I believe it was Dale Carnegie who once said; “Arouse an interest in another person before you present your idea…” I’ve expounded on this for years…the sale is made in the listening, not in the presentation. But listening without perspective is a lost opportunity to connect. Doing some quick research about your key client contact, […]
You go into a meeting where you will be pitching your company’s services and/or products. At some point, the client turns into a charity case when their expectation is that you will do some of the work for free as “goodwill” to earn their business. Been there? And did you comply? You shouldn’t. Even though […]
Raise your hand if you have ever said one or more of the following: I’d like to spend time leading my team, but I’ve got to focus on…. Recruiting Renewing my existing clients Retaining my high performers Branding activity My P+L Business forecasting HR issues Compliance issues Daily fire drills Operational issues only I can […]
You are sitting in a presentation and the speaker doesn’t move…for an hour! Are you engaged in the content? Conversely, your presenter is on the move constantly and it is like watching a tennis match…back and forth, back and forth. Does that get your attention or is it distracting? Up to 90 percent of communication […]
I’ve just completed a program with the leader of an organization whose humility and confidence was profound. She participated in the program on Business Development with her direct reports. In a very demonstrative case of “leading by example,” she was willing to be coached and learn right along with them. It made a difference. Here’s […]
“How are you doing?” “How’s the weather where you are?” “What’s new?” “What’s your sign?” We all use small talk a lot to start of conversations. But too many times in business meetings, we use opening questions like those above (Ok…probably not the last one!), the answers to which do nothing to move your relationship […]
I have a client who hosts up to 25 conference calls with clients…per month! The challenge, besides the sheer volume, is that his clients usually have four people on the call and so does he. Adding to the complexity is that each conference call participant is in a different part of the world! I am […]
I’m truly compelled now, with our nation’s recent events, to emphatically recommend to all my clients, readers and friends, to listen more to people than you ever have. Listening affirms someone. It says I care about understanding your issue, challenge, dream or worry, BEFORE I share mine with you. Listening honors someone. Once they feel […]
Every time I work with an executive or a sales team, I stress the importance of probing questions. They are open-ended questions that get you to a deeper level of understanding of your client’s business. They also give you a subtle opportunity to show that you’ve done your homework by asking well-researched questions. Feedback I […]
In speaking with a new client, I found it interesting to hear her lament relative to business development. She spoke about underwhelming a client during a presentation and asked how to avoid this going forward. I asked, “Did you relate the presentation to what they told you about their business? Did you probe further to […]
