New Business Generation for Recruiters

Advice given to people should change with the times. The answer to “How can I be a successful consultant” has changed in the last year or two and more than ever if you are serious about getting into, or staying in, the recruitment industry then you need to become brilliant at sales; specifically new business generation.

At this moment companies are being ever more careful and cautious regarding how and where to spend their money. The practical result for consultants is that there are fewer companies spending and those that are need even more reason to do business with you than before.

I was going to outline a number of different business generation routes in this article but preferring always to write detailed rather than shallow articles I have opted to focus on one area. . .

Vertical Market Specialisation

If you don’t have a vertical market that you specialise in then fast track your recruitment career and get one. One of the universal factors in every top biller I have ever seen is that they verticalise. If you this isn’t practical for you, perhaps you run a temp desk offering a certain candidate type to any industry then consider doing the below in a specific geographical area. The principles are then the same.

1) Realise this is a marathon not a sprint. It might take weeks of consistently calling to work your way through even a medium-sized industry. That’s okay because you are looking to develop long-term, consistent, business

2) Prepare before you phone. Specifically consider how you are going to introduce yourself, your company and your services. What objection handling lines and techniques will you use to the objections you can imagine coming up; the company isn’t recruiting, they have no budget, they have a preferred suppliers list etc

You might only get one shot at a decision maker within a particularly company so you want to be prepared to deliver powerful lines that will get their attention.

3) Get a list of companies in your chosen industry and call  all of them. You will find that a lot of them are too small or for other reasons unsuitable as clients. That’s okay. You can’t prejudge companies accurately without ringing them at least once. So ring everyone.

Trade associations are great sources of members lists and do remember the classic source of sales calls – the phone book. There are several online versions which can again produce a list of potential companies in a handful of mouse clicks. These days there is simply no excuse for not being able to generate a good target list for a sector.

Online business directories have a place in the world but approach with caution – of all the methods of generating lists they, particularly the free ones, tend to be the least accurate.

On that point please realise that every target list ever created had some dud companies on it. The information is always going to be out of date so expect that and prepare to have to be flexible when you ring. Companies merge, change name, shut down all the time. Your target list is simply a starting point.

Now the really important part. . .

4) Have a diary system that makes you money – After you have rung your companies ensure that you keep accurate records; who you called, what was said, contact numbers, email addresses, whether they are a potential client now or in the future etc

The really important part is to then record in your diary system when you are going to call them again. It could be as soon as tomorrow if you failed to reach the decision maker today. Equally it might be six months from now when their merger is expected to be finished. The when you ring them again I leave you to decide.

Old school professional sales people will recognise the above technique – sometimes called the day book system – every day a sales person opens his day book, see’s who they have to follow-up and call them. By continually putting the details into a diary or day book system everyone gets called back and real business gets generated on the second, third or later call back as you build up a relation with the client.

Business you find on your first call is luck; business you find on your call backs is sales!

There are certainly other things you can do to develop your vertical market but I trust the above has given you something to get started with.

Consider the benefits of apply the above – your sales manager will love your proactivity, you might find business simply waiting to be called and lastly you will definately develop a network of industry contacts, who if you call regularly, will give you business!

That’s got to be a good thing!

Until next time; be successful

Stephen

Trainer, Coach, Public Speaker

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Coming next on edenchanges.com – Fight Club!

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We would be delighted to discuss your corporate training or coaching needs so call us, or email us, today to discuss:

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Focus

Focus definition:

• the concentration of attention or energy on something
• concentrate: direct one’s attention on something
• cause to converge on or toward a central point

On the outside this week has been a week of opposites – on Monday I was running a head hunting course for recruitment consultants and on Sunday I will be delivering the first module in a personal development program for a martial arts academy.

What is interesting are the similarities.

At a break in the head hunt training the recruitment consultants asked me how to be successful in recruitment – a very common question. The week before I had asked Sensei Craig Long, six times British kickboxing champion and owner of the York Martial Arts Academy what made people successful at martial arts. The answer it turns out is the same thing; focus.

But let’s put some perspective on this in case I’m just getting carried away as us personal development specialists can do; so just how much different does focusing on a goal or objective make?

Consider the following two statements; one is true, one is not:

1) If you focus on a goal or an objective you will reach it.

2) If you focus on a goal or an objective you will get closer to your goal and increase your chances of reaching it and being totally successful.

Being a realist I would offer the second statement as the true one. Focus does not guarantee success but it increases the odds in your favour!

And whether you are preparing for martial art combat, building a career or working towards a personal goal improving the odds has to be a good thing!

Until next time; be successful

Stephen

Trainer, Coach, Public Speaker

NEW Addition: PS – A very interesting comment has been added by a reader – I would invite all other readers to read it and add their thoughts

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Coming next on edenchanges.com – more recruitment specific tips

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We would be delighted to discuss your corporate training or coaching needs so call us, or email us, today to discuss:

International: +44 1757 249 380 UK: 01757 249 390

Email: enquiries@edenchanges.com

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Photograph by the talented Jade Macalla,  photo manipulation by me

 

The Power of Age

The age of a typical workforce has never been more diverse. 

This was a natural demographic shift which has been accelerated by the economic climate which is requiring many senior and middle executives to find new careers paths. These new career paths are often coming at a different level or in a different sector to the one in which they had previously been working.

Which raises a lot of questions regarding intergenerational attitudes and communication. In this blog I want to focus on the strengths that each age has with a desire to smooth the communication and relations between different ages.

“In my day. . .” -When someone starts a sentence like that younger workers typically do a mental eye roll and sigh inwardly if not outwardly however I’d like to present a thought that might limit the sighing, whether inner or outer! Let’s consider some of the ’old school’ techniques of doing business. 

These are things like networking with people, professionalism, keeping a good diary system; all techniques that are still recommended. Now there might be new methods of doing them (Linkedin for networking for example) however the principles are old. So “In my day. . . ” might simply be the start of a description of a good solid business principle that could then be implemented in a newer way by the younger listener.

Equally if a person has been in business thirty years it stands to reason that they have done many activities repeatedly. The older person has probably tried, failed and retried many things many times – thus, hopefully learned some things along the way. I would suggest that there is a value in listening to their stories (i.e. their experience) to see what tips can be taken and applied today. It might be they can shorten the learning curve for their younger audience.

Speak with an open mind - If the above advice was aimed at the younger party then this is for the older one – young keen workers and executives have lots of experiences that frankly older generations haven’t had. Consequently they know first hand about things that older generations typically have only heard about.

It is very easy to deride and dismiss new views and new fads as just that; fads. However if the younger audience would be advised to listen with an open mind then the older speaker would be wise to keep an open mind also.

The younger person has a different perspective and might be sceptical, or take longer to accept, the advice presented. It’s important to limit your expectations of the impact your hard won wisdom will have and also very important to be open to the ideas being changed or challenged based on a younger point of view; and they might be right – for them.

What worked thirty years ago might still work today but possibly, with a modern twist or tweak, it could work even better.

Passing over knowledge is literally that, passing it over. The recipient then has ownership. It is important to be open minded over what they will do, or how they will feel, about it.

Everyone has a story to tell – If you have been in business for any length of time you will have stories to tell. These will range from the mundane to the truly profitable! It is powerful to listen to other people’s stories as you never know what truth or wisdom will be contained within it.

If you filter your listening through an internal age filter either mentally saying;

 ”What will this person have to share with me they are too young.”

or

“What will this person have to share with me they are past it.”

then I guarantee you will be missing out. For evidence of that I would tell you that it was a relatively young colleague of mine who once told me that ‘everyone has a story to tell’ and upon consideration I realised they were right.

Always remember age does not guarantee wisdom and youth does not guarantee ignorance. Listen to their story and then take a view.

Respect -the key point from this blog is that everyone has something to bring to the table. Psychologically people’s expectations are heavily influenced by the perceived age of the person with whom they are communicating.

It takes discipline and mental effort to change your thinking to be more open and to drop ageist filters. A factor to help is simply chosing to have enough respect for everyone so that you can listen with an open mind.

By doing so you will open yourself up to a wider world of influences, ideas and suggestions. Additionally I suspect that the respect you show to others will go some way towards lowering the age filters that they apply when you speak!

Until next time; be successful

Stephen

Trainer, Coach, Public Speaker

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Coming next on edenchanges.com – The Power of Focus!

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We would be delighted to discuss your corporate training or coaching needs so call us, or email us, today to discuss:

International: +44 1757 249 380 UK: 01757 249 390

Email: enquiries@edenchanges.com

Happy Birthday Edenchanges

One year old today!

Thanks to everyone who has visited; we are here for you!

Thanks all.

Stephen

Inspirational Dissatisfaction

Inspirational dissatisfaction was a phrase used by W. Clement Stone in his best selling book “The Success System that Never Fails.”

In a nutshell inspirational dissatisfaction is an internal dissatisfaction with how things are currently which motivates a person to change and improve things.

W. Clement Stone put forward the thought that every great achievement in the world had sprung from this. Like all sweeping statement it’s probably possible to pick fault with it and find some example of a great achievement that came about without this but that would be to belittle a very powerful concept.

In this article I would like to address sales people in particular and see how the above concept could make them better at what they do for a living.

I would think that most sales people would accept that a year from now their sales calls and meetings will be better and more effective at winning business than they are today.

If you agree with that fact then it has an interesting consequence which is this – it means that your calls and meetings today are not as good as they could be. In fact it means that you should be dissatisfied with how good they are and want to improve – which is inspirational dissatisfaction!

Assuming you want to get better as a sales person then inspirational dissatisfaction should have you analysing your calls and meetings, considering your techniques or scripts (whether written or in your head) and seeking ways to improve them.

Not doing that is like a sports person saying “I only want to be this good, I don’t want to improve.” No world class athlete ever said that!

When you are in sales you are busy. Either prospecting for new business or working hard to satisfy the client’s you already have. You don’t have a lot of time for fancy theories or pointless acronyms dreamed up by trainers. I have found that simple and quick is the way to go and for me “Inspirational Satisfaction” is a phrase that is easy to remember, widely applicable and very powerful to use. I hope you find it the same.

Until next time; be successful!

Stephen

Trainer, Coach, Public Speaker

Photo by Kotanfis with thanks.

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Coming next on edenchanges.com – The Power of Age – a blog on how you can use your age to your advantage in business!

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We would be delighted to discuss your corporate training or coaching needs so call us, or email us, today to discuss:

International: +44 1757 249 380 UK: 01757 249 390

Email: enquiries@edenchanges.com

Four Communication Tips

I think it’s accurate to say that one of the fundamental factors that shapes your life is the relationships you have with other people.

Now when you consider that the quality of every relationship, whether transitory or long term, is influenced by your communication skills it makes one thing obvious; improving your communication skills can improve your life.

The great thing about improving your communication skills is that you get lots of chances to practise. Like improving any skill it does take time, diligence and effort. Fortunately the rewards can come quickly particularly with people you spend a lot of time with.

True communication empowers relationships and enriches lives. I truly hope that the following suggestions take you some way forward on that journey.

Maintain their self esteem - There are times when you have to point out the errors that someone has made. What makes for powerful communication is to do this whilst maintaining the person’s self esteem. This is something that many parents fail at; consider the difference between the following statements:

“You stupid boy! Look at what you’ve done!”

“That was stupid! Look at what you’ve done!”

In the first example a statement was made about the child’s intelligence – a statement that when said often enough will lower their self esteem. The second statement referred to the act they committed rather than the person’s character.

Because a person has committed a stupid or idiotic act does not make them stupid or idiotic and making them think that they are does no good. Better to maintain their self esteem whilst pointing out their errors.

The example above it taken from the world of parent and child however consider in what manner you point out the errors of the people you know, whether at work or home. Do you criticise them or their actions; and which one did you really mean to criticise?

And indeed which would be more constructive to criticise?

Communication is about the response it illicits - It really doesn’t matter what you meant to say it’s actually about what the other person heard and felt. Consider those times when you have given instructions or made requests of people and been met with resistance or hostility. From your point of view it might well be unreasonable but for the other person or persons it was reasonable. It was their genuine reaction to your communication.

When giving instructions or making a request a good communicator will strive to convey a message in a way so that the other person will follow the instructions in the emotional manner in which it was intended. That takes more thought and skill than simply barking an order.

Consider that the other person’s reaction is more often the result of the communication than the content and you will realise that a) you can influence the outcome and b) you are largely responsible for the outcome!

You will be misunderstood - No matter how good you are at conveying information or requests sometimes you will be misunderstood.

Good communicators therefore endeavour to ensure that the lines of communication are open enough so that if people are confused or upset by what they have said or done that a query can come back. This way misunderstandings can be cleared up rather than being allowed to fester.

Just think about how many family arguments could have been avoided if a minor misunderstanding could have been cleared away before the other person dwelt on it for days or longer!

Equally accepting that sometimes you will be understood keeps you on your toes and helps you remember to strive for clarity in your communication. Also when it does happen the fact that you accept it will happen at some times tends to make the misunderstanding less confusing and stressful.

Every piece of communication builds or reduces your reputation – there are no casual conversations in business. It’s an arena where one off-the-cuff comment can ruin a career or relationship. Don’t get paranoid but do get careful. People get judged by the content and manner of their communication at work and it is important to maintain the reputation you want at all times.

The higher up the career ladder you go or the more of an advisory your role is the greater your reputation must be maintained. Genuine consistency is the best way forward and always remember that if you say it, someone will hear it and someone will remember it. If you don’t want that to happen then keep quiet!

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As always I trust you found the above blog of interest and practical use. Communication is an art form that we can all benefit from improving.

Until next time; be successful communicating!

Regards

Stephen

Trainer, Coach, Public Speaker

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Coming next on edenchanges.com – Inspirational Dissatisfaction and how it can help you become a better sales person! Blog to be posted later this week!

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 We would be delighted to discuss your communication, or other corporate training or coaching needs so call us, or email us, today to discuss:

International: +44 1757 249 380 UK: 01757 249 390

Email: enquiries@edenchanges.com

Cheerful Success

“The people I have seen succeed best in life have always been cheerful and hopeful people, who went about their business with a smile on their faces.”

C.H.Kingsley

A good smile and a positive attitude is like a calling card – it says ‘hi – I’m a positive, happy person work with me!’

It has been my experience that the most successful people are positive people. It certainly doesn’t make you successful on your own. Success takes a lot of other ingredients including hard work, consistency and ingenuity amongst others. What positivity seems to do is oil the wheels; make the machinery work smoother and more efficiently.

It’s much easier for people to approach someone who is being positive than someone who is downbeat. In management a positive demeanour is a real asset. Communication will be a lot smoother and you will find people more willing to be spontaneous and eager to follow your guidance.

A word of warning though – don’t go over the top. As negative as being downbeat can be so being overly friendly and happy can result in people backing away from you slowly!

Genuine, practical positivity is about taking a level headed positive view on the world and the likely outcome of events and sharing that with others.

Until next time; be positively successful!

Stephen Hart

Coach, Trainer, Public Speaker

stephen.hart@edenchanges.com

+44 (0) 1757 249 380

With thanks to Katanaz-Stock for the excellent photograph; used with thanks.

Time Management Tips

Good time management is more than a useful work skill, it’s a life skill.

With good time management you can achieve more, see more and do more in your life than you would otherwise have been able. For me when I realised that I decided to make it a skill that I would always seek to improve upon and ultimately master. The further I travel on that particular path of learning the bigger and more fundamental the topic seems to me.

Many people feel’s it’s simply a matter of have a good diary system and that’s certainly an element of it but it’s much more about you and your personality than you might at first realise.

It’s not about time - that heading is the heart and soul of real time management  – it isn’t about time. It’s about what you do with the time you have; it’s about event management.

What events, in what order and how many of them will you chose to do in the time available. That’s nothing to do with time. No one, (excepting the Doctor with his handy Tardis) can give you more physical time. We all have the same amount. The challenge is what you do in the time available; that’s event management.

Once you really take that onboard you will stop looking at the clock and start looking at what needs to be done.

Oh and the real sting in the tail is this – it’s not about event management either. . .but what it’s really about is either staring you in the face right now and you are nodding with new found wisdom or you’ll have to come on an Edenchanges time management course to find out. . .sorry but we can’t just give all the family silver away in a free blog!

Brigid was right - I had a friend at school who is sadly no longer with us but going back to a happier point in her life she was quite simply brilliant at school. Five ‘A’s at A level back when you had to get special permission to even sit five A levels! I was with her in six form and I asked her how she did it. She explained that every night; not some nights but every night, she would go home and work for one to two hours on her homework or classwork. Simple as that she said; steady, consistent work.

Now I know she was also gifted but equally I have learnt from observation, research and personal experience that nothing gets a large task done as efficiently or effectively as steady, consistent work.

And this ties very tightly into the next two points. . .

Start early and have a pre-deadline - People talk a lot of rushing at the end, getting things done for the deadlines or just after and sweet talking their way into that being acceptable. This is not effective, or stress free event management. Following the two tips – start early and have a pre-deadline – takes out the stress and provides you with more opportunities to produce quality work. . .let me explain. . .

Typically people know how long it will do to complete a task, whether it is phoning a list of people or writing a blog etc By starting early you are in fact aiming to finish early. It is not about aiming to hit the original deadline but about finishing before the original deadline. You do it to give yourself time for overruns and unforeseen happenings and when you do finish earlier than the original deadline you get to feel great and then fit something else into your schedule!

The pre-deadline is a deadline that you personally decide you want to finish by. It’s the point in time which you are working to with your steady, consistent work. Consider any top sports person and you will see that they have been working steadily and consistently towards their peak performance over a long time. Staying with the sports people for a second and consider that they need to be match or game ready before the game – not atthe game. Pre-deadlines again.

A further note combining the above three points – is that by starting early it means that you can put in steady, consistent work over a period of time. This allows for reflection and review as you progress. In the times in between direct work on the task you can give it thought and consideration. This has to be a good thing surely because after all the more thought you put into things typically the better they become.

You also have the option of spending more time on the project if you chose as you have time before the main deadline. Once you are in the last minute it’s too late!

 Time = quality – again following on from the above (real time / event management is a blend of skills and principles rather than separate points) typically the more time you put into something the better the quality at the end. More time spent on something enables more proofing and checking. Yes you might be able to do something in five minutes but if you can do it properly in ten minutes and brilliantly in fifteen minutes then consider what quality of result you want before you schedule time in to do it. Simply getting it done isn’t always enough.

Last thought-I’d say that how a person respects time and their schedule of work will say a lot about them as a person and their character. The last minute, ‘it will do’ people tend to do last minute it will do quality of work. That has a place in the world but it’s not the type of reputation I personally want to build. I’d rather schedule my time more cleverly, work steadily and consistently towards pre-deadlines and produce work of a higher quality.

That’s how I want to work; what about you?

Until next time; be successful,

Stephen 

Train, Coach, Public Speaker

www.edenchanges.com

Should you be interested in an innovative and effective time management course for yourself or colleagues do contact Stephen or Edenchanges by phone or email and let us know.

 

Dress to Impress

Earlier in the year I was in a meeting held by three of the most senior people at a client of mine. In the meeting the potential future managers within the business were being considered.

Various names were put forward and the last name presented was that of a particularly talented and successful individual. A conversation was then had about that person and one of the three people present, the managing director, was particularly negative about the person.

When asked the managing director said “Well for a start it would help if they looked like a manager. I don’t think I have ever seen them wear a suit jacket. When they improve their appearance then I’ll consider them as a potential manager. That’s their first step.”

To date that person has not been put on the management program that I designed and am now delivering for the company. And yes they have had the advice that they need to improve their dress code however they are choosing not to follow it. The company in turn is holding to its position of needing to; literally, see something better from the individual.

The truth of the matter is this – your colleagues, your superiors and your clients will all judge you, to some degree, on your appearance. The deeper truth is more shocking – you will judge yourself on how you look.

A business person who doesn’t care about their appearance will not care about their work. A business person who fails to consider how well presented they are for business will often fail to consider how professionally they act, talk and work.

Certainly that is the view that other business professionals will take of them.

A positive consequence of this is that you can develop your potential in business and thus influence your own career and earning potential by motivating yourself through your own dress code.

If you really are a business professional then show that to the world and most importantly . . . dress to impress yourself.

Until next time;

Stephen

Coach, Trainer, Public Speaker

www.edenchanges.com

(0) 1757 249 380

PS In case anyone is worried I checked with my client before sharing this story! All work done by Edenchanges is done in the utmost confidentiality.

Photography by Ksenia Korneychuk with thanks.

Four Management Tips

“Space is big, really big. You might think it’s a long way down to the shops but that’s just peanuts to space.”

So the late, great Douglas Adams wrote in The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. He was writing about space but equally he could have been writing about management.

The depth and breadth of management is immense and every manager in every organisation in the world is faced with their own unique challenges. Even managers in the same company face unique challenges as a result of the different individuals who make up their team.

So how do you begin to navigate through the vastness of management? Well read on for some thoughts.

Mirror view – take a good long hard look in the mirror – that’s the first person to manage; you. Consider what you need to do as a manager – co-ordinate people’s effort, motivation and behaviour. If you can do it well then you are a success; if not you fail as a manager. So who better to start with than the person you have the most control over?

By taking into hand your own character and personality and ensuring you do all you are supposed to do you will learn a lot about managing other people. Consider that versions of the temptations and weaknesses that inflict you will also be in them.

It also has another benefit:

Be an example – to effectively manage you need to be an example of the standards you are expecting. Few things breed discontent faster than a manager who says one thing and then does another. In the management coaching and training I have done the best teams learn, through observation, from each other.

So the second benefit of managing yourself first is that by doing that you will automatically become more like the positive example you want to be.

Whatever type of example you set your people will learn from it. You therefore must be the example you want them to be.

24/7 – Following on from the above the tough news is that your example needs to be constant. In the same way that you get paid to be a manager for the full time you are at work you are required to be an example the full time you are there.

As a manager you are in the spot light constantly; your behaviour is being judged and commented on. Not acting like a manager for a morning or a day, for whatever reason, will weaken your image and damage your authority.

Moving up the career ladder does certainly demand more from you!

Consistency – The best managers are consistent in their actions and reactions. If you want to ruin the morale of a team simply set them a task, have it started then cancel it and start another one. Do that a few times without good reason and you will see morale drop through the floor.

As a manager therefore you need to be consistent with your plans – ensure they are followed out and run the full course. Additionally your reactions to news, both good and bad, should be consistent. People are uncomfortable with unpredictability especially in those they report to.

Being consistent in your reactions will make you more approachable and will enhance communication in the team. This isn’t to say that you don’t ever change direction but rather that you don’t change casually or randomly.

In some ways a manager does not have the ability to be as free with their feelings as others. You are given greater responsibility and remuneration and have greater career potential than those that work for you. This comes with a price – you must control your actions and think them through more.

I believe the above points go close to the heart of the topic of management and whilst there is much more that could be said I trust the above advice will act as a starting point to help you manage more successfully!

Until next time

Stephen Hart

Illustration by MoonChilde; with thanks.

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For further information on management contact Edenchanges. We offer a very successful range of management training and coaching services which are suitable for any organisation looking to sharpen up its people’s management skills. For further information contact us via the details below.

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Contact Us Now

We would be delighted to discuss your management training needs so call us, or email us, today to discuss:

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Four Tips on Negotiating

Negotiation is a huge topic. To cover the topic comprehensively would take a book not a blog however the tips that follow are powerful in their own right and will give you a good starting point.

It’s a game of two halves – this is really important and so often overlooked. The first half is the psychological side. Negotiation is about discussing and agreeing with another person or persons on the terms of a trade. How strongly you put yourself forward, how confident, prepared and knowledgeable you can make yourself be and seem will influence the outcome massively.

When I train negotiation I spend a lot of time on this half of the process as a weak person will not be successful even with good techniques.

The other half is the techniques. There are specific things that you can do, things that you can say, and preparation that you can make prior to the negotiation call or meeting that will vastly influence your success.

If you did nothing else taking the above point into consideration i.e. getting yourself into a strong, confident mental place and thinking through what you are going to say would vastly help your negotiation.

Think before you pick up that phone or walk into that room!

Know three things – following on from the above you know three specific things when you start negotiating – your ideal outcome, your target outcome and your walk-away point.

The Ideal Outcome is the perfect world, couldn’t be better arrangement where everything is perfectly in your favour – price, delivery times, locations etc. It’s unlikely you will get that but you should know what it would be so you can try!

Your Target Outcome is the outcome that you are actually going for when you start your negotiations. Now it might be that your ideal outcome and target outcome are the same but very often they are not. Often the circumstances of the deal prohibit the ideal situation. Therefore you need to have set your actual target. This is the situation that you then argue strongly and passionately for.

Your Walk-Away Point is the situation that will cause you to leave the negotiation without resolution. That is the deal will fall through because anything less than you predetermined Walk-Away point is commercially unacceptable.

Please be aware of a golden rule – your Target Outcome is NEVER your Walk-Away point – for reasons that I hope are obvious!

There are a lot of further techniques that I could suggest regarding negotiation however a useful point that helps you decide on the above points is the following:

Timescale – first you need to consider your possible outcomes against the short, medium and long term business plan. Getting a great deal now that sours the relationship in the long term is not good negotiation.

So in that instance timescales are important. Also during the negotiation itself timescales can make effective battering tools. If someone wants a reduction in cost perhaps they get their goods at slower pace. Or if the deal is struck today then the terms can be more favourable etc.

I’d like you to leave you with a final technique that crosses over into the psychology of negotiation:

Solutions not arguments - Negotiation is about finding solutions; arguing is about trying to prove the other person wrong. Staying focused on coming up with a solution that works for everyone is a very powerful mindset when negotiating. It can help avoid things getting too heated and can enable you to present contentious ideas in the framework of presenting options and seeking a solution.

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As I said at the beginning Negotiation is a big topic. The ideas presented above are effective and have been used successfully by thousands of business people.

For further information on negotiation contact Edenchanges. We offer a very popular one day negotiation course which is suitable for any organisation looking to sharpen up its people’s negotiation skills. For further information contact us via the details below.

Until next time; be successful!

Stephen Hart

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Contact Us Now

We know you will want to speak to us before purchasing so call us, or email us, today to learn more:

International: +44 1757 249 380 UK: 01757 249 390

Email: enquiries@edenchanges.com

Take Action

“The world can only be grasped by action not contemplation.”

Jacob Bronowski

I’m a great believer in planning. Setting goals and objectives that can then be constructively worked towards is really important for obtaining success in life.

But Jacob Bronowski was right. Action not contemplation seizes the world.

Whatever plans you have you must put them into action. Taking the first step on a new plan or the next step on an old plan can mean the difference between achievement and mediocrity.

I’m assuming your in business to be a success; to succeed. Well climbing the business ladder has to be done through hard action.

The old wisdom goes make sure you are climbing the right ladder and I’d certainly agree. But once you have identified which ladder you should be climbing then CLIMB!

Regards

Stephen Hart

Coach, Trainer, Public Speaker

Photograph from the talented Jade Macalla with thanks

Four Tips for Selling with Confidence

There are a number of factors that go into making a person successful at selling. One of the universal ones is having a certain level of confidence.

Quite simply the more confidence you have the more you will sell. Interestingly it is possible to have too much confidence and lose sales that way but let’s keep things simply for now and concentrate on boosting our confidence and thus our sales.

I outline some tips that are taken from the Edenchanges sales and recruitment training courses.

Believe in your product – this is one of the basic building blocks of sales confidence. Presenting a sales pitch on a product you are uncertain about is a painful experience. Find something to believe in with regards to your product. Consider the benefits of it to the purchasers. If it is a lower value, high volume item then presumably it’s priced accordingly and people need that volume.

(Yes I am making the assumption that people are doing honest business and selling an ethical product at an ethical price.)

For recruiters this is fundamental basic of the job, or should be, and it has some positive consequences peculiar to recruitment. As it is easier to be confident about a good quality candidate what you will find happens is that you will seek hard to find better quality candidates. This of course then benefits you as you are representing better people which will open more doors and result in more hires. Everyone benefits!

Preparation – being prepared for your sales meeting or phone session gives you something to base your confidence on. It is a very comfortable feeling to know that you are ready for the session. In particular prepare mentally, and use notes, relating to what you are going to say first and what you are going to say to the most likely objections.

Fail with confidence – for me Zig Ziglar summed it up perfectly when he said that in sales:

“Some you win, some you lose and some get rained out.”

You won’t win every sale and that’s okay. When you realise that your confidence never needs to take a hit from a failed pitch. Just mentally shrug it off, learn what you can from the experience and make the next call or visit.

It’s a game – sales is competitive and challenging and in every way that matters it’s just like a game or a sport – even down to having coaches and trainers like me! People who play sports or games tend to play to win. That means they take them seriously, try their best etc. It also means they enjoy the struggle and the challenge and have fun.

The more fun someone is having the less self conscious they become, the more relaxed and thus the more confident they will be.

When managing sales people (or yourself) to sell do remember to consider the game aspect. That’s one of the reasons sales incentives where people can win small prizes work so well. They are fun!

So play to win and enjoy the rollercoaster ride that is sales!

♦♦♦

As always there are many other things I could say regarding confidence and sales however for now I trust the above has given you a starting point.

Until next time; be successful!

Stephen Hart

Trainer, Coach, Public Speaker

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Edenchanges Recruitment Training services are outlined on this page and the Sales Training details are available here

Additionally a unique recruitment coaching program is available at www.recruitmentwithoutborders.com and is suitable for all recruitment professionals of any level, anywhere in the world.

Twitter Virus

 

“He wrapped himself in quotations – as a beggar would enfold himself in the purple of emperors.”

Rudyard Kipling

There is a Twitter virus that is malignant and damaging. You probably know people who are infected and maybe you are yourself.

Like all powerful viruses it spreads rapidly through reproduction and it does not enhance, build or strengthen anything.

I think it has it’s origin in good intentions but my mother always said that the road to hell was paved with those and I think she was right. I have certainly, mistakenly, followed several people who were heavily infected. I have since dropped them and I am on my guard against future infections.

So what is this twitter virus of which I speak – let me give you a clue:

“Some for renown on scraps of learning dote,

And think they grow immortal as they quote.”

Edward Young

Yes that’s right. I am talking about the human twitter virus of constantly tweeting quotations or links to other sites.

*(‘tweeting’ means to publish a message on Twitter if you are unfamiliar with Twitter lingo)

I accept that it can it be useful or educational to post the occasional link. There are some things out there that deserve to be shared but the continual practice of tweeting other people’s work doesn’t make you look well read and clever. It makes you look like you have no original thoughts.

And if you are compelled to share the occasional a link or quote then how about saying why you are sharing it? Give some explanation of what that link or quote meant to you. Or maybe, and hold on if this seems too radical, or like too much work, write your own article discussing the website or quote you want to share.

This would give you something original to post and would actually add to the knowledge wealth of mankind rather than simply acting as another signpost on the information highway. Which when you simply post a link is all you are really doing.

So please, consider if you are a victim or a carrier of this virus and take steps to stamp it out. There are wonderful things out there to share and you have a chance to make them even more meaningful.

People will be a lot more impressed by your actions when they are your own rather than simply the fruits of other people’s efforts – and this holds true online and in business – originality is powerful.

Until next time; be original!

Stephen Hart

Trainer, Coach, Public Speaker

 

 

 

 

 

Four Tips for Avoiding Back Door Hiring

This is the next in an ongoing series of articles presenting recruitment advice. Suitable for everyone who runs or works in a recruitment business.

Recruitment

is an Art Form

An important point to remember with all recruitment or sales advice is that both activies are art forms. As such there are lots of ways to do them.

I only offer advice that I have either used myself or presented to others and seen work well. Consider how you can adapt the advice here for your market place and your style of recruitment or sales and I truly expect it to help you be a success.

Four Tips for Avoiding Back Door Hiring

Back door hiring is that unhappy event that happens to all recruiters at some point in their career where the client hires a candidate without informing the consultant.

[Historical note - the phrases 'back door hiring'; 'being back doored' etc are not mine but ones I have heard widely in the industry - the analogue is that the candidate has been ushered quietly in through the back door of the building away from prying eyes. You might be aware of this situation via a different name.]

There are a range of reasons why clients do this is ranging from accidental oversight to criminal intent. Sometimes we do our job as recruiters so well that the temptation of what we are offering is too much for the decision maker.

From the candidate perspective they are often presented with the bleak choice of being morally upright or getting a job offer. A tough place to be in when you need a job.

For those consultants thinking this is all about forming strong relationships with their candidates let me agree and say that despite the best possible of relationships back doors will happen. People are people and sometimes that means they are less than upstanding and moral. What you need is a safety net for those occasions when people fall from grace.

I had one client who, as it turned out, had no budget to recruit but couldn’t resist the two candidates I presented to him from his direct competitor. He hired them after telling me they had failed the interview.

Fortunately his CEO was a decent chap and settled the bill immediately I brought it too his  attention. (And put an official repremand on the record of the hiring manager). So all ended well but had I not been vigilant in my recruitment practice thousands of pounds of earnings would have been stolen from me.

So I present below four tips to help you get what you deserve and what you are legally owed:

1) Have a regular checking system – ensure that you have a regular system for checking against back doors. This should be an absolute part of your recruitment processes – as a company. If for some reason you company does not want to implement a system then put your own personal one in place for your personal units.

I suspect that once you have found your first example your company will be keen to adopt a checking system.

2) Check up on every arranged interview - I’ve had quite a few consultants tell me that they check up on the interviews that they are suspicious about. In my opinion that’s like having a fire alarm and turning it off when you are fairly happy there isn’t going to be a fire. You simply can’t know when there is going to be a problem so you check all of them.

You do that and I guarantee that at some point one will come up that will totally surprise you.

3) Check to the full extent of your terms and conditions – most recruiters have terms and conditions that describe their ‘introducing of a candidate’ as lasting for twelve months. So you check right up to the end of that time frame.

I remember clearly an experienced consultant whom I was coaching and I had him start to check for back doors. Something he had never done before. When I checked I found out he had stopped at interviews he had arranged six months ago. I strongly suggested he go back the full time span and lo and behold his first back door, worth nearly £9,000 in fees, turned out to be an interview he had arranged eleven and a half months ago.

Needless to say he religiously checks all his arranged interviews right to their end date now. (Disappointingly he never did buy me that bottle of wine he promised me to say thank you!)

4) Powerful Paperwork – this could almost be a blog topic in itself however once a back door situation has arisen your chief weapon will be your paperwork. Something that really helps is having a signed ‘Declaration slip”. This is a piece of paper which the candidate has signed to confirm that your company has introduced him to the client.

Several companies that I know of have added this as a tear off and return portion to their interview confirmation letters. If anyone would like an example of one then email me and I will send one over.

Along with the declaration slip your internal paperwork regarding the candidate and the interviewer needs to be strong and well documented. Dates are important and if you have those wonderful consultants who are terrific at sales and bad at paperwork then please try to educate them. Having a strong paper trail detailing candidate and client discussions can result in an out of court and early settlement when back doors happen.

I have literally seen thousands of pounds of billings and commissions lost when poor paperwork has prevented the truth from being provable!

I truly hope the above helps.

Until next time; be successful!

Stephen Hart

Trainer, Coach, Public Speaker

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Edenchanges Recruitment Training services are outlined on this page – do have a look and consider how they might benefit you or your company

Additionally a unique recruitment coaching program is available at www.recruitmentwithoutborders.com and is suitable for all recruitment professionals of any level, anywhere in the world.

Four Tips for Dealing with Gatekeepers

This is the next in an ongoing series of articles presenting sales advice. Suitable for everyone who has to make a sales call!

Recruitment and Sales

is an Art Form

An important point to remember with all recruitment or sales advice is that both activies are art forms. As such there are lots of ways to do them.

I only offer advice that I have either used myself or presented to others and seen work well. Consider how you can adapt the advice here for your market place and your style of recruitment or sales and I truly expect it to help you be a success.

Four Tips for Dealing with Gatekeepers

A gatekeeper is anyone who is not the specific person you wanted to speak to. Very often they are a receptionist, or the secretary but they could also be a senior director who is simply not the senior director whom you wanted!

Becoming an expert at dealing with gatekeepers is a necessary task for anyone seeking to become brilliantly successful at sales. It takes effort, practice and thought.

I outline below four tips that will help but they aren’t the whole picture. If getting to the decision maker you wanted was like crossing a raging river then consider the tips that follow as stepping stones  rather than a complete bridge. They sure will help but you’d be advised to add some more stones of your own!

1) Be polite - Bang! There you go. The first rule – Be polite. Note I didn’t say be weak or accepting I said be polite. There is nothing to be gained, and everything to be lost, by being rude to the gatekeepers. First of all you should respect everyone in business regardless of their position and second not being polite will close more doors than it will open.

I have met sales people who have happily told me about the receptionists they have bullied into submission. I also know that in the cases where I have witnessed such sales people in action I have always witnessed more negatives resulting from their approach than positives.

2) Be assumptive - This is both a mind set and a verbal tip. In your head you should be expecting to reach the person you are after and if they are genuinely not available you should be expecting help regarding how to get hold of them later.

So for example when someone is not available try asking:

“When is the best time to call?” – assumes there is  best time (People usually say “Is there a best time?” which is weaker

“When will he be back?” – assumes the person will return at some time

“What’s his mobile number?” – assumes he has a mobile phone rather than “Does he have a mobile number?”

Having an assumptive mind set makes it much easier to get results when dealing with gatekeepers. It’s all about expecting them to help, provide you with information and put you through.

3) Switch target - So the person you really want isn’t available – “Who else could you speak to?” – you can ask that of the gatekeeper “Who else could I speak to about…?” – again this is an assumptive question assuming that there will be someone else.

A stronger way of thing this is by having another person in mind when you make the call and then smoothly switch to the other person – e.g. if you can’t reach the sales director then ask for the managing director etc

4) Get their names - You should always get the name of the receptionist, pa and frankly all the gatekeepers you speak to. It makes the next call that you make to that company so much easier when you are able to use their name. You can also use their name on the call in a couple of different ways.

First you can use it when speaking to them which has a positive psychological impact and secondly when forwarded through to a person you can reference the person you were just speaking to by name.

This can be especially useful when pure cold calling and you have had to ask for the right person to speak to.When you get the suggested decision maker on the phone, let’s imagine the gatekeeper had been called Sarah, you are able to mention that

“Sarah said you were the right person to speak to regarding…”

This can be a warm way into the call.

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Further sales and recruitment advice will be given later this week and over future weeks.

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Edenchanges Recruitment Training services are outlined on this page and the Sales Training details are available here – do have a look and consider how it might benefit you or your company

Additionally a unique recruitment coaching program is available at www.recruitmentwithoutborders.com and is suitable for all recruitment professionals of any level, anywhere in the world.

I truly hope the above helps.

Until next time; be successful!

Stephen Hart

Trainer, Coach, Public Speaker

Monday – The Race Begins

It is a common practice to gripe about Monday mornings. The weekend is over and work has begun. I’ve known people who could spend all of Monday and some of Tuesday complaining about it!

And those were average people who got average results.

Now I don’t know about you but I want to be above average; indeed I want to excel at what I do.

So as I sit in my office this Monday morning I am making a mental effort to see today, and this week, in a new, positive, powerful way. The analogue from the world of sports that comes to me this morning is that the week is really like a relay race. Each day is a circuit, or lap, that leads into the next.

When I train time management I talk about the important of setting your diary and desk up for the following day before you leave the office. This means that in the mornings you can walk in and immediately start working without any delay.

In a relay race handing over to the next runner is the key moment when time is lost or saved. So right now plan that this evening, before leaving work, you will set your desk up for tomorrow. Plan to be efficient.

And this week consider it a race. Each day linking into the next day and each day empowering the next one. Know your goal for the end of the week and race towards it as successful as you can.

After all, you are doing what you do for a living. It pays for all the down time and fun – so race through the week, excel and succeed and then celebrate at the weekend!

Have a great week.

Stephen Hart

Trainer, Coach, Public Speaker

Four Tips With Voice Mails

An article for anyone in business, whether recruitment, sales, management or general business who spends time talking to voicemails.

Whether you are in sales, recruitment or business generally you will frequently be trying to reach someone and instead reach their voice mail. In my experience it’s at this point a lot of people tense up and frankly lose the plot. So let me offer some guidance that might make the whole experience more relaxed and productive.

1) Always leave a message – This is very much rule 101 when it comes to voice mails. Consider this; you have spent the time ringing the company, and often in sales also finding out who you should speak to, possibly having to debate or negotiate with the receptionist to put you through – so why on earth would you then throw away all that time and effort and not leave a message?

The time you have spent getting as far as the voice mail has already be spent. You might as well try your luck and leave a message.

Otherwise it’s a bit like going to a casino, buying some chips, walking over to the roulette table. . .and then refusing to place a bet. You simply can’t win by doing that. But you might just win if you do place a bet i.e. leave a message!

(The casino example is my response to people who say it is pointless leaving message – I’m not saying you will get called back but I am saying you might and I can guarantee you won’t if you don’t leave a message – also see point three below)

2) Prepare your message in advance - People get nervous when the voice mail starts and many people I have coached over the years have told me this is because they don’t know what to say and they are desperately trying to think of something before the beep goes. The result is they sound flustered and uncertain on their message. The really simply answer, and it makes the whole experience much more relaxed, is to know what you are going to say before you make the call.

Business people are busy and it is realistic to think that you might end up talking to an answering machine or voice mail when you ring someone. So plan what you will say in that eventuality prior to making the call. It only takes a few seconds of thought.

3) Be realistic - Realistically they are not going to call you back. At least you can’t rely on them calling you back especially if you are making a cold call to them and they don’t know you. Immediately after leaving your message diariase your call back. Do not rely on them to call you. It’s nice if they do but you can’t rely on it.

4) Slowly and repeat – People speed up when they speak on voicemails so ensure that you are speaking slowly when you leave your message. Think like a news presenter and pace out your words.

Having a message prepared helps here as you can relax and simply say what you were planning to say. At the end of the message its good practice to repeat your name and phone number. At the start of the message the listener is doing just that; listening. At the end they are more ready to write down your details.

♦♦♦

There are a few other things I could say about voicemails however the above are the key ones and should make the whole process run a lot smoother for you!

Do feel free to pass on this article or recommend it to a friend or colleague if you feel they would benefit from it.

♦♦♦

Edenchanges Recruitment Training services are outlined on this page do have a look and consider how it might benefit you or your company and if you are from a company in another industry than management training and general business skills training is also available. And we’d love to hear from you!

Additionally a unique recruitment coaching program is available at www.recruitmentwithoutborders.com and is suitable for all recruitment professionals of any level, anywhere in the world.

I truly hope the above helps.

Until next time; be successful!

Stephen Hart

Trainer, Coach, Public Speaker

David Carradine Kung Fu

David Carradine, Photo Copywrite: Jano Rohleder

“I know Kung Fu!” Neo

I really hadn’t been planning on doing this blog but after posting a very short comment on another blog about Carradine’s death I’ve had a week’s worth of hits on this blog in a day.

So never wanting to waste anyone’s time let me give my personal thoughts on David Carradine and then if you’ve come here from the other blog Sable Variety you will have something to read!

I loved the show Kung Fu when I was a kid because it showed that actually you could be a nice quiet person and still be powerful. At school and in later life I’ve met a lot of loud, angry people who feel strong by putting others down.

I’ve seen this in colleagues, managers and directors. I’ve witnessed career assassinations and put downs for no other reason than to raise the doers feeling of self worth. I’ve seen people be criticised or over looked for being too quiet or two nice.

And yet some of the strongest, most intelligent and most trustworthy people I have met have been those same quiet people. So Kung Fu for me was when growing up a moral support of the quieter life. No boasting or bragging was need according to David’s character in the shows.

I remember clearly the scene where he was waiting to be accepted into the temple. There are lots of other kids with him applying but as time goes on they start to play games or wander off. Only Caine (David’s character) is left waiting patiently when the doors finally open.

Once inside the temply the others rush forward and grab what they can. Caine again waits until asked. I could draw a few parrallels there with scenes I have witnessed on client visits across a few different industries.

So I will always remember David with affection. I didn’t follow him in his later work but his Kung Fu show was a whole lot of fun when I was a kid and gave me hope that the quiet path could be strong.

For that I’m grateful and I hope, whatever the events that surrounded his death, he is remembered kindly.

Regards

Stephen

PS If you have come here from the blog The Sable Variety feel free to stick around and explore – Edenchanges is a training company with a blog aimed at personal and professional development.

Four Tips When Canvassing

This is the first in an ongoing series of articles presenting recruitment advice for recruitment consultants and managers.

Recruitment is an Art Form

An important point to remember with all recruitment advice is that recruitment is an art form. As such there are lots of ways to do it.

I only offer advice that I have either used myself or presented to others and seen work well. Consider how you can adapt the advice here for your market place and your style of recruitment and I truly expect it to help you be a success.

Four Tips When Canvassing

The art of canvassing, or presenting a specific candidate to a specific target company, has many stages. One of the most critical is the moment you reach your target – the decision maker.

If that moment is fumbled then all the work that has gone into making the call is wasted. Assuming you want to be a success in recruitment then the question has to be ~ “How can you maximise your impact at that moment in the call?”

There are a number of things you can do – let me present four:

1) Have a Powerful Opening Statement (POS) prepared about your candidate- This is literally the first thing that you say to the decision maker after they have answered the phone (see point number 2) – a good POS will be short, have a couple of facts about the candidate you are representing and end in an open question.

You keep it short because you want to engage the decision maker in a two way conversation and you can’t do that if you are doing all the talking. Also it’s about talking with, not talking to, the decision maker.

The facts about your candidate are to catch the decision makers interest and getting him to think about how great your candidate is and the open question is to kick start the real conversation where you will be able to achieve all your objectives for the call.

2) Go straight into your POS – I’m not one for ‘Hi, how are you’ or ‘Have I caught you at a good time?’. I prefer to get straight into the call. For me the softer openers simply alert the decision maker that this is a sales call and lose you momentum.

3) Say it with confidence- Consider your tone very carefully. If you don’t sound confident then the call will fail. You have to believe in what you are saying and say it with a convincing level of confidence.

4) ‘Individual’ not ‘Candidate’- I don’t like the word ‘candidate’ I think it’s cold and clinical and I believe it has negative connotations for the decision makers. I much prefer to hear people use ‘individual’ – consider how these two sentences differ:

“I’m representing a senior candidate who is interested in…” or;

“I’m representing a senior individual who is interested in…”

Personally I much prefer the second one which I think sounds much more ’senior business’ like than the first. It has also been my experience that it is better received.

♦♦♦

There are lots of other elements that go into making a canvass call a success. Adopting the above suggestions will, I believe, be a great start towards you enjoying even greater success when doing it.

Further recruitment advice will be given later this week and over future weeks.

♦♦♦

Edenchanges Recruitment Training services are outlined on this page do have a look and consider how it might benefit you or your company

Additionally a unique recruitment coaching program is available at www.recruitmentwithoutborders.com and is suitable for all recruitment professionals of any level, anywhere in the world.

I truly hope the above helps.

Until next time; be successful!

Stephen Hart

Trainer, Coach, Public Speaker

New View Now

I am delighted to announce that the upgrades to the Edenchanges website are now complete.

The full range of offerings to companies and individuals are detailed on the site and the Edenchange corporate brochure is easily available for download from every page.

Edenchanges is a commerical enterprise and as such is always looking for paying clients. If you are a business professional then please do take a moment to review our services and consider how we might be able to help you.

And to everyone, fee paying client or otherwise,  keep visiting- the free personal and professional development blogs will continue to be posted and I truly hope they benefit you in some way.

Yours

Stephen Hart

Trainer, Coach, Public Speaker

Career Success Points

Two questions for you. . .

 

“In business, how successful do you want to be?”

And;

“How will you know when you get there?”

 

The above two career coaching questions represent the classic argument that if you don’t know where you are going then frankly how are you going to get there?

It is a very valid argument and you need to address it at some point if you are serious about your career. Unfortunately many people find it too big an issue to address and consequently brush it aside. Let me help you break it down into something more manageable.

The simplest way to do this is to change the time scale of the first question. Instead of thinking about the whole of your career consider a much shorter time span, for example this year, next year, or your next review date.

Alternatively consider it in terms of how successful you want to be in your current role or in your current company. Your current role is your next opportunity to be a success. Even if what you do isn’t what you want to do long term a success in your role now can only help your long term ambitions.

So shorten the time scale of the question based on your current situation and rephrase it to “By the end of that time how successful do I want to be?” Avoid allowing yourself the luxury of giving an answer like “Very” or “As successful as I can be” And that’s where the second question helps.

Asking yourself ““How will I know when I get there?” forces you to come up with something definitive. Job titles are the easy answer that people typically give but there are other answers that might be more relevant for you. Also job titles can be a dead end in business. I know plenty of managers who don’t manage anyone and sales managers who don’t sell.

Deeper, arguably cleverer answers might well then be event related. Such things as setting sales records, getting an industry award or achieving a high customer satisfaction rating. Events like that are the real signs of work success and are very powerful steps towards shaping a successful career.

The key is knowing what level of success you want and knowing how you will measure that. Aim over the short term and each time you achieve your career success point set your next one. This way you will enjoy a progressive career where you chart out each step.

Yours

Stephen Hart

Coach, Trainer, Public Speaker

Based in the UK and Working Globally

Edenchanges

Edenchanges is a company specialising in recruitment training and coaching.

Additionally it provides management and sales training along with a range of corporate training programs to the wider business community.

Services for individuals include career coaching, job hunting advice and interview preparation.

The Best is Yet to Come

The above is our philosophy and what that means to you is that however good and successful you have been up to now we would like to help you be even more successful.

As a company we have a very strong background in recruitment and headhunting, career coaching, sales and management.

We only train things we have done ourselves so when you work with us you are working with people who have sat in your seat and faced your challenges for real.

Combining that real life experience with our ongoing research and development programs and the result is the best training and coaching available.

We also genuinely care about helping people and we’re happy to be a little different in our approach. That’s why our website is designed as a business blog as this means we can offer free personal and career development advice on a regular basis.

Details of the Edenchanges services can be found by clicking the relevant link at the top of the page. Additionally we welcome all enquiries and our contact details are listed below.

We invite you to browse our website and conside how Edenchanges can help you achieve greater success.

Contact Details

Email

enquiries@edenchanges.com

Telephone (International)

+44 1757 249 380

Telephone (UK)

01757 249 380

Edenchanges is based in the UK and works Globally

Related links are:

www.recruitmentwithoutborders.com – a recruitment coaching service provided by Edenchanges

www.box.net/shared/mya0u51×57 – Click to download Edenchanges corporate brochure pdf format

http://www.linkedin.com/in/stephenlhart – Linkedin public profile of Stephen Hart, Owner of Edenchanges

http://www.lulu.com/content/e-book/how-to-succeed-at-job-hunting/5885865 – How to Succeed at Job Hunting E-book written by Stephen Hart, Owner of Edenchanges

Success is a Team Sport

Today is the anniversary of Samuel Morse who evolved a communication system that he then gave his name to – Morse Code.

Morse code has been used in countless occasions where regular communication was impossible – ships at sea have communicated by it, prisoners of war used it, inmates of prisons use it still and even small children have learnt the basics.

As a small child I remember playing with my Action Man figures and have them tap out SOS messages when pretending that they needed help and rescue. Great fun; happy memories.

So what has this got to do with the fact that success is a team sport? Well simply this, whilst we live in a society that is very keen to highlight the ‘winner’ it is important to realise how winners actually succeed. They succeed, just as Samuel Morse did, by being influenced, motivated and encouraged by the ideas and works of others.

Whilst it’s great to have the vision and aim to step onto the podium and be crowned the best do remember that the most likely way to achieve that is with others helping you. This help might be direct or indirect. Indeed a worthy opponent surging ahead can be the most motivation of things! And ideas that others have originated can be great stepping stones to new discoveries.

I take nothing away from Mr Morse by highlighting this fact. And certainly I, and my Action Man figures, have every reason to wish his memory well. I highlight it because it’s the truth.

And with the knowledge that great things can be created together you can start to ask yourself some very interesting questions; such as:

• Who do you know, who is already good or great at what you do, that you could team up with?
• What additional people could you bring into your success team?

And I’ll offer you a tip – possibly the people you don’t like are the ones you need to ask or keep tabs on. Jealousy can take many forms – don’t let it stop you teaming up, or being influenced by the works of talented people.

Additionally it might well be that you have something to offer to others; consider:

• Who do you know who you can help reach success?

For by being part of someone else’s team how much might you learn in turn? How much sharper might your knowledge and skills become?

So I leave you to ponder these things and whether you end up on the podium itself or help someone else end up there; enjoy your team success.

Regards

Stephen Hart

Trainer, Coach, Public Speaker

Based in the UK and Working Globally

P.S. With thanks to Kriss Akabussi, the Google Team and my wife who, knowingly or not, helped me create this blog. See – success teams work!

The Art of Silence in the Corporate World

Silence is your secret weapon in the corporate world.

Senior managers and directors, contrary to what many inexperienced business people feel, want their people to say less.

What they would really like is for their people to say the right thing, then go and do it!

We live in a world of information overload and time is being squeezed from all directions. In the corporate world less is truly more when it comes to business people chattering away.

Yet silence is something that a lot of people struggle with; equating silence with weakness. With many people thinking, “if I was really sharp and clever I’d always have something to say. People expect people to talk so I’d better say something. . .”

Sadly the consequence of this is a litany of pointless, half hearted and half thought through statements that doesn’t aid the situation at hand but rather obscures it. Worse still some of those half baked statements then get acted upon with, shall we say, questionable results!

So let’s explore this issue and see if indeed there is strength, and wisdom, in silence. . .

When no one is listening say nothing

 There are occasions where you will have something to share that actually no one else cares about hearing. It might be that you would have an audience later but at that moment in time people really are doing other things and don’t want to hear what it is you have to say. This is definitely a moment to remain silent.

Sure it can be disappointing. you have something you want to share but communication is about timing as well as content. If your current audience doesn’t want to hear right now perhaps they will later. And if not then find a different audience for that discussion.

Create space for ideas to grow

I’ve been in lots of board meetings where people clearly felt the need to quick fire ideas.  Now there is a place for that. And there is also a place for sitting there and thinking through the ramifications of ideas, taking ideas mulling them over and then putting forward a view.

In my experience managing directors and CEO’s would rather hear a great idea in a moment or two than an average idea instantly.

Have the strength to say that you are thinking through a point. You will be respected for that.

Control the situation

Being silent can give you control of a situation. By being silent you often force other people to speak. This can result in them saying more than they intended. This then give you more information to work with. Also it gives you a change to time your comments more effectively.

Also assuming you can be comfortable in your silence you will give off a thoughtful air and one of mastery of the situation. The other person, who is jabbering away, is the person people will perceive as weak or flustered.

Enables you to actively listen

One of the first thing you learn as a business coach is to stay silent whilst the other person is speaking. You are taught this for a number of reasons and one of the key ones is it enables you to listen properly. Proper listening, or active listening, is really focusing on what the person is saying, and not saying. By intentionally being silent, you can concentrate on actively listening to their words, tone, pitch andthe other subtle verbal clues they will be giving off.

Equally you will be able to observe their body language, possibly giving you a truer meaning of their statements than their words alone!

 In summary

I hope you can see that there is strength and wisdom in moments of silence. A few seconds can be all it takes to turn what would have been an average thought into a brilliant one. Give yourself that time. Impress your bosses and achieve your potential! 

Until next time

Stephen Hart

Trainer, Coach, Public Speaker

Based in the UK; Working Globally

Thanks to Natasaa for the photo 

http://natasaa.deviantart.com/

Great Careers Do Not Just Happen

It’s 6am on a Wednesday morning as I type this. The spell checker is telling me that my spelling is rubbish at this time of the morning but I guess that’s why it’s there. So as I am challenged to spell at this hour I want to challenge you for a second – think of some famous people; go on, I’ll wait. . .

Now if I join in I can think of Neil Armstrong – first man on the moon, Lance Armstrong – seven times winner of the Tour de France, Sir Alan Sugar – British business man, Madonna – career musician and pop star. . .here’s another question. . .what do they have in common?

The answer could be long and rambling but let’s keep focused and sum up the biggest thing they have in common – persistence.

You see the success that they all have, and the fame, has come as a result of their persistence. They have struggled up slowly to a level of success and then they have improved upon it. Madonna can be put forward as one of the most clever and business minded of all modern pop stars. She reinvents herself to not only keep up with new generations of singers but often to set an example for them to follow.

Lance Armstrong became one of only three men to win the Tour de France five times then, despite injury and illness, achieved something no one else had done before or since; a sixth and then a seventh win of the Tour.

Ask Sir Alan about how well Amstrad did in the 80’s and he might wince a little at the remembrance of tough times. Yet now he is known the world over as a business leader and his fortune has returned.

Oh and that just leaves Neil Armstrong; in some ways the most famous man in the world. Neil had a successful career prior to being picked for the space program. Then he was selected for a program where only the very best of the best were being selected. He had to again persist in his efforts to do everything right, to have the right attitude and to achieve beyond expectations. By again doing this he became the first human being to set foot on the moon.

So all of the above might leaves us, mere earth bound people, wondering something. Wondering where our persistence might take us. But in fact I think that is the wrong question. I think a more powerful question for us should be this – what would that persistence look like in our lives?

For Lance it would have been getting up early every morning and going for training rides. For us perhaps it is getting up early and starting work before others. Or perhaps it is finally learning to take control of our daily schedule, or reading more. Whatever it is, surely if we can recognise it then we can start to do it.

It’s now just after 6.35am as I come to the end of this blog. I’m going to get some coffee and then start on my list of things to achieve today. For me that’s about being persistent. For you what would persistency be?

Regards

Stephen Hart

Trainer, Coach, Public Speaker

Easter – A New Hope

Whether you are religious or not Easter can be a significant time for you.

We are at a point roughly a third of the way through this calendar year. New Year Resolutions are far behind and many will have been abandoned and even worse forgotten. Now is the time you can change that.

You can either go back to the resolutions of January or you can forge ahead with other new, fresh ideas. Easter is to for the calender year what a full stop is to a sentance. A chance to pause. Reflect. Make new choices.

Where ever you are in your life the rest of today can be different. You can start something new today that will last a life time. Or you can stop today something that has been with you too long.

My daughter and I were discussing addictions just the other day and we concluded that many people have them of one sort or another. Easter can be a chance for you to make a choice regarding your own personal addictions. Maybe you need to stop something or maybe you need to start something.

Would your life improve with more exercise or less television? Would it be enriched just a little bit if you phoned a friend or family member and said ‘hello’ ?

And for those of you in business. What strategic choices can you make at this time that will influence the success of the rest of your year? All good sales people know that there is a time delay between effort and results. If you are in sales or business you know that if you put the work in now you will most likely receive the benefits this year. If you wait it might be next year.

Personally I will be spending a little time contemplating where I have come from and a lot of time planning where I am going.

So whether a believer or not may Easter be a time of New Hope to you all.

Best regards

Stephen Hart

Trainer, Coach, Public Speaker

On Twitter here

The Opportunity is Now

I have a number of clients who wanted my advice on how to make it through this recession. As a trainer naturally my thoughts turn to education and the up-skilling of an organisation’s workforce and management.

I take the simply view that given there are fewer clients and those that there are out there are being more selective the answer lies in each worker being the best. Now I’m sure you are thinking that that doesn’t make sense as you can only have one person being the ‘best’ in any group. But that’s when compared to others. Each person can be the best that they are capable of being.

The challenge for us all , and we are all in this, is to realise that what we did last week, last month or last year isn’t good enough now. We need to be better, more professional, more diligent and generally sharper and cleverer than we were a year ago. If we do that then we will be rewarded in double measure.

First not only will we survive these difficult times but secondly, and this is where the opportunity lies, when the recession ends those who have consistently worked to their best will have learnt fabulous habits that will enable them to go on and be spectacularly successful in the easier times. Think about your profession and what you do on a daily basis. Do you daily strive to be the best? Now is the time to learn new, powerful work habits.

The time is now to be the most dynamic, most reliable and most positive that you can be. Not only will your current employer recognise that, which gives you security in the short term, but your reputation will grow. You will be more likely to be headhunted, promoted or simply become more attractive as a candidate when you chose to step out into the job market. And in the meantime you will survive these trying times.

So believe it and set yourself up for future success; the opportunity is now!

Best regards

Stephen Hart

Trainer, Coach, Public Speaker

With thanks to Michael Sherman who raised a question on Linkedin that sparked this blog.

Edenchanges on Twitter

Edenchanges is delighted to announce that it will be posting regular messages on the microblogging site Twitter.

This has recently become a well respected site and having received some very favourable feedback on test postings Edenchanges is committing to regular postings – or tweets as they are called – at this twitter homepage.

As Edenchanges covers a range of career and personal development topics specific days have been allocated for particular posts from Edenchanges. The schedule can be found here.

You will find full details of the decision and details of what the heck twitter actually is on the Edenchanges on Twitter page here. Or go directly to twitter.com itself – but it isn’t great at explaining itself so I’d recommend you try the Edenchanges page first!

For those of you who are a little reluctant to try another new blogging site then you will find the most recent tweets from Edenchanges at the bottom of the main Edenchanges page on the right.

This is the first in a range of new and exciting services coming from Edenchanges – watch this space!

Best regards

Stephen Hart

Trainer, Coach, Public Speaker

Voices of the Dead and Not So Dead

There was a death in the family last week and I guess that has caused me to think a little more about life and death than I would normally. I got to wondering in particular about what you take from a relationship. Not in the material sense but in the sense of wisdom and knowledge.

You see my stepfather who died last week was a successful business man who had travelled extensively, married, divorced, remarried, survived several recessions and generally someone who had lived a full life. And, being an intelligent and educated man, he learnt from the experiences that he had lived and that made his opinion one that was worth listening to.

And I wonder now whether I fully tapped into that wisdom that he had and that wondering has gotten me thinking about the other people that I know and whether I speak to them enough. It is easy to not ask a question and to have shallow conversations that skirt over complex issues but I am now of the opinion that the real wealth in our relations can come from putting our pride or our expectations aside and asking questions of those we know.

So whilst I didn’t ask enough questions of my stepfather let me share something he did say recently. A piece of business wisdom that is so simple that it often gets overlooked and yet ignoring it has brought down many a company.

“Get the cash.”

There it is. Simple yet fundamentally right. Whether you are a large or small company; whether you are international or local; get the cash. Because if you don’t your business has failed. It doesn’t matter about your sales pipeline, or even the number of sales you’ve made if you aren’t getting paid.

Now my stepfather was an accountant so I guess that was a natural thing to expect him to say but I’d challenge anyone to tell me he was wrong.

So always remember two things from this blog – talk to those who are wiser than you whilst you have the chance – whether a family member or business connection; and get the cash.

Do those two things and I guarantee success.

And Roger; you will be missed and I truly wish I had asked more questions.

Stephen

The Redundancy Escape Plan

Part Four in the Surviving Redundancy blogs

So now you have told your family that you have been made redundant and the emotional shock is, mostly, behind you. What happens next?

The answer is simple – you plan.

You draw up a plan of attack to save yourself, and your family, from the situation that you have been thrust into. Your plan should cover a number of areas:

Budgeting – if you haven’t done it before then now is the time to draw up a monthly budget so that you and your partner know where the money you do have is going to be spent. Be realistic and record everything. You might find it useful to see this blog Stemming the Flow where I outline some budget writing ideas.

Economising – no one likes to do this but your income just got seriously reduced so now is the time to cut out the non essentials. If the pain of giving something up is too much then consider cutting down. Bear in mind that retail therapy has a time and a place but now isn’t it! Remember that hopefully you are only going to have to do this for a short time.

In case anyone is confused the difference between budgeting and economising is that budgeting is the recording, in advance, of what money is going to be spent and where; economising is agreeing to spend less on things.

Job hunting – You need a job and probably sooner rather than later. However it pays to sit down and think through exactly what kind of job you want. Rushing into something now might mean further upset down the road as you struggle with a job you hate. So give some serious thoughts to what you want to do next. I have an e-book titled “How to Succeed at Job Hunting” which will be available soon – more news on that when it is ready.

Good times – So you’ve done the serious tasks of economising, budgeting and job hunting take some time to consider that life goes on. You should take some time out to plan some fun things. You might find that by not being able to purchase a ton of new things to entertain yourself frees you to enjoy some of the other things in life.

Consider how you can spend quality time with the people in your life. Does being redundant mean that you are now home with your partner? Then use some of the time, when not job hunting, to do things together. Go for walks, visit art galleries and museums or simple sit and talk in the comfort of your own home.

Is now an opportunity to do some small household tasks or spring clean the house? Do you have an attic or garage that could do with a clear out? You might indeed find some things to sell on sites like ebay as you clear things out!

I leave it to you to consider how you can spend your time. You might not have a job right now but you do have a life. I encourage you to turn your situation into as positive an experience as you can whilst at the same time you plan your way forward.

Until next time

Stephen Hart

Visibility

There is a storm raging through the business world. Large companies and small companies alike are being battered and buffeted. So what can you do to weather the storm?

Well first have a little faith. The economy will recover, industry will pick up and the job market will regrow. That’s economics for you. It never stops even though it can be a roller coaster ride sometimes!

In the meantime there are some steps you can take to avoid the worst of the storm. In this blog I want to talk about one of them, specifically; personal visibility.

This is a principle that can make or break even the best career’s yet is often overlooked even by experienced business people. The heart and sole of it is this – it doesn’t matter how good you are if no one else sees how good you are.

Let me illustrate like this – you know all those talentless people you have seen who seem to do really well? The ones who are always talking to the bosses and getting promotions for no reason that you can work out. They were visible. The bosses knew what they had done because the individuals made sure that the bosses knew.

Bosses, whether managers, directors or other title holders, like to know what people are doing. It makes them slightly uneasy when they don’t. So to have someone confirm their part in actions makes the bosses comfortable.

Further bosses are universally busy. I know it might not always look it from where you are but take my word for it they are busy! Consequently they don’t remember all the details all of the time.

So if you and Bob work on a project equally but Bob goes and chats to the boss about the project what will happen is this: The boss will remember that Bob worked on that project and you helped Bob or were involved in some way.

And this will happen not because Bob bad mouthed you but simply because Bob actually talked about the project and his involvement and you didn’t. Unfair perhaps but really all the boss is doing is filtering and storing information and they just aren’t in a position to remember everything so they tend to remember what is easy to remember and what is headlined the most. Namely Bob. Not you.

So make sure your boss knows what you are doing. Not in great detail or in a ‘kiss ass’ way but in a ‘I’m doing my job’ solid, reliable way.

The other thing you can do to really make yourself visible is go to your bosses with ideas. People doing a job often complain that they know ways that it can be done better or more efficiently. Given the economic environment efficiency is at an all time premium so go to your bosses with ideas. Especially ideas that affect things outside of your immediate area. Someone who is concerned about the company at large is always a valuable asset. And if you have ideas about improving your immediate job then absolutely go and talk to them.

Do bear in mind that possible there are reasons that things are done in a certain way so present ideas not demands. When you do, whether or not your ideas are implemented, your personal visibility will be increased. Consistently doing this will help your chances of weathering the current storm and in the future it could be a career defining habit.

Until next time;

Stephen Hart

Picture by Chaand; with thanks.

Your Potential

Let me give you a New Year gift.

What I’d like to give you is something that I would normally save for when I was acting as a life or career coach with you. Something valuable; something powerful.

It is a statement that applies to everyone who reads this blog and to everyone who doesn’t. For this is a statement that once you realise it’s truth, and it’s significance, will make you see yourself and everyone else on the planet in a different light.

So here it is, please read it slowly and savour it:

“You have not yet reached your full potential.”

Does it make you smile? Does it make the future seem a little brighter? Does it give you a little hope?

Who ever you are, what ever you are, you can do more, see more, and be more in 2009 than you have before.

We are not machines with maximum operating efficiencies; nor are we just people – we are limitless people. We, each one of us, has the potential to be amazing.

So I am not going to tell you that you can achieve whatever you want in 2009 but I am going to tell you that you can achieve more of what you want.

You can, and it is your choice, become more of a saint or a sinner as you wish. Whatever virtues you have, you can develop them; whatever vices can equally be increased. It does come down to choice, and I will talk more about that over the coming months.

‘You have not yet reached your full potential’ is my gift to you all this New Year period.

May it unlock potential and open your hearts and minds to possibilities.

Best regards

Stephen Hart

Thanks to John for the splendid picture