Easy Adjustments
No one likes to have their cheese moved. Change is usually annoying but it can be much less disruptive if we are able to secure an easy, initial victory! Oftentimes the biggest impediment to change is inertia.
Get things moving in the right direction by looking around for an easy win. When things appear to be going sideways, “big” victories, earned from easy adjustments, will create the necessary momentum to encourage addressing more difficult adjustments.
Small, insignificant (at least to us) details may be crowding out our success. To ensure that this isn’t the case, and if it is, that it doesn’t continue to happen, we’ll take direction from our objective…managing expectations and providing perspective, so that our Guests may make well-informed decisions to ensure their interests are protected.
Remember, paying attention to detail is important here!
For example, when bringing your Guests into your office, are you watching how they react, as well as their bodylanguage? Do they look comfortable, or ill-at-ease? Coming from the guy who always wears shower-shoes in hotel rooms, I can attest to several business offices that could easily benefit from a little attention. If your space isn’t clean and tidy, it isn’t inspiring comfort or confidence in your Guest’s minds. If they look as though they’re afraid to touch anything, for fear of sticking to it, it may be time to tighten things up, a little. If your space looks like a fly-by-night tax preparation service, ask yourself, “would I want these people in possession of my sensitive, personal, private, non-public information?” Boxes of forms and contracts, laying around, doesn’t create an image of organizational ability. Deal jackets which appear to be cross-pollinating, aren’t likely to instill much confidence, either. Remember, you are managing their expectations, good or bad! When you choose to haphazardly (and improperly) dispose of a sensitive deal related document in your trash can, because it was hard to read, printed wrong, or whatever the reason, know that your Guests are watching you very closely.
This all at a time when you’re attempting to provide them with the perspective that it is in their best interest to allow you to secure their financing…that you are the authority on all matters handled in the business office…and that you can credibly make a recommendation regarding the products you offer to protect their interests.
Think about it this way, who would more accurately represent authority to you…a hobo eating a ham sandwich… or an individual in a polished uniform? Your office space (as well as the clothes on your back) is your uniform. What does yours say about you?
But please, leave the expensive pens in the drawer! They don’t send the best message.
Think about it.
Good luck and good selling!