InnerActive Consulting – Insights

Eye Contact gives others confidence when you speak

Today I want to share a tip when you are presenting your ideas – in a speech, sales presentation, leading a meeting or having a one on one discussion with someone. The tip is very simple – Make Eye Contact with Others while you speak.

While working with clients I have seen very smart people get ignored by others or question their competency due to a total lack of eye contact. The worst case is people talking with their heads down – not necessarily reading anything, just staring down while they speak – and others lose interest in listening. Continue reading ‘Eye Contact gives others confidence when you speak’ »

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Posted by Voss Graham on July 9, 2009 at 5:24 am under Coaching.
Tags: effectiveness, Eye contact, lack of awareness, sales interviews, sales presentations, self confidence
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Are You Making Half-Time Adjustments?

Yes, it is the middle of the year, the beginning of July indicts we have made the middle of the calendar year. Are you making the half-time adjustments to your goals and annual plans?

Just like the best football teams in the country, making half-time adjustments is a key skill that makes great coaches – well, great! If a coach did not adjust to what was happening on the field of play during the halftime, then two things would happen.

The opponent would make changes in their game plan to take advantages of the weaknesses they found in the first half and exploit these areas to their advantage.
The team would not be in a position to improve their position in the game.

Okay, so we are not talking about a football game in the middle of the year, however, we should be talking about your goals or your team’s goals (assuming you use a calendar year rather than a fiscal year.). Your personal goals are definitely on a calendar year – so it is time to review your progress.

Here is the process for reviewing your goals using a half-time adjustment review: Continue reading ‘Are You Making Half-Time Adjustments?’ »

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Posted by Voss Graham on July 2, 2009 at 5:30 am under Coaching.
Tags: Achieving Goals, Goal Setting, great coaches, Half-time adjustments, high performance
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Three Reasons They Don’t Buy or Buy-In

Whether you are in sales, managing a project or leading a group of people, there are three reasons why people don’t buy what you’re selling or offering. When you look at these reasons, it is obvious and simple regarding what it will take to get them to buy from you.

Okay, let’s look at the three reasons people don’t buy what you’re selling or offering:

They Don’t Want it – They simply don’t want what you have to offer at that moment in time. It’s not personal, they are just not buying in because it is not important to them.
They Don’t Have the Money or Investment in Time and Effort – They simply can’t afford to invest in your offering – be it a sale or a project. In many cases, it is the lack of available time to devote to entering a new project or direction.
They Don’t Believe You – Now this is the tough one. When people don’t believe you, it shows a total lack of trust. This is the toughest issue to deal with since it feels personal rather than an objective feeling or truth.

So how do you deal with the three reasons listed above? Let’s take each one in more detail: Continue reading ‘Three Reasons They Don’t Buy or Buy-In’ »

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Posted by Voss Graham on June 30, 2009 at 5:00 am under Coaching.
Tags: Beliefs, Lack of Trust, Listening skills, openness, Questions, Three Reasons for Not Buying, Trust, Wants and Needs
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Discipline Determines Your Success

In this day and age of fast paced gadgets and ADD marketing buzz, could it be that good old discipline really determines your level of success? Could Discipline be the real bottom-line for Success – period?

My believe is that discipline is the key determinant to mine and your level of success. There are several reasons that discipline is the master key to your success. Continue reading ‘Discipline Determines Your Success’ »

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Posted by Voss Graham on June 22, 2009 at 5:16 am under Coaching.
Tags: Discipline, go to person, Goals and Outcomes, high performance, Motivation, self confidence, Self-Esteem
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Judge Things and People on Content rather than Looks

This week I have had several conversations regarding the old cliche:

“Don’t Judge a Book by It’s Cover.”

And, it appears that this simple phrase is more important than ever. Let me give you a few examples from my recent conversations with people. Continue reading ‘Judge Things and People on Content rather than Looks’ »

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Posted by Voss Graham on June 19, 2009 at 4:22 am under Coaching, Hiring, Selection and Retention, Using Assessments.
Tags: Content is most important, Don't judge a book by the cover, Put objectivity in a subjective world. Quality of content over looks, Quality over Looks, Using Assessments, validity of assessments
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What’s Your Preference – Goals or Problems?

While coaching a client I was intrigued by the fact that every time I asked about my client’s goals for the coming year, the client would change the subject and not answer my question. This continued for several weeks, until I discover the answer – he preferred problems over goals.

After studying this topic in depth I learned that people fall into one of two camps: 1. Goal oriented or 2. Problem oriented.

Okay, I know some of you have heard the motivational speakers jump up and down talking about goal setting is the master key to success. You need to write and rewrite your goals every day to make certain the goals are top of mind and thus get achieved.

Well, the truth is, only half the population are true goal seekers. The other half are problem solvers. In fact, the really intense problem solvers hate to discuss goals due to their disbelief that goals are achievable or even necessary in some cases. Continue reading ‘What’s Your Preference – Goals or Problems?’ »

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Posted by Voss Graham on June 12, 2009 at 5:28 am under Coaching.
Tags: Coaching, Creating a High Performance Culture, Goal oriented, Great Leadership, Problem Solvers
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Facts Alone Don’t Change Actions

Here is the truth concerning poor performance, especially in the worlds of selling and leadership. Facts alone do not excite people to take action.

Here is the answer to getting people to take action. Use emotion to sell the idea and the logic (facts) will justify their need to take action.

While it is true that some organizations attempt to eliminate the development of relationships in the buyer-seller environment (WalMart is an example), it is still the emotion side that gets people to take immediate action. If you are not getting any immediate reactions or focused questions about implementation, then you are not hitting the emotion buttons.

Ineffective leaders and sales people use a form of “corporate speak” in their presentations that provide logic and facts for the audience without any emotional spirit. And, they are surprised when no one responds to their message with action or action commitments. What is happening here?

Usually this is a style related issue with the leader or sales person having a behavioral combination that minimizes the preference for emotion. These people actually believe that logic will persuade others to take action and emotion should be left out. They present their logic and expect people to accept it at face value and take action.

This assumption is flat out wrong! Sales training 101 clearly states that “ALL DECISIONS ARE 100% EMOTIONAL” and then we use logic to justify our emotional decision. More than once I have been called on this statement by the people who believe in their logical explanations. Well, after a few examples that hit home for the individuals, we agree that emotion must have a major bearing on our decision making process.

The best method to use to get emotional buy-in to a decision is to tell a story. Let the story grab the attention of the audience / listener. Allow the listeners to place themselves in the story and feel the emotions – good or bad emotions depends upon the message and solution. When people get involved they are more likely to commit to action during a debrief or call to action.

Use this tip to improve your sales results or your leadership effectiveness. If you want more ideas for improving your results and getting to the next level – call us at 901-757-4434 and ask about our coaching programs.

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Posted by Voss Graham on May 14, 2009 at 5:00 am under Coaching.
Tags: Coaching, Emotional Buy-in, Emotional decisions, Getting results
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Coaches help You Learn by Thinking Differently

Yes, the purpose of having a coach is to help you think differently. New thoughts or a new way to think about issues allows for learning at the highest levels. Self discovery of the answers to either an old or new problem is the way of the winner. Are you using a coach? Are you learning new things or ways to handle old problems?

Good coaches know how to ask the right questions to help you discover the new answers to any type of problem, issue, challenge or opportunity. A good coach is usually a generalist in pure knowledge or has years of experience – applying knowledge in different situations. Thus, the experience is practical rather than conceptual. Beware of the ivory tower type of coach who tells you everything. These people have not necessarily been on the field of play in any capacity. Some get degrees and teach, some get certified (without any practical knowledge) and others are just looking for work and become a “coach.”

When you are looking for a coach to help you or your team get to the next level, look for people who have been real experience. And, while experience is a good thing, good to great performance is more important. So, if you are looking for sales coaching find someone with sales experience. If you are looking for a management or leadership coach, find someone who has been running a company for many years.

Use a coach to learn to think about things differently, with greater clarity and with a focus upon results. Getting results is still the real game. Getting results is the key to people noticing who you are and what you do. When you do things very well, others want to work with you because you are one of the best.

Even the great Tiger Woods has a coach to remind him of the right ways to approach the game of golf – including the basic swing mechanics. This is the number one golfer in the world AND HE HAS A COACH.

Do you have a coach who can get you to the next level? Are you an expert at everything you do? Is there something that you want to do better, yet, are not sure how to do it? Are you technically outstanding – with people skills that hinder your success? You can improve – if you want to improve.

If you are looking for a good business coach, there are good ones available. We have been coaching executives, fast trackers, sales managers and sales people for over a decade with outstanding results. At one company, we have the reputation of the “promoters” since we got so many people promoted using our processes. Can me at 901-757-4434 and set up a time to discuss what you want to improve.

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Posted by Voss Graham on April 2, 2009 at 5:30 am under Coaching.
Tags: Coaching, Getting results, Leadership Development Process, Think differently, Tiger Woods
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Coaching Performance Improvement

One of the major challenges for leaders is how to develop their people. Development is all about improvement in someone’s performance. Unfortunately, most leaders don’t know how to do this core function of leadership. Fortunately, it is easy to learn – given a desire to coach and improve others.

Coaching is a key skill for leaders and the sooner they learn how to coach, the fastest their people will grow into high performers. In order to coach others you will need to do the following: Continue reading ‘Coaching Performance Improvement’ »

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Posted by Voss Graham on February 12, 2009 at 5:18 am under Coaching.
Tags: Coaching, Communication, Performance management, Personal strengths
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Mismatcher’s Can Be See as Troublesome

Did you see Saturday’s comic section and the Dilbert strip in particular? I was thinking how funny it was and then I realized that most people would not understand the deeper meaning. Okay, let me explain. This is all about the human operating system and was uncovered by the team of Bandler and Grinder. They named the technology Neuro-Linguistic-Programming or NLP.

NLP shows how the brain works and how people use certain triggers in their everyday lives – including such basic functions as communication, interaction with others, decision making and problem solving. In some European countries this system is being used in all departments of corporates to improve communication and understand decision making at all levels – not to mention just plain old personal development.

Now about the Dilbert cartoon this weekend and particularly the statement in the next to last frame about “…manipulating the puppet strings…” which can be misunderstood. It is true if a person does not understand NLP or even basic behavioral styles – then they can be manipulated by others. The key is always the intent of the other person. Personally, I have been using both NLP techniques and behavioral style factors for years. Not to manipulate others… because my intent is to gain rapport and trust, which leads to open and objective dialogue with others. When I match the other person’s style and preferences, the barriers or natural resistance to open dialogue is welcome.

Back to the Comic strip story line, the punchline was based upon people understanding the match – mismatch differences. First, the matchers look for common factors to connect with making other matchers feel good. Matchers look for sameness in describing things and can have some issues with problem solving – since they do not automatically see problems or differences from the norm – they are looking for sameness.

Second, the mismatchers on the other hand can be seen as real problem people. They are not actually the “bad” person they get labeled as by others. Their issue is their brain looks for differences, mismatches or exceptions to the rule. They are mentally conditioned to see the exception or different issue – in every situation, statement or person. This people are usually labeled as troublesome or difficult to get along with by others (the matchers!). Actually, these people are great problem solvers and can isolate an problem or exception immediately.

Finally, learn to recognize the traits of people. Are they matchers or mismatchers? This will give you a hugh advantage in understanding the actions of others – and how to gain rapport with people. If you are pure matcher or pure mismatcher, then the ability to flex to others becomes more difficult. Yet, it can be done if you use discipline in your communication and choose to do the right thing in your communication with others.

Understanding the human operating system is one of the systems that we use in our coaching process for leaders and sales people. We explain the fundamentals and model the use of the system in the coaching process. If you want to learn how to gain rapport with anyone, build trust with your team (or customers), and be able to communicate effectively with everyone – call us today and learn how to use this process.

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Posted by Voss Graham on December 15, 2008 at 11:01 am under Coaching.
Tags: Communication, Dilbert, NLP, Personal Development
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Archive for the ‘Coaching’ Category

Eye Contact gives others confidence when you speak

Are You Making Half-Time Adjustments?

Three Reasons They Don’t Buy or Buy-In

Discipline Determines Your Success

Judge Things and People on Content rather than Looks

What’s Your Preference – Goals or Problems?

Facts Alone Don’t Change Actions

Coaches help You Learn by Thinking Differently

Coaching Performance Improvement

Mismatcher’s Can Be See as Troublesome

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