Monthly Archives: February 2011

Have you heard the one about the dreamer, the realist and the critic? 1

 in General life improvement

“Creativity is not a talent, it is a skill that can be learnt.
It empowers people by adding strength to their natural abilities which improves teamwork, productivity and where appropriate profits.”

(Edward de Bono)

I suspect that few people would disagree that Walt Disney knew a thing or two about creativity.

Robert Dilts is a developer, author, trainer and consultant in the field of Nero-Linguistic Programming (NLP). One of the things he investigated was how Walt Disney was creative. As this was done after Walt Disney had dies he had to use things like writings (including some by Disney) and talking to people who had known the man himself.

What I’m about to write is my brief summary of what Dilts concluded (With my apologies to the author :). For the original source, read Strategies of a genius, vol.1 Amazon.co.uk link Amazon.com link)

The Walt Disney Creativity Strategy follows a specific process. The first stage is “the dreamer”. This is the stage of thinking big with no limitations or boundaries. The second stage is “the realist”, taking the ideas from the “dreamer” stage and looking at the practicalities.

The final stage is the critic, the time to test, evaluate and look for things that go wrong. Potentially this forms a cycle for things to be refined by going back to the dreamer etc until the critic is redundant.

In my work I often see people that get stuck predominantly using one of the above stages and not the others. Maybe it’s someone who has big ideas but never takes any practical action.

Perhaps it’s someone who jumps straight to the practical stage without dreaming big – for example, they would never have considered that anyone would offer payment for the following jobs:

Being a hermit: 40 days and nights shut away in a Manchester museum

Being paid to work just 12 hours a week on a tropical island with full board (for UK TV viewers find out more about this story on “The Best Job in the World” Thursday on BBC1)

Or

The domestic American airline that wanted to employ someone whose sole job was to fly around the country using the company flights and to write about their experience.

While these jobs, to my knowledge, have all been taken, they have all been advertised within the last 12 months. They may not be as common as some other roles; equally someone is now being paid to do the job.

Or perhaps it’s “the critic” that jumps straight in – can you imagine a writer crafting a piece if they were attempting to edit what they were writing before it even reached the page in a first draft?

As always if what you are already doing works for you then great. If it isn’t working then I offer the following definition from Einstein “Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”

This week I invite you to do something different and play with the following. You may want to pick something you already know you want to get creative with or something where you are stuck and what you were doing hasn’t worked.

You’ll need a pen and paper to play with this. You’ll probably find this easier if you physical move to a different position for each stage. Depending upon how much space you have this may be as small as changing how you are sat, or on a much bigger scale changing rooms altogether :).

If you realise at any stage that you have drifted into another stage prematurely, just shake it off (physically if it’s easier) and return to the stage you were in. The other one will get its turn, when it will be most useful.

1. The dreamer stage. (Remember to pick how/where you want to sit etc for this stage)

This is the stage of no limitations. What in an ideal world you’d love to be doing in this situation?

Some questions to help with this stage:

· What inspires and/or excites you about this?
· If money was no object what would you do?
· If you had all the time in the world, what would you do?
· If it didn’t mean anything about you if you didn’t get what you wanted, what would you go for?
· If a fairy godmother were to come and wave a magic wand, what would you ask for?
· What would be even better then that?

Keep going with this until you have at least 20 things written down, especially if they seem absurd!

2. The practical stage. (Remember to pick how/where you want to sit etc for the practical stage)

Pick at least one thing from your list that appeals to you. Perhaps if you want a bit of fun something that your immediate thought was that’s insane. We’re just playing with this and doing something different – you can always choose not to take action when you have finished.

If what you have picked was possible, what would you do to make it a reality?

Questions that may help at this stage:

· What information would you need?
· What skills and beliefs would help?
· What’s the time frame that would work with this?
· Would other people be involved?
· What finance would be involved?
· What energy would you have?
· What would be the very first practical step?

3. The next step is “the critic”. (Again, remember to change to a third position to do this stage.)

Evaluate what practical answers you came up with at stage 2.

Questions that may help at this stage:

· What could go wrong?
· How does this look with the big picture?
· How does the small details look?
· How does this look to a customer/boss/other people involved in this situation?
· How can you make this better/ stronger?

4. If appropriate take your answers in the third stage and return to stage 1, the dreamer and cycle through the process until the answers you have from the critic are ones you want.

5. If you then want to choose to take action, feel free.

6. You may have noticed that some roles were much easier then others. That just suggests that you’ll use the one you’re comfortable in most often. Next time you notice that a bit more creativity would help, become aware if you had been using the dreamer, the realistic or the critic and see the difference with using this cycle.

Have a wonderfully creative week

Love

 Jen

This was originally posted on www.YourChangingDirection.com

Testimonials 3

 in Guest Post  tagged business coach / business coaching / charging / client / clients / coach / coaches / coaching / coaching courses / coaching qualifications / coaching skills / coaching techniques / coaching training / credibility / executive coach / leadership coaching / life coach / life coaches / life coaching / marketing / Merlyn Sanchez / nlp coach / performance coaching / personal coach / personal development / selling / smart business owners / testimonials

In this weeks guest post Merlyn Sanchez discusses the subject of testimonials and coaches.

Testimonials

by Merlyn Sanchez

One of the challenges coaches and consultants face when marketing their products and services is the issue of credibility. Prospects have a natural wariness which only increases with higher priced items and services. If they aren’t familiar with you and your company, the decision process can take much longer or even stall.

There are a few ways to overcome skepticism but one of the best is using endorsements from satisfied clients. Unfortunately, many coaches often neglect this simple but powerful tactic. Well-written testimonials create believability, credibility, and a sense of security for your prospective client. They set you apart from other coaches and help you break down buyer resistance. It’s no longer about you telling your prospects how great you are, now they have a recommendation from objective, third-party individuals who have invested in your product and service.

“But I feel uncomfortable asking my clients for testimonials”

Many people are uncomfortable asking for testimonials. But it doesn’t have to be a daunting task. In fact, testimonials can be incorporated into your business process as part of the regular check-in that you should already be doing with your clients. Additional benefits include:

o Customers become active partners in your business which can further your relationship and lead to repeat business and referrals.

o Asking for testimonials keeps you proactive in ensuring that you’re delivering outstanding customer service.

“How Do I Ask for Testimonials”

There are several keys to asking for compelling and effective testimonials:

1. Strike while the iron is hot, ask for testimonials as soon you’ve provided your service or sold your product.

2. Ask for specific details of how your business or service has positively improved their situation or solved their problem. Request specific “before and after” measurements.

Here is an example of a testimonial which offers specific details about the benefits they received:
“We were able to sell our house for $20,000 more than other houses in our neighborhood and we credit our real estate agent, Jane Doe. She brought us qualified, motivated buyers and our house sold even sooner than we expected. We can’t say enough about Jane’s professionalism and hard work.”

3. If at all possible, include your client’s full name, industry, profession, and location. Testimonials by “B.K.” aren’t as believable as one by “Barbara King of Seattle, WA”.

4. Always make sure that you ask for permission before you use a testimonial. Most people will agree but it’ll prevent any problems with clients who might not want to have their testimonial used for promotional purposes.

5. Thank your clients for their recommendation and let them know how important their support is to the growth of your business. If appropriate, send them a gift card or small token of appreciation.

“I’ve got testimonials, now what?”

There are countless ways to use your testimonials for maximum leverage. Here are just a few:

1. Use testimonials on your website. One option is to have a separate page on your website for testimonials. This can be very impressive, particularly if you have many testimonials. However, it’s also a good idea to include one or two on all the pages of your site. For example, if you have a testimonial about your ezine, include it on the sign-up page.

2. Include testimonials in your advertising. People are skeptical of ads so having a success story can significantly increase your response rate.

3. Create a “brag” book. You can keep this at your business and use it during sales presentations.

4. Include a link to a testimonials page in your email signature.

5. Testimonials will increase the impact of all your marketing material, including brochures, direct mail pieces, proposals, and public relations materials.

Famous advertising guru, David Ogilvy said that “Testimonials increase credibility and sales”. Make a commitment to ask all your clients for a recommendation and find more ways to use them to grow your business. The results will be worth it.

Copyright 2007 – Merlyn Sanchez

About the Author/Further Resources

Merlyn Sanchez, Business Coach and Marketing Consultant teaches coaches, consultants, and other solopreneurs how to attract more clients, make more sales and have more time to enjoy their lives. For a free report outlining the “8 SMART Strategies that Successful Business Owners Use to Attract More Clients”, visit: www.smartbusinessowners.com

Coaches, do you need sight to listen? 4

 in Coaching  tagged business coach / business coaching / call centre / coach / coaches / coaching / coaching content / coaching courses / coaching model / coaching preparation / coaching qualifications / coaching skills / coaching techniques / coaching welcome pack / employ / executive coach / flexible / Free resource / good job / GROW / High performance coaching / judge / leadership coaching / life coach / life coaches / life coaching / listening / listening without sight / mastery / performance coaching / personal development / phone coaching / phone skills

Before setting up my own coaching practice full time I was employed in the training and development team of a multi-national company. One of the departments I particularly loved working with was the contact centre  – the very nature of the work of a contact centre involves a lot of communication with people over the phone.

I spent many a happy hour developing the skills of individuals who spent the majority of their working lives having conversations over the phone.

I once ran a workshop that had a mix of individuals who had a background working via a phone and those who generally worked face-to-face. I knew the work of all of those in the room and knew that they were all fantastic listeners.

As part of the workshop I included an exercise about listening – the whole group excelled at the first part. The difference came when I asked that they did the same exercise with their eyes shut. What quickly became apparent was that those who had lots of experience working via the phone found the task relatively easy. Those who mainly worked face-to-face struggled without the visual cues they were used to working with.

Now I’m not for one minute suggesting that those who normally worked face-to-face with people “failed” and therefore are consigned to never communicating using any other method ever again! What I am saying is that listening without being able to literally physically see what’s going on is a skill that can be developed like any other. It’s something that, with practice can get stronger and stronger.

So why am I writing about contact centres on a Wednesday coaching post?

You’ll often find coaches discussing the importance of listening when having a coaching conversation. Pretty much up until running that workshop I didn’t fully get why when I met other coaches at events so many of them would give me a strange look when I said I coached via the phone.

I do a lot of my work via the phone – it’s a medium I’m comfortable with. I like the extra benefits it can bring, such as being able to work with wherever my ideal clients are (providing they have a working phone signal). I don’t have to have geographic limitations so that we can both be physically in the same place.

It also makes scheduling clients a lot easier – there are no travelling times to take into consideration. So I have far more flexibility with my phone coaching sessions than I often have with a face-to-face session. I don’t know about you, but even though I often quite like a car or train journey I much prefer the joy I get from coaching. I’d much rather be spending my time running a coaching session than travelling to one.

There are many other reasons why I personally choose to mainly coach via the phone. Thinking back to the many different trainings I have attended there have been many, many skills and techniques that I have at my fingertips from those events to use when coaching via the phone.

However, I recall only a handful of occasions when someone has specifically discussed coaching using the phone – normally in response to a delegate’s question. I can also recall few training drills and exercises where we were strengthening our listening skills without the visual cues.

So, to answer the question in the title of this post, it is possible to listen without having visual cues. One of the main questions I get asked by coaches who don’t coach via the phone is how do you do that if you can’t see what someone is doing or thinking?

There are several things you can do to make coaching via the phone easier and skills you can develop and strengthen so that, if you want, you can transfer your own coaching style to work via the phone.

I love the variety and breadth that is found in the coaching profession, and there will be some coaches who choose to coach face to face. Perhaps it’s because it’s a medium they really enjoy or maybe they coach in a way that is really much easier face to face (ie as a kids sports coach). So please don’t misunderstand my post as an implication that all coaches should be coaching via the phone.

However, you may have ruled out working via the phone because you don’t know where to start or have no idea how you could coach without literally physically seeing when a client is thinking etc. I’ve seen some jump to the conclusion that they just couldn’t coach that way, that somehow they would never be “good enough.” If that sounds like you, please remember that:

(a)    Knowledge can be learnt

(b)   You can strengthen skills with practice

(c)    How do you know if you haven’t had the experience?

I have decided to put on a training to assist those who are interested in starting phone coaching. It’s a training where I’m pulling together all my coaching and working on the phones knowledge and experience to give a very practical course. Designed to put your learning into context I want you to complete the course having successfully coached others via the phone, building up experience and feedback.

It’s a training that will take place over the phone, using technology that allows you to work in small groups within the call, exactly as you could during a live face-to-face training – you will be strengthening those skills you will use when phone coaching all the way through the course. For more details click here.