Help Others to Help You
I was in Rhode Island last Friday giving a workshop on Promoting Your Brand to Rhode Island Networking to Open Doors to Jobs. I arrived early and was, therefore, able to sit in on the facilitated networking exercise at one table. All of the people at the table were highly qualified and competent individuals who held director or executive level positions before being laid off.
The facilitator at the table asked each person to give a little information about their background, their strengths and expertise, and what kind of position they were seeking. I was impressed how well each person articulated their strengths and what types of companies and jobs they were targeting for employment. Everyone around the table responded enthusiastically with potential contacts and leads for their colleagues.
We worked our way around the table to one woman who told the group that she was an architect and was now in limbo and trying to decide what she wanted to do going forward. She told the group that at this time she was looking for any type of job. Interestingly enough, the group who had previously been so helpful to others, now remained quiet. They simply did not know how to respond.
The lesson from this is: People really want to help. In fact, most people are eager to assist you in getting a new job or getting clients, but YOU need to give them enough information so that they CAN help. When we are vague and unclear about what we want ourselves, we cannot expect others to come up with the answers for us.
If you are a business owner or entrepreneur, the more specific you can be about who is your target audience, the easier it is for people to refer business.
If you are looking for new employment, be clear about what type of company you want to work for and what kind of position you are seeking.
People sincerely want to help. Give them the opportunity to be helpful.
Madam President
It’s President’s Week this week. Besides school vacation, it is also a time to honor Abraham Lincoln and George Washington; two past presidents who were a major part of our history in the United States.
The holiday this week prompted me to think as well about honoring all the women presidents who have started and are now running their own companies in the United States. These women are playing a major role in our current economy and our future history. We should take the time to honor and recognize all female presidents in business and the incredible impact they have on the economy in the United States.
Here are the facts:
- 40% of all privately held U.S. firms are now owned or controlled by women. (10.4 million firms).
- Women’s companies are responsible for creating jobs at twice the rate of all firms.
- Women’s companies are now responsible for more payroll than all the Fortune 500 companies combined.
- Women’s companies are growing profits at a faster rate than all firms.
- 420 new women-owned businesses are started every day!
Margaret Heffernen states in her book, How She Does It. Women Entrepreneurs are Changing the Rules of Business Success, “That these companies are doing so well says a great deal about female strengths and talents….These phenomenal numbers show just how effective women can be when they work on their own terms.”
To Madam Presidents everywhere, we honor you for your hard work and dedication, your commitment to your purpose and vision, and your contribution to the growth of our economy. YOU are our future.
Tune into Women Mean Business Radio on March 23rd, when I interview Margaret Heffernen.
http://www.voiceamerica.com/voiceamerica/vshow.aspx?sid=1612
What Is Your Attention Grabber?
I was in Orlando this past week with some colleagues training a medical device sales force on “purposeful communication”. “Purposeful Communication” is communication that has a goal or desired outcome and when applied to sales presentations, the objective is to create a sales presentation that is well organized around a desired outcome with your target audience.
Selling to a large or small group of potential decision makers has many similarities to promoting yourself and your business to prospective clients. One similarity is in the way you open a presentation. The opening of a sales presentation or “attention grabber” is much like the way you start your elevator pitch or promotional message.
Attention grabbers are just that. They are designed to get the attention of the audience from the start so that they will engage and listen to your message.
How effective is your attention grabber?
Here are some different suggestions on how to open your pitch to grab attention from the listeners.
- Open your pitch with a statement or question that creates some kind of an emotional bond. A good way to create an emotional bond might be to say, “Imagine yourself….. or how would it feel if….”. You can move your listener to a state of mind or emotion where they will connect with their need for your product or services.
- Ask a poignant question that demonstrates that you get their problem or challenges. “Have you ever experienced….? What do you do when….? etc.
- Share a story about yourself and your journey that connects with your business in some way. Maybe you experienced similar issues, overcame those issues and now are passionate about helping other people.
- Make a statement that has an unexpected ending or is surprising in some way.
- Use a quote or song title or lyric that people can easily identify with and fits well into your message.
Starting your promotional pitch with your name and company name is NOT a great attention grabber. You need to give people a reason to remember you before you give them this information.
Draw them in first with something that gets their attention and then talk about your business and the benefit your product or service will provide to them. NOW, they will remember your name and company!
Are You in Career Quicksand?
Does this describe you?
- Desperately trying to keep your job or business from swallowing you up?
- Totally focused on completing all your daily tasks but never getting through your to do list?
- Working nights and weekends to catch up?
- Stressed? Exhausted?
- Do you find the more you struggle to keep on top of things, the more you sink into the abyss?
I call this career quicksand. Why? Because when you are in this situation with your business or career, you are stuck and I mean really stuck! The consequences of this are that you are not in the position or frame of mind to move your business or career forward. When you are in career quicksand, you cannot think clearly or objectively. As long as you are totally focused on daily tasks, you do not have the time or energy to be creative. All your energy is expended on daily survival.
What would it take for you to extricate yourself from this trap and begin to think more strategically?
Here are some tips to pull yourself out of the quicksand:
- At least once a day, take some time to do something totally different from work; anything that will clear you mind. Ideally, scheduling even a few short breaks (10 minutes) during the day helps to keep up your energy and stimulate your creativity.
- Work with a coach or mentor. This partnership can give you a new perspective on your business and career. The potential to see things more objectively offers a great opportunity to get “unstuck”.
- Start an Affinity Group at work. Gather a group of like-minded women together on a regular basis to discuss and brainstorm on work place challenges and opportunities.
- Schedule regular networking meetings (lunch, dinner, coffee) with peers outside of your own company. It’s amazing what wisdom is available from other business owners or women in similar corporate positions.
- Keep your mind open to new approaches through a variety of resources. There are many insightful and valuable books on business management and leadership. (Let me know if you would like some suggestions). There are also many worthwhile online resources.
The first step to getting “unstuck” is to realize that you ARE stuck and that the consequences of this are detrimental to the growth of your business and career. You simply can’t move forward if all of your energy is focused on daily tasks and survival.
Look for ways to pull yourself out of the quicksand and think strategically about where you want to go and how best to get there.
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Also, check out my new January teleclasses:
Promote Yourself to Success (3 one hour sessions). $99. Class limited to 6
Learn how to create an effective and memorable message and practice with your peers!
for more information and registration:
http://womenssuccesscoaching.com/services/group-coaching/
What’s Your Story?
We all have unique stories to tell about our careers and our businesses. I did a presentation last week on self-promotion in Boston to the Downtown Women’s Club and heard many great stories from the attendees and I was reminded again how truly wonderful all our stories are. Each story reveals something personal about us.
What is the story behind starting our business? Where did the idea come from? Why did we choose to start this particular business?
What’s been our personal journey thus far? How have we taken our passion and turned it into a business?
What attracted us to a particular company and career?
When we incorporate stories into our promotional message, it creates a message that attracts listeners. People love stories so why don’t we tell them? Why do we hesitate tobe personal in our approach to self-promotion? Often we get so hung up on presenting a “professional” persona that we end up with a promotional pitch that falls flat.
If, in fact, the goal of a promotional pitch is to attract interest and be memorable, it only makes sense that we should infuse more of our personality and passion into the message.
What is your unique story and how might you include some of that story in your conversations about your business and career?
Telling your story can make a huge difference in a job interview. It’s certainly an improvement over just reciting your resume. Think of an appropriate story about your accomplishments that will set you apart from the other applicants.
At a networking event, how do you answer the question, “What do you do”? Keep the conversation lively by revealing something personal (o.k. maybe not too personal) about how and why you chose to start your business, about your passion for what you do. People will remember you as they also tune out everyone else’s boring elevator pitches.
In our quest to be professional, we create messages that are dull and forgettable.
Step out of the box and say something that will set you apart.
Isn’t that the goal after all? To have a message that people remember?
I’m offering a teleclass in November on “Promote Yourself to Success”. This class will be 3 consecutive Wednesday evenings 7-8 pm EDT starting November 4th. Three one hour sessions $99. Class limited to six.
Participants will:
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create a new promotional message
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develop an action plan for self-promotion
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practice delivering their message
http://womenssuccesscoaching.com/november-teleclass-workshop-registration/
Stop Talking Already!
This is a guest post by Laura Caton from The Cornerstone Group Inc. www.thecornerstonegroupinc.com
To listen well is as powerful a means of influence as to talk well, and is as essential to all true conversation. ~Chinese proverb.
On May 21, more than 200 people attended the Sales 2.0 Conference hosted by Selling Power Magazine in Boston; unfortunately I was not one of them. However, a good friend of mine did attend and she came back from this meeting, brimming with enthusiasm. As we sat enjoying a delicious glass of chardonnay Saturday night, she explained her renewed gusto for selling–she was reborn. We talked about social networking and how this was the new way to generate leads. We both bemoaned the lead time for closing a sale and how businesses appear to be paralyzed by spending, any spending!
One of the more interesting observations that apparently came out of this conference for her was from Gerhard Gschwandtner, Founder and CEO of Personal Selling Power Inc. In his opening speech, “7 Key Trends in Selling,” he talks about ditching the pitch. (btw, Bonnie offers a program called Ditch the Pitch). She said, “You know, it’s more about having a conversation. It’s more important than ever before to talk with prospects, as opposed to at them.” Wow, I didn’t know this was a news flash. I was even more surprised to hear my friend, who I also saw at the hunter/sales person personified, say this straight faced—as if this was news to her! Quite frankly, I was more interested in drinking my wine and talking recipes from this month’s Food and Wine.
Curious as to what else happened at this conference, I went on the Sales 2.0’s web site for more information. I stumbled upon this, Barry Trailer, a Partner at CSO Insights, was quoted as saying, “The number one mistake I see in the area of “customer engagement” is that the Sales Reps think they should be doing all the talking”. Okay, maybe doing the stop, listen and listen is a news flash!
As a wholesaler for a large mutual fund company in the early 80’s, the sales approach was the same; product, product, product. Every quarter was devoted to hawking a particular sector. Jam it down their throats whether it fit our audience’s business model or not. It was a matter of shelf space for prospectuses at the Merrill Lynch office and points earned for fantastic due diligence trips. Just pitch the fund du jour and move to the next office. It was an unfulfilling sales position to say the least and I felt, dare I say, whorish at times.
Taking a more customer focused/consultative sales approach to selling is all about listening, and then asking strategic and investigative questions (so you do get to talk!). It applies to every sales appointment, phone conversation, and meeting you have with a potential buyer. Nancy Martini, CEO of PI Worldwide, states, “In a selling situation, the real world is divided into two “worlds” – yours and the prospects/clients. Often, sales professionals only focus on the “world” they are familiar with, their own.” The key is you can’t ask strategic questions if you don’t start by listening to the client or prospects’ needs.
Listening provides you with the information you want to work effectively in the prospect’s world. Good listening means you can link your value proposition to the client’s specific needs. It also means you can have a meaningful, shared conversation, as Mr. Gschwandtner suggests.
Most of us love to talk and listening is pretty hard. Many of us in sales love to share and socially connect with a person; which means talking.
So here’s a question, how well do you listen? Listening does not mean nodding your head in agreement and waiting to say what you want (this is my big listening challenge). It truly means putting your agenda aside. Make a point to practice good listening skills. Good listening is a commanding skill, which can set you apart from other out there. Ditch the pitch, sit back and never stop listening.
With extensive expertise in organizational & leadership development, the Cornerstone Group helps clients to build more productive organizations by better leveraging their most important asset, people.
Their unique approach to assessing people, finding their core strengths, and leveraging those strengths in current and future roles helps their clients to hire smarter, manage more effectively, and develop stronger leaders. Their unique process of assessment, training, consulting and ongoing support allows them to partner with their clients and create a road map for organizational success. www.thecornerstonegroupinc.com
A Day to Honor Mothers Everywhere
It’s not easy being a mother. If it were easy, fathers would do it. ~ from the television show The Golden Girls
This post today is to honor all my clients, colleagues, friends, and family who are mothers. Words can barely express my admiration for all the wonderful talented women that I have the good fortune of knowing through business and pleasure.
Everyday, I speak with women who are balancing their roles as mother, wife, and business woman. They accomplish this with elegance and grace. Their daily routine of running a household, running a business, and running around to baseball practice and games, piano lessons, hockey, girl scouts, dance lessons etc. seems effortless. They are on auto pilot most of the time and manage to make it through their busy schedules and keep everyone happy. It is truly amazing to see. How do we as mothers manage to focus on our profession and family and do everything so well?
Of course, we are not perfect though we try so hard to achieve perfection. We expend a lot of energy attempting to keep the many different balls in the air and hope that nothing drops. Most of the time, we are as near to perfection as is humanly possible. Super heroines!
Each role that we take on as women whether it’s motherhood or career or relationship partner and spouse is a really a full time job and we are constantly under pressure (though most of it self-directed) to perform all these roles perfectly (or at least to the best of our abilities). We rarely let any one down.
So let’s take the time today to honor our mothers and also to acknowledge OURSELVES as mothers and give OURSELVES credit for being the amazing women that we are!
Happy Mother’s Day!
Bonnie
Want to be an Internet Radio Show host? Check out Coach Deb Bailey’s teleclass next Wednesday April 22nd.
“Boost Your Marketing and Visibility with Internet Radio”
Learn the strategies for hosting your own internet radio show for maximum visibility and revenue
Hosted by Coach Deb Bailey, host of “Women Entrepreneurs-The Secrets of Success” internet radio show
Where: on the phone
Date: Wed. April 22
Time: 08:00 PM to 09:00 PM eastern
Cost: $10
Sign up: http://www.dbaileycoach.com/teleclass_radioshow.html
Teleclass will include:
- Where to promote your shows and how to get on iTunes
- How to find high-profile guests
- What platforms to use to host your show
- How to make your show come across as a “professional” broadcast
- What business models will generate revenue from your show
The Power of Positive Self-Talk
Our thoughts have the ability to create our reality and it is our daily challenge to put aside negativity and focus on a positive attitude.
There are many techniques that people use to re-frame the negative into positive affirmations and with consistent practice, these methods help us to create the positive life we desire.
Controlling our negative thoughts is not an easy task. One method I suggest is the use of language. When we use positive powerful words, these words can affect our subconscious mind and help to reprogram our negative beliefs. Word choices such as “I will” instead of “I’ll try” for instance make a powerful statement of intent.
Positive self talk is an important vehicle to building self-esteem and self-confidence. Often we are more comfortable dismissing praise and putting ourselves down. What do these negative statements do to our self-esteem? Why not practice positive self-talk instead?
Follow this routine for 30 days and I guarantee that you will begin to see the difference in your self-confidence.
- Begin with journaling. Make daily entries about your accomplishments, big and small.
- Answer these questions. “What makes me unique?”. “What are my strengths?” “How have these strengths helped me in the past or in my current job?”
- Review your journal entries of recent accomplishments to connect with your talent and value. What can you truly brag about? What do these successes say about you?
- Create a personal “bragging” statement. Be authentic and positive. Print out the statement and keep it visible so that you can refer to it often. Recite it out loud daily. “This is me.” “This is what makes me special.”
Positive self-talk is an important component to successful self-promotion.
Practice the above mentioned routine daily for 30 days and see the difference it will make in your self-esteem and self-confidence.
May Group Teleclass: The Power of Positive Self-Talk
In this fun and interactive group class series you will:
- Explore your limiting beliefs around positive self-talk. What holds you back?
- Connect with your own value and talent. What makes you unique?
- Practice positive self-talk to build self-esteem and self-confidence. It really works!
Classes will be held consecutive Tuesday evenings 7-8pm EDT starting May 5th.
$125 for three one hour sessions. Workbook included.
Register online: http://womenssuccesscoaching.com/services/group-coaching
The Secret of New Marketing
I have always maintained that the best way to market is by word of mouth. Communicating with your network is the most powerful and important marketing vehicle you’ve got. I was so pleased to read Seth Godin’s blog this week,http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2009/04/first-ten-.html because he validated this marketing approach and labeled it, the secret of new marketing.
In his blog, Seth states:
Find ten people. Ten people who trust you/respect you/need you/listen to you.
Those ten people need what you have to sell, or want it. And if they love it, you win. If they love it, they’ll each find you ten more people (or a hundred or a thousand or, perhaps, just three). Repeat.
If they don’t love it, you need a new product. Start over.
Your idea spreads. Your business grows. Not as fast as you want, but faster than you could ever imagine.
This approach is so effective because you are communicating your message to people who know you and respect you. It is common knowledge that we buy products and services with brands that we trust. Your network contacts already trust you and believe in you and are more than willing to spread the word about your business and your brand.
Initially, it is not necessary to get your message out to the anonymous masses. There is a common belief that to jump start your business it is important to reach as many people as possible with expensive press releases and formal product launches. Seth calls this approach backwards. You spend a lot of money in the beginning and then it falls off when you should be doing the exact opposite. Save your marketing dollars until your business starts to grow and thrive.
Consciously nurture your network and be clear on your promotional message. What your network contacts say about you contributes to the value and reputational power of your brand.
April Teleclass on Self Promotion starts April 7th!
There is still time to register. 3 one hour sessions run consecutive Tuesday evenings 7-8pm EDT
Learn how to overcome your limiting beliefs around selling yourself and your business.
Create your own authentic and effective message to promote yourself.
Workbook included. $99 for 3 sessions!
register online: http://womenssuccesscoaching.com/services/group-coaching
Here are some testimonials:
“Thanks Bonnie! It was a great session and I found it very helpful. I am charged up and ready to go.”
“To anyone who hasn’t taken this workshop, I highly recommend it!! It’s excellent information.”
“Bonnie’s insight and approach regarding sales was transformational for me.”
