Greetings!
Yesterday, I heard a Art Sobczak, a really
fine salesperson, say, "Most salespeople talk
themselves out of sales." He went on to say,
"More objections are created by salespeople
who talk too much." His advice: shut up and
get out of the way. Let the customer talk.
There is a lesson here for people leading
change. Many organizational changes get
introduced through elaborate and long
PowerPoint presentations. The
well-intentioned leader drones on and on as
he or she goes through dozens of slides. And
then, almost as an afterthought, asks, "Are
there any questions?" Mark Twain once said,
"No sinner was ever converted after the first
twenty minutes of a sermon." And he could
have added, no one bought into a major change
after the first twenty PowerPoint slides.
I recall a planning team that realized they
were going to increase resistance throughout
the organization just by the way they were
going to conduct the first big meeting. I
watched them completely revamp the design for
this all-day session. The original agenda
included hour after hour of talking heads
with some short breaks for question and
answer. The new design kept the same
objectives for the meeting -- but they built
the agenda around conversation rather than
presentation. From a ratio of about 90
percent talking and 10 percent engagement,
they shifted that ratio to about 70 percent
engagement and 30 percent presentation. And
it worked beautifully
They got people engaged in talking about the
change, the impact it might have on them,
suggestions, criticisms, offers, etc. Here's
the cool thing, they did it themselves. The
new agenda wasn't fancy -- but it worked. In
my experience, most of us know how to engage
people, but it's recognizing that we need to
do something different that is key.
A Unique Approach to Coaching
I finally released the Change without
Migraines Formula last week. I've been
getting some nice notes back from people who
have taken a look at it. Thank you. That
makes me feel good.
At least for now, I am offering two months of
free group coaching on leading change as part
of the offer. The coaching program will
include Teleseminars that address your
questions, interviews with experts, and live
case studies where I will consult with
someone on the phone and then open the lines
to hear what others on the call might have
done in a similar situation. I think this
will be a great opportunity for all of us to
learn lots of new things from each other.
If you are interested in my work, I would
like to invite you to read more about the new
program. Click here for more information. The
Change without Migraines Formula. Thanks.
Sincerely,
Rick Maurer
Maurer & Associates
phone:
703-525-7074
