Results tagged “perception” from stevenfeinberg.com
Is your boss hungry? If your job is on the line you must make the decision makers hungry. What do hungry people do? They eat. Dinner is served. And you better be serving something they want or you will be sent back or in these times, sent packing.
For Star Trek fans, the analogy is to be Scotty, the Enterprise spaceships’ chief engineer. Whenever the ship was about to blow up, Captain Kirk would ask for, "More shields (or power), Scotty."
Scotty’s reply was never ‘no problem.’ Rather,
Scotty would say, “I dunnot (Scottish accent) know if I can do it Captain.”
Captain Kirk: "We need this up in 10 minutes."
Scotty: "It will take at least 30 minutes."
Next scene we see, the ship is saved, once again. Scotty is a hero and lives (keeps his job) for another day.
Just a movie and TV show? Of course, but survivors make themselves indispensable. When your boss discusses issues this is not the time to say ‘no problem’. That may sound strange since most advice would be to think you should say, “Yes, sir/ma’am.” You certainly don’t want to alienate anyone, but your contribution should be positioned as key to the survival of the organization, now and in the future. You must make them hungry (without being obnoxious or foolish) and you are the only one who can feed them. If it really is no problem you are expendable sooner rather than later.
To make them hungry, you must now be adaptable, you must be the one who allays their fears of failure.
Your Advantage-Maker skills must be exercised and refined.
Shift time to produce urgency for your contribution.
Shift interaction to change the game from your need to the company’s need.
Shift perception to take on a winning mindset and influence perceptions to see you as the go to player who can multiply your value to the company.
Shift structure to shape behavior, reducing wasteful inefficiency and cumbersome conflict, this will align and advance the organization for speed, simplicity and ease.
Your talent and contribution matter. Don't forget about quenching their thirst and giving them a dessert as well. Anyone who doesn't think that people aren't spending on sweets in the recession hasn't looked at how waistlines grow in times of stress.
I wonder if you are hungry for knowing how to influence your boss, if so that should confirm that creating desire is most important for you to learn now.
Decision Triggers: My 2 Cents Worth
I call it ‘My 2 cents worth’ influence strategy. But it can be worth immediate cash to you as it has been worth millions when applied. A $15,000 luxury hot tub spa was producing slow sales. In determining what to do to move sales Dr. Cialdini, an influence strategist, asked the salesman, “What would an addition to a home cost in this neighborhood?”
“About $70,000.”
Next time a prospect asks begin your answer with, “What would an addition to your home run you?”
and immediately after they say $65 - $75,000, you add in this information, “Well this luxury spa is like an addition to your home, and its $15,000.” Sales skyrocketed.
them from prospects to buyers.
When you put in your ‘2 cents worth’ make it worthwhile for the customer or your colleague. This is replicable. The masters of influence use it every day.
Imagine 3 buckets. One with hot water, one with ice and one room temperature.
Place your hand in the hot water and then into the room temperature bucket, it will seem cold.
Place your hand in the ice water and then into the room temperature bucket, it will seem hot.
Bucket of Ice Bucket of Perception Bucket of Hot Water
Hot? Cold?
Depends on what came first
Whatever came first affected the ‘bucket of perception’. It was the contrast that determined the ‘bucket of perception’.
Ask yourself compared to what?
The contrast principle is also the foundational thought process used when creating winning brands. Listerine compared to Scope. Bayer compared to Tylenol.
If you are not using the contrast principle I can assure you are bungling opportunity.
And this strategy only costs your “2 cents’ whether you use it with your customers, your peers or your boss.
Advantage-makers spot opportunities in problems - and a recession can be a real problem. And there's the opportunity. Everyone wants their problems solved.
Most people think about taking advantage of an opportunity, shift to focus on how you can take advantage of a problem.
People became millionaires during the Great Depression. And while I don’t know any personally, I don’t think they were all robber barons. Some businesses typically do fine, such as automobile and truck parts.
Be an Advantage-Maker inside your organization. You can either create the horse to ride or pick a winning horse. Your choice. Finding a horse to ride may be faster, simpler and easier at this time.
The first Advantage-Point:
Adapt and Stretch - the person with the widest range of responses wins. Non-adaptiveness is costly.
It's not the best who wins, its who is most adaptive
While most people are engaged in cutting and reducing, Advantage-Makers put their attention on creating more value. Now is the time to distinguish yourself in the marketplace compared to the cut and reduce crowd.
Dr. Fleming discovered peninsulin when a pesty mold killed his bacteria culture. Not a good thing. Fleming made a dimensional shift in his thought process and saw the mold not as a problem but a solution to another problem - that of ridding unwanted bacteria. Solutions are waiting to be found in the recession. Shift your efforts to providing targeted advantages for your customers.
A person with attention deficit disorder takes his malady - short attention cycles and becomes a master at disaster recovery – ever ready to multi-task and fix things rapidly.
What solution is looking for the problem you face?
Money is on everyone's mind now.
Use the code of the advantage maker: time, interactions, perceptions, structures. (T.I.P.S) with the two main problems people are concerned with: surviving and/or saving money. Focus on shifting one or a number of the T.I.P.S. and you may find your opportunity knocking.
For example, shift payments into the future, it will reduce resistance and accelerate sales. Speed is also a time shifting advantage. Taking too long will undermine your responsiveness to customers. Remember customers are really willing to leave now, applying the different shifts can create new value.
During the recession efficiency becomes the catchword.
There is nothing more efficient than creating an advantage.
Do you notice what is there or what is missing?
First, why does it matter?
1) A technology manager accepted the vendors judgment that shutting down the data center was just like the time before. This time the system crashed and results were disastrous, millions of dollars lost. They missed the small but significant difference.
2) A sales V.P. viewed all challenges as the same old, same old. He almost lost his job because the CEO didn't think he could develop new strategies. Fortunately, we identified and changed his tendency to categorize experience with what he already knew.
Second, do you sort for sameness or difference?
Do you always notice how things are similar to what you already know and do? What's the relationship between this job and the last? Same or Different?
In other words do you look for matches for your current knowledge?
When a presenter is speaking do you find yourself agreeing with most of what they say? That's just like ...
or
In your thinking do you always find counter-examples. Ways in which what the speaker is saying isn't accurate.
Are you noticing the mismatches?
The sameness sorting pattern looks for commonalities.
The difference sorting pattern notices what stands out from the rest of the group.
Another way to say this is that there is a tendency to either match with, or mismatch what is already there.
Advantage-makers are fluent in both matching and mismatching.
If you want to spot opportunity and create advantages it is useful to mismatch, that is, sort for differences.
Advantage-Makers walk into situations with their ability to actively sort for differences. They note weaknesses, threats, and problems, as well as opportunities that others aren’t seeing. Instead of seeing what is expected, they notice what is unexpected. They are able to spot anomalies and then take advantage of them. The point is not to get caught in any rut.
Practice noticing what is different.
In a task or negotiation, ask yourself,
1) What appears obvious, along with what am I not seeing?
2) In the unlikely event that a problem occurs what will we do?
3) When you are stuck shift from sameness to mismatching, or from difference to matching.
You can spot opportunity but only if you notice difference.
How
do you categorize experiences?
Do you notice what is there or what is missing?
First,
Why does it matter?
1) A competent technology manager accepted the vendors judgment that shutting down the data center was just like in the past. The system crashed and results were disastrous, millions of dollars lost. A small difference had a huge consequence.
2) A
sales V.P. viewed all challenges as the same old, same
old. He almost lost his job because the CEO didn't think he could develop new strategies. Fortunately, we identified and changed his tendency to categorize experience with what he already
knew.
Second, Do
you sort for sameness or difference?
Do you notice how things are similar to what you already know and do? In other words do you look for matches for your current knowledge.
When a presenter is speaking do you find yourself agreeing with most of what they say? That's just like ...
or
In
your thinking do you notice counter-examples. Ways in which what the
speaker is saying isn't accurate.
Are
you noticing the mismatches in the case.
The
sameness sorting pattern looks for commonalities.
The
difference sorting
pattern notices what stands out from the rest of the
group.
Another
way to say this is that there is a tendency to either match with, or
mismatch what is already there.
Advantage-makers
are fluent in both matching and mismatching.
If you want to spot opportunity and create advantages it is useful to mismatch, that is, sort for differences.
Advantage-Makers
walk into situations with their ability to actively sort for differences.
They note weaknesses, threats, and problems, as well as opportunities that
others aren’t seeing.
Instead of seeing what is expected, they notice what is unexpected. They are able to spot anomalies and then take advantage of them. The point is not to get caught in any rut.
Practice noticing what is
different.
In a task or negotiation,
ask yourself,
1) What appears obvious, along with what am I not seeing?
2) In the unlikely event that a problem occurs what will we do?
3)
You can spot opportunity
but only if you notice difference.
- Steven
2. Easier - Is it easier to use your product than the competitors? ie. Mac's vs. PC.
