The Cutting Edge Japan Business Show

Speaking in front of others makes many people tongue tied and nervous.  They struggle to get through a simple presentation, internally, in front of their colleagues.  A public audience is something t…

We can control 100% of our attitude.  Yes, but often we don’t.  There are few things we can be 100% in control of and our attitude would have to rank at the top of things we really need to control.  …

Time is of the essence.  Patience is a virtue.  Worthy aims but sometimes we mix these aspirations up in sales.  We are not moving quickly enough and miss the chance.  At other times , we are impatie…

Don’t think of a pink elephant.  Did you think of one when you read that sentence?  It shows how easily we can we swayed by images.  If I had said don’t think of the letters p-i-n-k-e-l-e-p-h-a-n-t, …

We find it frustrating when we have good ideas or suggestions but all we receive is rejection or even worse criticism of our ideas.  Part of it can be the culture of the organization.  I was listenin…

Pushy salespeople are very, very annoying.  They try to bug you into buying and we really don’t like it.  We may actually buy, but we don’t like them anymore and probably won’t become a repeat buyer.…

Know Your Target

I was at a speech recently, given by a very prominent  person, an extremely experienced speaker, to a very prestigious audience.  It should have been a triumph, but it was a fizzer. …

The disappearance of Executive Assistants and Secretaries reflects the dominance of the keyboard and a DIY approach to work content creation by leaders.  Once upon a time, the majority of boss conten…

A LinkedIn post I read recorded how an American sales guy got off the booze and the client entertainment rat race.  It got a lot of coverage and comment because it obviously struck a chord with many …

Most talks and presentations we hear, we cannot recall.  Why is that?  We were there presumably because we had an interest. The presenter no doubt made an effort to share something of value with us. …

Switching Your Mindset About Putting Things Off

We know we should do that project or piece of work but we resist.  We may even be bold and get it into our To Do list, maybe even attach a high priorit…

Salespeople don't set the price of what they sell.  This is usually an obscure outcome decided by someone else inside the machine.  It might actually be an elaborate process, where multiple variables…

Getting up in front of people is confronting for a lot of speakers.  Beady eyes are boring into you, a sea of serious faces is scary, the lights are painfully bright and the pressure feels intense.  …

Beginnings are important in business.  It might be the start of a new calendar year, a new financial year or the launch of a new project or initiative.  Often we get straight into the launch and prob…

Three woeful contributions from salespeople include "we have this widget", "you should have it?" and "we can discount the price".  What a mess right there.  Yet, left to their own devices, this is th…

Every performance is better when practiced beforehand and presenting is no different.  We don’t do it for a multitude of “good” reasons, none of which abrogate the need to make the time and put in th…

“The Devil Is In The Detail” saying, reflects ancient wisdom about taking careful notice of small things.  The semi-amusing reflection on this saying is that it was created centuries ago, when we can…

Cold calling is an unheralded intervention into someone's already packed schedule.  They are distracted by the phone from what they were concentrating on, so they are automatically annoyed.  They are…

Hard and Soft When Presenting

It is so easy to become “Johnny One Note” when presenting.  We get locked into a modality of voice and body language power. We just keep hammering away with that mode …

Smart people in sales are a problem.  They have expansive brains, intellectual curiousity and strategic depth.  They are quick to spot the big picture solutions for clients.  Internally they are a sy…