SuperStar Employee

15 Tips You Can Use Daily For A Great Work/Life Balance

2013-02-01T18:19:00.003-08:00

Friendship is a gift, not a possession. [Chris Reetz]
Stop clinging and embrace change as a constant. [Isabelle Cholette]
Try and give people the benefit of the doubt if they snap at you. Might be something going on you don’t know about. [misslmdavis]
The daily practice of silence. [dimovich]
Smiling … seems to help with most things. :-) [zen fostering]
QTIP: quit taking it personally. [Will Hopkins]
Mostly nothing is that serious as it seems in the first moment. [Julian Pollman]
Do the most important task first thing in the morning. [Jordan Ayres]
When you think you want something, put it on the planner a month from now. When that month rolls around and you still want it, OK. [connie baber]
When in doubt, take a deep breath. [Kevin Cuccaro]
Allow extra time in your schedule for wandering. [dylan]
To avoid cluttering: After any activity, put everything in place. It only takes 5 minutes vs. 3 hours if you allowed to pile things up. [La Piña]
Use travel delay as opportunity to stop rather than get stressed. When the world stands still, let it. [Karl Durrant]
Define what’s necessary; say no to the rest. [Dana]
Expecting less or nothing, and just being. That way disappointments are nil and you are pleasantly surprised often. Simple. [Traci]

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Learn Google’s Famous 1:1 Employee Engagement Technique With Free Toolkit

2013-02-01T18:15:00.000-08:00

As a manager or the owner of a business, how often do you get to interact with your employees on an individual basis? With busy and conflicting schedules, it can be hard to find times outside of team meetings or performance evaluations to talk more generally to an employee.

To help make sure that employees always have an open channel of communication with managers, we have weekly 1:1s, which is a 30-minute block of time for a manager to meet with just one person. The purpose of 1:1s isn’t evaluation or getting assignments, although those might be outcomes. Instead, it should be an chance for an employee to share projects, questions, concerns, and anything else with his or her manager.

Because the intention of a 1:1 is to have easy communication across levels, the employee should be the person leading the meeting, not the manager. Employees should provide the agenda and direct the discussion, while managers should make sure to listen and provide constructive feedback. Here are a few other tips to get the most out of 1:1 time:

Prepare and share an agenda in advance to keep the meeting efficient.
Use a running document to keep your agenda and notes in to refer to later, and make sure both the employee and manager can edit it.
Discuss career development more broadly, and what skills you can gain at work outside of your core job.

If weekly 1:1s seems too often, try bi-weekly or maybe even monthly. You could also try scheduling a regular office hour on your calendar where employees can just drop in to talk. Does your business have another strategy that helps with communication?

Via- Jacinth Sohi, Google and Your Business Blog

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7 Essential Habits To Survive Your First Month At Work

2013-01-28T00:55:00.000-08:00

Are you just beginning your career? Have you newly joined this company having served in a different company? The following tips will help you adapt quickly to your new workplace and avoid unnecessary culture adjustment problems.

Understand Rules Of The Buddy System

There is company specific lingo and codewords you’ll be expected to learn in order to make friends with other people. Don’t ask anyone directly. They will neither share or appreciate your curiosity. If you had similar experiences at school trying to blend in and making friends, the workplace is no different. If at all, your colleagues are far more competitive and insecure. So tread slowly and intelligently - Try to figure it out indirectly by befriending a senior over coffee.

Don’t Try To Be An Expert.

Your seniors have much more experience in the company and know how it functions. So, don’t try to be an expert. If you see problems with the way things are run, do not complain even to a polite colleague or senior because they are trying to figure you out just as you’re trying to figure them out! Complaints can wait at least till the end of the probationary period.

To Avoid Confusion and Misunderstanding Learn To Clarify and Rephrase

Try to solve technical, work-related issues without taking too much help from your seniors. Learn to clearly ask what you want from them or what they want from you in order to avoid unnecessary confusion. Rephrase before parting just to make sure both you and your co-worker are in agreement over the issue.

Figure Out The Correct Procedures Yourself

As far as possible, try to understand the rules and procedures without taking too much help from others. However, in case of exceptional circumstances like sexual misconduct or bullying, try contacting the HR or the designated Complaints cell or ask a polite senior about ‘the right procedure’.

Do Not Ask Advice From A Peer

Your colleague could be just as new as you and is equally inexperienced. Try to figure it out yourself, ask the HR or your team leader- in that order. Be polite but firm and try to be helpful. Find potential people who will look out for you in times of trouble and begin making inroads into creating relationships by taking them for coffee.

Stay Neutral. Don’t Create Groups Or Join One.

REMEMBER, you have joined the company to further your career. So focus on bettering your skills rather than ‘reforming’ the company or fellow individuals.

LEARN TO NOT COMPROMISE ON YOUR WEEKENDS

Come early, stay back late if necessary but never agree to work on weekends. Cite personal, family or medical problems if necessary. Offer to do the work during the weekdays by staying back late if necessary.

Weekends are for you to enjoy with friends and family. You have earned it!

Follow all the suggestions for a month and see the results for yourself. Let me know how it works out for you! Share any other tips or secrets you learnt.

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My Fool-Proof Method Of Stock Market Investing

2013-01-23T01:48:00.003-08:00

An index like Nifty or Sensex already reflects the best performing companies at any point of time. A worse performing company stock is thrown out and a good one is replaced in stead. So stock picking is done for you automatically and free of cost.

In most cases, one unit of and Index ETF fund is exactly 1/10^th of the main market index. i.e, if the Nifty is at 6000 points today, one unit of your ETF is worth 600 rupees. Tomorrow if the nifty falls to 5750, the unit correspondingly falls 1/10^th of the Nifty value i.e 575 rupees.

Now if you think the sentiment is good, you can buy an Index ETF at 575 per unit. Or you can wait for it to fall further to enter.

Similarly when the market goes up, it’s time to sell.

How To Do it?

You will need a 3-in-1 account i.e a savings a/c, a demat a/c and a trading a/c in order to transact. Almost every leading bank offers this facility today.

All you need to do thereafter is find out the closing price of the index before taking action. The bank will also accept orders over the phone. Clearly tell them what quantity you wish to buy and at what price. It will be done as soon as the index achieves your target price. The same goes for selling too.

Fees

A fee of 0.50% is levied for each Index ETF transaction. This is far lower than the 2-4% that mutual funds or insurance companies charge as their yearly fund management fees.

No more watching business news for hours together and getting confused by what ‘experts’ say about individual stocks.

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The Three Step Simplified Personal Investing System

The Three Step Simplified Personal Investing System

2013-01-23T01:47:00.002-08:00

Personal investing and expense tracking can be a real hassle. Here’s a system that simplifies the process by only focussing on the priorities in the form of rules. As long as you’ve got the three rules right, you no longer need to worry about your finances. The system is designed to take care of itself.

Rule No 1. Create an emergency liquid cash option

If you suddenly lose your job or there’s a medical emergency in the family, you need a backup system. Rule of thumb should be 3-6 months of your average monthly lifestyle expense. Keep it in a savings account.

Rule No. 2 Use A Debit Card Instead Of A Credit Card.

A credit card gives you a false sense of empowerment by making you spend what you may not be able to repay. Remember, a credit card makes expense tracking very complicated because you’ll need to pay back what you spent along with interest at some point of time. There’s no such problem when you use a debit card provided you do not abuse the overdraft limit.

Bonus: These days you accumulate loyalty points when you use debit cards which entitles you to discounts at your favourite shopping haunts.

Rule No. 3. Do Not Confuse Insurance With Investment

I cannot stress this hard enough. Term insurance, Health Insurance and ULIP’s are not investments. They’re guarantees when something goes wrong with you. It may not be a priority when you’re young.

An investment on the other hand gives you a guaranteed source of income when you need at a later date be it when you lose your job or want to start your business. I only recommend two type of investments –

debt instruments like fixed deposits or mutual funds that invest in company debt (and also give you tax benefits)

Investing in the stock market using an Index ETF’s (exchange traded fund) because this way all you need to track is the main indices. Learn more about how an Index ETF works.

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Use The Envelope System To Easily Track Your Personal Expenses

2013-01-23T01:46:00.000-08:00

Most people find budgeting to be a fearful, worrisome exercise. There are simply too many things you need and too little cash. Here’s a simple method that will teach you to keep track of your expenses by focusing only on your regular, recurring expenses by setting money aside in envelopes.

Let’s say you set aside four amounts in your budget each payday —

one for filling up petrol,
one for groceries,
one for kids school fees & expenses
one for weekends, entertainment and eating out

Withdraw those amounts on payday, and put them in three separate envelopes. That way, you can easily track how much you have left for each of these expenses, and when you run out of money, you know it immediately.

You don’t overspend in these categories. If you regularly run out too fast though, you may need to rethink your budget.

Bonus: You can now easily decide on your long term savings plan with whatever you’re left with.

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5 Powerful Strategies You Should Use To Avoid Working Overtime

2013-01-15T22:44:00.004-08:00

Let’s face it. No one likes spending long hours at office. However, what we do not realise is to what extent our own unproductive habits are to blame for it. Given here are five pretty simple things you can do to speed up your daily work and spend quality time with your family.

5. Completely disconnect for 12 hours.

Yes, that’s your email, Facebook, phone, TV, laptop etc. It’s much easier to do it at a stretch at night. It may be difficult in the beginning but you’ll get used to it. What if it’s urgent? Well, frankly, it can wait. Because, there’s no point if you cannot sleep properly you’ll not be able to concentrate the next day. Instead spend quality time with family and friends, go to sleep early and yes, sleep for 8 hours at least.

4. Take a 15 minute break every 90 minutes.

The human body is not designed to sit for hours at a stretch. Attempting to do so inevitably creates aches and pains that leech your energy as your body tries to compensate and heal them. So get up and move! Get out of the building and get some fresh air.

3. Avoid meetings without an agenda.

Meetings can only be productive if people know why they're meeting in the first place. An agenda provides focus and purpose. The lack of an agenda guarantees meandering conversations that dive into rat holes. They're a waste of your (and everyone else's) time.

2. Never pick up on an unknown caller.

Unless you're working in telesales or product support, there's no reason why you should ever take a call from somebody you don't know. After all, when was the last time you took an unexpected call that was truly important? Days? Weeks? Months?

1. Do NOT Multitask. Focus on one thing at a time.

Do you use your cellphone while driving? Do you check your email or tweet during a meeting or a presentation? Well, if you want to use the cell phone while traveling, take a cab or the public transport. If the meeting or presentation is a waste of your time, take a ‘bathroom break’ and do more important tasks.

Bonus: Stop checking your emails, every other minute.

To satisfy one client, you’ll keep the others waiting. Even your boss will agree that’s a losing proposition!

If you really want to get things done, you need to focus on one thing at a time. Once you’re clear about that, find ways to avoid unproductive habits. As a bonus you get to Go home early and spend more quality time with your family.

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5 Kitchen Hacks That Make Cooking Fun For Working Women or Bachelors!

2013-01-13T21:38:00.001-08:00

1. Deseed a Pomegranate in Seconds Using a Wooden Spoon

If you don't love pomegranates, it's either because you've never had one or you hate how much work they take to deseed. While many people recommend peeling it in a bowl of water, it turns out there's an even faster method: just break it open and bang on it with a wooden spoon. You should have all those seeds in a bowl in about 10 seconds.

2. Stop Peeling Boiled Eggs and Just Cut Them in Half

Peeling a hard boiled egg is a pain in the butt, and there's a much easier way to get to the goods inside: just cut it in half and spoon it out of the shell. It should slip out pretty easily, though you should make sure there aren't any tiny pieces of shell still stuck on it before you go shoveling it in to your mouth. If that isn't enough of a parlor trick for you, though, you can always use use the peel-and-blow method shown at the left.

3. Make Pancakes with a Squeeze Bottle

Ladling pancake batter into a pan is a recipe for a mess. Instead of dripping batter all over the place, put that pancake batter in an old condiment bottle and squeeze it out. You'll get perfectly shaped pancakes without any drips or unevenness. Just make sure you wash that ketchup bottle thoroughly first, because otherwise...ew.

4. Peel a Head of Garlic in Seconds with Two Bowls

If you have a particularly garlic-heavy recipe to make (so brave!), don't waste time peeling each head by hand. Just crush your garlic as normal and throw it all into a big salad bowl. Then, with another big salad bowl, shake the garlic up for a few seconds, and you should find it's fully peeled and ready for cooking. Just remember to neutralize that garlic breath after the meal with a glass of milk.

5. Peel a Potato in One Step

If you don't want to sit there peeling countless spuds just to get your mashed potato fix, you can use this simple method for peeling them in seconds. After boiling them, place them in a bowl of ice water for a few seconds. Then, just grab it with both hands, twist, and pull apart. The skin should slide right off.

You can find more Kitchen Hacks from Lifehacker.com

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2013-01-12T22:28:00.003-08:00

If you’ve always wondered how some people seem to know exactly what to say when it comes to getting a raise…while the rest of us sit there wondering, “So…how do I do this?” these videos are for you. In these videos, Ramit Sethi, the New York Times best-selling author of I Will Teach You To Be Rich teaches you how to successfully negotiate for a raise.

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Beware of these negative behavior patterns that predict a divorce

2013-01-12T22:22:00.000-08:00

Dr. Gottman has named the most corrosive negative behavior patterns, “The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.” Specifically, these are:

Criticism: stating one’s complaints as a defect in one’s partner’s personality, i.e., giving the partner negative trait attributions. Example: “You always talk about yourself. You are so selfish.”

Contempt: statements that come from a relative position of superiority. Contempt is the greatest predictor of divorce and must be eliminated. Example: “You’re an idiot.”

Defensiveness: self-protection in the form of righteous indignation or innocent victim-hood. Defensiveness wards off a perceived attack. Example: “It’s not my fault that we’re always late; it’s your fault.”

Stonewalling: emotional withdrawal from interaction. Example: The listener does not give the speaker the usual nonverbal signals that the listener is “tracking” the speaker.

These predict early divorcing – an average of 5.6 years after the wedding. Emotional withdrawal and anger predict later divorcing – an average of 16.2 years after the wedding.

More Self Help and Tips

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How to Prevent A Divorce? Dr. John Gottman’s Top Relationship Tips

2013-01-12T22:17:00.000-08:00

Marriage Day (Photo credit: Fikra)

Seek help early.

The average couple waits 6 years before seeking help for relationship problems. (And keep in mind, half of all marriages that end do so in the first 7 years). This means the average couple lives with unhappiness for far too long.

Edit yourself.

The happiest couples avoid saying every critical thought when discussing touchy topics.

Soften your "start up."

Arguments often "start up" because one partner escalates the conflict by making a critical or contemptuous remark. Bringing up problems gently and without blame works much better.

Accept influence from your partner.

In studying heterosexual marriages, we found that a relationship succeeds to the extent that the husband can accept influence from his wife. For instance, a woman says, "Do you have to work Thursday night? My mother is coming that weekend, and I need your help getting ready." Her husband then replies, "My plans are set, and I'm not changing them." As you might guess, this guy is in a shaky marriage. A husband's ability to be influenced by his wife (rather than vice-versa) is crucial - because research shows that women are already well practiced at accepting influence from men. A true partnership only occurs when a husband can do the same thing.

Have high standards.

Happy couples have high standards for each other. The most successful couples are those who, even as newlyweds, refused to accept hurtful behavior from one another. Low levels of tolerance for bad behavior in the beginning of a relationship equals a happier couple down the road.

Learn to repair and exit the argument.

Happy couples have learned how to exit an argument, or how to repair the situation before an argument gets completely out of control. Examples of repair attempts: using humor; stroking your partner with a caring remark ("I understand that this is hard for you"); making it clear you're on common ground ("We'll tackle this problem together"); backing down (in marriage, as in the martial art Aikido, you often have to yield to win); and, in general, offering signs of appreciation for your partner and his or her feelings along the way. If an argument gets too heated, take a 20-minute break, and agree to approach the topic again when you are both calm.

Focus on the bright side.

In a happy marriage, while discussing problems, couples make at least five times as many positive statements to and about each other and their relationship as negative ones. For example, "We laugh a lot" as opposed to "We never have any fun." A good marriage must have a rich climate of positivity. Make regular deposits to your emotional bank accounts!

Women, Find Out The Unique Characteristics that Make Emotionally Intelligent Husbands!

2013-01-12T22:15:00.003-08:00

My data on newlywed couples indicate that more husbands are being transformed. About 35 percent of the men we’ve studied fall into the category of “emotionally intelligent husbands”. Research from previous decades suggests the number used to be much lower.

Because this type of husband honors and respects his wife, he’ll be open to learning more about emotions from her. He will come to understand her world and those of his children and friends. He may not emote in the same way that his wife does, but he will learn how to better connect with her emotionally. As he does so, he’ll make choices that show he honors her. When he is watching the football game, and she needs to talk, he’ll turn off the TV and listen. He’s choosing “us” over “me”.

I believe the emotionally intelligent husband is the next step in social evolution. This doesn’t mean that he’s superior to other men in personality, upbringing, or moral fiber. He has simply figured out something very important about being married that the others haven’t yet. And this is how to honor his wife and convey his respect to her. It is really that elementary.

The new husband is likely to make his career less of a priority than his family life, because his definition of success has been revised. Unlike husbands before him, he makes a detailed map of his wife’s world. He keeps in touch with his admiration and fondness for her. And he communicates it by turning toward her in his daily actions.

This benefits not only his marriage but his children as well. Research shows that a husband who can accept influence from his wife also tends to be an outstanding father. He is familiar with his children’s world and knows all about their friends and their fears. Because he’s not afraid of emotions, he teaches his children to respect their own feelings -- and themselves. He turns off the football game for them, too, because he wants them to remember him as having had time for them.

The new type of husband and father leads a meaningful and rich life. Having a happy family base makes it possible for him to create and work effectively. Because he is so connected to his wife, she will come to him not only when she is troubled, but when she is delighted. When the city awakens to a beautiful fresh snowstorm, his children will come running for him to see it. The people who matter most to him will care about him when he lives and mourn him when he dies.

The other kind of husband and father is a very sad story. He responds to the loss of male entitlement with righteous indignation, or he feels like an innocent victim. He may become more authoritarian, or withdraw into a lonely shell, protecting what little he has left. He does not give others very much honor and respect because he is engaged in a search for the honor and respect he thinks is his due. He will not accept his wife’s influence because he fears any further loss of power. And because he will not accept influence, he will not have very much influence. The consequence is that no one will much care about him when he lives, nor mourn him when he dies.

- Dr. John Gottman.

More here

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dan-goleman/are-women-more-emotionall_b_211591.html

http://stormybrain.hubpages.com/hub/Approaching-marital-issues-with-emotional-intelligence

Employee Engagement Secret from Vineet Nayar - Don't be a boss, be a leader!

2013-01-08T01:22:00.001-08:00

Vineet Nayar - World Economic Forum Annual Meeting Davos 2009 (Photo credit: World Economic Forum)

Vineet Nayar, CEO of HCL, has been one of my favourite CEO’s and thought leaders for reasons he explains here. In a new Harvard Blog he writes about the reasons for demoralization and disengagement in teams. He describes the following incident when a young manager tells him-

"I've tried using different leadership styles, but I can't seem to dispel my team's sense of disengagement," he confessed. "I don't understand what I'm doing wrong."

"Why don't you ask your team?" I asked him.

The reply surprised him.

Nayar believes lack of team engagement is primarily because the managers aren’t listening to their team members. He feels manager should do more of the following:

Call a spade a spade- Gen Y wants its leaders to "Let people know where they really stand. They know how to win if we tell them the score."

Stop telling me what I know. Give us "freedom, exposure, and guidance"

Gen Y is looking for role models- "Walk the talk and set me an example. I need to know that we are in it together," and "Do away with the lack of congruence between your actions and your words because I need to trust you."

"Reward performance, not sycophancy."- Stop playing favorites.

Don't be a boss, be a leader. "Stop trying to control people...," "A boss inspires fear, a leader inspires enthusiasm."

You can read his entire post here. Also read my post The Only Secret To Get Employee Engagement Right For Your Company where I disclose the secret to Employee Engagement, Team Motivation and Delegating responsibilities.

Employee Engagement- Learn The Only Secret To Get It Right For Your Company

2013-01-06T00:41:00.000-08:00

‘Having a manager who ignores you is even more detrimental than having a manager who primarily focuses on your weaknesses. Perhaps most surprising is the degree to which having a manager who focuses on your strengths decreases the odds of your being miserable on the job. It appears that the epidemic of active disengagement we see in workplaces every day could be a curable disease…if we can help the people around us develop their strengths’

- Insightful thoughts from a well known management training guru.

If you were to play tennis with your partner, would you like your partner to be superior or inferior to you?

If you want him to be slightly inferior to you, you will get a daily ego boost but you will not learn anything new!

If on the other hand you would like your partner to be a better competitor, you would have a better chance of improving your skill but unless you focus on working on your skills you will soon get demoralized.

What if your partner understands the value of a good playing partner and instead of simply deriving an ego boost would teach you some techniques as well as give you words of encouragement, wouldn’t you love playing with your partner everyday?

Now imagine you are the boss or the manager of a company and are wondering

How would I ever make my team feel motivated and empowered?

How on earth will I get my employees to love me?

How would I ever become a great boss?

I’ve given you the secret to Employee Engagement, Motivation and Delegating responsibilities.

Three Creative Strategies To Emote Your Pitch Or Presentation

2013-01-01T21:57:00.002-08:00

Image via CrunchBase

It’s not always easy to find ‘actionable intelligence’ about your client or competition although there are simple rules to systematically understand it provided you invest enough into strategy and research. But a small company or an individual employee lacking these resources can use the Steve Jobs’ techniques for emoting and personalizing your pitch or presentation.

Steve Jobs’ presentations were noted for being clear, simple and interesting. They were also understated and dramatic. Steve Jobs also believed that a great piece of technology is created when art and science intersect. I believe the same should be true about every pitch or presentation.

Ask yourself ‘What’s your story?’ ‘Does it have the potential to emote/move the client?’ There are many ways of narrating and unraveling your BIG IDEA. Below are three famous ones-

Build Up Then Reveal Strategy

Try the ‘build up expectation and reveal the idea’ a strategy the Bard uses by giving away the plot in order to create curiosity in Macbeth. Shakespeare reveals his fate through the witches in the beginning of the play with chilling effect - ‘Fair is foul and foul is fair’ and then by telling Macbeth ‘Thou shalt get kings, though thou be none’ thus keeping the audience hooked to how the play actually unfolds to reveal Macbeth’s tragic end.

Points Of View Strategy

Cover of Citizen Kane (Two-Disc Special Edition)

You could use the ‘points of view’ strategy as brilliantly exemplified by Orson Welles in the movie ‘Citizen Kane’ where depending on who they are and how they have known him, the audience gets a different story of Citizen Kane.

Scenario Visualization Strategy

Cover of Charles Dickens

Charles Dickens’ brilliantly portrays to Ebenezer Scrooge in his novel ‘Christmas Carol’ the true spirit of Christmas using the dramatic ‘scenario visualization’ strategy by picturing Scrooge’s life through the ghosts of ‘Christmas Past’, ‘Christmas Present’ and ‘Christmas Future’.

All in all, presentation is the art of pitching a story to a client who in turn gets persuaded enough to back your product, idea or service. As long as you have established trust through your conviction and sold your story as ONE BIG IDEA that appeals to the audience at some level, you have got their attention.

Learn the ‘ONE BIG IDEA’ Strategy to Design Rainmaking Sales Pitch and Presentations

2013-01-01T21:51:00.000-08:00

Sales pitch (Photo credit: quinn.anya)

Be it a student presentation at school, convincing a venture capital (VC) firm to fund your startup idea or selling a multi-million dollar CRM software to an MNC, the process essentially starts with a presentation. Although the preferred mode for presenting is through power points, a high impact presentation requires good speaking skills as well.

Now to the real facts! After reading hundreds of books, blogs and the Harvard Business Review I was able to assimilate the core principles that go into the making of a successful, rainmaking presentation. It turns out, the secret sauce to making a rainmaking pitch is trying to convey a simple message that encapsulates One BIG IDEA- a keystone idea that unlocks the entire presentation.

Each of the strategies I’ll teach will help you refine your pitch into One BIG IDEA and convey it in an effective, artistic manner. It will work even if you aren’t gifted with exceptional speaking skills as the strategy essentially focuses on preparation and repeating the ONE BIG IDEA.

So, let’s get started.

Do You Believe In the Idea?

Before making a presentation ask yourself, how strongly do you believe in the idea? Are you passionate and excited about it? A lot of presentations are ineffective because the audience feels you don’t care about the idea seriously enough.

Belief is very important. If you lack conviction while presenting, your clients will see through your body language as Amy Cuddy of Harvard Business School explains here-

‘you have to build trust before you can lead. I know this may seem to contradict what I say about power posing, but it absolutely doesn’t. It’s really important to separate what you do before the interaction, from what you do during the interaction. You want to feel powerful going in – but that does not equal dominant or alpha. You want to feel that you have the power to bring your full, spirited self to the situation, stripped of the fears and inhibitions that might typically hold you back. I believe this allows you not just to be stronger, but also to be more open and trusting. I’m definitely not an advocate, as I think I’ve made clear by now, of going in and power-posing in front of people in order to intimidate them or something.’

How to Get Your ONE BIG Idea?

Once you know you believe that your idea has the potential to change things, you need to clearly explain why and how your idea can revolutionize or transform things for the client. The best way to do this is through a process of selection and elimination.

Most sales people make a big mistake by using the oldest trick in the book- by talking about cost savings to the company. Although a compelling idea, good clients often want to know the technicalities of how such cost savings are made possible and how it makes their product/service is so very different from their competition as a result.

Often times, there’s no such ‘holy grail’ breakthrough product and the client quickly sees through your gimmick. Therefore a far better way to pitch yourself is by finding out your client’s genuine needs and tailoring your presentation to suit their expectations. This means using as a carefully calibrated, customized and personalized approach instead of a one size fits all, cookie cutter approach.

It’s not as difficult as it sounds provided you follow this simple strategy with discipline and focus -

The Two Step Focus Approach

Presentation Ideas = Core Competence (Product + Service) + Research (Client+ Competition)

ONE BIG IDEA= Elimination/Selection for FOCUS - Presentation Ideas

First, get to know your client’s expectations better. Find out what exactly they are looking for. I’m assuming you’ve already done your homework getting to know your competitor’s product/service and USP. Then combine it with what you believe are your company’s and also the particular product’s core strengths.

Next, put yourself in your clients’ shoes. If you know your client well enough, what would he think about your idea, your presentation? What would appeal to him? Or would he think it was a waste of his time. Use this strategy to eliminate irrelevant information. Remember, process of elimination leads to a process of selection and enables a sharper focus on the ONE BIG IDEA.

Rehearse and Repeat

English: Students in a Harvard Business School classroom (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

People say, you need to propose an idea at least six times before it can be considered seriously. So if you were to make a presentation, how would you apply this idea to your presentation?

Once you’ve focused your presentation to suit the client’s expectations, the next step is to rehearse. Experts point out that it takes about an hour to prepare a minutes’ worth of presentation. Why? The aim is to understand how each slide/idea individually and collectively fits the client’s expectation. Therefore, preparation is key.

Once you’re finished with the ‘fit part’ next comes the EMPHASIS i.e conveying your key message i.e your ONE BIG IDEA as many times and in as many INTERESTING ways as possible. Trust me, if you are confident and throw in some humour, you have got their attention. Just make sure that the presentation does not become so entertaining that the big idea is lost in the process.