OK so today I am on my soap box big time, I had a busy week and I like to spend Fridays catching up on the small things not the entire day responding to emails – ones that a phone call and conversation could be answered quickly and efficiently!

I think the power of the internet is amazing, I believe that email is a wonderful thing surely it’s not meant to replace the art of a simple conversation. I’m a verbal communicator I respond to and thrive on conversation and interaction. I don’t want to spend my days constructing emails and responses when a quick conversation can get the same result in less time!

The simple art of conversation allows us to explore opportunities and areas that a email cannot; imagine you are on the phone with a customer and they tell you something that prompts an idea in your mind and an OPPORTUNITY to make a new sale or to up-sell or cross sell, promote, advertise whatever appears, you have right in that moment the glorious advantage of securing it. Now if the same were said for email – how would that work – you would need to construct (an appropriate) email response back to your client and rely on the power of the written word alone – phewy I say!!! Do you know how long it will take you to construct that email so that it doesn’t sound like too much of a sales pitch??

In fact here is a story worth re-telling up until 4 months ago I was a member of an online professional development group for a particular aspect of my business and had been for almost two years. I decide to cancel my membership for a number of reasons but for this story we will keep it simple… I simply found information from another source that was more relevant at the time. Now back to what happened… I received an email from the assistant to the owner of this online forum asking would I like to reconsider  and pay an additional fee that would take me up to “lifetime” member status and could I get back to them…. ah let me think about that for a minute…. You couldn’t be bothered to pick up the phone and call? and your assistant sent the email? I don’t think so… two weeks later another long email arrives pointing out all the benefits of the forum and membership and the “lifetime” benefits again from the assistant… do you think I changed my preferred style of communication in those two weeks?? And do you really understand what I need, value and want as a customer?? Here is the cold hard facts – if someone had bothered to pick up the phone I more than likely would have taken up the offer.

And here’s another story… I sent a proposal to a potential customer and followed up with a PHONE CALL a week after I sent the proposal. They never returned my call… poor me… so I followed up the following week with you guessed it a PHONE CALL… they never returned my call… I did this for 6 weeks and in between sent three emails stating that I had called and could they get back to me. No response – I’ m OK if you don’t want to work with me there are others out there that do and I won’t be crushed by you saying no – and if not me I might just know the right person to connect you with (after all I am a networking expert!) but have the common courtesy and manners to call back.

If developing relationships in business is heading to email contact only – I want no part of it I want human interaction! I want to enjoy the process of discovering the qualities, talents, values and traits of the people who I meet. I’m happy to post content to blogs and share my thoughts and conversations via twitter and Facebook and other online mediums but I do not want to lose the simple pleasure of enjoying the art of conversation.

If you would like a chat – give me a call (61) 0418 506 671

Sue!

Business success is all about Starting with STOPPING and THINKING, here are three places to start your stopping and thinking:

1. Is this what I really want?

Being in business brings all sorts of challenges, changes and opportunities and sometimes we can be led in a direction that we really don’t want to go and for many reasons (cash-flow, family commitments, staff, technology etc). If we don’t stop on a regular basis to check in and see if we are headed in the right direction chances are we will end up somewhere we don’t want to be.

Stop at least once a month and ask yourself the very important question “is this where I want to be and am I going where I want to go?” you might be surprised by the answer you get.

2. What would my mentor do?

I’ve been very fortunate that I have had exceptional mentors throughout my life and in my business, during the times when I’m unsure about an activity or I find myself doing unproductive things (like procrastinating) I think about what my business mentor would do. I know for sure she would not spend hours engaged in activities that can be outsourced while she focuses on growing the business and doing the things that are dollar productive.

Most times it’s as simple as saying to myself “What would my mentor be doing/do in this situation?” it’s a great question to ask as it helps me see a different angle to how I initially approach a situation. If you don’t have a mentor think about someone you know or know of  in business that is really successful at what they do and ask yourself the same question “what would X do in this situation?”

 3. Self Talk – A quality conversation

I have read 100′s of business and self help/motivation books and the majority of them discuss the importance of what you say to yourself, having positive thoughts and using affirmations in one form or another. In my book Accelerate: How to accelerate yourself, your business & your networking skills I have a quote “if you spoke to your friends the same way you speak to yourself would you have any?”

We are human so we are going to experience a range of emotions both positive and negative, we will have a range of thoughts both positive and negative and we will or won’t speak to ourselves in a helpful and positive manner. The exact same way we think about and speak to our friends, business colleagues, loved ones and families.

I have trained myself as often as possible to have quality conversations, when a negative thought or feeling comes in I acknowledge it and move to a more helpful ‘quality’ conversation or thought.

Is this easy? NO does it need lots of practice? – YES, do I always do it? – NO (i’m human too!) is there a magic solution? – NO Can I buy a book to learn? PROBABLY will it work? MAYBE why is it worth it? – TO GET THE RESULTS YOU WANT!

I have searched high and low for the seminar, books, coaching, mentoring, workshops, meditations to ‘take control of my thoughts’ and here is what I have learnt – YOU DO NOT NEED TO KEEP SPENDING MONEY ON LEARNING HOW TO DO THIS all you need to do is PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE and eventually your mind will hold it’s own quality conversations and you will start to correct yourself – without the aid of any outside assistance.

Put some STOPPING and THINKING time in your diary today and reap the results you REALLY want from your business.

Until Next time… I’ll be thinking!

Sue