Simply Business Coaching

Thank goodness for Swine Flu!

Please, don’t get me wrong – I realise there is the potential for a real health problem and am truly sorry for anyone who is affected by this illness.

The reason I say thank goodness, is I’m so glad the media have at last got a different headline to focus on.  I know they do so love to dwell on all the gory details – but, for the first time in ages, the doom and gloom about the economy has been relegated to second place. 

Over the last few months I have deliberately avoided watching the news bulletins as much as possible (difficult when you’re a news junkie!).  On the occasions when I’ve caught them, even the newsreaders were looking fed up at having to tell the same story over and over again.

Who would have thought that such a serious health scare story could seem like a breath of fresh air?

More reflections on Enterprise 09

In the ‘goodie’ bag I received on arriving at Enterprise 09 last week, was a form inviting me to write down a) what I wanted to buy and b) what I wanted to sell. Then the completed form was pinned onto a designated wall for interested visitors to view.

In theory this idea made a change from the usual table to display leaflets and brochures.  In practice I found a few flaws that suggested it might not have been thoroughly thought out.

The first problem when I tried to read some of the forms was the handwriting!  Whether it’s because I’ve become so used to typed text or because people had scribbled their offerings very quickly, I soon tired of trying to decipher the messages and didn’t bother to look at many at all.

It was also overwhelming to be faced with so many forms, literally hundreds of them!  Whereas printed flyers and brochures have large headlines that immediately let you know what they’re about, you had to get really close to the individual forms before finding out if the offering might be of interest. To do this, you had to dodge people trying to pin their own form to the wall, and the patient souls attempting to read.

The really interesting bit
I noticed that hardly anyone bothered to answer the first part of the form, the “We Buy”, and those who did were suitably vague “usual office supplies and services”.  It seems everyone was only there to sell. 

On reflection I think I would have preferred the usual table of leaflets and flyers. 

What do you say?

When you talk to yourself, what do you say?  It was a tremendous relief to me to find out that everyone has a little internal voice too!  We all give ourselves feedback, perhaps after a presentation or important phone call. 

The problem is that we give ourselves too much criticism; apparently we give ourselves 15 times more negative messages than positive ones!  We say things like “You made a real mess of that!” or “You’ll never get the orders you need if you don’t shape up”.

And these negative messages can pop up before you’re due to visit or call a potential client too and damage your confidence.  Before you know it, you put in a poor performance and prove that your negative ‘voice’ was right!

Fortunately the opposite is also true.  Whenever you catch yourself saying something negative, stop and change the message to be more positive.  You could say “That wasn’t like me at all.  What do I need to change?”, “Next time, I’ll remember to ask that question” or “OK, this is going to be much better than the last call”.

What do you say?

Inspiration from a Dragon

Today I visited Enterprise ‘09 and had the good fortune to hear Richard Farleigh deliver the keynote to a packed seminar theatre (standing room only for late-comers!). 

Richard is a popular former ‘Dragon’ who joined ‘Dragons’ Den’ for the show’s third series in 2006, and was ranked as the 876th on the Sunday Times Rich List 2006 with an estimated net worth of £66million.

One lesson I took away from this talk was that to be successful, you need to have an element of luck on your side.  Richard compared playing chess against backgammon.  With chess (he plays chess as a hobby, and is an internationally-ranked player who has represented Bermuda and Monaco at the Chess Olympics), if you make the right moves you will win.  With backgammon, the throw of the dice can change the outcome.

It was fascinating to hear of Richard's humble beginnings in Australia and how he came to make his (first) fortune.  But the most inspiring part for me came when he spoke about venture after venture that failed!  From diamond mines to an exclusive restaurant, sometimes he was lucky to get his investment back. 

Learning what doesn’t work gives us valuable lessons – probably because they are often painful, we try not to repeat them. 

Why problems are good motivators

At a workshop I ran recently on effective Networking, we discussed how to come up with an attention-grabbing opening statement, in answer to the question “What do you do”?

Speaking to a delegate afterwards, she asked me why I recommend to focus first on the problem and not on the solution. 

It’s all a matter of thinking about what motivates people.  Some people are motivated towards pleasure or reward but even more are motivated away from pain or discomfort so that’s where you need to start. 

The response you want is for someone to say “That sounds interesting, tell me more.” Or “How do you do that?” Then you move on to talk about the solution you can provide (not the process). You can use these motivators in your one-minute pitches too.

First highlight the problem your typical clients have and then tell them how wonderful things will be with your solution.   This is a really strong combination of motivators that will resonate with people who are in the market for what you offer.

(For more tips to help your business networking, take a look at my Confident Business Networking system)

Gold from Dan Kennedy

I've been a fan of Dan Kennedy for quite a few years and have several of his excellent books - they're amongst the most well-thumbed and dog-eared on my shelf because I keep referring to the words of wisdom.

If you have or are thinking of producing, information products to sell, watch this video interview with Dan and Yanik Silver and listen out for the gold nuggets!

Hidden Talent

Like so many people around the world, I’ve been caught up with the ‘Susan Boyle effect’ in the last few days.  The media frenzy that has followed Susan Boyle’s performance on the TV show ‘Britain’s Got Talent’ has already covered all the predictable sayings: “you can’t judge a book by its cover”; “the voice of an angel” amongst them.

Without taking away a single, well-deserved plaudit from her, I find myself wondering why we’re surprised to find that ‘ordinary’ people are so talented.

After all, many people have a promising ability when they’re young, perhaps in music or on the sports field, but the reason relatively few are successful is because they lack the determination and discipline to put in the effort that will raise them from good to great.

True talent actually takes a lot of hard work.  Even if you’re blessed with a wonderful voice, you still have to learn and rehearse the songs!  Susan Boyle has been honing her talent since she was a little girl.

Of course not everyone is blessed with the sort of talent that leads to fame on stage or sports field.  However, most people are good at something.  Perhaps they’re good with people; have a way with the written word; or can work out complicated math in their head! 

In Malcolm Gladwell’s book Outliers: The Story of Success, he talks about the 10,000 hours rule and gives examples of how Mozart, the Beatles and Bill Gates became masters because they practised for so long!  And for them to do that there had to be passion, drive and almost a hunger to use their innate talent.

Are you good at something?  Could you be even better at it with practice?  What’s your hidden talent?

You can regain control over your emails

A lot of people I talk to have become slaves to their emails – I know I used to be guilty of having an almost Pavlovian response to look at new emails as they came in!  And then I turned off the ‘alert’ sound – simple but effective.

The main problem with email, as I see it, is that it is such an instant form of communication and we seem to feel the need to read and respond instantly too.  Not only does this break our concentration (it takes about 4 minutes to read an email and recover from the interruption), but we can also become stressed when we haven’t checked for new messages for a while.

As a ‘recovering’ Email slave, I’d like to reassure you that you can regain control over your emails.  Resolve to check your inbox no more than three or four times a day, this will reduce stress and give you back your concentration.

For anything that’s really urgent, just ask people to pick up the phone!

Beating the stalemate of procrastination

Do you have anything on your ‘to do’ list that you keep putting off?  Is it because the task (or tasks!) seems too big to tackle, you’re not sure how to do it, or perhaps it’s going to take ages to finish?  If so, you’re definitely not alone.  We all procrastinate at times, but in business it can be costly.

If you have any tasks languishing in your pending tray, you know they’re there.  You think about them often and worry that they’re not getting done.  Maybe a deadline is looming, so now you’re getting stressed.

There are many techniques to beat procrastination.  The best one I’ve found is to get the papers or file onto my desk.  At this point, I’m not even thinking about completing the task.  I’m just going to look through the papers.  Then I write down the first step that needs to be taken – making a phone call, research some information – I just write down that first step. 

By this point I’m ready to actually take that first step so I go ahead and do it.  Feeling really pleased with myself, I have a look at what the next step needs to be and write that down.   I may do it there and then, or I may schedule it for another time.  But I’m no longer putting it off, I’ve beaten the stalemate of procrastination!

What do you do?

7 Avoidance Tactics to Avoid

One of the problems with avoidance tactics is that they can be hard to recognise in ourselves – and we’ve probably been using them for years!

Let’s see if you can identify with any of the following Top Seven Avoidance Tactics used by business owners and managers.

1.    It’s got to be perfect – this tactic affects so many of us.  It often stops us from starting a project or activity and gets in the way of goal achievement.  Most tasks don’t have to be perfect, they just need to be good enough.  Give yourself permission to be human!

2.    Nobody else can do it – this is when you believe that only you can do a job because no-one else can match your standards or do it the way you want it done.  You really are setting yourself up to avoid the important business building that truly can only be done by you.  Let go of routine tasks by delegating or outsourcing.

3.    Last time I tried that, it didn’t work – so you don’t do it again.  I’ll agree that it’s a good idea to stop doing what doesn’t work but only after checking if it might have been your approach that didn’t work, not the activity itself.

4.    Not being accountable – when you conveniently ‘forget’ to do something you know you need to do but would rather not.  If it is an important activity, write it down so you will remember it.  Even better, ask someone to hold you accountable for doing it.  Remember, no excuses!

5.    Failing to plan – and allowing all the ‘busy’ work to fill your day.  Anything that is important to your business success needs to be planned into your diary so that it gets done before the less important stuff.  Do you recall the old saying ‘fail to plan, plan to fail’?

6.    Not setting a deadline – means you can put things off if you don’t feel like doing them.  This is often why ‘to-do’ lists don’t work.  Every time you write down a task you need to do, give it a realistic deadline and be accountable for meeting it.

7.    Easily distracted – by interruptions like the ‘phone, incoming emails, other people, or new ideas.  Using this avoidance tactic will mean you have lots of unfinished jobs on your ‘to-do’ list and feel you are overwhelmed.  Stay focused on the important task you are currently working on and only allow yourself to be diverted by real emergencies.

If you can hold your hand up to using any of these avoidance tactics – Congratulations! 

You now have a better understanding of how you might be holding your business back.  Whenever you notice yourself using any of these tactics in future, you can choose whether to carry on with it or switch to an activity that will move your business forward and generate more sales.