Relationships Matter- Lesson Three is all about respect

So many people today don’t respect others. They put up with them, but they don’t respect them. In building a personal or business relationship with someone, my hierarchy is to first decide that you are going to like the person. Then, work to build trust. Finally, out of trust should come respect.

Spin

I’m not sure about you, but for me the political spin from the two main political parties is getting really old. Yes, I know it’s been going on for decades but it actually seems to be getting worse. I’m sick of it and so are many others that I know. Wouldn’t it be nice to have real dialogue?

If you regularly spin your business story you’ve got deep functional and values problems and sooner or later spin will bite you.

Profit- a dirty word?

With all of the noise coming out of Washington these days, you’d think that profit is evil. I get tired of the assault on the business community over profitability. Another thing I get tired of, from the Washington beltway crowd, the vast majority of whom have never run a business or been in private enterprise their entire career, is the politically convenient attack on certain industries as having ‘windfall profits’.

Clarity and Specificity

Perhaps you have the same challenge as me. I’m always challenged on how I can be clearer and more specific in my words, both written and verbal. It’s critical because everything that I communicate has to be well understood. It must be so crisp and to the point that instantly, people ‘get it’. Frankly, I have a lot of improving to do in this regard. I’m going to be reworking and simplifying my simple web site once again, because I think the messaging can be much better.

I got thinking about this today because I had had received an email from a business friend that, for me, wasn’t as clear and specific as it should be. The person was asking for my feedback on the wording of a communication. Now, it may be that I didn’t process it well. But that’s the point. I didn’t get it. Kudos go to my friend for taking the time to reach out to me (and others) and ask for feedback.

This may be something for you to think about also. Is your marketing message clear and specific? Is your sales conversation clear and specific? Are work order instructions in your company clear and specific? Are job descriptions and expectations clear and specific? They should be. If they’re not you may be wasting valuable resources- money and time.

© 2009 Peter E. McDowell

PERFORMA Business Development

Different View/ Better Results

pete@performabusdev.com

Web @ http://www.performabusdev.com

Blog @ http://petemcd.wordpress.com/

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Turn Crisis Into Opportunity

Great companies are super consistent in their beliefs and intentions and they hang on them whether times are good or bad. They don’t waiver when times really get tough. Their core values carry them through a crisis.