When was the last time you showed persistence?
Sep 16th
“Perseverance is a great element of success. If you knock long enough and loud enough at the gate, you are sure to wake up somebody.”
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
I’m coaching somebody at the moment who used to work in Television and is in the process of setting up a new business. We were talking about the importance of persistence and she told me a story about her early days in TV when she was a Programme Editor’s assistant. Jenny was contacted by a guy who was looking to break into television and was willing to do any job to help him achieve this goal. After checking with the Editor Jenny told him unfortunately there were no opportunities available.
A few weeks later the guy rang back again, with the same answer, sorry nothing available. At the end of the month he called again, still no joy. However he was friendly and eager and told Jenny he would call again….
At her next meeting with the Editor Jenny talked about the guy and how she knew he was going to call again and again and again, and was there anything they could give him, if only to stop him calling!
The Editor asked how much they had in petty cash. £50 Jenny replied. Well, the Editor decided, if he calls in again tell him we can give him some work, but we can only give him £50 a week in expenses.
Sure enough the guy called in again and he was taken on and stayed long enough to become Editor of the TV station’s main news programme.
This is a really important lesson to learn, it is too easy to give up. If you want to succeed you need to be prepared for rejection and you need to be able to accept it and try again. Too often in sales environments you see sales people give up at the first hurdle. Persistence is what seperates the successful from those who don’t last the course.
“Nothing in the world can take the place of Persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan ‘Press On’ has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.”
Calvin Coolidge
When was the last time you showed real persistence?
How do your values affect others?
Sep 16th
I’ve been doing a lot of work recently on how our values impact onto the goals we set ourselves, and how the values and beliefs of others can also affect us. One example used to illustrate this is the story of a friend of mine who discovered that their 8 year old daughter, Jenny, was affected by dyslexia. Jenny’s parents arranged to see her teacher to discuss the best way to handle the situation and the impact this was having on her school work.
The Teacher’s view was that Jenny didn’t need to worry too much about her education or career as she was a very very pretty girl and wasn’t going to find life to be very hard. The parents were shocked and horrified, but the Teacher was simply trying to reassure the parents.
Instead of talking about the people such as Picasso, Einstein, Richard Branson and so on who have all been very successful despite being affected by varying degrees of dyslexia, the Teacher’s view was that Jenny would have no problem when she was older in finding a man to marry and provide for her. The Teacher concerned was in her sixties and her values and beliefs perhaps belonged to a different generation. The “encouragement” offered to the parents resulted in them moving Jenny to a different school where she is now thriving under a different approach to the issues she faces.
When discussing this example the reaction is always one of surprise that a teacher can have such “outdated” ideas about the “ideal future” for females leaving school. Is this belief really that outdated though?
At a recent open evening for children who are about to make the move from primary to secondary school I was with a group of Mums who were talking about their childrens prospects. One Mother, who has a boy and a girl, was explaining that her son’s choice of school was a more important decision as her daughter was very unlikely to be the main bread winner in the family, a view echoed by another of the Mums who expressed the opinion that if necessary, her sons would attend private school to give them the best opportunity for progression, whereas her daughters would be attending the local state school, as a career for them wasn’t that important….
I was bought up believing that everyone is an individual and what you make of your life is up to you, sex doesn’t come into the equation. It would appear in the two families mentioned above that the children are growing up believing that the man is the breadwinner and the woman’s role is that of home maker.
These beliefs and values will undoubtedly have an impact onto the goals and ambitions of the children concerned, and the values and beliefs of Leaders and Managers have a similar impact on the behaviours and actions of the people they interact with. Parents, Techers, Leaders and Managers are all role models and what we think and believe will influence the behaviour and beliefs of those around us.
As for the mothers above, I personally think they are letting down their daughters and the women that their sons will go onto marry, and should be ashamed of themselves. If we are going to eradicate sexual stereotypes and bring about equality, it is necessary for parents to communicate and demonstrate these principles to their children. Or perhaps you agree with the two mums and the teacher?
What values were instilled in you by your Mum and Dad?
Selling on the positive
Sep 13th
Reading an exchange on Twitter this morning reminded me of one of the important lessons we pass on when we are coaching people on sales skills.
One of our local MP’s was tweeting about the proposed boundary changes, when they received this reply from one of the local councillors in their area:
“And your immediate anti-reaction indicates your #1 concern is your job rather than electoral fairness for your constituents”
Clearly the inviduals concerned live on opposite sides of the political divide. The councillor responsible for the witty retort is not alone in this kind of petty point scoring, it seems to afflict quite a few politicians who post on Twitter. Rather than criticise might they not portray themselves and their policies in a better light if they expended their efforts in “selling” the positive benefit of their policies?
Which brings us to the sales coaching…. research carried out has indicated that customers like to deal with sales people who are professional and who make them feel valued. There are a variety of ways this can be achieved; for example a professional sales person will be able to demonstrate a knowledge of their clients industry. This encourages confidence in the sales person and is an important factor in building trust and rapport in the relationship.
Another important factor is how the sales person talks about their competition. The professional approach is to acknowledge they exist and to recognise that they have their strengths and then to emphasise the benefits of using the sales persons company to do business with instead. e.g. I was speaking to one of my new clients last week and they were telling me that they had used company x in the past. Apparently they thought their products were good, but they had moved to us because they felt our service was a little quicker and more efficient. This is professional and indicates honesty, which builds trust.
The sales person who spends their time criticising the competition and continually putting them down comes across as disingenuous and can quickly lose the respect of their client, and ultimately their business.
This is particularly important in an age where social media is increasing the impact of word of mouth recommendation and reputations can be quickly tainted.
A lesson for our local councillors perhaps?
Have you got any sales tips you would like to share?
You can follow us on Twitter @coachpotatoes 
Being the Leader others want you to be.
Jul 17th
In the view of Toby Helm, the Political Editor of The Observer, the murky events surrounding News International have been good to Ed Miliband, who has been seen to be far more ”relaxed and confident”. Miliband is no longer cautious and ponderous in interviews, instead now he “speaks from the heart with passion and conviction.”
Helm does not appear to be on his own in this view, with Labour MP’s, Political commentators and the public opinion polls echoing this new perception of the “The Ed Miller Band”.
So are we really seeing a new upgraded version of Mr Miliband, or are we now seeing a Leader with a clear vision, goal or set of values that he is committed to sharing with his followers?
Effective Leaders have a clear understanding of the values that are important to them and a vision of where they want to take their organisation. Communicating this vision with passion and conviction is vital in engaging those who will be instrumental in achieving the desired goals. People will not follow and buy into the Leader if they don’t understand what they are trying to achieve, where the journey will take them personally, and how they can play their part on reaching the destination.
David Cameron appears to have suffered in the past few weeks as his vision for the future and the values that drive him have become somewhat clouded by events and his inability to clearly communicate where he stands on the issues surrounding News International.
Too often you find Leaders and their Senior Management Teams lose sight of the end game and the values that are important to them, the people within the organisation and the organisation itself. The message is not communicated effectively and becomes corrupted along the way. The News International crisis is a dramatic example of this with the values in place amongst the Senior Executives seemingly at odds with those of their readers and viewers, which is placing the future of their business in danger.
As a Leader you need to consider what it is your people will want from you. Here are ten suggestions – how many of these do you think you can tick off as achieved?
- To understand where they fit in to the overall scheme of things
- To know where they are going
- They don’t necessarily want to be told what to do in every task they have.
- To be empowered and to have some input into the decision making process.
- They want to know what you stand for.
- To associate themselves with success and a desire to succeed.
- Clear communication on issues
- Management teams that are approachable and supportive
- An organisation they can be proud of
- To be inspired!
Ed Miliband: Confident, relaxed, passionate.
Which three words would people use to describe you?
Do you have many self limiting beliefs?
Jul 12th
” When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.” ~ Dr Wayne Dyer
What we believe in limits or expands our world. These beliefs shape our thoughts and actions because we treat them as though they are a true and objective representation of the facts.
Beliefs can influence whether or not you attempt to achieve a particular goal in life. They determine what you pay attention to, how you react to difficult situations and ultimately your attitude.
Success and failure begin and end in what the mind believes is possible.
So how can you change a limiting belief?
The main keys to doing this is complete honesty and challenging yourself. Here are a few steps to help kick start the process:
- Identify the thought or belief
- How does this thought/belief make you feel?
- Is thought/belief 100% true?
- What would be a more honest thought/belief that also reflects your values?
- What can you do that reflects your new thought/belief?
Adopting a positive mental attitude will also help:
- Use positive self talk - up to 1500 words a minutes flow through our minds, how many of them are positive? Positive talk will lead to increased confidence and higher self esteem.
- Control the pictures in your mind. People use mental pictures to represent places, events, dreams and goals. If you create positive pictures your actions will be positive.
- Feed your mind a healthy diet. seek out positive information, and limit the negative.
- Associate with positive people. levels of success achieved can be linked to the people you associate with.
- Be proactive. Don’t wait for something to happen, take control and seize the initiative!
How many of the above do you already practise?
“Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement… no pessimist ever discovered the secret of the stars, or sailed to an uncharted land, or opened a new doorway for the human spirit.” Helen Keller
How much do you value your company?
Jul 7th
There is a lot of work carried out in Leadership development which focusses on the importance of values and creating the right culture for your company to operate in.
The best companies have a set of core values which set the tone for the company which dictate the conditions the employees operate in and the company’s clients respond to. The leaders of the organisation are responsible for communicating these values and should help create the type of company they want to lead. The kind of values that are often advocated are integrity, trust, passion, encouragement and so on.
Bearing in mind what has come to light this week at The News of the World you have to question which values were of importance to the leaders responsible for the culture at the newspaper. Whether or not the Editors knew what exactly was going on is largely immaterial as the people carrying out the reprehensible hacking of a missing girl’s mobile phone clearly believed this was acceptable behaviour.
This gives an insight into the type of culture that was in play at the paper, a culture where getting the story at whatever the cost was the driving factor. The stories coming out at the moment suggest that as many as 4,000 people have potentially had their phones hacked in search of a story. This is not a one off incident, it is a method that appears to have been condoned at NOTW and used on a regular basis during Rebekah Brookes’ tenure as Editor there. If that culture is not acceptable, as is obviously the case here, the first step should be to review the leadership. Changing the bottom of the pyramid will not necessarily produce the change in culture and values that is required.
The leaders of any organisation are responsible for the values and culture at their company and the way their teams operate and behave are a reflection of that culture. If integrity is a major value within the organisation and is communicated effectively you will find the people their demonstrating this value in their work.
If you have specific standards and values you will find that you attract people with similar values when you are looking to recruit. It is a simlar story with potential clients the image you project as a company will appeal to different sections of the market.
As we have seen with News International this week this is a really important factor in achieving goals and success with your organisation. Having a clear idea of what you and your company stands for is an important message for a leader to communicate.
Three questions to ask yourself;
1) do you know what your values are?
2) Have you communicated these clearly to people within your organisation?
3) How would your customers describe your company and your values?
You need to ask the right questions…
Jun 18th
The secret of successful selling is to ask the right questions. If we do this properly, we become seen as a problem solver, there to help the client make the correct decision rather than somebody trying to flog their products/services. Happy customers are those that buy a product or service that matches their needs. The key is to help them understand exactly what their needs are and this is achieved by asking them specific questions which will encourage the client to think through what it is they want and why they want it.
By asking open questions which help you and your client understand exactly what their needs are enables you to match your products/services to those needs. The questions that you ask will vary depending on the situation, but you can start by asking yourself what information would you need in order to be able to recommend a specific product and how would it benefit your client.
The problems arise when you don’t ask the right questions….
The importance of belief… from a six year old
Jun 2nd
Two of the major factors in achieving your goals are the need to believe in yourself and perseverance. If you don’t believe in yourself why should anyone else?
Can you remember what it felt like when you first learn to ride a bike? Can you remember the joy? This might remind you…
So there you have it, you can if you believe you can, and if you can’t just keep trying. Simple really.
Why are you on Twitter?
May 11th
There are approximately 175 million users on Twitter with over 50 million tweets a day being sent. I think the main reason people join Twitter is to share their thoughts and opinions on the various issues and stories of the day. Others join to help promote their businesses, others, journalists for example, as an alternative way to reach their potential market. You can also find people on there who want to have a laugh and a giggle with many parody accounts helping to fill the day.
One thing I don’t understand about Twitter though are those people/companies who set up a Twitter account and then make it private. I can understand it on Facebook where you might want to share photos and other sensitive information, but Twitter, land of 140 characters?
Each to their own I guess, but would love to know the reasons for doing that.
On the Wirral there is some disquiet about locally elected councillors having Twitter accounts and having them locked so the people who voted for them can’t see what they are tweeting about – unless you are one of the chosen ones who they accept into the fold of course.
Not all councillors on the Wirral have private Twitter accounts and the local MP’s such as Esther McVey and Alison McGovern have open Twitter accounts, which are informative and give us all a flavour of the life of an MP and the huge amount of work they do for their communities. This is what makes it strange for me, here’s a great chance to inform and engage with their community. It’s simple, quick and effective and they are instead creating an element of distrust, leading to questions about “what are they hiding?”
As private individuals they are perfectly entitled to have a private Twitter account of course, but why have Cllr in your twitter name and then make it private? If you are tweeting personal stuff, why do you need to have your job title in the name? If you are tweeting about council matters why can’t the electorate read it?
Surely they are not including their job title in their Twitter name because they are driven by status? :-0
Those of you who do have a private Twitter account, councillor or nor, why is it private? What are the advantages?
Perhaps you can persuade me to have one as well!
Your best sales people are your customers
May 11th
I was in Sports Direct in Liverpool One yesterday waiting to pay for something. They guy in front of me had a small football kit for his young son and he asked the assistant on the counter if she could hold it for him until the next day, as he hadn’t bought enough money with him to buy it there and then.
“Sorry, we don’t hold anything for anybody” came the reply.
The guy explained that he thought he had bought his cards with him, but had unfortunately left them at home, but it was his son’s birthday later in the week and this particular kit was the last one on the racks, which was why he was asking if they could hold it for him until the next day.
“I’ve just told you, we don’t hold anything, you’ll just have to come back”
Ok, Sports Direct might have such a policy, however strange that might be, but did the assistant have to be quite so snotty about it? Would it have hurt to say, I’ll put it behind the counter for you, but I can only hold it until the shop closes tomorrow?
When will some companies learn that their best sales people are their customers? Send them away happy and they will tell all their friends and help drive business to those companies. Give them poor service and they will tell twice as many of their friends!
Have you got any stories to share of customer service – good or bad?
