Naughty or Nice December 15, 2009
Posted by petemcd in Personal Effectiveness.add a comment
This has nothing to do with the holiday season and the annual ‘good will toward men’ saying and attitude that pops up. Admittedly, I’m a little cynical about all the ‘niceness’ during the holiday season although even if it’s just for a day or two, or even a few weeks, it’s better than nothing.
I believe we need to be nice all the time. We need to validate others as having a genuine presence and role in the world. When I say genuine presence, I mean that we really welcome others into our world and we acknowledge their worth. When I say role, I mean that we believe and understand that everyone has unique gifts and talents, most are trying to do their best in a harsh world, and that whatever they do for a vocation or in a volunteer activity, they are doing something of worth.
When they were teens, my kids used to get really annoyed with me. Yes, I know that teens get annoyed with pretty much anything a parent says or does. They got annoyed because I took the time to greet people I didn’t know and talk to people in public areas. I still do this. Fortunately, they’re adults now and okay with my communicating with people I don’t know.
I’ve always thought it was the right thing to do and to do it without any expectation of reciprocity. How often do we see people walk right by us and stare at the ground or look away? Isn’t it nice for someone when you can say “hello”, or “good morning” or something similar? What’s wrong with being friendly and welcoming? How about telling a cashier, ”Thanks, I appreciate that.”, or “Thanks for doing such a good job.”?
Being nice is a choice. You can brighten someone’s day or not.
© 2009 Peter E. McDowell
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Is Sales Training really important? October 30, 2009
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Businesses typically spend 80% of their time & $ for sales training on product and industry training and 20%, or less, on developing sales competency or mastery. Basic industry and product knowledge can be picked up in relatively short time. Obviously, deeply knowing the ins and outs of an industry and your company’s products takes time. But, basic knowledge is often very sufficient to get out into the market place and sell. That’s why new and inexperienced sales people can achieve at least some level of success.
Sales mastery- being extremely good at having multiple sales conversations with an account and controlling the sales process- is much harder but produces far more beneficial results for the customer and provider/supplier. The ability to effectively build relationships and work toward a win-win solution by understanding the totality of a business and personal environment in order to solve problems takes continual learning and discipline. Without this total or global or holistic approach to the sales process it is very easy to sell a product or service for the wrong application at the wrong price (or value). Poor ‘salespersonship’ usually produces poor and costly solutions for both parties.
© 2009 Peter E. McDowell
PERFORMA Business Development
Different View/ Better Results
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Relationships Matter- Lesson Three is all about respect October 15, 2009
Posted by petemcd in Culture, Leadership, Personal Effectiveness.add a comment
This is the last installment of building a relationship. It’s 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.
Again, because I like to be clear on the meaning of the words we use, here’s a definition for respect: esteem for or a sense of the worth or excellence of a person, a personal quality or ability, or something considered as a manifestation of a personal quality or ability. There, that’s easy to understand, isn’t it?
Esteem for someone, or looking at them as a person of excellence or worth starts with honoring them in your presence. As with liking someone, you have to be intentional in honoring another person. How do you do this? A few thoughts-
- When you greet someone, make sure that you are genuine in your appreciation of the time they are investing in being with you. If you inquire how they are doing, be sincere and mean it. A casual greeting is a reflection of a lack of respect. Here’s the casual encounter: “Hi Jim, how are you doing?” “Oh, just OK today, not great.” “Oh, bummer. Let’s take a look at the project we’re working on…” Nice way to show respect by being interested in the other person and actually hearing their response, right? NOT.
- When you meet with someone, make sure that the time you are spending meets their requirements. Don’t overstay your welcome- get their input on how long they have to spend with you. Keep to the alloted time.
- When you make an appointment for a meeting or phone call, don’t be late. Yes, that’s obvious, but we all know too many people who do not follow this simple rule. It’s best to be early for an appointment and right on time for a phone call. To be perfectly honest, I’m guilty from time to time and I’m not happy about it when I waste someone’s time. Whenever you are late, don’t use a flimsy excuse and be sure to contact the person while you’re in transit. On the flip side, others need to respect you also. We’re all busy but when someone jerks me around and I wait for more than 15 minutes, I’m out of there. My time is valuable too.
- When you make a commitment to complete a task, do it. People are expecting your follow through and it probably affects their world. Enough said.
- When you meet someone from a foreign culture, honor your differences and celebrate your similarities. Take time beforehand to learn about customs and mores of other cultures and do your best to act accordingly. Your relationship will be better for the effort.
- Don’t joke around with people in areas that might be offensive- sex, race, personal issues, country of origin. Even humor that might seem tame could be a sign of deep disrespect to the other person.
Like, Trust and Respect. Is there any reason why we all can’t develop meaningful and healthy relationships?
© 2009 Peter E. McDowell
PERFORMA Business Development
Different View/ Better Results
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Relationships Matter- Lesson Two with four elements of trust October 13, 2009
Posted by petemcd in Leadership, Personal Effectiveness.add a comment
“Trust is the lubrication that makes it possible for organizations to work. “
Warren G. Bennis
Trust makes relationships work, too. I was just talking this morning with two associates about trust. In the business I’m in, as a consultant, it’s important to have trust to make the relationship work. Some people shy away from using the word consultant and use trusted advisor. They’re very similar but different in meaning. However, in any relationship that has an expectation of mutual gain (however defined), some level of trust must exist…perhaps not in a criminal activity, but in the world most of us live in. Trust is a key part of the relationship and it follows likeability. If initially one or two people do not like each other, then trust is not possible.
Two weeks ago I presented a sales training seminar in which I outlined four components of trust, as follows:
- Character- your behaviors, including integrity, honesty, discipline, commitment; Do (or, will) you do what you say you’ll do and act the way you should? “Gee, he (or she or they) seem to be real experts, they have a terrific operation with plenty of capacity, they’ve been in business a long time and are solid financially, but I heard he screws people a lot with questionable charges and he’s been late every appointment with lame excuses…”
- Competency- your expertise, credentials, professional recognition, experience, etc.; Do you have what it takes to get the job done? “I don’t know…he is a great guy who is involved with a lot of things, they seem to have the capacity to handle our challenges and they’ve been around awhile…he just seems to not really know his industry or ours very well. I guess that’s because he’s so new to this business.”
- Capability- your ability to produce and deliver whenever, wherever; Do you have the production capability and available time or bandwidth to get me what I need exactly when I need it? “OK, his reputation is stellar as a stand up guy, he has the credentials with a Harvard MBA, his business has been around a long time, but they only have one location and we have sixteen data centers in the country and around the world. How can they possibly service us?”
- Congruency- the longevity of your business; Is your longevity in business adequate to meet my needs or are you a risk because your and/or your business hasn’t been established in its field long enough? “Well, he sure seems to be a terrific guy, he has deep industry experience and they have a beautiful operation. It’s just that they’re a one year old business and from what I hear they’re already low on cash.”
Can you see how you need all four components at a high level? Now, be honest with yourself and with those you deal with. Do you and they exhibit high levels of the 4 C’s of trust? If not, what can you do about it? How can you take steps to be seen as trustworthy. What do others need to do to gain your trust?
I have a very simple chart that’s available for you to use in considering the trust component of a relationship. Email me at pete@performabusdev.com and I’ll send it off within 24 hours!
Likeability and trust lead to respect, my next topic in a few days.
© 2009 Peter E. McDowell
PERFORMA Business Development
Different View/ Better Results
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Relationships Matter- Lesson One with Seven Tips October 9, 2009
Posted by petemcd in Personal Effectiveness, Sales.add a comment
“All lasting business is built on friendship.”
Alfred A. Montapert
Many sales training offerings don’t do justice to building a relationship
There are a lot of great sales trainings available today. If you examine them all, you’ll find way more similarities than differences. Think of it this way: every cook has their way of cooking, and so do business trainers, especially sales trainers. The fundamentals and how you master and use them are what counts. I have developed my own sales training that I deliver to clients based on the study of sales and my experiences over many years. I don’t claim that mine is any better than others, but it is different and it reflects my beliefs about how to sell.
Most sales trainings focus on questioning techniques and a process to guide a prospect to a close, assuming that each side has qualified the other to business. It has to be a fit for each party. However, I find that many sales training offerings don’t do justice to building a relationship that is built on trust. Relationships are what make everything hum and are the foundation for moving the sales process forward. A poor or marginal relationship may result in business if a seller is one of the very few with a product or service that the buyer must have. In the competitive world of many similar choices…
People will do business with people that they like, trust and respect.
Today, we’ll look at the ‘like’ part.
As I often do, I find that reading the dictionary definition for a word is appropriate. I checked dictionary.com and found a number of ways to define the word, whether as an adjective, preposition, adverb, conjunction, noun, interjection or idiom. I was surprised to find so many ways in American English to define and use the word. To use a double negative, I was not expecting to not find the one I expected…so here is the one I pulled out- corresponding or agreeing in general or in some noticeable respect. When I think of like in a relationship aspect, I think of having an affinity for someone, a comfort in a relationship built on similar outlooks, values, mores (accepted traditional customs and usages of a particular social group), behaviors, interests & hobbies, etc. I didn’t see that exactly, but the one I pulled is close enough.
How do you get people to like you? Seven tips:
1. You have to have an attitude going into a relationship that you will choose to like the other person(s) and that you are likeable. It is a conscious decision and making the decision to like someone in advance will be reflected positively in your body language and the tone of your voice. Like others and be likeable.
2. You have to be genuine/real. The other person will not be fooled by any façade or any phony act. People’s emotional intelligence is right 75% of the time- this has been proved in studies over the years. What they perceive in others they meet is what they actually will see as time goes on. Don’t fake it.
3. You have to be interested in the other person. You have to take the time to find out what makes them tick…and why. That means you ask a lot of questions about them to gain understanding of their whole person.
4. You have to be transparent. This is where you will show others how open you are in communicating- both telling and listening. Are you couching things? Are you hiding something that you shouldn’t? I have professional association with two people who have let me know they were in prison at one point in their lives because of poor decisions made in business. They’ve reformed. They understand how they made poor choices and that they are 100% accountable. I associate with them because they were upfront and very open about their past.
5. You have to be honest. Whatever you say about yourself or your business must not be a lie…or even a fib. Even small exaggerations can derail a friendship. If so and so is stretching the truth even this much, where else and by how much does he stretch it elsewhere?
6. You must show respect. You must honor someone when you are in their presence. It’s not about you. I’ll write more about respect in Lesson Three in a few days.
7. You have to reflect an abundance mentality. There’s plenty for everyone. You are not there just for taking. Express that in your language and actions.
There you go- seven things that you can think about and work on to like others and then be seen as likeable. Next up: Trust.
© 2009 Peter E. McDowell
PERFORMA Business Development
Different View/ Better Results
pete@performabusdev.com
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