I recently saw an entrepreneur pitch ownership
to a possible investor.
The investor, of course, counter-offered
and the entrepreneur walked away,
refusing to negotiate.
You, as a vendor or potential partner,
may be entering a boardroom
to pitch a product or a deal
but your prospect is there to negotiate.
Expect it, prepare for it.
Run through what if scenarios in your mind.
Don’t walk away from a possibly better opportunity
because you have another one stuck in your mind.
Recently I was being pitched by a financial advisor.
He assured me that managing my money
would be a priority for him.
That he would give me 100% of his attention.
Then… he got a message on his Blackberry.
Instead of ignoring it or excusing himself,
he suggested that I “keep on talking”
while he answered it.
I considered sending him an email
(which obviously he gave higher priority to).
Instead I left his office.
Louise Fox, owner of The Etiquette Ladies,
says the number one etiquette blunder
is the improper use of technology.
She reminds people that the person they are with
should be most important.
I agree.
I spent a lot of time in the rink,
having grown up in a family of hockey players.
Today, I can pick out a hockey player off the ice
by the way he walks.
I was watching Tyra a few weeks back and
she exclaimed to the tv star guest
“You play the guitar.”
He looked surprised and asked how she knew.
Tyra told him because of his fingers.
Long time guitar players have fingers
on one hand shorter than the other.
How do these seemingly trivial matters help with sales?
Sales is all about establishing a connection.
As soon as Tyra pointed out her observation,
her guest immediately relaxed,
his shoulders lowering,
his smile becoming genuine.
Publicity hungry Kanye West has accused
MTV of exploiting Britney Spears.
Why?
Because the execs put her on stage
before she was “ready.”
Back when I was young and arrogant,
I did a sales presentation before I was ready.
Like Britney, I didn’t practice before hand.
Like Britney, minutes into the presentation,
I knew I made a mistake.
Like Britney, the reaction was horrible and
could have ended my career
(my manager said if I ever
pulled a stunt like that again… ).
I also knew who to blame.
The difference is it sure wasn’t the execs.
I often get flack from
other new business development gals
for openly saying great ideas are easy to find.
Shhh… they tell me,
that’s part of the magic.
Revealing the great idea.
Watching the wonder on jaded executives’ faces.
That’s also the fun part of the job.
Its getting that idea in customer’s hands
that will make you wanna
stick a sharp object in your eye.
Seth Godin’s awesome suggestion?
Release the extra ideas freely into the universe
and let others implement them.
One of the ways that I save time
is to accumulate similar tasks
like answering email or sending snail mail
and complete them all at one time.
Brian Tracy in the book Million Dollar Habits says
“Efficiency experts calculate that
if you have ten similar tasks to do,
and you do them all at once,
one after the other,
by the time you get to the tenth task,
you will be working so efficiently
that it will be taking you only 20 percent of the time
it took you to do the first item on the list.”
Once upon a time,
there was a product called domain backorder.
This service allowed people to
squat on expiring domains and then
automatically purchase the domain name
once it expired.
Domain registrars,
realizing that there was competition for these names
and wanting to increase revenues,
got smart.
Now expiring domains go into an auction process
with the registrars scooping the difference in price.
The problem?
They are still offering the now extinct
domain backorder product.
Sloppy.
If you replace a product,
take the old product off the market.
I asked a fellow writer if
she was shopping a manuscript around.
She replied that she was waiting for
a rejection from a certain agent.
Although I knew what her response would be,
I asked what other agents she had sent it to.
Her answer?
The predictable no other.
Why was this predictable?
Because pessimists are not often proactive.
That’s a sign of an optimist.
As Priscilla Palmer writes
“the Optimist lives proactively.
He looks for solutions rather than
dwelling on the problem.”
A friend recently attended a
rah, rah speech by the company President
about how their number one asset
was their employees,
etc.
She and I both agree that
layoffs/restructuring plans are looming.
Why?
Because the executive team
has been focusing on that area
(enough to warrant a speech).
In “Hello Laziness”, Corinne Maier observes that
“The more a large company talks about something,
the less there is of it.
Companies assert the ‘value’ of particular jobs
just at the money they are about to disappear…”
Yesterday, I was watching the news coverage
of the great tenor Pavarotti’s death.
One anchorwoman said
“How could he have not been successful?
Listen to his voice.”
How could he have not been successful?
Read his biography.
Few people realize that Pavarotti’s dad
had a half decent voice also.
Why don’t they realize that?
Because the dad didn’t try.
He was too nervous.
Pavarotti did, however, try.
Hard.
He convinced his first singing coach
to teach him for free.
He worked part-time jobs.
He sang for free to gather experience.
Even with Pavarotti’s perfect pitch,
success was far from assured.
A gift is not enough.