“Go West, young man!

Then South, then East,

then North, then West

again, then . . .”

You may think you’re a creature of habit and that you have your daily routines to follow, but as truth will have it, you consciously or unconsciously reinvent little pieces of yourself every day by choosing the clothes you wear and the foods you eat, the ideas you think about, and even the people you choose to smile or snarl at.

So, you’re already on the path of reconstruction. How about re-visiting the parts of you and your business that are most exposed to others, and decide if those parts are really holding their own, or if maybe it’s time to consider reinventing yourself . . . or your storefront, or your website, or your business name, or your logo, or branding identity, or lineup of services you offer, or the ways you communicate your business message to the the outside world?

I learned that most successful entrepreneurs, and particularly those with service-oriented businesses — whether run from a garage, a kitchen, a fancy office, a warehouse, or the back of a truck — are those who work at staying flexible and at communicating that flexibility to their investors, employees, and customers with the frequency of a Twitter Tweet.

In applying that thinking over the years, I changed the name and identity of my business many times to best fit changing operational logistics and market dynamics. When I left the NY ad agency life for NJ college professorship and was still restlessly seeking a more entrepreneurial existence, I went into business to compete with the college that I believed was too invested in status quo curricula, and I started UNcollege.

As more businesses sent participants to the nontraditional instructional programs UNcollege provided, I switched gears to become Management Training Center. When the recession wiped out business training budgets, I segmented the training programs and took them onto the air waves with my own daily radio show, BusinessWorks On The Air, then into editing Business Talk magazine, as I folded Management Training Center into BusinessWorks.

The media exposure drove more business startups and revitalization consulting and marketing projects my way and BusinessWorks  evolved to specialize in healthcare practice development work. I wrote and published two well-received “doctor” books and opened HealthCareWorks.

As my writing turned more literary, and then more marketing focused, I closed down BusinessWorks and HealthCareWorks and opened my four year-old business, TheWriterWorks.com, LLC. which hosts this blog site and www.BusinessWorks.US and within a week will add a third site while participating as partner in two other upcoming online ventures. I now write business websites, ads, news releases, articles, and books . . . and specialize in reviving struggling organizations with customized ENTREPRENEURIAL LEADERSHIP consulting services that get results!

None of this is job-hopping, or suggesting of insecurity or fly-by-night businesses. It is the layering on of ongoing knowledge pursuits with fresh, new-look entities — each providing better, more targeted services than the last.

Has it been easy? No. Worth it? Yes. Exciting? Yes. Challenging? Yes. Has it cost client relationships? No; it’s called: “Stay in touch!” Has it cost reputation? No; I’m still me and I still deliver overkill value. Has it opened more doors? Yes.

Reinventing what you do is a reasonable risk because it’s not changing what you do; it’s changing the ways you communicate what you do to better apply your services to take advantage of market need opportunities. Scared? Stay as you are. Bored? Reinvent yourself by challenging the business you currently run to be as spirited as the business you once started.

# # #

Hal@Businessworks.US  931.854.0474

Open  Minds  Open  Doors

Many thanks for your visit and God Bless You.

Make today a GREAT day for someone!

So, ARE you the Boss, or not?

(Part I of II)  

     Other than bad news from your accountant, there’s very little you can hear that’s worse than, “It’s not my job!”  Nor does it make any difference which of those four words is most emphasized (and of course the absolute worst place any boss can hear these words is when an employee says them to a customer!).

The example, though, serves to make a point:

You’re “The Boss” . . . What’s YOUR job?

     If you want to start making more money by tomorrow morning, you’re going to have to change a few things. If you’re going to change a few things, you have to be very clear and keenly aware of what exists right now — beforeyou charge in with your wheelbarrowful of shovels, dynamite sticks, battering ram, hammer and nails, concrete, and power tools.

     Probably the most important first step (which, by the way, takes at least 3-6 seconds!) is to accept the fact that the sooner you can get yourself to STOP thinking of yourself as a “business owner” or “operator” or “manager,” the quicker you’ll get to that money-making part. Why? Because . . .

Because  the minute you think of yourself as some title, like “the owner,” there are certain defined behaviors and privileges that go along with that title, and each of those is limiting.

They unconsciously require you to behave in certain ways.

They actually block you from exercising your true entrepreneurial pursuits, your innovative ideas, and your ability to move your business forward in high gear.

     To put aside your self-imposed limitations, you must first put aside your thoughts of being “the owner/operator/manager,” and start to think of yourself as more of the free spirit that started your business, or that started working with it from that very first day. Remember that? You were all cranked-up and uninhibited in your thinking?

     Forget about what happened since then and focus on where you are right this minute. And as for “down the road,” if you know where you want to end up, don’t waste time checking the finish line; stay with your heartbeat and pulse and breathing! 

     This “New You” also needs to throw off any and all “Get Rich Quick” schemes. Reality note:There is no such thing! Forget about all those slick email and Twitter and Facebook and YouTube come-ons and one-time-only deals that promise transformation of your life and business into an overnight kingdom for just four easy payments of $29.95.

     Instead, you might give some thought to what you could do for your your business yourSELF for the $119.80 [oh, right, “plus S&H” . . . or now it’s “P&H” . . . “P” for Processing. Apparently “Shipping” is now free and you pay only for “Processing.”  Hmmm, “Processing” PLUS “Handling”? Aren’t employees PAID to do “S” and “H” and “P”?  Is somebody double-dipping?]

     Okay, here it is. This is what you’ve been waiting for . . . 

          To get ready to make more money starting tomorrow morning: 

1) Start focusing on what you can do immediately to shed your mental cloak of limitations that revolve around BEING (insert your title), and instead take 3 bold, positive steps toward framing your business in some exciting new, more realistic, more authentic, more transparent directions.

2) Order more deposit slips. 

 Comment below or Hal@BusinessWorks.US 

 Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless You!

Make it a GREAT Day for someone!

If it’s not a surprise

party invite,

opt out of 

“Bcc…” emails!

     True leaders are transparent throughout their daily conduct. They don’t just open the books, the files, the records, and their agendas to others, they think twice and email once. When you think you need to Bcc someone on an email, think again.

     Paint yourself a worst-case scenario. The To people and the Cc people find out about the Bcc person or people, and then where are you? [Up the paddle without a creek!]

     Just because we are becoming a less one-on-one social and more tech-social society, is no excuse to hide communications with others. If doing that feels essential, you may want to re-visit the purpose and intent of your message to begin with. In fact, you may want to re-visit your organization’s integrity. 

    By using email Bcc options as a matter of practice, you not only run the risk of jeopardizing your own credibility, you threaten the credibility of others. And you definitely set a bad precedent. People always think it’s okay to do what the boss does just because the boss does it. [They need some other reason?]

     If it’s impossible in your organization to be open and forthright about sensitive issues, it’s equally impossible to be an effective leader. Today’s generation doesn’t really care what your leadership messages have to say as much as they are preoccupied with and focused on what you do, and the examples you set. HOW you transmit a message is as important as the content of the message. 

     A Bcc user is a buttoned-up suit functioning out of a closed-door back office when people are looking for a frontline, hands-on leader with sleeves rolled up. Routine use of email Bccs sends out clandestine signals. How can others surmise anything trustworthy about someone who is known for constantly communicating behind their backs?

     Let’s say you have been charged with solving a customer service problem. Why would you leave the customer out of the communication loop? Afraid of the customer seeing weakness in your organization? Perhaps weakness has more to do with not communicating? [And fear is after all, a choice.]

     How about including your customer in the flow of communications so he/she can see and experience your organization’s commitment to resolving the issues at hand? Too risky? What’s the risk of no feedback about the problem-solving efforts? How do those dynamics apply internally?

     How would you respond to employees who Bcc you on emails they’re exchanging with their immediate supervisors? Would you confront the practice immediately or let it simmer? Would you share the news with the immediate supervisors?

     Would it depend on the circumstances and the people involved? Why? Why wouldn’t this, being a policy issue, be treated as a policy issue? What can be done to prevent the destructive practice from being practiced in the first place?   

Comment below or Hal@BusinessWorks.US Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless You! Make it a GREAT Day! Blog via RSS feed or $1/mo Kindle. GRANDPARENT Gift? http://bit.ly/3nDlGF

Start with

INTROSPECTION.

Then, add the

decorations. . .

     There comes a time in every economic curve (and especially like now, where the curve has become a plummet) when we must stop the centrifuge that has our backs slammed up against the spinning wall. Nice imagery, huh? Ever feel like that, or am I just imagining things? 

     We need to step off, collect ourselves, take a deep breath, regain a sense of balance, and re-examine what’s going on with our business. You know, take a look at those activities (or lack of) that we haven’t paid attention to lately because we’ve spun ourselves into a state of dizziness (no I’m not talking about that dizzy state on the West Coast!)

     Management gurus seeking creative nirvana in their leadership styles have been urging us all for years to “think outside the box.” I disagree. I’ve watched an endless stream of business ventures think themselves out of the box and into financial quicksand.

     Contrary to their brilliant branding message, even Taco Bell needs to think “inside the bun” in order to ensure consistent quality of food ingredients, as well as service. Thinking INSIDE THE BOX is like circling the wagons, shoring up the foundation, strengthening existing connections and relationships, reinforcing the structural integrity of existing products and services, and promoting value-added innovation all at the same time.  

     It rivals the explosive levels of productivity that surface the day before leaving for vacation (ah, yes, vacations; I remember those).

     A truly great and successful, well-known man whose memoir I’m presently writing, always says (rather authoritatively): “You can’t do two things at once!” 

     I’m thinking about staring so hard out the windshield that you spill the coffee — or worse, reaching to balance the coffee and crashing into the car in front of you. Well, when it comes to business ownership and management, the expression is equally true. Thinking OUTSIDE the box takes you too far away from what you need to be focused on when cashflow is dwindling.

     I’ve often noted here that the best way to do this is with http://bit.ly/Bb1Tw which I guarantee will help you stay focused on what’s important. The bottom line is that you REALLY need to not leave home without it and the “it” is the part about first making sure your home is safely protected, that some one’s around to keep an eye on it for you, that mail and messages will get forwarded or saved.

     Thinking OUTSIDE the box requires that INSIDE-the-box operations are safe and sound and moving forward without you having to risk divided attention. It’s simple when you start with INTROSPECTION. 

Hal@BusinessWorks.US 

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless You!

Make today a GREAT day for someone! 

Blog via RSS feed or $1/mo Kindle. GRANDPARENT Gift? http://bit.ly/3nDlGF

When it all looks like

it’s crumbling down

 around you–get selfish!

     Selfish . . . as in Piggy? No . . . as in oriented toward your SELF!

     You can’t control government except at election time. You can’t control irate customers who give you fits trying to nickle and dime you at every turn. You can’t control what goes on behind your back unless you never turn your back. You can’t control a lot of people and situations in your business and personal life. But you CAN control YOU! 

     What you say and think and do is entirely your choice, and entirely under your control. (If you doubt this and are ready to shoot back examples to the contrary, examine your examples. Odds are 100 out of 100 that you made a conscious or unconscious choice to set yourself up to not have a choice, but -ALWAYS – there is or was a choice. Take advantage of how you can use that information now, today!) 

HOW you respond to someone or something that’s out of your control is within your control.

     So stop choosing to think that everyone else is pushing your button. No one can reach inside your brain and control how you think.

     The great motivational theory and studies psychologist Abraham Maslow focused his attention on the path and process of self-actualization. In addition to using their own intellects and talents, Maslow said that self-actualizing people take responsibility for others as well as themselves and (according to James and Jongeward in their classic book, Born To Win), “have a childlike capacity for awareness and pleasure.”

     The authors proceed to note that “these individuals customarily have some mission in life, some task to fulfill, some problem outside themselves which enlists much of their energies … they work within a framework of values that are broad and not petty, universal and not local, and in terms of a century rather than a moment … have a wonderful capacity to appreciate again and again, freshly and naively, the basic goods of life with awe, pleasure, wonder, and even ecstasy, however stale these experiences may have become to others.”

     If you’ve let outside influences under your skin, it may be time to appreciate more what you already have in life and to take stock in whether those around you are contributing to your growth and happiness, and to the growth and success of your business — or are they detracting from it?

     Exerting your own sense of self-actualization can influence others to change negative thoughts and behaviors and directions, but — more importantly — it will serve to boost your own rockets and reinforce that you’re not such a bad “gal” or “guy” after all.

     You have enormous powers to turn things around when you decide to consistently apply your strengths to what’s in your face or on your plate. Keep outside influences outside.

     Draw instead from your own inner strength and the inner strength of your business, and from those who live inside your inner circle. Making decisions and conducting yourself from inside yourself is a better, happier, healthier choice every time.  

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Hal@Businessworks.US or 302.933.0116

“The price of freedom is eternal vigilance!” [Thomas Jefferson] 

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals. God Bless You.

Make today a GREAT day for someone!

Not all salespeople

are leaders,

but all leaders

are salespeople!

     Psychologists tell us it’s a pretty safe bet that a sale is made or broken in the first 10 seconds. The first make-or-break second of the first 10 seconds is the impression made by your smile… ü

     So maybe it’s a good time to run to the mirror and evaluate. Is yours: Genuine? Fake? Masking upset? Token? Mocking? Ambivalent? A slight grin? A mouthful of teeth and gums? A lecherous drool?

     You needn’t be a toothpaste commercial, shooting forth little light beams every time you open your mouth anymore than your handshakes need to break bones. Let authenticity be your guide. 

     Do you ever find yourself thinking that you can put one over on someone because you’re on the telephone? After all, the other person can’t see your face so you can scowl all you want, chew gum, eat pretzels, rattle ice cubes, clack your teeth, pick your nose, or tap on your keyboard . . . and “who knew?”

     Ah, but surely you can hear me if I do those things to youon the phone; why would you imagine others can’t pick up dumb and disgusting noises or subconscious vocal (er, ah, uh, um, duh, uh-huh, ahem, awk!) signals from you?

     Can we hear each other smiling?Of course. We can also hear a ton of other emotions when the importance of the call warrants careful attention, and probably half a ton even when the call’s a casual one. How many times have you spoken with a total stranger and known immediately that the person has a cold, or is upset, or preoccupied, or in a hurry? How about when it’s someone you know well?

     We listen with “selective perception.” Like the artist walking into a crowded party focused on where the host hung her artwork, or the alcoholic who nods and smiles his way along the shortest straight line route to the bar, or the recently downsized administrator searching out prospective employer-types to impress. The same selective perception. We perceive what we want to perceive and we pick out or select the words and tone of voice and attitude we want to hear.

     In fact, depending on who’s on the other end, we may “work the room” so to speak in an effort to prompt those desired words and tone and attitude. A little light humor can do the job. Sometimes a sob or two. Can you tell when someone is trying these ploys? Manipulation is not authenticity. 

     Successful leaders use selective perception too, but they don’t limit input when it serves a purpose; in fact, they encourage it. There’s a song from the ’70s by the group, “YES,” that I’ve always liked with the line, “Don’t surround yourself with your self!”

     Unprofessional salespeople who lack vision tend to do this. Being too caught up with or full of themselves loses sales. Weak, dillusional leaders often do it to mask their insecurities until discovery unravels the truth of their missions.

     If you are a good leader, you are selling constantly because it’s your job to motivate others to want to achieve what you need them to do using strategic approaches that they contribute to. If you’re a good salesperson, you recognize the importance of providing effective leadership for your customers and the communities you serve.

     And –VOILA!– it all starts with a real, smile-like-you-mean-it smile… ü    

Hal@BusinessWorks.US 

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless You!

Make today a GREAT day for someone! 

No matter which end of

the interview

you’re on…

     Few things can feel more satisfying than to win over the person at the other end of an interview by taking quiet control with championship communication skills.

     Active listening, thoughtful speaking and careful observations pay big dividends in employee/employer screening and hiring interviews, as well as in day-to-day operations.

     Yes, it’s true that nothing beats a great handshake, neat appearance, good grooming, eye-contact, and a bright smile for openers. But once you’re seated, you need a new set of tools.

     And no matter which end of the interview you’re on, be careful to not blow off a great first impression with lousy body language.

     When you sit back in your seat (especially in a sprawl and/or with hands clasped behind your head) you are giving off a superiority attitude that no one likes, even if you happen to be superior.

     If your arms, legs, ankles, hands, wrists are folded, you are communicating defensiveness, which will not work to your advantage, even if you are feeling that way.

     Open-ended questions provide the most revealing answers:

• “Tell me what’s important to you that’s not on this resume?

• What would you do if I gave you a million dollars cash right this minute?

• Who or what has made the biggest difference in your life and how did that happen?

• What would make you choose situation A over situation B even though B would offer you more money? (or better benefits?)

• What’s the hardest work situation you’ve ever had to deal with?

• How did you get started in this business anyway?”

are all good examples.

     WHAT the answers are to these or any other questions are only 20% important. HOW the answers are delivered accounts for 80% of what’s important! How rushed or deliberate are the responses?

     How serious or humorous are the answers? If humor is included, is it disparaging or self-effacing? In good taste? Does eye-contact have a focal point or is it more like staring? Leering? Avoiding?

Resist the temptation to fill the air with words.

Silence is a very useful and telling tool as long as it doesn’t go past the point of being intimidating.

In the same context, note taking is always a powerful practice; it keeps your attention focused; it supplements your memory banks; it’s flattering.

     Prompt, then listen. Never hesitate to clarify with paraphrasing (“Do I understand you correctly to mean . . . ?” Fill in your own words to check the meaning of something you’re in doubt about). Ask for examples. Ask for diagrams. Offer examples. Offer diagrams.

     Be careful with any job candidate who seems preoccupied with issues involving compensation, insurance, vacations, sick days, personal timeoffs, overtime pay, time reporting, lunch and coffee breaks. If you’re a candidate, be careful of a prospective employer who doesn’t volunteer this information up front.  

     When you can be prepared to the point where the interview is something you look forward to, you are likely to be ready to communicate effectively no matter which end of it you’re on. When you can be a detective during the interview, and make adjustments along the way, you’ll be increasing your odds for success regardless of whether you’re asking or answering.   

Hal@BUSINESSWORKS.US 

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless You!

Make today a GREAT day for someone! 

Should “A-Rod” 

be negotiating

terms for Scott Boras

to play third base?

     With immediate apologies to all those “not a baseball fan” types who prefer brawn-over-brain sports that require heavy drinking to appreciate, and, oh yes, apologies also to all those who suffered great heartache at having to see Olympic curling competition come to an end.

     It’s just that even Herman’s Hermits have heard of baseball’s super-star Yankee slickster, and America’s champion sports agent (No, not the Tom Cruise character from the “Show me the money!” movie). And everyone knows that neither of these guys could do the other’s job with even a shred of success. Besides, it hooked you into reading this, right? 

     Well, this is not much ado about nothing because business owners and managers insist everyday on putting the avalanche of marketing burdens on the shoulders of salespeople who haven’t a clue about the most appropriate tools to use, nor any sense of the command of psychology needed to make those tools work effectively. And designating marketing people for sales roles can be an even bigger joke.

     Marketing is not sales. Sales is a function of marketing.

     Marketing is also the umbrella over all these other functions: pricing; packaging; online and offline promotion, merchandising, and advertising; online and offline public relations, community relations, investor relations, industry relations, business alumni relations, and much of customer relations; professional practice development; formalized networking, blogging, and social media activities; website design and development; and “buzz” (word-of-mouth) marketing.

     Sales has many parts to it. Not the least of these is that being a sales representative means running one’s own small sales performance business complete with bookkeeping and all the other migraine-promoters. But sales is sales.

     Marketers are the planners, organizers, strategists and creators. Salespeople are the movers and shakers. Salespeople are the lifeblood of every organization. Marketers provide the support services that bring prospects to the point of sale. Salespeople sell!

     If you want your salespeople to do a better job of selling, let them sell. Take away the responsibility for marketing that drains their energy, makes them crazy and is beyond their comprehension to begin with, and let them sell.

     Give the responsibility for marketing to people who are trained to do marketing. Let them come up with the words and pictures and designs and plans and budgets and strategies and slogans and jingles and branding lines and media plans and scripts and news releases and online program approaches.

     When their work succeeds at driving prospects to your door, reward them for the results; but then let your salespeople do their job! 

     Of course they all need to interact and share insights with one another. The more each team and individual knows about what makes the other(s) tick, the more successful all of them will be, and so will be your business. Your greatest challenge is to motivate everyone to do what they do best to take your business in the direction you want it to go. That’s leadership, and only you can do that!

Comment below or direct to Hal@BUSINESSWORKS.US Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless You! Make it a GREAT Day! Get blog emails FREE via RSS feed OR $1 mo Amazon Kindle. Gr8 Gift 4 GRANDPARENTS: http://bit.ly/3nDlGF

“Apparently, human

beings don’t need

to know someone in

order to believe that

they know someone.”

–Malcolm Gladwell, in his article”The New-Boy Network” from his book, WHAT THE DOG SAW

     Astonishing confirmation of the news most of us know instinctively but probably never openly acknowledged has surfaced as a little tidbit of information in a remarkable new book from Malcolm Gladwell, the author of three best-selling books: The Tipping Point, Blink, and Outliers.

     A sale is made or broken in the first ten seconds!

    Gladwell doesn’t claim this. I do. Sadly I have no relationship with the man beyond being a great admirer of his brilliant writing skills, but I just finished this collection of his and had a hard time not bookmarking the thing beyond recognition. He raises the spectre that many new hires end up being ushered into businesses because they give great handshakes and eye contact and say the right first couple of words when they’re interviewed, regardless of how often or long they’re interviewed.

     Those of us who’ve spent careers engaged in sales and selling know this kind of responsiveness is what attracts customers and what closes sales. 

•      SECOND #1, #2, and #3 of every sales encounter (which, if you think like most successful small business owners think, means: every encounter with every person every day . . . because when you run your own business, you must always be selling) is consumed with your smile, your appearance, your eye contact, your tone of voice, and your handshake.

•      SECONDS #4-#10 are consumed with confirming or denying what the other person’s brain has taken in about you in those first 3 seconds. Skepticism usually leads to rejection  (or possibly some level of tacit approval, but not genuine receptivity).

     So, you’re in sales? Own or manage a business? Well, maybe it’s a good time to backtrack a bit and examine how you come across to others (especially strangers) in those critical  first 3 seconds?

     Do you communicate energy, enthusiasm, positiveness, good cheer? Do you just transmit these qualities like a reporter, or do you radiatethem like a tie-game coach at halftime? (No, not locker-room trash talk or yelling; radiating is all about inspiring and motivating.

     In the same context, is your handshake firm and sincere? Ask others to rate your handshake between a wet fish and a bone-crusher; it should be dead center between them; skewed to either end of that spectrum will cost sales . . . and friends.)

     The secret is one we all tend to forget or get careless about. It’s called (pssssssst!): authenticity. It’s a great thing to be true to oneself. It’s a sure bet to communicate/radiate your most genuine, most positive self to others at every opportunity. It will come back to you many times over in your life. It surely will make you more sales.

     Act like you mean it.

More importantly, mean it!

Hal@BUSINESSWORKS.US 

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless You!

Make today a GREAT day for someone! 

 Cars, Copiers,

Cabbage,

Colonoscopies,  

 Microchips,

or French Fries

     It doesn’t matter WHAT a salesperson sells. It’s HOW he or she makes a sale that counts. 

     If you’re “in sales,” you know what this is about. And if you’re NOT “in sales” (technically speaking), you ARE in sales. Think about that one for a minute. Aren’t all of us engaged in some form of selling every day?

     Not knowing or accepting that you are in sales even though you’re not “in sales” is probably a bigger roadblock to your success than a dysfunctional family (which each of us reportedly has!).

     Savvy sales managers and business owners recruit “sales personalities,” not robots dripping with product/service knowledge. Of course salespeople cannot be effective without substantial product/service knowledge, but they also cannot be effective if they are not social animals. Performance features are easy to teach; performing is not.

     We are human so it’s only natural that we gravitate toward people with personalities that come across as authentic — people with “sales personalities.” Why would this be the case? Here we go with this sentence that sounds exaggerated but is true: All customers make all purchases (even those that seem completely unemotional) based on emotional buying motives, not logical, rational, objective ones.

     You may want to re-read that last sentence and give it some open-minded consideration. Human beings do not buy product or service features. They use product or service features to justify their purchases.

     Those people gifted with “sales personalities” are able to sell virtually anything. If I’m looking to hire someone to sell rocket ship parts to scientists, I’ll take a guy who sells railroad cars full of ketchup packets to university buyers over an interplanetary science major who has major research experience in rocket ship construction.

     The ketchup guy can learn the rocket ship parts business. It’s not likely the scientist is going to all of a sudden learn how to turn on the charm and be a great listener. The scientist will typically be preoccupied with talking about what the scientist is interested in talking about, not about first hearing and processing and then emphasizing the benefits the buyers are seeking.

     The scientist will tend to emphasize features (which could just as easily be presented in writing and diagrams) and probably gloss over if not downright disregard any emotionally-based purchase considerations that may –as just one example– have to do with how the buyers’ decisions may have the impact of helping to protect organizational integrity.

     If you own or manage a business and need strong sales support, put aside industry-specific and technical backgrounds as criteria. Focus your recruitment efforts instead on finding someone who’s proven to be a quick learner, who has enthusiasm, exceptional listening and communication skills, and who has demonstrated ability to sell. Period. You’ll get more for your money.

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Hal@Businessworks.US or 302.933.0116

“The price of freedom is eternal vigilance!” [Thomas Jefferson] 

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals. God Bless You.

Make today a GREAT day for someone!