Boasting your way along 

“the humble leader” line______

Maybe it’s a paradox, but it’s really not always a contradiction.

Being both assertive AND humble can work when personal authenticity is in the driver’s seat.  There’s a terrific website www.BizBrag.com that encourages business boasting because there are times when everyone needs to toot her or his own respective horn, and posting news releases on BizBrag makes it easy.

Of course, any news release content you post or create must be newsworthy and not overtly self-serving if there’s any expectation of actually getting traditional or online media coverage. And it should probably go without saying that the better the writing quality, the more likely a release is to gain exposure. Think about being an editor bombarded with hundreds of PR stories!

But speaking up for yourself is not bragging. And assertiveness is not aggression! Effective leaders are almost universally assertive in their thinking and behavior, and their boasting is usually limited to praising others–the teams they lead, the customers they serve, the competitors they battle with. And, therein (AHA!) lies “leadership humility.”

Anyone who tries to prompt business leaders to associate humility with milquetoast, hat-in-hand, apologetic, goody-two-shoes behavior is missing a lightbulb or two in the world of reality. No, this is not to suggest that those in leadership positions run around patting themselves on the back while giving themselves high-fives (making themselves likely candidates for chiropractic treatment), but it IS to say that taking a strong stand–internally and externally–is both healthy and necessary.

Here’s the bottom line: No one wants to hear about how great you think you are. No one cares. Get rid of the words that haunt braggadocio-minded grandstanders: Stop talking in terms of “I” “Me” “My” “We” “Our” and start addressing what customers and investors want to hear (The answer to “What’s in it for me?”) by talking in “You” and “Your” terms. “You get” beats “We are.”

A smile, a nod, a thank you are more than sufficient responses to a compliment or praise. Leave the leaping chest bumps and running wildly around the arena up to the Olympiads. Business people do not like business people who “talk themselves up.” Should customers and prospects know if you’ve won an award or recognition? Certainly, but don’t wear your medal to work or beat them over the head with your Oscar.

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302.933.0911                      Hal@TheWriterWorks.com

Make today a GREAT day for someone!

Open Minds Open Doors

When to draw the line_______

You’ve already done all that you were contracted to do, but the client keeps making changes, causing delays in the agreed-to timeline. The result is you are unable to move forward (or even sideways) with the next phase, and unable to send an additional invoice. Okay, so maybe a “client-changes” policy should have been put in place or made clearer from the outset.

But what’s done is done, and here you are, getting stressed.

What to do? When do you draw the line?

“I know, I know,” you say,

“it’s just a matter of being more assertive.”

Right! That always sounds like the right answer, but you run the risk of losing the client, future business and referrals if you are perceived as too pushy or demanding, or if some request you make for added fees gets interpreted as sounding unreasonable.

What to do? When do you draw the line?

Renegotiate.

Okay, that makes sense, but every professional salesperson will tell you that the starting point for virtually every successful negotiation or re-negotiation is to ask questions!

So maybe the answer to: “What to do? When do you draw the line?” is:

As soon as you have a strong, meaninful,

and productive list of questions to ask!

When you start with questions, you can use questions to make your point without risking your relationship.

Y’think?

Well consider how you’d respond to being told that you look like a nervous wreck and should get better control of yourself vs. simply being asked: “Are You Breathing?”

Think about your present circumstances. What are the three most important questions you can ask to win your client’s relationship security, project support . . .  and open the door for your next invoice? Making things change is, after all, your choice. Yup! YOUR choice!

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P L E A S E   N O T E   N E W  D I R E C T   P H O N E   N U M B E R

HAL ALPIAR Writer/Consultant 302.933.0911 TheWriterWorks.com, LLC

National Award-Winning Author & Brand Marketer – Record Client Sales

Mom and Pop Businessess

Are Alive and Well In

Every Industry

and Marketplace

Because so many entrepreneurial ventures are launched, or brought on by, or result in hardworking people who also share a couple relationship (and because the marriage and work relationship I had with my wife lasted over 25 years), it seemed appropriate to devote a post to the subject. Maybe a couple of experience points here can benefit others?

• FIRST: If you are in a love/work relationship and not killing each other every night, congratulations and God Bless You! You have somehow managed (or are at least still managing) to beat the odds. Being the spouse of a business owner or the spouse who is the brains behind the business owner (or are an involved but not-married business couple!) makes you special!

Very few relationships can withstand the attack on emotional, rational, and physical sensibilities that are brought on by the stress of running a business together, while living under the same roof. It’s important to stay “here-and-now” as much as possible. Have flexible, specific, realistic, due-dated goals (and write them down!), but remain focused on the present.

RELY ON HUMOR.

It takes a special way of relating to one another that requires greater sensitivity and sense of purpose than  a typical marriage where one or both partners leave the home each morning and return each night. I have often counseled to paint a line around the bedroom doorway and threshold beyond which, business discussions are not allowed . . . and communicate, communicate, communicate! Listen, listen, listen!

• SECOND: Extreme trust and extreme sacrifice are the two characteristics of successful work/love relationships that cannot be compromised under any circumstances . . . ever! The temptations will be endless, but violating your love/work partner’s trust or not pulling your share of the load spell instant business failure, and often instant relationship failure too!

This distills down to being constantly conscious of not putting yourself in situations that could undermine the well-being of either your work or emotional relationship. Don’t go out partying on your own. Don’t hang out at bars or strip-clubs or trade show suites when you’re on business trips. Don’t wear provocative outfits when you’re on the road or attending meetings. Making a business and a relationship work at the same time requires integrity.

In other words, don’t ask for trouble

 because you’ll surely find it.

Working couples need to accept that friction will always be present. The trick is to work at making it be positive and productive friction. It takes far greater tolerance, patience and understanding than a non-working-together-couple relationship. The trade-off is that working couples–two people with one mindset–are almost always more effective and successful than flying solo.

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Hal@Businessworks.US    302.933.0116

You are not what you sell.

You are what you solve.

True business professionals who dwell in the world of sales, and all small business owners (who live there too) know instinctively that they are not really salespeople pushing their wares and services on others.

They recognize that they are actually problem solvers who listen carefully to customers and prospects and respond with solutions. They focus on building relationships.

The problem is that solving the problem is often glossed over, dismissed, and sidetracked in the process of communicating with a customer or prospect. How often have you heard a store or organization or company rep start out (or jump to her or his safety net when a positive response is not evident) by rattling out a long list of product or service features?

It’s human nature to talk about all the strong points and unique features of a product or service we want others to like, and want, and dive into their pockets for the money we hope they’ll produce. But human nature doesn’t move sales. Customers and prospects don’t buy features. They buy benefits.

How long will this product or service last? How economical is it? How does it work? What colors are available? How spectacular is the price deal? How great is the supplier company or organization? These are all very nice kinds of things to get across because they help purchasers justify their decisions to others (bosses, spouses, friends, etc.) BUT . . .

None of those kinds of features will trigger a purchase.

Features are rational objective things. People are motivated by emotions. Maybe they’re simply charmed by the rep, or maybe they’ve been convinced that the personal benefits to be had outweigh the expense . . . because the product or service solves their problem!

We buy benefits: how easy and convenient this makes your life, how much your friends and neighbors will admire your good taste, how great you look with/in/next to it, how terrific your garden will be when this thing keeps the deer and rabbits away, what you can do for your children’s/grandchildren’s future with the savings from this policy, how wonderful this will look in your living room/dining room/kitchen.

And how do you get someone to this decision point? 1) By listening carefully (prompt customers and prospects to talk 80% of the time!), and 2) By processing what you hear and see to show how what you have to offer can solve their problem.

Anyone can ram features down someone’s throat. This loses more sales than anything else. It takes patience, understanding, and sitting (mentally and physically) on the same side of the table, working in concert to solve the buyer’s problem.

For immediate, focused, affordable sales help, call me now: 302.933.0116

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 With thanks to my LinkedIn friend Kevin Kempler for inspiring this post

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Hal@Businessworks.US   302.933.0116

How To Boost Healthcare

 Great leadership

 is not always transparent!

Every winning sports and business team has a sparkplug — THE one most enthusiastic, energetic, pumped-up, mover and shaker who ignites her or his teammates and gets them focused on achievement. 

Combined with what most of us might designate as leadership qualities… trust, authenticity, integrity, empathy, compassion, active listening, speaking clearly, sense of humor, teaching by example, et al…the single sparkplug ingredient, the piece that brings it all together, comes quietly from inside… and is not always transparent. 

“Sparkpluggyness“  is not tangible, obvious, or even evident in many cases. It is a fire-in-the-belly sense of desire and mission. True leaders exude it, and usually without ever even noticing or acknowledging it. It’s something that “just happens” as many have shared along their career paths.

So how does one begin to cultivate and nurture the characteristics that lead to rewarding practices of inside leadership? Do boosters work? Energy drinks? Coffee? Drugs? Ginseng?

One might best begin with a large dose of self-esteem, let that percolate into self-confidence, add a dash of deep breathing, proper exercise, enough rest, nutritional foods (and obviously eliminate addictive tobacco and alcohol products along the way), and work at mastering the ways of dealing best with your own stress.

Try whatever comes along until you find the one thing that best works for you. Is it jogging? Lifting? Yoga? Massage therapy? Playing with a pet? Pursuing a hobby? Swimming? Gardening? Painting? The answer is different for every single person. But you’ll never discover what’s best for you if you aren’t continually experimenting.   

This is all about getting in touch with your inner self and firing up that furnace. If YOU don’t know what makes you tick, you’ll never be able to know how to best figure out what makes other people tick, and how to best deal with them to get them motivated.

Even Maslow’s Theory of Motivation relies one-hundred percent on a manager’s ability to “size up” others to be able to best reward them at a level that’s most meaningful to THEM. If you give me a plaque when I most want a more impressive title, you’re wasting my interest and sense of teamwork. You will not gain my commitment.

This little piece of leadership need not be for public consumption: The more you know about what makes YOU go, the closer you are to understanding and motivating others, and the more you can succeed at getting others to achieve, the better a leader you become and the more you will accomplish, transparently or otherwise.

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Hal@Businessworks.US   Open  Minds  Open  Doors

Make today a GREAT day for someone!

Stop Business Deaths in 2012!

WASH YOUR HANDS

To Kill Staff Infections!

By now, all of us know, or have heard (or we believe instinctively) that the majority of hospital deaths are the result of complications compounded or initiated by staph infections. These can be traced back to caregivers and support staff not properly and frequently enough washing their hands.

Who woulda thunk it? Such a simple thing.

Well, not only is it true, but I believe it’s even truer (though never researched) in business. After all, it has been widely researched and is no secret that the vast majority of business failures –those that are under-financed, that sell corrupted products and offer ineffective misguided staffs and services– come from poor management.

Management (even when it’s more task than people-oriented) is all about interfacing, interacting, and encountering. It’s about keeping a clear and receptive mindset.

Open Minds Open Doors!

SO WASH YOUR HANDS!

Now I’m not talking about hot water, soap, scrubbing and towel drying. I’m talking about:

1. Closing your eyes for just 10 seconds (perhaps 5 if you’re in a meeting, and not at all if you’re driving!) before and after every encounter with every customer/employee/vendor and investor.

2. Taking a deep breath (to focus attention and to maintain oxygen supply and blood pressure).

3. Mentally (imagining yourself) washing your hands, like a doctor between examinations.

For many who try or maintain this practice, it helps to go through an actual 2-3 second physical action of briskly rubbing your hands together. The action sends a reinforcing mental message to your brain.

Do it before AND after EVERY meeting, conference, phone call, email, letter, overnight delivery, and text message exchange, for as long as your business status remains “critical.” Hey, you are, after all, being a doctor, aren’t you?

You ARE examining, aren’t you?

You ARE listening, exploring, considering, assessing, recommending, deciding, weighing, evaluating, checking and re-checking, sizing up, assuring and reassuring, projecting, planning, strategizing, and predicting, aren’t you?

And what happens to your brain when you’re on the fly and go straight from one encounter to another without  (it sometimes seems) even breathing? Go on, answer this last question. I’ll wait. Okay, and how does that stress translate to your body?

You’re not sure? Well, where do you think these come from?: Headaches, backaches, toothaches, stiff neck, upset stomach, constipation, diarrhea, short temper, edginess, leg cramps, burning eyes, skin rash, urinary infection, or worse — cancer, heart problems? Bottom line: is it worth it?

TRY THIS 10-SECOND

Make-Believe Brisk Hand-Scrubbing APPROACH

for just one week –January 2012 is a perfect test period.

Watch what happens.

Put “WASH YOUR HANDS” reminder notes on a sign over your desk, stuck to your phone and computer screen. Ask your spouse, partner, co-worker, friend or associate to ask you: “Did you wash your hands?” before and after you turn a doorknob, before and after you lift and replace your phone, start or end your meeting . . . improvise here; just keep making the effort.

Here’s what you’ll get: IF you’re honest with yourself and IF you actually follow the prescription, you will be more tuned in to each person you communicate with; you will be noticeably more productive; you will– GUARANTEED–  feel better – mentally, physically, and emotionally; you will more positively affect others around you.

You will, I promise, astound yourself!

More on 2012 “LEADERSHIP”? Come visit me and comment on my Guest Blog post at TBD Consulting’s Jonena Relth’s site: LEADERSHIP TRANSPARENCY and “I” IS FOR INTEGRITY and “T” IS FOR TRUST.

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Updated From the Best of Hal’s Christmastime Business Posts . . .

The quickest fix for

BAH! HUMBUG!