It seems to me that the main reason why people get anxious about speaking in public is that they are not sure what is expected of them. If you have a speech or presentation to deliver, here are 15 tips to help dispel that anxiety by making sure you are well prepared.
These tips will help you feel confident that you know your stuff, and also that you know why and how it will be relevant to your audience.
Tip 1: Imagine you are speaking just to me and answer this question: What do you want me to know?
Tip 2: Tell me why should I care about what you want me to know.
Tip 3: Why do I need to hear it from YOU? What's your special connection with the message?
Tip 4: Would you pay to hear YOU speak? If not, why not?
Tip 5: Record your voice and ask yourself and some close friends if your voice is attractive. If not, make changes.
Tip 6: What's your reason for speaking? Money? Influence? Ego? Passion? When you are clear about it you'll be more focused.
Tip 7: When you have credible answers to tips 1-6, write your Core Message (the 'carry away') in a single sentence. That's the message you should drive home when you speak.
Tip 8: Develop your message in 3 streams of argument or thought, e.g. Problem / Consequence / Solution.
Tip 9: Decide on your call to action. What do you want people to do when you have finished speaking?
Tip 10: Create an opening 'Hook' -- something unexpected or dramatic that grabs attention right at the start.
Tip 11: Write out and learn your opening and closing paragraphs. Just use prompts for the rest, to sound more natural.
Tip 12: Decide on the 'point of arrival' or climax of your speech or presentation and build up the energy to that point. Your second 'climax' should be at the end.
Tip 13: Practise in front of a mirror or camcorder. Watch your gestures and body language.
Tip 14: When you are confident of your text, answer (aloud) the questions in Tips 1-3.
Tip 15: Unless you are in a speech contest, don't try to give a world class performance. Just be sincere and passionate.
For more detailed help, go to www.pkpcommunicators.com or call 0845 165 9240 (local rates).
Phillip
Wednesday 20 April 2011
Sunday 10 April 2011
Got a Best Man speech to deliver?
You stand up and call for silence. Someone taps a knife against a wine glass, and you realise it's you. Gradually the room falls silent.
Your throat is dry but the sweat drips off your forehead and your shirt is clinging to your back. There's a slow pounding in your head and your stomach is lurching around. The brilliant opening line that you crafted so carefully has fled from your memory and you yearn for someone to call you away to take an urgent telephone call.
In your hand is a bundle of papers which you are crushing with the tension that is gripping you and blurring your vision. You look down at them and realise they are the cards that everyone is expecting you to read out.
You start to speak, but all you can do is squeak. You open the first card and the rest slip from your hand, cascading to the floor. The room erupts in laughter and you twist around, looking for a bin into which you can throw up. And as you do so, you fall out of bed.
It has all been a terrible dream, a nightmare, and possibly a recurrent one.
It is actually a fairly common nightmare, and its cause is simple: the fear of public speaking. It is well documented that one of the greatest fears of modern man is public speaking.
For some reason, people who may be fluent and confident in conversation will freeze in fear when they have to stand in the spotlight and deliver a speech, even if the audience consists of friends and family.
It can happen to anyone, even experienced speakers. To help you cope (and, by the way, this could apply to almost any speech), here’s a simple 8-step guide that will allow you to shine.
Step 1: 10 Key Points
Keep it simple. Just decide on 10 points to make. Any 10 that seem important. If you’re not sure how to do that, just list all the points you want to make and select the 10 most important. Decide which is the MOST important and call it No. 1. Then the next, and call it No. 2, and so on.
Step 2: Brainstorm
Take 10 sheets of paper and at the top of each write one of the 10 key points. Then write all you can think of about that topic. Use bullet points rather than full sentences, and do as fast as you can, so that you build up a momentum. Do;t edit at this stage. Just put down whatever you think of.
Step 3: Planning the Sequence
Here’s the interesting bit. Lay the 10 sheets of paper on the floor and decide which point you want to talk about first. Pick it up and place it at the top left hand corner of your space. Then decide on the next point you want to make and place it alongside the first. Keep going until all 10 are in position. Go to No.1 (top left hand spot) and talk it through quickly, then step to each point in turn, talking it through (“Next, I’ll say …”) and decide if the sequence feels right. If not, just change it. Once you are happy with the sequence, mark the 10 numbers at the top of the sheets, and gather them up in the order you have chosen.
Step 4: Editing
Now you can edit. Go through each page in turn, and delete anything that does not fit.
Step 5: First Draft
Following the editing process, you should write out the speech, to see how the ideas fit together. The read it out aloud, recording it if you can.
Step 6: Rewrite
A re-write is essential. Don’t fall in love with your brilliance. Any script can be improved. Any phrase that seems too long or hard to say when you read it aloud has to be changed.
Step 7: Write a Hook
What will you say or do at the start of your speech, to grab the attention of everyone there? It could be a joke (not advisable unless you are good at telling jokes) or something startling. Spend time on this. It will get you properly launched.
Step 8: Speaker's Notes
Finally, write your notes on 5 x 3 cards. Headlines and bullet points. Don’t write a full script that you then read out word for word. That’s boring, and will also make you lose eye contact with your audience.
One last bit of advice: PRACTISE!
Best of luck.
Phillip
Your throat is dry but the sweat drips off your forehead and your shirt is clinging to your back. There's a slow pounding in your head and your stomach is lurching around. The brilliant opening line that you crafted so carefully has fled from your memory and you yearn for someone to call you away to take an urgent telephone call.
In your hand is a bundle of papers which you are crushing with the tension that is gripping you and blurring your vision. You look down at them and realise they are the cards that everyone is expecting you to read out.
You start to speak, but all you can do is squeak. You open the first card and the rest slip from your hand, cascading to the floor. The room erupts in laughter and you twist around, looking for a bin into which you can throw up. And as you do so, you fall out of bed.
It has all been a terrible dream, a nightmare, and possibly a recurrent one.
It is actually a fairly common nightmare, and its cause is simple: the fear of public speaking. It is well documented that one of the greatest fears of modern man is public speaking.
For some reason, people who may be fluent and confident in conversation will freeze in fear when they have to stand in the spotlight and deliver a speech, even if the audience consists of friends and family.
It can happen to anyone, even experienced speakers. To help you cope (and, by the way, this could apply to almost any speech), here’s a simple 8-step guide that will allow you to shine.
Step 1: 10 Key Points
Keep it simple. Just decide on 10 points to make. Any 10 that seem important. If you’re not sure how to do that, just list all the points you want to make and select the 10 most important. Decide which is the MOST important and call it No. 1. Then the next, and call it No. 2, and so on.
Step 2: Brainstorm
Take 10 sheets of paper and at the top of each write one of the 10 key points. Then write all you can think of about that topic. Use bullet points rather than full sentences, and do as fast as you can, so that you build up a momentum. Do;t edit at this stage. Just put down whatever you think of.
Step 3: Planning the Sequence
Here’s the interesting bit. Lay the 10 sheets of paper on the floor and decide which point you want to talk about first. Pick it up and place it at the top left hand corner of your space. Then decide on the next point you want to make and place it alongside the first. Keep going until all 10 are in position. Go to No.1 (top left hand spot) and talk it through quickly, then step to each point in turn, talking it through (“Next, I’ll say …”) and decide if the sequence feels right. If not, just change it. Once you are happy with the sequence, mark the 10 numbers at the top of the sheets, and gather them up in the order you have chosen.
Step 4: Editing
Now you can edit. Go through each page in turn, and delete anything that does not fit.
Step 5: First Draft
Following the editing process, you should write out the speech, to see how the ideas fit together. The read it out aloud, recording it if you can.
Step 6: Rewrite
A re-write is essential. Don’t fall in love with your brilliance. Any script can be improved. Any phrase that seems too long or hard to say when you read it aloud has to be changed.
Step 7: Write a Hook
What will you say or do at the start of your speech, to grab the attention of everyone there? It could be a joke (not advisable unless you are good at telling jokes) or something startling. Spend time on this. It will get you properly launched.
Step 8: Speaker's Notes
Finally, write your notes on 5 x 3 cards. Headlines and bullet points. Don’t write a full script that you then read out word for word. That’s boring, and will also make you lose eye contact with your audience.
One last bit of advice: PRACTISE!
Best of luck.
Phillip
Thursday 7 April 2011
Bad advertising will waste your money
There’s a lot of bad advertising about. If you copy it you will waste your money. Advertising is (or should be) salesmanship, pure and simple. Its function is to sell – to persuade its audience to accept the proposition and, eventually, to buy.
It is quite amazing that expensive ad agencies are turning out advertising that fails to follow the basic rules of selling, even ignoring that well-known maxim, WIIFM – what’s in it for me? Amazingly, it gets past a succession of people who should know better: from the copywriter to the creative head, to the account team and finally the advertising manager at the client end.
To see how it should be done, look at ‘direct response advertising’. It is designed to get immediate action, and its effectiveness can be readily measured. It has to answer three questions quickly: what is it, is it for me, how do I get it?
In other words, first tell me the proposition. What are you selling? Then make it relevant to me. Finally, tell me where, how and from whom I can get it. The supplier or retailer fits into the last part.
Yet, the current crop of TV commercials contains at least three that begin with the very same error. They all start with “At XYZ company we ...” And they are all big names, with big advertising budgets and a long history of advertising that should have guided their judgement. Here are their opening lines:
At Sainsbury’s all these ...
At HSBC we can help ...
At Wickes we know ...
This last is made worse by the closing slogan, “It’s got our name on it.”
The focus of all these ads is on themselves. It presumes that each of those companies has such a presence in the market that the mere mention of their names will produce a Pavlovian response from well-conditioned customers. That amounts to self-congratulation – not a good basis for selling, especially in these tough times when traditional loyalties are already being tested.
Good copywriting follows the process of persuasion. And a good copywriter knows how to sell. If you’re looking for one, let’s meet for copy.
Phillip@pkpcommunicators.com
It is quite amazing that expensive ad agencies are turning out advertising that fails to follow the basic rules of selling, even ignoring that well-known maxim, WIIFM – what’s in it for me? Amazingly, it gets past a succession of people who should know better: from the copywriter to the creative head, to the account team and finally the advertising manager at the client end.
To see how it should be done, look at ‘direct response advertising’. It is designed to get immediate action, and its effectiveness can be readily measured. It has to answer three questions quickly: what is it, is it for me, how do I get it?
In other words, first tell me the proposition. What are you selling? Then make it relevant to me. Finally, tell me where, how and from whom I can get it. The supplier or retailer fits into the last part.
Yet, the current crop of TV commercials contains at least three that begin with the very same error. They all start with “At XYZ company we ...” And they are all big names, with big advertising budgets and a long history of advertising that should have guided their judgement. Here are their opening lines:
At Sainsbury’s all these ...
At HSBC we can help ...
At Wickes we know ...
This last is made worse by the closing slogan, “It’s got our name on it.”
The focus of all these ads is on themselves. It presumes that each of those companies has such a presence in the market that the mere mention of their names will produce a Pavlovian response from well-conditioned customers. That amounts to self-congratulation – not a good basis for selling, especially in these tough times when traditional loyalties are already being tested.
Good copywriting follows the process of persuasion. And a good copywriter knows how to sell. If you’re looking for one, let’s meet for copy.
Phillip@pkpcommunicators.com
Tuesday 5 April 2011
It's the upsell that I mind
My local post office is managed by an enterprising Indian family. One of their number is a very pretty young lady who attracted a lot of attention when she first appeared behind the counter. These days, the locals try to avoid being served by her.
One day recently, I heard the reason why. She was serving a pensioner, a man in his late 70s, and I heard him say, in a rather exasperated tone, “No, please, no selling. I don’t want any of that.”
If you buy a stamp from her, she asks if you’d like a mobile phone top-up. If you want to post a packet she tries to get you to take the most expensive option. It’s always upsell, upsell, upsell.
It’s the same when I order stationery on the phone. “We have a special offer this week for paper. We are offering 75 million reams for only 20p!” or some such pitch. It’s relentless.
Macdonalds are famous for their upsell: “Would like fries with that?” Starbucks ask “Medium or large?” when you order a coffee. Waitrose may price something at £3.55, but offer 2 for £5.
What really causes the offence is the self-centred focus. It comes across as pressure to spend more than you intended. And it’s so unnecessary.
Upselling is good. It helps the vendor and it could help the customer too. All it takes is a little thought and training in customer care.
The key question to address is, how does it benefit the customer? The girl in the post office could ask if there is anything else she could help with, or if it is important to guarantee delivery by the next morning. The stationery supplier could ask if I would like to save money on any of my regular purchases such as paper, Starbucks could say, “If you are planning to stay for a while, would you prefer a large cup?”
Some of their scripts are close to the right wording, but the staff haven’t been properly trained to understand how to put it across. Result? Strained relations instead of a developing relationship.
If you have a specific problem in customer care, I’d be happy to offer you my take on it, without fee. Just drop a line to admin@pkpcommunicators.com.
One day recently, I heard the reason why. She was serving a pensioner, a man in his late 70s, and I heard him say, in a rather exasperated tone, “No, please, no selling. I don’t want any of that.”
If you buy a stamp from her, she asks if you’d like a mobile phone top-up. If you want to post a packet she tries to get you to take the most expensive option. It’s always upsell, upsell, upsell.
It’s the same when I order stationery on the phone. “We have a special offer this week for paper. We are offering 75 million reams for only 20p!” or some such pitch. It’s relentless.
Macdonalds are famous for their upsell: “Would like fries with that?” Starbucks ask “Medium or large?” when you order a coffee. Waitrose may price something at £3.55, but offer 2 for £5.
What really causes the offence is the self-centred focus. It comes across as pressure to spend more than you intended. And it’s so unnecessary.
Upselling is good. It helps the vendor and it could help the customer too. All it takes is a little thought and training in customer care.
The key question to address is, how does it benefit the customer? The girl in the post office could ask if there is anything else she could help with, or if it is important to guarantee delivery by the next morning. The stationery supplier could ask if I would like to save money on any of my regular purchases such as paper, Starbucks could say, “If you are planning to stay for a while, would you prefer a large cup?”
Some of their scripts are close to the right wording, but the staff haven’t been properly trained to understand how to put it across. Result? Strained relations instead of a developing relationship.
If you have a specific problem in customer care, I’d be happy to offer you my take on it, without fee. Just drop a line to admin@pkpcommunicators.com.
Saturday 2 April 2011
A printer's approch to customer service
Last September I came across a printer in LinkedIn and decided to give him a go, assuming him to be OK, as a fellow member of LinkedIn. As you do.
So although I did not yet need new business cards, I asked him to print some new ones for me, and sent his PA the artwork, for printing on front and back. The proofs were OK, and the cards were duly printed, and I paid through PayPal (for two sided printing)
.
I was still using up the old cards, so it was some time before I got around to opening the boxes and using the new cards, sending out quite a few in mailings.
One day I suddenly realised that the backs were blank.
I wrote on 21st January and 2nd February, but received no reply, and wrote again on 22nd February. On 1st March I received an email saying they would reprint the cards if I would return all the faulty cards.
If you have been following the narrative so far you will know that that was not possible, because (as I told them) I had already sent out quite a few.
At their request I returned all the cards I still had, leaving myself with no business cards at all.
They refused to reprint the cards unless I returned all the 'faulty' ones (their inverted commas).
The Managing Director wrote to say, "We have attempted to speak to you on several occasions to discuss the situation." They did nothing of the sort.
Now, folks, we are talking about a total of £86.25 (including the cost of returning the faulty cards). Not big money, is it?
The correspondence has become increasingly heated, and on 28th March the man again wrote "I have clearly stated that we will replace them when we have received them ALL back from you. You have failed to do this."
He is right when he adds that I had plenty of time to inspect the cards when they were first delivered, but he has not produced the printing for which he was paid, and has placed an impossible condition on rectifying the error.
It's not an experience I would wish to repeat, and I'm sharing it with you in case you should ever place printing with this printer. Because you will have to check it very carefully as I clearly failed to do. I paid, didn't get what I paid for, and don't even have the faulty cards because I was asked to return them.
As an example of customer service, this takes the cake.
Phillip
So although I did not yet need new business cards, I asked him to print some new ones for me, and sent his PA the artwork, for printing on front and back. The proofs were OK, and the cards were duly printed, and I paid through PayPal (for two sided printing)
.
I was still using up the old cards, so it was some time before I got around to opening the boxes and using the new cards, sending out quite a few in mailings.
One day I suddenly realised that the backs were blank.
I wrote on 21st January and 2nd February, but received no reply, and wrote again on 22nd February. On 1st March I received an email saying they would reprint the cards if I would return all the faulty cards.
If you have been following the narrative so far you will know that that was not possible, because (as I told them) I had already sent out quite a few.
At their request I returned all the cards I still had, leaving myself with no business cards at all.
They refused to reprint the cards unless I returned all the 'faulty' ones (their inverted commas).
The Managing Director wrote to say, "We have attempted to speak to you on several occasions to discuss the situation." They did nothing of the sort.
Now, folks, we are talking about a total of £86.25 (including the cost of returning the faulty cards). Not big money, is it?
The correspondence has become increasingly heated, and on 28th March the man again wrote "I have clearly stated that we will replace them when we have received them ALL back from you. You have failed to do this."
He is right when he adds that I had plenty of time to inspect the cards when they were first delivered, but he has not produced the printing for which he was paid, and has placed an impossible condition on rectifying the error.
It's not an experience I would wish to repeat, and I'm sharing it with you in case you should ever place printing with this printer. Because you will have to check it very carefully as I clearly failed to do. I paid, didn't get what I paid for, and don't even have the faulty cards because I was asked to return them.
As an example of customer service, this takes the cake.
Phillip
Monday 7 March 2011
What makes a leader?
It is commonly accepted that there are three main types of leader:
1. There is the Great Man theory, sometimes called the Trait theory. It is based on the belief that some people are born leaders. It’s in them. Wherever they are, whatever they do, they will be recognized as natural leaders.
2. Then there is the Great Event theory. Cometh the time, cometh the man. This is about major events bringing out the leader for that event. Winston Churchill was an example of Great Event leadership. He had been prominent in politics for a long time, but was not very popular. However, when things were going badly for Britain in the Second World War, although he was aged 65 at the time, he was asked to become Prime Minister. The Romans believed in Great Event leadership. In times of crisis they would appoint someone dictator with total power to sort out the problem. Julius Caesar was one example of that.
3. Finally, there is Transformational Leadership theory. This is based on the belief that leaders are made, not born. It is the most widely held theory, and it forms the basis for training in leadership skills.
Of course, there are leaders in our day to day lives, when there is no crisis or great event. Politicians and company directors, for example. Such leaders make decisions, provide guidance on procedures, on the law, on social behaviour, and formulate policies. I would call them Transactional leaders, because they deal in the everyday transactions of a society.
I have lilttle interest in them. I prefer Transformational leaders, because they are the people concerned with bringing about change. How they go about it, and how they connect with their followers, is the essence of The Voice of Leadership, which is one of the key training programmes in my portfolio.
Leadership can be developed, but it is not simply a technique that you can acquire, like learning to play the piano. It’s about who you are, what you know and what you do. Who you are means your beliefs and character. It’s about the essential you. Can you inspire trust and respect? I don’t think you can fake it. Anyone can bluff their way to admiration, but integrity has to be real.
You need to understand what leadership is, and how it affects those who are led. You need to recognise that the most important tool in a leader’s armoury is the right communication skill. As Churchill once said, "The difference between leadership and mere management is communication." And that can be taught.
1. There is the Great Man theory, sometimes called the Trait theory. It is based on the belief that some people are born leaders. It’s in them. Wherever they are, whatever they do, they will be recognized as natural leaders.
2. Then there is the Great Event theory. Cometh the time, cometh the man. This is about major events bringing out the leader for that event. Winston Churchill was an example of Great Event leadership. He had been prominent in politics for a long time, but was not very popular. However, when things were going badly for Britain in the Second World War, although he was aged 65 at the time, he was asked to become Prime Minister. The Romans believed in Great Event leadership. In times of crisis they would appoint someone dictator with total power to sort out the problem. Julius Caesar was one example of that.
3. Finally, there is Transformational Leadership theory. This is based on the belief that leaders are made, not born. It is the most widely held theory, and it forms the basis for training in leadership skills.
Of course, there are leaders in our day to day lives, when there is no crisis or great event. Politicians and company directors, for example. Such leaders make decisions, provide guidance on procedures, on the law, on social behaviour, and formulate policies. I would call them Transactional leaders, because they deal in the everyday transactions of a society.
I have lilttle interest in them. I prefer Transformational leaders, because they are the people concerned with bringing about change. How they go about it, and how they connect with their followers, is the essence of The Voice of Leadership, which is one of the key training programmes in my portfolio.
Leadership can be developed, but it is not simply a technique that you can acquire, like learning to play the piano. It’s about who you are, what you know and what you do. Who you are means your beliefs and character. It’s about the essential you. Can you inspire trust and respect? I don’t think you can fake it. Anyone can bluff their way to admiration, but integrity has to be real.
You need to understand what leadership is, and how it affects those who are led. You need to recognise that the most important tool in a leader’s armoury is the right communication skill. As Churchill once said, "The difference between leadership and mere management is communication." And that can be taught.
Sunday 6 March 2011
11Leadership Guidelines
Leadership is about what you be, know, and do. Here are 11 guidelines that will help to establish or enhance your leadership abilities and communication:
1. Know yourself and seek self-improvement. In order to know yourself, you have to understand your "be, know, and do" attributes. Seeking self-improvement means continually strengthening your attributes. This can be accomplished through reading, self-study, classes, etc.
2. Be technically proficient. As a leader, you must know your job thoroughly and have a solid familiarity with your employees' jobs as well.
3. Seek responsibility and take responsibility for your actions. Search for ways to guide your organisation to new heights. And when things go wrong, as they will sooner or later, do not blame others. Analyse the situation, take corrective action, and move on to the next challenge. That's the mark of a good leader.
4. Make sound and timely decisions. Use good problem solving, decision making, and planning tools. If necessary, get training.
5. Set the example. Be a good role model for your employees. They must not only hear what they are expected to do, but also see. You know the saying, Monkey see, monkey do.
6. Know your people and look out for their well-being. Know human nature and the importance of sincerely caring for your workers.
7. Keep your people informed. Know how to communicate with your people, seniors, and other key people within the organization. Work on your presentation skills.
8. Develop a sense of responsibility in your people. Develop good character traits within your people that will help them carry out their professional responsibilities and encourage them to take charge of what they do, and not wait to be told.
9. Ensure that tasks are understood, supervised, and accomplished. Communication is the key to this responsibility.
10. Train your people as a team. Although many so called leaders call their organization, department, section, etc. a team; they are not really teams...they are just a group of people doing their jobs. Everyone needs training.
11. Use the full capabilities of your organization. By developing a team spirit, you will be able to employ your organization, department, section, etc. to its fullest capabilities.
If you want to discuss this further, call me.
Phillip
1. Know yourself and seek self-improvement. In order to know yourself, you have to understand your "be, know, and do" attributes. Seeking self-improvement means continually strengthening your attributes. This can be accomplished through reading, self-study, classes, etc.
2. Be technically proficient. As a leader, you must know your job thoroughly and have a solid familiarity with your employees' jobs as well.
3. Seek responsibility and take responsibility for your actions. Search for ways to guide your organisation to new heights. And when things go wrong, as they will sooner or later, do not blame others. Analyse the situation, take corrective action, and move on to the next challenge. That's the mark of a good leader.
4. Make sound and timely decisions. Use good problem solving, decision making, and planning tools. If necessary, get training.
5. Set the example. Be a good role model for your employees. They must not only hear what they are expected to do, but also see. You know the saying, Monkey see, monkey do.
6. Know your people and look out for their well-being. Know human nature and the importance of sincerely caring for your workers.
7. Keep your people informed. Know how to communicate with your people, seniors, and other key people within the organization. Work on your presentation skills.
8. Develop a sense of responsibility in your people. Develop good character traits within your people that will help them carry out their professional responsibilities and encourage them to take charge of what they do, and not wait to be told.
9. Ensure that tasks are understood, supervised, and accomplished. Communication is the key to this responsibility.
10. Train your people as a team. Although many so called leaders call their organization, department, section, etc. a team; they are not really teams...they are just a group of people doing their jobs. Everyone needs training.
11. Use the full capabilities of your organization. By developing a team spirit, you will be able to employ your organization, department, section, etc. to its fullest capabilities.
If you want to discuss this further, call me.
Phillip
Thursday 3 March 2011
Can we afford to lose our sole traders?
Unemployment is officially now at nearly 2.5 million (7.9%), but that’s not the full story. Many thousands more are without work. They are not on the dole figures and they don’t as yet cost the nation any quantifiable cash, but there is a cost, a significant one, that may be hard to define, but which will be felt in the very near future. These are the self-employed, the folks who decided to ‘go it alone’ or ‘get on their bikes’ and set up rafts of micro businesses. Many are facing ruin.
A micro business is, typically, a one-man band – trainers, journalists, freelance salesmen, home helps, mobile mechanics, plumbers, electricians, management consultants, among many more. They have worked on the fringes of mainstream business, mopping up spare capacity, often providing lower cost alternatives to better-known corporates. For many of them, work has dried up and they are, in fact if not officially, currently jobless.
Any official help?
There was a summit in Glasgow on the effects of the economic downturn, designed ‘to better support individuals and business facing hardship due to the economic downturn’. It brought together the Minister of State for Welfare Reform, the Education Minister, and representatives of various trade unions and others. That was two years ago. Since then what has happened?
At about the same time, a Think Tank called Race on the Agenda concerned itself with the effects of the downturn on minorities. Racial minorities. Mervyn King has spoken of the mounting misery in households facing the biggest decline in their living standards since the 1920s. But spare a thought for two groups whose misery is even more palpable: middle class dole claimants and the self-employed who have no work.
No one is immune
Talk to a former middle manager who has had to clear his desk and surrender his gleaming company car. In the good times, he mortgaged himself to the hilt and entertained at home, living up to the image of a successful businessman. Now, aged 50 or more, he has little prospect of a job. When his savings dry up, he’ll wonder whether he should stack shelves in the supermarket or offer to do odd jobs like painting and decorating – anything to bring in some cash. Some even take up mini-cabbing. A colleague of mine called for a minicab one evening and was embarrassed when the man who turned up used to be his senior in previous years, a man he used to call Sir.
It’s pretty much the same for the sole trader whose work has dried up. Competition is fierce for whatever work there is, and price cutting is sharp. Everyone is uncertain where the point of balance lies – the point at which they are disregarded because they are too cheap and therefore cannot be any good.
The real cost is to self esteem. When you sit at your desk all day, every day, trying to market yourself and no one buys, you rapidly start to doubt yourself. One new business getter for management consultants, wondered if he had any value in the market place. He started to describe himself as a one-trick pony that no one wants. As one who has made and lost a fortune in the past, he has what it takes, and he’s a highly skilled wheeler-dealer, but he was last seen looking for a job. Back in full-time employment.
Sadly, it’s a vicious spiral. When work stops coming through the door, you have to swallow your pride and go looking for it. But you are already feeling rejected by the market and past customers, so you put off writing those prospecting letters or picking up the phone. Fear of rejection is a paralysing force. And when you are working as a sole trader, there is no one to bolster you, remind you of your strengths, encourage you to keep trying.
Huge fund of potential
The number of people in this situation is very large. In 1999, there were 3.7m firms in Britain. Two thirds of them were sole traders. By 2007, that proportion had risen to three quarters of the 4.5 million firms. It was just before the start of the economic slowdown and the drying up of credit, and those 3.3 million sole operators turned over a massive £1,440 billion.
That’s a considerable amount of wealth creation, even if it is not mainstream. It derives from a huge bank of energy, drive and creativity. The more successful ones go on to create jobs and build larger firms. They are known as entrepreneurs. Steve Jobs of Apple, Bill Gates of Microsoft and Sir Richard Branson are examples of sole traders turned entrepreneur. In the current economic wilderness, such people are a threatened breed.
Why are they important? Because their drive comes from doing the things they love, and that’s so much more important than just doing a job for a salary. Steve Jobs once said, “The only way to do great work is to do what you love.” We need people who do great work. Sole traders are, in effect, CEOs -- men and women with the drive, tenacity and creativity to solve problems and deliver successful outcomes rather than going through the motions.
Can the nation afford to lose them?
A micro business is, typically, a one-man band – trainers, journalists, freelance salesmen, home helps, mobile mechanics, plumbers, electricians, management consultants, among many more. They have worked on the fringes of mainstream business, mopping up spare capacity, often providing lower cost alternatives to better-known corporates. For many of them, work has dried up and they are, in fact if not officially, currently jobless.
Any official help?
There was a summit in Glasgow on the effects of the economic downturn, designed ‘to better support individuals and business facing hardship due to the economic downturn’. It brought together the Minister of State for Welfare Reform, the Education Minister, and representatives of various trade unions and others. That was two years ago. Since then what has happened?
At about the same time, a Think Tank called Race on the Agenda concerned itself with the effects of the downturn on minorities. Racial minorities. Mervyn King has spoken of the mounting misery in households facing the biggest decline in their living standards since the 1920s. But spare a thought for two groups whose misery is even more palpable: middle class dole claimants and the self-employed who have no work.
No one is immune
Talk to a former middle manager who has had to clear his desk and surrender his gleaming company car. In the good times, he mortgaged himself to the hilt and entertained at home, living up to the image of a successful businessman. Now, aged 50 or more, he has little prospect of a job. When his savings dry up, he’ll wonder whether he should stack shelves in the supermarket or offer to do odd jobs like painting and decorating – anything to bring in some cash. Some even take up mini-cabbing. A colleague of mine called for a minicab one evening and was embarrassed when the man who turned up used to be his senior in previous years, a man he used to call Sir.
It’s pretty much the same for the sole trader whose work has dried up. Competition is fierce for whatever work there is, and price cutting is sharp. Everyone is uncertain where the point of balance lies – the point at which they are disregarded because they are too cheap and therefore cannot be any good.
The real cost is to self esteem. When you sit at your desk all day, every day, trying to market yourself and no one buys, you rapidly start to doubt yourself. One new business getter for management consultants, wondered if he had any value in the market place. He started to describe himself as a one-trick pony that no one wants. As one who has made and lost a fortune in the past, he has what it takes, and he’s a highly skilled wheeler-dealer, but he was last seen looking for a job. Back in full-time employment.
Sadly, it’s a vicious spiral. When work stops coming through the door, you have to swallow your pride and go looking for it. But you are already feeling rejected by the market and past customers, so you put off writing those prospecting letters or picking up the phone. Fear of rejection is a paralysing force. And when you are working as a sole trader, there is no one to bolster you, remind you of your strengths, encourage you to keep trying.
Huge fund of potential
The number of people in this situation is very large. In 1999, there were 3.7m firms in Britain. Two thirds of them were sole traders. By 2007, that proportion had risen to three quarters of the 4.5 million firms. It was just before the start of the economic slowdown and the drying up of credit, and those 3.3 million sole operators turned over a massive £1,440 billion.
That’s a considerable amount of wealth creation, even if it is not mainstream. It derives from a huge bank of energy, drive and creativity. The more successful ones go on to create jobs and build larger firms. They are known as entrepreneurs. Steve Jobs of Apple, Bill Gates of Microsoft and Sir Richard Branson are examples of sole traders turned entrepreneur. In the current economic wilderness, such people are a threatened breed.
Why are they important? Because their drive comes from doing the things they love, and that’s so much more important than just doing a job for a salary. Steve Jobs once said, “The only way to do great work is to do what you love.” We need people who do great work. Sole traders are, in effect, CEOs -- men and women with the drive, tenacity and creativity to solve problems and deliver successful outcomes rather than going through the motions.
Can the nation afford to lose them?
Wednesday 16 February 2011
We speak the way we think
Some years ago I was Senior Copywriter at The Reader's Digest. And yes, we did spend a lot of time discussing the positioning of the apostrophe in Reader's.
One of my colleagues, Donald, was an Art Director in the Creative Department. Donald had an extraordinary way with words. Some of our colleagues would stuff a hankie into their mouths, with eyes streaming with tears of mirth, and rush into another office to write down some of the things he said.
Donald ranked with Spooner, Mrs Malaprop and Sam Goldwyn in his mangling of language.
He developed MS and, to raise some funds for the Multiple Sclerosis Society, and with his permission, we published a small book of Donald's collected sayings, under the title, "My Pear Tree Has Gone Bananas". If you ever got your hands on a copy, you'd have found it was "right up your cup of tea", as Donald himself once said.
When he struggled with powerful emotions, Don would mix his metaphors. Here are a few:
* This job is a right swine of a cow
* It's always better talking to the horse's mouth
* There was a little rat on the door
* I'm caught between the devil and the frying pan
Donald liked his food, and was heard to say:
* Can I have the Halibut Provencale without the garlic?
* I'll have fillet of sole off the bone.
* I can't even remember what I had for lunch yesterday; it all goes in one ear and out the other
* He comes around here and picks up all the crumbs that make up the cream
Asked about his illness, Don said:
* It's all to do with the spine ... because the legs are connected to the body, and the arms are connected to the head
* My legs felt like solid jelly
* I feel like death rolled up
* My doctor said I'm not as young as I should be
Feeling the need for emphasis, he would say:
* I don't exaggerate, I do six million jobs at once
* Five tenths of an inch is an inch in my language
When I coach people in the best ways to get their point across, I still remember Don calling it a disastrous success and asking, How long is a carrot?
He spoke the way he thought. Right up his cup of tea.
PKP
One of my colleagues, Donald, was an Art Director in the Creative Department. Donald had an extraordinary way with words. Some of our colleagues would stuff a hankie into their mouths, with eyes streaming with tears of mirth, and rush into another office to write down some of the things he said.
Donald ranked with Spooner, Mrs Malaprop and Sam Goldwyn in his mangling of language.
He developed MS and, to raise some funds for the Multiple Sclerosis Society, and with his permission, we published a small book of Donald's collected sayings, under the title, "My Pear Tree Has Gone Bananas". If you ever got your hands on a copy, you'd have found it was "right up your cup of tea", as Donald himself once said.
When he struggled with powerful emotions, Don would mix his metaphors. Here are a few:
* This job is a right swine of a cow
* It's always better talking to the horse's mouth
* There was a little rat on the door
* I'm caught between the devil and the frying pan
Donald liked his food, and was heard to say:
* Can I have the Halibut Provencale without the garlic?
* I'll have fillet of sole off the bone.
* I can't even remember what I had for lunch yesterday; it all goes in one ear and out the other
* He comes around here and picks up all the crumbs that make up the cream
Asked about his illness, Don said:
* It's all to do with the spine ... because the legs are connected to the body, and the arms are connected to the head
* My legs felt like solid jelly
* I feel like death rolled up
* My doctor said I'm not as young as I should be
Feeling the need for emphasis, he would say:
* I don't exaggerate, I do six million jobs at once
* Five tenths of an inch is an inch in my language
When I coach people in the best ways to get their point across, I still remember Don calling it a disastrous success and asking, How long is a carrot?
He spoke the way he thought. Right up his cup of tea.
PKP
Monday 14 February 2011
How to handle rejection in sales
A lot of people consider selling to be a confrontational conversion, lightly smeared with honey to make it seem agreeable. There are two reasons for that: first, the sales person wants to win, and second, the prospect wants to retain both his money and his pride.
Now, of course this does not happen in every sale, but it can be considered a typical model. Elements of the confrontation could quite easily enter any sale.
The second reason is that the sales person is scared of rejection. As you know, fear of loss or pain is a much more powerful motivator than the prospect of gain. Rejection brings loss of face - a concept not restricted to Orientals.
To avoid rejection, the sales person needs a protective strategy.
Some adopt a tough attitude, placing themselves in the dominant role, and the prospect in the role of supplicant. This old-fashioned macho approach is doomed to failure in the long run. Even short term gains may quickly be reversed with cancellations at the first opportunity.
Even the prospect wants to save face!
If you are selling, you need to build into your preparation a fall-back position. What is the least you will settle for if you don't get the sale?
It could be something as simple as an introduction to another prospect, or even another appointment in three months' time. It could be a referral to someone else. Viewed in the context of a new relationship, an immediate sale is not the only objective.
Work out what you will accept as an alternative to your main objective and you will be able to walk out with your tail up. Selling is hard, and no one can endure repeated rejections without being affected.
So protect yourself. Plan your fall-back position and give yourself another chance to feel good about the encounter.
Phillip
Now, of course this does not happen in every sale, but it can be considered a typical model. Elements of the confrontation could quite easily enter any sale.
The second reason is that the sales person is scared of rejection. As you know, fear of loss or pain is a much more powerful motivator than the prospect of gain. Rejection brings loss of face - a concept not restricted to Orientals.
To avoid rejection, the sales person needs a protective strategy.
Some adopt a tough attitude, placing themselves in the dominant role, and the prospect in the role of supplicant. This old-fashioned macho approach is doomed to failure in the long run. Even short term gains may quickly be reversed with cancellations at the first opportunity.
Even the prospect wants to save face!
If you are selling, you need to build into your preparation a fall-back position. What is the least you will settle for if you don't get the sale?
It could be something as simple as an introduction to another prospect, or even another appointment in three months' time. It could be a referral to someone else. Viewed in the context of a new relationship, an immediate sale is not the only objective.
Work out what you will accept as an alternative to your main objective and you will be able to walk out with your tail up. Selling is hard, and no one can endure repeated rejections without being affected.
So protect yourself. Plan your fall-back position and give yourself another chance to feel good about the encounter.
Phillip
Sunday 13 February 2011
The eloquence of a celebrity handshake
Before the Scotland-Wales rugby match on Saturday, when Princess Anne was introduced to the teams, her handshake technique was very different from that adopted by Ireland's President, Mary MacAleese on Sunday. It spoke eloquently in body language.
Mary MacAleese went along the line quickly, keeping her right arm extended as she briefly shook each person's hand in turn. In effect, it was one handshake, shared by each person in the line. It signalled that she was moving on.
Princess Anne did it differently. After each handshake, she returned her arm to her side, making a fresh gesture for each person. It signalled that she was greeting each person afresh, giving that person his own share of her attention and time. It was superb!
When a dignitary keeps the arm extended, simply moving it along to the next person in the line, the contact is almost meaningless. In body language terms, it is superficial, a hello-goodbye, even if though I'm certain it was not her intention, because Mary MacAleese is a gracious lady.
What Princess Anne did, the way she returned her arm to her side each time, was a mark of politeness and respect, and very good manners. It was a fine example of the right body language, and I'm sure each person felt a significant contact with her, however briefly.
Gestures, even small ones, are the unspoken language that can sometimes add so much meaning to the spoken word.
Phillip
Mary MacAleese went along the line quickly, keeping her right arm extended as she briefly shook each person's hand in turn. In effect, it was one handshake, shared by each person in the line. It signalled that she was moving on.
Princess Anne did it differently. After each handshake, she returned her arm to her side, making a fresh gesture for each person. It signalled that she was greeting each person afresh, giving that person his own share of her attention and time. It was superb!
When a dignitary keeps the arm extended, simply moving it along to the next person in the line, the contact is almost meaningless. In body language terms, it is superficial, a hello-goodbye, even if though I'm certain it was not her intention, because Mary MacAleese is a gracious lady.
What Princess Anne did, the way she returned her arm to her side each time, was a mark of politeness and respect, and very good manners. It was a fine example of the right body language, and I'm sure each person felt a significant contact with her, however briefly.
Gestures, even small ones, are the unspoken language that can sometimes add so much meaning to the spoken word.
Phillip
Anorchidism: another *recent* affliction?
Last evening, my Barbershop group, The Kentones, gave a fund-raising concert at Petts Wood, in support of a charity called the Anorchidism Support Group. What, I hear you ask, is Anorchidism?
It's a rare condition that people find hard to talk about. It's the absence of testes in boys.
It's embarrassiing for the parents and, in later life, for the boys themselves. Treatment involves injections of testerone in early life, and gels or creams in adulthood. The Support Group was set up in the UK in 1995, because parents of the affected children did not know where to get help or reassurance (other than medical). They felt isolated and even guilty.
All this suggests that the condition is relatively new. It is still not known what causes it.
I am therefore inclined to ask, is this a recent affliction caused by the environmental changes that Man has brought about? We already know about plastic migrating into our food, and oestrogen in the water supply. And remember Thalidomide?
Is Anorchidism another consequence of our misuse of chemicals or some other abuse of our environment?
Phillip
It's a rare condition that people find hard to talk about. It's the absence of testes in boys.
It's embarrassiing for the parents and, in later life, for the boys themselves. Treatment involves injections of testerone in early life, and gels or creams in adulthood. The Support Group was set up in the UK in 1995, because parents of the affected children did not know where to get help or reassurance (other than medical). They felt isolated and even guilty.
All this suggests that the condition is relatively new. It is still not known what causes it.
I am therefore inclined to ask, is this a recent affliction caused by the environmental changes that Man has brought about? We already know about plastic migrating into our food, and oestrogen in the water supply. And remember Thalidomide?
Is Anorchidism another consequence of our misuse of chemicals or some other abuse of our environment?
Phillip
Tuesday 8 February 2011
Books I no longer finish
I am an avid reader and often have several books on the go at the same time. In the past I used to struggle on, to finish them all, no matter how long it took, as though I were the Mastermind quiz master (I've started so I'll finish). But a few years ago I decided not to finish reading A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth, because I found it hard going, and it was far too long. I felt a little guilty, because he's from Calcutta, and so am I.
Soon after that decision, I met up with a schoolmate, who had also lived in Calcutta, and inevitably he asked me if I had read the book. When I told him of my decision, he gave a deep sigh of relief and confessed that he had also been unable to finish reading the book.
Since then I have given up on a number of books. I no longer feel an obligation to struggle to the end. Although I am still reluctant to throw out any book, I place a post-it note inside stating my decision, and replace it on the shelf upside down so that I know to avoid reading it again.
Like most people, I have some books that I bought because I thought I should read them but never got around to doing so, and probably never will. Books such as the one about motorcycle maintenance and the one about the history of time. I like biographies, and bought books about or by such luminaries as Sven Goran Eriksson and David Frost, but lost the inclination to read beyond the Introductions. And then there' s a book that gives equal weight on the spine to Arnold Bennett and Margaret Drabble, so I am uncertain who wrote about whom, and can't be bothered to find out.
I read quite fast and, when absorbed, will make the time to read the current book at every opportunity, but these days I'm prepared to be ruthless and set aside the tome that fails to grip.
What's more, I no longer feel guilty.
Soon after that decision, I met up with a schoolmate, who had also lived in Calcutta, and inevitably he asked me if I had read the book. When I told him of my decision, he gave a deep sigh of relief and confessed that he had also been unable to finish reading the book.
Since then I have given up on a number of books. I no longer feel an obligation to struggle to the end. Although I am still reluctant to throw out any book, I place a post-it note inside stating my decision, and replace it on the shelf upside down so that I know to avoid reading it again.
Like most people, I have some books that I bought because I thought I should read them but never got around to doing so, and probably never will. Books such as the one about motorcycle maintenance and the one about the history of time. I like biographies, and bought books about or by such luminaries as Sven Goran Eriksson and David Frost, but lost the inclination to read beyond the Introductions. And then there' s a book that gives equal weight on the spine to Arnold Bennett and Margaret Drabble, so I am uncertain who wrote about whom, and can't be bothered to find out.
I read quite fast and, when absorbed, will make the time to read the current book at every opportunity, but these days I'm prepared to be ruthless and set aside the tome that fails to grip.
What's more, I no longer feel guilty.
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