Archive for October, 2006
Network Like A Flirt
Don?t work the room, let the room work for you!?
By Stephen Harvard Davis 😕 leading business relationship specialist
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Attending networking meetings is part of business life. Often it means walking into a room filled with strangers. Many of us find it awkward, ?who do we speak to?? ?what do we say?? and more importantly how do we avoid those self-serving sharks who circle around any new face ready to sink their jaws into soft flesh?
There are endless books and courses on networking. Many of these say that we must ?work the room? and collect as many business cards as possible. The result is that we move from one person to another like honey bees, collecting business cards as we go, often failing to remember who we have met and once the event is over wonder why other people seem to be better at it than we are.
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This busy bee method of networking, flitting from one person to another collecting just the minimum of information, only ensures that we are not remembered. An alternative to working the room is to make the room work for us.
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Positioning yourself
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The most important position in a room full of people networking is the centre.
It?s the place that everyone will pass at least once, where new arrivals can be easily seen and where confident networkers tend to gravitate to and stay. Standing in the middle of the room makes us look confident and in control of the situation.?
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In order to position oneself at the centre of the room we need to plan to arrive early. Arriving early also has the advantage in that we will be seen as a greeter. As people arrive they will naturally gravitate towards us. If possible try to position oneself facing towards the entrance to the room as it allows us see who is arriving and for them to easily see you.
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However, if we arrive after the room is full of people then put a smile on our face and to break the ice engage with the first person we meet. Then to progress so that we gently move to the middle of the room. If the first person you meet seems intent on staying on the edge then you can say, ?The group in the centre of the room looks interesting, let?s go and join them??
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The worst place to position oneself is on the edge of the room with our back to the wall. It makes us look uninteresting and lonely. The next worst place is in front of the coffee or buffet table. All you achieve is to frustrate people desperate for something to eat or drink.
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What to take with you
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Business cards are essential, a small notebook to make notes, a pen and a breath freshener. The breath freshener is a vital piece of equipment. I know of one individual who suffers from stale breath, particularly in the morning, and people are delighted when he asks for a business card as it indicates the end to the conversation and they can move away.
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Be a FLIRT
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Flirting is essential at networking meetings.
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F is for FUN
L is for LAUGHTER or at least having a smile on your face
I is being INTERESTED in what other people have to say
R is RESPONDING to what other people are saying through conversation
T is TALKING appropriately about yourself.
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In this context it means engaging with people effectively. It?s fun meeting new people, to laugh a lot or at least smile a great deal, be interested in what other people have to say, being able to have a conversation about work and life and being able to tell people about what we do.
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This brings us neatly to the topic of the elevator pitch and talking appropriately about what we do. So many books on networking talk about having an elevator pitch that can be delivered within sixty-seconds. Then they use it inappropriately ? the minute someone say?s ?What do you do?? out comes the rehearsed elevator pitch. Try this test. Stop reading this article and sit quietly for sixty seconds and listen. Boring isn?t it! So are most elevator pitches.
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The elevator pitch is an essential tool but should only be used after someone has asked ?So tell me more?. In addition to an elevator pitch (which is much better at thirty seconds in length) preface this with a sentence that generates the question, ?So tell me more?. Then deliver the elevator pitch
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Introducing yourself
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Always shake hands with people as you meet and state your name being careful not to mumble or say it so quickly that other person will not understand it. This will generally prompt the other person to tell you theirs.
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Conversation
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The is where we need to be more interested in the person speaking as opposed to being interesting. This means encouraging the other person to talk. So having a number of rehearsed questions can be useful. Such as ?Are you finding that business is growing?? What?s your main project for this year?? Avoid the question ?How?s business?? because almost everyone responds that it?s great, even when it isn?t. When we are being spoken to avoid the temptation to look over the persons shoulder to see who else we should be connecting with. It shows disinterest.
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Staying to the end
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Always plan to stay to the end of the meeting so that you allow as many people the opportunity to meet you. At this time the most important point of the room changes from the centre to near the exit.
As people begin to leave position yourself near the exit door. The objective is to position yourself so that it allows you to say goodbye to people, even briefly, just prior to their departure. It allows you to meet people you failed to connect with during the meeting.
However, don?t position yourself too near the exit. Within ten feet of the door people are intent on leaving and their concentration has changed focus. Also be prepared to have a very brief conversation, possible as short as promising to telephone each other to say what you both do.
Once done you will have ensured that the room has worked for you and your network grows more effectively.
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Stephen Harvard Davis is a leading business relationship specialist. He is the author of ?Why do 40% of Executives Fail?? and runs senior management events and advises individuals, organisations on business relationships and transition management.
He can be contacted: email Stephen@busrelcon.com.
www.busrelcon.com?????? www.stephenharvarddavis.com
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The Hidden Top Ten Sales Questions
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In our research?into why sales executives/ salespeople fail we have identified the top ten sales questions that a client asks himself / herself?when being offered a product or service.
The questions?are often not voiced to the salesperson. However unless answered the sale rarely is completed.
The hidden?questions are?are:
- Can you deliver what I want? (not necessarily what you?say I want)
- When can the product or service be delivered?
- What does the end result look like and does it compliment what I expect it will deliver?
- How will this increase efficiency / productivity?
- Can I live without it?
- Will the product / service easily fit into my current business? (culture, processes, people)
- Do I trust what I’m being told? (do I like the salesperson)
- Will the product / service generate more income than expenditure?
- How much will it cost in terms of time, trouble and change? (Cost is the area that is asked)
- Will dealing with the supplier be easy, convenient?
Article published in Solicitor?s Journal Vol 150 no3.? 2006
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An expensive failure rate
A huge amount of time is spent on attracting and developing appropriate contracts for lawyers when they join a new firm. Probably as much time as is spent advising the firm?s clients on a contract for their senior executives. Yet despite all of this legal work as well as a stringent interview process research shows that around forty percent of ALL lawyers/managers in a new job FAIL1.
The result is that additional and expensive time must be allocated to successfully divest the firm of the failing individual and recruit a replacement. The direct costs can account for 2.5 times the salary (management time, search company fees, training etc).? However, the hidden costs can be far higher. Research estimates that the lost opportunity costs of senior hire failure can be as high as twenty four times the base salary 2
The question to ask is, ?How many failures could a firm suffer before the bottom line was being seriously affected?? What projects would have to be put on hold, what expansion will be jeopardised?
In most successful businesses if you told the managing partners that one of their processes was only 60% effective they would probably make huge efforts to improve the situation. So, why do the statistics for new hire failure remain so unacceptably high?
One of the major problems can be of perception. HR will report that the attrition rate for a firm is 5%. To most firms this is probably an acceptable figure until one translates it into financial terms.
Take a firm with 100 people on an average salary of ?40,000. If 5% leave in any one financial year then the cost of replacement, at 2.5 X salary, amounts to ?500,000.? However, the lost opportunity costs at 25 X salary of one senior individual at this salary amounts to a staggering ?960,000.
However with planning the situation can be significantly improved. Firms can introduce transition processes and models that significantly increase the chances of success and with a positive affect on financial results.
The first step is to ensure that the firm recruits an individual with the best chance of success. Yet despite psychometric tests, interviews, assessment centres too often the candidate that is selected doesn?t reflect the business situation that needs managing.
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For instance:?
One would assume that a law firm requiring a new partner would ensure that the correct legal knowledge and skills are held by a successful candidate. However, there needs to be other considerations:?
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- Appointing a change catalyst without explaining that strong aspects of the firm?s culture that need to be retained could cause internal friction.
- Appointing a new partner to ?Turn around? the firm in a short time period with little consultation when in fact ?Restructure?, with greater time allowed for consultation, would be more appropriate.?
Therefore the first task is to identify the business situation.? What is expected to happen in the short, medium and long-term?? What would constitute success and how will such success be measured?
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To reduce the risk of failure further the firm?s management style should be discussed. How the firm prefers to take decisions and what types of decisions must be referred upward.
Other information that a new appointment needs to understand revolve around the culture:
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????????? What aspects of culture must be preserved and what can be changed?
????????? What behaviours does the organisation expect from the new hire?
????????? What change programmes have worked in the past and what has not?
????????? What does the firm view as a success and what does is not?
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New partners know that they have a short time to prove themselves and will often seek to introduce ?Quick wins?. The result can be that processes and systems that have worked in the past are airlifted and introduced into the new job. Often this is done without taking account of the culture or the people and generally produces quick wins that are isolated from the long-term results that are required.
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I recently came across a new HR manager called Helen who during an early team meeting asked her people to consider some quick wins that would ?Make her look good? to the managing partners. Her team informed her that she could save thousands of pounds by removing the free canteen lunch for part-time staff. An email confirming this was sent to all part-time staff. That day the senior partner arrived home to find that his wife, who worked part-time in the accounts department, had not cooked him dinner. ?You don?t give me lunch so I?m not cooking you dinner? She said. The free lunch was restored.
One action that improves the chances of success is creating coalitions. There is the need to develop relationships with the boss and the team. However, too many individuals spend too much time on these activities whilst ignoring colleagues that will be needed to provide help or co-operation at a later date.
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A firm can usually help identify the key players within their organisation. Those people that control budgets, those that supply goods or services and especially opinion makers.
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New hire failure is expensive and can seriously affect the financial well-being of a company and lose clients. However, the risks can be significantly reduced with a well thought out transition policy that allows the new hire as well as the firm to communicate with each other. Such success will allow firms to concentrate on attracting new clients and that actually help with business growth.
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1 Anne Fisher, Don?t Blow Your New Job,? Fortune June 1998
2 Brad Smart, Topgrading, 1999, p50, Prentice Hall Press
21% of staff have no recruitment training
A survey by Reed Consulting has revealed that 21% of staff involved in recruiting staff have been trained in recruitment techniques.
This obviously contributes to the number of poor appointments made and to the statistic researched by BRC that 40% of Executives in a new job fail within two years.
Why gamble with your top talent?
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by Stephen Harvard Davis
Top talent can get a new job tomorrow. With computers, the Internet and mobile phones at their disposal top talent doesn?t even have to leave their desk. All they need to do is to connect with someone that sees them as fresh, smart and keen. And when top talent starts to leave other top talent tends to follow. If too much top talent disappears then it?s possible to have a business filled with people that should go but don?t. Yet too many companies gamble that their top talent will stay but do little to prevent the loss.
Replacing top talent can be costly and often as much as twice the salary in hard cash terms. Yet recent studies from the USA suggest that the opportunity costs when top talent leaving a company can be as much as twenty-four times the salary (Based on a salary of ?62,000).
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Most companies try to retain their top talent by throwing money at the situation.? This reliance on financial rewards because it?s one of the few things the company feels they can exercise control over. So high salaries, share options and other rewards are used as a motivator. However as we all know this thinking is at odds with all the research done on the subject. The fact is that money only buys time and talent scouts are always on the look out for top talent and are always able to pay more.
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There are six steps to retaining top talent:
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Step one is to recognise that top talent can be found at all levels within an organisation. It?s not, and never has been, confined to the boardroom, top tiers of management or graduates. Once identified, however, top talent needs to be nurtured, developed and encouraged otherwise it walks. Managers, therefore, should be rewarded for identifying top talent, developing and nurturing it.
Step two is to understand the reasons for top talent leaving. This means learning what individual?s want from the job. Many companies view this as difficult because of the complexity of analysing human relationships. It also makes developing a one size fits all package of benefits difficult.
The result is that most companies ignore the real reasons for talent loss and blame attractive salaries and benefits on offer from competitors. As such companies seem to be content with allowing top talent to leave whilst pretending that nothing can be done about it. Yet the fact is that top talent tends to be hungry for knowledge and experience and seek out the companies that can offer them this.
Certain top talent can be therefore be categorised in three ways ?Knowledge nomads? moving from one company to another seeking information that adds to their abilities. Then there are the ?Prospectors?, those that are looking for better career expectations and finally the ?Relationship Migrant? who seeks out a particular type of boss as a teacher and mentor.
Step three is to engage with top talent. Top talent tends to be attracted by retention drivers such as, mentoring, coaching, training programes and particularly by discussion groups where the top talent is asked to contribute to the company?s vision, direction and future. However paying lip-service to this communication will only go to create resentment. The engagement must be real and allow the top talent the opportunity to contribute effectively.
Step four is to provide constant feedback and stimulation. There is little point in having groups of top talent look at the future of the business if senior management pays lip service to the process and are not prepared to enter into the discussion, try out some of the ideas that top talent comes up with or allow top talent to make their own mistakes.
Encouragement should also be given to top talent wishing to move laterally within the business. Such ?talent swap? encourages learning and reduces a feeling of being ?trapped? in one specialist area.
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Step five is recognising that line managers have the greatest influence over retaining top talent. Managers should be encouraged to develop a relationship and losing a top talent should be regarded as a ?management failure? and viewed with concern. When losing top talent there should always be an exit interview as well a debriefing for the line manager. This is essential if mistakes aren?t to be repeated time and again.
Step six is to assume that when top talent gives notice to quit that they aren?t out of the door until it?s firmly closed behind them. Early meetings to discuss why they are leaving and what could be done to bring about a turnaround are often successful.
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Stephen Harvard Davis is recognised as the UK?s leading authority on job transition and retaining top talent and the author of ?Why do 40% of Executives Fail?? A regular speaker at high profile conferences and business meetings. Contact Stephen on (44) 01727 838321 or www.stephenharvarddavis.com