Jonathan Farrington’s Blog

I want to continue discussing networking and the immense value it can bring both you and your company.

Networking effectiveness starts with a positive personal attitude and an understanding that successful networking is built on a spirit of giving and sharing and not of bargaining and keeping score.

Armed with this knowledge, we can now look at how the process of good networking actually works in practice.

The first thing to realise about networking is that everyone you meet is a useful prospective network contact. This seemingly simple fact is often overlooked, as people engage in their own private screening process before they will talk to anyone.

There is obviously a line to be drawn between talking to anyone and everyone in the street and talking to almost no one. However, if you want to network more and to do so successfully, there are many situations that qualify as “the right opportunity”.

Taking Interest in Anybody & Everybody

It is often the case that we don’t really know very much about even close people around us (let alone distant contacts). Even if we do know a little, we are less likely to know how far or deep their skill, knowledge or resources extend. If this is true of your knowledge of others, how much do they really know about you?

Herein lies the basic secret of networking success:

• You have to become interested in anybody and everybody
• You have to share more about yourself than you may have done in the past

It is out of this mutual exchange of knowledge that network contacts will connect and start to offer support, help, advice, favours, referrals and other benefits on a regular basis.

Core Processes

Developing a conscious understanding of this giving and sharing strategy can take some time and some practice.

In her book ‘How to master networking’, Robyn Henderson calls this process earning the right to ask a favour of another person, or giving without hooks. Both of these statements imply two processes that operate pretty much at the same time (and neither of them necessarily our first reaction).

The two processes in earning the right to ask a favour are:

• Giving away information (to be helpful)
• Being open for any help you may need

Let’s look at these two processes in turn.

Giving Away Information

Whether it is accidental or planned, formal or informal, random or structured, in discussion with other people the effective networker offers his or her knowledge, skills, ideas, resources, guidance or data freely – without any ‘hooks’ or expectations that repayment is due in any form. In fact, the only immediate benefit may be the pleasure to be derived from assisting someone with information that was of value to them.

Whilst the giver expects nothing in return, the receiver has a very positive experience and memory of you upon which they can act (if they so choose) in the future. If they do, either directly or indirectly, at some indeterminate time, you may receive some reciprocal benefit.

Along with openly offering any possible help and support, the effect networker does not operate as a one-way helper or super person/white knight/angel coming to the rescue of everyone else, but never personally in need of assistance. He or she also talks realistically about personal goals, tasks, challenges, problems and general issues, and acknowledges feeling vulnerable in not being able to do everything single-handedly. Being open means being receptive to help when it is offered and, on occasions, asking networking contacts if they can suggest ideas, strategies or approaches that could assist you.

Two-Way Process

These two processes operate at the same time and together to create a cycle through which ‘favours’ are continually offered to all who participate. These favours are both offered and taken in order to keep the network strong and capable of growing to include more and more people.

This process is called ‘reciprocity’. It simply means that effective networking is a coin with two sides rather than just one. You can’t have one without the other.

Successful networking is therefore about:

Giving and receiving

Contributing and accepting support

Offering and requesting

Promoting other’s needs and promoting your own needs

Trust and persistence

If you would like to read more of my thoughts on networking, you may enjoy this week’s feature article on my personal site: jonathanfarrington.com – “How to Begin Improving Your Networking Skills”.

The lead article on thejfagroup.com site is very topical considering the record number of British businesses that are sadly failing: “Ten Signs That Your Small Business Is Heading For Trouble”.

My eldest daughter, Rebekah or “Becks” – yes, I know! She may not be as wealthy but she is a darn sight prettier and anyway, I gave her the nickname long before David was born! Well, Becks is an HR Director in Orlando, (where it has been a very chilly 80F this week) and she is working on a new appraisal process for her company. This reminded me that there must be thousands if not millions of companies, world-wide who are about to launch year end assessments and next week, I will share with you some of my secrets for conducting successful appraisals.

And finally…..this week’s sales articles site recommendation is: cashflowseller - www.cashflowseller.com run by a really nice guy called Dave Geer. This is a specialist sales and marketing site and Dave is rigorous in what type of material he accepts or declines. As a consequence, the content is of a very high standard – keep up the good work Dave.

Well, as usual, have a great weekend and do get networking! - JF

When a colleague loaned me Stephen Covey’s “The Seven Habits Of Highly Successful People” many years ago, it took me about three months to get round to reading it – I now realise that I wasted those three months! In fact, I read it three times in order to ensure that I had fully digested the wisdom.

Whilst I cannot claim to have experienced an epiphany of “Damascus Highway” proportions, it did cause me to make fundamental changes to the way I conducted business. In reality, I was practising much of what Covey suggests, but I was doing so in a fairly unstructured and ill-disciplined way. However, in what I now term my “Post Covey” period, I do ensure that I audit myself regularly and I would urge you to do the same.

Covey is also responsible for the book “Principle Centred Leadership”, and many of his ideas and approaches relate to the management of people. You are encouraged to consider, as you read through my summary of his ideas, how any of it might relate to your own particular situation as an individual, as well as a manager.

Covey’s view focuses on interdependence, on what he calls “mature interaction”. When we are truly interdependent, then we have achieved and are practising all seven habits. The habits are in fact steps, leading us from dependent through independence to interdependence and making use of our innate human characteristics – moving us in effect from what Covey terms “private victories to public victories”.

In any situation, our natural human response is to look for similarities to situations we have previously encountered. In doing this, we fail to recognise the situation we are actually in and we fail to recognise opportunities and challenges presented to us. In effect “the way we see the problem is the problem” … which accounts for why we find ourselves repeating patterns of frustration and feeling unable to respond appropriately to situations facing us.

Einstein observed “The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them.” Covey develops this theme into what he calls an “inside-out” approach. This means to start first with self; even more fundamentally, to start with the most inside part of self – with your principles, your values, your motives and your character.

We each have, and can develop further, various assets. Covey’s view encourages wider recognition of these assets and the maintenance of them. Once we take for granted say effective working relationships, then we cease to actively maintain them. The result could well be a reduction in the effectiveness of the relationship and therefore of a very important asset. The key is balance between the use of any asset and maintenance of it.

Interesting entry in this week’s EzineArticles blog: Expert author Jeff Herring in his business blog said, “My position is that writer’s block does not exist. I believe people get caught up in it because it sounds so cool, and makes you sound like a writer. “Oh, I have writer’s block” etc. Do you know anyone that runs? Have they ever had runner’s block? They might not have felt like running, but they ran any way.”

Christopher Knight ( EzineArticles CEO and Founder) responded: ”Well Jeff, when you put it that way, being a runner myself, I know there are days when I don’t want to run vs. when I enjoy running…and the difference in feeling has a lot to do with my environment. When it’s sunny outside or when I’m eating very healthy, I’m more likely to enjoy running than when it’s freezing cold and I just had a burger for lunch.

I think after you’ve written many hundreds or thousands of articles, you have a writing muscle/skill that is so well developed that you forget that “newbies” who are just starting out experience something different than what you do when it comes to the feelings of ‘writers block.

For me, I have so many articles or writing ideas floating in my head at any given moment that all it usually takes is for me to stop, sit down at the keyboard and release my ideas. Usually, I’ll have a core idea or theme that has been brewing in my head before I even sit down to write the next article, blog entry or email newsletter issue.

I know that writers who fail to plan or fail to setup an environment that supports their article writing goals (if they have them) are more prone to feelings of writers block.

Perhaps if EzineArticles were Nike, instead of JUST DO IT, our slogan would be, JUST WRITE IT! ”

I couldn’t agree more and I posted a comment to that effect – I only get “writer’s block” on those occasions when I don’t want to write and that happens so rarely that it is just not an issue. Like Chris, I have so many ideas floating around in my head all the time, I just wonder if I will ever find the time to “produce” them. I do believe that if you are passionate about your subject/vocation, then writing about it and talking about it, is a pleasure.

On the subject of articles: I am a very devout believer in the power of networking, I always have been and I share my thoughts on the subject in: “The Incredible Power Of Networking”, this week’s article on jonathanfarrington.com.

On the Group site: thejfagroup.com, the feature article highlights the importance of taking care of our “internal customers” not just our external ones: “It’s Important To Keep Our Internal Customers Happy Too”.

Finally, my recommended business article site of the week is one of the more established operations: www.buzzle.com Unlike many of my recent recommendations, Buzzle is not a business or sales “specific” site but it oozes professionalism, attracts very good authors, is very selective in what it allows to be published and, a real plus for me – they are very responsive – so do take a look.

Cannot believe there are how many days to Christmas? Just as my friends in America are emptying the turkey carcass into the trash can after Thanksgiving, we are beginning to look forward to ours!

OK – good weekend and keep the e-mails coming. JF

I have been juggling a number of projects this week and I also inherited a few monkeys, which is so unlike me as I am pretty assertive most of the time. It is always interesting to analyse one’s time robbers on a regular basis to see if there is a pattern and if there is, take steps to deal with them.

Where Do Interruptions Come From?

Boss

• Who often has the power when it comes to setting priorities

Subordinates

• The more accessible you are, the more they’ll use/abuse you

Fellow workers

• Interrupt for many reasons, from social to work-related

Clients and customers

• These you can’t ignore

Phone

• Sound familiar?

Dealing With Interruptions:

When you’re interrupted, ask yourself what’s more important: the interruption or what you’re working on? You can keep a ‘To Do’ list to re-focus on what you should be doing after the interruption has gone away.

What you can also do is try to keep interruptions short – ‘What do you want, why, when, etc?’ You can also keep a log of who/what interrupts you: a pattern may emerge.

If you want to be really accurate about who or what is robbing your time on a regular basis, you will find my article: How To Identify And Banish Your Time Robbers helpful.

You should also consider the following – they work for me!:

• Be assertive; learn to deal with ‘Have you got a minute?’
• Invent deadlines
• Continue to look busy
• Stand up to interruptions
• Remove the chair in front of your desk
• Reduce eye contact
• Collect your papers, check your watch
• Go to them – this way you can leave any time
• Learn to say ‘no’
• Plan a quiet hour

And Finally – Beware Of Monkeys:

Despite being a busy person, it is easy to get sucked into doing things for others.

Often these tasks have nothing to do with your job (perhaps they interest you or you are flattered to be asked!).

Each time we say ‘yes’ to these requests we collect another ‘monkey’, namely a problem that started with someone else (who is working for whom?).

Furthermore, ‘monkeys’ eat into our discretionary time; the amount of time left after meeting the demands of boss and job.

‘Taking the monkey’ often means that you are taking on a problem. Also, you are preventing others from taking the initiative and dealing with it themselves.

So, to handle monkeys:

• Deal with them as they happen (say ‘yes’, you can help or ‘no’, you cannot).
• Do not allow them to become too many to handle.
• Feed them face-to-face only or by phone (avoid memos or email).
• Feed them by appointment only; ‘Come and see me at …’
• Assign a next feeding time; ‘Try, and if you get a problem come back and see me’.

TIP: Never say ‘Leave it with me’.

I have received some excellent feedback on the latest newsletter; thank you again to everyone who took the time to e-mail me.

New articles appear today on both my personal site and The jfa Group site: The topics this week are: “Professional Presentations” and “Customer Care & Customer Retention” All extremely readable as usual – as I am bound to say!

You will also see that the Article Vault is featured, to mark the fact that it now contains more than 100 articles in three categories: Sales & Sales Management, Leadership and Self-Improvement – well worth a visit.

Early in 2007, I will be adding a sales process section packed with downloadable tools covering everything from pipeline development to forecasting and opportunity assessment to activity management, so watch this space.

Finally, my recommendation of the week is: The Sales Vault - www.salesvault.com.

The site is owned by Slife Sales Training Inc and contains a treasure chest of articles, training tools, teleseminars, in fact, I think it must be one of the best specialist sales related sites on the internet.

The sister site is: www.salestrainingcamp.com and Daphne Slife also publishes three newsletters - “The Closer”, “The Sales Trainer”, and “Manager’s Minute”

Do take a look; I know you will be as impressed as I am.

OK, well as usual, have a great weekend and do look out for monkeys! - JF

Yes, I know, this week’s blog is terribly late, but unfortunately, my webmasters have been moving offices and everyone is behind - my apologies!

Everyone seems keen to remind me of the importance of personalising one’s blog and this week I have an excellent opportunity!

So, to my beautiful daughter Alice, “Happy sixteenth birthday my darling”

Ok, back to business. I have read a number of articles this week, all giving advice on how to overcome objections, but not one of them really pinpointed why objections arise in the first place, so here are my views on the subject:

Why People Resist And Object:

To handle resistance to your ideas and influence, you will first need to pinpoint exactly why there is an objection. Typically, people object or resist because they:

• Don’t fully understand your proposal
• Misunderstand it
• Don’t feel a need to go ahead
• Don’t recognise the benefits and advantages
• Don’t believe your claims
• Are happy to remain as they are
• Genuinely need time to think things through
• Don’t trust you
• Display general inertia

What Type Of Resistance?

Objections and resistance usually come in three identifiable forms:

A condition is a genuine, non-negotiable reason why someone can’t go ahead or agree to your proposal (eg: company policy, legal reasons, a contractual obligation).

An excuse or a put-off, is usually made because people are not convinced of the benefits of your ideas. Excuses cannot be answered – conviction is the only solution.

A real objection can include lack of money or resources, time constraints, happiness with the status quo.

Strategies & Tactics

Resistance can be very frustrating. You are anxious to get on with things and it is hard to see why others are stonewalling. This is the moment to back off and take stock.

• Listen carefully to what they are saying to you.
• Watch their body language – does it contain any hidden messages?
• Step into their shoes; try to see things from their point of view.
• Consider what would have to happen for you to be convinced?
• Plan your responses carefully.
• Take time to construct carefully thought through responses.
• Check that you have provided acceptable responses to doubts and fears.
• Seek areas of agreement and stress them, minimise areas of disagreement.

Categories Of Resistance

It is not enough to know whether people are for or against you and your ideas and proposals. The people you want to influence can be divided into nine categories and you can learn more about each category in next week’s blog.

This week’s article on my personal site is: “Recognising The Different Influencing Styles” and on the Group site, the feature is: “What Gets Buyers To Yes?” both highly readable, I am bound to say!

One of the sites that I contribute to regularly, is Michael A. Chwastiak’s The Sideroad(www.sideroad.com) Michael’s site does not merely publish articles on business or sales, but the fact that it is a “by invitation only” enterprise, means that the quality of the articles is very high – and I say that with genuine modesty - so do check it out.

If you have read my article, “Ten Suggestions For More Dynamic Sales Meetings”, you will know that I suggest at least 50% of a sales meeting should be devoted to training and skills development. With this in mind, I rediscovered an excellent product this week called, The Sales Activator®

I quote, because they describe it very accurately:

“The Sales Activator® is a groundbreaking new sales management training and development system designed and developed specifically for sales managers to use to provide ongoing sales management training, development and coaching of their sales team during sales meetings to create a sustainable increase in sales results.”

It contains more than seventy hours of development sessions, which can be delivered to meet specific needs and offers incredible flexibility.

The Sales Activator® was designed and developed by Trainique Limited, a UK based company with their HQ in Sevenoaks, Kent. The founder and MD is Nikki Owen, a very switched on lady, who has inspired a number of my articles.

Nikki is currently working on both a sequel to The Sales Activator® and with Simon Woodroffe, founder of YO! Sushi, on a range of YO! How learning products.

If you are not familiar with this excellent and innovative product, I really do recommend you to have a look here: (www.salesactivator.com)

And finally, my good friend David Bain, yes, he of buildyourownbusiness, has launched another new enterprise: www.websitepromotionmarketing.biz

WPM reviews the top free and paid for ways of successfully marketing your website online and I have no doubt it is going to be of enormous benefit to the thousands, if not millions of website owners and developers who are looking for an edge. David has a huge amount of knowledge to share and as ever, he imparts it in a way that makes sense, even to the “technically challenged” like me! My site administrators and webmaster are really impressed with it, so good luck David!

As ever, have a great week, what’s left of it – good selling and do look out for my latest newsletter, which will be published at the end of next week. - JF