Are you delegating or training? A delegator is someone who assigns tasks and allocates responsibilities. A trainer looks for ways to give employees additional responsibility; helps them acquire the skills, confidence, and capabilities to succeed; and supports them as they progress. Managers must do both; but training must happen before and during delegation so employees […]
Sales Success
Flying High: A Guidance System Can Steer You to Success
It’s human nature to make goals to lead us to success. But it’s also human nature to lose those goals in the face of everyday concerns. As poet Robert Burns famously said: “The best laid schemes o’ mice an’ men / Gang aft a-gley” or more simply put, the best-laid plans of mice and men […]
Features, Schmeatures: Just Tell Me ‘WIIFM’
Why do microwave ovens come with so many settings and buttons? Who really wants to stand there and figure out which setting to use and then press a series of buttons? We just want to heat up our food. According to an article on SmashingMagazine.com, product designers think consumers really love all the bells and […]
Failure Can Lead to Success … If You Learn from It
Nobody sets out to fail. Nobody plans to make mistakes. But perhaps they should—because everyone knows you can learn a lot from failure. While nobody likes to fail, studies show it isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Mistakes may highlight flaws that, when overcome, lead to success. After years of failed electrical experiments, Benjamin Franklin finally […]
Communication Styles Can Hamper Business Success
While a difference in communication styles can lead to simple misunderstandings, it can also threaten your relationship with customers and ultimately endanger your business success. Dr. Sherrie Bourg Carter noted in an article for Psychology Today: “…‘communication stress’ can be one of the biggest sources of stress in relationships. After all, we’re all talking the […]
Communicate Effectively With Words: They’re Back in Style
We’ve always thought our words were so much less important than our body language in communicating with others. That’s thanks to a 1967 study that concluded that only 7 percent of what a listener picks up comes from words. Thirty-eight percent comes from our tone and a whopping 55 percent from body language. Now, some […]
Business Growth: Are Your Projections Realistic?
Business leaders with unrealistic business growth projections are like sprinters in a marathon. They’re in the wrong race because their objective doesn’t correspond with ability. Don’t make the same mistake. To avoid depleting all of your business oxygen, set reasonable goals that you can strategically achieve. An especially common error in growth forecasts is a […]
Are You Using the Start/Stop/Continue Technique?
The Start/Stop/Continue technique is a simple and effective way to get customers to reflect on their experiences with your company and help you identify areas for improvement or expansion going forward. The procedure requires no special equipment, training, or knowledge, and you can easily adapt the technique to gain helpful insights into products, services, methods, […]
A Balance Sheet Supports Your Decision Making
In order to be an effective sales professional and provide a solution that helps organizational efficiencies and profitability it is important to first understand the financial landscape of an organization. Some business owners operate under the tragic illusion that recording business transactions is merely an exercise for tax purposes. But business operators with experience know […]
How to Put Excitement into Your Presentations
If you want to really impress, convince, convert an audience, or build some structure and excitement into your presentations. Here’s how: Tell a Story Organize your facts into a story. Stories are more interesting and memorable than facts are. When presenting to clients, tell a story that demonstrates the impact of your product/service or take […]