Letter from President
Being 100% responsible
What is it to take 100%
responsibility for your life? When I first heard this distinction I was
sitting in the Landmark forum in 1996, I was immediately grabbed by the
power the distinction being 100% responsible. I have always taken full
responsibility at work, there was no other option for me, not being
responsible would have had me not getting paid which would have had me
not being able to provide for my family and that was simply not an
option.
Where I struggled with being 100%
responsible was in the area of relationships. I really thought if people
could not see my way, too bad, so sad; I was right and they ought to
know that. Boy was I wrong and I often thank God and the man that
introduced me to that course back in 1996, for the ‘me’ that I am now
was unconceivable back then. In Jack Canfields’ most recent book, he
starts off with making it clear and simple that it is a fundamental for
success - to take on being 100% responsible in ones life. He states
that a person’s ability to live powerfully is a direct result of them
taking full responsibility for every area of life that is working and
every area of life that is not working. What a novel idea, and an idea
that at first glance most human beings resist.
I don’t know if it is the craze of
the age, the self help groups, books, therapists, or people just not
wanting to face reality, but blaming someone else for my circumstances
simply does not get me anywhere, but stuck. Think about it, if I were
to take responsibility for each poor performer I have had in my company
then and only then can I do something about it. If I was to take 100%
responsibility for my failed marriage then and only then can I can I
alter the future, with potential mates, as well as with my ex-husband
and my children. If I were to take responsibility when I had a low sales
month, full responsibility without blaming the economy, the weather, my
boss, my kids, my customers, our prices, then and only then can I get to
the real source of why my sales were below expectations, and that is
real power. If I were to take 100% responsibility for my race time, or
fundraising efforts, then I would know how to alter the outcome. It
truly is the difference between being a victim and being the source of
my own power; or as
Mary Chapin-Carpenter says the
difference between being the windshield or the bug.
The logic is inescapable. If I am
the source of my own power, and there lack of, then I can be the cause
of a restoration of my own power and the growth of it.
My intention for the month of
February is to look to every area of my life that is working or is not
working as well as I would like it to and to take on being at cause in
the matter in the outcome. From raising my 80 lb pup, to raising my
teenage sons, to by body weight, to my fitness, to my eating habits, to
my hiring habits, to my discipline with my schedule. Join me in taking
on being powerful. Who knows what will show up !
Best of Success,
Margaret Graziano
The +5% FACTOR
Observe
The Secrets Of Your Best Employees
“Lauren has to get a shot at her next doctor’s visit so
you have to take her,”
my wife
said. Lauren is thirty years
younger, two inches shorter, about ten pounds heavier than my wife, and
terrified of shots. So I took my daughter to the doctor. When the time
came for her shot, she reacted as always. She recoiled, backed into the
wall, turned her face within a moment of crying and said, “Wait,
don’t give it to me yet! It’s going to hurt!” The nurse said,
“Don’t worry. You will feel a little pinch but I will do it quickly so I
won’t hurt you so much.” My twelve-year-old daughter turned her head
away and down, tensed up a little, and took her shot with little
trepidation.
I
never really paid much attention to what the nurses did or how they gave
the shots because I was almost always preoccupied with chasing,
cornering or restraining Lauren. This time I may not have noticed what
the nurse was doing or how she did it, but I couldn’t help but notice
the result. This nurse had somehow established a relationship with my
overly timid daughter that caused most of her fears to dissolve into
quiet cooperation.
Similarly, many managers pay attention to the result of their employees’
efforts while failing to notice exactly what the employees did to get
that result. They don’t really know what makes their best employees the
best at what they do. They only know that great employees reliably turn
out great work. In most cases, not even the performance appraisal
process reveals how they do what they do.
In
today’s business world the search, acquisition, and retention of
valuable employees is a war for talent. You can not afford to just pay
attention to the end result without knowing the methods your employees
used to get there. You must invest the time needed to observe the
nuances that make the difference between good and average performance. A
relationship should be established and maintained with each employee and
a line of communication opened to determine not just their skills, but
also their passion. It is in this passion that you will find the secrets
of your best employees.
You
see it was not the nurse’s skill in giving a shot that calmed my
daughter that day. After all, any nurse can give a shot. A relationship
was established between the nurse and my daughter. It was an exchange of
a passion for excellence that turned Lauren from scared to okay.
It’s
not really a secret. All great employees have passion. Employers just
have to find it in them, and then learn how to find it in others.
-
Reprint permission granted by Lonnie Harvey, Jr., president of The
JESCLON Group, Inc., www.jesclongroup.com
Develop Trust With Your Prospects
A
Champion Salesperson in the 21st century will need to make a paradigm
shift beyond ‘old school’ selling philosophies. One of the things
that ‘old school’ selling
teaches is a salesperson should be liked or approved. To be
successful in the 21st century, the Champion
Salesperson has to go beyond being liked or approved to being trusted.
Prospects buy based on their perception of how well the benefits of a
product or service satisfies their needs and wants. In order to get an
understanding of the prospects needs and wants, you have to develop
trust. Therefore, one of the keys to closing more sales is to develop
trust with your prospects.
First,
you have to know the difference between needs and wants. While much
debate has occurred on this subject, the difference is: needs are fact-
based and wants are emotion-based. Needs are organizationally based,
wants are personally based. A prospect is less likely to tell you their
wants, because these are personal, until there is a high level of trust.
When you understand both needs and wants you are better positioned to
close a sale. As the old saying goes: “When you see things through
Jim Jones’ eyes, you’ll know what Jim Jones buys.”
You
demonstrate your desire to understand a prospect's needs and wants by
asking questions. Some salespeople want to dominate the conversation to
demonstrate their knowledge of their product or service thinking this
will impress the prospect to buy from them. However, statistics show
that this turns buyers off. When you ask questions, you give the
prospect the chance to tell you their concerns and goals. Remember, you
can’t learn anything when you are talking. Focus on asking the right
questions in the right way. Don’t interrupt the prospect when they are
talking. Show that you are listening by making brief summaries of what
is said. When you totally focus on your prospect and not on yourself,
you will be well on your way to developing trust with your prospects.
-
Reprint permission granted by Author Shari Roth of CAPITAL iDEA
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