Jog

Don't Confuse Comfort with Competence

2012-02-09T06:35:00.000-08:00

Scott Anthony writes Don't Confuse Passion with Competence, and it reminds me of an more basic confusion. As a trainer, I often hear people saying "I don't need training. I am comfortable with this".

Yes, you nay be comfortable doing something. Doesn't mean you are any good at it.

Most often this is said about public speaking and presenting. Many managers will send their staff to a presentation skills class, but not attend themselves. Ever. Because these managers feel they are "Comfortable getting up in front of people."

Unfortunately, if you were to see some of these managers "getting up in front of people", it can be a case of misplaced confidence.

Comfort and Competence are two different things. In training we talk about learners being conscious and competent: aware of what they are doing that works, versus unconscious: lacking the awareness to match their actions to their results.

Unconscious incompetents don't know what they are doing and are not getting results. So they insist the problem is something besides them. In training these are the people who say "Yes, but with a real customer I would not have done that..."

Conscious is the best place to be to improve your performance. A conscious learner knows there are things they do not know, and so have a desire to learn. They recognize that they could be doing things differently and better.

Unconscious learners? Not so much. They have to be lead to a place of self awareness where they connect their lack of results to their own performance. And if they are getting successful results, they need help understanding what they did to achieve success. This is the challenge of coaching.

Where are you? Getting results but not sure why? Or having trouble duplicating your success in different situations?

Don't confuse your comfort with competence.

What does the competiton say?

2011-05-11T07:42:00.000-07:00

We hear when competitor sales reps spread rumor and inuendo. But what are they doing and saying the rest of the time?

Dave Stein gives a great discovery strategy to learn what your competiton is doing. Review these questions and pick the ones that are relevant for you, the ones you are not asking now. He calls this your "competitor IQ". While Dave focuses on understanding broad competitor strategy, the point applies to the questions you ask to understand the competiton in your sales calls. How smart do you compete?

You may be wondering what's the benefit of talking about the competiton when you could be spending time discovering needs for your own product features and benefits. I can think of two ways to use this information:

Understanding the context of your product features and benefits and how they compare to your competitors will help you understand your SWOT. You cannot know your strengths if you do not know your competiton's weaknesses.
Know how your competition is presenting their product features and benefits. If competitors mainly sell against your price, or your service, you can counter directly with correct information, or offer additional product features and benefits to overcome these competitor-raised objections.

Know your competitors strategy as well as your own. What questions will you ask in your next sales calls?

Not just how you sound, but how you look

2011-05-10T11:27:00.000-07:00

In face-to-face sales, we all know dress sends a signal to customers. It can help or hurt your credibility. Inside sales has been immune to this, till now. Josiane Feigon says start looking good from the waist up! With the purchase of Skype by Microsoft, we may see the beginning of new corporate sales applications that will help you or hurt you.

Inside Sales people are aware that they must catch and hold their customer's attention. They know that is hard to do when you cannot see them and they cannot see you. Without visual presence, customers feel they can multi-task while on the phone. And they do. We all do. How many times did you check email during your last web meeting?

Adding visual contact to inside sales adds a new way to catch and hold attention. Imagine what you can do with gestures and props to improve communication. It's a whole new world.

If you could see your customer while on a phone sales call, what would you do?

Watching the Dectective

2010-03-27T07:52:00.000-07:00

Dave Stein compares the questioning skills of a Detective to a Sales person. He calls it "Great Question!" I call it a great idea.

Dave says asking a great question can improve your credibility with a customer, increase the quality of the information you get, and cut the time spent asking questions. All true. But why is this so? How do you do it?

Knowing how to ask different types of questions is important. This includes the difference between closed and open questions, fact-finding questions and feeling-finding questions, questions about current situation and desired outcomes. These sales skills are needed to be effective.

But Dave's point in his story was the need for market and product knowledge. Having good knowledge of a customer's market and products will lead to asking better questions and recognizing the value of the answers you get.

This is what the detective was doing in their quick and effective questioning of the victim. They know that in the majority of these cases, the victim knows his attacker, and the motive for the attack is always something of personal value to the attacker, in this case his ex-girlfriend. They knew to ask if the girlfriend ever talked about an ex-boyfriend (if yes, there must still be something going on between them). Sure enough, a lead was uncovered.

The detective did this in ten questions!

Routine for them, but a learning for us.

How many times do we complain that if we only had more time for longer sales calls, we could get more done? Find out more?

Check your questions, the problem is there. Do research before a call and have an idea of what you are looking for. Have a strategy to your discovery.

Customers are impressed when you have the knowledge to ask better questions. It means they do not have to work as hard to be understood.

With this confidence in you, they give you more and better answers. Your efforts are rewarded by their effort to be accurate and helpful. You both win.

Do your research.
Ask questions and watch those with experience.
Review the questions you use now.
Use what you already know to understand their situation better.

Ask questions based on what you know, not what you do not know. There is always an ex-boyfriend lurking around.

Empathy, a lesson in Juggling

2010-02-05T07:57:00.000-08:00

I previously posted about empathy, and its importance in social and sales interactions.

The bigger truth is that empathy is important in every aspect of our lives. In fact we are wired for empathy - it is the human network's "wi-fi". I just read about this analogy, and about "Gandhi's neurons", in this post by Bruna Martinuzzi . I had to capture and share what she says.

Two key points:

As we juggle the balls of what is important in life: work, family, health, and spirit; remember this, the work ball is rubber and will bounce if dropped. The others are crystal.
Empathy connects with the balls other people are juggling.

So the contemporary version of empathy is "understand what others juggle in their lives"

2010-01-25T08:46:00.000-08:00

After credibility and empathy, Persuasion is last.

After the audience and client believe you know enough to help them, and that you also care enough to help them with their problems, you have to persuade them to take action.

For each point you want to make, have at least one convincing element. This is a data point or set, a story, a testimonial, or example; whatever proof source makes sense that will show why your key point is important. Don't just say it - prove, illustrate or explain it. Make the connections between what you are advocating and your client's problem. To see your value, don't make them work any harder than they have to.

When choosing proof sources, unless you are dealing with a single person you know well, mix them up. More likely, your audience will be made up of different people who look for different kinds of proof.

Some people like facts and figures. Have some ready.

Some people like testimonials, analogies, success stories about others who have used your product or service. Have these ready too.

This way, everyone listening will have something to hang their hat on that makes your persuasive argument.

Finally, ask them to do something. Buy your product, agree to a next meeting, and make a recommendation . Give a direction that will bring them closer to solving their problem. It is good also if they disagree. You can discover what next step they want to make.

The three steps in persuasion are creating credibility, demonstrating empathy and being persuasive

Empathy next

2010-01-23T07:58:00.000-08:00

There is more to credibility than knowing enough. You have to care enough.

Remember “There’s Something About Mary”? Matt Dillon shows empathy and wins the attention of Cameron Diaz by sharing how he loves working with mentally disabled kids ("Those goofy bastards are about the best thing I've got going.") proving he understands her situation with her own disabled brother. That he is lying makes the whole thing fated to fail and funny.

In addition to knowing enough to help with your customers business problems, you need the perception that you care enough about your customer to help them with their problems. And what else? You really do need to really care. You have to be sincere.

I had a customer who was asked by my competitor's sales rep to cover for lies on the rep’s expense report. Do you think that rep was ever trusted by that customer?

I doubt it.

Empathy understands how the customer feels. It is giving up your judgments, your answers and interruptions. It is putting on their shoes and imagining “what if this were me…”

Show this by listening, sharing and clarifying.

Listen without interruption.

Share your feelings, and clarify by repeating, in your own words, what you understand about their situation.

These things prove you care and understand.

Repeating what you heard and understand is probably the easiest and most beneficial thing you can do to prove your empathy. But using your own words is important. Avoid being a parrot.

When I give my children instructions, to confirm I sometimes ask “now, what will you do?” If they just repeat my words back to me, I suspect they really do not understand, do not care, nor plan to do what I asked. But, if they tell me in their own words how they will do what I ask, then I know they understand.

Yes, do this consciously, and be sincere. You will win the customer’s trust. If not, like Matt Dillon, you lose the girl.

Credibility First

2010-01-23T07:04:00.000-08:00

Without credibility, no one cares.

Credibility is the customer’s perception that you have the knowledge and experience to help them with their business problems.

Create credibility for yourself by sharing your experience and past success with customers or your presentation audience. This is not boasting, it is demonstrating you know what you are talking about. Even if you do not have experience in their specific industry, talk about how you successfully solved problems similar to theirs. For example, all small businesses have challenges in marketing themselves, or finding and keeping good talent. These problems are the same whether they are caterers or insurance agents.

Share common experiences you have with your audience. If you have worked with people in their industry, tell them. If you like the local food, history or the weather, tell them. This builds connections with your audience. Share with them who you are, so they have a reason to listen and believe you.

Dress and behave as the audience expects. Aim to be a bit better dressed than your audience, but not so much that you stand out as “the suit”. When I was making sales calls throughout New Mexico as a company representative, some customers wore business suits, many more were casual. I wore a suit and tie. But the suit jacket stayed in the car during summer visits to rural and “Mom & Pop” business customers. I kept the suit but removed the tie in cooler months. When my company endorsed a casual business dress code, I would wear a golf shirt, but made sure it was branded with my company logo, and I wore dress slacks, not chinos. How else would they tell me apart from their customers!? Some speakers and facilitators create a “brand” by wearing only black. This also makes it easier to pack for travel.

Don’t know what your audience might be like?

Do your preparation work and ask someone. Talk to someone who will be in your audience, or someone who knows your audience. Find a person of influence with your audience and ask them what you should expect to see and hear, and what you need to do to be seen as credible. Use such a decision-maker to create credibility for yourself by asking them to introduce you and give the reasons why they chose to work with you.

Lisa B Marshall does a great concise job of describing this audience discovery process in detail. Check it out for examples of specific questions to ask.

The danger in doing this is looking like an arrogant bastard. Nobody likes to tell you their challenges only to be matched by your even greater accomplishments. If I tell you how I broke my leg, don’t tell me about how you broke two legs and still out-swam a shark.

To prevent this maintain empathy and a focus on the customer. Keep their concerns the topic, not yours. Your stories should always serve to highlight your customers concerns, never out shine them.

It Is All About You

2009-12-16T17:40:00.000-08:00

Chris Atherton talks about the single rule to follow when giving a presentation - manage audience attention. Audience attention should follow you.

Once you have audience attention, you can then delegate it to a slide, a prop, or someone else in the audience. Have the audience pay attention to whatever it is you want them to look at and listen to so that you make your point.

I say “you” because, when you are a presenter, it truly is “all about you”. This is the time to be needy and controlling, about your audience’s attention.

We are still biological beings, and we watch things that move because they might be food or make us food. For the same reasons we still watch shiny objects, like a TV screen or projected slide. We watch shiny things at the exclusion of things less important at the time, like the presenter, maybe?

So it is no wonder then that an audience will look at a slide left up on the screen long after you have finished talking about it. It is there - we cannot help but look at it! The result of this habit is to deflect audience attention away from us. Which means they do not recieve our full message.

While presenting, follow this rule: manage audience attention!

Use the B button or remote to black out a screen after you have used the slide to make your point. Thus audience attention is directed back to you so they hear your key point.

When showing a slide, stand with the screen to stage left, (Your left while facing the audience. Not being an actor, I got stage left or stage right confused. Not anymore. I looked it up.)

After you show the slide and explain its contents, move forward towards the audience and blackout the slide. This directs attention back to you, not the slide behind you.

When using a gesture like “raise your hands if you like chocolate chip cookies”, make the gesture big enough for everyone to see and understand that they too should raise their hands for chocolate chip cookies. Extend your arm straight up over your head. It gets attention and is more credible too.

Move purposefully, not aimlessly. Stand grounded to make one point, then move across the stage and become grounded to make your second point. Grounded means both feet on the floor with your weight even over them.

When presenting, the only rule to follow is: make sure the audience follows you.

Make Every Bullet Count

2009-11-05T18:19:00.000-08:00

Bullet points are things that we take for granted, and they blot our presentations. I had debates with a co-worker about whether my presentation bullet points should have periods. He said they should, I said they were not sentences, so they should not. I realize now that I had bullets that were sentences and some that were not. I shot myself with my own bullets.

The PowerPoint Ninja Blog has a useful how-to series on creating and using effective Bullet Points. It is a practical guide to these small but important phrases we all use. They give many ideas to think about, and use, in your presentations.

In tactical presentations where you are advocating a solution based upon data, examples and evidence, bullets may be hard to avoid, and really, it is ok to use them. Just avoid the issues described in the Ninja’s blog. It would be hard to do an”image-only” PowerPoint in this context. Think “business review”.

I advocate the use of images along with a bullet point, one per slide.

I like to “build” my slides if I have several points that, when put together, explain a concept. Do a build by animating the bullet points using animations so that they appear on a click. as you speak. This way the audience is not confused by a busy unexplained slide, allowing you to introduce each idea one at a time.

I do not use a bullet graphic, the little symbol, dot or dash in front of the bullet. Avoid them when you can. You can use numbers if the bullet points are steps in a process, or part of a to-do list. If you keep to a minimalist 4x4 or less rule (no more than 4 bullet points and no more than 4 words each line) you really do not need to illustrate each line.

Finally, avoid “carriage returns” (some may not know what this phrase from typewriter days means), or continuing a bullet point on a second line. If that is happening, you need to edit and keep key words (Ninja covers this too) or make more room on your slide. Do not, in any case, let Power point automatically reduce the font size so the bullet point fits in the text box.

Don’t shoot yourself, or your audience, with machine-gun bullets. Make every bullet count.

Jump In!

2009-10-08T06:13:00.000-07:00

I am often asked by participants in my "UPFRONT" presentations skills class, "how do you want me to start?" I answer "just jump right into it!"

A good compelling open should be without any preface - just start telling the story! Do not lose the advantage of surprise and interest you hold at the beginning of any presentation.

Avoid happy-to-be-here, i-am-not-sure-why-I-was-asked-to-speak, I-just-found-out-about-this-yesterday, boy-am-i-nervous, ok-let's-get-started...ok-lets-get-started...ok-hello-my-name-is....

You know what I mean - drop all that stuff.

Jump right into the story like a good first line of a novel: "It was a dark and stormy night..." well, how about "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times..." or just: "I was talking to Bill, here in the audience, just now, and he said...."

Everybody will want to know what he said and what it has to do with you. Now you got'em.

Peter Jeff writes pointedly about your opening being a "a splash of cold water" for your audience. While that sounds uncomfortable, it is accurate. Your open should be compelling, grabbing the audience's attention from the get-go, getting them to quiet down, end conversations, put away PDA's, look and listen to you. Shock them into attentive submission.

I am asked if we should start with a joke, a story, a graph? The answer is whatever makes a clear benefit statement to your audience, that is also connected to your content. The goal is to raise the audience's curiosity, their desire to hear more from you. A joke that has nothing to do with your topic may be funny, but does not take advantage of the high attention you have in the first 15 seconds. Use that time to grab their attention, hold it, and preview the value of your topic.

Jump right in! The water is great!

What will the audience want to know?

2009-09-24T06:28:00.000-07:00

Becky Blanton, in Six Minutes says so many right things about presentations,and about sales, I am not sure where to begin. So I will begin where she began when preparing for her talk. It is the question every presenter and salesperson should ask themselves:

If I were in the audience, what would I want to know about me?

This is the classic "Ben Duffy" technique.

Put yourself in the customer's shoes and anticipate their questions, concerns and wondering. Then prepare answers to those questions, and present back to your audience with the phrase "I am sure you are wondering... how I can help you if I am new to your business...."

If you do this in a sales call, wait for them to confirm that, yes indeed, they were wondering about that. Then give them your answer.

For both sales calls and presentations, my advice is to do this only when you are reasonably sure that the question or concern exists. You do not want to create concerns that did not exist before you spoke!

If you are new to the customer or audience, do this by speaking to someone who knows them before your meeting or talk. Identify an influential member of your audience and interview them to discover their concerns. Do your preparation.

Read Becky's blog - she is right on about how she started and so much more.

Don't confuse "comfort" with "competence"

2009-08-27T05:48:00.000-07:00

Don't confuse "comfort" with "competence". Just because you are comfortable doing something does not mean you are good at it.

I was asked recently to review and edit a PowerPoint presentation that was going to be presented to our customers by an executive in charge of P&L. My advice was basic - get rid of the bullet points, condense the content to Key Points, and move much of the text in the slides to the speaker notes. I voluntarily spent a few hours making sample revisions.

The presenter, while admitting to like the edits, said they would not work, since " I like to move around, and as I do not use notes, I depend on the slides to keep me on track and remind me where I am..." I paraphrase, but you get the point. The slides were for him, not the audience. I was tempted to say "just give them the slides and go get a cup of coffee.... they can read, can't they?"

Seth Gordin does a great job talking about the dependence on bullets in executive presentations. I would add their dependence upon dense graphs too.

Seth,in his blog above, gives good advice on how to avoid this. But the real problem is something he admits - most executive presenters do not create their own presentations. Those that do, probably shouldn't be. So the slides take precedence,and the question asked by the presenter is "Do we have everything in the presentation?" not "Are we making our Key Points in a Clear, Concise and Compelling way?"

To change this behavior will take more than a few pointers in a blog. It is a sale to be made to the potential presenters. They need to be shown, and then experience, the benefits of a different way of presenting. They then must have (or be given) the courage to try it themselves. Once they experience success, it can be repeated.

I advocate a "manager-executive only" training on presentation skills. Because they don't know what they don't know, they see no need for new skills.

Most of us will avoid a situation where our incompetency will be exposed. A safe environment is needed where learners can admit to the need for new skills and have the security to experiment. Any managers reading this ready to try?

All Italians talk with their hands

2009-04-29T07:05:00.000-07:00

I'm Italian. I talk with my hands. I can say this.

This recent blog by Jonathan Farrington covers Social Style concepts in detail. They did a good job describing each style. Until they starting describing styles as equivalent to roles and results.

Does the blogger commit the sin of assigning business roles to certain social styles? Are all successful salespeople Expressive? Are all high achievers Drivers?

My experience in facilitating says no.

The statistics say no, too.

What do you think?

Rule of Thirds

2009-03-31T06:29:00.000-07:00

As a photographer, I appreciated the "Rule of Thirds" when I began creating presentation slides. I learned from my photo experience (as a hobby ... ), to place the "center" of a slide in the upper third of the space - not smack in the center of the slide. When using images of human faces, for example, put the eyes in this upper third. It make for a more interesting image, giving the viewers eyes a "path" through the image.

Another tip I recently learned is to have human images facing towards the center of the image, not towards the edges.

Here is an example of both ideas. Note how the positions implied by these faces are facing towards the center, and I put eyes in "third" positions.

I encourage everyone to consider these ideas when cropping images, and when creating a slide with images and text. Even text only slides (shudder!!!) can benefit from composition. Andrew Dlugan gives a great review of the Rule of Thirds at his blog "Six Minutes ..."

“Who are you to tell us what to do?”

2009-02-11T15:42:00.000-08:00

I just learned about “Jante Law”. The Nordic origins of Jante Law is expressed by the saying “Don't think you're anyone special or that you're better than us.” I describe it as a social leveling method, where exceptional individuals are kept humble, and it exists in all cultures. The American version might be “He puts his pants on one leg at a time, just like the rest of us.” What other ways do we maintain social stability?

Jante keeps people from flaunting their success. It is a way for the rest of us to remember the humanity of those people who experience success and attain authority. It makes the rest of us simply feel better to knock down someone else who is more successful.

In sales and presentations, being subjected to Jante law is the opposite of achieving credibility. Credibility is being perceived by customers to have the knowledge and experience that can help them.

Without credibility, a salesperson is unable to exert influence.

With credibility, a presenter is seen as believable and trustworthy. If you are perceived as if you’re special or better than us, you exceed the limits of credibility and are unable to exert influence.

With too little credibility, “there is no such thing as a good idea until the right person thinks of it.” Or, as they say in Jante, “Don’t think that you know more than us.” Unless you hold enough credibility with decision makers, your ideas, even the good ones, will fall flat.

To avoid being subjected to Jante Law, create credibility first and present solutions second.

Safe Phone Sales

2009-01-31T09:17:00.000-08:00

Smile – the person on the phone is watching

I was asked if there was any data to support the common advice for phone sales people to smile while they are talking. I have seen telesales people put mirrors on their desks, to check themselves as they speak. It seems the rule is you sound as happy (or sad) as you look – and another person on the phone can “hear” your emotions. Think of saying “Happy Birthday!” with a frown.

The best data I have is from Mehrabian and his "7%-38%-55% Rule" which states that, in situations where your communication contains ambiguity (when your words do not match your expressions, for instance, or, when the receiver does not see and hear you, as on the phone) a message is weighted and interpreted using words (7% of meaning)-Tone of voice(38%)- Gestures(55%).

In phone or web presentations, when gestures are eliminated from the equation, the significance of words increases to 13%. Tone of Voice picks up the reminder 87% of the message.

So the assumption is: if you are smiling when you speak, the audience will "hear" that gesture in your tone of voice. The research tells us that tone and gestures are more important than the words you use, when the audience cannot see your gestures or facial expressions, or your delivery is incongruent and you seem to saying one thing but tone and gestures are saying something else.

Mehrabian’s research is applicable to communicating emotions. Data communication may be different, and there is a debate whether Mehrabian's research applies to "non-emotional" communication.

I suggest that all communication is emotional. The audience is looking to the speaker when they evaluate whether to accept the data or not. If the presenter sounds skeptical, even the most solid data will be suspect. Likewise, if the speaker is congruent in their words, tone and gestures, even the most suspect data will more likely be accepted (global warming, anyone?)

It becomes more likely that the receiver will trust the predominant form of communication, which to Mehrabian's findings is non-verbal (38 + 55 %), rather than the literal meaning of the words (7 %).

Why would I believe you, and do what you are asking, if I infer that you are not being honest or forthright – if your Intent is suspect?

I win,You win,We all win

2009-01-08T16:11:00.000-08:00

When I ask participants in my training sessions about the goal of their presentation or sales call, I am often told "They just need to know this..." The presenter or sales rep has been told to deliver the message. This is never the right goal.

This is transactional, task-based activity. It is self-centered versus customer-centered. I suspect we all would admit it given some time. But sometimes not. In my experience, sales reps have been held to a daily call average. More calls is good. Fewer sales calls is bad. A sales manger explained this way: "You may have grown the business, but who knows how many more sales we might have had with even more sales calls?"

Well, marketing should know. This exposes an almost fanatical product orientation. Marketing is following the "better mouse trap" strategy. If you build it, they will come. They only need sales to get the word out and keep customer problems off their marketing and product manager desks.

Every customer interaction must have a benefit for the customer, with a call to action. What can the customer do with this information? If the answer is "nothing", then why are you telling them? Always have a call to action, tied to the payoff, for your customer and audience. Always. Otherwise you are wasting their time.

Is it ever OK not to have a SMART call to action? I used to say no. Further thought leads me to think there might be another reason for a meeting or sales call besides advocating a solution. That other reason is creating a relationship.

Opportunities to demonstrate your knowledge and to improve your understanding of the customers situation are good reasons to ask for your customers time and attention. But you still need to know what is in it for them. This is the hard part - proving your value to a customer while still establishing their trust in you.

Do this by creating expectations and stating your intent to use this information to provide better solutions. Give some examples of how you can help, based on what they tell you. Remember to follow up on these expectations with performance, when you are ready.

So next time I am told "they just need to know this", my response will be, pick one:

they will either use this information to do something better or different, or
you will use this opportunity to increase their interest in working with you...

Just delivering the message is not an option.

2008-12-15T17:12:00.000-08:00

The Importance of Telling Stories.

Dave Stein quotes James Mayfield Smith about a top-performing IBM sales person:

“(he)… is a master of many skills, and chief among these is his ability to find the story that his customer lives and to build himself into that story as a solution provider.”

Story-telling is an important skill in giving presentations to make a point, and captivate an audience.

Three components make a story: a character, a situation, and an outcome.

The character is best when your audience can relate to him, empathize with her, care for him, or are otherwise entertained by them. If all else fails you, make your character a pet (dogs are best) or a child. But never put the child in danger.

The situation should be one that has happened to us all, or specifically relevant to your audience. The best contain an element of danger, or embarrassment, or an unintended consequence.

The outcome is how the character handles, or miss-handles, the situation.

Stories bring your presentations to life.

At the same time, I heard Lisa B. Marshall in Quick & Dirty Tips: The Public Speaker ,speak about cultural differences in communication styles. She gave a brief and clear review of anthropologist Edward T. Hall’s concept of High-Context and Low-Context communication.

Low-Context verbal communication can be understood easily by anyone, anywhere, based only on the words and symbols used. Think of programming languages. The program is independent of its field information like when or how it was written. It can be understood without knowing or seeing who “spoke it”.

High Context communication is dependent on associated information in delivery for meaninig. A wink cannot be understood without knowing who winked, where, and when. We do not know what “let me think about that” really means without knowing who and how they said it , For accurate meaning we need the surround situations, or “context” in which the communication was made. This includes the cultural rules of the communicator.

Put together the use of stories and the problems working within high-context situations, and it is clear. Stories about universal human themes transcend high-context communication. Everybody understands them. That makes them even more flexible, and useful, in your presentations.

Presenting Naked

2008-09-29T07:46:00.000-07:00

Dave Paradi describes a challenge to salespeople (and all others) that requires a presenter to be clear and concise about their message: “You are not allowed to use handouts” .

This is like saying “no notes”, or “memorize your presentation”. We offer handouts and think: “Well, if they do not remember my message from my presentation, they always have the handout….”

Dave’s first point is to “Plan your key messages even more carefully”. I suggest you do this with (no more than) three descriptive key points. No key points is like wearing a poorly fitting suit, or even worse, no clothes.

(Dave breaks my rule by offering 5 steps. After reading his article, write down those steps you remember. I bet it does not exceed three.)

If you can winnow your message, lose the chaff and keep the wheat of three descriptive key points, you will help your audience retain your message.

What do I mean by descriptive? Your audience should be able to combine your key points so they can anticipate your story, for example:

1. Productive meetings are focused
2. Focus on audience needs
3. Audience needs are part of your preparation

Often, I hear my class participants use three key points like “Where we have been, Where we are now, Where we are going…” While this is better than no key points, they don’t really tell the story. I cannot anticipate your content from them. Your audience will benefit with better understanding and retention when no more than three key points are part of your story.

Another benefit to having descriptive key points? You understand your message better. By going through the process of creating these key points, you are forced to acknowledge the essence of your message. If you have trouble creating (no more than three) key points, you probably need to refine your message. What content is key? What content supports your message? What content is superfluous?

Make sure your key points clothe your story like a well-tailored jacket and shirt, with the right shoes.

It’s a Gen “____” thing, you wouldn’t understand…

2008-09-16T09:56:00.000-07:00

We have heard about the the older, newer, current and upcoming generations. They are called Traditionalists, Baby Boomers, Generation Xers, Nexters or Generation Y. (This link is courtesy of NOAA – even the weather must respect diversity….) They have their own styles, work habits and preferences; it is suggestted we need to understand and accommodate these differences to successfully work with older, newer, current and upcoming generations.

My opinion is that people have similiar needs. It is how they express these needs that changes. The generations described above all came to be in the last 70 years. They all co-exist today. This is a trifle of time, in view of the evolutionary time spent becoming human which created our social and psychologocal needs.

This is what the “generational diversity” theory states:

“Fundamental value differences exist between those of different generations.
Understanding these values may help understand differences that may arise in the
learning environment.” (Organizational development scholar, Dr. Morris Massey)

Behavior and values have not changed, the opportunities have. I would have loved to be able to read a comic book or communicate with my friends while sitting in a college classroom. But I couldn’t. The opportunity and technology did not exist. Now that it does, I check web sites and email all the time. Did my values change? No, my behavior changed. I always wanted to talk more with work associates and friends. Now I can.

The things that Gen X, Gen Y or Nexters want are things we all want: independence with a desired level of security, social ties, status and a stable social environment. We talk about our personal lives on Facebook now because Facebook exists. The values we hold that lead to this always existed. Facebook is to Nexters what the barber shop was to Traditionalists. Same people, same behavior, same values. Different expression.

My spouse and her friend believe that email is a business communication. If they want to keep up on each others lives, they will call on the phone (!) or talk in person. While this is an example of a generational difference (Heck, even I disagree with this. Email has replaced letter-writing. And what do you suppose some people said about those new but impresonal inventions like telephones? If you want to talk to me, walk to town and met me in the square!) they still want to communicate. That value still exists.

Traditionalists, like my parents, already had a word and value for sitting in a meeting and checking your cell phone or blackberry at the same time: rude. They knew about it. They just did not have the opportunity to do it.

Postscript: Another opinion about generations is http://blog.penelopetrunk.com/2008/09/18/generalizations-about-generations-are-good-for-you/.

I can agree with Ms Trunk this time. Knowing how you are the same, or different as everyone else in your "generation" is a valuable piece of self-knowledge.

The Power of Tone and Gesture

2008-09-05T06:02:00.000-07:00

Sarah Palin – An Ordinary person doing the Extraordinary…

I have wanted to write about the recent convention speeches, and Sarah Palin is an excellent example of the power of tone and gesture. Peggy Noonan, in today’s WSJ, wrote:

“Her flaws accentuated her virtues. Now and then this happens in politics, but it's rare. An example: The very averageness of her voice, the not-wonderfulness of it, highlighted her normality: most people don't have great voices. That normality in turn highlighted the courage she showed in being there…”

Sarah sounded like us – no booming voice, not shrill or strained like she was working at it too hard – just a normal tone that any of us have when we relax as we speak. In fact, if I was not open to her message, I would have thought she sounded like an Alaska version of, like, a valley-girl, ya know?

It was the openness of her demeanor, her willingness to be herself and vulnerable, that attracted everyone to her speech. So how did she convey this message of: “I know this is extraordinary – but I am OK, in fact, I am kind of enjoying this and you can trust me to be the person you see and hear right now even after I am in office…”

First –her voice was not strained but at a comfortable volume, with inflections to enhance her points.

She used pauses: “…. I put it on Ebay… “. Or “….lipstick!” She has pretty good timing, and that comes with being comfortable with pause and silence.

Her gestures were effective. She used pointing, but did not hold the pointing gesture. We saw her hands, and they were under control, moving to punctuate her key words. She raised her eyebrow, nodded her head, and even put her elbow on the podium to share a secret with thousands of her close friends.

I would prefer political speakers lose the “thumb-on-the-outside fist” gesture. Did this start with Clinton? An open gesture is more effective, where you can see the palms of your hands. It is friendly and non-threatening.

Humor goes a long way. Self-depreciating humor goes even further. When the joke makes fun of yourself but also highlights your strength – it is a home run. The “pit-bull/hockey mom” joke did just that. That joke, I understand, was not scripted.

I am not saying Sarah Palin is ordinary, what she has achieved is clearly not ordinary. But public speakers can learn from her example.

Palin was having a great time just being herself. We loved it.

Hello

2008-08-25T11:46:00.000-07:00

OMG! Another Blog! Do we really need another one?

Yes, we need millions of them. Blogs are people sharing facts, ideas, feelings.... Why wouldn't we need this? We all have something to say. And we all should be listening.

After reading others who blog on topics I am interested in, I thought I would jump in and see what I can do.

Why read what I have to say? Well, I ask myself this same question about bloggers I see on the net. Often, I read columns and blogs that I think are very good, and often, I have my own opinion on what is said. I have some specific ideas about the topics I spend my time on while at work: Facilitation, Sales skills, Presentation skills, and the combination of these. So I will write about what I know.

These "skills"are based on observing people. I tend to an psych/biology/evolutionary spin. For example: why are words so easily overwhelmed by your body language? I think it is because we have been using our bodies to communicate for millions of years longer than we have had language... not counting our pre-human history. So biology is as important as statistics - actually, biology IS statistics. This comes from my 20 years in the corporate world, and studying Anthropology and Archaeology. I know - don't get a meaningful degree in college - you will end up selling insurance....

There are many good places on the web to get this stuff. I can do some of the work to get it all out there, add my perspective, and see what happens.

Hey, you've read it this far.....!