Ask the Questions People Want To Hear
There is a basic biological fact that human beings are hardwired to be able to think about something other than themselves for a maximum of fifteen seconds.
Here is what that could mean for you:
If you don’t like making or hearing pitches, you are in good company. Pitches serve a very small part of the selling process. Almost all of us have developed an athletic trip mechanism. If we hear a pitch and it doesn’t relate directly to our needs and expectations we tune them out.
Buyers are not actually interested in our resumes, our services, our medications or our merchandise.
They are interested in an outcome: Fulfilled expectations.
Fifteen seconds. If we haven’t connected with their needs and expectations they are gone.
This is why personal brands have become so important. We are no longer a “I’ll do anything” kind of culture. Our message has to be so clear that it cuts through all of the chatter to the buyer who is looking for us – for you.
It is also why our communications skills need to shift thoroughly to a skillset that pays absolute attention to the needs and expectations of our buyers. In that realm what we tell people about ourselves is no longer as important as the quality of the questions we ask them and our skills in actively listening.
How do these basic truths apply to social networking?
Much of social networking is about creating visibility and making pitches. The best business people on Facebook and Linked-In offer up very clear personal or business brands and than drive volume to their pages. There is a great deal of sage advice out there in how to develop solid online brands. Unfortunately, a huge portion of the recipients view what happens on social media as the modern equivalent of junk mail.
When I started to engage in social networking I wasn’t all that much interested in volume, I wanted substantive relationships. The typical high volume approach of social networking doesn’t show us much in the way of how to build targeted, valuable and highly engaged relationships.
Consequently, many of us dismiss social networking as a legitimate relationship-building tool and revert back to traditional and highly time consuming methods. But, the truth is with the right set of skills we can build an entirely new and highly engaged community quickly and with a great deal more pleasure.
The fact is that the social networking boat has left the dock and for some of us, it is time to be airdropped onto its deck. For example, Facebook had a little over a million users ten years ago. Today, it has over a billion active users. Many of us want to become effective with the medium. I propose that we can also have a wonderful time building more than a few new connections; we can develop full-blown communites.
Take whatever it is that you want out of life. A community will give that to you. Watch the Grammy, Academy and Golden Globe Awards. Almost every single winner is pushed to that podium by the community they were able to build.
Develop the skills to build a community to support want and you have the single most reliable means of building the career, the business and the life you most want to have.
Today, I look around the Inspired Work community and find that the majority of new colleagues, clients, friends, vendors and mentors have come to us from social networking and what is so wonderful about it all is that it happened so very quickly.
Our brand is about inspired lives. We offer programs that deliver that outlook in surprisingly short periods of time.
We view effective social networking as one of the most “transformative” and modern of life skills.
All the best,
David Harder
President & Founder
Inspired Work, Inc.
P: (310) 277-4850
The Next Event:
Inspired Social Networking
A Virtual Life Training Session
Begins Wednesday, February 25 at 4 p.m.
We teach professionals how to build new support systems and communities around their mission, vision and purpose. Inspired Social Networking is unlike any other training on the market. In essence, it is a realtionship course, one that shows you how to build substantive relationships in short periods of time. The results are unique and they are transformative.
The course is designed to produce results during the week following each session.
In four two-hour sessions, we will show you how to develop:
Module I – A World Class Profile
In the first week, you will create an improved profile that speaks to your market and effectively presents your personal brand. We show you how to speak to “their” needs and expectations. Develops curiosity and interest in the market you want to reach.
Learn how to move beyond selling yourself and speak to your market’s needs and expectations.
Understand how to leverage recommendations into an asset that builds perception and good will.
Module II – Magnetic Communications
Most social networking resembles junk mail. We get a generic note, accept the invitation and never hear from that person again.
You will learn:
➢ The three most valuable ways to generate leads and find anyone you want to know
➢ Quickly and effortlessly research your potential connections
➢ Communicate in ways that are inspired, personalized, effective and set you apart from
the “traffic”
➢ Contribute so much to people they simply want to connect with you
Module III – An Inspired Community
Learn how to:
➢ Build highly engaged relationships with your new connections
➢ Leverage new and renewed relationships from existing contacts
➢ Grow connectedness throughout your community
Module IV – The Advanced Session
➢ Getting great business from Facebook
➢ Effective online publishing – blogs, announcements and commentary
➢ The upcoming revolutions that, once again, change everything
➢ How to transfer this knowledge to your colleagues and direct reports
Details:
The program fee is: $400
Enroll by calling (310) 277-4850
In order to give every participant full attention, each program is limited to 20 people.
