How To Sell Anyone Anything.

Provocative title, isn't it? In all of my 20+ years in corporate marketing, advertising, sales, product management, and training, I found one overarching rule that virtually guarantees a positive response and sale from any prospect — STRUCTURE. I know — there are some salespeople who like everything to be loose, open, and flowing during the sales call. Totally understand.

I feel there needs to be an underlying structure to your interaction (with the occasional flowing conversation) to ensure your key talking points are communicated, the prospect gets the correct info at the right time, and you have the ability to do a proper close and get a response (and hopefully, next steps).

As an example, I'm going to reveal my complimentary coaching call structure ("open kimono" if you will - I teach this to all of my mentor coaching clients):

The basic structure is:

• Opening - 2-3 minutes (5%)
• Intro - 'Me' - Background/How I Coach - 5 minutes (8%)
• Coaching - 'You' coupled with In-Depth Coaching - 20-35 minutes (33-58%)
• Feedback on Coaching - 2 minutes (3%)
• Close & Next Steps - 15 minutes (25%)

As you can see, the power of my call is in the Coaching — it provides the flexibility and personalization for the client. Everything else is structure. Why the 20-35 minutes? If I feel there isn't a fit (and after 10 years coaching, I can feel this immediately) — I shorten the call dramatically. Why waste their time (and mine)?

Even within each area, I carefully hone what I say to ensure I stick to my schedule AND provide all the 'buy' phrases for the prospect to latch onto.

So when you are selling (and it doesn't matter if you're in corporate or you own a business - you're ALWAYS selling), what is your basic structure?

1. Opening

How do you start the conversation? How do you spin it around and get them comfortable speaking? Opening really means getting them to open-up and feel relaxed speaking with you about a need they might have.

1. Intro

You need to 'credentialize' you and your services/products. They need to quickly understand you are a serious professional, at the top of your game. You also must position your qualities with their needs. All in 5 minutes (8% of the call). Why? No one really cares about you — they want to talk about their situation. But this area is critical - it has to be a 'quick hit' - get in, say what you need to say, and get out.

1. The Product

This is the area you can flow and work your magic. Let them speak about their issues, problems, or needs. LISTEN LISTEN LISTEN. This also gives you the opportunity to position your wares effectively.

1. Feedback

If you've done your work in the previous section, you should get a positive response. If you don't, this is the perfect time to go deeper and find out why they are not aligned with you.

1. Close & Next Steps

I give this area 25% of the time to not only clearly describe the specific offering for the client (with pricing), but to also handle any objections that might crop up. I always end with next steps — a follow-up call, a welcome packet, etc. I NEVER leave the next interaction hanging.

Do you have a well-rehearsed, timed, and successful structure for your sales pitch?

I close 75% of clients I truly want to work with. Do you?

Grow Your Business and Have Fun With A Blog.

I'm late to the blogging game — I started on January 1, 2009. But over the past two years, I've seen my business explode and in the process, I've had more fun, engaged in more powerful discussions, and I'm thinking about business at a higher level. Why do you think this is happening?

A blog makes you think, ponder, develop and publish important ideas. Every day. It's almost like a crossword puzzle — if you do one every day, it exercises your mind, making new synapse connections and keeping them healthy. A blog does the same thing — it forces you to think of innovative ways to present information that's easy to absorb by the reader.

A blog makes you communicate to the world. Communication in business is paramount and most executives and business owners tend to forget that. My blog is followed by roughly 500-700 people every day — I'm beginning to get future clients calls from California, Hawaii, Canada, UK, and even Stockholm!

A blog invites two-way communication. I get many comments on my blog, not only on my site, but in Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. People all over the world are expressing their interpretation of my blogs while agreeing, disagreeing and spreading the word.

A blog is easy. For all of you out there who think, "I don't have time to write." or "I don't have the ability to write well." — welcome to my world. I felt that way for years — until I met Rebecca Morgan (link) who convinced me to blog every single day.

At that moment, I realized that my blog, my site, and my ideas should be given freely to the world. It's the 'giver's gain' model — I give freely, and business comes knocking at my door.

A blog is fun. Try not to be serious all the time — have fun with it. Post cartoons, be irreverent, and add a bit a humor every so often. It also is a blast when people call you up, clients comment, and strangers exclaim, "You're Rich Gee? I love your blog!"

In fact, I was sitting in a Starbucks a few weeks ago (my favorite pastime) and someone approached me and asked, "Are you Rich Gee? I was just reading your blog over at that table!" — within 30 minutes of conversation, he was my client.

If you have your own blog — what do you like about the experience? If you don't blog, what's holding you back?

P.S. By the way, if you want to learn more about my blogging experiences (successes and failures) give me a call! I use Wordpress (link) and highly recommend two other sites - Problogger and Copyblogger. Brian & Darren bring lots of great ideas, innovative topics and powerful info — stuff I would never think about on my own. (link) & (link)

20 Tips To Tune Up Your Life.

A number of weeks ago, one of my favorite sites (Reddit), posted an open forum on what small areas of your life you can subtly tune up where it delivered an incredible result. Here are the BEST of the 5000+ entries from people all over the world:

I gave up soda two years ago. I used to drink it like water. Now I drink water. I sleep better and have lost 5% of my body weight without another major change.

Going through my closets, shelves, etc. and getting rid of things that I haven't used or don't really need. As it's often been difficult in the past for me to part with "things," it's become necessary in order to maintain my sanity.

More risk taking, made me feel more alive. Just jumping in and doing something different, getting myself out of my comfort zone. Engaging in conversation with strangers, got me way more friends than I've ever had previously. Also leads to some powerful stories.

I threw out all my old socks, and bought 10 identical pairs. My life is so much easier.

I cut out sugar and vastly increased vegetable intake.

I started working out and trying to eat better, and girls notice me way more now. It was hard work, but I love being fit. It feels much more natural. A funny response to this tip: “Now if you just get a suit you'll be unstoppable.”

I started flossing on a daily basis about a year ago. I'm normally the guy who goes to the dentist and gets the lecture about taking better care of my teeth. The last time I went, the hygienist finished, looked me in the eyes and said "Your oral hygiene is excellent."

I got rid of all my credit cards 2 years ago. I am more careful with how I choose to spend money.

When I see people I know, even acquaintances, I act like I am genuinely really happy to see them and give them a big smile. Someone else did this for me once. I was hooked.

I quit playing video games and ‘surfing’ the web. The days are so long now I have no idea what to do with them. I actually started writing my dissertation and exercising out of sheer lack of anything else to do.

I started waking up at 5:00 AM so I can get in my personal time to read/work on projects before everyone else is awake to distract me. I used to dread waking up early, now I look forward to that time every night when I go to sleep. FYI - I go to bed at 10:00 PM.

Started dressing nicer. People really do notice.

Recently, I've been sitting up straight. I'm tall so I have a tendency to hunch over and slouch when I'm sitting. The posture makes me feel less sleepy and more alert, which is odd because I can't figure out how that works. The trick for me was to roll back my shoulders and the rest kind of follows.

I left my job in a cubicle to teach preschool. It's a lot less glamorous to tell someone that I work in childcare but it has really affected my lifestyle. Surprisingly, I'm a lot less drained at the end of the day. Something about staring at a computer screen for eight hours is just tiring. Now I come home and actually have energy to do stuff. I'm happier, and most importantly I don't dread work on Sunday evening.

Regular meditation. It definitely takes some patience and practice, but regular meditation has amplified my living experience substantially. I am more engaged in the richness of life as a result. I can glide through tasks with pleasant ease, and never feel like I'm flustered or frustrated. It's hard to explain the subtleties of how practicing meditation has improved my overall well being, its as if people, places, goals, tasks and basically everything else has changed around me plus I have a more confident outlook. HERE is a great beginners guide (direct .pdf download)

I stopped caring about what anyone thought about me. I went from being a shy kid, to a successful, confident, happy man!

Here’s my favorite (one person did this!):

• Remind yourself where you want to be, what you want to be doing, and envision yourself getting there throughout the day. If you have a solid vision, you can make it reality.
• Start the day with some change in a pocket you normally don't keep change in. Every time you say something nice to someone move a coin to another pocket. It is a powerful thing to know at the end of the day that, if nothing else, you made a few people feel good about something.
• Cook dinner for your friends once a week if you can. There is no better bonding than regular dinner as a family.
• Introduce yourself to everyone you come into contact with at social events. Everyone has a story to share and most have the desire to collaborate. You'll never know who you might have met and what you could have accomplished together if you don't say hi and they don't know your name.

"Benjamin, I want to say one word to you. Just one word."

A great quote from one of my favorite movies, The Graduate, is centered around the main character Benjamin, who just graduated from college and his parents' good friend, an accomplished businessman, Mr. McGuire:

Mr. McGuire: "Benjamin, I want to say one word to you. Just one word." Benjamin: "Yes, sir." Mr. McGuire: "Are you listening?" Benjamin: "Yes, I am." Mr. McGuire: "Plastics." Benjamin: "Just how do you mean that, sir?"

It's a great line. And when I first saw it in 1973 on TV (on ABC's 4:30 Movie after I got home from school*), I always wondered what was the New Word for my time.

Over the past 40 years, the words have changed dramatically - Oil, Computers, Internet, Clean Energy, etc.  What do you think the new word for our era is?

What area should we be pointing to right now to stay ahead of the pack? Where should we be looking where no one else is looking?

As Wayne Gretzky said a number of years ago, "I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been."

Where do you think the puck is going to be in the next five years?

This post is dedicated to Marilyn Miller, Owner, of United Obligations. She used this quote in her BNI commercial last week and it brought back a flood of memories and emotions. The funny thing about hearing it — the millenials had no idea what Marilyn was talking about. Thank you Marilyn!

*ABC's 4:30 Show was a mainstay in my early teen years. I used to watch all the great flicks like 'Planet of the Apes' among others. Here's the catch — they would take a two hour movie and cut it mercilessly down to 90 minutes — with commercials. So I would see a normal two hour movie with 50% cut from the show. It was amazing in later years to revisit many of these movies and realize that there were whole characters and scenes missing from my original viewing.

The Secret To Become Truly Happy.

Are you fulfilling your destiny? You have it inside you — you know it and I know it — you just have to make a personal decision to bring it out. What are your desires? Your TRUE desires. Not "I want an iPad" or "I want a promotion". What do you REALLY want to do with your life?

This is NOT a hard question — it's not complicated — what excites you IS your destiny. You just have to realize it and move forward towards it.

The problem is that we tend to stick stone walls between us and our destiny.

What are you passionate about? What do you really love doing? Who do you like to hang around with? Where do you like to go?

Let's be honest with ourselves — it probably isn't an inner cubicle with florescent lighting for 8 to 10 hours a day. Throw in various team status meetings in confined conference rooms with no windows and jerks that lurk around every corner — I know of no one who looks forward to that.

So why do we do it? It's the security and the money. But that's not true.

• Security — There is no security in today's workplace. They can fire you at the drop of a hat. So stop kidding yourself.
• Money — If you figure in all the money you make and then all the expenses you need to make that money (clothes, commute, lifestyle) and the taxes, it's really not a lot compared to the possibility of doing what you REALLY love and making just a little bit less.

Do you like to build things? Do you like to work with people? Do you like to engage and motivate people? Do you like to work with other age groups (children or seniors)? Do you like to be outdoors or indoors? Work with your hands?

The funny thing is — we tend to let life and other people take our destiny over. They make the decisions where we go, what we do, where we work, who we interact with.

That's why you feel that there is something missing from your life — a hole, an emptiness, a void that cannot be filled based on your current viewpoint.

You need to change your view, wear new glasses, step out of that cubicle and figure out what excites you. What energizes you. What motivates you.

Keep saying this to yourself, "You are not meant to live a miserable, unfulfilled life." Don't spend 30 years doing something you don't like to do.

Make that change TODAY.

Who has made the change and feels 1000% better that they made that change? Let me know!

How To Survive A Toxic Workplace.

Once you’ve diagnosed if you are working in a toxic environment — see my last post — there are a number of ways to deal with it:

1. Leave.
2. Stay and move to another team/department/division/location.
3. Stay and endure.

It’s that simple. Choices #1 and #2 deal with the situation most effectively, they remove you from the environment and allow you to begin anew.

Today, let’s look at choice #3. At least for the short term (hopefully!) you need to stay where you are and contend with the forces making each day painful.

Step One — It’s Not Me, It’s You.

You need to get your head wrapped around the idea that it’s not you. You are not incompetent, crazy, unprofessional, or whiny. It’s the situation around you. Acknowledging this first step will be a major change in your demeanor.

When we are in a toxic environment, we tend to constantly question ourselves. We doubt our decisions, actions, management, interactions, communications — everything.

A toxic workplace’s first rule of order is to get you to doubt your abilities. Why? You become passive, you don’t fight, you give in and ultimately, you start questioning your abilities and ultimately feel like a failure.

Also, you feel that you can never leave, because you don’t have the chops to make it anywhere else (for the same amount of money). That's a form of 'golden handcuffs'.

Step Two — Develop An Action Plan

As I always say to my clients, get it out of your head and down on paper. You need to think clearly about yourself and your situation. Once you’ve come to the conclusion that ‘it’s not you’, you need to document what elements of your environment ARE toxic.

Is it your boss? Is it your peers? Is it management? Is it another department that is asking outrageous requests? Pinpoint the WHO and WHERE. This will allow you to define the specific influencers causing the toxicity.

Then under each one, define WHAT do they do. For example, you can write, “My Boss — she is condescending whenever I’m around and adds snarky comments to whatever I do.”

Then define HOW you will diffuse the toxicity of their behavior/attack. This leads me to:

Step Three — Choose a Judo or Jujutsu Technique

What is Rich talking about? Let me define each one:

Judo - Immobilize or otherwise subdue one's opponent with a grappling maneuver or force an opponent to submit by joint locking or by executing a strangle hold or choke.

Jujutsu - Manipulating the opponent's force against himself rather than confronting it with one's own force - "gentle, supple, flexible, pliable, or yielding."

I want you to execute your action plan. When they encounter you — be prepared to either:

Engage (Judo) Stand firm with your position and explain its merits. Don’t back down. If you’ve done your homework, you know the who, where, what and how to diffuse them. Hold your ground — you are the strong one — they are the incompetent one. If it is a boss or other management, hold your ground and then at the last minute, do the Jujutsu sidestep (below). If you do this on a regular basis, they will know that you are a force to be reckoned with.

The phrase 'Ask forgiveness rather than permission' works well here. If the toxicity is at a high level — do what you need to do (ensure that it is the right thing to do) and then ask forgiveness.

Sidestep (Jujutsu) Use the person’s force/weight against them — give them enough rope and then pull the rug out from under them by using facts. They might try to fall back on emotions (“This is how we’ve always done it!”) — but you’ve done your homework. This works especially well with peers.

Bottom line — these tactics work in the short run. Again, you need to either leave the department or leave altogether. If the toxicity is endemic — you will never win.

What other tips/techniques have you used in your fight against toxic environments?

Run Out & Buy 'The Thank You Economy'.

Let me state something right off the bat — I LOVE Gary Vaynerchuk. A little secret of mine — when I want to get pumped up for the day or I'm feeling down, I pop in Gary's 'Crush It' audiobook. His enthusiasm, energy, and ideas blow me away every time.

I just finished my publisher's preview copy of The Thank You Economy (due to be released on Tuesday, March 8th). Once again, Gary not only hits a home run — it's a grand slam.

Gary has delivered another opus of energy, bundled with a myriad of proven business tips on how to interact with our customers. The explosive growth of social media is quickly delivering unprecedented power and breadth to everyone's customer base. No longer can you treat anyone badly — you need to integrate specific inter-personal behaviors into all parts of your company.

But it's just not your customers — it's your employees, your partners, distributors - everyone. I consistently speak and write about the "shark mentality" in business — take no prisoners, no one counts unless it's you, run over everyone to make more money.

Gary's philosophy is at the exact opposite end of the spectrum:

• Caring is the key word here — be self-aware (EQ), commit to change, invest in your employees, be authentic (I've been saying this for years) and empower your people.
• Let your client help you develop, guide, and modify your brand. They are an integral part to the entire process.
• Community is critical — get the conversation going and flowing.
• My favorite — If you're small, play like you're big; if you're big, play like you're small.

It's the humanization of business.

Great words from a 21st century sage. I hope to someday meet or speak with Gary — I think he and I would hit it off quite well. Gary transcends the typical, boring, stale business book (as I've always said, 98% of them suck). His genius integrates great ideas with the energy of the sun — you just want to run out and execute all of his ideas immediately.

So go out — nay . . . run out — and get this book, or kindle download, or audiobook (my favorite). You will thank me.

What are your thoughts about Gary Vee? Do you love him as much as I do?

When Someone On Your Team Quits.

It happens all the time. As a manager of people for over 20 years, I learned a lot of basic rules how to hire, onboard, manage, lead, motivate, layoff and sometimes fire my staff. I saw my colleagues consistently fail in just one area — when someone on their team gave their notice to leave. So I have some tips on how to handle it and make it a win-win-win for you, your soon-to-be leaving colleague, and the company.

Trust me — if you deviate from any of these tips, things might get messy:

• If you surreptitiously find out ahead of time, don’t approach the person. Let them come to you. It ensures that you handle the interaction formally and allows the person to do it on their time.
• When the person meets with you they will probably want to do the talking. Many exiting employees sometimes hand you a formal letter to read (and that’s fine). Let them talk and get it out — this is very hard for people to do. Shut up and let them speak.
• When it’s your turn to reply — this might be hard — I want you to effuse positivity. Why? Positivity changes the whole situation from a fight, disagreement, bad situation instantly into a plus for you.
• They’ve already made the decision to leave. Whatever the reason (you, pay, the environment, the work, etc.) there’s usually nothing you can do about it. Don’t fight it — embrace it.
• Be their cheerleader. Turn a possible bad situation (maybe they didn’t like you) into a good one by asking how you can help them. A recommendation letter, a good word, flexibility with the transition — reach out to them.
• Reckon back to when a boy/girlfriend broke up with you. The best way to handle it is to remain positive and agree with their decision. Again, they’ve already made the decision to leave. Your positivity will keep them a little off-kilter and plays well for you.
• Don't take it personally. 95% of the time it's not you, it's something else.
• It’s also important for your reputation. Some people might look at this as a wound to your organization (peers especially take glee in this) — the more positive and planned your response is — the better it will be seen by your team, peers, and management.
• Try to nail down their transition plan — how long they are staying, what will they wrap up, what they are responsible for, who they will instruct on any outlier projects, etc. Even though they agree to a set amount of time (at least two weeks) it’s usually a lot less in reality.
• Come to the conclusion they are gone right after they leave your office — it makes it easier that you have no unreal expectations when they leave early, call in sick, or come in late. Face it — in their mind, they’ve gone. This helps you set a focused mindset on transition immediately.
• Set communication parameters before the meeting ends. They are leaving — you are staying — so it’s best if you immediately communicate to your superior and get a transitional message out to let the rest of the team/organization know.
• Do you have an approved and in-place succession plan for your team? If you do — contact the person immediately to discuss their good fortune ASAP. If you don’t, time to make the donuts — make one, get it approved, and stick it in a drawer for future use. You will thank me. Another tack is to communicate to your team immediately and see who steps up to fill the void. You might be surprised.
• Let your superiors know ASAPbefore they find out from someone else. Let them know you have a plan in place:
  • No replacement - the remaining team absorbs all responsibilities.
  • Reorganization - this is a blessing in disguise — you can change the structure immediately.
  • Internal replacement - someone from the team or organization.
  • External replacement - time to get HR involved and get the resumes flowing in.

• This is a hard one — but it works: When they leave your office, get it in your head — they are already gone. Start making plans immediately and work with your team to fill the vacuum. Start de-listing them from future meetings — candidly, they will not be very important to the future proceedings and sometimes they become an irritant.
• Don't ever trash-talk them after they give their notice (this happens ALL the time). This is a common and rookie mistake. Talk them up, make it sound like this is planned, and is a good thing. Be professional.
• Make sure HR is involved at all junctures. Some people do weird things when they give their notice. They suddenly try to sabotage projects or down-talk the company since they have a better spot to jump to. If you see this happening, release them immediately. In any event, start the process of disengagement with HR. It's their job and they’re really good at it.
• Celebrations/Get-Togethers are up to you. Try to have it off-site at a restaurant/bar so you can attend and have the ability to dis-engage when you want/need to. Again, be positive to keep the new momentum going.

Smile — just think — someone better might be right around the corner.

I’ve only touched the surface on this topic - what other tips do you use when people leave your organization?

How To Deliver Incredibly Bad Service.

This weekend, my family and I ventured to a large, local shoe store to pick up a pair of shoes for me and sneakers for my two sons. Not to bore you with a long story, here's what happened:

1. Initially, no one approached us when we entered the store and began to look at shoes.
2. Until I tried on a pair (the demo pair was my size) a salesman ran up to us to ask us if we would like to purchase the shoes.
3. I asked the salesman (he's in his late 50's) about the relative merits of one shoe manufacturer over another — he had no clue. He also coughed like he had a bad disease. He followed (stalked) us all around the store — I got the feeling that he worked on commission and there was a 'territorial issue' with sales.
4. Our sons shoes were actually from a 'half-off' rack in the front — discontinued styles — but brand new sneakers. Unfortunately, we thought the $80 sneakers were $40, but they were really $160 marked down to $80 (we found out when we were checking out). Honestly, these were not $160 sneakers.
5. We left the store with a sour taste in our mouths and no shoes.

Guess what? I just made another purchase at one of my favorite companies, Zappos. Why are they my favorite? They exemplify good service, a large product selection, and reasonable prices. And no salespeople with tuberculosis.

I found the exact same shoes for me - for $5 less, free shipping, and no tax. My son's sneakers were also marked down to $52 from their original price of $80. Go figure.

At the bottom of Zappos' web page, something caught my eye: "As we grow as a company, it has become more and more important to explicitly define the core values from which we develop our culture, our brand, and our business strategies."

These are the ten core values that the Zappos family lives by:

1. Deliver WOW Through Service
2. Embrace and Drive Change
3. Create Fun and A Little Weirdness
4. Be Adventurous, Creative, and Open-Minded
5. Pursue Growth and Learning
6. Build Open and Honest Relationships With Communication
7. Build a Positive Team and Family Spirit
8. Do More With Less
9. Be Passionate and Determined
10. Be Humble

There aren't many companies I know that exemplify these values. Many of them have a hard time exemplifying just one of these values. My questions for you today:

What would your career be like if you came up with a list of YOUR own core values?

What would your company be like if you had your own list and published it?

It's my birthday today . . . and I have a GIFT for you!

I'm 49 today. And I feel UNBELIEVABLE! Over the past few years, many of my clients have been clamoring to break into and access the secret world of Rich Gee. They want insights into my thinking, my resources, and my tools.

It came down to my staff telling me "You just gotta do this!"

So I sat down and took ALL of my systems, articles, tools, videos, training, workshops... EVERYTHING... and put them in one place easily accessible 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year.

And I mean EVERYTHING. I've taken every tool I've used in my 20 years of corporate management, added every business system I've produced, and mixed them with my 10 years of coaching tips to deliver a powerful 1-2 punch for your career.

The RESULT: It's called INSIDE TRACK with Rich Gee - to give you the "inside track" on your career. To do better and reach higher heights.

To learn more — check it out here.

Before I forget - here's your GIFT (it's a sample tool that I offer within INSIDE TRACK).

Have an incredible day!

Why You Never See It Coming — Deadly Blind Spots In Business.

There are things you know (e.g., how to run a meeting) and there are things you know you don’t know (e.g., open heart surgery techniques). Then there are things that you don’t know that you really know (how to stay focused and calm during an emergency).

Today, let’s talk about the unknown unknowns. The times where things jump out of nowhere in our business life and bite us right on the butt (and hold on!).

But how do we uncover those unknowns that we don’t know? How do we find something that we don’t know is lost? Perplexing isn’t it?

You fail because you didn’t:

• Read market signals in a certain way.
• See that your most trusted ally is moving to the competition.
• Know about the ‘hidden’ competition eating your lunch.

In the 90's, U.S. sales of Mercedes Benz plunged 24% due to Lexus/Acura/Infiniti imports. Up until that time, their senior management refused to acknowledge the existence of competition.

Up until 1980, internal correspondence at Sears never even mentioned Walmart.

Sometimes, reality is staring you right in the face . . . and you don’t see it.

So how do you uncover YOUR blind spots? Three ways:

1. Stop being so insular and bubbled-up. Open your peripheral vision to what’s happening in the world outside.
2. Encourage your team, your divisions, your entire company to keep their eyes peeled for products and competition that could slowly (or quickly) eat away at your market share.
3. Think outside of the box. Did you actually think we'd be carrying a GPS, Walkman, DVD Player, Menu Guide, Weather Station, etc. IN OUR PHONE?

Ask everyone for their opinion and LISTEN.

You don’t need to act on everything, but if you’re a faithful reader of Michael Porter’s Competitive Strategy, track it, measure it, and address it when the time is right.

What blind spots have bitten you in the past?

10 Best Sites I Visit Every Day.

A lot of readers and clients have been asking me what are my favorite and most influential sites I visit. The one that get me excited about work and life. I do read a lot on the web during my off hours and find there are certain key sites who do a great job to help me stay up on business issues and personal interests. In no special order:

Popurls

My first stop. This is an aggregator site which brings together many other aggregator sites like Reedit, Digg, Metafilter, Delicious, etc. It delivers the best of the best. Be careful, you can spend HOURS here. (Link)

Wall Street Journal

My business info standby. I can whip through this paper pretty quickly - I don’t get caught up in the opinion - I focus on the facts. Who’s up, who’s down, who’s doing something new - it’s all here (I get this delivered in paper form daily). (Link)

The Economist

Deep, deep analysis of the world from an international viewpoint (I also get this in print form too). (Link)

Cool Tools

My favorite gadget site by Kevin Kelly. A cool tool can be any book, gadget, software, video, map, hardware, material, or website that is tried and true. All reviews on this site are written by readers who have actually used the tool and others like it. Items can be either old or new as long as they are wonderful. (Link)

Twitter

I follow a number of key influencers - Gary Vaynerchuk, Chris Brogan, Robert Scoble, Ivan Misner, Tom Peters, Alyssa Milano (no kidding - she’s great), Michael Hyatt, Soraya Darabi, and Brian Soils. It’s immediate, recent and I can pop in, read, and pop out pretty quickly. It bugs me when people complain about Twitter (I don't have the time!) — it's a tool — use it as a tool, not a TV show.  (Link)

Lifehacker

A great site delivering tips and downloads for getting life and business things done. Unfortunately, they just went through a horrible redesign making their site virtually unusable (owned by Gawker Media - all of their sites have the same architecture and navigation now - I hate it). Still great info. (Link)

Copyblogger & Problogger

Read both of these and your writing will most certainly improve. Brian & Darren bring lots of great ideas, innovative topics and powerful info — stuff I would never think about on my own. (Link) & (Link)

Seth’s Blog

The great Seth Godin — he's a god. Nuff said. (Link)

TED

If you haven’t visited here - you have been missing the best of the web. TED (Technology Entertainment and Design) is a global set of conferences formed to disseminate "ideas worth spreading. All of their speakers and videos are online — I link to them often. (Link)

Inc. & Entrepreneur

Two great magazines who have all of their articles online. Great for the practicing or budding entrepreneur in all of us. (Link) & (Link)

Image provided by OakleyOriginals at Flickr.

How Not To Run Your Business.

Borders is filing for bankruptcy protection and closing 1/3 of their stores. This post is near and dear to me because I used to work for the Reader's Market/Waldenbooks/Borders chain many, many years ago.

The funny thing is, I saw this coming many years ago and knew that Borders would stick their head in the sand.

Inc. Magazine has a great piece on why Borders is tone-deaf.

Summarized, it comes down to six reasons:

1. No future strategy.
2. No real use of customer data.
3. Antiquated operations and supply chain.
4. Carrying the wrong products.
5. In-store experience is bad.
6. Management churn.

Just one can kill a business. Borders had all six. Well . . . that's the marketplace!

Did you see this coming? What is happening in your business?

3 Ways To Deal With Conflict At Work.

Is there someone at work that brings out the anger in you? Even if you act kindly towards them, do they still cause consternation with you, your work, your meetings or your staff? Have you ever heard the term, “Kill them with kindness”? Most of the time, pleasantness and joy in the face of rudeness may seem tough to maintain, but the end results are usually worth it. In my opinion, kindness is becoming an increasingly rare commodity in our society.

This is not going to be an easy exercise. In fact, it will test your patience and temerity with the intended colleague. Let’s face it, there are a host of problematic people who represent the entire spectrum of positive and negative behaviors (look at me!). You’re going to run into one or two of them everywhere you work.

If you attempt to try each of these techniques in order, you’ll find that you will not only suck all the negative energy out of that person, you might win them over to your way of thinking.

1. Agree Wholeheartedly

When you speak with them, smile, nod and agree. Agree with whatever is being said. Keep in mind while you're looking this person straight in the eyes, that it really doesn't matter who is right. If you know you're right about a situation, then that's that.

This person is looking for some level of disagreement and unfortunately for them, you are not playing into their trap. In fact, you are blowing it apart and it will puzzle them. Even if their demands or ideas are completely outrageous, say you see their point, agree with them.

They will see that their twisted needs aren’t being met and they will probably move on to someone else.

2. Ignore Them

You’ve probably also heard, “Turn the other cheek” — the act of turning away from aggression and ignore it rather than retaliate. If agreeing with them doesn’t work, just ignore them.

Don’t give them any of your time or any reason for them to persist in their abhorrent behavior. This is a great method to teach your staff too — once they see your behavior towards this individual, they can adopt it too.

3. Pour On The Syrup

This is the fun part — do you want to give them a taste of their own medicine? Deliver an increased dose of kindness towards that person by focusing a lot of positive attention towards them. Ask them about their weekend, see if you can help them with a simple task or item, or bring them a little gift. You might want to drop off an article that you read that they might enjoy.

Pour it on — go out of your way to make them feel a little bit uncomfortable with your attention. Be kind, not vindictive — focus on the positive. Odds are, the people around you will recognize what you’re doing and enjoy it, because they're probably in the same situation you’re in.

Do you have someone at work that causes bitterness and conflict?

How To Become Genuinely Interested In People.

I know . . . you hate small talk. To a certain extent, everyone does. If you’re asked to attend a lunch or dinner, you think, “Shoot me now - I hate all the fake conversation”.

People ask me why I love social functions. They grow me as a professional, expand my contact base and increase my chances for greater success. Hermits are rarely successful (with the exception of Howard Hughes).

A close colleague of mine is the most active person I've ever met. She spends every second of the day seeking new and interesting experiences. As a result, she finds what other people do interesting because it can be applied to her own endeavors.

It's not about talking to people. It's about being interested in what other people have to say, and the only way to do that is to be interested in things yourself. If you are a boring person then you will find other people boring.

You might be uncomfortable in social situations and use your ‘disinterest’ as an excuse, whether by accident or on purpose.

There are many reasons why you don't find people interesting. Sometimes, people also fall victim to the same arrogance to assume people will be dumb and boring to talk to. Don’t believe it, reach out and give it a try.

Find as many things in the world as you can that interest you. Then when the opportunity arises, try to find related topics to discuss with strangers.

The deeper and more honest a conversation is with a stranger, the more interesting it will be. Don't be afraid to tell someone what it is that you really enjoy or are really thinking about. They will sense your passion and share more with you.

If you get caught up in the moral dilemma of whether or not you are having a conversation for the other person's pleasure or your own selfish desires, then just remember we're here to experience life with others. We are all the same.

I've had more lifelong friends by volunteering for events or projects that I've found interesting than I ever did through chance and happenstance.

I volunteered for a local community project and while there were a fair share of douchey people involved, they were far outnumbered by just plainly awesome folks, most of whom I am still involved with on a day-to-day basis.

Keep your eyes open for opportunities to help others do things you enjoy, and you'll find others with common ground and shared interests that you will, hopefully, have no need to follow conversational flowcharts. You'll just talk.

Make believe you are a spy. Pretend you are James Bond and you are collecting information. You need to get as much intel on someone as possible, and learn as much as you can. And you need to store it away incase you need to use it to keep your cover later.

Don't spend time thinking about yourself and the process of fake communication rather than engaging in a real conversation. A conversation is a dance, a give and take, an exchange. Try to relate yourself with the person you are talking to, which in turn will make you more interested, because clearly we are very interested in ourselves.

Addressing it in a slightly different manner was all I needed to get much better at it, which in turn made people seem more interesting.

What are your tips to produce great conversation?

Image provided by atomicjeep at Flickr.

A Little Sunday Humor.

How To Solve Your Problems With Bananas.

Do you find yourself replicating a process and each time you do it, 50-75% it doesn't work? Not that it fails entirely, but when attempted, it's either fraught with additional challenges, clients may be disrupted, or it becomes such a big mess, it throws your team into a tizzy?

But you still keep doing it because it's the only way you know how to do it — the only way you've been taught?

Do you like bananas? Watch this short video at the end.

Simple. Fast. Clean. I've been opening bananas the wrong way for 40+ years. Suddenly, a buddy of mine sent me this video, I watched it, and my world is forever changed. I was trying to open the banana the exact opposite way a banana should be opened. It blew my mind.

Now apply this example to your job or business. What areas, people, processes, or clients do you continuously run into where it gets messy or doesn't work?

Try the banana method — or what it's officially called, Benchmarking. Benchmarking is the process of comparing one's business processes and performance to best practices from OTHER industries. Improvements from learning mean doing things better, faster, and cheaper.

The key word here is OTHER. You might be opening bananas like me for the past 40+ years and your entire company might be opening them the same way.Why?

"That's just the way it's done." "That's the way we've always done it around here." "There's no better way to do it, because we would be doing it."

Sound familiar? How long have you been opening bananas the same way? It's easier, more comfortable, and less scary than doing something else.

How about looking at your competition? Look at other industries and see how they manage their similar issues. Look at other countries, cultures, or customers to see what they do and how they react.

Step out of your comfort zone and open a banana the right way.

How do you benchmark? Where can you begin to look for new ideas, concepts, and strategies?

How To Get Buy-In With Your Staff & Clients.

Buy-In is critical to any endeavor or project. In fact, it's almost as important as the project itself. If you don't have the hearts and minds of your people or clients, it's usually a lost cause. So this is how I do it.

First, break up your group into three categories:

1. Acolytes - 20% - your staff or clients who will love or sell your product. They love change.
2. Independents - 60% - those who really don't care one way or another. They wait to see what happens.
3. Problem Children - 20% - those who will work against or hate your product. They hate change.

This is how you work with each consituency:

1. Acolytes - They're already bought in, you need to encourage them to be more vocal and motivational about their love. They're the first ones you bring in to whip them up and get them marketing the product internally and externally. Emotion is key here - focus on how to push their emotional triggers.
2. Independents - Just like a political campaign, these are the people you need to get to win the election. You need to deliver factual information to get them to jump on-board. Show them how it will change the dynamic of their life and how easy it will be to change. Respect their feedback and listen to their concerns - doing this will allow you to grab a larger percentage of this group.
3. Problem Children - Externally, forget about them (for now) - Internally, you need to read them the riot act. As they hate change, they are also wary of anything new. They tend to look for the negative in certain situations. Patience is a virtue with this group - but at the end of the day, if you are dealing with internal staff, and they don't eventually jump on board, you need to come down hard on them. Get on or get out. You don't need their acerbic attitude poisoning your launch.

Let's use another Apple example with the iPad 2 (you can probably guess I'm an acolyte):

1. Acolytes - they are planning to wait on line to be the first to own the new version. You can easily count on them.
2. Independents - will take a wait and see approach. Unless prompted by external influencers (colleagues or kids), they will wait until the item is on sale or there is an overarching reason to purchase one.
3. Problem Children - PC acolytes who will never give in to any Apple product. They've lived in their domain for 20+ years and will never change. They will use price or flexibility as an excuse not to purchase one. And they will vigorously spurn anyone who picks one up.

Buy-In is a communication process to hold and excite your base, grab the all important middle, and mitigate the outliers.

What do you do when attempting to get buy-in with your staff, sales team, or customers?

Image provided by Amy Loves Yah at Flickr.

How To Make Tough Decisions.

“I don’t know what to do.”“I’m stuck, which way should I turn?” “I’m procrastinating because I don’t know what will bite me.”

This happens all the time to everyone at their workplace. EVERYONE.

Unfortunately, most people are paranoid of everything falling apart or failing IF they make a critical decision.

When I work with clients (who range from CEO’s to Solopreneurs), I help them understand there are only three scenarios:

1. Things will get better. (sometimes much better)
2. Things will stay the same.
3. Things will get worse.
4. Or the world will veer from it's axis and we will all die. ;)

I usually comment: If you then make a decision and you use my model, 2 of the 3 are either good or average. One is bad.

I don’t know about you, but I like the odds.

Most people focus on the bad (or worse). All the time.

To increase your chances of hitting the upper end of the curve or lessening the lower end, try to mitigate certain unknowns.

Here’s a typical example:

Apple is launching a new iPad into the marketplace in the next few weeks. (Yea!)

1. It either will be a hit and sell more than the iPad 1.
2. It will match the sales of the iPad 1.
3. Due to increase competition, or other factors, it will sell less than the iPad 1.

Now Steve Jobs, Jonathan Ive and a host of other Apple troops are out in force mitigating the last scenario.

They’ve done their market testing. They’ve surveyed the marketplace.
They’ve got info on their competition and a host of other mitigating behaviors. They’ve done their homework.

Most of the time, your homework is to sit down and clearly think about the results of your decision. Understand most (not all) of the permutations - what might happen. And develop alternatives if things go awry. But also think about the positive and average scenarios too. Doing this will make it easier.

And then make the decision. "Lose your sleep before your decision, not after it."

What hard decisions do you have to make? Does this model work for you?

Image provided by katietower at Flickr.

"If You Have Fear, You Will Fall."

If you know me, I'm constantly out in the electronic zeitgeist learning new things and meeting new people. This morning, I came upon Human Planet, an incredible BBC documentary on a man called Tete (who makes Chuck Norris look like a schoolgirl). He climbs a very tall tree (120-150 feet in the air) with just a vine and his willpower.

Why? To break into a bee hive to get honey for his family. By the way, he probably gets stung scores of times during the process.

There's one line he mentions about getting the willpower to climb the tree, "If you have fear, you will fall." Tete is truly a man without fear.

How many times in your career are you faced with a fear? I suggest we be more like Tete and focus on the problem at hand. Then you won't fall.