Year: 2012

Project teams, and their stakeholder groups, are established and empowered because individuals on their own cannot achieve the desired objectives. Valued results and collaboration from the project team resources are highly dependent on healthy and productive working relationships. Extensive international research and experience now reveals a vital key to the success or failure of our projects. It is well proven that our ability to effectively discuss emotionally and politically risky issues (referred to as Crucial Conversations ^TM) – will lead to measurably superior project team performance as well as timely and cost efficient project deliverables. “Silence Fails : The Five Crucial Conversations for Flawless Execution” extensive research study – uncovered 5 crucial conversations that have an very significant impact on whether high-stakes business initiatives succeed. The 5 crucial conversations which need to be addressed are:

1. Fact-free planning – deadlines/resource limits set without consideration for reality
2. Absent sponsors – no leadership, political clout or champion
3. Skirting – people work around the priority-setting process
4. Project Chicken – nobody speaks up when problems appear, instead relying on the next person 5. Team Failures – team members perpetuate dysfunction

When even 1 of these crucial conversations fails, the research demonstrates the result will be a failure to execute a project or initiative no less than 85% of the time. Faced with high stakes, opposing opinions and strong emotions, many of us either step up to the challenge and fail (inadvertently on our worst behaviour) or we avoid the discussion altogether. The principles and practices of Crucial Conversations ^TM – are a critical enabler of substantially better results in business projects as well as day-to-day operations.

Your boss asks you to give a presentation at the next company meeting. Nervous? Many people list Public speaking as their number one fear – Seinfeld once famously said, that he’d rather be in the casket than giving the eulogy! For some people the fear it so debilitating it can affect career choices and career progression; for others, the preparation is a time of real stress and performance suffers. How can you put fear to one side, and deliver that presentation or speech that hits a home run, every time?

First, let’s look at our physical aspect of nerves and their impact on us. Physiologically, our sympathetic nervous system is triggered when we encounter a situation we consider ‘dangerous’: heart rate increases, saliva production and digestion slows, pupils dilate, etc as the stress hormones Cortisol and Adrenalin are released into our system. This is an appropriate response to being stalked by a tiger or seeing a menacing thug approaching…but are we really in that much danger?

The problem with this response is that it hinders our performance: dry mouth affects speech; cortisol hinders the part of our brain (the hippocampus) that accurately records or recalls conscious memory etc etc. This is why speakers sometimes go…completely…blank.

Whew! To counter the nerves we need to have a plan – see the Top Five tips below. Next blogs will cover getting your content right, and the Top 10 delivery skills for presenters!

Top FIVE Tips for overcoming presentation nerves:

1. ACCEPT that some anxiety is a natural part of life. Paradoxically, anxiety can be a good thing: fear prepares us for ACTION. Tell yourself you feel excited (as well as acknowledging that you have some anxiety). You can also make a list of the realistic dangers of giving a poor presentation, as well as the benefits if things go well (We call this, “What’s at stake?”)
2. BREATHE. Breathe; breathe deeply and slowly: when anxious we over-breathe. Breathing deeply activates the parasympathetic nervous system that helps to calm our nerves, and makes us more relaxed.
3. MOVE – your body is ready for action – from adrenalin – so MOVE IT! Get rid of the stress in your body by 5 minutes of vigorous movement: shake your hands, stretch, sit ups or pushups, whatever – you will feel much calmer after MOVING through the stress.
4. DIVIDE AND CONQUER – Divide your content into KEY MESSAGES, each with supporting background information. You should be able to deliver each Key message in short, high impact sound-bytes of 1-2 sentences. If all else fails or if you go blank, fall back on your key messages. The supporting information can be passed on later. (Next blog: getting content right!).
5. REHEARSE – Rehearse the first 3 slides or 3 minutes of your talk in front of the mirror. Practice the words, voice tone, gestures, pauses: everything. This helps you to get into the swing of things: after three minutes you will be much more relaxed and can take it from there.

Did that content help? What are your top 5 tips? Love to hear your feedback…

Are you speaking to your customers in their language or are you alienating them?

What on earth does this mean?

“Practitioners may find a need to infect tribal clusters with promotable opportunities. But you cannot promote “inspiring” – co-creation and crowdsourcing are two way streets of collaboration with your audience with meaningful and authentic conversations. Define and perpetually redefine your messaging strategy, study the best, notice the guerilla granularity of ‘earned media’ and execute across multiple meshes of social networks, media formats and languages. I like to develop and grow user personas to draw flows of better understanding. As you map user peaks and troughs in conversions, working out retweet-worthiness, capture and retention lifecycles.”

I recently found the above discussion on LinkedIn on how using social media can improve your business!!

I wondered if I had wandered into another galaxy where a new language had been created that I was not privy to. Sort of like Avatar. As a specialist in the field of relationship marketing, CRM, building profitable and sustainable customers through loyalty initiatives, this made me feel like an alien in my own industry.

Have you ever felt like that?

Hopefully, this is not typical industry speak and not happening in your business and when you DO speak to your customers it is without jargon and in a way that makes them comfortable, builds rapport and engenders loyalty.

The main purpose of any business is to find and keep customers. Without customers you don’t have a business … and you don’t have a job. The objective is to make your customers become sustainably loyal by offering an arrangement which has long term benefit for the customer… and is profitable for you.

The social media mix is participating in a conversation and is thus a two-way, many-to-many unsanitized dialogue. What this is basically saying is the right message, delivered the right way, to the right audience will get the desired response.

The key is to start small and focus on innovation freshness and personal messaging style that is authentic and genuine with memorable brand-re-enforcing messages that respond to events and key value propositions customised to your audience.

Speak to them in their language and they will listen.

What is holding you back from getting or giving referrals?

When was the last time you were asked for (or gave) a referral? Come on, think! How about: “Read any good books lately?” or “What did you think of that new restaurant?” or “Where did you learn about how to fix that?” What was that experience like? It’s just part of our everyday conversation. So why is it so hard to apply to a business situation?

Experience tells me that there are 2 things that often hold business people back from taking full advantage of referral marketing:

1. The lack of a referral marketing system – or not having a system that minimises workload and maximises your time, and

2. The presence of fear. When I say fear, I mean like the fear of being rejected, fear that you will appear to be begging for business, or fear that your existing clients don’t really care about helping you build your business.

If your perception is that your clients will be put off by your desire to involve them in helping you grow your business, those perceptions are wrong. Based on the experience where you gave or received a referral, do you think your experience is any different to your clients? The key message here is your clients are just like you. They refer for exactly the same reasons and they also don’t refer for the reasons you don’t refer.

One thing to remember: the higher the likely or perceived cost or risk, the more emphasis is placed on personal referral.

Client referrals – Overcoming FEAR

It’s a well known fact that it costs 6 to 8 times more to get a new customer than it does to do more business with an existing customer!

I am amazed that restaurants and pubs don’t get that. How much more money would they get if they actually asked a customer if they’d like another drink? OK, maybe we drink enough here in Australia, but you get my point don’t you? When planning an event with a supplier, wouldn’t it be worth them asking a few more questions?

• Who recently got a new doctor or a builder? How did you choose them? Very few people feel comfortable going to a new doctor or hiring a builder based on a doctor’s or builder’s ad in the Yellow Pages. When looking for a lawyer, doctor, accountant or any kind of professional … or any kind of business for that matter, most people ask someone they trust for a referral. Don’t you?
• People like to help – it feels good and makes them feel valued!
• People also like to demonstrate how smart they are. When clients find a business that provides a solution, makes their life better, or just plain saves them money, they like to talk about it. They like to tell anyone who will listen how smart they were that they got such a good deal.
• Some people even like to tell others what to do!

Get over it

Remember, If you provide a service that helps people solve problems and meets their needs, then you are doing a disservice to your clients if you don’t actively seek referrals. And as people love to help, show how smart they are or tell others what to do then why would you not help your client achieve this?

Philippa Storey – Is a sought after speaker, trainer and facilitator on loyalty marketing and customer service & customer retention. She has 14 years experience assisting companies in focusing on building customer relationships and developing loyalty marketing programmes to increase revenue and profits.

Where has the ‘service’ in customer service gone?

It used to be an honoured profession to work in the ‘service industry’. But here in Australia it seems to be all ‘self-service’ – whether it’s in a restaurant, a pub, a clothing store, selecting a phone service, paying a bill or even selecting a DVD. Now you can get a DVD from a vending machine!

Where has the personal service gone? One-to-one, eye contact, building a relationship, even common courtesy? I recently went into a not-very-busy department store looking for furniture. The salesperson was filling out paperwork at a desk and didn’t even look up to acknowledge me. I waited patiently for about 2, 3, 4, 5 minutes, pointedly looking in their direction to will them to notice my presence. Nothing! Not a flutter of an eyelid! No interest whatsoever! So I started walking away. All of a sudden – action – “May I help you?” Too late. I kept on walking. Now, not everybody is as impatient as I am but still…There is one integral premise in business that people need to get:

The most important asset of your business is not your products or even your service. It’s your customers. Without customers you don’t have a business.

You have to appreciate your customers, show you care, understand what they want and when they want it … even just acknowledging them. Show common courtesy. And it’s not just up to your customer service staff nor your salespeople. It applies to all aspects of a business, all people within the business, the whole culture of the business.

Cost of poor customer service standards

It’s a well known fact that it costs 6 to 8 times more to get a new customer than it does to do more business with an existing customer!

I am amazed that restaurants and pubs don’t get that. How much more money would they get if they actually asked a customer if they’d like another drink? OK, maybe we drink enough here in Australia, but you get my point don’t you? When planning an event with a supplier, wouldn’t it be worth them asking a few more questions?

• What’s the occasion? Anniversary?
• Would you like to book a restaurant?
• Would you like a limousine to pick you up?
• Have you bought the gift yet? What kind of jewellery does she like?
• How about a beauty treatment prior? Massage? Hair? Nails? Make-up?

It’s hard to get personal service from an automated phone line or from a website. Let’s bring ‘service’ back to life and learn how to deal with people. People like to deal with people. And those ‘people’ are your customers. Your most important asset!

Philippa Storey – Is a sought after speaker, trainer and facilitator on loyalty marketing and customer service & customer retention. She has 14 years experience assisting companies in focusing on building customer relationships and developing loyalty marketing programmes to increase revenue and profits.

FAIR GO?

Australia refers to itself as the lucky country built on ‘fair go’ and ‘mateship’.

However, is the luck shared around equally?

Is everyone, irrespective of their circumstances, given a ‘fair go’? Do the disadvantaged, the disabled, the mentally ill, the asylum seekers get a ‘fair go’? Do the indigenous population – the ‘first people’ of this lucky country – get a ‘fair go’?

What is a ‘fair go’? Who decides what a ‘fair go’ is? Compared to what? Do we have to compare it to the down-trodden, the poor, the disadvantaged to ensure that we get it right? Who are our ‘role models’ for the ‘fair go’ in business? I can only think of one: Andrew Forrest, the mining magnate, who owns Fortescue Mining has a target of 50,000 jobs for the indigenous population of WA.

That’s how we should coach our future leaders, our managers, – in fact every employee – that equality, fairness and justice are an integral part of our culture (or should be) and that all people have a right to learn those values irrespective of their age, gender, or ethnicity.

Let’s set the standards high and be the ones who teach what a ‘fair go’ is!

Sonny Mathews – Is a highly credible and empathetic asset capable of inspiring individuals at CEO, senior and middle management positions. He has over 25 years of International Business expertise, across a number of wide range of functions, and as a business consultant and coach.