Yada, Yada, Yada,

 Blah, Blah, Blah…

Odds are that your best leadership response to other people’s yackity-yack is probably NOT:  yeah, yeah, yeah!

When someone who follows your lead is being busy saying nothing (hmmm, sound familiar?), try taking the person off to the side — or into a private setting — and explain that you want to share the value of some of what you’ve learned from successful sales leaders.

Start by noting that virtually EVERY exchange we have with others EVERY day –both on the job and off– constitutes an attempt to sell SOME thing.

Yes, “EVERY” and yes, “SOME.”

Think about it before jumping down my throat with some condemnation for using “ALL OR NOTHING” language. Before you throw exceptions at me, take a minute to dissect them. Odds are you’ll discover that at least one individual in every interaction has a mission to sell her or his self, or ideas, or products or services, or brands, or affections, or . . .

Here’s what the world’s most successful salespeople know and practice: LISTEN 80% of the time and TALK 20% of the time. Maybe not easy, but it IS simple. And it works! This behavior breeds success in all walks of life with all kinds of circumstances where we seek to make a sale or an impression or gain trust or show understanding.

By disciplining ourselves to listen more carefully to those we are charged with the responsibility to lead, and by being more selective and economical with what we have to say to others, we are also becoming more productive with time and energy spent.

When we can save time and energy by communicating more accurately and productively, we are getting a better handle on what others want and need and suggest, and we are saving on wasted time and energy costs and lost opportunities.

But don’t stop there!

Talking less and listening more does NOT mean talking less and HEARING more. Active listening is an acquired skill that involves open body language (no arms, legs, ankles, wrists, hands, fingers crossed and no peering over the top of your glasses), paraphrasing and asking for examples and diagrams, and nonverbal (e.g., head nodding) as well as verbal acknowledgements.

It means paying attention, staying focused, not allowing distractions. Easy stuff? No. Hardly ever is it easy. Active-listening communication is more work and it takes longer. Ah, but you simply can’t compare the success-level results you’ll get with the productivity (or lack of) that accompanies the typical 80% talking communications that surround our daily lives.

# # #

How To Boost Healthcare

 Your Advisory Board

includes a lawyer, 

an accountant, your

rich uncle, and

your pastor?

Nope.

Well maybe one or two of those types do actually hold court with you once a quarter or twice a year and offer trusted advice and opinions about where your enterprise appears to be headed . . . and maybe you listen, and maybe you don’t. And maybe they’re helpful. And maybe they’re not.

After all, typically, they’re not paid. And you do remember that someone once told you you get what you pay for? Ah, but a good advisory board is usually made up of people who have a physical or emotional investment in seeing you succeed. And that trumps paying a fee for services. 

No compensation? Well, maybe some coffee and donuts — or fruit, cheese, and crackers, depending on your level of health-nuttiness. Wow! So now you’ll read a little further?

Advisory Boards, generally, are a good thing for most small business ventures because –when they include a small group of diverse, talented people who like and care about you– they can shed light on your darkness and provide enough reassurance or guidance to afford you to step back and observe your brainchild firsthand.

Advisory Boards provide a sense of reality you might not otherwise solicit or be exposed to.”

Okay, you’ve got all that. And it either sparks an idea, or it just lays there flat on its back, rolling its eyes at you! Well, here’s a definite sparkler:

Start a Rotating Teenage Advisory Board.

Huh? Why? Why not? When did you last waltz a thirteen-year-old boy or girl through your place of business and ask him or her for observations?

I promise you he/she will see things you never noticed, and maybe never even thought about. Does it matter that your business makes products or delivers services for nursing homes (whoops, how un-PC of me: long-term care facilities)? Or nursing mothers? Or male nurses? Truck drivers? Scuba divers? (It rhymed!) No it doesn’t matter.

What matters is that you regularly host small groups of teens through your office, plant. store, or worksite, and that you non-judgmentally LISTEN to what they have to say, and keep a journal or take dated notes of key comments. Pay careful attention to the questions they ask (and how they ask them) before trying to answer them.

It’s true that teenagers (as when each of us were) are different, weird, and aloof.

They are preoccupied with texting, handheld electronics, and each other.

They may seem the least unlikely to contribute anything of value to a non-teenage market business.

Yet –refreshingly– they lack developed prejudices.

They are naive and breed a rare perspective of business innocence.

You can learn more and spark more ideas from one business visit by a youngster, or two or three than you are likely to from ten top industry or profession muckity-mucks who will surely carry competition chips on their shoulders, and be more inclined to maintaining a political edge.

One business I heard of makes a practice of gathering small groups of teens from the local middle school and high school (pre-arranged of course with the parents, but not with school administrators who would tangle up the process) and rewarding them with praise, snacks, juice, and bookstore gift cards for bright ideas offered.

The owner has translated teen visitor input into new product launches, line extensions, and revenue streams, that produced enough income to allow some scholarship funding in return. What can you get? What can you give?

# # #

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  Hal@Businessworks.US   302.933.0116

  Open Minds Open Doors 

   Thanks for your visit and God Bless You.

  Make today a GREAT day for someone! 

Entrepreneurs and Leaders

Who Listen 

Win Big in Tough Times 

STEPS TO IMPROVE YOUR LISTENING SKILLS NOW

Do you hear what I hear? Listen, do you want to know a secret? Hear Ye! Hear Ye! Friends, Romans, Countrymen, Lend Me Your Ears! The Listening Audience. I’m all ears!

You can’t be a better listener just because you decide to listen more. You must also decide to keep quiet. And those who excel at listening skills will tell you that you must actually use a pen and paper (you DO remember what they are?) and write down notes about what you hear. Paraphrasing is critical. So are observation skills.

Plus, taking notes flatters any speaker.

Let’s hit on some key points:

1. PARAPHRASING —“Do I understand you correctly to mean…?” and “What I think I hear you saying is…!” are the most effective and most commonly used sets of words for rephrasing some one’s comments. When you do this, you are in effect checking to make sure that you accurately understand what the speaker intends.

Yes, it takes more time. Yes, it can be harder than assuming. But–in the end– it’s like the carpenter/surgeon slogan: measure twice and cut once. It’s an insurance policy on transmitting accuracy.

2. OBSERVING — You need not be a kinetics expert to see that the body language that accompanies the words spoken either confirms or contradicts what is being said.

Someone who claims a willingness to cooperate with you, but whose arms are crossed is responding defensively regardless of what words she or he uses. Hands on hips, or clasped behind the head are signals of superiority. So is the joining of fingertips on both hands.

(The challenge is to make these postures change without directly addressing them.)

3. NODDING AND VERBAL UTTERANCES — Generally (unless they’re overdone) these physical responses indicate agreement and that the individual involved is paying attention. Not a bad idea to nod and make some positive sounding “um’s” occasionally when you want someone to know you’re tuned in, and in the boat, so to speak.

Equally commitive signals are leaning forward, sitting forward, feet flat on the floor without jiggling, and both hands flat on the table. A jiggling foot or leg indicates that someone’s anxious to get out, get away, finish up.

4. ASKING QUESTIONS — People will know you are interested and engaged when you ask good questions along the way . . . not questions to trip somebody up, questions to learn more. Whenever it’s possible and makes sense and works to clarify, ask for examples. Ask for diagrams. Ask for demonstrations. Ask for samples. Ask.

5. MONITORING YOURSELF — Stay as close to the commonly accepted effective communicator guidelines of speaking 20% of the time and listening 80% of the time. (Asking questions helps.) Take some deep breaths, especially when you start to feel impatient or edgy. Deep breathing helps you stay in control.

The dynamics of all the above apply equally to situations where you are not face-to-face. Telephone and video and webinar conferences are good examples of places to carry over the same disciplines. If you think about it, you’ll also see that similar applications are possible (and advisable) with written/email/text message communications. No, you can’t physically “see” another person, but you can sense and imagine based on responses you get.

If you work to listen better, you will hear 

more “cha-ching” in your cash register! 

# # #

hal@businessworks.US

STRATEGY/ CONTENT/ CONNECTION

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Entrepreneurship & Expansion Coaching    931.854.0474

Go for your goals, thanks for your visit, God Bless You!

OPEN  MINDS  OPEN  DOORS

Make Today A Great Day For Someone!

The Answer IS . . .

ASK QUESTIONS!

Whether you’re looking for better grades, improved cash flow, an investor, a loan, new customers, repeat customers, a new employee (or  job), new revenue streams, the exact right set of words for a branding themeline, or some trace of your ex-mother-in-law who changed her name and left town with the contents of your wall safe . . . your odds of success increase dramatically when you:

ASK QUESTIONS! 

You might think that’s pretty basic advice, but my experience is that it least happens when you most expect it –especially with headstrong entrepreneurs.

It isn’t that business owners strut around with a know-it-all cockiness; it’s that they don’t want to waste time and it can often seem more productive to step out of a meeting, seminar, webinar, conference call, txtmsg exchange, or cocktail party, than to suck it up and stay there and have to ask questions (when time is perceived to be better spent, instead, taking action).

Does that ring a bell or am I just imaging things?

Entrepreneurs (and most men, it seems) have to be on the verge of total mental meltdown before they’ll ever stop to ask anyone for driving directions. It used to be the threat of embarrassment for being so dumb as to have gotten lost. Now. it’s more like cringing at the thought of getting a reply like: “Hey, man, you mean you ain’t got no GPS or MapQuest thing?”

Here’s the bottom line:

If you don’t ask for what you want,

or what you want to know, 

you don’t get it!

(Always? No, sometimes we get things by accident.) 

Oh, and asking questions is completely useless if you forget the answers. Write them down. Stop with all the excuses about how much time it wastes to write things out by hand on paper (assuming you actually still own a pen and can find some paper, and remember how to write ;<)).

When you write things down, you get them out of your head, create more think space, and deal better with the inevitable interruptions that occur within seconds of getting your question answered. Note taking is not only smart insurance that you’ll walk away with an undistorted idea of what you heard, it also communicates that you value and respect the source of the responses you get.

The answers to questions

are at the root of all progress.

If you’ve been focused on secondary research sources (like books, reports, and the Internet) as your primary decision making tools, you may want to get yourself out into the real world and ask real people real questions once in awhile. There’s nothing can compare with asking real customers what they really think, really listening to their answers, and really writing down what they say.

Formal focus groups? Perhaps. But just plain old informal questions (without rebuttals, defensive reasons, excuses, or “yes, but’s”) will serve the purpose just fine. You will walk away feeling gratified, maybe astonished, and definitely enlightened. So???  (That was a question.)

# # #

931.854.0474    Hal@BusinessWorks.US

“The price of freedom is eternal vigilance!”  [Thomas Jefferson]

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless You.

Make today a GREAT day for someone!

Loose Lips DO Sink Ships . . .

When to keep your

mouth shut, and how.

You’re a self-confident entrepreneur, maybe even cocky. The likelihood is that you have a high sense of self-esteem and a big fat ego that sometimes gets in the way of your success —  an ego that you find yourself tripping over every once in awhile.

Your $50-necktie-and-$100-white-shirt corporate brother-in-law thinks you’re a smart-ass know-it-all. The guy you’ve been busting a gut trying to get business from can’t get past the fact that you’ve been everywhere, done everything, and have the same amount (or more) experience that he has. People who work for you start to yawn when you begin ticking off your accomplishments.

“A time for everything under heaven”

is true for sure.

But believing it and acting it

may be two separate issues.

How hard is it to keep your mouth shut when a customer, prospect, employee, or supplier starts offering an opinion on something you see differently, based on your firsthand knowledge?

Do you shut down your listening skills because you’re in a hurry to impress the other person that you already know the details, the scoop, the inside story, the whatever?

If any of this sounds even vaguely familiar, you may be setting yourself up for failure. Consider that no one likes to be upstaged. No one likes not being heard or paid attention to.

Try asking questions instead of offering opinions. Remember that true entrepreneurs who start and run successful ventures seek always to find others smarter than they are to run and manage their operations 

Surely you’ve heard some grandparent

warn a child to “hold your tongue!”

It’s actually very good and often productive advice. Try putting the tip of your tongue against the roof of your mouth (it’s very hard to speak coherently that way) when someone else starts in on a subject about which you consider yourself well-informed.

It will force you to pay attention and wait. It will force you to take the time to present your ideas in a less offensive, more productive manner.       

If someone else is trying to impress you, it almost always means that that person is already impressed with you.

If the exchangeis a potentially good one for either and/or both of you, tolerance may get you more respect than rebuttals or one-upmanship. Respect generates trust and cooperation and sales. Information presented in a way that others might interpret as bragging does not.

Leadership is about balance.

Balanced communications is the magic combination that opens the lock. Listening, active listening — eye contact, nodding, expressing agreement and understanding, asking for examples and diagrams, questioning instead of telling and offering opinions, paraphrasing, taking notes, showing genuine interest and concern — are leadership behaviors that create balance. 

Anytime you’re tempted to pounce on a discussion topic with with a tsunami of personal experience, supportive data, resource recommendations, evidence you consider conclusive to support your position . . . STOP! Ask yourself if you are more interested in impressing someone with how much you know or are capable of, than you are with growing or boosting your business.

When you can respond instead of react,

you can never over-react!

302.933.0116 or Hal@BusinessWorks.US  

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless You.

 “The price of freedom is eternal vigilance!” [Thomas Jefferson] 

Make today a GREAT day for someone!

If you failed to teach a

key employee 

something important

today, are you

missing the boat?

     With what I presume to be 55% of American employees being UNhappy [See yesterday’s blog post below this one], there’s very little “happiness-transition” wiggle room for a business owner or manager to exercise. The first important step, though, in the direction of kicking up productivity is to more fully engage employees in the day-to-day operations of your business. 

     Should you flat out trust the one person who seems most likely to head off to a competitor? Should you risk sharing critical product development or service expense information with people who you’re not confident will even be there in six months? Does it make any sense to encourage the employee your classmates would vote “Most likely to be brain-dead,” who you’ve kept around to do the slug work nobody else will touch? Sometimes the least likely people rise to the occasion. Think on that one.

     How about — instead of asking those questions about your employees — you ask some questions of your SELF? Where, for example, are you and your business headed right now? Where do you expect to be in five years? How (what’s the process you’ll use) do you expect to survive the next five months? What will you be doing differently then than you’re doing today? Why are you waiting five months?

     Keeping on that track for another minute, what’s something new you’ve learned about your business today? What’s something new you’ve learned about your SELF today? (Yes, both events did in fact occur; you just blocked them out or didn’t give yourself enough credit for the discoveries.)

     How will any of that new information help you tomorrow? When was the last time you and your family depended on someone else’s decision making? When was the last time you put yourself in your employees’ shoes and thought about their perspective of your business and your decision making? How do you think dependency feels?

     When was the last time you stopped long enough to teach an employee something important that she or he can use to do a better job, or be able to take home to share with family? Do you take active interest in your people every day? Why not? They may never admit it and you may never believe it, but all studies ever done would reinforce that you can be sure they take active interest in you every day, probably every hour! 

     So, that means you’re obliged to return the interest? No. You’re obliged to do everything you can possibly do to cultivate employee enthusiasm for the work they are doing. When financial reward is not possible, emotional support and psychological reward and teaching by example have to suffice. And if you’re consistent about making those money-substitutes work, they will. All human beings need reinforcement and reassurance. Employees need it from their bosses. Are you on it?                                                                              

Comment below or Hal@BusinessWorks.US Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless You! Make it a GREAT Day! Blog via RSS feed or $1/mo Kindle. GRANDPARENT Gift? http://bit.ly/3nDlGF

No matter which end of

the interview

you’re on…

     Few things can feel more satisfying than to win over the person at the other end of an interview by taking quiet control with championship communication skills.

     Active listening, thoughtful speaking and careful observations pay big dividends in employee/employer screening and hiring interviews, as well as in day-to-day operations.

     Yes, it’s true that nothing beats a great handshake, neat appearance, good grooming, eye-contact, and a bright smile for openers. But once you’re seated, you need a new set of tools.

     And no matter which end of the interview you’re on, be careful to not blow off a great first impression with lousy body language.

     When you sit back in your seat (especially in a sprawl and/or with hands clasped behind your head) you are giving off a superiority attitude that no one likes, even if you happen to be superior.

     If your arms, legs, ankles, hands, wrists are folded, you are communicating defensiveness, which will not work to your advantage, even if you are feeling that way.

     Open-ended questions provide the most revealing answers:

• “Tell me what’s important to you that’s not on this resume?

• What would you do if I gave you a million dollars cash right this minute?

• Who or what has made the biggest difference in your life and how did that happen?

• What would make you choose situation A over situation B even though B would offer you more money? (or better benefits?)

• What’s the hardest work situation you’ve ever had to deal with?

• How did you get started in this business anyway?”

are all good examples.

     WHAT the answers are to these or any other questions are only 20% important. HOW the answers are delivered accounts for 80% of what’s important! How rushed or deliberate are the responses?

     How serious or humorous are the answers? If humor is included, is it disparaging or self-effacing? In good taste? Does eye-contact have a focal point or is it more like staring? Leering? Avoiding?

Resist the temptation to fill the air with words.

Silence is a very useful and telling tool as long as it doesn’t go past the point of being intimidating.

In the same context, note taking is always a powerful practice; it keeps your attention focused; it supplements your memory banks; it’s flattering.

     Prompt, then listen. Never hesitate to clarify with paraphrasing (“Do I understand you correctly to mean . . . ?” Fill in your own words to check the meaning of something you’re in doubt about). Ask for examples. Ask for diagrams. Offer examples. Offer diagrams.

     Be careful with any job candidate who seems preoccupied with issues involving compensation, insurance, vacations, sick days, personal timeoffs, overtime pay, time reporting, lunch and coffee breaks. If you’re a candidate, be careful of a prospective employer who doesn’t volunteer this information up front.  

     When you can be prepared to the point where the interview is something you look forward to, you are likely to be ready to communicate effectively no matter which end of it you’re on. When you can be a detective during the interview, and make adjustments along the way, you’ll be increasing your odds for success regardless of whether you’re asking or answering.   

Hal@BUSINESSWORKS.US 

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless You!

Make today a GREAT day for someone! 

Listening skills alone 

do not a good boss make!

     Just when you thought  you were doing a great job of  communicating because you’ve been working so hard at listening better and more actively and more attentively, along comes this snot-nose blog writer to tell you that you’re only halfway there!

     Careful listening is a wonderful thing,  and it gets you to the fifty-yard line every time. But if you’re not taking ACTION on what you hear from your staff and associates, and if you’re not giving the source of the ideas and information due credit, touchdowns are not in your future!

     You’ve heard about  criticize in private and praise in public? Well you can’t do too much (genuine) praise of good ideas, good behavior, good attempts (even when they fail!), good attitudes, good productivity, good referrals and networking, good overall performance.

     If your response to this  is to off-handedly toss a mumbled “Yeah, right!” on the table, you need to seriously question if you are getting too old too fast. When was the last time you were the object of some one’s sincere praise? How did it feel? What action did it prompt?

     Every time you can  express appreciation for innovative, success-driven thinking and behavior, and of course in public, you are fostering more positive thinking and action by that individual, and by everyone else around. Trophies, plaques and certificates are nice, but there’s nothing like an on-the-spot exuberant compliment and accreditation, a pat on the back.

     Small, frequent on-the-spot rewards  for a job well done (or well-attempted) have always served to motivate and encourage repeat positive performance better and much more effectively than any other form of “attaboy” treatment.

     Pulling an employee  (not physically, I should probably mention!) from her work station to thank her for a great effort in front of whoever is there (customers, other staffers, vendors, passerby, delivery people) and treating her at that moment to coffee, or lunch or a walk around the block will generate more positiveness than annual award dinners and golf outings.

     Spontaneity counts!    

     Nurturing  company-wide opportunities to contribute counts!

The feeling that one’s opinion counts in the grand scheme of things provides an enhanced sense of self-worth, and people who feel good about themselves because of the work they do, will in turn feel good about the employer who makes this possible.”

—Martin Yate from KEEPING THE BEST And Other Thoughts on Building a Super Competitive Workforce 

# # #

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Hal@Businessworks.US 302.933.0116

Open Minds Open Doors

Make today a GREAT day for someone!

“You’ve got to stand

for something, or

you’ll fall for anything”

— Aaron Tippin, Country Western Performer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Hja0XND8Ms 

     The business world seems to have a mission to have a Mission Statement for everything these days…Sales Mission Statements, Customer Service Mission Statements, Corporate Mission Statements, Financial Mission Statements…

     And many of these, I believe, are merely token lip service public relations-type tongue-twisters with no teeth that hang framed on walls and plastered onto every ad and document and website in bordered shadow boxes, flaunted as if they were flags of honor and integrity!

     First of all, any company that has to be boasting about a Mission Statement (no matter how goody-goody it might sound) is simply indulging itself in mental masturbation.

     If your business is as great as the pursuit of its Mission, the people you want to know it, will know it without you having to strut it across every stage. Your behavior and the behavior of your business is what constitutes your “brand” and people will know you by your brand, your conduct.

     That having been said, there is a need in every organization (even sole proprietorships) for an internal “Leadership Mission Statement” that owners, operators, and managers can rally around and bring into daily practice. “You need to stand for something or you’ll fall for anything.”

     It needs to address HOW your business leadership will function and communicate with others inside AND outside your organization. Why? Because –no matter what business you’re in, no matter what quality or value of goods and services you offer, no matter how industrious and honorable you may be– 80% of your business is communication!

     If you don’t have a Leadership Mission that focuses attention on the processes and ways you will strive daily to communicate clearly (including, importantly, active listening practices) with associates, staff, customers, prospects, vendors, community, industry and the rest of the world, you are setting your company up for failure.

     I’m not talking about a PR or media or customer service policy  manual, or some empty suit theory. I’m referring to a genuine statement of leadership conduct that calls on human communication best practices at every level… in letters, emails, on the phone, in-person, in presentations, and in all marketing related materials, publishings and broadcasts all of the time. “You need to stand for something or you’ll fall for anything.”

What’s the guideline to use? Trust and Authenticity.

With special thanks for inspiring tonight’s blog post to a strategic alliance partner of mine, Andrew Jackson, who sent me the link to the music video source of the headline quote above. 

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Input welcome anytime: Hal@TheWriterWorks.com (”Businessworks” in the subject line) or comment below. Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals, good night and God bless you! halalpiar  # # # 

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