Stop Reinforcing the Status Quo
March 4, 2010 by Ed McLaughlin
Every day, people do the same thing over and over without questioning the policy or the system. Which is why new ideas are usually met with resistance.
“That will never work.”
“It’s never been done before.”
“Don’t bother – we already tried that once.”
“Nice idea, but can you prove that it will work?”
“We can’t sell that to senior management.”
We aren’t taught to question things that are familiar to us. Which reminds me of an experiment that can be done with five monkeys.
Start with a cage containing five monkeys. Inside the cage, hang a banana on a string and place a set of stairs under it. Before long, a monkey will go to the stairs and start to climb towards the banana. As soon as he touches the stairs, spray the other four monkeys with cold water. After a while, another monkey makes an attempt with the same result – the other monkeys are sprayed with cold water.
Soon enough, any monkey that tries to climb the stairs will be stopped by the others.
Now, turn off the cold water. Remove one monkey from the cage and replace it with a new one. The newcomer will see the banana and try to climb the stairs. To his surprise, all of the other monkeys attack him. After another attempt and attack, he knows that if he tries to climb the stairs he will be assaulted.
Next, remove another of the original monkeys and replace it with a new one. The newcomer goes to the stairs and is attacked. And the previous newcomer takes part in the punishment with enthusiasm.
Continue the process – replace the third monkey with a new one, then the fourth, then fifth. Every time the newest monkey takes to the stairs, he is attacked. But most of the monkeys that are beating him have no idea why they were not permitted to climb the stairs – or why they are participating in the beating of the newest monkey. After replacing all the original monkeys, none of the remaining monkeys have ever been sprayed with cold water. Regardless, no monkey ever again approaches the stairs to try for the banana. Why not? Because as far as they know, that’s the way it’s always been done around here.
Companies all over the world repeat this experiment every day with their own people. What about yours? Or do you promote a culture that is eternally curious about why they do what they do?
Present Like Steve Jobs
February 24, 2010 by Ed McLaughlin
The purpose of a presentation is to change minds. Yet this won’t happen if the presenter uses PowerPoint or Keynote to hide behind a wall of bullets and graphs. Of course, that doesn’t mean people still won’t try.
If you want to improve your presentation skills, there is no one better to study than Apple CEO Steve Jobs. His keynotes captivate audiences – and you can learn to do the same. Communications coach Carmine Gallo breaks down his methods in the video below.
Here is a summary of the Jobs presentation approach:
- Create a headline that sets the theme. Make sure that it is clear and consistent throughout your presentation.
- Provide an outline. Then open and close each section with a clear transition. This makes it easy for others to follow what you’re saying.
- Generate enthusiasm. Nothing is worse than a listless presenter. Remember, great communicators don’t transfer words – they transfer emotion.
- Make numbers meaningful. You should back up your points with numbers, and those numbers should be expressed in context.
- Make it visual. Limit bullet points and text. The more data you put into each slide, the more likely it is the audience members will start checking their PDAs.
- Create a memorable moment. Identify this ahead of time, then spend your presentation building up to it. Jobs is known for keeping audiences in suspense waiting for his “one more thing” – a traditional joke he makes before announcing the next big thing at the end of his keynotes.
- Rehearse. No one – not even Steve Jobs – can pull off an intricate presentation with video clips and demonstrations without hours of rehearsal. If people are willing to invest time listening to you, then you ought to be willing to spend the time necessary to create a polished presentation.
Less is More
February 18, 2010 by Ed McLaughlin
Thanks to the Internet, the world has gotten smaller. It’s now possible to connect with people all over the world in a meaningful way.
While I agree that it matters who you know, that doesn’t mean the goal should be to have thousands of online friends. Quantity alone doesn’t mean that you’re truly connected.
Here’s a thought: make your network smaller. Then take that network and focus on making it tighter. Do this by reaching out to people more frequently (about them, not you) and connecting them to others.
This approach takes time, but it’s the best way I know to build a real network.
When To Make A Decision
February 17, 2010 by Ed McLaughlin
A friend of mine regularly talks to me about his job. A couple of years ago, his company’s managers were slow to make decisions. While other firms in his industry changed how they worked, his business sat still. “They didn’t have enough information to support doing things differently,” he told me. Eventually, some of their largest customers migrated to the competition.
Now the opposite is true. With less revenue, the company started showing signs of financial strain. So the CEO and other senior managers made some very quick decisions. Those decisions were made with limited information, and they backfired. Now the company is in serious trouble.
The main rule of decision making: as soon as you have a reasonable amount of information, decide what to do. Any more or less could be catastrophic.
Improve Your Follow-Up
February 10, 2010 by Ed McLaughlin
Most businesses look at follow-up as something that’s easy. Wait until someone shows interest in your product, then call or email in an effort to push the sales cycle along. But that’s a call about you, not them.
There is another kind of follow-up that seems hard, but really isn’t. And since it takes place in moments other than when a sale is on the line, it’s much more powerful.
I’m not talking about generic thank you emails or satisfaction surveys. They’re boring, and do nothing to create customer loyalty or referrals. What I mean is someone from the company connects with the customer in meaningful way.
Let’s use an easy example: high-end restaurants. People aren’t dining out as much these days, and those that do are typically buying cheaper wine and ordering fewer courses. To lure customers in, many restaurants now offer value menus or run promotions. Fine. But the only time they follow-up with a customer is when confirming a reservation.
What if they decided to follow-up with patrons in a simple but unconventional* way? Someone from the restaurant could call to ask how dinner was the night before. Or the wait staff could send handwritten thank you cards to their customers. And if those doing the follow-up are empowered to resolve problems, than you’re much closer to establishing an emotional connection with your customers than you were before.
This small act is inexpensive, and chances are it will do more to generate repeat business and referrals than advertising ever will.
*This is unconventional for a restaurant, which is why it might work. The point here is that you need to figure out what is unconventional for your business and act on that.
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