Here’s a little story about a half an hour of my life that I’ll never get back. A colleague called to talk over a concern. She had a strong referral to a prospective client, so she called her and left a message. A couple of days went by and when she didn’t get a call back, she called again. Two more days and still no word. We’ve all been there, right?

So we ended up in a long conversation about what might be going on. And in the process we theorized at least ten different scenarios. Maybe the prospect was out of town, maybe she changed her mind, maybe she got sick. Maybe the person who referred her had misunderstood her level of interest, maybe she was expecting a call from a different person, maybe my colleague wasn’t clear about why she was calling, and on and on.

After about half an hour of this, we simply hoped for the best and hung up. Within minutes, I heard from her again. The prospect had emailed andndash; she was definitely interested and they set an appointment. She’d simply been busy and apologized for the delay.

The drama was over, mystery solved, but here’s what occurred to me. When we don’t have information, we make it up. We invent things. We hypothesize. We hallucinate. And most of the time, what we make up and invent is negative. For some strange reason, when there is a gap, a vacuum, we fill it with a negative.

Hmmm, makes you wonder what your employees are thinking, when they don’t have all the information. As leaders and employers, we all want fully engaged, committed, productive employees, right? Is it possible we might forget to provide employees with some critical information so that they CAN be committed, engaged and productive?

Like letting them know the company’s strategic direction. Like processes and procedures. Like, um, expectations. Wow, there’s a thought! Let employees know where we are going, how we need to get there, and what we expect them to contribute along the way.

I think about the half hour my colleague and I blew on the phone just trying to figure out why this person hadn’t called her back (not that I didn’t enjoy it!). Or course, we didn’t think of it as wasted time. Surely not, we’re professionals! We were “problem solving.”

Just imagine how much wasted time might be going on in your business when employees don’t have the information they need. Worse, when they don’t know where to go for it. When their conversations turn negative, I bet they don’t think of it as wasted time any more than I did. They think they are problem solving too.

Here are three simple things you can do to fill that information vacuum:

• Involve your employees in strategic planning. Then they not only know the direction, they help shape it.
• Explain to employees how the company makes money (and how you lose it). They may not have a clue about the things that keep you up at night, like wasted time, wasted materials, wasted opportunities
• Define your expectations for each employee. Be sure each person knows how they contribute to the company’s success and profit.

And the next time you find yourself without information, I hope you won’t fall into the same pattern as I did. Fill in the gap with a positive, not a negative.

Our thoughts and words matter.

If you ever doubted this, take a look at the fascinating book The Hidden Messages in Water, by Japanese researcher Masaru Emoto. He photographs water at the point of freezing, when it forms crystals. Each crystal is surprisingly unique.

Even more surprising is the fact that when someone directs positive or encouraging thoughts toward the water, the crystals become beautiful. When someone directs critical or negative thoughts toward the water, it forms unsightly shapes.

Add to the novelty of this experiment the fact that the human body is composed of 70% water, and it really gives us something to think about.

We’ve known for many years that too much stress can make us sick. Now we understand that negative thoughts and words may have an equally detrimental effect. What we say to others has an effect on them, either positive or negative.

As leaders, this awareness is particularly important right now. The business climate is tougher and more competitive than it was a couple of years ago. The economy is less than robust (I’m trying not to be negative!). We may be working with smaller staffs, and trying to accomplish more with less. Flat is the new up.

Increased expectations plus decreased resources equals stress for both you and your employees. While a little stress is actually energizing, unrelenting stress is immobilizing, destructive and decreases productivity.

Just when you need employees to be more committed, engaged and productive than ever, you very likely have fewer resources to motivate them. No budget for bonuses, not even a budget for extra time off.

The good news is that studies show the most effective motivation is completely free. Employees are highly motivated by feeling like they contribute to a shared goal and are appreciated for their efforts. Positive reinforcement costs nothing but a few minutes of your time.

Take a look around and see who needs appreciation. Make it a point to use the simple words, “Thank you” or “Good job.” Be as specific as possible and relate your appreciation to specific behavior. “Thanks for getting that report done quickly. The data you provided helped us make the right decision.”

The benefits of positive reinforcement apply to you too! Our self-talk affects how we think and feel. Listen carefully to the talk that’s going through your head and notice how much of it is negative. Are you telling yourself you are incapable? Or disorganized? Or confused? The next time you catch yourself thinking negative thoughts about yourself, remember the photographs of the water as it freezes — that is what you are doing to yourself, or to others.

We can choose to create beautiful crystals or unsightly blobs. We can choose to write off Emoto’s book as a novel, new-age experiment or we can choose to acknowledge that words and thoughts have power. Our power can be positive or negative.

Our energy goes out into our workplace and into the world like the ripples from a pebble thrown into a still pond. Are our “ripples” that we put into the world fostering more negative or more positive behavior?

Positive words and appreciation are needed more now than ever. I invite you to experiment with this idea yourself. Take a week at your office and make it a point to use positive encouragement with your employees, your co-workers and yourself.

Let me know what happens!

Twas the week before Christmas…and I had just 30 minutes between appointments to squeeze in the very important task of finding a new pair of earrings to wear to a Christmas party that night.

(Why is it a woman can have 40 pairs of earrings, but still doesn’t have just the right style to go with a certain outfit?)

I flew into a local department store that I knew would have a huge selection, convinced I could immediately find just what I needed and — get in, get out.

I quickly scanned the displays for the style I had in mind (always a mistake to get an image in your mind and then try to find it!), while at the same time hoping a real, live sales person would show up to help, to speed up my search.

The minutes clicked by as I searched.

I finally spotted a sales woman and I asked her where to find a specific brand, which I thought would make just the style I was looking for. “We don’t carry that brand anymore,” she said, and walked away. I’m serious, she walked away.

“I guess I’m on my own,” I thought, and continued to look until, defeated, I headed down the mall to a women’s store that usually has a small but stylish collection of jewelry. I rushed in and around the racks of clothing, looking for their jewelry display, again wondering where the salespeople were.

Though I didn’t see the jewelry, I did spot two salespeople, busily folding sweaters on a table, deeply engrossed in a conversation about their personal lives and completely oblivious to me. Apparently, keeping the clothing neatly organized took priority over a willing customer with credit card in hand.

So there I was, in the thick of what should be the best selling season for retailers, and I have money to spend (not much, but nevertheless…), yet I can’t find anyone who appears to be interested in selling me what I need.

Surely we’ve learned from this difficult year that selling our products and services is what makes the world go round. Let’s make sure that we haven’t taken the sales process for granted.

Heading into a brand new year is a great time to take a fresh look at your sales process. Here are four things you can do to start the year off on a good note:

1. Do an in-depth analysis of your current customers. Look at the top 20% and define a demographic profile. What do they have in common? How did they come to be your customer? A referral? Your website? An ad? Word of mouth, based on your great reputation? Where do they live? What do they buy?
2. Focus your marketing efforts and dollars on reaching people who meet the demographic profile of the top 20% of your customers. Where do you find them? What do they read? Who do they listen to? How do they make their purchasing decisions? What influences their choices?
3. Train your sales staff in needs-based selling. Develop relationships with prospects by asking questions that will tell you what is important to them. Speed? Quality? Service? Find out what is missing for them (what is their point of pain?), then fill that need. Voila! A sale!
4. Last and certainly not least, take initiative. Selling is not about being pushy, but it’s also not about being shy and waiting for people to come to you.

How many prospective customers are out there, in the same position I was (over a simple pair of earrings), needing your help?

When you are filling an unmet need for someone, they are grateful for your help. I know I would have been grateful for a little help finding those perfect earrings! (Yes, I did eventually find a pair, and yes, the party was worth the trouble!)

Take care,

P.S.  If you’re intrigued by those four steps above, you’ll LOVE my new e-course, Become a Marketing Rockstar.  Check it out here…

Some of my best ideas come to me in the shower.

One Monday, following a too-busy weekend, I was dragging through my morning routine, wishing I could take the day off, relax and watch movies. Free association took me to the thought “Wouldn’t it be great to be able to make a profit watching movies!”

Then I had this flash of insight — I could do just that!

That spark of insight led me to develop one of my favorite leadership skills workshops for women, “Leadership Lessons from the Silver Screen,” where I use movie clips to demonstrate essential leadership skills.

After that I started keeping a pencil and notepad handy in my bathroom! I hear other women say they have the same experience. They get their best ideas in the shower, driving in the car, or just before they turn out the light at bedtime.

It turns out there’s an explanation for that, but I’m going to spare you the neuroscience research details. (Aren’t you glad!) Known as “strategic intuition” these momentary flashes of insight actually draw from both the right and left sides of the brain, but most important, happen in an “empty space” that allows us to see a bigger picture of the future.

These moments of strategic intuition are valid, can be trusted, and often lead to amazing idea, solutions and advances for your business. Even better, once you understand how they happen, they can actually be cultivated.

In times like these we need all the strategic intuition we can get to solve problems and find new ways of doing business in a world that’s changing beneath our feet.

I’d love to hear your stories of strategic intuition. How and when you get your best flashes of insight? How have your experiences of strategic innovation helped you solve a problem or create a new idea? Send me your stories.