Change is the only constant! The world is constantly changing, which means Business’ need to ensure they can adapt their services to meet this constant evolutionary cycle of development. Business Development is about moving forward and adapting. Development equates to growth and where there is growth there is progress and success!

Change is a word that most of us can say easily, but few of us embrace without some hesitation and some even with absolute resistance.  Any business needs eventually to develop in some way, shape or form. Everything is temporary, nothing stays the same!

The World Wide Web has introduced much change in the business industry, along with current economic downturns and the recent change of government.  Industries are changing, teams are changing, people are changing and business needs to keep up with this trend.

How Does Your Business Need to Develop?

“The key to change, is to let go of fear”  Rosanne Cash

It could be something as simple as a logo design if you have a website, or alternatively a simple change in the form of your company stationery or even image in the form of a uniform. Re-Branding is always a good idea, as it is a re-invention of your business image and informs the customer and partners, that you are constantly seeking continual professional development.   Customers can even get excited when there is development, remember, people are fickle!

My local pub/restaurant recently had a complete makeover. It was refreshing to return to, as there was nothing that resembled the old, the bar and even entrance had all changed. As a customer, I found it exciting and very refreshing.

Products are constantly evolving and business’ need to ensure that they move with the times or they could be left behind or even fail.

Does Your Business Need A Makeover?

Is it time for you to think about developing your Business in order to survive?

How would your Business, Staff  and more importantly Customers benefit from change?

Managing Change

Change is inevitable and it is crucial for any business to manage the change effectively.  Teams and Customers will need to be informed and even maybe consulted in regards to Business Development in the form of Focus Groups.

Would it be beneficial to ask your staff and customers what changes they would like to see?  My response to this question would be a resounding yes!

As a Business and Development Coach, I understand all to well the power of questioning?

Is it time for you to start questioning how your business would benefit and develop in this current economic climate, to give your business a fresh approach thus attract more customers?

“Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending”  Maria Robinson

For any Business and Development Coaching,  please visit my website

http://joyandrewsbusinesscoaching.co.uk/

Who was the better impressionist, Peter Goodwright or John Culshaw? If you’re unsure about who Mr Goodwright is, let me give you a perspective.

Goodwright: 1970s, quick-fire impressions, no scenery, awful make-up, terrible wigs.

Culshaw: 2000s, long sketches, real locations, complex prosthetics and hand crafted toupees.

I know Mr Culshaw is very talented and his shows are perfectly put together, yet I would rather watch Peter Goodwright et al in re-runs of “Who Do You Do?” any day. My logic is very simple.

Modern TV impressionists can almost perfectly recreate their subjects. The scenes and settings are usually the real locations. So what is the point? Why go to all the bother of making an impressionist’s sketch about politicians when the real thing can be just as funny!

The aim of impersonation is not to perfectly recreate a character, but to extract the essence and use that to one’s own advantage. As an impressionist you should allow your own personality and humour shine through the thin veneer of your temporary character.

That’s why I prefer the older style – it was more about the impressionist and his talent than that of a make-up artist.

In business we need to be ourselves – especially when we are presenting.

At a recent networking meeting, where I and two other professional coaches had spoken, I was challenged by one of the other attendees.

“I love it when you guys speak with such conviction, passion and drama. But I don’t really think I can be like that myself, that’s just no my style – so what do I do?” My response was simple. “Be yourself!”

When I coach people in public speaking and presentations skills, I always start off with the same critical point. I cannot teach anyone to speak in public – nobody can! It is a skill that must be learned by the individual themselves. That takes time and practice.

Anyone joining a public speaking class or course needs to check on the number of attendees, as well as the amount of practice time they will get. Without sufficient time to listen to a coach, practice what you absorb and receive good feedback, you will not develop as a speaker.

The second point I make on my courses is, that the attendees should most specifically NOT try to speak like me. I’m a good public speaker,  (I can say that without fear of appearing arrogant) but please don’t try and impersonate me.

By all means observe and apply some of the skills and tactics I use, just don’t forget who YOU are.

And no matter what skill you hope to learn, I think this kind of philosophy should be borne in mind. No coach, no matter what their discipline, wants to see a series of clones of themselves.

Coaches tend to be a little extreme. There’s a reason – we want to stretch you further than you really need to go. Imagine an elastic band – keep stretching it and letting it ping pack into shape. What happens? In time the band gets a little bigger, more flexible and all together more rounded.

So be yourself, just like the old school impressionists. Follow the lead of your coaches but find your true self – one that your audience will find authentic, can believe in and can trust.

Marc Lemezma helps businesses succeed by getting their message OUT THERE!

Business’ are under an enormous amount of pressure today to provide results, due to the current global economic crisis. Either in sales or outcome/target driven business’, the business world is in danger of compromising the services provided to the customer.  The danger is losing sight of the goal of the business – which essentially needs to be about providing a quality service to customers, what ever service you are providing. The UK has become a service provision industry, therefore, we need to ensure the service is about quality over quantity!

Top Heavy Management Organisations

I have experienced many organisations with a ‘top heavy structure’ and  unfortunately, they are all too unaware of what is really going on at ground level. Results bring pressure and pressure inevitably creates a ‘cutting corners’ approach and ineffective management styles. This will of course compromise the quality of the service provision and also the staff turnover, which in itself is an added expense to business’.

When Coaching a variety of business’, unfortunately I have witnessed the focus being shifted from the customer to the corporate results. Of course results are essential, but rarely have I seen a business focus their attention genuinely to the needs and satisfaction of the customer and ensuring their needs are met consistently, which is the only way to maintain results.

Customer Evaluation

Do you regularly ask your customers to evaluate their experiences of the service you provide? If not, why not?

Resources

I have experienced far too often, that organisations are cutting back on resources; both in staff levels and in the relevant equipment required, in order to provide the service needs of the customer. This is the main downfall of many business’. Staff are regularly put under pressure to provide results and threatened with disciplinary action or even redundancy, if they are not producing results. However, without the level of resources required and quality customer service training for staff, they can not provide the quality service in order to produce the results.

Mystery Shoppers

Every one of your customers, needs to be treated as a Mystery Shopper and seeking regular Customer Evaluation, would help to guarantee a quality provision to the customer which in turn, guarantees the ongoing success of the business.

Pressure sales are not the way forward! We all know what we do and how we feel, if we are put under pressure to make a purchase, or buy into a service!

Reflection

Customer Evaluation assists you the business, in developing your customer service, if you truly listen to what the customer has to say in their evaluations and take action on any negative customer feedback. Remember, you would not have a business without the Customer. Every one of us has a unique requirement, in terms of customer service. Therefore, business’ need to ensure that their service meets the needs of the customer who is essentially seeking their assistance or to purchase a product.

Let us not forget – The Customer is Always Right!

http://joyandrewsbusinesscoaching.co.uk/

How often do we step into the Abyss? Do we ever know what’s around the corner? The answer to this question, is quite simply NO!

Ok, so we all have to begin at the beginning!  Any new business has to start somewhere. Planning is essential.

Business Coaching is pure and simple, it is all about Questioning.

Socrates, in my opinion, was the first documented Coach and a great one at that!  If I could have sat in the shelter of an olive tree, from the intense Greek heat and listen to Socrates teachings, I would give my right leg to have that privilege. Plato was a genius to document his teachings. Socrates was a genius and his most loyal student Plato, recognised the genius!

‘When the student is ready, the teacher will appear’ ~ Buddhist Proverb

Questions enable us to expand our minds and to seek within us, the Solutions to our Challenges.  We are the experts on ourselves and our business ideas, no one else can provide us with the Solutions to our Challenges. We are the Experts on ourselves the Coach enables you the Expert to set goals and seek the options and opportunities available to you. We have all of the solutions locked inside, we just need someone to come along with the key.  The key, is Questioning.

Some Valuable Business Development Questions

•    What do you want to achieve?
•    Who is your target audience?
•    Is there a niche you can target?
•    Do you have specialist knowledge and skills in order to target a niche market?
•    How are you going to get noticed?
•    Where do you see yourself in five years time?
•    How are you going to get there?

We all have a passion

•    What is your passion?
•    Does your passion reflect the service you are selling?
•    Could this passion direct you toward a niche?

Time to ponder me thinks!

“All that we are is the result of what we have thought.
The mind is everything. What we think we become.”
~ The Buddha

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an
act, but a habit.” ~ Aristotle

“The only good luck many great men ever had was being
born with the ability and determination to overcome
bad luck.” ~ Channing Pollock

“The brain can be developed just the same as the muscles
can be developed, if one will only take the pains to train
the mind to think.” -Thomas A. Edison

“The mind moves in the direction of our currently dominating
thought.” ~Earl Nightingale

EnJoy

As a  Business and Personal Development Coach, I consider Time to be the most valuable commodity man has at his disposal. You can bank money, but you can’t bank time! So my communication style is by getting directly to the point, to save time. Some see it as refreshing, as they may be surrounded by ‘yes’ people and others find it a challenge to begin with, as they are not so used to someone being so direct with them.

As a Coach, I reflect back what I hear and see. I am considered to be a compassionate and considerate person by all that know me well, therefore, my honest and immediate communication is considered my strongest asset and will become yours too, if that is what you wish to accomplish.

Time is Money

Our business time is valuable and your work/life balance in today’s society is becoming more and more compromised. Stress is a killer, so we must all learn how to manage ourselves and our time, in order to overcome the biggest threat to business’.

Sickness levels are on the increase due to stress. Business’ are losing thousands of pounds productivity every second due to time off sick, or the so called ‘Duvet Days’! To use a metaphor to explain the impact of stress on our emotional and physical wellbeing; compare yourself with a bottle of fizzy drink, the pressures of balancing our work and personal life is like shaking ourselves consistently and we all know what happens when you shake a bottle of fizzy drink consistently!

The Art of Effective Communication

I would not wish to waste my time or any others, by ‘dilly dallying’ around any important communication deficiency I detect. Time management teaches us to prioritise and that includes our communication, as it is the key to any successful relationship. So now I have introduced my style to you business people out there, let us get straight to the point: Here are some questions for you to reflect on…

How do you communicate to others in order for you build and sustain effective relationships?

Do you communicate with immediacy?

Do you use negative words or positive words when communicating?

Self Reflection raises Self Awareness

“Think twice before you speak, because your words and influence will plant the seed of either success or failure in the mind of another.” – Napoleon Hill

Perhaps, until now, you may have never reflected upon your style of communication. As you are aware, effective communication is the key to any relationship, be it in business or personal relationships.

Communication is a style that you have role modelled from your significant others in your early years – however, anything can be developed if that is your desire. We may all wear business hats when at work, however, our style of relating to others has become a habit, therefore, if you have a dysfunctional way of relating to your family at home, you may just be creating a dysfunctional family at work.

Contrary to popular belief, there are many i’s in a team.  Every member of the team is an individual working toward a common goal, however, we are all still individuals with our own unique communication styles to integrate successfully or not into team work.

“Feelings of worth can flourish only in an atmosphere where individual differences are appreciated, mistakes are tolerated, communication is open, and rules are flexible – the kind of atmosphere that is found in a nurturing family.” – Virginia Satir

You may have heard people mention their Dr’s bedside manners, or lack of them; well this is a prime example of how the way we relate and respond to others, affects our customer and working relationships. It is time to take note of how you respond to others, in order to build and sustain excellent and effective business relationships.

The Solution to Better Communication

Listening skills are something that we all, at one time or another, need to improve upon.

How often do you feel listened too?
How often do you actively listen to others without interruption?
Are you able to put yourself in the shoes of the person who is communicating to you?

Do you constantly interrupt people when they speak to you?

Take notice of how people respond to you when you communicate with them to help you improve your techniques. If your bold enough, ask them how your communication makes them feel!

“Confidence comes not from always being right but from not fearing to be wrong.” – Peter T. McIntyre

Active Listening Skills Exercise

Allow someone to speak to you without you saying a word. Simply listen to them without judgement, for as long as it takes for them to speak and then reflect back to them all that you have heard and understood to seek clarification that you heard and interpreted correctly. I have asked clients to undergo this exercise many times and the feedback from the individuals were:-
1) How difficult people found it speaking without interruption, as they are just not used to it.
2) How difficult people found it not to interrupt the speaker, as they are not used to just listening.
3) How empowered and relieved they felt, after having the ability to speak and then clarify in order to feel understood.

The Freedom of Speech

The freedom to express ourselves is something we are given as a human right and the right to be heard is also a profound development tool.  Front line to CEO, we all need to be heard and understood; it is not only essential for a successful business, it is also essential for our physical and emotional wellbeing, as we have evolved into ‘word’ communicators.

“Good communication is as stimulating as black coffee, and just as hard to sleep after.” – Anne Morrow Lindbergh

We have evolved so that we no longer need to beat our chests or grunt!  We need to communicate in order to feel heard and understood. More importantly, everything is subjective and open to interpretation, which is why reflecting back what we heard is important for clarification, especially when dealing with customers requirements and enquiries.

As a Coach, it is my duty to empower people. Empowering others to empower themselves and others, is my skill and I consider this to be a skill I wish to help others to develop and pass on. Communication is empowering and as we are the only species that use words to communicate and express ourselves, I believe we need to select our words with care, in order to build and sustain effective business and personal relationships.

Mirroring

NLP teaches us to mirror the other in order to build rapport. Mirroring others is an essential tool; however, we need to be aware that some of our clients or colleagues verbal and non verbal communication styles can not be mirrored, otherwise we are just colluding with ineffective communication styles.

Sometimes, we have to be more empathically direct and honest, in order to help others create better communication styles in order to help others feel understood and also to improve business and customer relations.

The customers pay your salary!

Solutions – Positive Communication

Reflect on your communication style…accept it may need improvement – then take action.

Use positive words and metaphors.

Smile often.

Hold your head up when solution seeking and communicating.

When you wake every morning think immediately of 10 things to be thankful for.

Think of the people who love you and have an attitude of gratitude for all that you already have.

Coaching Summary

Ask someone you trust for honest feedback on your communication style, both verbal and non-verbal – constructive feedback is always good!  It may even be time to get a Coach!

Positive words and metaphors along with smiling, will automatically change your style of communicating with others.

Positive thinking and solution focus will transform your communication.  Be thankful for and put a positive spin on any experience – ask yourself – What have you learn’t and how can you develop from this experience?

Spend only 10% of your time on a problem and 90% of your time on the solution to that problem. Most importantly,  laugh at yourself at any given opportunity and have as much fun as you can, whilst developing yourself and your business’!

“I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.” – Michael Jordan