Leadership and Sales BLOG

A mentor reminded me years ago that what we do in sales and building relationships isn't complex. If you work hard, do the right things, and treat others better than you could hope to be treated, good things will happen. Consistency, focus, creativity, faith and perserverance are the key ingredients to any success story. Hmmm, maybe I should leave blog-writing and switch to Chinese fortune cookies! Here are a baker's dozen of the activities I focus on every day:

1. Posting on social media.
2. Writing and recording articles and blogs.
3. Making business development calls.
4. Making new contacts.
5. Offering help to someone I know.
6. Asking for help from someone I know.
7. Contacting a client who I've worked with in the past.
8. Phoning instead of emailing.
9. Conducting an interview for a writing or speaking project.
10. Creating my keynotes and workshops.
11. Writing a thank-you note.
12. Marketing my services and the services of others.
13. Making a referral.

This list was developed during a coaching interaction I had recently. Like many business-people, I have always known which activities produce results, but focusing on those activities was a real challenge sometimes. Sound familiar? Here's how to break out of that trap once and for all.

Write one of your revenue-producing activities on an index card, and repeat. Once you have a stack, large or small, of all those activities, shuffle the deck and pick a card. The more time you spend doing those activities, the more fulfilled and successful you will be.

For more great tips on sales, leadership and success, please download the Mike Faber IPhone app at http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/sell52cards/id369889097?mt=8&uo=6

For keynotes, workshops and Mike's Aloha Leadership presentation, call 720.851.5208 (US)

I developed these to help the business professionals (and professional speakers) who I coach on presentation skills. These are the "Top 10" Presentation Tips, please visit the URL below to download the remaining 40 top presentation skills to your IPhone!

Mike Faber’s 50 Top Presentation Tips!

1.  Accentuate the positive as you coach yourself.  Resist the temptation to focus on what you’re doing wrong, and redirect your energies to recognize and reward what you’re doing right. 

2.  When in doubt, ask a question.  Asking your audience for their input shows your concern for their experience of you. 

3.  Respect your audience.  Don’t ask for respect, show it.  Keep the focus on the rewards they can reap from your hard work and preparation.

4.  Speak deliberately, give your audience the time to process and react to what you have to say.

5.   Communicate the key points of your message repeatedly.  Tell stories to illustrate those points.

6.   Distill complex information into its basest elements.  If you can’t describe a concept clearly and succinctly so that every audience member understands it, leave the concept on the cutting room floor.

7.    Concentrate on making others look good, the reflection you see will be your own.

8.    Stuff happens.  If the projector doesn’t work, you misplace your speaker’s notes, or the felt marker goes dry, don’t apologize.  Soldier on.  Better yet, have a backup plan.

9.     Understand the audience’s motivation to listen.  Find out who’ll be listening, why and what they expect from you.

10.    No-one has a script except for you.  If you erred on a fact, correct yourself.  If you erred on a style point, ignore it and move on. 

Download the IPhone app for just 99 cents! You'll get the remaining 40 top presentation tips, articles on presentation, sales and leadership skills, plus blog updates and video podcasts. Here's the URL http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/sell52cards/id369889097?mt=8&uo=6

As I've researched leadership with a Hawaiian twist, I've been connecting with the Island community here in Colorado. One thing that becomes readily apparent is that family (or "ohana" in Hawaiian) is not defined solely by blood relation. At a gathering of Hawaiians, everyone quickly becomes an "Uncle" or "Auntie" to the kids and friendships blossom.

While friendships form quickly, trust takes longer. In social settings, friends make plans for barbeques or golf games. In business settings, we form bonds of trust a bit more slowly. Can you depend on a partner to follow through on her commitments? Will a businessman adhere to a handshake or written agreement? In the perfect world the answer to both of those questions is a resounding "Yes!" The people we interact with daily watch us carefully to see whether our words match our actions.

Kevin Roberts F.A.C.H.E. is the President and CEO of Castle Medical Center in Kailua, Hawaii. In a recent interview, he spoke about trust building with competitors and offered this insight.

"We have competition and conflict, but it's not nearly as widespread as I experienced on the mainland. Here, it's a completely different ethos. There's an ability to preserve our roles (to employers) and confidentiality without strife. (In Hawaii) you don't have to 'conquer' others to be successful"

What would building trust in your niche of the business community do for you? Better yet, consider the ways you can be the catalyst for increased trust. Treating people like family isn't a weakness in business, it actually enhances communication and trust.

Click this link to see the Aloha Leadership keynote http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=105851563&TemplateId=156&lnkkey=Link2&utm_source=ORM&utm_medium=notification&utm_term=viewvideo&utm_campaign=Group41EmailVideo

Warning! You are about to read the rant of a middle-aged man who is losing patience with the pace of today's society. Read on if you dare.

I received an email reply recently from a client. We've had a hard time scheduling his coaching sessions, and finally came up with a date and time that will work for both our busy schedules. When I replied to his confirmation with a sentence saying I was looking forward to our next meeting, his response was "Ty".

When did we become so busy that saying, or typing, "Thank You" became too onerous a task to complete? I want my tombstone to read "So, NOW you decide you have time to visit?" Audiences who come to hear me speak about sales and the 52 Greatest Business Development Questions Ever! http://www.52bdcards.com/ & http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/sell52cards/id369889097?mt=8&uo=6 want to know the secret of a great salesperson. To paraphrase Woody Allen, "90% of success is thoughtfully answering your email and voice-mail."

Ty for reading.

I joined the Colorado Society of Association Executives for breakfast recently and shared my "Top 15" Presentation Tips of All Time! Okay, that's a bit of hyperbole. I've forgotten far more than I remember about presenting in front of audiences over my 30+ years in broadcasting and sales.  Here are "Top Tips" numbered six through fifteen.

6.     Information overload extinguishes creative thought. Clear away debris for your audience and empower them to take ownership of idea generation.
7.     Stuff happens. If the projector doesn’t work, you misplace your speaker’s notes, or the felt marker goes dry, don’t apologize. Soldier on. Better yet, have a backup plan.
8.     Allow your body to help tell your story.  If you move your hands when you speak, continue to do so in front of your audience.  Give the movements purpose.
9.     While you’re presenting, put your negative self-talk on hold.  Avoid making assumptions about your entire audience based on the one person who appears to not be paying attention.
10.  Don’t read from a slide, choose a word or sentence from the slide to reinforce with an example or analogy.
11.  Communicate the key points of your message repeatedly.  Tell stories to illustrate those points.
12. Accentuate the positive as you coach yourself.  Resist the temptation to focus on what you’re doing wrong, and redirect your energies to recognize and reward what you’re doing right. 
13. Reinforce your message repeatedly, but not redundantly. 
14. Create your success by stepping out of your comfort zone. When you do that consistently, you wake up one morning to realize that your comfort zone is a heck of a lot bigger than it used to be. 
15. Give your audience a reason to take action, and a purpose to fulfill.

For the "Top Five", please sign up to receive our Sales and Leadership monthly email newsletter at http://www.mikefaber.com/. The next edition arrives on  your virtual doorstep on June 15th!