Saturday, July 25, 2015

Believe - part four: The beauty of believing

Why is believing important to business? Why can’t we just do what we’re told and check out at five o’clock every day?

First of all, many people check out every day during work and go through the motions. The problem is that it’s not fulfilling, it has no meaning and it’s harder to live that life—yes it’s harder. It takes a toll; at times it’s embarrassing; other times it’s confusing. It beats you up.

The beauty of believing is that it allows you to take emotion out of the equation. It allows you to share what you think whether you’re a senior partner or a newbie—it doesn’t matter what your position, it makes sense to you; it’s fair and you can share that.

If you don’t believe, fess up and ask for information to help you believe. If you almost believe but have a few issues, share that and maybe you can improve things as well. But bottom-line, if you still don’t believe, step aside and allow someone who does to take the lead. 

Barry LaBov
LABOV Marketing Communications and Training

Saturday, July 11, 2015

Believe - part three

What if you don’t believe totally in what you are selling to a customer? What if you don’t buy-in to the big idea you are presenting to them? What if you don’t get why you are asking for additional scope to finish that project?

If you don’t believe in the above situations, you will do more damage than good. The customer will sense you don’t believe. Realize that it isn’t bad that you don’t believe IF you do something about it. This is what can be done when you don’t believe:

1)      Admit it and respectfully ask the right people what you need to know to believe.

2)      Listen and if you still don’t fully believe, respectfully challenge it and go even deeper with the right people to understand even more. At this point, you either will get it or you may help others realize there needs to be a change to current thinking, which is actually great.

3)      If you still don’t believe, step out of the way. Let someone else take the reins and present or talk to the client. Listen, observe and learn—hopefully you will then believe (or if the meeting is a disaster, new thinking will come from it).

We do harm when we go through the motions. You either believe or you don’t.

Barry LaBov
LABOV Marketing Communications and Training