Business Toolkit – Page 77 – thoughtLEADERS, LLC: Leadership Training for the Real World

An Influence Shortcut: “What do you have to believe?”

October 12, 2009/0 Comments/in Business Toolkit, Communications, Guest Blogger, Sales /by Mike Figliuolo

I was recently invited by Brian Ahearn to write a guest post on his blog Influence PEOPLE. Brian recently wrote a great post here on the thoughtLEADERS blog and I’m happy to reciprocate and give his readers something to read over at his place.

The gist of the post is this: you spend a ton of time and energy doing completely wasteful work and analysis. You do so in an attempt to influence people to make a decision based on your recommendation. The problem is, you can get to that answer much more quickly and efficiently (thereby saving yourself tons of time and effort).

What’s the magic pill, you ask? It revolves around asking a simple question: What do you have to believe? (This is similar to the technique we described in a post on “Getting to YES.”)

Pop on over to Influence PEOPLE to learn more about this time-saving technique. While you’re there, be sure to spin through Brian’s posts as well – there’s some great content and ideas there.

– Mike Figliuolo at thoughtLEADERS, LLC

You Call Them Business Partners But Your Contract Says Otherwise

August 10, 2009/5 Comments/in Business Toolkit, Communications, Entrepreneur /by Mike Figliuolo

Your legal department is screwing up. Royally.

You work hard to build relationships with other businesses. How many hours do you invest getting closer to partners, customers, and suppliers? And then that wonderful handshake happens and it’s time to hammer out the agreements. That’s when Larry the Litigator takes over.

Larry’s a generally good guy. He’s a great corporate attorney. His main mission in life is to protect your organization from litigation. Sometimes he even generates real bottom-line value with the way he constructs contracts. The problem is, he’s gotten so aggressive in constructing legal agreements that he’s negatively impacting all those relationships you worked so hard to build.

I’m not writing this to berate Larry – I’m writing it to make YOU aware of the impact Larry is having on your relationships. If you’re not careful, he’ll do things like I mention below. When he does, he can sour a relationship right from the start.

Shame on you if you’ve let the following happen to your contracts:

Building Resilience So You Can Thrive in Turbulent Times

July 22, 2009/2 Comments/in Balanced Lifestyle, Business Toolkit, Guest Blogger /by Mike Figliuolo

Please welcome Belinda Gore to the blog. Today she shares some thoughts on how you can build your resilience to turmoil. Here’s Belinda:

Resilience is a hot topic these days as people try to figure out how to bend with the winds of economic change without breaking. I’m reading articles that link resilience with positive self-image, courage and commitment, emotional maturity and integrity.

The challenge seems to be what to do to develop resilience when yours is getting low.

To start down the path of building your resilience and ability to deal with today’s frantic pace of change and stress, there are three practices you can start building immediately.

How To Reduce The Risk of Reliance on Your Key Players

July 20, 2009/2 Comments/in Business Toolkit, Career, Leadership, Strategy /by Mike Figliuolo

Every team has key players . They take us to new highs. Innovate constantly. Bring powerful personalities to the game every day (why do you think they called Gretzky “The Great One” huh?).

At some point, though, they become such a huge asset that they’re a liability. If you’re not careful, you put all your proverbial eggs in their basket. Without some deliberate planning, you’re going to end up with a big scrambled mess.

Why is reliance on these luminaries dangerous? Aren’t they the ones who got you there? Absolutely! However, over time their personality takes over the company or organization. The halo effect of that founder or “hi po” associate becomes a burning flame that, if and when it goes out, the whole organization could go dark.

This dynamic happens in both large and small companies. In large companies, these are the rising stars we come to depend on and build teams around. In smaller ventures, they’re typically the founders.

What happens though when these people quit, retire or move on to another organization? If you haven’t planned for this event, you’re in trouble. The good news is there are a few things you can do to avoid a calamity (That is such a cool word – I’m thrilled I got to use it today. Related: I’m a geek).

How can you reduce these risks? Here goes:

Three Keys to Getting CASH for Your Project or Business

July 13, 2009/3 Comments/in Business Toolkit, Communications, Entrepreneur, Project Management, Strategy /by Mike Figliuolo

Money is tight these days. Whether you’re an entrepreneur seeking capital to grow your business or you work at a major corporation and you’re looking for capital to fund your project, you have a big challenge in front of you: how do you get someone to give you their money?

Yes, it’s their money. For entrepreneurs, you’re trying to pry it away from banks, angel investors, and venture capitalists. For corporate types, you’re asking for it from shareholders, senior executives, and profit-generating business units (for the purposes of this post, I’ll refer to all of these groups as “investors” for the balance of the article).

But gone are the days of easy money based on loosey goosey “business plans.” In this environment it’s much harder to get that check written.

So how can you pry open the pocketbook, get the capital you need, and grow your business or fund your project? You have to be sure to tell the people with the cash three key things before they’ll even consider giving you a dime.

Stop Isolating Your Business: Two Ways You’re Ruining Opportunities

July 6, 2009/3 Comments/in Business Toolkit, Communications, Entrepreneur, Sales, Strategy /by Mike Figliuolo

This post is dedicated to all the paranoid businesspeople out there who are terrified of their competitors. You know, the people who run businesses centered around “consulting” who view any other “consulting” firm as a competitor. You can insert whatever industry you like in the quotes and this perspective will apply.

Knock it off – you’re limiting your business and isolating yourself from opportunities to grow. You’re effectively placing yourself on a deserted island in the ocean of business opportunities.

Not only are you limiting opportunities, you’re building a brand of naivete, immaturity and narrow thinking. The following also applies whether you’re a one-person shop or a multimillion dollar firm. Unless you’re Coke & Pepsi or some other similar truly competitive pairing of companies, you need to pay attention.

Those of you who know me know I network. A lot. That networking gets me in front of many other business owners and executives who play in a space similar to my firm.

I run a leadership development training firm. We have a specific business model. We focus on a few key knowledge areas where we have deep expertise. We deliver that knowledge through one-day training sessions with some focused coaching support afterward.

Networking gets “interesting” when I meet others who work in the leadership development coaching and training arena. During those meetings I’ve seen two destructive dynamics play out on occasion.

How “This Will Only Take a Minute” Destroys Your Projects

June 29, 2009/1 Comment/in Business Toolkit, Project Management /by Mike Figliuolo

I’m sure you’ve said it as often as I have: “This will only take a minute…” Five hours later, you’re starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Humans are notoriously bad at estimating how long something will take. On top of that, we try to make our problem solving too complex when things go wrong. When these two dynamics combine, our projects go flying off the rails like the first ever run of the Jamaican bobsled team. The result is projects that are late, overbudget, and full of errors. The good news is there are a couple of simple rules to keep in mind that can prevent these issues.

By way of an example, I needed a new keg of beer for my kegerator. It had been a while since I replaced the empty. “This won’t take long – I’ll just go buy a new keg and lickety split I’ll be sipping a cold one.” You see where this is going, right?

My initial estimate was said “project” would cost me about $130 for a new keg plus gas. I figured it would take me about an hour all-in (drive time plus installation). In case you’re wondering why today’s blog post is about 12 hours late, you can blame my beer. Things didn’t go exactly as planned…

How The Wrong Pricing Approach Is Killing Your Business

June 25, 2009/4 Comments/in Business Toolkit, Entrepreneur, Sales, Strategy /by Mike Figliuolo

Bob Barker used to point out when the price was right but what happens to your business when the price is wrong? Getting pricing wrong is one of the biggest and costliest mistakes you can make and that applies whether you’re a sole proprietor or a Fortune 500 company.

First, a little pricing math. Let’s say you sell a widget for $100 and your gross profit on said widget is $30. After taking out overhead, you’re down to $10. Then the tax man comes along and takes $4 of that leaving you with a whopping $6 on your $100 sale.

Here’s the critical part – imagine you want to win a new customer over with a teensy weensy little $1 discount. Sure it’s a 1% discount to him but you just blew a 10% hole in your overall profitability (changing pricing doesn’t change your cost of goods or your overhead and, after tax effects, the majority of that price decrease hits your bottom line like a sledge hammer).

Conversely, if you’re in a position where you can increase pricing by $1, you’ve just increased your profits by 10% (and in this economy, that’s huge). Pricing matters. Bigtime.

The mistake we often make is in thinking it’s only a 1% price change. You have to look at it from a profitability standpoint. Knowing how hard it is to keep your pricing intact, here are two thoughts on how to get the pricing right regardless of the business you’re in:

Are You Slowly Destroying Your Network?

June 22, 2009/13 Comments/in Business Toolkit, Career, Communications, Social Media /by Mike Figliuolo

Web 2.0. Social networking. LinkedInPlaxoTwitterbarf. Blogaroni and cheese. Some people would have you believe we’ve entered a new era of business where the rules have fundamentally changed. I’d submit that the rules are the same and the way we’re behaving is self-defeating.

One of the most valuable resources you have as a professional is your network. All the people you meet in your professional and personal life enter that interconnected web of relationships.

But your network is only worth what you put into maintaining it. And many of us are destroying that resource. All this interwebz garbage makes us lazy. It provides an easy out. It enables us to expand our reach beyond our ability to control or maintain meaningful relationships. Admission is the first step to remission – there are two behaviors you need to stop right now.

Grow Your Business and Career by Asking for Help

June 15, 2009/1 Comment/in Books, Business Toolkit, Career, Communications /by Mike Figliuolo

It’s hard asking for help. Getting rejected stings. But by not asking, you’re probably missing out on some great opportunities.

I don’t know about you, but when I was growing up I was a little bit of a dork. Okay, okay… a HUGE dork. I sold comic books (and incidentally made 100x what my contemporaries made in allowance but that didn’t stop them from teasing me). I weighed 98 pounds and my nose was 11 of it.

What came along with this dorkiness (aside from therapy bills I still pay today) was a fear of rejection. If you ask out enough girls and get laughed at enough times, you become conditioned not to ask for things in the purest form of Pavlovian conditioning a young man can endure.

While request avoidance as a mechanism for pain avoidance is wholly appropriate as a skinny pimply teenager, it can destroy business opportunities as an adult. As I was launching thoughtLEADERS, I had this fear of asking people for favors or for help. Why? I don’t exactly know. It was a combination of not wanting to impose upon people and not wanting to hear “no” or be rejected.

“So what?” you say? “So you didn’t ask for help. No big deal, right?” Wrong.

Time for a Little Spring Cleaning for Your Work Life

May 26, 2009/3 Comments/in Balanced Lifestyle, Business Toolkit, Career, Project Management /by Mike Figliuolo

It’s a great time of year. Beautiful weather, flowers blooming, and 110 bags of mulch to be spread tell you it’s spring. Now is when we traditionally clean our homes and yards. It’s also a great time to clean up your work and professional life.

Face it – we’re creatures of habit and averse to change. Over time though those habits and that aversion can lead to cluttered and less-than-fully productive work lives. I encourage you to take this week to do some spring cleaning on your career and your professional life.

To save you the effort of thinking about how to do so, I’ll offer a few thoughts on things I’ve found helpful in doing my own cleaning. Grab your mop, your cleaning supplies, and your yard tools. It’s time to get to work. Hey! Where are you going? Get back here… you’ll be happier and more efficient after this cleaning. I promise.

How to Avoid 4 Major Job Interview Mistakes

May 11, 2009/8 Comments/in Business Toolkit, Career /by Mike Figliuolo

While many predict further economic gloom, I’m seeing some signs of recovery. Friends are getting invited on interviews and headhunters are calling me occasionally. If you’re lucky enough to land an interview during these tough times, don’t blow it with a moron moment.

I’ve interviewed (and been interviewed) hundreds of times. Some went fantastic. Others made me cringe. Remember, in times like these, an employer is looking for ANY reason, no matter how small, to knock a candidate out of the running. They can afford to be extremely choosy as they seek out the highest caliber talent.

Much like my prior posts on how not to be stupid and lazy, how to avoid one major interview landmine, and really understanding the role of your resume, this post will focus on helping you avoid classic mistakes I’ve actually seen first-hand during interviews.

Here goes: 4 job offer-killing interview mistakes…