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Bob Sproull was my guest on the Business901 podcast. Bob is an experienced manufacturing executive with a distinguished track record of achieving improvement goals in Manufacturing, MRO, Quality, Product Development, and Engineering. His experience base ranges from low-volume custom products (truck bodies) to process industries (tires) to service industries (Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul). He is a nationally known speaker and author on problem-solving and statistical techniques, as well as his latest book on implementing an integrated Lean, Six Sigma and the Theory of Constraints.
Positive personal impact is one of the keys to personal and professional success that I discuss in Straight Talk for Success. If you want to create positive personal impact, you need to do three things. First, create and nurture your unique personal brand. Second, be impeccable in your presentation of self – in person and on line. Third, know and follow the basic rules of etiquette.
Chris Widener is a popular speaker and author who helps individuals and organizations turn their potential into performance, succeed in every area of their lives and achieve their dreams. I’m a subscriber to his ezine. I like what Chris has to say and how he says it.
The other day, Chris wrote a piece about four traits that he finds in all successful people. He describes successful people in the following way.
• They are honest.
• They are givers, not takers.
• They are bust-their-tails hard workers.
• They do what is right.
While I believe that your personal brand should be uniquely you, I often suggest that the integrity is the cornerstone of any successful personal brand. Chris’s first and fourth points – honesty and doing what is right – are a great way to define integrity.
And, I agree that his second and third points – being a giver not a taker, and being a hard worker – are characteristics that you’ll find in most successful people. I like these ideas so much, that I’ve decided to add “being a giver and a hard worker” to my suggestions for the cornerstone of your personal brand.
If the foundation of your personal brand is honesty, integrity, generosity and hard work, you will be unlikely to go wrong – whether you choose to become The Common Sense Guy, Mr. Fix-it or The Bicycling Queen.
No matter how unique and creative your personal brand, if it is not built on a strong foundation of honesty, integrity, generosity and hard work, you will have a difficult time using it as a springboard to personal and professional success.
The common sense point here is simple. Successful people create positive personal impact. A strong, unique personal brand is an important key to creating positive personal impact. A personal brand should be the words that come to mind when others think of you. While your personal brand needs to be uniquely you, it also needs to be built on a solid foundation. Borrowing from Chris Widener, I suggest that personal brands should be built on honesty, integrity, generosity and hard work. The rest is up to you – get creative and go for it.
That’s my take on the foundation of any successful personal brand. What’s yours? Please leave a comment sharing your thoughts with us. As always, thanks for reading.
Bud
Interpersonal competence is one of the keys to personal and professional success that I discuss in Straight Talk for Success. If you want to become interpersonally competent, you need to do three things. 1) Get to know yourself. Use this self knowledge to better understand others. 2) Build strong relationships with the important people in your life. 3) Resolve conflict positively and in a manner than enhances, not detracts from your relationships.
I’ve been blogging about my forthcoming book 42 Rules to Jumpstart Your Professional Success. The other day, I got an email from a friend asking if I have forgotten about Straight Talk. Not at all. In fact, here’s a little piece on listening that appears in Straight Talk for Success. It focuses on the importance of listening in becoming interpersonally competent…
I read a lot. I sometimes find great information in unexpected places. Tony Hillerman and Andrew Vachss are two of my favorite novelists. To my great sorrow, Tony Hillerman passed away last year. He wrote mysteries set on the Navajo reservation in the American southwest. Vachss writes tough-guy mysteries, most of them set in New York.
I was reading a Hillerman book called Coyote Waits and came across this passage:
"Jacobs was silent for a while, thinking about it, her face full of sympathy. She was a talented listener. He had noticed it before. She had all her antennae out, focused on the speaker. The world was shut out. Nothing mattered but the words she was hearing. Listening was ingrained in Navajo culture. One didn’t interrupt. One waited until the speaker was finished, gave him a moment or two to consider additions, footnotes or amendments, before he responded. But even Navajos listened impatiently. Not really listening, but framing their reply. Jean Jacobs really listened. It was flattery, and Chee knew it, but it had its effect."
I have great respect for my books and usually don’t dog-ear them to mark a page. But I dog-eared this page. I knew I would use it when I was writing about listening.
What’s the message in the Hillerman passage above? Listen. Don’t interrupt. Let the other person finish. Don’t start deciding what you’re going to say until after you’ve listened to, and thought about, what the other person has said. Pretty good stuff to find in a middle of a mystery novel.
Andrew Vachss has another passage on good listening. Burke is one of Vachss’ characters. He is a tough guy, but listening is one of his strong suits. He says:
"It’s not hard to get some people to talk; it’s listening that takes real skill. You can’t just shift to recorder mode until you confirm the channel is open and the signal is strong. Sometimes, they just need to tell you something important to them before they tell you anything important to you. It’s like uncorking a bottle of wine and letting it breathe before you have a taste."
Burke’s message is pretty clear, too. Focus on the other person. Let him or her take the lead. If you’re patient, you’ll get the information you want and/or need.
You might find it odd that I’m dispensing listening advice based on what I’ve read in mystery novels. However, one of Stephen Covey’s 7 Habits of High Effective People is, “Seek first to understand, then to be understood.” Hillerman and Vachss are saying the same thing – in a more poetic style. Listen and you will better understand others. When you understand others it’s a lot easier to build strong relationships with them.
The common sense point here is clear. Successful people are interpersonally competent. Interpersonally competent people build and maintain solid, long lasting relationships with the important people in their lives. Listening is key to relationship building and becoming interpersonally competent. Focusing on the other person – really paying attention to what he or she is saying – is key to listening.
That’s my take on interpersonal competence and listening. What’s yours? Who is the best listener you know. Leave a comment giving a shout out to him or her. As always, I thank you for using your very precious time to read this post.
Bud
Outstanding performance is one of the keys to personal and professional success that I discuss in Straight Talk for Success. If you want to become an outstanding performer, you need to do three things. 1) Become a lifelong learner. 2) Set high goals and do whatever it takes to achieve them. 3) Get organized manage your time, life and stress well.
I take my own advice – especially when it comes to lifelong learning. I actively seek out people who know stuff that I don’t. (In my case, I don’t have to look too hard as I constantly amaze myself with what I don’t know.)
Last week I attended a boot camp for professional speakers conducted by James Malinchak. James is a great speaker and a master marketer – and he seems to know everybody who is anybody. I learned a lot at the camp.
James is a master storyteller. He told a story about doing whatever it takes to achieve your goals. When he was in high school, James decided that he wanted to get a basketball scholarship to a Division 1 school. Lots of people have this goal; not many of them are willing to put in the work necessary to achieve it.
James did two things. First, he decided to become an outstanding three point shooter. He took some money that he made from a high school job, bought a tape measure, some paint and a paint brush. He painted a regulation three point line on the playground court near his house in Monesson PA. He then spent hours perfecting his jump shot. This worked. His senior year he led his team to the PA state championship, making 75% of the three point shots he attempted during the season. If you know anything about basketball, you know that this is almost unheard of. I might not have believed it if I hadn’t seen a clipping in a college basketball publication attesting to it.
Second, and even more impressive for a high school kid, James chose 50 colleges where he would like to play basketball. He found the names and addresses of the coaches at those schools. His games were on Tuesday and Friday (just like when I was in high school in PA). Every Wednesday and Saturday, James sent the press clippings from the previous night’s games to the coaches of the 50 schools he had targeted. This was time consuming snail mail – there was no internet then. He couldn’t just shoot off an email with a link to the newspaper article.
James got a scholarship to the University of Cincinnati, a big time program. He might have become a pro, but he blew out his knee, ending his competitive basketball career. But don’t cry for James, he’s doing pretty well in his speaking and consulting gigs.
I’m telling you James’ story because it perfectly illustrates my second point about becoming an outstanding performer – set high goals and do whatever it takes to achieve them. James worked on his game. More important, he worked harder at making sure that the people who could help him reach his goal of becoming a Division 1 college basketball player knew who he was and how good he was. In short, he set a goal and did everything he had to do to achieve it. He brings this same passion and determination to his speaking and consulting work.
The common sense point here is clear. Successful people are outstanding performers. Outstanding performers set high goals. They also have a plan for achieving those goals. They work hard implementing these plans. In short, they do whatever they have to do – not want to do, or feel like doing -- to reach their goals. James Malinchak’s story is an inspiring one. He is the kind of guy who will succeed at whatever he tries because he does two things. He decides what he wants to achieve – and then he does everything he needs to do – and more to achieve it.
That’s my take on the importance of goals and the hard work necessary to achieve them. What’s yours? Please leave a comment sharing your thoughts with us. Better yet, leave a comment sharing some of your personal triumphs. We can all benefit from reading about them. As always, I thank you for taking the time to read what I’ve written.
Bud
The ability to create positive personal impact is one of the important keys to personal and professional success that I discuss in Straight Talk for Success. If you want to create positive personal impact, you need to do three things. 1) Create and nurture your unique personal brand. 2) Be impeccable in your presentation of self – in person and on line. 3) Know and follow the basic rules of etiquette.
While I encourage you to develop a personal brand that is unique to you, I think that every brand should be built on integrity.
Rule 15 in my forthcoming book 42 Rules to Jumpstart Your Professional Success is “Make Integrity the Cornerstone of Your Brand.” I’d like to give you a sneak peek of this rule in today’s post.
I’m doing this to not only give you a sneak peek at this rule, but to remind you that I am conducting a webinar tomorrow (April 27) at 1:00 EDT in which I will preview several of the rules in 42 Rules to Jumpstart Your Professional Success.
You can access the webcast by logging on to: http://www.brighttalk.com/webcasts/3792/attend
But for now, I want to share Rule 15 with you…
Make Integrity the Cornerstone of Your Brand
A unique and distinctive personal brand is a big part of creating positive personal impact. Your brand should reflect you and your uniqueness. However, there is one thing that I believe that should be a part of everyone’s personal brand – integrity.
According to Wikipedia, “Integrity is consistency of actions, values, methods, measures and principles.” Integrity and consistency are intertwined. People who are consistent in their actions are seen as people with a high degree of integrity.
I once saw a quote from Oprah Winfrey: “Real integrity is doing the right thing, knowing that nobody’s going to know whether you did it or not.” This is true. If you practice situational ethics – doing the right thing only when you’re in the public eye -- you aren’t really a person of high integrity, you’re just pretending to be one.
Besides, it’s hard to act one way in public, and another in private. So to be safe, resolve to act like Oprah. Do the right thing because it’s the right thing to do – not because you’ll get credit, or avoid getting into trouble.
John Maxwell is a well known business author. One of his books sends the same message. It’s called There’s No Such Thing As Business Ethics: There’s Only One Rule for Making Decisions. According to John, that rule is the Golden Rule: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” In other words, do the right thing.
There’s a practical side to this too. Mark Twain once said, “If you tell the truth, you don’t have to remember anything.” In other words, if you’re always a person of high integrity, it’s easy to be a person of high integrity; there are no complicating factors – like remembering what you did or said in a given situation.
Polonius gave similar advice to Hamlet. “To thine own self be true, and it must follow as the day the night, thou canst be false to no man.” Roy Blackman, my father in law passed away a few years ago. This quote was his epitaph. It was on the program handed out at his funeral. Roy embodied it in how he lived his life. It was the only piece of advice he gave his grandson, Matt, as he went off to college.
Oprah, John Maxwell, Mark Twain and Shakespeare are all in agreement on one common sense point. If you want to become known as a person of high integrity – and I believe integrity is the cornerstone of any personal brand – act as a person of high integrity all the time – not just when it suits you, or when someone might notice.
Here’s a story to illustrate this point. Cathy, my wife was a flight attendant for 36 years. Seniority is a very important thing in the airline industry. It governs how you bid for trips, positions on the airplane and vacations – almost anything important to a flight attendant’s quality of work life.
Cathy was very active in her union. And seniority was one of the union’s most sacred principles. A few years before she retired, Cathy’s airline made a big push into the international market. International flight were plum assignments, they went to people with high seniority. However, the airline realized that it would be to their advantage to have some flight attendants who spoke the language of the country to which they were flying on these international flights. Most flight attendants in her airline spoke English only. The airline proposed putting two “language speakers” on each international flight. Many people, including Cathy, were upset with this arrangement as they felt it violated the seniority concept.
Cathy used to fly from the US to London. One day I said to her, “This whole language speaker issue doesn’t really affect you. You fly to London, there are no language speakers on those flights. Why do you care so much?” She said, “I believe in the concept of seniority. It doesn’t matter if I’m affected by language speakers. It’s the principal of the thing.” That’s consistency – and integrity in action.
The common sense point here is simple. Successful people create positive personal impact. A strong, unique personal brand is key to creating positive personal impact. While your personal brand should be uniquely you, integrity is one thing that should be common to all personal brand. In fact integrity should be the cornerstone of your brand. Do what you say. Under promise and over deliver. Become known as a person of integrity and you will be on your way to building a successful personal brand.
That’s my take on the importance of integrity to your personal brand. If you want to hear more of my 42 Rules to Jumpstart Your Professional Success log on to my free webinar on Wednesday April 27 at 1:00 EDT. Just go to http://www.brighttalk.com/webcasts/3792/attend and you’ll hear about more of my rules to jumpstart your professional success. As always, you have my deep and most sincere thanks for reading.
Bud
Positive personal impact is one of the keys to success that I discuss in Straight Talk for Success. If you want to create positive personal impact, you need to do three things. 1) Develop and nurture your unique personal brand. 2) Be impeccable in your presentation of self – in person and on line. 3) Know and follow the basic rules of etiquette.
I was teaching a class on personal and professional success the other day. We spent a lot of time on personal branding. I made the point that personal branding is pretty simple in concept. First, figure out how you want others to think of you. Be very clear. Second, constantly and consistently do the things necessary to get them people to think of you in that way. Some of the people in the class were struggling with figuring out how they want others to think of them. It’s not as simple or easy as it first appears.
I am a member of the National Speakers Association. There is an interesting article by Robert Bradford on marketing yourself as a speaker in the April 2009 issue of “Speaker” magazine. He suggests that there are two important tools for speaker marketing: providing direct value and demonstrating your unique value.
If you’re struggling to determine how you want others to think of you, take a lesson from Mr. Bradford. Ask and answer these questions? What direct value do I provide? What is unique about the way I provide this value?
A little too abstract? OK. I’ll use myself as an example. I am a success coach and motivational speaker. I provide direct value by helping people learn the skills they need to become a personal and professional success. I do this by using my common sense and showing others how to apply their common sense. In this case, my direct value equals skills for personal and professional success and my unique value equals common sense.
My Common Sense Guy brand is designed to get people to think of me as someone who can show them how to succeed (direct value) through applied common sense (unique value).
You don’t have to be in business for yourself to use this formula. It will work for you no matter what size organization you work for. To determine how you want the people who work with you and the people who run your company or organization to think of you, ask and answer these two questions…
One you answer these two questions, you will have the beginnings of a very clear personal brand. Once you have developed a clear brand, you’ll need to constantly and consistently act in a manner that is consistent with it.
The common sense point here is simple. Successful people create positive personal impact. A clear, well defined, unique personal brand is one of the first steps in creating positive personal impact. You can develop your unique personal brand by asking and answering two questions. “What direct value do I provide?” “What is my unique value proposition, how I am truly different in providing value?” The answers to these two questions will provide you with the basis for your personal brand. Then it’s up to you to constantly and consistently do the things that reinforce your brand.
That’s my take on personal branding and your value proposition? What’s yours? Please leave a comment sharing your thoughts on these ideas? As always, thanks for reading.
Bud
Paul Lawrence Vann Host of The Wealthy Speaker Show (www.paullawrencevann.com & www.blogtalkradio.com/paullawrencevann) interviews Ken on his talk show. Who Is Kenneth Darryl Brown, Sales and Profit Evangelist? Ken shares why he is committed to helping small business owners and entrepreneurs. Are you ready to learn how to increase your sales and profitability? Kenneth Brown shares a behind the scenes look at what it takes to incorporate technology to increase your sales and generate more revenue. As CEO of E3C, Kenneth decided a long time ago that combining networking and business results in a winning formula for business success.
Kenneth Brown (Sales & Profit-Expert and Chief Profitability Officer) E3C www.BetterSalesandProfitsNow.com www.twitter.com/KenE3C www.my-business-community.com www.mybusinesscommunity.ning.com www.E3C.typepad.com
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Dynamic communication skills are one of the keys to success that I discuss in Straight Talk for Success. If you want to become a dynamic communicator, you need to master three skills: 1) Conversation; 2) Writing; and 3) Presenting.
I’ve been looking over the transcripts of my old internet radio show. I had some pretty interesting guests who said some pretty interesting things. Debra Fine, author of the best seller The Fine Art of Small Talk was one of my guests. We discussed how to become a good conversationalist.
Here is part of what Debra had to say…
Bud: What are some icebreakers or conversation starters that shy people – or anyone—can use to get a conversation going?
Debra: Don’t be afraid to dig deeper. When you say to them “how’s work” they’re going to say “pretty good” or “good” or “great” or whatever. Dig in deeper, let them know you’re sincere with one more question, “So, what’s been going on with work, Bud, since the last time we talked”, or if you say to somebody “how were your holidays” and they say “great”, “well, what did you do over the holidays that you enjoyed the most?” Let them know you are sincere, when you are sincere, when you have the time.
We say to our friends, “how are you Bud?”, “great”, you got to follow up with something like “Bud, bring me up to date – what’s been going on in your life since the last time I saw you?” Now Bud knows I really want to know how he is, otherwise “how are you” means “hello”. That’s all it means. My own husband will walk into the house and say “how was your day” and I’ll say “pretty good” because my guess is my husband doesn’t really want to know how my day is and this is my second husband, Bud, okay? And he doesn’t want to know. But if he digs in deeper, I’ll know that he was interested.
Okay, so that’s just one tip. We don’t want to become FBI agents, that’s why that one following question is important, but no more after that. You don’t want to do one of these numbers, “Bud, what do you do?” So, what’s your answer to that, Bud?
Bud: Well, I’m a consultant, speaker, and right now, an internet radio show host.
Debra: And, Bud, it sounds like you have an accent from back east, so what part of the country are you from?
Bud: Pittsburgh.
Debra: Look at what just happened. I said “what do you do, Bud” and you said consultant, etc. and I said it sounds like you have an accent, like you’re from back east or something and you responded to that. I became an FBI agent. That was the point of that little shtick. If you’re going to start with “what do you do,” stay on topic.
Bud: You make a great point here. People get uncomfortable if you jump around in conversations because it gets them off balance, they don’t know what’s coming next. So if you begin a conversation by asking somebody about their job or career, ask a follow up question about their job or career. I think this is tremendous advice -- making sure that you follow up with a question that’s on target, not something that goes off in another direction.
Debra: And I’m saying to you to make it an open-ended question. “Tell me about it, describe that for me, how was that like for you, how did you come up with that idea?” Everybody’s got to use an open-ended question if at all possible so you can open up the conversation. Do we have a couple more minutes for another tip?
Bud: Yes we do.
Debra: Okay, let’s talk about the most common response to the question, “what’s been going on in your life?” Do you know what most of us say to “what’s been going on?”
Bud: Not much.
Debra: Exactly. That’s exactly right. We say “not much” or “nothing.” And I bet you would have said “not much” if I asked you that question because that’s what first came out of your mouth just now when I asked that, and yet you told me I believe during a break that you’re going to New York tomorrow.
I think there’s a lot going on and “not much” is just a bunch of bologna, right? And that’s how it is for all of us. We’ve all said “not much” and what we really mean is “there’s so much going on, I can’t possibly think of what it is so I’ll just say not much”. That’s what we mean. There’s just too much going on to think of what to say.
Now, if you’re just walking down the hall and don’t have time to stop and chat, a one-word answer like that is fine and dandy. But, if you’d like to connect at an annual conference when someone says to you “what’s been going on?” Please have an answer. It doesn’t have to be an elevator speech, just an answer, “well, we just introduced flex time at our company and that’s been a huge burden, but I feel like we’ve seen the worst of it, and we’re going to get through it.”
Now I have something to talk about with you, flex time. Like, how did you set it up, how does that impact you? Do you get three days off a week? I mean, give me something, it doesn’t have to be mooshy, it doesn’t have to be about your divorce. Just give me something.
If you said to me “Debra, how have you been?” I might say “well, I became an empty-nester this year and it’s really been a whole new experience, and not a sad one, a good one and I’ve really enjoyed it.” Now, did I brag about my kids, no. Did I go on and on about how perfect and gorgeous and wonderful they are? Absolutely not. I just let you know something about myself that I’m willing to talk about. If you’re not interested, you’ll go “oh, Debra, good for you, let’s talk about that contract…what do you think…?” You don’t want to chit-chat, that’s fine. Let’s get down to the business at hand.
Bud: I think that’s really great and that you’re absolutely right. The point you’re making here is that if you do go to an event and you’re somebody who is not naturally able to roll things off the tip of your tongue, be prepared, because somebody’s probably going to say to you, “what’s going on, what’s happening?”
Debra: Yes, and you get something else when you do this Bud. You become a three-dimensional person. If you sell insurance, then you’re a sales person who sells insurance. But if I ask you “how was our weekend?” and you say “it was pretty good, we went to the theater and saw Dr. Doolittle and it wasn’t as bad as all the reviews said,” you just became more than an insurance salesman, you became a human being in my mind. By saying that you went to a musical you became three dimensional. You are not just a sales person, you are now a human being. Human beings go to shows called Dr. Doolittle.
Does that make sense? “How was your weekend?” “I worked in the garden, I played on my volleyball league, I finished a good book, I’m finishing my basement.” That’s all you have to say. You don’t go on and on about it. Just give me a sentence.
Bud: A small bit of self-disclosure can be helpful and make it easy. Let me try to summarize… (A) When you enter a networking situation, put yourself out, introduce yourself to somebody. (B) When somebody introduces themselves to you, be three-dimensional. Do a little bit of self-disclosure. Be willing to say something about yourself.
Debra: Right.
Bud: One last thing, what do you do when all of a sudden there’s dead silence in a conversation?
Debra: Well, you better be prepared. The worst time to think about something to talk about, Bud, is when there’s nothing to talk about. So my rule for myself, and I wrote a book about it, is if I’m going to take you out to lunch and you’re a customer or client, I’ve got two to three things in the back of my head ready to go just in case we have nothing to talk about. Maybe it’s current events. Maybe it’s something I already know about you. You have a wife, her name is Cathy, she used to be a flight attendant. Do you understand? Have some questions in the back of your head, to be able to keep conversations moving when there’s that huge awkward silence. You’ve got to be prepared. It’s not a big deal to be prepared. It takes one whole minute. It’s not like a Yoga class.
That’s some great common sense on becoming a great conversationalist from Debra Fine, author of The Fine Art of Small Talk.
The common sense point here is clear. Successful people are dynamic communicators. Dynamic communicators are great conversationalists. Great conversationalists know how to begin conversations and keep them going. Questions are a great way to open conversations. Use open ended, not yes or no, questions. Follow up with a comment or a question that follows in the same vein. When someone asks you a question, become three dimensional by being willing to disclose something about yourself as a person. If you know who you are going to be seeing, think back to the last time you saw that person. Think about what you discussed. Keep these things in the back of your mind. They can help you prevent awkward silences in your conversation.
That’s what Debra Fine and I think about conversation skills. What do you think? Please leave a comment sharing your thoughts with us. As always, thanks for reading.
Bud
Creating positive personal impact is one of the keys to success that I discuss in Straight Talk for Success. If you want to create positive personal impact you need to do three things. 1) Create, nurture and build your personal brand. 2) Be impeccable in your presentation of self – in person and on line. 3) Know and follow the basic rules of etiquette.
Handwritten thank you notes are a great way to demonstrate your knowledge of the basic rules of etiquette, and to create positive personal impact.
On January 30, I was the keynote speaker at a conference at the University of Denver called “Backpacks to Briefcases.” Among other things, I covered creating positive personal impact. The topic of handwritten thank you notes came up several times during the day. I agreed with the rest of the presenters that handwritten thank you notes are a great way to create positive personal impact.
Now comes the interesting part. I was away for most of last week attending my mother’s funeral. When I returned to my office, I found that I had received a handwritten thank you note from one of the students who was in the audience for my presentation. Katlyn Boches, a student at the Johnson and Wales University campus here in Denver, sent me a handwritten note that said…
“Dear Dr. Bilanich,
Thank you for the book and for speaking at the MPI conference. I greatly enjoyed your presentation and look forward to reading your book. I look forward to future correspondence.
Sincerely,
Katlyn Boches”
Katlyn was one of about 50 people who heard me speak that day. Several won copies of Straight Talk for Success. Katlyn was the only one who took the time to write me a thank you note. That made her one in 50. In other words, when it comes to creating positive personal impact, she is in the top 2% of people who heard me speak on January 30.
Wouldn’t you like to be in the top 2% when it comes to creating positive personal impact? I know I would. In this case, all it took was taking about five minutes to write and address a simple handwritten thank you note of 36 words.
If Katlyn chooses to get in touch with me in the future to ask for assistance with her job search, resume preparation or networking, I’ll be sure to respond and respond quickly. After all, she is in the top 2%. Why wouldn’t I respond to her?
The common sense point here is simple. Successful people create positive personal impact. Handwritten thank you notes are one of the easiest and quickest ways to create positive personal impact. Take the time to hand write a quick thank you note the next time and every time someone does something nice for you. If you do, you’ll quickly gain a reputation as someone who creates positive personal impact.
That’s my take on handwritten notes and creating positive personal impact. What’s yours? Please take a few minutes to share your experiences with writing and receiving thank you notes. As always, thanks for reading.
Bud
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Networking and selling is like oil and water, they don't mix.
People who network and try to sell more often than not, fail. Networking is simply building relationships, in fact networking is the platform for creating the opportunity to sell but at a much later date.
Don't get me wrong, sometimes we can be very lucky, meet somebody at a party who just happens to need our services and/or product so much that they buy there and then...but this is rare.
Building relationships consist of three key steps:
Before we sell anything to anyone, we need to get to know who they are, what their business is all about and what exactly they need. If you approach selling like this, you'll never actually need to sell in the traditional sense.
Build relationships through being interested rather than interesting and asking relevant questions. Doing it like this means that you will spot a possible need leading to a potential opportunity..not an opportunity to sell but an opportunity to fulfil someone's needs.
THINGS CHANGE
From a story by Peter Thomson
My nostrils dilated as I inhaled the aroma of freshly cooked bacon. Two of my sons were in the kitchen and just in the process of wiping their mouths as they’d obviously just finished a bacon-sandwich-breakfast.
Smiling, I said...
“You didn’t ask me if I wanted one!”
This was when...
One of them uttered the ‘there’s something to learn here’ reply – here it is:
“Dad, I asked you yesterday and you said – No!”
Later...
On the journey to London to the conference I was telling Sharon, my wife, about the kitchen conversation when she made the insightful comment:
“I wonder - how many people do the same thing with their customers?”
She does, just occasionally, come up with bright ideas!!!
Seriously...
I thought “She was right; she’s right; she is right!”
I wonder how many times I’ve made that error – the error of asking a customer if they wanted to buy something from me - and hearing their “No, thanks Peter” have mistakenly taken the words to mean: “No – never, ever, ever – thanks Peter”
It’s true isn’t it...
Times change, businesses change, markets change, people change, situations change, problems change, opportunities change – everything changes!
And just because...
We’ve asked a customer if they’d like to buy something from us and they said “No, thanks” doesn’t mean they’ll NEVER buy it. It might just have been the timing wasn’t right for them at that moment.
And so...
I’m off to ask my clients and customers (and prospects) to see if by now they’d like to buy now. After all it wouldn’t be fair to them (or me) NOT to ask again – would it?
WHAT DO WE LEARN?
We learn that unless the client has fallen out with you on a personal basis follow up,and keep in touch. Don't pester, don't be pushy, just every so often pop into their lives again to see if you can help. Don't take the 'no' personally they are just refusing the offer of your help.keep asking permission for that pop up and they can never accuse you of pestering them
We run networking skills seminars which leads you step-by-step through a very comfortable follow up process
Will Kintish has had great success in Malta two year's running, here presenting at a public seminar.
Special Presentation by Hugh Massie: What Is Your Entrepreneurial DNA?
Are you successful entrepreneur searching for more? Do you desire to learn more ideas and strategies to achieve greater profitability? Do you want to meet and connect with other entrepreneurs from other diverse growth-oriented industries? Do you need more referrals? Is it too difficult to attend networking or educational meetings due to your busy schedule?
This program is for entrepreneurs who want to create more referral opportunities for their business and learn more about other business owners in various industries. This forum creates an atmosphere that encourages participants to support each other in their business.
It is efficient, productive, cost effective and ONLINE!! Participants are able to introduce themselves, share their passion, describe their business and educate others about what makes them special! It is divided into five sessions that includes: establishing a personal connection, sharing client experiences, finding client opportunities, great gate openers and defining your uniqueness.
Hugh Massie (Human Behavior Solutions) Financial DNA www.financialdna.com
Nancy Adler- Gambling On Life - www.GamblingOnLife.com, www.GamblingOnLife.blogspot.com. www.GamblingOnLife.PodOMatic.com
Erika McKay, Empowerment Speaker, Trainer, Consultant
www.tni.com/emckay
David Walker (Business Attorney)www.DavidMWalkerESQ.com
Jerry Thomas (Art Advisor & Dealer) Jerry Thomas Arts www.jerrythomasarts.com
Fred Moeller (Employee Assistance Programs) Fred Moeller Associates www.moellerassociates.com
Kenneth Brown (Chief Profitability Officer - Sales & Profit Evangelist) E3C www.BetterSalesandProfitsNow.com www.twitter.com/KenE3C www.my-business-community.com www.mybusinesscommunity.ning.com www.E3C.typepad.com
Are you interested in joining us at our next session? We meet online every Tuesday from 8am to 9am! Invitation only! Please submit your request ASAP! We would love to hear from you!
Sign-up: http://www.my-business-community.com/pages/events/mbc-connect-weekly-announcement.php
I was speechless (and for me that hardly ever happens) when I met Valerie Plame Wilson last week at a VIP reception in New York hosted by the Women's Leadership Exchange (WLE) and Aetna. You may recall, Valerie is the former CIA undercover agent whose identity was revealed after her husband, former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, wrote an op-ed piece in the New York Times criticizing the Bush Administration for the Iraq war and claims that Saddam Hussein was acquiring uranium ore from the African nation of Niger to build nuclear weapons.
Valerie's career with the CIA took her all over the world gathering information, recruiting spies and working deep undercover. In 1998, she started spying for a new CIA division, counter-proliferation, and became Director of Operations for the CIA's Iraq joint task force. She and her team met with Iraqi scientists trying to find evidence that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. About a week after her husband's article was printed in the New York Times, Valerie's name and CIA affiliation were disclosed in a newspaper column written by Robert Novak. Her career was over and her security as well as that of her family was put in jeopardy.
Valerie's story is something of which movies are made. She's written a book entitled: Fair Game: My Life as a Spy, My Betrayal by the White House. I can't wait to read it.
Now for the reason I was speechless. I knew Valerie was scheduled to be the keynote speaker at the WLE East Coast Summit, but I wasn't expecting to meet her at the VIP reception. Therefore, when I was introduced to her, I was taken aback. Heck she didn't look anything like a spy. She's blonde, very attractive, thin, fashionable, and the mother of girl-boy twins. She remembers her toddlers running around underneath her desk when she was Director of Operations at the CIA -- a scene to which many working moms can relate.
But not many working moms I know carried an 80 pound backpack and 5.56 mm ammunition for an M-16 through thick woods and swamps as part her job training. This gruesome exercise was part of Valerie's paramilitary training at the CIA "farm." Casually and with a little reserve, she also mentions she was the best shot with an AK-47 in her mostly-male CIA training class. Unbelievable. I don't even like camping -- roughing it to me is staying at a hotel without 24-hour room service.
However, the thing that impressed me most about Valerie (other than the fact we were both wearing great looking red shoes -- it's a girl thing) is how she's dealing with this life-altering experience that destroyed her career, her husband's consulting business, harmed both their reputations, nearly ended her marriage and put her children in danger. To survive, Valerie explained she went back to the basics and defined what she wanted the outcome of her ordeal to be. She made a list of the most important things she wanted to salvage: her marriage; the well-being of her children; and her dignity.
So what did I learn about small business from a spy?. At the conclusion of her keynote remarks the next day, Valerie said, "All of us face crisis that throws us off track. As long as you remain true to your personal convictions, you'll get through."
She's right. Fortunately, most of us will never experience anything comparable to Valerie's ordeal, but there are always going to be tough times. Right now, as the economy continues to spiral out of control many of us are bracing ourselves for financial struggles, personally and professionally. Often times, strength of character is the key differentiator among those who succeed and those who don't.
Ken Blanchard, author of The One Minute Manager says there is only one boss and that's company values. But it's not just company values that are important, it's our personal values too. Entrepreneurs are resilient, innovative, persistent and determined. Hold onto your beliefs and don't compromise and as Valerie says, you'll get through.
