Talk to the Human™

This week I’m going to add something new to the blog: The weekly column. Starting early next week, I’m going to do a weekly post on a series of topics. The first series will be about habits of successful entrepreneurs. This will be loosely based on a similar concept to Covey’s Seven Habits, and based on my experience and learning how to be successful as an independent consultant.

The reasons?

Like the book reviews on Sundays, this will be something I intend to do on a regular basis.
I can cover a variety of topics over a specific period of time.
Reader can have something to look forward to.

This might be something you could try for yourself, as a writer or as a speaker. Come up with a topic and spread it out over a few weeks, and work on one point per week until you have your topic covered.

Expect to see the first weekly column this Monday evening.

Are you having trouble with deciding what to say first when you have to speak? Here’s the tip of the day: Go directly into your content. No preamble, no pleasantries, and no “Thank You”.

The first words should be about your content. Start with a relevent story or question to engage the audience right away.

Avoid pleasentries “Thank you”, “Glad to be here” or ”Mister Toastmaster” and use your content to connect with your audience right off the bat.

Ace Your Opening

I was reading another interesting blog called The Edited Life. There was a post recently called Fire the gun based on a quote that you may find interesting:

“If you say in the first chapter that there is a rifle hanging on the wall, in the second or third chapter it absolutely must go off. If it’s not going to be fired, it shouldn’t be hanging there.” -Anton Chekhov

This works for speaking too. Don’t introduce something in your opening and just leave it hanging there. Tie it together in at least one of your main points and also in your conclusion.

Once you create that question in the minds of your audience, you want to be deliberate in how (and how long) you choose to leave that question in their mind. Conventional wisdom is to answer it soon, since leaving it unanswered in their minds could be a distraction.

For example, suppose you are giving a presentation on supervision techniques. In your opening, you ask the question, “Have you ever had someone cry during a performance evaluation?” You also ask a couple of other questions related to front-line supervisors. How long do you wait to tell your story of having someone cry in your office?

If you spend a lot of time on other points, without “letting the gun go off”, you may find your audience more curious about the coming cry-story then what you are saying now. Of course, there could be times when you want to build the suspense toward an amazing story, but if that’s the case the audience needs to know it is still coming.

Just like in writing, speakers need to make sure to tie off those loose ends. If it’s in your opening, it should be there for a reason. You don’t want your audience sitting there wondering when you’ll answer that question.

And yes, I have had someone cry in an evaluation once and no, it wasn’t because I’m mean. I know you were curious…

Another great Marketing book by author Seth Godin, Meatball Sundae asks the question right off the bat, “Is your marketing out of sync?” To help you find the answer, he covers The 14 trends that you can’t ignore. The very first one hit home: Direct Communication and Commerce between Producers and Consumers. Each of these trends are probably things you have heard of before, but Seth puts his unique spin on them.

What’s great about this book:
At the beginning, Seth describes how the book doesn’t have o be tackled in the traditional sense. You can skip to any of the 14 trends you want to read about. Just digest the executive summaries, or read the stories and points about them.

As always, Seth provides interesting examples, great stories and a fresh perspective on important business topics.

Limiting Factors:
I consistently have trouble with this category with respect to Seth’s books. The Dec 2007 publishing date might make you think it’s dated…but it’s really not.

Recommendations:
If you have any interest in Marketing, success in your own business, or just communicating with humans then this is another book that is clearly worth your time.

Rob’s Rating system (bolded, the rating is)
Buy now at full price (but I found this for $5.99 at Borders)
Buy if you get a discount
Wait for the paperback
Wait for someone else to be done with the paperback
If you’ve read my review, you got the jist of it

Have you found yourself with an opportunity to give a presentation, and no idea what to talk about? Maybe you are trying to decide on that next Toastmasters speech topic. You are about to learn a method that you can use next time you have to give a presentation.

Think about three things that you are good at, and that the audience could have an interest in. It could be anything; doing taxes, car repair, designing aircraft, public speaking, fishing, car racing, bowling, blogging, Xbox…you get the idea.

Take those three topics, and come up with a single idea about each. For the above ideas, for instance you could use using a specific tax software, the best equipment for bass fishing, and how WordPress makes you a better blogger.

Give those three topics to the meeting organizer, and ask which topic would work best for that audience. Try to do this in advance. Then, when you have your answer you can prepare and deliver a presentation that works for you and your audience.

Now all you have to do is be good at three things, right?

Do you want to avoid an easy and common mistake in presenting your views?

One thing that too many speakers do is use “I” focused sentences. You know what I mean, “I want you to learn…”, “I’m going to teach you…”, “I hope that you will…”, and on…and on…and on. It comes from how we learned to speak in the first place (all about me). So how do you fix it?

The obvious answer is practice, but what do you practice, and how?

Be “you” focused. That was easy to say, but you may wonder what it means?

1. Turn the “I will…” statements into “You will” statements
2. Change “I hope to teach you…” into “you will learn”
3. Get rid of “I was successful doing…” and replace it with a story about a third-person expert/success that inspired you and will inspire the audience

It’s tougher than it sounds, and it takes time and practice. Just remember, your audience is “I focused” too. If you spend all of your time on yourself and not on them, your connection will suffer, and so will your credibility.

How do you normally move forward in your personal (or professional) development goals?

Here is a thought: Pick an hour to block out one evening a week. Call it your “get a new skill hour.” You may be asking, “What is the point?” Simple: to take some time to look into something you hadn’t tried before, read something new, or try out a new “fad” you have been avoiding for a long time.

For example, those of you without LinkedIn (www.linkedin.com) accounts, spend an hour setting up your on-line professional contact/networking page on LinkedIn. You don’t have to put very much personal information out there, just your name, job title, and some info about your current job. Then search for some coworkers or business friends and link up with them. Take a look at their pages and see what you can do with yours. You won’t have the perfect site in just an hour, but you will be there. When you do need it (layoffs, just looking for work or opportunities, etc.) you’ll already have a head start.

Other ideas?
- Pick up a “Italian in 10 minutes a day” book and do an hour a week (any language)
- Pick up a business/writing/leadership book and read an hour a week
- Pick another networking site you’ve never used (Facebook, Twitter, Digg, Squidoo, etc.) and spend an hour learning it
- Pick something related to your job, like MS Office 2007, and spend an hour learning some tips and shortcuts (check www.customguide.com for some free Quick Reference Cards)
- Spend that hour teaching something to another person

As we move through February, you’ve probably dumped that whole resolution thing anyway, and with the Heroes season finale behind us you should have a free hour to spare. Give it a shot for the next few weeks and see where it takes you!

Once again I’ve been surprised by some killer content.

I recently posted on my woes with customer service at a well-known blog. I was looking for help with my blog-writing skills, and I found a product that sounded promising. When there was a snafu with the automated process and a lack of support from the site owners, I decided to start looking elsewhere for the right product.

I want to clue you in on a couple of sites I found, although I will say up front I haven’t made any purchasing decisions yet. The reason I want to make these sites seen is that they make my list of sites with great free content as well as the option for premium services.

The first one I found is remarkablogger.com, written by Michael Martine. If you’re able to look past the fact that he lives in Vermont (now you know they have the Internet there), I think you’ll find his blog interesting and his writing creative and fun to read.

For his premium content, he has a course on Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for WordPress users (like me). All hail WordPress. His program has a book, audio files, and video lessons and has caught my interest. At $127.99 it could be a really good investment. If you happen to have used this product, or even any of the parts (e.g. the $47 book), I’d love to hear your thoughts on it.

Michael’s site led me to Chris Garrett’s site. I’ve heard Chris’ name before, but had just never checked out his site. One thing I found of interest right away was his attitude. He has a very positive focus and the thing we all need: a successful acronym. His regular readers will know that one of the things he teaches is what he calls the “ARC System” which stands for (this part taken from his blog):

• Attraction – Getting people to come to you
• Retention – Getting people to stay
• Conversion – Getting people to take an action, usually a purchase

His site also had some interesting premium options. If you look at www.authorityblogger.com you will seewhat looks to be a very extensive product for being successful with your blog. In fact, if you’re early in your blog/business life and really need a jump-start, this looks like a program you may want to consider.

Why this post? I love reading great (free!) content, and I love getting ideas and trying out new things with my speaking and writing. Are there too many good blogs out there? Maybe, but as I keep finding ones that could be interesting to my audience, I’ll keep letting you know about them.

Super Freakonomics, by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner is a interesting and entertaining follow-on to the original Freakonomics. The underlying theme, that we (as humans) respond to incentives in every action we take, really struck a chord with me. The authors were able to apply that to each of their cases, including the cover topics such as Global Cooling, prostitution and terrorism.

There is one section where the authors chronicle the evolution of our understanding of Altruism. I especially liked this explanation, because it shows how statistical methodology can “evolve” (read: be fixed) over time. I won’t spoil it for you, but I will say that over the years, research has uncovered what incentives (there it is again!) drive altruistic behavior. You may already know some of those answers, but one or two may surprise you.

What’s great about this book:
If you like thinking outside the box (or pick your own term), this is a book that really challenges your mentality. The authors go to great lengths to look at multiple sides of their chosen issues, and make sure that the reader understands what drove the desire to accomplish the research, how the methods were or were not ideal, and why the statistics don’t always mean what they seem to mean.

Limiting Factors:
Going in, these topics may not be ones you would pick if you were to “ask the economist”. However, once you read (or hear on the CD version) how the authors use these examples to explain concepts that you may not have realized impact your daily life.
One of the examples was the same as one I read in What the Dog Saw by Malcolm Gladwell. Not surprising that the authors are fans and even mention another work, The Tipping Point.
You may get mad at the federal government, depending on your disposition toward child seat manufacturers and crash test facilities.

Recommendations:
If you read the first book, I probably don’t have to say anything except “duh” to buying this one. If not, that is okay. You don’t have to read the first book to understand this one. I would recommend that you go to the local library and pick up the first book, though. It would be worth it.  

Important note: If you read the reviews on Amazon, you’ll see (at least some) examples of people with a certain point of view not appreciating the authors point of view. What I find amazing is that their own reviews selectivly leave out the author’s assertions that some of these statistics are not a definitive source, but are no worse than many of the statistics driving the decisions we and our government already make. Keep an open mind, and you’ll enjoy this book. 

Rob’s Rating system (bolded, the rating is)
Buy now at full price
Buy if you get a discount
Wait for the paperback
Wait for someone else to be done with the paperback
If you’ve read my review, you got the jist of it

What is the difference between someone who cares about their customers and someone who doesn’t? Is it “being the boss”, or “having a heart”?  

One difference is in your personal standard for how long it takes to get back with someone who has called for you. Is there a right answer to how long a customer should wait? Maybe not. But I bet there isn’t a customer on Earth who thinks it’s okay to be ignored for more than a day.

A few days ago, I wrote a post called The Cost of Losing Business. In that post, I mentioned it had been about a month since I was told the folks I wanted to buy an $87 product from would get back to me. Since then, three things have happened:

1. I’ve followed up with the POC and her assistant a week ago; still no reply. Shame.
2. They have launched a new service for a fee of $27 per month that I was very interested in. Hmmm.
3. I’ve spent no money with them. Ouch.

If this were my insurance agent or my cable TV company, I’d have new ones by now. Wouldn’t you?

Check yourself. Are you losing sales because of your poor customer service?