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Business Coaching for Success

Do you ever get to a stage where you begin to get short of leads, and the pipeline is looking a little empty. I imagine it happens to us all from time to time, and I am no exception. The reason in my case is almost always because I have become a little complacent, and possibly even a little bit lazy in maintaining my activity levels, to ensure the pipeline is constantly being topped up.

So what do I do? I find that invariably the best way forward for me is to increase my levels of networking and doing one to one meetings with people who I meet at these events. Sometimes I am uncertain about the likelihood of a networking meeting actually providing good contacts and leads, and sometimes I’m pretty unsure about the validity of the one to one meetings I set up, but almost always between these activities, positive leads soon start to appear again. It isn’t always directly from the meetings I go to, but just by re-energising myself through contact with new people, I find that my enthusiasm is re-kindled, and the positive energy I start putting out, soon reaps rewards.

I’m pretty sure it isn’t just me who finds this method beneficial. One of my clients has been a little down recently, sales have been slow, and he was becoming a little disgruntled. So I invited him along to one of my networking meetings, and I could tell from his body language he not only enjoyed it, but also was making some useful new contacts. In fact I have heard that within the last few days since the meeting he has generated some really good new leads and some significant orders.

Coincidence you might say, but I know it has a good influence on my results, and I can feel the positive effect it has on my general demeanour every time I attend an energetic new group. So next time you are wondering what to do to increase business, why not find a networking group and go along to see if it works for you. And if you want some help in finding the right groups why not give me a call.

I am reading a very interesting book at the moment called “Triggers” by Marshall Goldsmith. Not a western novel as the name might suggest, but more about the things that spark positive and permanent changes. The most recent section I have been reading is about how to trigger change in other people, which is naturally extremely relevant when managing a team.

I have recently written about leadership and getting your team to take responsibility, and this is another tool which I believe could be very useful. Essentially he talks about “magic moves”, of which three, apologising, asking for help and optimism are fairly self explanatory i.e. they are highly likely to produce a positive behaviour in people. However, the fourth is a little different, and is described as asking active questions, but more than this it is getting people to ask themselves active questions. He explains that when your staff does this, they become more engaged, and instead of being able to blame the environment or someone else, it is down to them to take full responsibility for changing things. This is not just a theory, he has done active studies to prove it, and a couple of examples are, instead of the passive questions “How happy were you today?” and “How engaged in your work were you?” They suggested “Did you do your best to be happy?” and “Did you do your best to be fully engaged?” As I said it is therefore down to the individual to make sure they do something about it, by setting their own goals and direction.

So if you are having trouble getting your team to be more engaged in your business, perhaps you should consider getting them to ask themselves active questions. The results would seem to extremely positive.

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