Personal Note From Anne:
Mickey Mouse & The White House
Did you ever think Mickey Mouse and the White House would rock together? Well, President Obama made a brilliant marketing move. For the first time ever, he had a Kids Inaugural Ball. It was on Disney Channel for 1.5 hours. He had Miley Cyrus, the Jonas Brothers and numerous other stars on hand. He did video clips from Iraq soldiers and had their families on stage to say hello. His wife and daughters rocked out in the front row. Pure marketing brilliance!
My two daughters begged to stay up late so they could see the entire show. They were engrossed with watching him become President. Think about it, in eight years these are the kids that will be voting in the next President. He is setting up a new stage of thinking. He is growing the nations young minds at the same time he is reaching out to the more established minds. He is definitely a man who will not do things the old way. I have watched him build a solid network and to shake the traditional way of doing things.
Many of you may not know that he is one of the first candidates to use social networking in his campaign. He actually had games made that people could do on line just like they play Halo or Ruin Scape. All of that attracted the techno savvy younger voter. There are lessons for all of us to learn here.
Ask yourself, how you can apply innovative thinking to what you do. Why use the old tried and true channels? Why not zig when all else zag? Why do you have to do things the way they have always been done?
As Einstein said, "You can't solve a problem from the same level of thinking that created it." I for one am looking forward to a breath of fresh air, innovation, and creative thinking that is certainly on the horizon.
TAKE ACTION: Try to do something unusual and new today to break out of old molds.
- Anne
How can I inject some excitement into my voice when presenting?
Use as a training tool: Present the situation below to the group and have them brainstorm how they would best handle the situation. Then share the Outcome Focus® answer and see how it relates or differs from solutions the group found.
Situation:
Dear Anne,
Lately, our team has been getting together to do some prep work and brain storming about different design ideas. My problem is that when I come up with some ideas and present it to my small group it sounds great but when I do the larger presentation that same message is not delivered.
An example is when we state what we call our "value story," which needs to be delivered in a passionate/high tone voice, I was able to convey that while I was practicing but during the actual presentation something was lacking.
What can I do to take that passion and enthusiasm that came out during the "mock" presentation and really capture the audience's attention and be a more effect communicator?
Outcome Desired:
You want your passion for a particular project to be infectious!
In order to do that your brain reaches back to get passion from how you feel while you are presenting. If you are nervous, unsure or feel you are taking up their time, your brain will kill all passion from your voice because it will focus on communicating the other signals.
So it is important when presenting that you keep in mind, not why it is important to you, but why it is significant to the audience.
Make sure you include a call to action so that your audience has definite steps to keep your message moving through the organization
Other Person's Perspective:
If you aren't passionate why should they be passionate about it? Also, in the absence of voice intonation or modulation, people will give your message a more negative connotation. Therefore you must have some fluctuation and variation in your voice.
How to Handle:
The best way to practice varying your voice is to read children's books out loud. Make sure you adjust your voice for each character and that you clearly articulate each word. Practice with a tape recorder so you can listen to yourself from the audience's perspective.
You can also think about a subject you are passionate about and then talk about that into a tape recorder. Listen to your voice fluctuation and see how it changes as you talk about something you have a lot of passion for. Then take any piece of reading and try to read it with that same passion.
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Quotable Quotes “You can only become truly accomplished at something you love. Don't make money your goal. Instead, pursue the things you love doing, and then do them so well that people can't take their eyes off you.” - Maya Angelou
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Get Personal to Get More Business By Harvey Mackay The wind and the sun were having a conversation one day, which turned into a friendly competition about who was better at making things go their way. The wind said, "I am so strong and so good at what I do that I can blow the coat away from that man down on the ground." So the wind blew hard, bending trees and rattling windows. But the stronger the wind, the more the man clutched his coat, wrapping it tightly around him. The sun waited patiently for the windstorm to end and then took a turn. With a smile, the sun beamed down its warm rays until the man took off his coat voluntarily. What the wind couldn't do with brute force the sun accomplished with warmth and charm. It's a valuable lesson for anyone who has contact with people. Now wouldn't that be just about all of us? My mother used to tell me that you could catch more flies with honey than with vinegar. For the life of me, I couldn't figure out why she wanted to catch so many flies. When I finally understood what she was talking about, I realized that our personalities often determine the outcome of situations. They can go either way. In a perfect world, a course on personality development should be part of a business curriculum. In my little utopia, students would have to get an A+ to pass the course. Why? Because no matter how advanced our technology becomes, personal interaction often seals the deal. In The Power of Positive Thinking, one of my favorite books, the late Norman Vincent Peale tells about a man who came to his New York clinic looking for help with his personal relationships. The man was impressive and nice looking. Initially, it was hard to understand why people would not be drawn to him. The man explained that he tried to follow the rules he had learned about getting along, but still, people just didn't seem to like him. Peale says, "It was not difficult to understand the trouble. There was about him a noticeable air of superiority. He was rigid, self-centered and egotistical. This young man was irritable with people. He picked on them in his own mind, though no outward conflicts with other persons developed. Since he was being unpleasant to people in his thoughts, it followed that he was less than warm in his personal attitudes." Peale's assessment was that the man was suffering from self-love and that he was trying to make everybody over to suit himself. One of his suggestions was that the man picture each person he had met during the day and think a kindly thought about each one. The young man worked hard at following Peale's suggestion, and eventually reached a startling conclusion: "I have found that the world is filled with interesting people and I never realized it before." We have a tool at Mackay Mitchell Envelope Company that helps our sales force learn all kinds of interesting facts about our customers. We call it the "Mackay 66 Customer Profile". We're not talking about a customer's taste in envelopes either. We want to know, based on observation and routine conversation, what our customer is like as a human being. What does he feel strongly about? What is she most proud of having achieved? What are the status symbols in his office? We don't often get answers to all 66 questions in the profile, but 40 answers are better than 30 and 30 are better than 20. The main thing is to learn as much as you can about your customers. At Mackay Mitchell Envelope Company, you wouldn't believe how much we know about our customers. The IRS wouldn't believe how much we know about our customers. We aren't just doing business; we are doing business with people. And I think it's critical that the people we do business with understand that we see the personal relationship first and the business relationship second. Studies have shown that salespeople and customers or potential customers can't talk about business 100 percent of the time. It's not possible. Furthermore, it's just not appealing or entertaining. In fact, reliable data says that most interchanges between salespeople and customers are 30-35 percent business and 65-70 percent social. When you know your customers, especially some of their special interests or characteristics, you always have a basis for contacting and talking to them. All of us gather data about other people--especially people we want to influence. The only question is how well we understand it and what we do with it. Knowing your customer means knowing what your customer really wants. Maybe it is your product, but maybe there's something else, too--recognition, respect, reliability, concern, service, a feeling of importance, friendship, help-- things all of us care about as human beings more than we care about envelopes. Likeability in sales is right at the top of the list. People buy from people they like. It's that simple. People like people who are genuine, pleasant, sincere, friendly and easy to talk with. Now, of course, you must perform. If you don't, you can toss the Mackay 66 out the window. Outperform the competition, build the relationship and you will meet the real test of salesmanship: You not only will get the order, but you'll get all the reorders. That means you'd better be prepared to pay attention to what the other person is in the market for. Be sincere and use the information to build a long-term relationship. That's what you're really after--not some victory in a single crowning encounter. Everyone wants to be liked. Remember Sally Field's acceptance speech at the 1985 Academy Awards when she won the Best Actress Oscar for her role in Places in the Heart? It was her second Best Actress award in five years, and she could barely contain herself: "You like me! You really like me!" Sometimes you need to work at being more likeable and friendly. You have to like people. People, not specs, will usually be the key in determining who gets the order. As Lee Iacocca, former CEO of Chrysler Corp., once said, "Anyone who doesn't get along with people has earned the kiss of death... because that's all we've got around here are people." Dale Carnegie provided a helpful hint at being more likeable: "You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you." To drive home his point, Carnegie tells how dogs have learned the fine art of making friends. When you get within 10 feet of a friendly dog, he will begin to wag his tail, a visible sign he enjoys your presence. If you take time to pet him, he will become excited and lick and jump all over you to show how much he appreciates you. The dog became man's best friend by being genuinely interested in people. I echo Dale Carnegie's comments. Knowing something about your customer is just as important as knowing everything about your product. People buy from people they like. Copyright 2009, Harvey Mackay, All Rights Reserved About the Author |
| About Anne and IMP |
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Anne Warfield, CSP*
CEO Impression Management Professionals 15768 Venture Lane Minneapolis, MN 55344 952-921-9421 952-921-9420 Fax Email to: ezine@imp.us.com Visit us at: http://www.impressionmanagement.com/ "A true leader is not one you look up to because they are the best. A true leader is one that draws the best out in you." Anne Warfield *CSP- Certified Speaking Professional; a designation held by only 7% of all speakers nationwide Member of the National Speakers Association |
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I used to have 300 sales people giving 300 different sales presentation messages. I now have 300 people delivering a consistent message in their own authentic style.
-Brad Boyer,
American Woodmark
If you had ever told me a group could transform so much after just two-days I never would have believed it. The power of sustaining it afterwards with your long-term coaching/HOT sessions has caused everyone to constantly apply this way of thinking. Our discussions, meetings, and trust have gone to such a higher level. As a Vice President that makes my job so much easier. We no longer avoid the elephant in the room!
-Tricia Dege,
HealthPartners
