Over the years of working with salespeople I have found that their most common weakness is asking questions. Most sales people are so keen to make the sale they forget to ask the customer what they really want or need. They simply don’t engage the customer and force feed them the products and services in their sales kit.

In most cases the products and services a salesperson is selling are needed or wanted by the customer, but they don’t get the sale. Why? This is simply due to the fact that they haven’t spent the time to find out more about their customer and tie in their products and services to address their pain points.

Don’t ask a question. Don’t get an answer.

Ask the wrong question. Get the wrong answer.

Ask the right question. You:

Before you can take the steps towards improving yourself you need to do a bit of self analysis. Get an understanding of what really makes you tick. Only by understanding yourself can you truly make positive transitions in your life.

I often meet people who tell me they are really content with their life and the way things are. This is often the fact because most people find it hard to think of anything else. However, when they have to answer these questions they often find the real issues at hand that has been holding them back from achieving what they believe to be success.

Here are 10 questions you should ask yourself and honestly answer. Write them down on a piece of paper or in a pad so you can reflect on them at a later date. Not only will this help you understand if your transformation is really occurring but it will serve as a reminder why you decided to undertake such a journey.

So what are these questions you should ask yourself before undertaking any self improvement:

1. What do I really want? - You probably have many things you want but what do you want to do with your life? Write it down no matter what it is or how important it is. Look at the things you are good at as this may help you realize what you really want to do with your life. Consider them as small steps toward your ultimate goal.
2. Should I really change? - Take the time to think if you really want to change. If you don't really want to change you will be your own enemy toward your success. Write down the reasons why you want to change as they will reaffirm you desire. These will be very powerful if you digress or lapse in your self-improvement plans.
3. What are the positives of improving yourself? - Identify the positive outcomes of improving yourself. It can be difficult during your journey of self-improvement if you don't know what to expect when you have achieved them. These positives will only help you reenforce your needs and desires to improve yourself.
4. Am I comfortable with what I'm doing? - Be honest with yourself. If you are comfortable with what you are doing it may be difficult to change. Self-improvement is not easy and will require dedication. Falling into old habits will be easy and your commitment to your goals will be essential for your success.
5. What have I done for myself? - Look at your past and record when you have done something for yourself. Mark them as successful or unsuccessful and then write down the reasons why. Is there a trend of success or failure? Analyse your responses and identify if your current aspirations to improve yourself is destined for success or failure. It may highlight areas to avoid or techniques to reuse.
6. Am I happy at where I am today? - Look at yourself and where you are in life. Are you where you wanted to be when you where a child? Has your aspirations changed? If you are happy can you still be even better? Imagine what you could be as it is what you can be.
7. Am I happy socially? - Review your social life and would you like to change it? How would you like to change it and do you firmly believe it to be possible? This will help you identify what you will need to do should you want to change in this area.
8. How much could I have? - Consider what you could have and how much you want. This could be money, friends, success or anything else. Now consider the work involved in getting this and are you ready to invest yourself towards these aspirations. You may need to change the amount you want.
9. What truly motivates me? - The key to any self-improvement goal is motivation. It could be money, food, friendship, love or something else. Pick the one that truly motivates you. Whatever it is, it will help you define your self-improvement goals to ensure your success. Use it as a reward for achieving your goals.
10. What makes me tick? - From the other nine questions you should be able to easily describe yourself and what makes you tick as an individual. Write this down as your personal statement. A description of your true self.

Now, you can be anything you want to be and through this self analysis you should have identified if you are ready and really want to change. Self-improvement is never easy but if you understand yourself it can certainly be easier. Consider self-improvement to be like climbing a mountain but when you get to the top you know you have achieved something worthwhile. You must remember that self-improvement is more than just changing yourself but something that you really want.

The ideal Manager has the following abilitites:

1. Keeps people informed
2. Listens
3. Is trustworthy
4. Honest
5. Is accessible
6. Fair
7. Is approachable
8. Is positive
9. Follows up
10. Is supportive
11. Consistent
12. Lets them know where they stand

If you would like some tools to develop in the above areas as an effective leader, incorporating leadership development training, subscribe to our website where we can show you step by step how to be an effective leader.

How effective are you at completing your workload?  Answered honestly, this questionnaire will help you to understand how efficient you are at work and areas that you need to improve on.  For each of the questions, rate yourself out of 10, with 1 being the lowest, 5 being good or sometimes and 10 being excellent or always.  You can choose any number from 1 to 10 that honestly reflects your abilities.  Grab a piece of paper and write down your scores as you go.

1. Rate the effectiveness of your time management skills.
2. Rate your decision making skills.
3. Rate your ability to understand what is going on in the organisation.
4. Are you setting goals for yourself?
5. Are tasks being managed effectively?
6. Are effective communication strategies being used?
7. Are emails used effectively?
8. Are emails stored in an efficient manner so that they can be easily found?
9. Are individuals contributing effectively to teams?
10. Are team meetings scheduled when needed?

Now, tally up your score.

What is Emotional Intelligence (EQ)?

Emotional Intelligence is about being guided by your emotions and thinking intelligently.  This will enable you to perceive, express and understand other people's emotions as well as your own emotions.  You will express your emotions in a professional and effective manner.

What are the Benefits of EQ?

By identifying and understanding the EQ of job candidates, management and staff, the results will be:

1. Better identification and response to EQ
2. Better communication between staff, management and clients
3. Management of emotions in the workplace more productively
4. Management and Employees will be less likely to suffer from negative emotions

How can EQ be Utilised in the Workplace?

 

Managers and leaders can utilise emotional intelligence in the workplace by better understanding the needs of customers and employees and being better able to represent their organisation in the public light.  These leaders set employee morale and have empathy towards the needs of their employees.

Different jobs require different levels of emotional intelligence.  Sales staff will need to understand a customer's mood and know the best time to make a sales pitch or when to keep quiet.  People working in solitude have an individual self discipline or motivation which is emotional intelligence.

According to studies, generally women have a higher sense of empathy and social responsibility; however men have higher levels of stress tolerance and self-confidence.  Men and women are equally emotionally intelligent; they just have emotional intelligence skills in different areas.

Steps to Utilise EQ in Your Workplace

1. Assess the EQ of staff, management and job candidates
2. Identify the EQ of these individuals
3. Understand how best to manage these individuals
4. Demonstrate the use of EQ in the workplace
5. Encourage these individuals to utilise EQ in the workplace

Email is something we use all the time, and you want to make sure that your message gets read in the myriad of emails and responded to, so here are some tips to help you to improve your emails.

1. What is the purpose of your email?  If it is to give the person some information about something that is of interest to them and it contains a lot of detail, then you may need to send an email.  If you require some feedback immediately from that person, then you may be better off giving them a call.
2. Summarise the objective of the mail message at the beginning and if it is long, explain it step by step.
3. If you need something to be done, inform the recipient of any due dates.
4. If you are intending on copying anyone, ask yourself if that person really needs a copy.
5. Attach the sender's message or reply to their message so they know what it is in relation to.
6. Avoid long, drawn out email conversations, a face to face conversation or phone call may be better.
7. Use the invite attendees feature in the Calendar to schedule a meeting instead of writing and sending an email invitation.  It sends the attendee an email invitation which they only have to click yes or no to save them time.
8. If available to your system, request a read receipt for a message instead of calling the person to confirm that the message has arrived.  In the e-mail, click the button and select "Request a Read Receipt for this Message".
9. If you don't get a response from the email, follow up with a phone call.
10. Proof read your email before sending.  Did you write your email in an angry manner or was it polite and the reader will understood the email?
11. Will your email be understood by the other person?  If they are unable to respond to you face to face, they may not understand your motivation behind your email.  In this case, it may be better to call the person.
12. Delivery is not guaranteed.  For whatever reason, sometimes your email does not get to the intended recipient, sometimes they just get lost in email land.  Requesting a Read Receipt will alleviate this if you have the function available and the recipient chooses to send you a read receipt.
13. Be concise as extra waffle may not be read or understood; if possible write ideas or topics in bullet points.  Can you write your email in an effective way with the most important information first?  You may even want to write the email in bullet points to make the email easier to read.
14. Out of office replies need to be taken notice of as your recipient many not have read your email yet.  You could possibly follow up with a phone call at a later date when the recipient is available.
15. Be clear about what you want them to do.  Do you want them to call you, do some work for you or sign up for a product or service?
16. When sending emails within your organisation, use task requests to increase the commitment to a task if this feature is available on your system.
17. Let them know that you are available to answer their questions and the numbers that you can be contacted on.

If you would like some more tips on organising your emails and writing emails to people you know and don't know, subscribe to this website to get emails to work effectively for you.

Workplace Efficiency Training allows you to effectively manage your time in the work place by enabling you to develop your own time management system with our time management techniques.  Different facets of your work are examined in detail to find out which areas you can improve on and what you need to do to move forward by developing your own time management techniques.  The benefits of Workplace Efficiency Training include:

1. Managing your time more effectively by planning your time as well as scheduling appointments for clients and staff through time mangement techniques.
2. Thinking more effectively by utilising mind maps to map out big projects into sizable chunks.  Make decision making easier by using a Decision Matrix to assess the priorities of a decision and the likely outcomes.  These are two great time management techniques.
3. Putting in place routines to ensure your work is done on time and without too much stress by developing your own time management system. Make your staff aware of your routines so that they may adhere to them also, they may also like to develop their own time management techniques.
4. Learn how to deal with changing priorties by developing your own time management system so you can deal with unplanned events as they may arise.
5. Learn to handle interruptions by managing your time more efficiently through developing your own time management system.
6. Manage your email in a more productive manner by developing your own time management system which will result in you receiving less email and spending more time on your work rather than constantly answering emails.
7. Learn to manage your workload more effectively through a time management system so that you can spend more time doing what you want to do rather than doing what you have to do.
8. Another time management system is to organise all your information including paper, computer files, reference materials and projects and storing them in a manner that everyone can understand and find what they need to find.
9. Preparing and running effective meetings so that everyone knows what is expected of them and how they can contribute productively to the meeting is a great time management technique.
10. Becoming a more effective Manager by utilising Emotional Intelligence, effective time management techniques, writing effective goals to achieve a desired outcome, and communicating more effectively either through written or verbal communciation.

If you would like further articles or tools on any of these areas, search this website as there are plenty of ways that you can become more efficient at work and reduce your stress.

A DISC Profiling System could benefit your business in the following ways:

• Clear identification of learning and working styles.
• To avoid the placement of 2 dominant people working together all the time as they would both want to be leaders.
• You can place people in roles which are more suitable to their behaviours.
• To get the right mixture of different people in a team when their roles and behaviours are varied and suitable for them.
• To know where your team members fit into the above categories and ensure their roles reflect their natural abilities.