mark@boundyconsulting.com) to share your unique challenges.

To your success!

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