This Week in the World
Quote Yourself / Conversational vs. Formal /
Predatory Sales Rep
Quotation Exercise: Imagine coming up with 365
original quotes – words of wisdom and inspiration that others would
want to read. That’s how I’ve been investing my time recently.
It’s an interesting exercise. Try creating a few and see what you
come up with. It will focus you on what you have to say. It will help you
to refine your message into clear and succinct statements. It will help
you develop PowerPhrases. I'd love to read what you come up with. I invite
you to send your quotes to me.
Conversational vs. Formal: To create my phrases, I
reread my books and previous postings. People often ask me what the
difference is between my books PowerPhrases and How to Use PowerPhrases. I
tell them the biggest difference is that PowerPhrases is more formal and
substantive, and How to Use PowerPhrases is more conversational and
playful. I would describe the writing style as feisty.
Which style is better? It depends on what you want
to accomplish. Remember, PowerPhrases are targeted. That said, I do want
to add that I don’t alter the mix of my styles as much as you might
think. My technical and business audiences like to be entertained. My
feel-good audiences like getting information they can use. Your listeners
will like a mix as well.
Predatory Sales Reps: The Poison Phrase of the Week
this week tells the tale of my unpleasant phone encounter with a predatory
sales rep. One main clue that this was not a man I wanted to do business
with was the implication that he alone could get me results, and if I
didn't jump on his "fabulous offer" immediately, the "big guy" would never
let me have the service at that rate again. Another main clue was that
while I was drawn in by his promises, I also was looking forward to
getting of the phone. Read today's Poison Phrases for more.
Post a comment in our blog, here.
PowerPhrase of the Week
Thanks for Not Downloading That
I wanted to download an eBook but was concerned when
I realized it was an .exe file. I asked my son/computer expert. He
responded with the following words,
- Thanks for not uncautiously downloading and
running an .exe. It's sound thinking like that that's kept your (and my)
computer from having a complete meltdown requiring reinstallation.
I like being acknowledged,
and his acknowledgement reinforced the practice of cautious computing.
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Be your own advocate. PowerPhrases: The Perfect
Words to Say it Right and Get the Results You Want tells you how.
Poison Phrase of the Week
If I Could...Would You Be Mad at Me?
It wasn't the first red flag in our conversation,
but it was a bright one. The sales rep asked me,
- If I could bring thousands of paying customers to
your website, would you be mad at me?
I responded by informing him that while I was
interested in his services, I didn't like that kind of leading
questioning. He acted affronted.
I do teach the use of questions to get people saying yes in my book How
to Use PowerPhrases, but not in this way. I tell a story about a friend
who maintained his job after a major error by asking his boss a series of
questions about her perception of his previous performance. She
acknowledged that his overall performance was excellent and was convinced
to overlook his recent error.
So what's the difference between what I recommend in
my book and what I experienced yesterday?
The vendor's question contained the assumption that
he could get me thousands of paying customers and asked a no-brainer
question about my emotional reaction. The purpose was to get me
questioning the wrong thing, and give an automatic yes that would
predispose me to using him. My friend asked genuine questions that
addressed the appropriate issues. His questions got his boss to answer
questions that put his recent error in its proper perspective. The vendor
sought to obscure, my friend sought to clarify.
After I passed on the offer I searched the web for
the sales rep and his company. I found a plethora of posts on their bad
business practices. My impressions were confirmed.
Learn more about asking "yes questons" in How to Use PowerPhrases.
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Ask Meryl
Set-up to Fail
Meryl,
Help. When I took my job, they told me no real estate experience was
necessary. Yet I get bad evaluations because I don't have any. My boss
has me call a taxi and then doesn't go down to meet it and gets mad at me
when it leaves. I'm asked to schedule flights and I gave him 20 options
and he was upset that I didn't give him enough options. My boss told me to
do his work first so I started doing that, and then he complained that I
wasn't getting the associates' work done. It goes on and on. I went to HR
and the boss got mad that I did that. I think he's trying to get me fired.
For example, he's asking for work done in a certain way, and when I give
him what he asks for, he tells me it wasn't right. It goes on and on. Can
you help me?
Meryl Responds
There are some situations that are just plain
unworkable and it sure sounds like you’re in one of them. You have
given me numerous examples (too many to include in this newsletter) of
situations where you have been set-up and used as a scapegoat. When I hear
stories that are as extreme as yours, I wonder how anyone succeeds in that
position. I don’t see much hope in being able to PowerPhrase your
way through it.
I suggest that you cut your losses and negotiate a
resignation with good or at least reasonable references – ones that
say that the job description changed after they hired you to require real
estate experience which you did not have.
I wish I had a magic formula for you but I
don’t. I think you need to find a new position where expectations
are clear and reasonable.
Comments
PowerPhrases helps you find out what situations are
workable and what situations aren't.
Got a question? Send it to us at SpeakStrong. We
answer as many questions as we can personally. We may use your question in
the newsletter anonymously unless we are asked not to. When we respond,
please email us back to tell us you received the response and give us
feedback.
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