Respect , courtesy and acknowledgement

When you say thank you, treat people with respect and courtesy it is good for business. I don't know about you but I always acknowledge every email I get. (From people I know...not spam!)
That's why I work 18 hours a day I think!
I just feel is anyone writes to say how much they enjoyed a presentation or wants to ask me someone it is pure common courtesy to reply.
Ignoring phone calls and emails from people you know or have met is like passing them in the street and just walking by. You just wouldn't do it

COMPUTERS....Do they rule your life?

We have had problems this week. We couldn't get on the Internet, couldn't send or receive emails. Result? We couldn't talk to the world...our clients, our prospects our suppliers....each other!!
One little problem it turned out to be but what disruption and upset. Everyone in the office walked around as if their best friend had died. And you know what, unfortuntely, in our life today that how it seems when the computers go down.
The worst for my team was they had to talk to me instead of sending me emails...now that was bad!

So, have YOU been on the telly?

I was today- on BBC2 Working Lunch. Here is a BBC link at least!

Ever been to Barcelona?

I have just spent 4 days working and playing there.
What a fantastic place. Put it on your agenda and itinery for a break there very soon
Full details here
We stayed here. Expensive but then the client helped pay for some of it!

Confidence R Us

Nigel Percy wrote this to me

The C word comes up a lot when I’m training and speaking! Whether it’s Leadership, Personal Development, Communications or ‘harder’ skills like planning, presentations or problem solving, one of the most common personal objectives of the delegates is “I’d like to have more confidence”.

One thing I know for sure; if there was a store called Confidence R Us then it would need to be open 24/7. What’s more, it would make a fortune, every day. So I normally ask them, “OK so where does confidence come from?”

Very quickly most audiences will tell me that it is from having knowledge and skills based on using that knowledge over time. For others, it’s the feedback from other people; “wow, you’re good at that” or “you seem very confident with that”.

When I question this belief, people generally give me an example of when they failed at something because they lacked confidence. I give them Orr’s Law back*.

Here’s the secret.

Just get yourself some confidence. Believe you have it before you have the competence – little kids do. If you believe you have it, you have it. This tactic gives you the confidence and the courage to persist until you can do it. I know this is a decision we can all make because we do it the other way round all the time. Think of when you last gave up after 5 minutes and then said “Forget it. I just can’t do this”.

An instant, made up belief. As soon as you say that, your belief system kicks in and your subconscious goes about proving what you believe. Just do it the other way.

* Orr’s Law – “What the thinker thinks, the prover will prove”

I'm going to lose 18 pounds...

no not money but weight. I have just changed my diet to stop eating piggy type food and become more sensisble.
How? By trying herbalife food...watch this space.
Catherine introduced me to this. Interested? View here

"You're never fully dressed without a smile"

Your clothes may be Beau Brummelly
They stand out a mile --
But Brother, You're never fully dressed Without a smile!

Who cares what they're wearing
From Main Street, to Saville Row,
It's what you wear from ear to ear
And not from head to toe
You're never fully dressed without a smile!

(From the show "Annie")

When we talk about preparing for an event I think the words above are just so so relevant

I'm in Sheffield tonight. Why?

Have a look here

Whenver I book a hotel they ask if I have any special requirements....

...and I always say in the online comment box "I would like a warm smile on arrival!"
How many times to I get it? Probably 4 out of 10.
Why oh why do these hotel chains spend millions on the buildings.


The beautiful reception area with its mirrors , marble and chandeliers which we don't really notice. We do all notice that very first inter-action though...so so important when we arrive after a long journey.
I write this just after a similar incident. Don't get me wrong everything since that first few seconds has been spot on.
I arrived. The receptionist was on the phone to my right. Her call finished she moved across the desk to another person booking in and straight passed me as if I wasn't there.
All it wanted was some eye contact and a smile or a quick "won't keep you a moment" or any sort of acknowledgement that I existed and was about to help pay her wages!

How important is your relationship with your suppliers?

Everyone is obsessed about the relationship with clients.
"They pay our wages"
"There's no business with customers"
"The customer is King"
Heard them all and there are lots more.
But I believe the relationship with one's suppliers has to be just as important.
I spent yesterday with 4 of of my key suppliers.
My solicitor Andrew Zatman of Zatman & Co
My business consultant Graham Hudson of Exceptional Business Results
My web site designer Brian Portlock of Gembiz
My search engine optimiser expert Michael Jones of Your Visibility

4 nice people to do business with. We had fruitful meeetings and they helped me dramatically achieve a number of issues which we are tackling at the moment. I am an expert in my field, they are experts in theirs. I hope the value I give my clients matches the value I will be getting from them in the next few weeks.
Treat your suppliers with the same respect you treat your clients and you will get a great retun from the money you pay them.

It's fascinating what you learn when you are sunbathing

I have been away with all my family which includes wife, childen,their partners and my beautiful granddaugher Aimee. One lies there listeing to the banter which included everyone taking to aimee, 15 months old.She doesn't talk yet, just points and nods or shakes her head. It's all so easy for her becuase we all only asked closed questions.

having a nasty mind I wondered how Aimee would have coped with "What do you want to play with, your doll or teddy bear?"
A little more about questioning

Closed questions

There are two definitions that are used to describe closed questions. A common definition is:

A closed question can be answered with either a single word or a short phrase.

Thus 'How old are you?' and 'Where do you live?' are closed questions. A more limiting definition is:
A closed question can be answered with either 'yes' or 'no'.

Using closed questions

Closed questions have the following characteristics:

• They give you facts.
• They are easy to answer.
• They are quick to answer.
• They keep control of the conversation with the questioner.

Definition

An open question can be defined as:

An open question is likely to receive a long answer.

Although any question can receive a long answer, open questions deliberately seek longer answers, and are the opposite of closed questions.

Using open questions

Open questions have the following characteristics:

• They ask the respondent to think and reflect.
• They will give you opinions and feelings.
• They hand control of the conversation to the respondent

Open questions begin with such as: what, why, how, when, where,which, who.

Using open questions can be scary, as they seem to hand the baton of control over to the other person. However, well-placed questions do leave you in control as you steer their interest and engage them where you want them.

When opening conversations, a good balance is around three closed questions to one open question. The closed questions start the conversation and summarize progress, whilst the open question gets the other person thinking and continuing to give you useful information about them.

An extract from my book "I hate networking!"

This is a short extract to show readers the style of the book

Fancy buying it?

View here for details

For the 'lazy' reader we have it in audio format too. Here are the details

Chapter 7 - Building relationships

The event 7:05 p.m.

“Hi, Will, I’m back.”

“Tell me all about it then.”

“Mike was precisely as I thought; welcoming and friendly. The first ‘challenge’ however was that he didn’t introduce me to the others.”

“And why do you think that was, bearing in mind you thought he was an experienced networker?”

“I know precisely why. He couldn’t remember their names!”

“Correct. So what did you do?”

“I asked him if I could introduce myself.”

“And did you?”

“Yes, I met Stewart, Celia, Joanne and Robert. And, using your techniques, I repeated their names and as you can see, I learnt them.”

“You really are making some progress here, Brian. By the way, how do you think Mike felt when you asked if you could introduce yourself?”

“I’ve not even thought about it.”

“Well, I’ll tell you. He was mightily relieved and tremendously grateful. Why? Because you got him out of a big hole, saving him a lot of embarrassment.”

“Now you mention it, I suppose I did. Hopefully he’ll remember that and the next time I bill him, he won’t quibble about the price!”

“What else happened?”

“Well, the group sort of split into two shortly after I arrived. I ended up talking to Robert, Celia moved off and Mike, Joanne and Stewart started talking scuba–diving …of all things.”

“What’s wrong with that then?”

“It’s a business-related event, it all seemed a bit frivolous to me.”

“I’d actually say quite the opposite. We’ll deal with what to talk about soon. But, tell me, how did your conversation go with Robert?”

“All right, I suppose.”

Kintish on holiday has time to reflect

I am 59 and just love helping people become more effective and confident networkers. But I can't keep doing 180 presentations per annum not only in the UK but continental Europe too.
"All work and no play makes jack a dull boy"...and all that!
But we have so many new ideas and just not enough person resource.
What is the answer?
We are going to franchise our system. The training is all modular , the marketing has a system ( we practise...to the letter...what we teach and our back room is fully systematised.
a perfect model for a franchise.
Interested?
View here first
Interested more? Call me, Will Kintish on 07939 205719 to explore ideas