Posts tagged ‘Questions for Action’

I am amazed that people use the “Why” word so often while talking with others. And, then get offended when the conversation becomes emotional driven. Stop using the why word – today. In the only time you can use this word is when you are talking to yourself.

What’s wrong with using WHY? The reason is simple. When asked “why” people feel they must justify their answer. This justification usually becomes defensive in nature since they are expecting you to tell them the reasons their answer is wrong! This places the situation in an emotional state and objectivity leaves the building.

Before using the why word, think about what you really want to know. Then ask a question that leads to the results that you want. Better starting terms to a question include: What reasons lead you to this decision? What factors were involved in this decision? When you made this decision, did you consider this…?

The reason the why word has become a problem is due to parents tendency to ask their kids during heated discussions – Why did you do this? Thus the start of being told what a bad decision this was. And the cycle is started. Whenever others use the why word – we immediately begin to justify our response.

Take time to think about what you doing and what outcome you want from your communication with others. It will make a difference. Show respect for the other person and they will show respect back. Think equals or in psychological terms – adult to adult – it makes a difference.

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Posted by Voss Graham on April 6, 2009 at 9:20 am under Effective Communication.
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Last week I received a question from one of my connections on LinkedIn. The question got my attention in a big way and I responded with my answer of what changes are we making. Here is a review of both the question and my response:

Question Details:
——————–
“If we expect to get different results in these challenging times, what are the few critical things that we must personally do differently…starting now?”

“Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” — Albert Einstein

We must embrace change — new ideas, new points of view, new business models and different personal behaviors.

Your question is excellent and timely. Yes, change must be embraced and creativity comes to the forefront.
We have done a complete review of what got us to today, what is still working, what have we forgotten to do today that worked in the past, will it work today questions are applied to everything. Testing of ideas has become more important.

Lead generation is our most critical issue and we have set up three areas of focus:

  1. Networking everywhere – all the organizations that bring people together that fit our targeted market – well – we are showing up and participating.
  2. Internet Marketing – we are checking all the keys from SEO, PPC, landing pages, specific selling sites to the actual copy on the site (More important than most people realize is the copy – is it about you or the client?)
  3. More coordinated selling efforts – direct mail is back due to the spam filters for email and voice mail for telephones, calling old clients, finding old clients that moved to new locations, face to face meetings whenever possible and learning to use “gotomeeting” or some other web-based video conferencing tool.

The key is to get more aggressive in sales and marketing today if you want to be around tomorrow.

One last thought, create a better or complete description of your ideal customer and focus all your energy on finding them. Our biggest lesson during the downturn is we had too many “commodity or traditional model” clients and a need for more progressive clients who know the right way to move forward during this time period.

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Posted by Voss Graham on February 25, 2009 at 9:45 am under Sales.
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