What About Me?

One of my personal bug bears is when an MC says, "And now for a person who needs no introduction..." and then spends five minutes introducing them! Most of us have been to meetings or networking functions where people are introduced by their resume (at least it feels like they are reading their resume.)

Here is the secret of a brilliant introduction: the introduction is NOT about the person you are introducing. What people forget is that the introduction means more to the AUDIENCE that the presenter.

That is not just for presentations either. Think about when you are introduced to someone at a networking event. What has more value to you?
"This is Jill Jones she is the CEO of Jones International"
OR
"This is Jill Jones. Her business specialises in graphic design and branding. I recall you saying you were looking at yours recently."
In the second introduction you will love the context you get about Jill and Jill loves the referral the introducer is giving her.

So how are your introductions?

If you want better introductions, join me on Wednesday 7th November for a complimentary webinar on How to Create and Deliver a Great Introduction. If you can't make that time, no worries, simply register and you will get access to the recording.

To register click here 

By the way, this is not a normal webinar where I talk and you listen. This is a hands on workshop where you will create an introduction and we walk through what will make your introduction better.

What Are You Up To?

One of the most common questions around the work place is "So what are you up to?"It's usually the boss, a colleague or a friend just asking what is happening.
When it comes to work, there would be 4 key answers I would be looking for:

1. I am servicing the client and providing what they have paid for or assisting someone else in the firm to do that
2. I am getting more prospects to consider us
3. I am converting a prospect to a sale
4. I am looking for ways to increase the sale to a customer - maybe a repeat sale or maybe an increase in the sale amount or maybe building a product to sell.

Anything else is just busy work.
If what you are doing does not related to one of these four things I would have to ask why are you doing it.
So what are you up to?

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Warwick Merry - The Get More Guy, is your high energy, results focused, action oriented, no holds barred tour de force MC, keynote speaker and Exhibiting Specialist. He ensures your attendees Get More from your event. His MC work is like insurance for your event. It guarantees things will run smoothly and on time. As a speaker, he is like a dose of Berocca – a bubbling, burst of healthy, sustainable energy for your attendees.  If you need a burst of inspiration, cogitation and celebration at your next event you MUST book The Get More Guy, Warwick Merry.

Can You Negotiate Successfully?

Negotiation is such a core part of what we do, but I am not a guru on Negotiation. Luckily I have a very good friend that is. I asked her to give me the secrets to mastering negotiation and she was happy to oblige.
Tanya Edlington has negotiated everything from wages deals worth millions of dollars to car parking arrangements where she lives because she knows EVERYTHING is negotiable. She has learnt everything she knows by doing it and learning from her mistakes. Tanya believes the art of conversation is important to all kinds of relationships. She's a mediator accredited through LEADR, and is a sought after facilitator. Tanya uses her skills as an actress to help everyone from doctors to corporate managers develop their face to face communication skills.
Here are Tanya's Top Tips to Negotiate Anything!
If you follow these every time, regardless of what you're negotiating or who you are representing, you are bound to have a successful outcome.  

1. Know what you want.  It seems obvious, but it's also often the thing that people neglect.  If you don't know exactly what you want, you're not ready to negotiate.
2. Know how what you want can be packaged.  Sometimes it's easy to miss a great opportunity to settle because it looks a bit different from what you were thinking.  Be creative and open minded as you consider offers made by the other side.  Think about how offers can help you get what you want, rather than focussing on the shortcomings.
3. Make sure the people with authority to settle or reach agreement are in the room.  There's nothing worse than putting in the hard work and reaching a great outcome, only to find that the people you've been talking to aren't the decision-makers.  I only negotiate with decision-makers.  If the other side can't do this, then they're not committed to negotiation.
4. Spend some time agreeing on the rules of engagement before you start negotiating on substantive matters.  Apart from being useful to set up rules of engagement, this helps everyone practise talking to each other.  If I'm negotiating with several people, I look for clues about communication styles, power relationships, thinking preferences and the dynamics within the group.  I include issues of confidentiality (where relevant) and also communication with stakeholders (who, what, when and how).
5. Don't leave the room without a written agreement.  Whatever I am negotiating, the last thing I do before anyone leaves the room is to write down what we've already agreed.  I write this summary together. I'm not talking about a fully drafted document!  I'm talking about an agreed written record that reduces the risk of people walking away with different interpretations or an intention to wriggle out of something.   Electronic whiteboards are really handy for this.  If there isn't one I take a photo and email to everyone.  Once everyone agrees on what is written down, I then distribute copies.  I include the date, time and names of everyone in the room and who they represent.  This process is also clarifiying and can often flush out anything that isn't really agreed between the parties.  

Putting it all together, approach your negotiations with your creative problem solving muscles flexed and view the other team as useful collaborators with expertise to contribute to the solving of the problem.  I find that this approach means the relationships with the people remain intact - sometimes even grow - and people are more willing to keep going when it's tough.  
Lastly, I make sure that my thoughts, words and deeds are in alignment so that I am operating with integrity, regardless of who I'm working with and what we're trying to achieve.  

If you need help with your negotiations, please contact Tanya. She is sure to help you achieve the outcome you want.

• blog: www.divacultura.blogspot.com
• twitter: @divacultura
• email: tanyaedlington@gmail.com
• m: 0418 285 732 

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Warwick Merry - The Get More Guy, is your high energy, results focused, action oriented, no holds barred tour de force MC, keynote speaker and Exhibiting Specialist. He ensures your attendees Get More from your event. His MC work is like insurance for your event. It guarantees things will run smoothly and on time. As a speaker, he is like a dose of Berocca – a bubbling, burst of healthy, sustainable energy for your attendees.  If you need a burst of inspiration, cogitation and celebration at your next event you MUST book The Get More Guy, Warwick Merry.

Are You Ready?

I had a big weekend. 2 1/2 day as MC of the Super Conference in Melbourne (from Thursday to Saturday), a 1 year old party, MC another function on the Saturday night and then 6 hours reviewing the upcoming video product I am creating.

Phew!

The recurring theme seemed to be "Are You Ready".  At the Super Conference, one of the speakers arrived late, was foofing and fluffing around with AV, running back to his room, forgetting something else and had no introduction. We delayed the start but it got to the point that I had to fill in for about 10 minutes while he got ready. For some a 10 minute fill is not easy (lucky I like the sound of my own voice!) Other speakers arrived the day before to check the room, had their AV all tested and loaded on our machines two presentations prior. True professionals that were a delight to deal with.

On the Saturday night, there was a little more stuffing around trying to get the hotels projector working. Luckily the client was patient because it took the hotel awhile to find the person who knew what was going on (apparently the projector always goes to sleep automatically - that would have been nice to know up front!)

What about you? Are you ready?

Are you ready to start your meetings on time? Do your minutes get done promptly after the meeting? Do people have all of your requirements, introductions and contact details when you are on site? Have you practiced the difficult meeting with your staff member? Do you have the correct documentation when you get on the phone to talk to a service provider? When you are running an event, are you ready to stall for five minutes if you need to (because you know it will happen!)

When you know you have something significant happening, make sure you are ready. It makes a massive difference!

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Warwick Merry - The Get More Guy, is your high energy, results focused, action oriented, no holds barred tour de force MC, keynote speaker and Exhibiting Specialist. He ensures your attendees Get More from your event. His MC work is like insurance for your event. It guarantees things will run smoothly and on time. As a speaker, he is like a dose of Berocca – a bubbling, burst of healthy, sustainable energy for your attendees.  If you need a burst of inspiration, cogitation and celebration at your next event you MUST book The Get More Guy, Warwick Merry.

Are You Treating the Cause or the Symptom?

Too often people treat the Symptoms and not the Root Cause.

A case in point is the current issue with Alan Jones, the Australian shock jock who made some questionable comments about our Prime Minister and her father.
There is a lot of talk and social media chatter about boycotting the advertisers. So much so that the advertisers are no longer playing any adverts on his show.

Let me predict the future - The radio station will continue to receive money from advertisers, they will just be played at different times meaning more adverts on other shows.
Alan Jones' show will probably be advertised as "3 hrs of Ad Free breakfast" or some such thing. In a couple of weeks when the next thing gets our interest, the radio will start playing adverts again and life will go back to normal.

People are focusing on the Symptom, and not the root cause. If they truly want to get Alan off the air they need a different cause of action. The advertisers love Alan Jones because lots of people listen to him. It means they get great exposure and the radio station charges them a significant amount of money for this exposure. So to get the advertisers off Alan's show permanently, the focus needs to be to get people to stop listening to his show and that radio station at all. Will decrease revenues, the radio station will be forced to make permanent changes, such as fire Alan Jones.

The bigger issue is that the people listening to Alan Jones are of the demographic that love his vitriol and diatribe. The people complaining about him typically do not listen to him anyway. So how do go get people who like listening to a person, who probably are not offended by his comments to completely stop listening to the radio station? I can't answer that one.

Again, are you treating the Cause or the Symptom?

Managers in attempts to cut costs will typically cut costs that don't matter. For example, no more Tim Tams, cheaper coffee, less staff, or cheaper decorations. That just treats the symptoms of a lack of sales. Successful managers will look at the root of the problem. Basically, what does the customer want (both now and in the future), how do they want it and when do they want it. Lets look at ways to provide this. In Australia, Myer and David Jones are playing catchup with online sales because rather that thinking how do we go down that path (when customers started heading that way) they chose not to, and have suffered!

Small business have a lull in sales and think "Better make more sales calls" rather than considering alternate ways to bring continual prospects in. Too often we fall for doing more of the same action rather than looking at whether it is the right action to take. It is not just a matter of doing things Right but also about doing the Right things.

In a relationship, I have seen people buy their partner a gift or flowers to make them happy rather than considering why they were upset in the first place. What is the root cause. Is it a bad habit, was it a conflicting belief or simply a mistake. Too often the same mistake keeps recurring and it has significant impacts on the relationship.

What about you? In all areas of your life, are you addressing the Cause or just the Syptom?

What's Driving You?

Doh! I had to learn this AGAIN!

Too often I let my email and my phone drive me. I get into a reactive role of responding to whatever lands on my desk.
That is NOT how a successful business operates.

As I teach those in my sessions, there are three key things that need to be focussed on that can easily magnify sales.
1) Number of Prospects
2) Percentage of Prospects who convert to sales
3) The value of the sale

You don't grow these factors by being driven by your email. They are increased by a strategy with actions in your calendar.
Don't get me wrong, you can't ignore your email and phone calls, but you can choose when it suits you best to respond to them and let your focus be on business building activities as per your strategy.

What's driving you? Is it your email or your strategy?