The Power Of Acknowledgment

A coworker came up to me last week
and announced “I got that rush check done.” 
Was the rush check for me? 
No. 
Did I have anything to do with this special request? 
No. 

Then why was she telling me this? 

Because she wanted acknowledgment and
in our group, I’m known for giving it. 
All she wanted was a “Wow, that’s great”
but she wanted it enough
to go out of her way to ask for it. 

Be free with acknowledgments.
Their powers don’t lessen with quantity. 

As Judith W. Umlas,
author of The Power Of Acknowledgment,
states
“Rarely given acknowledgements
have no more value than frequent ones.” 

Buying A Business

A Mergers and Acquisitions mentor
once told me 
“Never buy a business for what it is. 
Buy it for what it can be.” 

Companies sell close to their full value. 
Today. 

Having another vision for the company
is where buyers find value. 
This could be consolidation with other operations,
an overhaul of the product line up,
servicing another target customer, etc. 

Whatever it is,
have a plan to add value before making a purchase.

How To Deal With Resource Vampires

I’m currently leading a resource vampire.
His component of the project was tiny yet
he was using the majority of the
team members’ time and resources.
And he still wasn’t happy.

Upon I recognizing this,
I’ve changed tactics.
I now point him to sources of
do-it-yourself information
and then ignore him.
If I don’t ignore him,
then he will NOT consult the information,
he’ll wait until someone does it for him.
I’ve also developed a work-around,
in case his project piece is not completed.

GetACoder has more strategies
to deal with a resource vampire.

The Fast Talker

Most people talk faster
when they’re nervous or excited. 
The quicker the delivery,
the lower the comprenhension. 
Not good during sales pitches or
presentations to executives. 

So how do you slow down?
Diane DiResta in her article
Slow Down Speed Talking
says that the problem
“is usually not saying the words too fast
but not putting stops at the end of a sentence.
People need a few seconds to process
what was just said.” 

Her advice? 
Silently count to two between each sentence.  

Published
Categorized as Sales

Repetition Works

A guest speaker on book promotion 
advised authors to repeat key information
three times. 

Why? 
Because repetition works. 

Studies show that an opinion
expressed by an individual three times
is 90% as effective as
three people expressing the same opinion. 
And it influences the group.  
The group ends up holding the same views.   

Published
Categorized as Marketing

Become A Better Listener

There is a guy in our group.
He’s intelligent, nice,
yet no one wants to work with him. 

Why? 
Because he doesn’t listen. 
He multi-tasks while others are talking.  
He doesn’t read emails sent to the group. 
Then he asks questions that
have already been answered. 
It wastes time and
makes his team members feel unappreciated. 

Leadership Turn has a great post on
5 Simple Tips To Become A Better Listener
including Paying Attention
(that means shutting off the Blackberry). 

The Messy Office

Like it or not, our offices say a lot about us. 

I once worked for a company
with a clean desk policy. 
At the end of the day, everyone’s desk
(from the mailroom guy’s to the CEO’s)
had to be clean. 
A clean desk, an organized mind, I was told. 

Is that a goal to aspire to? 
It depends. 

As associate professor of psychology
Sam Gosling says
“You may want your lawyer
to be very organized
and have a clean desk,
but if you are meeting with someone,
perhaps from advertising,
you would want their desk
to be covered in papers and ideas
that represent his ability to be creative.”

Sometimes It IS You

Managers talk about “tricks” to retaining staff. 
Give employees new challenges. 
Offer a bonus six months after the year end. 
Have stock options vest over ten years. 

Often it is not that simple. 

The position I’m currently filling has
never had a employee in it for more than a year. 
When it was advertised internally,
not only were there no internal candidates but
no employees forwarded external candidates. 
I’ve been there 3 months and
I’m ready to leave (daily). 

The problem?  
The very emotional manager.
And this burning your bridges complaint
won’t show up on any exit interview
or by “asking the temp.”  

Assume it is you
before looking to outside fixes.      

Surrounding Yourself With Successful People

One of my favorite business bloggers,
Troy White,
has a post on
his big lessons from 2007.

One of them was
to surround yourself with successful people. 
He reco’s that from the mentoring point of view
but there is another reason. 

Successful people inspire. 

I’ve been struggling with a project lately. 
I was feeling a bit beat up. 
Then I hear that a friend accomplished an “impossible” dream,
something that she struggled with only weeks ago. 

Darn it, I told myself,
if she can do that,
then surely I can do this less challenging task. 
And I worked on it all yesterday with renewed determination.

Success breeds success
whether it is your success or someone else’s.

Scope And Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve

Of all the sponsor’s vying for attention
during Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve show,
one stood out. 

Scope

Yes, the mouthwash.  

Throughout the show,
there were Scope moments.  
Simple and short spots featuring 
two people in the crowd kissing. 

During the first spot, 
everyone I knew ran for a gum or mouthwash or mint. 
Then every time a couple would kiss, 
there would be a wave of copycat kisses. 
I saw people watching out for the spot
with smiles on their faces
(and a certain look in their eyes).  

Brilliant, brilliant marketing.

Published
Categorized as Marketing