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For Women in Business who want to take Scary Big Risks and anyone who wants to be a better Leader this afternoon

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Do This To Make The Big Risks Smaller

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When you face risk, one way to go forward is to work to get more data that will let you reduce the risk in your mind and gain comfort.

It Comes Whether You Want It or Not

Another way to look at a risky situation is that, in an uncertain terrain, more and more data will be coming at you.  You can’t stop it from coming.  You CAN watch for it, take it in, reject nothing, compile it, assemble it, deduce from it, learn from it.  Risk = more data inbound.  Always.  If you’re watching.

What If The Risk Is Still Too High?

If the risk remains intolerably high, it might mean you don’t have enough data.  You may be at the point of needing the last data, and they’re hard to come by.  Your competitors probably don’t have the last data either.  What will you do to win the project?

You Win

When you’re smart enough to isolate the last data you need and obtain it, your risk falls.  But your competitors’ risk stays the same, and they may decide not to play.

If they play, they will make untenable claims in the proposal because they don’t know how else to address the risk.  Your client might see through their claims.  Use your meeting time with the client before the decision is made to point out the “risky” areas in the scope of work, point out how you solved the problem in your proposal, and how others might not have.   In the end, you win because you knew that risk is just data.

Does this help how you think about risk?  How can you make your next proposal easier and make it more likely to win?  Please join the discussion.

 

Why Won’t The Client Call Back?

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Has this happened to you?  You’re in the midst of an important project, and the client just refuses to call you back.  Provokes a lot of anxiety in you, doesn’t it?

In the midst of projects when clients seem to refuse to call back, I say to my teams and my coaching clients: “Don’t worry.  When you’re as good at this as you are, and work as hard as you do, it’s not going to turn out that you were the problem.”

It’s Not You

I mean it’s not going to turn out to be their fault that the client didn’t call back this week.  It’s going to turn out that the client’s time was preempted by a dozen other things, or the client was sick, or on vacation, or wasn’t able to call back for a hundred other reasons.

But Notice The Facts

Notice the facts here: “When you’re as good at this as you are, and work as hard as you do”.  When all that is true, it won’t turn out that you were the problem.

But…

But if you could be better at technical or managerial skills, or better at your people skills and client skills, if perhaps you haven’t been working that hard to keep this client satisfied, then maybe it IS you.  Maybe you ARE the reason they didn’t call back.

But…

But when you are skilled, you work smart, you work hard, you’ve been proactive, you’ve announced problems and work-around plans early on, and you keep answering questions and needs from the client’s point-of-view, you are not going to be the reason they didn’t call back.

I hope this helps your morale.  It’s certainly helped me and my teams.  Can you see yourself using this technique when the client won’t call back?  Please comment and join the discussion.

What Are The Two Things Everyone Wants?

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My coaching client said he had a hard question for me, “Which of these two important things should I do first? I just don’t know where to start.”

My coaching client is a creative, energetic, intelligent, hard-working self-starter and entrepreneur.  Like so many people, he has more directions to go and things to try than he has time for, so he called me in.

“Five Years” Is Too Long

We used to ask clients what they wanted to have accomplished five years from now.  Forget that – that’s way too long.  I asked him what he and his five employees are working hard on every day two years from now, and he started talking.  After a minute, his voice got faster, a little higher and louder, he leaned forward, and was smiling.  When he was done, he plopped back in the chair, smiling, and quiet.

We All Want The Same Two Things

I said, “All entrepreneurs and leaders want the same two things.  We want to know what comes first, and what comes second.  You’re lucky.  You already know what comes first; you just told me.  You can choose from among the rest what comes second, and delegate it to someone else, or forget about what comes second.  Just devote everything you’ve got to what comes first.”

Do you agree?  Is that a good method to choose your objective, maybe even your mission?  Please join the discussion.

Don’t Do This or You’ll Lose Out For Sure

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Is there something that has you distracted, preoccupied, or anxious at work?  Consider this technique to get around it.

Are you a Magnum, P.I. fan on Amazon?  Magnum was a pretty good private investigator and he knew how to pick locks.  Getting away from the bad guys often depended on Magnum being able to pick a lock at the end of a hallway with the bad guys bearing down on him.

Human Nature Will Get You In Trouble

It’s human nature to keep watching where the bad guys are coming from.  But what Magnum had to do was focus on the lock.  He had all the skill and tools to pick the lock and get through the door to safety.  All he had to do was work the lock.  His skills would get him through if he would focus on the lock.

Work The Lock

Magnum would mutter to himself, “Don’t watch the bad guys.  Work the lock.”

Just Like Us

Sometimes we see only the danger or feel only the fear.  Or worse, spend our time looking for it, watching for it, anticipating it…  When what we should do – all we have to do – is focus on the lock.

Don’t watch the bad guys.

Work the lock.

I have watched this technique work in intense situations.  Do you think it would work for you?  Please click “Comment” and join in.

 

How To Stick To A Plan for “For One Day Straight”

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Making and sticking to a new habit has to be one of the hardest things on earth, isn’t it?  I have something that just might help.

I enjoy the site and the app Don’t Break The Chain ; you track your performance on a new habit against your goal and the app keeps track for you, with reminders and encouragement along the way.  When I did miles on the treadmill for several days, the app said, “You’ve done the right thing for 4 days straight.”   I love that.

Then I Missed A Day

I missed a day, but went back to the treadmill the next day.  When I was done, the app said, “You have done the right thing for one day straight.”  I didn’t like that as much; I liked “4 days straight” better.

Still, the phrase “one day straight” made me smile.  You can see why this site works.

“For One Day Straight”

There is a lot to be said for performing better at your new habit “for one day straight”.  One whole day.  Straight.  Here’s to you and to me for doing the right thing “for one day straight.”  Let’s try for that again tomorrow.

I love this app.  How do you make and stick with better habits?

 

Is This Fear, or Is It Only Caution?

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Words and labels have power over us.  Everywhere we read about overcoming fear.  People take quizzes to see if it’s fear of failure or fear of success they suffer from.

What If It’s Not Fear At All?

What if it’s not fear?  What if you’re not anxious, not even nervous, about the big opportunity or the big sale?  What if you are merely cautious?

It’s OK to Have a Doubt

What if you simply have doubts?  Do we even remember – in these days of “fear of failure” – what it feels like to have an honest doubt?  A doubt that we could take time to examine.

What If…?

What if you simply doubt that you’re ready for the major presentation?  Doubt that you have the information you need to go ahead with the meeting?  Put like that, could it be that doubt is alerting you that you have more work to do?  Maybe your doubt is alerting you that you’re short of information and about to get caught with your pants down.

I Like Friends Who Alert Me To Danger

Doubt is a good thing.  By discovering more information and making better plans we “put our doubts to rest”.  That’s a good thing.  Examine your doubt and start to fill in what’s lacking.

Don’t Stay There Too Long

Don’t take forever getting the missing information and making a better plan.  Taking too long is going to kill your forward motion and drain the energy right out of you.  Take just long enough to “put your doubts to rest.”

Here’s The Plan

When you’re tempted to read another article about “fear of …”, spend the time instead examining whether you have doubts about the data, the objective, the plan, the people involved.  Pinpoint whether something is in doubt, and exactly what about it is in doubt.

You’re Not Afraid

Maybe your plan, not your ability, was in doubt.  It’s not your ability that’s in doubt, and you’re not afraid.  Your plan’s just weak.  How shall you make your plan stronger?

I hope this new idea gives you insight.  Please click “comment” and describe where you might use it to beat out the fears you thought you had.

 

 

 

The Easiest Way To Get To Know Your Client Better

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Do you know the surest way to get to know your client better?  It’s not as hard as it sounds.

Years ago, when I had just been promoted to Program Manager/Client Account Manager, I ran into Rick the Boss in the hall.  He said, “You’re in sales.  What are you doing in the office?”  He said his boss Bob had said the same to him years before.  (Rick, if you’re reading this, I know you don’t remember saying it.)

It Changed My Career

But Rick did say it, and it changed my career.  My new client was a Navy base, five hours away.  A 10-hour round-trip drive would stretch to a 13- or 14-hour day if I actually got a meeting with anyone, and I didn’t want to make the drive.  Not unless I could guarantee some sale or revenue out of it!   I had a few ideas for projects but not enough, so I didn’t think I was ready for meetings at the base.

Excuses, But No Sales

I had reasons and excuses but I also didn’t have any sales.  When Rick said, “What are you doing here?”, it shook me.  I didn’t want to lose his confidence or support.  Within the hour I’d made appointments for meetings and rented a car.  I drove to the base the next day, using the five-hour commute to get my thoughts together, assemble what I knew about the client, and assemble the questions I’d ask to get to know my clients and their needs.

I Sold A Project That Day

I practiced what I’d been taught:  I asked a question and shut up.  I sold a project that day, because I did make the drive, because I had good questions, and because I shut up.

How To Get To Know Your Client

Months later it dawned on me that making a sales call only requires spending time with your client, having good questions, and being interested in the answers.  Your questions are no good without their answers.

My sales career took off.  Thanks, Rick.  Thanks, Bob.

Who knew??  They did.  And now, so do you.

What do you think?  Does this way of looking at it, “be interested in the answers”, make your sales job easier?  Please click “Comment” and join in.

 

How Can I Enjoy My Business Development Job?

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When you’re fortunate enough to be marketing or selling something you believe in to a client or industry that truly interests you, your marketing or selling day can be enjoyable; it can be a lot of fun.   I had days of real enjoyment selling needed engineering projects to the U.S. Air Force.  They needed the projects, I believed in our team’s good work, and I actually had fun learning more about how the Air Force does business.

It Felt Like Fun

As a beginning Air Force “Seller-Do-er”, I had a lot of reading and information-gathering to do to learn my craft.  I spent hours and hours studying Air Force contracting and the art of Large Account Management.  It felt like fun.  Info junkies like me call it fun.  But I didn’t control the amount of time I spent nor hold myself accountable for results in proportion to the amount of time I spent gathering information.

Hours of Fake Fun

The excess hours spent in “hunter-gatherer” mode didn’t being me any closer to “shipping product“, as Seth Godin says.  The excess hours didn’t scale into extra product.  They were fake fun.

Real Fun

Real fun would have been to strengthen my emotional intelligence enough to put the reading aside, go out and get to know my client, and begin a relationship.  Seeing results and building on those results.  Learning how to do it more and more.  Now that would have been fun.  I was having fake fun when I could have been having real fun.

Are you sometimes an information junkie when you could be actually doing something to help the client and advance a sale?  Do you think, like me, that it’s possible to have fun in the business of selling?  Please click “comment” and tell me what you think!

 

One Thing to Do When You’re Stuck on a Rollercoaster

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On our last ride on the Expedition Everest rollercoaster in the Animal Kingdom at Walt Disney World, half way up, and pointed at a 45 degree angle to the sky, our coaster car stopped.  Dead.  My immediate thoughts were, “we’ll start again soon..real soon..any minute now..wait, we’re not starting..well, the PA will come on and tell us what to do..any minute now..besides, workers will come and help us down..except there’s no sidewalk, just tracks..and we’re practically on our backs, how will we get out of our seats?” Then the biggie: “the other cars aren’t stopped..I can hear them coming!”

All of that took about 2 seconds

I wasn’t scared yet, but I was getting there. The other cars were definitely not stopped, but they didn’t seem to be getting any closer. We didn’t understand it and I was close to scared by now.

The little fella behind me started to cry

He was terrified and his mom couldn’t quiet him. I thought maybe if I spoke to him, he’d be so distracted by the friendly stranger that he’d stop crying.  I looked at his mom for permission and started talking to him, saying that the nice men were going to come get us because the computer told them to. That we’d walk on the track and that he’d have the easiest time of all because he was small and strong.

It worked

He and I both felt better. The nice men did come get us because the computer told them to. I think the lesson is:  when you’re stuck or worried, help someone else. You’ll both feel better.

Where’s the last place you were stuck?  What did you do to get out of it?  Click “comment” and clue us all in.

 

3 Ways You Know You’re a Loser

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The speaker at lunch today spoke on “3 Ways You Know You’re a Loser”. He said these are the stops on the path to failure – tell me which ones you agree with:

  1. Fear the bullies.   – I did this for years. I’m not sure if I was fearful of the power player or just wanted to have my points “perfect” before I spoke up. Turns out they’re  the same thing.
  2. Get your feelings hurt.   – I did this too. I hope the era of this happening mostly to women is over, or that this blog can speed up the time when women aren’t getting their feelings hurt at work.  Men too.
  3. Take “No” for an answer.   – I never took “no” for an answer. I must have been on my way to great things despite my other drawbacks!

Do you agree that these are the stops on the path to failure? Which ones would you add?  Please click “Leave a comment” and join in.

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