The Executive Sales Coach: Keith Rosen’s Sales Blog and Business Blog On Selling, Leadership, Managing Your Team, Business and Life » 2006 » September

What if we all actually created a realistic routine so it reflects a healthier and respectful relationship with time that you have developed as a result of underpromising on personal and professional deadlines?

You mean, be honest with how much time we all acutally have in a day? 

The point is to become hypersensitive to how you are utilizing your time by becoming comfortable with the strategy of underpromising so that you can avoid overpromising and over committing yourself.

Instead of planning your day around the best case scenario, plan your day around the worst case scenario. This will provide you with the additional cushion you need, just in case your best laid plans got derailed by life getting in the way. And how often does that happen?

While the web site for my next book The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Closing The Sale has already been launched www.guidetoclosingthesale.com), I also want to bring to your attention that the site for my cold calling book has just been launched.

You can find some more great excerpts and tips on cold calling, prospecting and selling here at www.guidetocoldcalling.com.

Enjoy!  

Highly Effective Leaders Are Fully Accountable For Their Communication

More than 65% of all problems or breakdowns that exist among people and within businesses occur as a result of faulty communication. The very thing that occupies approximately 70% of our waking hours is the very thing we have difficulty with the most.

Most of us were never taught how to communicate in a way that produces consistent results, so we continue to experience frustration, resistance, conflicts, or breakdowns. Although the style of communication varies from each leader, (high powered, humorous, low- key, etc.) a great leader is fully accountable not only for the message they deliver but for the way they are being heard. Enhancing your communication requires taking full responsibility for the outcome of each conversation; not only for what you are saying but for the message the other person is hearing. (I.e., Speaking in their “language”/communication style.)
Tip From The Coach: To strengthen your communication, ask yourself the following questions:

1. Am I taking full responsibility for the message being heard by the other person? (Remember that it doesn’t matter what you say, it only matters what the other person hears.)


2. Did I respect the other person’s point of view or did I have a reaction (disagreement) to what they were saying that prevented me from listening to their full message?


3. If I was asking someone to take a specific action (delegating), did I make my request clear & check to see if the conversation worked/was successful? (Did I receive feedback to ensure that I was understood?)


4. Did I receive value from the conversation? (Did I allow the other person to contribute to me?)


5. If the outcome of the conversation did not meet my expectations, what did I learn that would enable me to better communicate with that person? (Did I open up a new and greater possibility that I didn’t notice before?)


6. Did I give the person the gift of my listening?


7. When delegating a task or having a conversation, was I cognizant of the common sense trap?

It is not the other person’s responsibility to understand what it is you are saying. It is your job to be understood.

Highly effective leaders are fully accountable not only for the message they deliver but for the message the other person is hearing. Producing greater, long-term results without conflicts or breakdowns requires taking full responsibility for the outcome of each conversation.

One Measurement to Help You Determine Whether or Not To Let Someone Go

During  a seminar last week, I was asked by a group of senior managers, “When does it make sense to let someone go or invest the time in developing and retaining that person?”

Quite often managers are either thinking, “What’s best for that person? or “What’s best for me?”

Unfortunately, both of these questions cloud your view of the bigger picture; what is best for the company.
Ask yourself, when taking an action or speaking with someone, “Is what I am doing now helping the business?” It’s not about you and it’s not about them.
It’s about all of us and that means asking this question instead; “What is in the best interest of the company?”

For example, if you know someone may not be working out, how does this affect the overall division or company? What is best for the company? What are the consequences of keeping them or letting them go? At the end of the day, both you and your team have the same goals. Put your differences aside and work together to make this happen as one cohesive cooperative team.