Words
The Sunday Dispatches archive...
Steal this idea. How you can get good at working with others.
Working as a consultant it's important to set people's minds at ease and quickly gain their trust. Otherwise you can’t effectively gather information, or influence decision-making. In my training workshops I talk about some micro-behaviours people in consultative roles can deliberately model to
Minimum viable product and the creative sale
The Lean Startup by Eric Ries presents a method for building and launching new products. It's a good book and not just for startups. One of the core concepts in The Lean Startup is the minimum viable product (MVP), which allows for synchronous development of customers and products.
Flight from Shadow
From The Way of Chuang Tzu by Thomas Merton So he got up and ran. But every time he put his foot down there was another step, while his shadow kept up with him without the slightest difficulty. He attributed his failure to the fact that he was not running
When should you not use your expert mind?
My brother-in-law is an accomplished, self-taught, baker and his sourdough bread is amazing. Certainly the best I’ve tasted outside of France. I was eager to bake bread like his for myself. This week, with his tuition I prepared and baked my first loaf. It wasn’t
Meetings don't need to be toxic
Mediocre listening. Something I see a lot when working with groups. Nowadays it seems everyone has a point to make. Our culture rewards show and tell. Listening seems to have become an afterthought. We wait for a pause … so we can interject and draw attention to our expertise. We ask
Beat the FUD factor and reposition to win the complex sale
In part 1 you saw how the FUD Factor (fear, uncertainly and doubt) and corporate politics threatened my sales success. In this part you’ll read about the 7 actions you can take to beat the FUD factor, reposition your offer and win the complex sale. 1. Take a dose
What Big Blue taught me about fear, uncertainty and doubt
I needed a strategy to win against IBM. I wanted to get into one of their major accounts. So, after much deliberation, I chose something different - The Trojan Horse. I would get my foot in the door and start proving my systems … before Big Blue noticed me. It worked brilliantly
How outcome framing put a mega-project back on track
Most people can easily tell you what they don't want in a situation - that's negative outcome framing. But when it comes down to saying what they do want - positive outcome framing - they aren't always so forthcoming. Yesterday I was talking with a friend about
Here's a different approach to client intimacy
I read about Arthur Aron’s study in the New York Times about a month ago. It’s entitled The Experimental Generation of Interpersonal Closeness. That’s a bit of a mouthful. The 'asking questions to fall in love’ experiment seems more apt. Aron’s study showed that people
How to make hard choices
Did you every think you might be making important decisions all wrong? Ruth Chang's 15 minute Ted talk introduces a fresh approach.