Sweat The Questions

A finely crafted question can challenge a person much better than a finely crafted speech.

In a conversation, who is in charge?  The person asking the questions, or the person answering them?  Easy: the inquirer is always in control.

This is true in sales, customer service and management.  It is also true in presentations before audiences.  Don’t worry about looking “smart” in front of the crowd.  When you compel everyone to search within themselves and come up with theit own answers, you have already delivered your value.  AND the answers from the group exceed anything you can come up with alone. They own them.

It’s not about you. It’s about them. Spend your next meeting asking great questions of everyone in the room.

Ask better questions and you get better answers. Raise the level of expectation and people will rise to it.

Change your strategy; change your results.

Be Your Own Event!

Most traditional networking venues don’t attract people wanting to hire or buy something. They attract those wanting to BE hired or SELL something.

So AVOID most “networking events.”

What?  Yes, most “events” are populated by job seekers; not HR managers (or the CEO!). The top people stay away and send the bottom people. Really, they just don’t attend them.

Why? Seekers show up resume and business card in hand to meet someone looking to hire them, or buy from them. 

The problem is, most people who hire people don’t show up at these events.  Why go only to be inundated by job seekers?  Would you attend one of these after 5PM, if you were a hiring manager doing this at work all day?

Nope.

Very few people are hired at a networking event.  As a result you have a bunch of individuals dishing out their personal sales pitch to other people doing the same.  If you attend networking events to get someone’s business, bad news: most of the people there are looking to get hired; not to sign your organization for a $10,000 contract on their sales or product packaging.

Here’s an idea:  BE your own network events.  If you are always prepared with your message,  then everything you do becomes a networking event. Christmas parties, football games, receptions, church functions, elevator rides, waiting for table in a restaurant, airplane trips, etc.

Be perpetually “on message” and use every opportunity to network. 

Oh, and as I said before, leave your business card at home. Get there card.

Change your strategy and it will change your results.

Jim Mathis is an international professional speaker and author of the Best-selling Reinvention Made Easy: Change Your Strategy, Change Your Results.  To receive his free monthly e-newsletter with articles like this send a SUBSCRIBE message to: subscribe@jimmathis.com.

And The People Spoke…

Have you noticed how popular opinion (or unpopular) has changed major businesses recently?

Bank of America changed their debit charging policy because customer backlash forced them to drop the excessive punishment for doing business with them. Verizon had a similar experience.

Then the SOPA protest by Wikipedia and Google forced enough US politicians to change their stance on regulating the internet.  It’s an election year and votes are more important to sitting politicians than personal issues.

Kodak declared bankruptcy.  They led the way in the digital photo realm, but deserted it in favor of selling film.

How has the public told you in many ways what they want from you and your business, but you kept selling what you THOUGHT they wanted… and weren’t buying.

The people are speaking to you now. Are you listening?

Change your strategy, change your results in any economy.

Jim Mathis is an international professional speaker and author of the Best-selling Reinvention Made Easy: Change Your Strategy, Change Your Results. To receive his free monthly e-newsletter with articles like this send a SUBSCRIBE message to: subscribe@jimmathis.com.

Do People Have to Seek Your Permission?

“The best executive is the one who has sense enough to pick good men to do what he wants done, and self-restraint to keep from meddling with them while they do it.” —Theodore Roosevelt

Do people who work for you have to seek your permission to serve your business?  Or are they free to make you look good in the public eye?  Do they have to get approval from an upper level manager (namely you) who grants them the ability to serve in your best interest?

Did you hire people to take on responsibility or to take on authority?  No wonder you still have to “manage” the business day-to-day!

Expect people to do better and they usually will.  Hire them to take responsibility and they will reward you in return.

But you say, “Jim, I can’t turn the business over to these people!”  Then that proves you hired them to take responsibility for tasks you didn’t want to do and retained the authority to perform those same tasks.  You are still in charge…

Raise the level of requirements to succeed in your organization.  Tell everyone you expect them to do better.  Verbalize your expectations and goals you have for them.  Hire people to work themselves out of their job by mentoring, training or equipping another to take their place one day.

Reinforce and reward this constantly to them. Use motivational stories, vision-casting, praising them publicly and rewarding them financially or substantially (and publicly).

Demand excellence of your leaders.  Go from giving your “permission” to excel to making it their responsibility to excel.  Only insecure leaders fear success in their subordinates.

Change your strategy and it will change their results.  Look for ways to reward and require self-motivated excellence.

Jim Mathis is an international professional speaker and author of the Best-selling Reinvention Made Easy: Change Your Strategy, Change Your Results. To receive his free monthly e-newsletter with articles like this send a SUBSCRIBE message to: subscribe@jimmathis.com.

“Here’s What We Do…”

If you have a “Here’s What We Do Speech” (You know, “Here’s what we do…” in 14 words or less) make it short… and interactive.  Make it a statement which makes the other person ask, “How do you do that?”

If they do ask you how you do it, make them ask another question with your next statement.  Keep them curious as to how you will accomplish what you do for them.

If you don’t, you are wasting their (and your) time.

Follow-up immediately after you meet.  Don’t allow them time to forget who you are when you call.  Someone else may be taking their business from you. But say something that is provocative, Neapolitan (not vanilla flavored) and inquisitive.

It’s not important what you do; it’s what you do for them that matters.  Otherwise, who cares?

Change your strategy and it will change your results.

Jim Mathis is an international professional speaker and author of the Best-selling Reinvention Made Easy: Change Your Strategy, Change Your Results.  To receive his free monthly e-newsletter with articles like this send a SUBSCRIBE message to: subscribe@jimmathis.com.

Your New Year’s Gift

Dear Awesome Friends,

Is it time for a New YOU?  We want to begin the year by giving back!  The best time to reinvent is when people are thinking about how they can resolve to be different.  We want to help you now.

You have given us so much to be thankful for…

So we’d like to give back to you – the Reinvention Nation™ community.

REINVENTION 101: Bold Ideas on Reinventing Yourself
by Jim Mathis

BUY THE BOOK;  GET THE BONUS!

You Will Receive*

· Reinvention 101 (hard copy shipped)

· Reinvent Yourself for the New World of Work – mp3

· Leaders vs. Losers – mp3

· Speaking With Spirit e-Book

· All For Just $12.00! ·
($85 Value)

*Purchase and forward your confirmation receipt before January 25, 2012 and I will email you the bonus gifts.

But hurry while I’m in such a good New Year’s mood (still)!  Here’s the link to purchase and receive the bonus offers:

Buy Reinvention 101 Bundle

Thank you,

-Jim Mathis

Print Fewer Cards…

Print fewer cards, make more calls!

If I had a nickel for everyone who took my card at a networking event and called or hired me I would have maybe 15 cents.

…BUT…

I would rather have the HUNDREDS of thousands of dollars resulting from people who gave me their card at networking functions, and I went home and called them.

Seriously.

Change your strategy, change your results!

Jim Mathis is an international professional speaker and best-selling author of Reinvention Made Easy: Change Your Strategy, Change Your Results http://www.reinventionmadeeasy.com.  To receive his monthly newsletter, simply send a SUBSCRIBE message to subscribe@jimmathis.com.

Forget Your Business Card? Great Idea!

I usually don’t carry my business card with me to networking events.

Huh?  I prefer in a sales or networking environment to get their card instead. I don’t depend on someone to take my card and call me about it in the distant future.

I ask other people to give me their card so I can contact them sooner than later.  “Uh, I seem to be out of cards right now.  Tell you what, give me your card and I will make sure to follow up with you.”  They almost always present a card like it is their first-born child…

Then I follow up with them shortly after we have met to sincerely compliment the card, and ask more about what they do. It is very effective and puts you in control of the relationship and business dealings.

If you are depending on your prospects to call you from just receiving your card, you will be waiting a very, very long time – and going hungry in the meantime.

I love this quote I heard at a conference a few years ago: “Passive sales people have hungry children.”

Your business card can be very effective.  So can NOT having it with you at certain times!

Jim Mathis is an international professional speaker and author of the Best-selling Reinvention Made Easy: Change Your Strategy, Change Your Results. To receive his free monthly e-newsletter with articles like this send a SUBSCRIBE message to: subscribe@jimmathis.com.

The Song Remains The Same

In 1969, if you wanted a song, you purchased a 45 rpm “single,” or had to buy the whole vinyl album from a store.

In 1979, if you wanted a song, you bought a cassette tape, 8-track tape or an entire vinyl album from a store.

In 1989, if you wanted a song, you bought a CD from a store, or in the mail.

In 1999, if you wanted a song, you bought a CD or downloaded ftee from internet from illegal services like Napster, Kazaa, etc.

In 2009, if you wanted a song, you legally purchased it for less than a couple of dollars from iTunes or another mp3 source.

In 2019, how will you buy/get a song?  The love for music and the music itself is fairly the same.  The delivery is improving dramatically.

Question:  How can you improve the delivery of what you do that will dramatically change your industry?  If you don’t, someone else will.

Jim Mathis is an international professional speaker, observer and best selling author of the book Reinvention Made Easy, Change Your Strategy, Change Your Results.  To receive expanded articles each month for free, send a SUBSCRIBE message to subscribe@jimmathis.com.

New Year, New YOU! – Radio Podcast

Thanks to “Billy the Brain” for inviting me to kick off the New Year on his show! 

-Will your 2012 be different than 2011 was?

-Where is “The Wall” you have hit in life or your career?

-Who is in charge of your circumstances?

-Are there questions you should ask to begin the Reinvention Process?

-How can you leverage your strengths to be more valuable to employers or customers?

-What actions can take to change your results?

Interview.

-Jim Mathis, The Reinvention Strategist, 2012 (and beyond)