A newsletter designed to support our training participants with continuous development ideas and opportunities. 

What’s New with us:   

WOW! WOW! WOW! We just spent 4 days with Dr. Kevin Hogan at Boot Camp. Every wonder why you try some the ideas from sales and management training and the results just do not occur? With 30 others from around the country, we explored the Psychology and the data behind what makes people think and do what they do. It is amazing how often we shoot ourselves in the foot when trying to influence or persuade others.  

As a bonus we got to meet Dr. Eric Knowles, Dean at the University of Arkansas the author of Resistance and Persuasion based on his years of research in that area. His research showed how adding a simple word to what you say can reduce resistance by half! 

Imagine going from rural America to a Cult to being condemned to a bar boxer to a DEA Agent to a top selling author on persuasion.  That is Dave Lakhani, author of Persuasion, The art of getting what you want. Dave was also a bonus at Boot Camp and a hard guy to miss. He took his DEA interrogation skills and shows us how to apply them to our daily encounters.  

So what has four days with these people, reams of notes and the ability to ask these people for application input done for and us and for you? Lots! Our view point on communications, leadership, sales and management has always been that it boils down to communications ability with the major emphasis on understanding the others persons perception. This material verifies this and gives us a new level of understanding and application.  

The Influence and Persuasion Program:  

Some of you have attended our Psychology of Persuasion program others have attended our Reverse Engineered Sales or the Zig Ziglar Sales program. These programs are available to you.  

What we have done is combined the elements from the Persuasion and Sales programs that are the “meat” of the programs and applicable to all situations in business and personal life.  

After all, isn’t Sales all about Influence? Isn’t Management of people about Compliance? Aren’t personal relationships about Understanding?  

Our March program in Fargo is set for Tuesday the 14^th and Wednesday the 15^th. There will be 3 additional session days, two weeks apart for a total of 5 sessions or 40 hours. This gives you a chance to apply the ideas and get some additional coaching.  After all, developing the ability to apply the ideas is your real objective, isn’t it?  

A few of the concepts included are Outcome based thinking, the 11 Laws of Persuasion, DISC profile, Anticipated Regret, Overcoming Resistance, Mastering 5 Levels of Questioning, Conflict Resolution and Personal Dynamics just as a primer.  

Some comments from our previous programs:  

“Helps you understand yourself, reinforce your abilities, have control and enjoy your career.” Physician  

 “I think it was a perfect setting because of the personal attention.” Sales 

“Very well put together, leaned a bunch.” Sales 

“The interaction between everyone is great.” Sales 

“Motivating others will be more easily obtained.”   Sales Mgr 

“This is a new way of thinking” Director of Marketing 

“Material is sound and the exercises made the material adaptable to us.” VP 

“I thought it was immediately applicable, will generate results & will be used.” Mgr 

“Yes, very different than other programs.” Mgr 

“Yes, it presented a way of thinking that I’d never used.” CRS 

“The reverse engineering grid changed how I see selling.” Sales 

An email from one of our recent participants: I signed two new advertisers to annual contracts last week and have three prospect appointments scheduled for this week. The magic question was, "What is your vision for your business?" Then I tailored my recommendation around their answer.  And the conceptual close was SO AWESOME!!!!! I got chills as I was asking it, in anticipation for their collective,  

undisputable agreement that we should do business!! It was such a rush.  

Thanks for your guidance, Harlan.  Much appreciated....Lori Thompson  

Contact Harlan at Harlan@itstartswithyou.net cell phone 701-799-1972.   

Web Site:  

Don’t forget to check out our web site! Some colors and layouts have changed and we have some video clips. www.hgoergerassoc.com  or www.itstartswithyou.org  

We have several Corporate Programs scheduled for this First Quarter and Summer. If your company would like to see more performance from your team we can make it happen for you. Contact me at Harlan@itstartswithyou.net  

Selling Skills for the Month:  

In our last segment we talked about sales being about communications, not your product. This segment we will start with the initial contact or how to “engage” the other person rather than creating resistance.  

Now it does not matter if we are using the phone, walking in cold or in a retail setting. We need to avoid adding any additional resistance in the other persons mind. There is this avoidance of “sales people” in 80% of our population including other sales people. This is mainly because of product pushing.  

Here is the key; do I understand what the other person really wants? Do I have an idea of how to talk in their “language”? Can I ask a question that will drop resistance and engage them in conversation?  

It has been proven time and time again that shoving your product in front of someone will create resistance to you and your product. Review the first and second key from the last newsletter, your customer buys the “results” of your product/service/idea because it fixes, fills or satisfies their perceived needs. This means your product/service/idea is just a means to and end, not the main issue.  

So our first action is to take the time and determine just what is it that our product/service/idea does for the other person. Determine what the real results are from using your product/service/idea. Here are some examples. 

A business owner might be looking for more time, better productivity, reducing hassle in some area, freeing up capital for something else.  

A young mother with 3 toddlers might be looking for best value, more time, better direction, safety, even just a listening ear.  

A plant manager might be looking for ways to get better compliance, reduce down time and get his numbers up, keeping his boss off his back.  

Think of your past and current customers, what is it your product/service/idea did for them? What did it reduce, take away, eliminate or create?  Also keep in mind that people have a tendency to avoid loss more than obtain gain. This means if you can provide a better “today”, it generally has more power than a better “tomorrow”.    

Our next segment will get into the creation of questions that engage and how to reframe our results to reduce resistance.  

Questions or comments: Contact Harlan at Harlan@itstartswithyou.net cell phone 701-799-1972.   

Management Skills for the Month:  

So we can use “cultic intelligence” or “group think” as a management/leadership tool! How does that work?  

Specific focus of group – There is always a strong focus on a person, idea or concept. This focus is very vivid and very real to the group. 

What is your focus for your team? Is it profit, growth, functioning as a team, pleasing the boss, avoiding accountability, doing what’s put in front of you?  

When I work with different organizations and there is defiantly different focus from group to group. Generally you can tell what is important to the leader of the group by observing the people and operations around you before you meet the leader. If the area is dirty and the people are sullen in attitude, guess what the leader is like. If it is open and friendly with a focus on the customer guess what the leader is like.  

Here is where are first question comes in and makes a difference.  

What business are you really in? How would your team answer this, do they have a common understanding of what the group or organization is all about?  

When the leader has a clear vision of what business they are in, it permeates through the team. The team either directly or intuitively picks up what is important to the leader and focus on that vision. The statement; “that which gets measured gets done.”; applies here. Whether is directly communicated to the team or by observing the leaders behaviors and what they emphasis in their behavior, the team will get the message.  

This means the behaviors of the leader will most likely speak louder than their words. If a leader says the team and people are the most important and then makes changes that negatively affect the people, all in the name of quick profits, the team gets the message. People are secondary to a quick profit report for that leader.   

So leaders must have a clear idea of what business their in. If you’re selling copy machines are you in the “copy machine business”? Or are you in the “office solution business”? Is there a difference? What do you suppose a team would focus on in the first vision versus the second vision? How would they respond differently to customers in each? How would their understanding of service and performance be different? What if you changed it to (reframe), “helping our friends (customers) solve problems”, how would it change the vision of the team?  

Take a moment and think about each of these different “visions” and how might the teams think and function differently under each?  

Then consider how you function and what you emphasize through your current behaviors. Do your behaviors and attitudes match up with what you say? If yes great! If not, you have some work to do.  

It’s using the law of consistence; people will follow a consistent leader with a consistent message and behavior that matches, even if it is bad for them. After all Adolph Hitler was a great leader, too bad the vision and message was wrong! 

More on this next time.  

Questions or comments: Contact Harlan at Harlan@itstartswithyou.net cell phone 701-799-1972. 

Food for the Attitude:  

Here is something interesting from Dr. Hogan’s Boot Camp, the 11^th Law of Persuasion; Inconsistency.  

This can be a very powerful tool when working to persuade or sell to others. It comes from inconsistent behavior that people exhibit when they have gone against their values and goals.  

An example might be a person that indicates strong Christian values the majority of the time. But on Friday or Saturday Night, or both, really goes out and hangs one on and does a few other out of character things. On Sunday morning there they are in church as pious as can be, sorry they did what they did.  

People have a tendency to want to make up for their inconsistent behavior. Call it guilt if you wish, but people are very open to ideas when in this mode.  Actually, when they are in the extreme ends of Inconsistency they are the most pliable for buying. Granted different approaches are needed for each, but these are very powerful emotional states.  

So what does this have to do with our attitudes? One of the advantages of understanding the 11 Laws of Persuasion is the ability to counteract them or protect you from them. We all fall into the law of Inconsistency from time to time. The key is to realize this and be aware of how our behaviors might be different and harmful to our self-perception. Remember, our self-perception has no thinking or thought process; it simply stores data and projects that image on to our unconscious mind.  

If you’re on a diet, lose 5 pounds and then celebrate by eating 5 pounds of pizza or fudge, you are in the Law of Inconsistency. If you have a goal to be debt free, get there and then buy a $50,000 car with 12% for 6 years, you are in the Law of Inconsistence. Your behavior is not in line with our goals or values. What does this do to your self-perception and self-image? 

To combat this, be aware of what you really want out of life, have goals and a clear understanding of your values, then consciously behave within those parameters. This will keep you on track and in control of your life while avoiding the “stupid” things others do.  

Interesting Thoughts for You: 

“He who has learned to disagree without being disagreeable has discovered the most valuable secret of a diplomat.” 

                                                            Robert Estabrook 

Till next month: You make it a great day as only you can!!! 

Harlan Goerger