Getting to Yes

Do you need it for internal communications as well as your Marketing programs?

Then start with the answer to: SO WHAT?

Do you have a major reason to “Get to Yes” with a client or prospect? Something like make the sale, or authorize an agreement?

What would it mean to you to have the “ok” from an investor or banker to fund your project? Could it put you on the road to success?

How would it make you feel if you could gather 100% support for your plan from your team?

The answer to these and other questions is apparent when we begin our communication by addressing the audience’s question…”SO WHAT”. What is in it for them? This is where we appeal to their emotions vs. trying to convince them with logic, facts or charts.

 From the book, “So What?” by Mark Magnacca we are reminded that “the people you are trying to communicate with, sell to, or reach don’t really care about you, or what you have to offer, until they know how what you have can benefit them.”   “If you help enough people get what they want, by showing or explaining how what you have can benefit them, you can have anything you want.”

Most of us believe that “I” have to communicate “my” message because it is “important.” It’s all about us. When, in fact, it’s all about them.

We are told it’s all about what we say, how we look, the quality of our collateral materials, how smart we are……

So, we tell people about “my product, my service, my idea…..” And that worked well for a long time. Now, we can ask Mr. Google anything we want to know about your product, who else sells it, where I can get it on-line, and more. We have to give people the SO WHAT answer first.

 Learn to identify the emotion that will move your audience. We have to get away from what we think our words, facts, logic and pictures should say or show someone.

We have to ask ourselves “what is the purpose of my presentation or message?”

“Why should they care?”

“What benefits will they receive?”

We may have to grind down and down and down to be sure we are answering the WHY at the most basic and desired level of our audience.

 Focus on what your audience needs to hear vs. what you want to say. “People don’t go to the hardware store to buy a quarter-inch drill. They go because they want to make quarter-inch holes.” (Harvard professor, Ted Levitt) Deliver the end result.

 The ability to communicate what we need and want is critical to our business survival …and survival in our other forms of existence. Understanding the So What factor for all of our messages Gets Us to Yes. Then we complete the cycle of What We Want to What We Get.

It’s Like a Get Out of Jail Free Card

DECODING THE PATH TO SUCCESS

Decoding The Path to Success is about our personal quest to find the success we seek. There is a way. It is comprised of soft skills that equate to leadership. If I stand and deliver on those components it could be pretty sleepy. But…the message is delivered in the context of our Heroes & Role Models. They show us the Path.

The Path to Success always goes through more revenue, profitability, having a meaningful purpose for your business, managing change, motivating employees, taking action, developing and keeping employee attitudes positive and productive, and more.

As young boys in west Texas we had athletes for Heroes. Football and baseball players were mine. I knew all about them. Read about their games. I knew their statistics.

I tried to be like them on the playing fields. If they did things a certain way, then I tried the same thing. I watched them on TV…..all 3 channels!!! If I could just be like them, I thought, then I would be successful. It was simple.

And then,….Time happened. I wasn’t the athlete my heroes had been. I moved on.

Like all of us I piled up life’s experiences, acquaintances, and events. People moved in and out of my life. And…They left their impressions.

In one way or another I refer to those lessons today. Each of us has those experiences. Use them. Rely on them. Learn from your earliest Role Models. They help us on the Path to Success.

 

When You Think You Can

LEARN TO THINK & ACT LIKE A CEO

This poem rises to the top of my saved treasures from time to time. You’ve seen it. It’s a good lesson. But, sometimes we ignore the simplicity and strength of the message. The author is “Anonymous.”

“If you think you’re beaten, you are;

If you  think you dare not, you don’t. 

If you’d  like to win, but  think you can’t

It’s almost a cinch you won’t. 

If you think you lose, you’re lost 

(and it goes on from here with the last 2 lines being:)

But soon or late the man who wins

Is the one who  thinks he can.”

It’s not a lot more difficult than that. Attitude. A healthy dose of knowing one’s Purpose/Why. They are the strongest magnets we can use. This is how we attract the life positive events we seek and they pull us into the future.

DECODING THE PATH TO SUCCESS

The Mirror

LEARN TO THINK & ACT LIKE A CEO

Somewhere along the line of development we discover who we really are, and then we make our real decision for which we are responsible. Make that decision primarily for yourself  because you can never really live anyone else’s life, not even your child’s. The influence you exert is through your own life and what you become yourself.

Eleanor Roosevelt

Decoding the Path to Success

Radio Interview

If you’d like to listen to my radio interview about Decoding the Path to Success please see the connection information below. I would enjoy hearing your feedback. Here’s  the info. To listen to the show today at 3pm EST go to http://www.voiceamerica.com/channel/247/voiceamerica-business and just click on The Business Edge graphic and you’ll hear the life broadcast. Afterwards, it will be posted on The Business Edge host page. Click on http://www.voiceamerica.com/episode/93583/decoding-the-path-to-success

The great thing about internet radio is that it can be listened to 24/7.

Faith in Our Future

Very little is needed from me to set up this message. It will resonate with just about everyone in their own way. Hopefully, a constructive way.

“The mightiest assurance of our future are the intangible spiritual and intellectual forces in our people, which we express not by the words “The United States,” but by the word “America.”

That word, “America,” carries meanings which lie deep in the soul of our people. It. reaches far beyond the size of cities and factories.

It springs from our religious faith, our ideals of individual freedom, which have come in the centuries since we landed on these shores.

It rises from our pride in great accomplishments of our nation and from the sacrifices and devotions of those who have passed on.

It lifts us above the ugliness of the day.

It has guided us through even greater crises in our past.

And from these forces, solutions will come again.”

Herbert Hoover, President

Great Lesson

LEARN TO THINK &  ACT LIKE A CEO

“Build a life of accomplishment. Lead a life of meaning.” Norman Lear

Decoding the Path to Success

4-Letter Words…for Success

LEARN TO THINK & ACT LIKE A CEO

4-Letter words describing the keys to success:

Home Work       Hard Work

Team Work        Good Luck

Good Lord           Good Idea

These were cited in the obituary of Ralph Ketner, founder of the Food Lion grocery chain. He was known for his colorful language and had delivered these in a speech. 

What would you add to the 4-letter list?

Decoding the Path to Success

Be Generous

LEARN TO THINK & ACT LIKE A CEO

 Be generous!  Give to those whom you love; give to those who love you; give to the fortunate; give to the unfortunate; yes—give especially to those to whom you don’t want to give.

Your most precious, valued possessions and your greatest powers are invisible and intangible. No one can take them.  You, and you alone, can give them.  You will receive abundance for your giving.  The more you give—the more you will have!

Give a smile to everyone you meet (smile with your eyes)—and you’ll smile and receive smiles.  Give a kind word (with a kindly thought behind the word)—you will be kind and receive kind words.

Give honor, credit and applause (the victor’s wreath)—you will be honorable and receive credit and applause.

Give time for a worthy cause (with eagerness)—you will be worthy and richly rewarded.

Give hope (the magic ingredient for success)—you will have hope and be made hopeful.

Give happiness (a most treasured state of mind)—you will be happy and be made happy.

Give encouragement (the incentive to action)—you will have courage and be encouraged.

Give cheer (the verbal sunshine)—you’ll be cheerful and cheered.

Give a pleasant response (the neutralizer of irritants)—you will be pleasant and receive pleasant responses.

Give good thoughts (nature’s character builder)—you will be good and the world will have good thoughts for you.

-W. Clement Stone

If your parents are still alive, give them the gift of your time. Lots of it. You’ll  never regret whatever you think you are sacrificing in its place. Regrets after they are gone will not soothe the loss.

Decoding the Path to Success

Heroes to Guide Us

LEARN TO THINK &  ACT LIKE A CEO

From an early time in our lives most of us have Heroes, Role Models. They come to us from a variety of sources and for a variety of reasons. We consciously select some role models. Some are more accidental. Authors, artists, military heroes, family members, athletes, political figures, all are among the sources from which we commonly select when we are making a conscious choice.

Some heroes may be more accidental. They have actually left a mark in our lives, but they remain in our subconscious. We are less aware of their lesson…..….Until we need them.

Heroes are pivotal people and events that have helped shape our lives. We lean on them for support when we fail or need a boost. We use their example to adjust our flagging attitude.

As young boys in west Texas we had athletes for heroes. Football and baseball players were mine. I knew all about them, watched them on TV (we had 3 channels back then), read about their games, knew their stats. I tried to be like them on my playing fields.

If they did things a certain way, then I tried the same thing. If I could just be like them, I thought, then I would be successful. It was simple.

And….Time happened. I wasn’t the athlete my heroes had been. I moved on.

Like all of us I piled up life’s experiences, acquaintances, and events. People moved in and out of my life. And…….They left impressions.

Some of those marks I didn’t see for quite a few years. Maybe I just didn’t see the importance of them being there. I didn’t consciously see their message….. Until I needed them!

When did I need them?….. At times when my attitude was really bad. At times when I had failed. At times when I needed a boost. Interestingly… my wife tells me that when we ‘need’ a cat one always shows up. I guess heroes and guides are like that.

!!!But my experiences and my research show that they are not accidental. They have been there. Waiting for us to see them. Waiting for us to find them again.

All of us will have falls and failures in our lives. We will make huge mistakes… and slip a bit. Our attitudes and outlooks on life will flag from time to time. All of these, and more, are why we look to role models and heroes for examples of how to stay the course, how to succeed, and    how to keep life in balance.

Maybe we will think of Thomas Edison at times when we want to quit. Maybe we will think of Ghandi or Martin Luther King for inspiration. Maybe we will think of Mother Teresa for steadfast beliefs… or John Wayne for bravado.

Whomever we look to it will be because at that moment we need support and confirmation.

You have heroes and role models in your lives, whether you realize them or not, and whether you have consciously called on them…or not. They are there. I enjoy helping audiences explore the presence of their role models. And look at examples of how they help us.

I encourage you to make a conscious effort to recall your heroes. Then use their examples to guide your attitude at the times when you need them the most.

Why do we want to know about role models? …..we could probably list a lot of reasons, but here are a few that I find are relevant every day:

It is important for you as a leader to know about your Heroes for your personal guidance.

It is important for you to know about Heroes so you can guide your Team and help them identify theirs.

AND…..

It is important for you to get the information today and pass it on. This is information we pass on to our team, customers, suppliers, friends, peers.

It is not ours to keep!……Having the knowledge of anything is important. But passing it along to others is what builds you.

Helps you grow.

It Builds your legacy.

It Solidifies your place as a valuable Resource and a trusted Guide.

When I give talks on Role Models we look at Where to find Heroes, and Why we need them. We acknowledge our Conscious and Subconscious Heroes. There is a formula from Decoding the Path to Success that puts everything into perspective. And we learn about the Legacy and responsibility of being a Hero to another. That’s a huge one. Finally, we explore how Heroes help us perform Self-Evaluations.

Look for those significant people and events in your life. I ‘realized’ two within the past 5 years that had been there since my pre-teen years. I just simply had not consciously acknowledged the lessons from these two people. But I am confident they have been there to guide me.

Decoding the  Path to Success