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Create a “Win-Win”
Several years ago I was coaching a team on negotiating skills. Their company manufactured assembly machines and the average ticket was over 600K. One day, one of their key clients called them and asked for the blueprints to one of the machines they were manufacturing. Dave, the sales rep, knew what that meant: They were shopping around and wanted to give the prints to another vendor to look at. Dave didn’t want to give up the prints, but he kept thinking, “The prints are theirs. They have paid for them. I can’t be selfish”. With painful reluctance, he let go of the prints.Read More…
Presentation effectiveness demands preparation
Some people fear public speaking. Others love presenting before a group. Whether you love it or hate it, there is one thing you must know: You must prepare and over-prepare.Read More…
Leadership in the extra mile
I’ll never forget that day. It was one of the most important defining moments of my life: I was in 6th grade and had just started the second week of class. Our teacher, Mrs. McGinnis, had a very special announcement: She said, “We are going to have an exciting project that we are starting today: It is a class magazine. It will contain all the events and highlights of the class plus special stories and other contributions from the class members”
As I listened to this, I thought, “That sounds like a lot of work. I don’t think I’m interested”. Then came the clincher: Mrs. McGinnis concluded by saying “I am pleased to announce that the editor is going to be Steve Brainerd” Hmm… No problem, I thought. I can talk her out of it.Read More…
Float your idea to success
Have you ever come up with a great idea to solve a problem only to have it shot down right away? If this happens to us enough, we could become discouraged and hesitate to share a future idea. Good teams respect the principle of “idea fluency”. Everyone should feel comfortable and confident in sharing their ideas.
If we have a good idea that we believe will solve an important problem, we need to prepare ourselves to sell our idea. That requires that we work through these four basic problem solving questions that have been time tested for over 100 yearsRead More…
Role playing: Rx for a professional edge
In car racing we hear the pros say, “You win in the pits”. The skill and speed of a pit crew can often be the determining factor in winning the race. They practice, practice, practice.