The three themes we have explored in this series have been several profound concepts that work to guarantee a healthy organization. A start up business relies on the business fundamentals to acquire customers; this is a wonderful beginning toward positive cash flow.

The Summary:

1. Your Offering

This is where business begins. The principle describes concepts intended to assist the professional in creating what an organization will take to market.

2. Your Marketing Message

The value proposition describes the relevance of the offering. In the blog entry I provide a list of questions that work to assist an entrepreneur in creating and refining a marketing message.

3. Lead Generation

Demand generation is the entry point into your market. In this third step I provide concepts that range from considering your value add to organizing an effective lead generation campaign.

The Doctrine:

The sales development ideas that will be presented have assisted millions of professionals in developing effective sales funnels and in turn have contributed to the world’s largest organizations. There are four sales mythologies I draw my ideals from: strategic selling, conceptual selling, spin selling, and solution selling.

Intro To Sales Development:

Sales development is the understanding and application of effective organizational behavioral principles. In order to be an effective sales person we need to question our habitual behavior and question its effectiveness against an effective mental model. This entry is by no means a holistic view of sales. It does provide insight that will assist executives in being more productive sales professionals. The executives who must move their products or services have an opportunity to transform their businesses; as long as enough funding is present for the next three to five years.

In this discussion I will provide you with principles and guidelines regarding sales development. I want to ask in return for you to read over these principles more than once and decide on the implications they can have on your business and document your thoughts. This call to action will cause you to think of how you should position yourself.

Posturing:

I recommend planning for long-term sales success. Your mind set should embrace a long-term perspective and focus; this means that you must consistently learn and apply proven principles that will increase your chances for the sales.

The First Rule of Business:

If You’re Competent At Sales, You Will Never Have To Sell Again.

One of the first obstacles you have in business is to generate enough sales to create positive cash flow and to invest in human capital. Business professionals need to create an infrastructure that will be self sustaining. As a business owner you must, you must, you must be able to replace yourself as the sales person and to promote yourself to a strategic marketing role.

The Four Golden Rules for Learning Skills:
(Neil Rackham)

Why do people find it so difficult to learn skills? It’s not just because of the hard work, for we’re accustomed to putting work into learning new knowledge. You’ve demonstrated the ability to work hard already through the time and energy you’ve invested in acquiring knowledge about how to sell. Yet I wonder how many readers will invest an equivalent amount of short in turning their knowledge into practice. The sad fact is that we generally work harder and more effectively to learn knowledge than to translate our knowledge into skills. Perhaps entelechy [en-tel-uh-kee] is such a rare word because it refers to something we so rarely do.

It’s my personal belief that the main reason why people have such trouble improving their skills is that they’ve never thought about the basic techniques of skill learning. At school our success depended on the development techniques for learning knowledge and most of us got quite good at it. But what did school do to help us learn skills systematically? With the exception for sports the answer for most people is little or nothing. So before I talk about what skill you should practice it will be useful to begin with how. How can you learn any skill efficiently with minimum pain?

Rule 1: Practice Only One Behavior at a Time

Most people when they work on improving their skills try to do too much at once. I can imagine people going through sales training and saying, “I’m going to cut out closing techniques, and in the future I’ll ask more problem questions. Then, instead of jumping in with solutions which is what I usually do I’ll hold back and ask implication questions…Oh, and need-payoff questions too, of course. And I’ll also work on avoiding features and advantages’ instead; I’ll make more benefits and STOP! If that‘s how you’re thinking, than in terms of learning you’re dead. People who are successful in learning complex skills do so by practicing one behavior at a time-not by half practicing two and certainly not by trying to handle 10 at once.

Rule 2: Try the new behavior

The first time you try anything new, it’s bound to feel uncomfortable. It’s not only new shoes that hurt at first. Suppose, for example you decide to practice implication questions. You’re e keeping rule 1 in mind, so you’re going to concentrate on only one which is implication questions and not on any other behaviors we’ve covered. Off you go into a call. Do the new implications questions roll off your tongue in a smooth, convincing sequence? Not on your life! When you ask them you sound self conscious, artificial, and awkward and because of this, you don’t make a particularly positive impression on the customer. After the call if you’re like most people we’ve trained, you’re tempted to conclude that implications questions didn’t help you sell so you’d better drop them and try something different next call.

Rule3: Quantity before Quality

Remember the old fashioned way to learn a foreign language? You try to say a few words. “no,” says your teacher, ‘that’s the incorrect tense you should be using pluperfect’. You try again “wrong,” the teacher warns you “you’ve go the tense right, but this is an irregular verb.” With some nervousness you make a third attempt. ‘No’ you teacher tells you “this time the tense is right and verb is right, but your pronunciation is terrible’ Notice that every one of the teachers comments is about the quality of your skill. Many of us struggle for years to learn a language this way. At the end of it we were able hesitantly but correctly, to pronounce a few sentences with the right verbs, tenses and word orders. Most of us never reached the point, despite several years of emphasis on quality where we could speak the language confidently and comfortably.

In contrast, let’s look at modern language training. Students are told “never mind” about pronunciation and don’t worry about tense. For now word order doesn’t matter and we don’t care if you forget the differences between regular and irregular verbs. The only thing we want you to do is peak it, speak it, and speak it. ‘The emphasis in other words is on quantity rather than quality taking a lot of more important than talking well. Many convincing experiments have shown that this approach which puts emphasis on quantity of speech can greatly speed the earning of language skills. At the end of a single year, student are talking the new language more confidently than those who have spent 5 times as long learning in the old quality first manner. What’s more surprising is that by talking the language a lot the quality has improved too. In fact the correctness of language measured pronunciation and grammar test, is high in those taught by quality approach than in those taught by the older quality methods so in languages as training at least speaking it a lot. The same goes for learning sales skills.

Rule 4: Practice in Safe Situations

I once ran a negotiating skills program for company presidents. On the last day one of the participants asked me an innocent sounding question. “Tomorrow” he explained, “I’ll be going into the biggest negotiation of my career- I’m selling my company. What lesson from this program should I concentrate on during the negotiation?” I think my answer shocked him. “Forget every single thing you’ve heard on this program”, I advised him; “otherwise you’ll spend the rest of your life regretting you came here.”

Let me give you some similar advice. If you’ve heard application principles and are about to go visit your most important account than forget everything I’ve told you. It’s a strange quirk of human nature that we usually try to practice new skills in key situations, those important enough to justify the effort of trying something new. This is a terrible mistake. As we’ve seen, new skills are uncomfortable and awkward. They may even have a negative effect on the customers if you try them out in crucial situations, than you’re likely to be unsuccessful. Suppose you’ve decided to ask more need-payoff questions. Don’t practice on your biggest account. Instead begin with small accounts, or with customers you know well, or in areas where you’ve nothing to lose if you fail.

So expect a dip in your productivity as you try to use these however, what will soon happen is that your productivity and results will sky rocket higher than they have previously.

To be continued….

Learned Optimism

The greatest leaders believe in their followers, believe in their future, most important they believe in themselves; in their ability to empower constituents and get things done. Effective leaders teach themselves how to be optimistic, therefore they are learned optimist.

One person that exemplifies the ‘optimist’ is Dr. Norman Vincent Peale, who up till the day he left us, preached “The Power of Positive Thinking”, belief in yourself, in God, and in your fellow man.

If we are honest with ourselves, we know what baggage we carry around, or tendency toward projections and our propensity to be mean spirited to those we love most. We are certainly aware of the broken promises and commitments of others toward us, and unfortunately we remember the unmet expectations we’ve suffer through, from our creator.

The longer I live life, the more I’m left to wonder about the question of: how do we get to the point of confronting our latter years in life with a promising belief in the goodness of God, ourselves and mankind? Even through our trials, unmet expectations and broken hearts, to thrive with this refreshed belief. This is truly the goal of a great leader, in a world that is so easily given to disbelief, cynicism and bitterness.

The simplicity of the matter is we only can give to others and ourselves what overflows throughout our being. We only can give out of our abundance by what has been nurtured in our emotions and beliefs. Our beliefs are not just something that are latent in us, a perception that only provides value or effect to the beholder; no, belief is something we give to those around us it permeates the minds of those in our environment and touches people in a way that is unknown to the conscious mind. Beliefs start revolutions, beliefs are the cause of life, hope, and passion.

To love our neighbor as ourselves, truly means that from the depth of self-esteem I can esteem others, that through self-love I can love others. These are given out of our personal abundance when we choose to nurture the overflow of love, esteem, and respect so it continues to pour out all around us.

The beginning of Over Flow

Self-Efficacy

If we truly want to Lead a Great Life, and desire to be the empowering leader that we are called to be it’s important that we not only consider the following but, act on the principles introduced below:

1.) Action

A key to raising our self-efficacy, self-esteem or base level of happiness is through hard work and coping.

Learning to Fail

Hard work is a way we learn to fail. This may seem like a paradox but, the truth of the matter is the more failures we experience the more we experience success. Truly the most successful people in life have had the most failures. Even small successes have a way of affirming our personal value and self-worth. This is only half of the equation to raising our levels of self-esteem; the harder we work at something the more we succeed. The more we succeed the greater we feel about ourselves.

Coping

The second half of the equation is coping. The definition of coping in this context was best said by Dr. Tal Ben-shahar a professor at Harvard: “…it means getting out of our comfort zone, taking risks, daring, having high expectations and going for them, it means trying out for a play, it means approaching a person even though I’m afraid, putting ourselves out there, it’s about courage. Courage is not the absence of fear but, regardless of fear moving forward anyway, people who work hard and improve their self-efficacy raises and they belief in themselves raises.” – with this said, it’s when we meet those disappointments, and find the strength or personal power to carry on, that our self-worth is affirmed.

The second principle we need to visit is:

2.) Imagination

This principle contributes to the building of our belief in ourselves and denotes the concept of a self-fulfilling prophesy. It’s important that we keep the end in mind, or that we envision what the future holds for us. The more vivid our imagination is in seeing our future, the faster we will get there. Our minds don’t know the difference between a actual experience or a imagined experience, the same synapses fire in both occasions. In both instances of experiencing success or the imagined experience of success, our self-image and self-concept is influenced.

In order to use your imagination effectively visualization requires:

Subjective Visualization:

This defines you seeing things through your own eyes. This is most impactful to programming your autonomic system and reprogramming your self-image, there by creating positive self-esteem.

Involve your Senses:

It’s important when visualizing that you involve the rest of your senses: touch, taste, auditory and olfactory.

Emotion:

The more emotion you place in your visualizations the faster it will come about. Stir up the emotions you think you would feel, if you were actually doing what you are imagining. Emotions play a striking part in re-enforcing the desire end. The more intense the emotion the more the event is re-enforced.

The third principle in this trio is:

3.) Cognitive therapy

Cognitive Therapy is just a fancy way of asking you to pay attention to your explanatory style. It’s important that what ever happens whether positive or negative that you provide an interpretation or explanation to yourself that would be the most empowering.

Reframing:

Let’s say your spouse leaves you – what do you tell yourself, or you loose a job, how do you explain or represent these types of disappointments. These are more extreme cases, every day we are left to dozens of small but, significant events. If you use a positive explanatory style it will contribute to your self-image, self-esteem ultimately self-efficacy in a powerful way.

In conclusion: our self-image (or how we see our-self) is based on our interpretations of past experiences, not the actual experience. We program who we are based on memories or the interpretations thereof. So one way we can grow this self-image or to avoid self-imposed limitations, is to insert new memories, successful, triumphant memories, it will in turn build a new you; a limitless you.

3 Fundamentals

1.) Child-Development: Our brain is still developing in our childhood. But, at about puberty, it loses a lot of it’s elasticity, it locks in and stores, what has been recorded and this becomes the core of our permanent identity. We can only learn to manipulate it, but the raw elements of what becomes this identity are woven into the fabric of our unconscious mind.

2.) Formation of our identity: The self image is an internal mechanism. It records what we experience through our senses 24 hours a day. Through this unconscious recording, it dictates who we are, and what we should feel. So in reality we train it by exposing ourselves to thoughts (self-talk) relationships, by what we watch and listen to. From this it learns to recognize patters and then it demands from us what we have programmed it to demand.

3.) The definition of Projections: Projections are the attribution of one’s own attitudes, feelings, or suppositions to others: and/or the attribution of one’s own attitudes, feelings, or desires to someone or something as a naive or unconscious defense against anxiety or guilt.

The challenge we face with this truth, is as a child we learn to accept what is given to us by authority figures. We as children are not in control of what we learn or understand as acceptable.
Now, if we came from great parents, this will help to propel us forward in life. However, if it seemed that you had a dysfunctional upbringing it’s important for you to be self-aware, of what is going on inside your self-image. This will help you to take steps to amend the errors.

Most of our adult life we are fighting against patterns rooted in our childhood. Maybe our parent’s fought all the time. Maybe, we were abused, or in foster care or maybe our parents were absent physically or emotionally.

If we don’t learn to manipulate and reframe these patterns, we will spend our entire adult lives, fighting for what we felt we lacked as a child. We will interpret our present adult experiences through the emotions of our childhood.

As a child if we are feeling abandoned or neglected by our care takers, some of the patterns we may see or experience depending on our personality and temperament could be things like: constantly seeking attention from our most intimate partner, becoming too needy, hypersensitive, never convinced our partner loves us, regardless of what he/she does in attempts to convince us otherwise, or we may become aloof and cold, to protect ourselves from feeling abandoned, or we may withdraw when feelings of intimacy arise.

Under certain triggers we will interpret our present adult experience through the emotions of our childhood. The more emotionally charged the experiences the more stained our self-image will be. For example if you were in fact abused emotionally, mentally or physically. Depending on personality and temperaments, you may become abusive yourself, you may be prone to projecting and overreacting to those closest to you. You may fight depression. And this is because: this is who yourself image says you are. What you experienced as a child, when triggered will be a constant state, as though you were reliving those moments, over and over again.

Now these are extreme cases, there are degrees of struggle; my goal was to expose you to the logic of the self image, so that you may recognize it in your own life, based on your upbringing.

Introduction:

In this discussion I will give you principles and guidelines for the lead generation process. What I want to ask of you in return is for you to go over these principles more than once to decide on the implications they have on your business, and write them down. This information will cause you to think about how you should position yourself when conducting a lead generation campaign.

I should add that a dominating factor in this part of the series is business to business lead generation vs. business to consumer; nonetheless I know this will be invaluable to anyone looking to develop qualified leads for their business.

Please understand that demand generation is a very broad subject. We just don’t have the time to dig deeper into the content. What we do have time for, is for me to explain a few fundamentals and guidelines that will be invaluable to your business.

Principle # 1 Patience in Business Equals Funding

As we get into the details of lead generation it’s important that you give yourself 3-5 years, to see positive cash flow in your venture. You should either have funding, know a source of funding (that you can qualify for) or have a part-time business while working at a full time career, to fund your business. Unless, you are an exception to the rule, you can not run a business without adequate funding. If you decide on one of the first two options my opinion is that you should wait until you can execute an effective lead generation campaign before you take on the risk. You’ll know it’s effective from not only the number of qualified leads you receive, but by the number of customers you convert.

Principle # 2 The Bigger Picture:

As you are going through my series of discussions on business fundamentals it’s important that you stay connected to the bigger picture; in which lead generation plays a key role.

Consider the bigger picture to be the following:

The responsibility of business leaders is to start, grow and sustain a community (i.e. education, lead generation, customer acquisition, and customer retention). Everything else is commentary: information technology, finance, operations, tech support, customer service etc… all are there to support the growth and sustainability of your community.

The next critical step:

I assume that if you are going over this part in my business fundamentals series that you’ve gone over your offering and have developed a value proposition. If you have done the work then you are now ready to take your next step; which is: preparing, setting up, and executing a lead generation campaign.

Principle # 3 The definition of marketing:

Marketing can be defined as any activity that supports the sale or the movement of products and services. Lead generation through definition becomes a very important concept in the marketing process; as a catalyst in the acquisition of customers.

Principle # 4 The motivation of lead generation:

As we begin our marketing activities, more specifically around lead generation its important that we keep in mind as we are in contact with potential customers that it’s human nature to display and to pick up from others the underlining motivations. Just as we have been a witness to the motivations of used car salesmen, it’s just as important that you are aware things you may do, or say that may be in contrast to being a true professional, through subtleties, i.e. body language, in the tone of voice or in presentations or parts of speech, also in action. Your underlining motivation at this stage is to arrive at a conversation with a qualified prospect in order to understand more of the perceived needs and/or wants and not to sell. If our intention or motivation is to sell at the first opportunity we get, we will seem rushed and manipulative in our initial conversations.

Principle # 5 The call to innovate:

I would also ask that you work to re-create yourself in light of an influencing factor that has developed along side social media. The factor is that prospects want to do business with organizations that are perceived to be a resource, beyond the products or services they sell. Professionals want consistent value even before they make the purchase; with the business relationship beginning as soon as your marketing material is evaluated (i.e. websites, blogs, podcasts, articles, press releases etc…). The more of a resource you can be to them as part of your lead generation activity the better off you will be.

Principle # 6 …about pricing:

In business to business prospecting the price of your offering is always going to be an issue to think through when generating leads. The higher the price your product or service is the more complex the sale is going to be, meaning it will move from a simple transactional sale (where you are selling an inexpensive product to one person) to a complex sale (where you have to locate champions/coaches, influencers, and decision makers, before your product can ever be sold). If you are attempting to educate prospects on a half million dollar item or service, peoples’ jobs are going be dependent on them being as thorough as possible with you and with taking you and your offering through the appropriate channels.

Principle # 7 Posturing:

In any marketing campaign your mindset should include:

1. Make your success predictable
2. Take a systematic approach
3. Document what works
4. Create a scalable business practice or business process

If you are starting your business then it helps to understand that your business model or established processes will change. Lead generation will be one of those processes that you will work to fine tune over time.

Principle # 8 The fundamentals:

Psychographic variables are any attributes relating to personality, values, attitudes, interests, or lifestyles.

What is the personality type that will most likely show interest and purchase your product or service?

Provide a description of the personality type or temperament they will need to have.

Examples:

1.) Are they nurturing?
2.) Are they thrill seekers?
3.) Do they value commitment?
4.) Do they value money?
5.) Do they value pleasure?
6.) Do they love power?
7.) Do they love the pursuit of wealth?
8.) Are they culture centric?
9.) Are they religion centric?

etc…

Each characteristic speaks volumes on what they will and will not purchase. After you’ve thought this through, make sure that your marketing message is consistent with those psychographics.

On an individual consumer level demographics refer to population characteristics including: race, age, income, disabilities, mobility (in terms of travel time to work or number of vehicles available), educational attainment, home ownership, employment status, and even location.

Following is a list of demographics related to organizations that you should include in a lead generation campaign. You should locate and have access to a data base of thousands organizations with the following information:

1.) Industry
2.) Company name
3.) Employee size
4.) Annual revenue
5.) Title of Champion/Coach
6.) Title of Decision Maker
7.) Contact information

It’s important to understand that you attract a certain psychographic (personality) by your language and/or messaging; you will attract the demographic (general characteristic) by the direction you take in your campaign.

For example:

If I’m attempting to sell health products; perhaps I found out from my business research that it’s women over 45 that work hard to preserve their health, for this reason I may want to target women who are over 45 years of age. Based on this identifiable information I may want to advertise with a magazine that caters to this demographic and psychographic. On the same note in a business to business environment if competitors are gaining traction in the market by going after a very specific demographic and psychographic, I may just want to imitate them.

If you are not sure of the type of demographic that would be most attracted to your offering you may want to research a competitor to see who their clients are (press releases, blogs, websites) or just call as a potential customer and ask who their clients are.

Many marketing professionals in start up environments wing it when it comes to this area and waste financial and human capital attempting to get it right. I believe a professional should never start a business without knowing how to target and generate sales ready leads for the business.

It’s challenging to aim for a target audience and to be consistent at execution. Whatever you decide in your execution stay with it for at least 6-12 months before you begin heavily evaluating. This will provide enough information or a foundation for a projected ROI. And again I should remind you: give yourself 3-5 years, to have positive cash flow in your venture. You should either have funding, know a source for funding (that you can qualify for) or have a part-time business while working at a full time career, to fund your business.

A lead generation campaign can be one of the most time consuming tasks you are obligated to do. This is why it’s so important to have multiple lead generation activities going on at the same time. You can go years with out finding the ideal client profile and as a consequence loose your shirt, in the process. Just remember to be patient and work hard to get in front of your chosen audience. Timing is everything in business and working hard enough to be in front of the right people at the right time is key to your success.

Principle #9 The Ramp Up

Unless you are an exception to the rule with every lead generation activity expect a ramp up. One month you’ll have less leads the next month you may have more. Over time if you keep at it you’ll get more and better results.

Principle #10 Lead Generation In Action

Now, that you have an idea of the type of information you need: we can finally take a look at: how to execute a lead generation campaign.

You first need to decide what medium you are going to use for
generating leads:

1. Website
2. Public Relations
3. Lead Nurturing
4. Branding
5. Phone Calls
6. Emails
7. Events
8. Direct Mail
9. Networking/Referrals
10. Social Media

Here are some thoughts regarding these:

1.) You can become financially successful by mastery.

2.) The bigger the business you desire the more lead generation activities you need to invest in.

3.) In the beginning, evaluate and allow your talents and abilities to drive this business decision.

4.) Look over the list just mentioned and create a study on each one to understand the implications it will have on your business.

5.) Make sure you commit tracking your ROI on each lead generation activity you pursue.

6.) Set yourself a time frame in which you can begin using other mediums for lead generation.

7.) Do not waste your time on lead generation activities that have no return or a low return on investment.

8.) Find a mentor who is achieving the type of success you desire to have, and pay attention to how he/she is generating leads.

As you should know timing is everything, so choose to be in front of your prospects when they are ready to purchase your products or services. The underlining theme here is exposure. The more professionals know about you and your offering the easier it will be to get business.

After refining your offering: the next area of focus should be developing your:

• Marketing Message
• Your Value Proposition

The market place will ultimately dictate what you need to offer and how you need to frame your message, regardless of this fact you need a starting place. It’s only when you continually expose your offering and message to the market place that it will get a chance to be refined.

On a side note: once everything is in place the need to work long hours is appropriate to arrive at this conclusion.

I put together a list of questions to help you to get clear about your offering. From your answers you should have a good sense about your message.

Marketing Message Questions:

1. What will your business look like in 10 years?

2. Is you target market B2B or B2C?

3. What demographic and psycho-graphic details should you be concerned with?

4. What problem, issue, pain, predicament or challenge is your prospects facing that would make them seek assistance?

5. What are the warning signs that should encourage them to call?

6. What results do you produce when working with clients?

7. What do you have that can prove you can in fact deliver the solution?

8. What makes you stand apart from your competitors?

9. What makes you unique, special and memorable?

10. What is it about your business or service that offers a true advantage to your potential clients?

11. What are you doing to brand yourself currently?

Please describe in detail:

12. How are you going to create traction in the targeted market?

Next, take all your information and create a marketing message or value proposition (write it down). Communicate with simplicity what you are offering and the relevance of it.

Third, Look at the marketing information (i.e. blogs, websites, printed material) of 50 plus competitors. Be thorough when going through this information. You will be able to see and measure your message against theirs. This process should give you a tremendous amount of insight. Take notes, and rewrite your Value Proposition. You may see that it is different then the one you first had written.

Next, I would recommend starting to design your own website on paper, word document or power point. You will be surprised of the gaps in your knowledge and message when you do this. Visit the competitors’ websites, look at the structure the tabs and any options.

Now you should be ready to put your marketing message online. From all this information you should be able to create a short value proposition or an elevator pitch.

It’s note worthy to keep in mind as you go through your competitors’ information to be aware of your weaknesses as it relates to your offering, it will give you an advantage if you think about how you should frame your strengths in light of these newly discovered weaknesses.

An overview:

There are 5 areas I like to focus on when a company is starting up or having trouble with cash flow or acquiring customers. It is extremely important that you understand your weaknesses and strengths as they relate to each area listed.

(I understand that I’m perhaps over simplifying these – my goal is to get you thinking and to build your own philosophy around the following areas).

1. Pre-work – refining your offering. Making sure what your offer is in line with who you are.

2. Marketing message- getting really clear about what you want to offer in the market place, your strengths, weaknesses, and competitors.

3. Lead Generation – we need a solid plan on how to acquire prospects or how to get to those people/companies who may be interested, (notice I said interested not ‘who may be benefited by…’)

4. Sales – you need to know how to sell your product/service and who to sell it to. Understand your weaknesses and strengths as a sales person. If you think your weakness is sales than you need to get it to a point where you are at the very least decent in sales or average.

5. Business development – there are companies that you can attach yourself to or partner with (VARS) that can and will serve as a revolving door and either bring you prospects or sell your products or services for you (if it will benefit them).

Now let us focus on the first entry of this small series:

I assume that if you are reading this blog and desire to start a business or perhaps have one already that you understand your offering.

But, if for some reason you want to start a business and right now are uncertain of what your offering should be than you need to do some soul searching. The conclusion is you should be aware of what you could sell.

Yes! I said ‘sell’. In the beginning of your business venture unless you have partners (who know how to sell) and sufficient capital then you will have to roll up your sleeves and sell your own product and/or service.

On a side note: if you have an existing business that is suffering and you haven’t quite focused on sales development this could be the reason why everything is less than ideal.

Experts agree that starting a business in the same industry or offering the same product/service that your experience dictates is a wise thing to do. Part of the advise if at all possible is to get experience in the industry more importantly get experience selling a similar product and/or service that you feel would be ideal in your business.

In regards to developing your offering the first question that comes to mind is what inspires you the most:

A) A Product – tangible, physical
b) A Concept – intangible, non-physical

If you love the world of concepts and ideals, if you like teaching, or are a day dreamer you should choose ‘A’. If you are a believer of things only when you can touch, see, and taste and are kinesthetic then choose ‘B’.

Selling a ‘product’ is something you can see and touch, like computer hardware or cars or furniture. Selling a ‘service’ is something like teaching a subject, or being a consultant, selling life insurance. You truly have to sell people on a dream. This is not something they can see and touch, but more of what they will have to envision and understand.

Now what you should do is think about your gifts and talents.

Ask yourself:

What are you good at and enjoy doing?
Chances are that if you have lived a little while than you know what you like doing.

Now obsess over:

How can you develop this into a product or service you can offer?

Next, how can you develop this offering into a business?

Unless, what you like doing is dysfunctional than you should have a good idea what you would like to be selling in your business. If you are still having a challenge with this you can do a couple of things call me or obsess about your talents, knowledge and skill talk to your network or friends or family and read anything by Marcus Buckingham and what would ultimately help is getting to know your personality or temperament David Keirsey is wonderful for that.

In January 10, 2006 The NewYork Times reported:

On a hot summer day 15 years ago in Parma, Italy, a monkey sat in a special laboratory chair waiting for researchers to return from lunch. Thin wires had been implanted in the region of its brain involved in planning and carrying out movements.

Every time the monkey grasped and moved an object, some cells in that brain region would fire, and a monitor would register a sound: brrrrrip, brrrrrip, brrrrrip.

A graduate student entered the lab with an ice cream cone in his hand. The monkey stared at him. Then, something amazing happened: when the student raised the cone to his lips, the monitor sounded – brrrrrip, brrrrrip, brrrrrip – even though the monkey had not moved but had simply observed the student grasping the cone and moving it to his mouth.

The researchers, led by Giacomo Rizzolatti, a neuroscientist at the University of Parma, had earlier noticed the same strange phenomenon with peanuts. The same brain cells fired when the monkey watched humans or other monkeys bring peanuts to their mouths as when the monkey itself brought a peanut to its mouth.

Later, the scientists found cells that fired when the monkey broke open a peanut or heard someone break a peanut. The same thing happened with bananas, raisins and all kinds of other objects.

“It took us several years to believe what we were seeing,” Dr. Rizzolatti said in a recent interview. The monkey brain contains a special class of cells, called mirror neurons, that fire when the animal sees or hears an action and when the animal carries out the same action on its own.

But if the findings, published in 1996, surprised most scientists, recent research has left them flabbergasted. Humans, it turns out, have mirror neurons that are far smarter, more flexible and more highly evolved than any of those found in monkeys, a fact that scientists say reflects the evolution of humans’ sophisticated social abilities.

The human brain has multiple mirror neuron systems that specialize in carrying out and understanding not just the actions of others but their intentions, the social meaning of their behavior and their emotions.

“We are exquisitely social creatures,” Dr. Rizzolatti said. “Our survival depends on understanding the actions, intentions and emotions of others.”

He continued, “Mirror neurons allow us to grasp the minds of others not through conceptual reasoning but through direct simulation. By feeling, not by thinking.”

When all is said and done, each of us are driven subconsciously to follow the neuro footprints we are expose to.

What we take in visually triggers our mirroring neurons. This exposure has a profound effect when it’s done consistently over time; in some instances it could change our lives drastically when exposed at a heightened state of emotion.

When it comes to learning to run motor skills young children are self-taught, they learn to imitate the idiosyncrasies of those they are exposed to. As we grow older we either follow the neuro footprints of personal ideologies (what pictures we see in our mind) or what we constantly take in visually, through our environment.

Dr. Maltz notes in his 1960 classic, “Psycho Cybernetics”, (speaking on the mind, and it’s tendency to follow the paths we give it).

“You” are not a machine. But new discoveries in the science of Cybernetics all point to the conclusion that your physical brain and nervous system make up a servo-mechanism which “You” use, and which operates very much like an electronic computer and a mechanical goal-seeking device. Your brain and nervous system constitute a goal-striving mechanism which operates automatically to achieve a certain goal, very much as a self-aiming torpedo or missile seeks out its target and steers its way to it. Your built-in servo-mechanism functions both as a “guidance system” to automatically steer you in the right direction to achieve certain goals…”

“Many people find they get better results if they imagine themselves sitting before a large motion picture screen—and imagine that they are seeing a motion picture of themselves. The important thing is to make these pictures as vivid and as detailed as possible. You want your mental pictures to approximate actual experience as much as possible. The way to do this is pay attention to small details, sights, sounds, objects, in your imagined environment. One of my patients was using this exercise to overcome her fear of the dentist. She was unsuccessful, until she began to notice small details in her imagined picture—the smell of the antiseptic in the office, the feel of the leather on the chair arms, the sight of the dentist’s well-manicured nails as his hands approached her mouth, etc. … for all practical purposes, you are creating a practice experience. And if the imagination is vivid enough and detailed enough, your imagination practice is equivalent to an actual experience, insofar as your nervous system is concerned.”

There is the high road of our brain; this is the logical route (the left brain); and there is the low road; which is the emotional route, (the right brain). When we witness someone doing something, it triggers our mirroring neurons; neurologically, we touch on the same neuropath ways as those performing, the task, public speaking, parenting, singing, dancing or anything else, without the high road, or left brain releasing us for that particular action. We experience it emotionally, without having to take any actions. When we merge emotion with the repetition of actions, it not only triggers those neurons, it works to manipulate and define our identity through the self image.

In conclusion we should filter what and who we expose our minds to. We should consider our aspirations and goals, and find meaningful things to help us on our journey. If we don’t choose who we are, our impulses and environment will choose it for us.

Self-Control

Self-Control is the name of the game when you are leading a competitive organization, and feel the pull of emotions with remnants of distorted voices of broken expectations still ringing in your ears, when things heat up and stakeholders are coming down fast because last quarter’s numbers weren’t what they should have been.

Whether you are leading a family, a ministry or business you are leading. And if you are leading objectivity is extremely important, to stay outside your emotions for the moment when your tendency is to be inside your emotions is key. Bottom line when you feel life’s pressures this is the time you need to show your constituents your unshakable character. The rule of thumb the more stressful the situation the more relaxed and objective you need to be.

You may ask: How am I supposed to do this?

Let’s start by going over a few concepts first.

Psychosomatic

Psychosomatic denotes that our thinking affects our body for good or for worse. But, the challenge to stay “cool headed” may have its roots deeper than you have imagined. In your earlier years if you had exposure to an insecure or emotional authority figure, whether a boss, a church leader, or a parent where yelling and over reacting was the norm, than ingrained in your neuropathway could be the habit to over emotionalizing or over reacting in times of stress.

Along with loosing our temper is the danger of causing wear and tear internally. When we tend to loose our temper and our heart rate goes up, blood pressure rises. When this is done consistently it can cause micro tears in our arteries, there by giving way for plaque to build up, this may cause heart disease, never mind the ulcers or weakened immune system. These are just a couple of instance of the damaged that can be caused by over emotionalizing. There are more dangers to “loosing control” than a damaged relationship, its damaged health.

Stimulus and Response

Stimulus and response plays a factor in our tendency to react to life’s stressful situations. If I punch you in the nose there is a split moment before you decide to react. If I’m bigger than you, you may consider running, if I’m smaller than you, you might consider hitting me back. This reaction is called the fight or flight response which is highly embedded in our psychology and physiology. The ability to control our destiny lies between this space of stimulus and response. If you control this space you can lead incredible change.

In history those who learned to control this and had followers that had learned to control the space between stimulus and response had facilitated national and world change; figures such as Mahatma Gandhi, Jesus Christ, Martin Luther King Jr., and Mother Theresa.

The Answer

There is a way out of old patterns and into self-renewal. One of the latest discoveries in psychology was that relaxation has the propensity to heal the body and to restore the wear and tear. Along with relaxation, meditation has been recognized to develop the prefrontal cortex which is the control panel for things like self-control, motor skills, and speech.

When a person meditates they gain the freedom to use the space between stimulus and response constructively. This can be a powerful ally and tool for leadership development. Start by contributing 10-15 minutes a day within 8 weeks, you will notice a great transformation in emotional intelligence, and maturity.

What does your vision for leadership look like?

A picture in your mind’s eye is your road map there.

If you don’t have it, create it, it will produce a self fulfilling prophesy.

“Dissatisfaction and discouragement are not caused by the absence of things but the absence of vision.”
Anonymous

“The very essence of leadership is [that] you have a vision. It’s got to be a vision you articulate clearly and forcefully on every occasion. You can’t blow an uncertain trumpet.”
Theodore Hesburgh

“All men dream: but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dream with open eyes to make it possible.”
T.E. Lawrence

“Vision is the art of seeing the invisible.”
Jonathan Swift

“It is very dangerous to go into eternity with possibilities which one has oneself prevented from becoming realities. A possibility is a hint from God. One must follow it.”
Sören Kierkegaard

“Create your future from your future, not your past.”
Werner Erhard

“Keep your eyes on the stars and your feet on the ground.”
Franklin D. Roosevelt

“Some believe there is nothing one man or one woman can do against the enormous array of the world’s ills — against misery, against ignorance, or injustice and violence. Yet many of the world’s great movements, of thought and action, have flowed from the work of a single man. A young monk began the Protestant reformation, a young general extended an empire from Macedonia to the borders of the earth, and a young woman reclaimed the territory of France. It was a young Italian explorer who discovered the New World, and 32 year old Thomas Jefferson who proclaimed that all men are created equal. ‘Give me a place to stand,’ said Archimedes, ‘and I will move the world.’ These men moved the world, and so can we all.”
Robert F. Kennedy

“To be a successful entrepreneur one needs a vision of greatness for one’s work. If we dream extravagantly we will be inspired to forge a reality beyond the straight jacket of practicalities. There is a profound connection between art and enterprise which allows businesses to overcome the limitations of their existing visions.”
Sir Ernest Hall

“If you want to be happy, set a goal that commands your thoughts, liberates your energy, and inspires your hopes.”
Andrew Carnegie

Alexandria, Alexandria, Alexandria

So, it started with my two year old, feeling a bit of fatigue. Soon my wife came home a little frantic; Alex had a fever. We quickly ran the bathtub water, cooler than usual, to cool her down. This continued on throughout the evening; my little girl crying out to mommy, for help. Alex and I both hoping that mom somehow had the secret to health and well being.

This went on for the entire week, jolting awake by Alex’s sobs and running bath water to cool her. When Alex’s fever subsided a bit, to something we were happy with we would lay her back down to hopefully find rest.

In observing this drama unfold, I became aware, that when Alex felt better in between the ups and downs of her fever, she was swept away by a cheerful state of alacrity. She asked (in only the way a two year could; mumbling) to go outside to play, she wanted to enjoy the freedom of being two; in that wonderful carefree way. She wanted to run around and to enjoy life once again; such a beautiful little soul. In my heart I knew her resilience was something we all could take note of.

Thoughts

How many of us choose to enjoy life, to re-awaken our freedom to live carefree right after we experience an unmet expectation, a heart break, an emotional interruption or detour. How many of us stand up with great alacrity and get on with life with the enthusiasm to live the life we were meant to lead?

Would it be true to say that we fall into the temptation of wallowing in the mire of our situation? or do we allow ourselves to be swept away by the mellow drama of our self-pity?

“We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms — to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.”

Viktor Frankle

When it comes down to it, it really is about how we respond to life, and our attitude along the way.