Business Skills 360 Selling your Ideas (Part 2)

Discussion Questions
1. 2. 3. What type of personality or attitude are you naturally drawn to? What types of attitude or behavior will make you less likely to believe someone? When someone appears very surprised by your ideas, how do you feel?

Vocabulary To adopt to decide to start using a particular idea, plan, or attitude; It is important to adopt a confident attitude when doing a sales presentation. Positivity the attitude that positive things do and will happen; if someone is positive, it means he or she is optimistic and focuses on the good rather than the bad; Brads positivity makes everyone else in the office feel happy about coming to work. To gravitate to move naturally toward; to be attracted by; People gravitate toward strong leaders and shy away from weak ones. On board - if someone is on board with a plan or idea, it means he or she accepts it and will work toward its goals; The manager held a meeting to try and get everyone on board with the revised sales targets. Empathy true understanding of another persons emotions or situation; Because Sal had also been fired, he could feel empathy for my circumstances. Red tape official forms, processes, and routines that may seem unnecessary; You wouldnt believe all the red tape we had to cut through just to get a business license. Side whenever there are two opposing teams or ideas, we can call them sides; if someone is on your side, it means they are on your team, so to speak; I found it very difficult to choose a side in the argument because I disagreed with both viewpoints. To get it to understand; After the trainer explained for a fourth time what we were supposed to do, I finally got it. Inclusion inclusion is the noun form of include; in social situations, inclusion is the idea of people feeling they are part of a group; The company held a barbecue and family day to give the new employees a feeling of inclusion. Tack an approach, method, or way of doing something; Television advertising didnt seem to be working for us, so we decided to try a different tack.

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Shock a feeling of great surprise or disbelief; My reaction to the announcement that our company had just been sold was one of complete shock. Absurd completely without logic, sense, or truth; Cameron laughed and called the accusations against him completely absurd. Jaw drops If your jaw drops, it means you are completely surprised, either positively or negatively; My jaw dropped when I found out that our CFO earns $500,000 a year. Up to scratch meeting a minimum standard; usually we say that something is not up to scratch to say that it is not good enough; The project leader said the designs werent up to scratch and asked for them to be redone. Punchline in a joke, the punchline is the final funny statement, but in an argument, the punchline is the final important point; After spending an hour describing the economic situation, the speaker gave his punchline about reducing costs. Transcript Hello and welcome back to Business Skills 360. Im Tim Simmons, and Im glad you could join me today for more tips and techniques for selling your ideas. Now, you know your ideas are good, but how do others? You need to make them think or even just feel that they are good. Last week, we looked at some techniques you can use. In this show, well look at attitudes that you can adopt. This isnt exactly about what you say, its about how you say it and the feelings or impressions your delivery creates. The first attitude is positivity. People naturally gravitate to positive people and tend to avoid negative people. So, make a habit of doing simple things like saying hello to people in the hall and at the water cooler. Keep discussions upbeat. Show excitement about your ideas and keep smiling. Theres a lot of power in a smile, and you should use yours to cultivate an atmosphere of positivity and warmth. People will be drawn to you, and, as a result, to your ideas. Another attitude that will bring people on board with your idea is empathy . This is about showing people that you understand how they feel. Not just that you know what theyre talking about, but that you have felt it too. If that person is feeling frustrated by red tape, describe an experience in which you also felt frustrated by red tape. They will feel youre on the same side. Show people that you get it, and theyll be more likely to believe and follow you. Empathy creates a feeling of inclusion, or belonging. And there are other ways of doing this. Have a welcoming attitude. Your great idea is more than just an idea. Its an idea plus all of the people who believe in it. In this sense, your idea has its own little club, and everyone who believes in it belongs to that club. So talk about we rather than I and make people feel like accepting your idea admits them to a group. People want inclusion and fellowship. You can make them feel this with a welcoming attitude.

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Okay, now there are other tacks you can take when youre trying to sell someone on your ideas. One of them is shock and disbelief. This is a very useful tool for making people feel that another idea, maybe one that disagrees with yours, is useless or absurd. It goes something like this: Did you hear what the consultant said? He actually thinks we should spend more on marketing. My jaw dropped when I heard that. People who might have thought the idea was good will have doubts. After all, if you think the idea is crazy, then other people probably do too. One more attitude or impression is something called the last resort. The last resort is the only option. It may not be a perfect option, but its the only one remaining. Your idea might actually be one of many, but if you talk about it as though its the only one left, people will stop considering other ideas. Well, weve looked at all the alternatives and none of them are up to scratch, then you can hit them with the punchline, So I guess we really dont have any other choice You see how this works? People will get the impression that all the other options have been explored already. So, remember that bringing people on side doesnt just mean giving them reasons to believe you. It also means adopting certain attitudes to create an emotional response. Thats all for today. If youd like to test yourself on what weve just covered, have a look at the myBEonline.com website. There youll find a quiz about todays show as well as a complete PDF transcript. So long, and see you again soon.

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Review 1. Which of the following are attitudes that can help you sell your ideas? A. B. C. D. E. F. G. 2. 3. empathy frustration shock thoughtfulness positivity welcoming superiority

According to Tim, Theres a lot of power in a ___________, and you should use yours to cultivate an atmosphere of positivity and warmth. Why might you tell a story about being frustrated? A. B. C. D. to show people you understand how they feel to complain about something to show that you are not positive about everything to exclude them from a group

4.

What does Tim say is the purpose of shock? A. B. C. D. It makes people laugh. It makes people feel welcome. It makes people feel your ideas are fantastic. It makes people feel another idea is crazy.

5.

To make people feel included in a group, Tim suggests using A. B. C. D. you rather than we them rather than us we rather than I it rather than them

6.

What does the attitude of last resort show people? A. B. C. D. that your idea is better than others that your idea is the only one remaining that your idea is logical that your idea is inexpensive

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Review Answers 1. Which of the following are attitudes that Tim suggests can help you sell your ideas? A. C. E. F. empathy shock positivity welcoming

2. According to Tim, Theres a lot of power in a ___________, and you should use yours to cultivate an atmosphere of positivity and warmth. Smile 3. Why might you tell a story about being frustrated? A. to show people you understand how they feel 4. What does Tim say is the purpose of shock? D. It makes people feel another idea is crazy. 5. To make people feel included in a group, Tim suggests using C. we rather than I 6. What does the attitude of last resort show people? B. that your idea is the only one remaining

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