Enjoying More Flow – The Steel

December 4, 2015

Which stress personality are you? This is the last in the series of articles which explore your personality profile to help you understand how you can enjoy more flow and less stress in your day to day life. As this is the last article, I will also use it to serve as a summary.

What is flow?

First of all flow can be considered as that feeling where you are at your best, highly motivated, focused and productive. Work feels like fun. Like a top athlete, you are ‘in the zone’.

The biggest secret to having more flow

There are many ways you can be more productive. But to have more flow, the best approach is to play to your strengths.

We can pretty much put our minds to anything we want to, but, if we are doing something which is not a natural strength to us, it takes a lot of thought and effort. It is more stressful and you are likely to be prone to more mistakes. Not only that, it is less likely you will enjoy it.

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Productivity, Strengths

Flow, Productivity, Steel, Strengths

Enjoying More Flow – The Tempo

November 7, 2015

Which stress personlality are you? Welcome to the third in the series of how to enjoy more flow in your day to day life. What does this mean? When you are in your flow, you are motivated, energised, you are productive and everything seems easy to you. The key to enjoying this is to play to your strengths as much as you possibly can.

One way of understanding your strengths is to have a profile done. Talent Dynamics is one of several that I use and it has four main types. Today we will look at the third type – what is called The Tempo. But it isn’t the name that’s important, it’s the characteristics.

Of course at work it is rarely possible to have a job which only plays to your strengths. In reality, most people find that there are parts of their job that fits you so perfectly. It is far more likely that there are elements of your job that you dread, that may take a lot of mental energy and that take you longer to do than you think it should. But by doing a job which plays mostly to your strengths, and managing your time so your day is not affected too much by the other tasks, you will notice your productivity increases.

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Business, Performance, Productivity, Strengths

Flow, Performance, Productivity, Profile, Strengths

Enjoying More Flow – The Blaze

October 9, 2015

Which stress personality are you? So far in this series, we have looked at what flow means and we have looked at the profile of the Dynamo. Today we are going to focus on The Blaze and what they need to do to enjoy more flow in their work life.

One of the main factors in enjoying more flow is to really understand your strengths and how to play to them. So, as you read this article, do consider whether this profile describes you and what you need to do to create more flow. There is no ‘best’ profile as each brings its own strengths and challenges. By becoming more aware of what you bring to each activity and how to leverage these, you can enjoy more flow, less stress and more productivity.

It does not mean that if something is not a strength for you then you are doomed to fail in that category. It does mean you need to be uber-conscious of what you are doing, why and how, to make sure you are being as effective as possible. It will not flow in the same way as a natural strength, but you can become competent. So, if you don’t identify with this profile, you might want to consider how the lack of the strengths of this profile could benefit you in your working life and how you might be able to develop some of that.

So, what is a Blaze? The strongest characteristic of the Blaze is their sociability.

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Productivity, Strengths

Flow, Productivity, Profile, Strengths

A-Z of Business: W: Weaknesses – You are only as strong as your weakest link

October 16, 2013

We are all made up of strengths and weaknesses, undiscovered potential and blind spots. Your best strategy for success is to exploit your strengths, uncover hidden skills (we all have them), open your eyes to your blind spots (we all have those too) and start working on these – and your weaknesses – to make sure they do not become your derailers.

Your biggest enemy in addressing any limitations is denial. If you want to have success, your best friend is your willingness to be open to discovering weaknesses and to work on them.

As the title of this article suggests – you are only as strong as your weakest link. Doing whatever it takes to mitigate against these is good insurance for the future and it will give you a sense of progress and achievement too. It may mean working on yourself (it’s much easier with the support of a good coach) or hiring in talent to make up for any shortfall. All the best teams, according to the principles of Belbin Team Roles require a variety of attributes to achieve success.

Belbin has nine team roles from Shaper (takes the business forward, creating strategy) to Completer Finisher (who puts the strategy into action). One cannot exist fruitfully without the others, otherwise the team is out of balance. Whether you are working on your own or with a team, the same principle applies.

In the 5 Pillars of Success, I look at the dimensions which help to make you successful:

1.    Clarity
Do you have a clarity of purpose, of mission and of values? Do you have a clear strategy with clear steps to take you there? Can you see clearly enough to prioritise well and delegate effectively to your team or brief your suppliers effectively? 2.    Skills
Do you have the skills you need to make you successful? Influencing? Time management? Leadership? Delegating? Presenting? Emotional intelligence? Business skills? Conflict management? What skill do you wish you had more of? What skill do you overplay so that it becomes a problem? Perfectionism? Drive? It’s just as important to see when a strength becomes a weakness as it is to recognise your blind spots. 3.    Mindset
Are you positive, motivated and solution oriented? Do you possess the personality factors for success? Have you been on my Personality for Success seminar yet? This gives you a great self-assessment tool, or you can book yourself a psychometric profile. 4.    Stress Resilience
Are you calm and resourceful under pressure? Do you respond thoughtfully to situations rather than react impulsively, building up more problems for yourself down the line? Do you allow the small things to become big things? Do you take the stresses at work home with you and the stress at home to work with you? 5.    Energy
Do you have too much work at the end of your energy? Does your lifestyle or pace impact your health? Do you have adrenal energy or core energy? It is only core energy which is sustainable but few people have this. Are you firing on all cylinders? If you aren’t, nor is your business.

And what weaknesses are there in your business? Do you have the skills, processes and systems in place to run the business effectively and profitably? Do you have a good quality team, performing well and working well together? Are you able to acquire and retain customers who pay well and are happy with your service or product? And are you able to meet your financial targets and obligations?

Remember that no one person can know it all, do it all and be it all. Perfection is not a human condition but it is a destination, one you can travel on your journey of self-development and business improvement.

What one area could you improve which would have the biggest impact for you? If you focus on one thing at a time then you will not risk dropping any of the many balls you are juggling and it is easier to integrate the change.

Why not book an assessment to see where you can best focus your efforts to create the best value? Call me on 0845 130 0854 to discuss your options.

About Tricia Woolfrey – click HERE to find out about the author.

Business, Coaching, Emotional Intelligence, Leadership, Performance, Personal Development, Strengths, Success

Emotional intelligence, Energy, Performance, Profit, Psychometric profiling, Skills, Strengths, Stress, Weaknesses

A-Z of Business: U – USP – Why You Need One

August 19, 2013

Do you really need a Unique Selling Point? What happens if you don’t have one? Well, unless you are in an industry with no competitors then your USP is what will set you apart. It will give your prospects a reason to go with you instead of someone else.

In a struggling economy, you need all the competitive advantage you can get. And if you are looking for a job, you need that competitive edge too.

So, why should someone buy your product? It is no longer enough to say “we are the best”, you need to say how. And it needs to be based on reality rather than an aspiration that you are working towards.

There was a wonderful sign displayed which went like this:

“We offer three kinds of service – Good, Cheap or Fast. You can pick any two. Good and cheap won’t be fast. Good and fast won’t be cheap. Cheap and fast won’t be good. ”

At the gym yesterday, my personal trainer said the best advice he was given is to always think of yourself as number two so that you would still strive to do better. This reminded me of the Avis USP which is “We are number two – we try harder.” What a great USP which succeeds in turning a negative into a massive positive.

Apple’s USP is to think differently – they are the company best known for their innovation, having broken many technological boundaries. They can be relied upon to be innovative, fun and customer-focused.

If you are finding it difficult to identify your USP, go back to testimonials you have been given by your customers. It is easy to forget these but hopefully you have kept a log of them. Also, consider what your competitors are doing and what they are promising. How are you different to them? What are the problems you are solving for your customers?

Let’s take an example. For an IT support company, their customers may suffer from not being terribly IT literate, having to wait a long time before an engineer can fix their problem, or their technology is stopping them from getting on with their work

Let’s look at the customers’problem, potential USPs and their corresponding straplines:

Waiting a long time for an engineer
- USP – getting their IT problems solved quickly
- Strapline – Your IT Support within 24 hours or quicker
Not very IT literate
- USP – use jargon free communication so that the problem is easier to understand
- Strapline – Taking the Jargon out of IT Support
Technology stopping them from working
- USP – getting you up and running quickly
- Strapline –Helping you to work when your computer doesn’t
Frustrated that every problem seems to mean a new computer
- USP – providing the simplest, most cost effective solutions
- Strapline – Simple Solutions to Complicated Problems

Whatever your USP, do make sure that you live and breathe it. You don’t want your USP to be “tried and failed” – it should enhance your reputation, not undermine it.

About Tricia Woolfrey – click HERE to find out about the author.

Business, Image, Marketing, Products, Sales, Strengths, Success

Business, Customer service, Marketing, Product, Sales, Services, Strengths, USP

A-Z of Business: S – Selling: Your 6 Steps to Success

June 24, 2013

Sales Sales are the lifeblood of any business and the ability to sell is an art-form. That’s why sales people get paid so well.

It’s also inextricably linked to reputation. So, whatever commitments you make in the sales process, it’s important to be sure that you can meet them. It can be tempting, especially if you are chasing targets, to make a sale at any cost. Promising impossible delivery terms, or unworkable modifications, just to get them to sign the order, can be an expensive mistake.

Conversely, being honest with a prospect if you feel your product isn’t right for them, increases your credibility, your reputation and the potential for future sales and ongoing referrals. Your prospect understands that you have their best interests at heart so they will trust you should their needs change in the future.

Selling requires a variety of skills, from the ability to build rapport, to excellent listening and communication skills. The ability to handle objections is possibly the most difficult component and was the subject of a previous article (view). It requires the ability to influence effectively (view) and to negotiate well (view).

Following is a simple sales process. To illustrate it in action, let’s suppose you are selling a printer:

Build rapport
Background information
- How long have you had your existing printer? What features are you looking for? What kind of volume do you need it to produce?
What problem are you trying to solve?
- “We’d like to save money on ink; We’d like to improve reliability and print quality and we’d like to increase the number of functions – ie print on A3, collate reports and staple”
What effect is the problem having on you? This helps the prospect to identify with the pain of the problem.
- “The current printer is slow, unreliable and often breaks down – last time it meant that the reports weren’t ready for the board meeting.”
Suggest a positive outcome to their problem. This will move them from the pain of the problem to the pleasure of the solution, making them more open to saying “yes”.
- “Our model XYZ123 will produce high quality print, 50% faster than your current printer at a 20% saving on your current cartridges. Not only that, it will collate and staple your reports for you.”
Ask for the sale – the most important part!
- There are various closing techniques, the simplest of which are:
  - Direct – “This seems to address all your needs whilst making savings for you. Would you like to buy this model?”
  - Assumptive – “When would you like it delivered?”

It is easy to blame the product or the price for lack of sales, but often the issue is more about not having aligned your solution to the client’s needs. Remember that selling is an art-form. Do read the objection-handling and negotiating articles mentioned above for more information. Also, why not call for some 1:1 coaching so that you can have a personalised input on how to improve your sales success? Call me on 0845 130 0854.

About Tricia Woolfrey – click HERE to find out about the author.

Customer, Influencing, Negotiation, Objection handling, Products, Sales, Success, Trading

Influencing skills, Negotiation, Objection handling, Product, Sales, Strengths, Success, Tricia Woolfrey

A-Z of Business: P – Product: Ten Questions You Need to Ask Yourself

April 23, 2013

Products and Services If you don’t have a product or service which delivers value to your customers and prospects, it makes building a profitable business almost impossible. Having an inferior product isn’t something you want to risk your business or reputation. In this day and age, competition is very tough, consumers are fickle and markets are constantly changing, so it’s important to make sure you are delivering what your customers want.

Having the best product or service isn’t enough in itself if you don’t have everything else right. However, it is an essential component. When looking at your products, consider what are you offering and how does it benefit your customers? What need is it fulfilling? What are the strengths and weaknesses of the product or service? This is where you really need to listen to your customers. It’s easy to acknowledge compliments – they make you feel good. It takes a lot of strength to be open to negative feedback. However unreasonable it may seem, there is always at least a grain of truth in in it. Be gracious in receiving negative feedback because you can really turn around a negative situation and create a raving fan out of a disenchanted customer if you handle it right.

Customers can fulfil a need in a number of ways. For example, if your business sells washing machine repairs, then your customer has the option of either repairing their washing machine, getting someone else to do their laundry, buying a new washing machine or resort to hand-washing. So it’s important that you get your product right so that you become the obvious choice.

If you want your product to be a best-seller, you need to ask yourself the following questions:

What need is your product (or service) designed to fulfil?
What are the strengths of your product (or service)?
What are the weaknesses? If your customers were being really picky, what would they be saying?
What are you doing to address those weaknesses?
Who are your top 5 competitors?
What do they offer that you don’t and how can you address this?
What is another way your prospects might fulfil the need?
How can you make your product a better option?
What feedback about your product (or service) have you been ignoring and what are you going to do to address it?
What processes do you have in place to make sure your product (or service) is the best?

Steve Jobs, one of the greatest innovators of our time, talked about surprising and delighting the customer by looking at how to excel, not just meet the competition. He thought in terms of simplicity, elegance and sexiness (of the product, of course!). By contrast, I know of a man whose business failed because he insisted on providing his service using old, outdated technology and old, outdated principles. You have to constantly re-invent and improve if you want to thrive.

About Tricia Woolfrey – click HERE to find out about the author.

Customer, Customer Service, Products, Strengths

Business, Feedback, Product, Services, Strengths

A-Z of Business: L – Leadership-v-Management: Are You a Manager or a Leader?

January 29, 2013

How do you know if you are a manager or a leader?

There are few job titles with the word “leader” in them. Manager or Director (depending on your level of seniority) seem to be the titles of choice – Customer Services Manager, Finance Director, Marketing Manager, Human Resources Director, etc. Yet, the title is not an indication. Being a manager is as important as leadership. However, without leadership, you are missing a crucial element in business success – winning people’s hearts and minds.

Management can be thought of as being the ‘nuts and bolts’ of your role, with duties such as:

Planning
Allocating resources
Organising and co-ordinating
Controlling and directing
Measuring and evaluating
Solving problems
Short term thinking for managers, medium-term thinking for directors
Managing systems and procedures
Maintaining
Concerned with the “when” and “how”

All of these are absolutely essential and create a framework, structure and systems to achieve results which are monitored and course-corrected on a regular basis.

A leader, by contrast will be more of a visionary and will motivate and inspire people to follow. Their focus will be on the long-term and they will be concerned with:

Establishing a vision
Inspiring co-operation and trust
Developing ideas and people
Concerned with the “what” and “why”

Creating a vision will usually require change and a good leader will inspire the team to be motivated for that change which might otherwise be met with resistance. A leader paints a picture that people want to be part of and want to help make happen.

Managers deal with “shoulds” (the realms of necessity) while leaders deal with “coulds” (the realms of possibility).

Of course, leadership and management are not mutually exclusive. There is a lot of overlap between the two. A good leader will need good management qualities. A good manager will require good leadership qualities. If you tend to be a good leader but are not good at the planning, implementation and problem solving, it’s essential to have a very good, reliable and loyal team to do this for you. If you are a good manager without the leadership qualities, you will need a good leader managing you to help you pass on the vision to your team. Both skills can be learned and, with both skills, you will be a rounded professional contributing fully to the success of your team and your business.

And, to close, off, the wonderful Stephen Covey said “Management is efficiency in climbing the ladder of success; leadership determines whether the ladder is leaning against the right wall.” You have to have your vision right, otherwise you are managing the wrong things.

If you would like to have greater insight into your leadership and management skills, book a psychometric profile session. This helps overcome blind spots and highlights development opportunities for you. Call 0845 130 0854 to find out more.

About Tricia Woolfrey – click HERE to find out about the author.

Business Coach, Decision Making, Employees, Leadership, Management

Business, Business coach, Decision making, Delegation, Image, Influencing, leadership, Management, Motivation, Strengths, Success, Tricia Woolfrey

A-Z of Business: K – Knowledge – Your Competitive Edge?

January 17, 2013

It is estimated that 15% of success is from your technical skills whereas 85% is through gaining trust and respect. So, what has knowledge to do with this? Plenty, as it happens. Knowledge covers the whole spectrum. Good technical skills are, of course, important. But not if the knowledge is out of date. Technology is changing all the time – as are trends – and it is essential to keep abreast of what’s going on in your market place and in your profession.

Solicitors and doctors go through years of training in their profession before they are able to practice. Yet, how much training have you had to run your own department, or your own business? How much knowledge have you acquired to help you be successful? Whether you are running a department or a business of your own, the knowledge you need to be effective is extremely broad and most people simply muddle through. In the meantime, what happens to the trust and respect essential to 85% of your success?

The following table helps you to understand some of the fundamentals for trust and respect and the kind of knowledge you need for them:

TRUST AND RESPECT	KNOW-HOW
Good people and rapport skills	Influencing and leadership
Doing what you say you will do	Planning and organising
Doing an excellent job	Technical and delegation
Managing complaints effectively	Problem solving and conflict management
Meeting your obligations	Business acumen and resource management
Emotional intelligence	Understanding of people and yourself and how to manage yourself and your relationships in times of stress

Business knowledge – such as sales, marketing, finance, operations – is important whether you run your own business or manage a department as you need to see how everything fits together. These will help you to exploit strengths, minimise weaknesses, seize opportunities and handle threats from a point of strength.

So, how can you increase your knowledge? Through coaching, training, reflective learning and study. Often, you don’t know what you don’t know (in the case of business, ignorance is not bliss) and it is helpful to have someone there who can help you see your blind-spot. Having your own coach and mentor is an excellent step to take to help you stay on top of your game. For more information call 0845 130 0854 for a no obligation chat.

About Tricia Woolfrey – click HERE to find out about the author.

A-Z of Business: I – Influencing Skills

November 28, 2012

The ability to positively influence others with integrity is a key skill in business. It affects your ability to have people buy into you, your business, your product and your ideas. It impacts your leadership style and your ability to build constructive relationships. It can also be incredibly stressful if you are unable to influence people constructively, impacting your productivity, your sales and even your profitability.

Influence is about your ability to have a positive effect on someone. It differs from manipulation in that it is undertaken with integrity and regard to the interest of the other party. It’s about having people buy in to your ideas and perspectives, so that they say ‘yes’ to you more.

The talent for influence requires flexibility in style, clarity of outcome, the ability to understand a situation from several perspectives, and creating and maintaining a resourceful state, particularly during times of conflict, or when the stakes are high.

It is not about imposing but inspiring someone to take a particular action, while maintaining strong rapport and building positive relationships.

There are numerous language patterns which enhance your capacity to increase your powers of influence which are too numerous to go into in this short article but which I teach to many of my clients and which I include on my Influencing Skills training course. The issue, though, is not what the skills are, but the effect that they can have on your success. They can help you deal with objections and concerns so that you are able to transform potentially negative situations elegantly. It’s the YES factor!

Whether your intention is to create change, elicit support or diffuse potentially contentious situations, influencing skills can be a real boon to you in your business.

For further details, please contact Tricia Woolfrey on 0345 130 0854.

About Tricia Woolfrey – click HERE to find out about the author.