Getting people to talk is nothing bad but the problem arises when they just don’t shut them up. As a matter of fact, if you are a good listener then people will certainly talk. They’ll open up their minds and reveal all sorts of intriguing information. You’ll get to listen to stuffs that they didn’t even ponder over of saying before you, and even aid them invent and explore stuffs that they didn’t know that they knew.
But, not all the time speaking up helps you or the person speaking. Therefore, it is seldom needed to make these people shut. Three tips on shutting these people are put forward below:
1. Nod with acknowledgement that you have heard what the person is trying to say by means of repeating back the key words uttered by them in the same exact manner. Avoid paraphrase and parrot-phrase! The words that the people use are more significant to them and identify their meaning in a precise manner, in other case a paraphrase will constantly keep on changing the meaning a bit. The speaker might feel the requirement to keep talking unless they are comprehended well, once they get the feel that you’ve heard, they’ll certainly stop talking if he/she is not a moron.
2. Always ensure that what your objectives are for a particular meeting right at the outset and provide others with a genuine chance to do exactly the same. You might even ask questions like: “What would you prefer to have happened in this very special meeting?” Always remember to listen to the answers! This overall process might consume a few precious minutes, but as a matter of fact, it will be time saving effort in the long run by exposing the difference in opinion in regard to priorities that can then be taken into consideration.
3. If one of your colleagues goes off at what appears to be a tangent, then simply asks the colleague: “Is there at all any kind of relationship between and?” The tone of your voice is pretty crucial here. Quite a sharp voice is too likely to silence the majority of the determined talkative personalities, on the spot- make use of it sparingly.
Quite a bit of skill and expertise is involved in regard to questioning and listening efficiently. You require listening to the experts in order to open things up and simultaneously shut things down. You require knowing when to ask few more questions about what’s desired, and when to make a proposal to get way forward.
So, these are three simple techniques that can aid you a great deal in keeping the mouth of the unwanted shut when they should keep silence.
Archive for the ‘Motivation’ Category
Three Simple Techniques to Shut the Unwanted Voice
Ways to Appreciate your Customer
This is a perfect time and I would like to take this opportunity and congratulate all those business farms who have made huge profits last year and planning to top that this year. When you look carefully into your business, and look for the factors that helped you to earn the profit, you might see, super managerial skills, flawless planning and future predictions of the market situation played great roles in your success. But what if all these things remain constant but there are no customers to buy your products? I do not think you will be able afford a nice cigar next year. No offense but if you leave out customers as a business company we are all doomed. I guess this is enough to prove that customers are the main reason why you are making profit. now as customers have been helping us for a long time to make profit, it might be time for us to give them something back.
May it is high time that we start appreciate our clients and customers and build stronger relationship with them that would bring us more profit and give them more satisfaction. There are ways you can actually do that and I will try to explain a few of them.
You can use greeting cards to convey your appreciation to your customers. Cards are normally very expressive and are liked by all. You can use cards for strengthening your relationship with both your clients and your employees.
So many people know the benefit of using personal notes. These are effective as they have a touch of personal relationship. You can have no better option than a personal note as a follow up to a big deal done by a client, a great performance by an employee or for a customer who needs to be cheered up.
There are always a group of customers who earns you the major amount of profit. you can always go ahead and invite them for a social get together or a party on special occasions. You need to express that they are more than just customers to you. Spend some quality time with them and you will see the outcome for yourself.
You can always keep the warmth of your relationship with the clients through small gifts like flowers or books. Besides that you can also keep a day when you will formally express your appreciation to the customers who have been with you for a long time and make all your clients happy.
Make your Business Planning Effective
Business is no more a matter of luck where you invest and if you are lucky enough you will make profit. You have to work hard and work smart to make a business successful and profitable. You need to have precise and effective business planning. One of the most important parts of business planning is positioning. Positioning will actually assist you to make your other business planning work. Where you want to set up your outlet, your whole seller and where your customers will find your services play a very active part in the success of your business.
As a business person and as a representative of your business company, you need to be spot on with your commitments and promises. This is very important as, this is one thing that can earn you credibility which will be badly needed by your company if you want to succeed as a business company. No matter how good your competitor’s schemes are, if you have earned the credibility from the customers then you have a group of loyal customers who are highly unlikely to leave you.
The business plans which are made considering probable changes in the future tend to be more successful. You should be able to predict any major changes in the market and keep your planning flexible enough so that you can alter and upgrade your plans to cope with the changing market.
When you make a decision, think of it as a commitment to yourself and to your employees and customers. You need to execute it properly and successfully. Changes in the technology can create an obstacle towards your way of success. For this reason you must always keep some flexible methods and space where you can make adjustments to keep your company afloat.
Before beginning any sort of business, be it a grocery shop or be it a automobile company, make sure that you have taken all kind of factors in consideration and try to discuss your business plans with appropriate people and listen to their criticism and upgrade your plan. Hope the tips will be helpful for you and all the best.
Motivate your Employees for Better Production
There has been an argument about the motivational factors of the employees of a company as long as companies have existed. So many theories have been put forward and so many objections have been there. But one thing has been a granted truth. That is employees are the most important part of an organization.
There has always been a huge debate about the idea that money can be a motivator. In so many famous and respected theories of employee satisfaction you will not find money as a motivating factor. Again so many managers of good companies have admitted the fact that money does motivate some of the employees. We also find another factor that motivates employees and that is job satisfaction and happy employees.
The idea that money motivates employees is not completely true again it’s not invalid. Actually it varies person to person. If you have 500 employees in your company then you might find 200 of them are motivated by money and other 300 are not. The mind set and requirement of those 200 are different from the 300. Also the level of motivation will differ within those 200. That means if you increase the salary of 200 people by $3000, you will see a different level of increment in production among them which means same money motivates them differently. Some are highly motivated and some are just motivated. Another set of scholars say that, there are two types of factors such as motivating factors and demotivating factors. Money can reduce demotivation but cannot motivate. So it can be said as the neutralizing factor. But that is not all. But before going to that, let us talk about the other factor that motivates the workers.
Employee satisfaction or employee happiness is unanimously accepted factor of motivation. An employee is likely to be more productive if they are happy and satisfied with their job. There are ways to make them happy with the job. Giving them importance, respect enough space, a chance to have a say in important decision making process and incentives can work wonders in motivating the employees and make them more responsible and sincere to their work. When it comes to incentive, you will have to make the employees feel that they are appreciated for their effort. This can be expressed by giving them some gifts. May be a holiday at a great destination at companies cost. It can be money but it does not have to be money. Read the mind of the employee and find out what would satisfy him more and go with it.
Become an Appreciated Ex-Pat
The acceleration of globalization has given the multinational companies an opportunity to expand their business beyond the border. There are so many companies who have started their production plant in different countries. This has brought about the concept of ex-pat managers. You cannot think of a successful carrier without crossing the border. Most of the good companies send all their managers abroad at least for once. And the improvement of your carrier might depend on that. So you need to know the ways to become a successful ex-pat.
Stay focused on your area of expertise. Once you go to some other countries as an ex-pat, initially your local officials are likely to question everything that you do or every move that you make. Not everyone likes to be bossed by someone not belonging to their nation or culture. But be focused and do things rightly. Once they realize that you are good at what you do, they will start respecting you
A very efficient way of making life a lot easier is to learn the local language. So many ex-pats would finish their tenure without doing that but you should at least put an effort to learn the language. This will make the locals appreciate you and you will have a better grip on the surroundings. But make sure unless you have mastered the language, don’t use it in serious situation.
When you are working outside your country, it’s not only you who is dealing with a different culture. The people working with you are also going through the same. Make sure you represent your culture in a nice and appreciable manner.
Once you are out of your comfort zone, double check your instinct. Language is a great barrier. People might want to manipulate you using the language and give you a wrong idea about what is going on. So be sure before you decide something basing on the given information.
A different country means a completely new set of ideas and assumptions. You might think that what you assumed is obvious but you might be questioned and explain why you think so. This happens because of the different ways of life and the belief. It might also happen that what you take for granted to be the way, is no longer the way to go in that country. May be they are advanced or they are yet to reach there.
Make sure you do everything right and have faith in yourself. Be confident and open minded and you will enjoy being an ex-pat.
