A couple of weeks ago Seth Godin blogged about The Talking Pad (and the following post was a variation called the modern talking pad).  The concept is when you’re talking with someone either 1 on 1 or in a small group, instead of using a powerpoint presentation, you should walk them through the discussion with a simple piece of paper that you can write on in front of them.

The alternative is to use a thick pen or marker and a legal pad.

Whenever you mention a number or make an assertion or promise, write it down. The act of writing is a verb, it’s the process of putting it on the page that underlines what you’ve said, that highlights the moment.

Seth’s point is that the talking pad can help you control the discussion and can add credibility, but I think there are a couple of other really strong reasons to use it.

Anytime you’re meeting with someone, it should be productive for both of you and a big part of being productive is actively listening to the other person.

Improving how you sell

In a sales situation, the human tendency is to want to tell everyone all about your stuff.  What you do, how great you are – maybe even walk them through the process of how your stuff works.  Unfortunately that tendency is all wrong – they don’t care about how great your stuff is, they generally don’t care how you do something.

What they care about is that you understand their problem, their situation and that you might be able to help them.  (It’s about them…not about you!).

By using a talking pad and going through a real-life scenario with your prospect, you have to listen first.  You need them to go into the details of what problem they’re struggling with and that will drive how you can prototype the solution on paper – with them, real-time, together solving the problem.

If the end result doesn’t make sense on paper, then you shouldn’t be doing business anyway.  (likely saving both of you a lot of time in the long run).

A talking pad approach will drive you to interact with your prospect, asking questions and figuring out implications, which is the best way to sell anyway.

Building ownership of the solution together

The example that Seth uses in his blog post is great, calculating total cost versus total estimated save – certainly if you can clearly save someone money, then doing the math and clearly illustrating that point is almost sure to close the sale. 

What I really like about the example is the need to ask the prospect for an estimate of what they think they’ll save.  This process builds ownership into the end result and it pushes the discussion into a joint problem solving session – which is so much better than just a sales pitch!

In a lot of situations, the math may not be that clear – let’s say you have a service that’s intended to make the business run more efficiently overall, but it’s difficult to tie back to any given number.  In that case you could play the what-if game (using their numbers) and ask them what the math would look like if they could be 5% more efficient on the top line (Revenue) or maybe the bottom line (profit).  That should be enough to get the ball rolling for a discussion.

A successful sales meeting is one where you work with your prospects on a peer to peer level and together you agree on the best way to solve problems.

How do you conduct your sales sessions?  Could you use a talking pad approach with your prospects?  Share your thoughts – I’d love to hear some other ideas.

Shawn Kinkade – Kansas City Business Coach

Similar Posts:

• 3 online Gifts to make your season!
• Want to get rid of Sales Objections?
• Can you sell like Rumpelstiltskin?

Technology is coming to all of us (keep an eye out for it!) 

Below are a couple of interesting looks at the pervasiveness of Social Media – everyone is talking about it and now it looks clear that most people are participating in it in some fashion.

Social Media Revolution!

The first piece does a great job putting Social Media participation into perspective.  Several of the statistics are a little questionable, but directionally they’re correct so the overall point is totally valid.  Take a look:

If you have any trouble with the video or if you’d like some additional background on the statistics that are presented – here’s the source posted on Socialnomics – Social Media Blog.

Consumer Technographics Data!

Consumer Technographics…a sexy title for some pretty cool information! 

The second piece of information that just came out is from Forrester Research.  They’ve been doing a lot of in-depth analysis on who and how many people are participating in the Social Media space.  They’ve even broken down the definition of participation into 6 different categories, differentiating between people that are creating content vs. those that critique or simply join social networks.

If you look at just the default data, you’ll see that the number of inactive participants is at 18%, so more than 80% of adults are participating in Social Media in some capacity.  Check the Forrester Groundswell blog for more information on this data and Social Media Participation growth year over year.  It’s some fascinating data – and very interesting to see how the US compares to other countries.

Are you participating in Social Media?  Do you still think it’s a fad that’s going away soon?  Share your thoughts below, I’d love to hear them.

Shawn Kinkade   Kansas City Business Coach

Similar Posts:

• An updated look at Social Media NOW!
• It’s official – Twitter is now mainstream
• 4 Steps to mastering Social Business

Have you ever felt like you were chasing a rainbow?  You know that there’s a metaphorical pot of gold out there somewhere and you’re running hard…towards something but you’re not really sure where or what that something is.

I’ve had this discussion with several of my clients recently (and been struggling with it some myself as well) – why are you doing what you’re doing?  Where are you going with your business and more importantly with your life?  It can be deep stuff – probably too deep for a simple blog post, but here’s why I think it’s critical and where a lot of people get lost:

Your business exists for 1 reason – to help you get what you want out of your life. 

It sounds simplistic, but I will tell you that I meet business owners every day that aren’t looking at their business this way.  They’re chasing growth just because it’s growth.  They’re chasing opportunities that they think others will be impressed with or because that’s how they’ve always done things.  They’re working with clients that they don’t like because they feel like they have to.  Not because it’s part of a bigger plan of what they want to get out of their life.

If you truly view your business as a tool to help you get what you want, then you will start looking at things differently.  It’s the difference between designing your life and mapping out the destination and outcomes you want versus reacting to everyone else and taking the path of least resistance.

The kicker is that you have to really know what you want out of your life first before you can really start making progress.  Stephen Covey talks about this in the 2nd Habit of the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People – Begin with the end in mind.  By imagining and mentally creating your long term outcome in your mind first, then the creation a 2nd time in real life becomes much more practical.

Looking back at a great career

At the end of your career, looking back, what would you want people to say about you?  Would you want them to focus on:

• How much money you made? 
• How much you helped people? 
• How you were able to run your business in such a way to maximize time with your family and friends? 
• How you created something that was bigger than just you?
• How you always treated people the right way?
• How the customer was the most important factor?

These are just examples, but all of them would lead to very different ways to run a business – different decisions, outcomes and priorities.  None of them are right or wrong answers – you have to discover what’s really important to you.

Most people start their business with some kind of vision but it’s very common to lose that when things start getting crazy.  So what would you put as the foundation for your situation?

Show me the Money!

The obvious answer for most is that they want money – at least enough to give them financial independence.  How much is that?  Generally it always seems to be more than you currently have – however much that might be.  The problem with having money as the key driver for your business (or your life) is that in the long run it’s very unsatisfying – for most people once they have the basic needs covered (and then some) they need to find something that’s ultimately more satisfying.

Making money is important – you have to cover the basic physical needs for you and your family first before anything else matters, but beyond that you really need to think about what you really want out of your life – what do you want to be remembered for?

There’s not a right answer – everyone is different, but there is a wrong answer.  Not having a long term plan or idea of where you want to go, what you want to do with your life will leave you unfulfilled and drifting.  It also makes it harder to succeed in the short term as well as the long term.  Are you meeting your goals?  There’s no way to tell if you don’t have them clearly stated (written down).

Take the time starting this week to set aside time to think about where you’re going and where you want to go.  Are they aligned?  Are you consciously building a business that gets you what you want and need for your life to be successful (as you define it)?

Share your thoughts on whether you’re blindly chasing a rainbow or if you’ve got a good idea of where you’re going – I’d love to hear where other people are on this.

Shawn Kinkade  Kansas City Business Coach

Similar Posts:

• There’s a System for that…
• It’s time to start saying ‘No’ more often!
• What’s your definition of success?

Networking for your business is about making friends (you don’t have to kiss them…).

Unfortunately most people don’t really ‘get’ the whole networking thing, which makes going to networking events sometimes very painful.  As an example, at an event I was at last week there was a woman that was waiting in a corner and if anyone made eye contact or walked to closely to her she immediately jumped into her sales pitch.  Sadly she may have felt like she had a productive meeting – she cornered at least 3 different people that I saw, but I guarantee none of them left with a positive impression of her.

Networking is a great strategy for small business owners – people want to do business with other people (that they know, like and trust) not with some faceless company, so the playing field with the big guys is really leveled.  Networking is a marketing strategy that facilitates developing relationships that can generate referrals or business.

But what’s the right way to go about doing that?  Read the rest of this article and feel free to download my in-depth (18 page) report if you’d like to learn more.

10 Steps to Effective Networking

Although I’ve got 10 steps listed here – the reality is that there are 3 that are extra critical and generally get missed, so cover the whole list (and download the report) but make sure you pay special attention to #’s 1, 7 and 10!

1. Develop a Networking Mindset

Free your mind and the rest will follow! There are plenty of techniques and tips to make you a better networker, but the real key is approaching it in the right frame of mind.

2. Develop a Great 30-Second Commercial

What’s your unique selling proposition? Can you get across what you do in an interesting and concise way? Just like on television, you need to grab attention quickly.

3. Identify Your Target

Have you ever seen a fly fisherman that pulls in fish after fish? He knows what he’s fishing for and he knows what those fish like. Do you know what you’re after?

4. Identify Where to Network

Sure you can network almost anywhere, but there are only so many hours in the day so you should identify what will work best for you.

5. Prepare Your Meeting Strategy

One of the best ways to overcome fear is to be prepared – decide what you want to do.

6. Work the Event

You weren’t planning on just showing up, having a few drinks and throwing your cards around were you?

7. Ask Questions

People enjoy being listened to. The secret to being a great listener is to ask the right questions.  Go with open-ended questions that will get people to talk.

8. Don’t Sell

Don’t do it…at least not at networking events, it doesn’t work and it’s likely to annoy people!  Don’t be ‘that’ guy (or person)!

9. Go With a Team Approach

Not only is there safety in numbers, you can get a lot farther with teamwork than you can on your own.

10. Follow-up

If you were a farmer, you would have spent a lot of time determining the best thing to plant, preparing the field and going to pick out the seed. However there will be no crop if you don’t actually plant the seed and water it.  There are a lot of ways to follow-up, including phone, email or even LinkedIn – the key is to make sure you do something with the contacts that you make to keep the ball rolling (when it makes sense).

Obviously this list is high level – but it should give you some ideas on what to focus on.  Remember the end result that you’re looking for is developing relationships – mutually beneficial, win-win relationships and that starts by helping other people out first.

If you’d like to learn more about this approach – please download my free report on Explosive Networking (I was looking for a catchy title).  If you like it, feel free to share it (and let me know your thoughts).

Shawn Kinkade  Kansas City Business CoachSimilar Posts:

• How to build your business over coffee!
• Supercharge your Rolodex…with LinkedIn
• Are you jumping right over the Marketing Strategy?

So you know that a trend is becoming mainstream when people start making fun of it and doing spoof Broadway musicals about it.   Social Media is certainly ripe for satire and the clip below does a great (and very funny) job of bringing out the really silly things people do.  It’s very well done!

Check out Web Site Story – an homage to the classic musical.

If you have trouble with the video above – go to CollegeHumor to see it there.

Shawn Kinkade   Kansas City Business Coach

Similar Posts:

• Cool new stuff to chew on with LinkedIn
• Best Marketing in the World
• Have you seen the Scary side of Social Media?