29/07/08 - Anchoring!

Anchoring
For this tip let’s touch on a subject that can really help to secure the deal or clinch that sale. In fact it is a subject that can be used in a hundred and one sales/customer situations. Let us expand that thought for a second. Just about every conversation you have with someone has some sort of sales content. Even if you are in a pub with a friend, you are still trying to sell them your point of view, aren’t you?

Anyway, I digress. Let us get back to the commercial sales situation: selling your service/product to a client. I’m talking to you about anchoring. Anchoring is the setting off of a trigger in either yourself or another to elicit a certain emotion. Have you ever caught the whiff of a certain perfume or aftershave that reminded you of your first girlfriend or boyfriend? That is an anchor. Heard a piece of music that always reminds you of a certain moment in time and starts you reminiscing? That is an anchor.

You can, therefore, with some forethought implant an anchor in someone and set it off at will. If you have ever watched a stage or TV hypnotist put someone out with the word ‘sleep’ or a click of the fingers or by touching their arm or shoulder, then that is a different emotion but it is also anchoring at its most powerful. To keep it simple, to start with I will concentrate on purely anchoring a client.
One of the most effective ways of bringing a client to the point of sale is to use anchoring. Anchoring is defined as eliciting memories in people using verbal or physical triggers. Put simply, with anchoring you use certain gestures or words or both so that your client associates them with a pleasurable emotion then at a critical point you bring back that emotion with a particular word or gesture that you used in your anchor. Anchoring is also good for motivation and for making yourself very persuasive. Effective use with clients will render them very receptive to you and will remind them of what is positive about your service. The best time to create an anchor is when rapport is at its peak. You can use key words or phrases, smile, point your finger, raise your eyebrows or snap your fingers and later you can bring them back to that high rapport instantly by using that verbal or non-verbal cue when the time is right.
A simple example is as follows: a man walks into a clothes shop and starts looking at suits. The salesperson walks up and engages him in conversation, walking over to where the right size of suits are situated the salesperson asks ‘what colour are you looking for?’ ‘Navy blue’ the reply. ‘Single or double-breasted?’ ‘Double’ and then the salesperson lightly touches the customer on their arm and says ‘You will look really good in that blue and especially with that double-breasted style.’ After trying on a few suits the salesperson picks a moment when a particular suit fits well and can see the customer really looking at himself in the mirror, checking for the fit and the look. At that moment the salesperson walks up and lightly touches him in the same place on his arm and says ‘you look really good in that one’. End result – sale.

Why not try to think of ways that anchoring can work for you, either in a business or social environment. It does not have to be physically touching the other person if you are a bit unsure - the salesperson could have snapped their fingers and said the same words and later snapped them again and said similar words.

23/07/08 - London to Paris Bike Ride Challenge

John Bennewith - Our Managing Partner has successfully completed the 300km bike from Crystal Palace in London to the Eiffel Tower in Paris.

The challenge was tough and the first section through the badly surfaced Surrey and Sussex roads, along with the UK drivers who treat cyclists as target practice was the toughest.

Once we had crossed the channel into Normandy, the roads got a whole lot better and the cars fewer, meaning we could concentrate on cycling.

Arriving in Paris and seeing the Eiffel Tower was a great sense of feeling, which meant the 8 months of tough training had paid off.

But obviously the main event was raising over £1300 GBP for Children with Leukemia and this will I am sure go some way towards helping these unfortunate children and I would like to thank everyone who helped me achieve this total.

As always the next challenge is already being planned and we will keep you posted.

kindest regards

John

25/06/08 - Demotivation leads to instability.

New research has revealed that one in three UK employees are demotivated at work, and, significantly, 43% are considering taking action and leaving their job in the next 12 months.

The research, which was carried out by YouGov on behalf of Investors in People UK, found that the top three demotivating factors for employees were:

    * Unreasonable workload (18%)
    * Feeling underpaid (18%)
    * Lack of clear career path (17%).

Overall, nearly half of employees (44%) claim their organisation has failed to continue supporting their career development beyond their initial induction period. Over a quarter (28%) of employees also said they felt unsupported by their managers.

Commenting on the findings, Simon Jones, Chief Executive at Investors in People UK, said, “This research reveals a worrying picture, not only because such a significant proportion of UK employees are demotivated, but because it suggests that valuable employees may be heading for the door. It’s also important to highlight that employees that have been with an organisation for just one to two years are most likely to want to leave, given nearly half claim their employers focus their efforts on the initial induction stage but then, as employees settle in, let employee development fall down the list of priorities.

“Employees, however long they’ve worked in an organisation, want better support from their managers alongside clear and effective feedback on their performance. This support is vital when it comes to mapping out career paths and identifying relevant training and development. Without it, employees are likely to drift and depart rather than stay engaged with their organisation’s objectives. We hope this research will act as a reminder to employers of all sectors and sizes, ensuring they stay alert to the signs of employee demotivation and take action to address it. Those that don’t, risk losing valuable talent and experience.”