Online Internet Marketing Training – Being Effective
Posted by admin on Mar 4, 2010
Like many things in life, becoming effective is an ongoing process. We can’t just wake up one day and decide to be effective, it doesn’t work that way. Much like our Direct Sales Marketing, we must actively work at it.
The process starts with ourselves, working from the inside-out.
Most of us believe that we see things objectively and therefore we see things as they truly are. This is not the case. We see things as we have been conditioned to see them.
How we see the world is a reflection of our past experiences, and the teachings of those around us.
We all form habits in our lives, some good, some not so good. Effective people work to replace the bad habits with better ones. This takes time. In most cases, a habit takes 21 days of concentrated effort to develop.
In order to become effective, we must start with ourselves. Only then can we move on to being effective with others.
The first step is to become proactive. We must realize that we are our own creators, we are in control of our lives and how we spend our time. This is essential for our Internet Income Opportunity.
A major consideration here is examining our Circle of Influence, what we have control over. These are the things we should concentrate on. The result of this concentration is that our Circle of Influence expands, causing the areas over which we have little or no control to shrink.
The basic human endowments of self-awareness, imagination, conscience, and independent will give us the tools we need to become proactive in our lives and our Online Marketing Business Opportunity
The next step is to look ahead and see where we want to end up. Where do we want to be in 5 years, 10 years, etc? Once we know where we are going, we can determine what we need to do to get there.
This is about leadership – doing the right things.
All things in life have two creations: the mental first creation (planning); and the physical second creation (acting).
A personal Mission Statement can be extremely useful to help us plan and act.
The third step is the physical act of doing what we planned in the second step.
This is all about effective self-management, working within our Circle of Influence.
There are many time-management tools that can help us to get organized and prioritize so that we are dealing with the important things in our lives.
The more proactive we are, dealing with the important things, the less often we will be called upon to deal with urgent things. For example, if we take care of our health now, we are less likely to require urgent attention in the future.
At this point, we have dealt with the inside, ourselves. Now it’s time to move outward, dealing with others … effectively.
Our goal here is to become interdependent. You’ve heard the saying two brains are better than one. That’s what I’m talking about here, working effectively with others toward a common goal.
Our objective should always be Win-Win … everyone wins, there are no losers.
This can be difficult, especially in the beginning.
If we hope to be truly effective and interdependent, we must learn how to communicate effectively. Listening with the intent to truly understand what people are saying to us, not merely listening so we can prepare our response.
We want to understand not only the words being said, but also the emotions and feelings behind the words.
Once we truly understand what we are being told, we can empathize, show that we understand the other person’s point of view, and then we can communicate our differing point of view.
Now is the time to find a third approach that neither person would have thought of, but one that is better than the two original approaches.
We want to value differences, not avoid them. Think how much better life would be if we work together and everyone wins!
Trust in one another is the key here. This can take time to build, but will be well worth the time as the end result will be amazing. Trust is best built by understanding one another, keeping our promises, clarifying our expectations of one another, showing personal integrity, and apologizing quickly and from the heart when we do something wrong.
If we can follow these steps, we will be effective and working interdependently toward our goals.
Remember, we must work on these things constantly; they are not a one-shot-deal.
There are four areas in life that we must take care of to maintain what we have gained: physical (eating, exercise, etc.), mental (continuing education), spiritual (living within our core values), and emotional (interpersonal leadership, effective communication, cooperation).
If we can do this right, our lives will be amazing, and we will be more in control of the outcome.
Thanks for joining me. That’s a wrap for The Seven Habits Of Highly Effective People, by Stephen R. Covey. Join me next week as I start on a new journey with Napoleon Hill and his book Think And Grow Rich.
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Online Marketing Training – Balanced Self-Renewal
Posted by admin on Feb 22, 2010
Over the past few weeks we’ve been talking about effectiveness, and how it relates to our Online Marketing Business.
Habit 7 of The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People is about self-renewal … practicing what we know about being effective and doing what we must to remain effective.
Our greatest asset is ourselves. As we know, we must take care of our assets if we expect them to keep producing for us. This is no different, except that we are the asset that requires maintaining to keep our Internet Income Opportunity running smoothly.
There are four dimensions to consider here: physical, spiritual, mental, and social/emotional. This is where our motivation comes from. These dimensions are extremely interrelated, so we must look at each individually, but also as a group. No one dimension can compensate for neglect in any of the others, but each will assist us with the others.
This is a quadrant II activity: important but not urgent.
These things cannot be done by anyone but us, as they are at the center of our Circle of Influence, much like our Direct Sales Marketing.
The Physical Dimension is caring for our bodies: eating right, getting plenty of rest, and exercising regularly. This is a reflection of Habit 1, being proactive. If we neglect these things we will eventually have health problems that bring us to Quadrant I (important and urgent). If you recall, Quadrant I is not where we want to spend our time.
The Spiritual Dimension is our core, our commitment to our values. It reflects Habit 2, personal leadership.
Religious leader David O. McKay taught, “The greatest battles of life are fought out daily in the silent chambers of the soul.”
The Mental Dimension typically comes through formal education and training. But what happens when we finish school? Proactive people find other ways to renewal the mental dimension and continue their education.
Surveys suggest that some people spend as much time watching television as they do at their job! If they are watching educational programs, then they are continuing their education. But more often than not, television is used as a form of escape, used for purely entertainment purposes.
I watch television for entertainment mostly, but try to restrict it to one hour a day at most. I found that television bored me enough that I snacked while watching to keep myself alert and interested. Not much help in the fitness arena!
My favorite motto: if you’re not growing, you’re dying.
One of the best ways to renewal the mental dimension, expand your mind, is through reading good literature … like The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People!
Food for thought: is the person who doesn’t read better off than the person who cannot read?
Another great way to expand your mind is through writing. To write effectively we must think clearly, organize and plan, and write to be understood … reflections of Habits 2, 3, and 5.
The Social / Emotional Dimension reflects our ability to interact with others, listen empathically, and use creative cooperation … reflecting Habits 4, 5, and 6.
Our sense of security is a huge factor when we’re talking about interpersonal relationships. Security comes from within when we live our lives in harmony with our principles and values.
Once we reach interdependence we can inspire others and help them to attain greater heights for themselves.
Our conscience is vital to our success and continued growth. This is what keeps us on track with our correct principles.
As in our Online Marketing Business Opportunity, we will always reap what we sow – no more, no less.
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Online Marketing – Synergy and Communication
Posted by admin on Feb 17, 2010
Synergy is creative and exciting. It’s the result of open communication. Imagine how your Direct Sales Marketing would benefit from synergy!
Remember, our goal is effective communication. That does not mean that everyone must agree on everything. Differences of opinion should be embraced.
The next time you experience an approach that differs from your own, take this attitude:
‘If a person of your intelligence, competence and commitment disagrees with me, then there must be something to your disagreement that I don’t understand, and I need to understand it.’
Low trust in a relationship is characterized by defensiveness and protectiveness, resulting in Win/Lose or Lose/Lose agreements. This is not effective communication and not helpful for your Internet Income Opportunity.
The next step up is a position of respectful communication, resulting in a low form of Win/Win. This is a position of compromise and is neither creative nor synergistic.
High trust relationships produce solutions that are better than any of those originally suggested. This is a position of creativity and synergy.
When two or more people get together, there are typically differences of opinion. The thing to remember is that there is almost always a third alternative that has not been thought of as yet. This is the Win/Win alternative, a solution that is mutually beneficial for all parties, often better than any of the original proposals.
This is synergy at work. Communication continues until such a solution is found. This process also builds strong, lasting relationships.
Covey has come to believe that the key to interpersonal synergy is intrapersonal synergy, which is synergy within ourselves … using both sides of our brains: the creative right brain; and the logical left brain.
The main advantage to any relationship is the availability of differing points of view. Just imagine how boring life would be if we all thought and acted the same!
‘Good! You see it differently! Help me see what you see.’
Involving others helps them feel that the problem is their own and they try harder to become a part of the solution.
Remember, the real power in the Seven Habits is in their relationship to each other, not just in the individual habits themselves. This is synergy.
Your own internal synergy is completely within your Circle of Influence, as is the success of your Online Marketing Business Opportunity.
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Internet Home Business – Creative Cooperation
Posted by admin on Feb 9, 2010
By practicing the first five habits we’ve prepared ourselves for Habit 6 – Synergize.
This is the true test of all of the other habits put together.
The highest forms of Habit 6 focus the four unique human endowments (self-awareness, imagination, conscience, and independent will), the objective of Win/Win, and the skills of empathic communication on our toughest challenges in life. We create new alternatives that weren’t there before. This can do amazing things for our Direct Sales Marketing.
Synergy is the heart and soul of principle-centered leadership. It’s doing the best thing for everyone, based on correct principles and not what is the right thing for any one part of the group. This is what an Internet Income Opportunity is all about, working together toward a common goal.
So, what is synergy? Simply put, it means that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.
The creative process of synergy can get a little scary as we don’t know exactly what’s going to happen or where we’ll end up. This is where we truly must leave our comfort zone.
Because of this, we must have a high degree of trust for synergy to take place. Without this high degree of trust, we are not comfortable enough to open up and share our thoughts and feelings freely. It is this freedom to express ourselves that leads to brainstorming and eventually to the alternatives we are looking for.
This process becomes very exciting if we are fortunate enough to experience it.
Synergy puts value on our differences. It is these differences that get the creativity going. Synergistic communications builds on our collective strengths and compensates for our weaknesses.
Done correctly, this synergy could lead to an environment that is fulfilling for everyone. It nurtures self-esteem and self-worth for all involved. Synergistic people are more prone to service and contribution, more open, more trusting, more caring.
It opens our minds to new possibilities, new alternatives, and new options.
Join me next time as we wrap up Habit 6 and get started on the last of The Seven Habits.
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Direct Sales Marketing – It’s Time To Be Understood
Posted by admin on Feb 5, 2010
We’ve been talking about seek to understand; now it’s time to seek to be understood.
This is the second part of Habit 5 and is just as important to Win/Win solutions as understanding is. Both parts of Habit 5 are critical to success in Direct Sales Marketing and an Internet Income Opportunity.
In a recent post we talked about maturity and how it is the balance between consideration and courage. The first part of Habit 5, seek first to understand, requires consideration. The second part of Habit 5, then seek to be understood, takes courage.
Win/Win requires a high degree of both.
Covey draws from the philosophy of the early Greeks to show how we could present our point of view so that we will be understood.
Done in sequence, these three elements provide us with a better chance of getting our point across. Remember, effective means it works.
Ethos is our personal credibility, the trust we inspire in others, the faith people have in our integrity and competency.
Pathos is our empathic side, our complete understanding of another’s communication.
Logos is the reasoning side of our presentation, the logic.
Most people present their point of view by ignoring the ethos and pathos, and going straight to the logos; presenting the logic of their ideas with no consideration of character, trust, integrity or relationships.
This is where the courage comes in.
A better approach is to describe the other person’s point of view better than they could themselves, showing that we truly understand their position. This will significantly increase the credibility of our ideas.
Then, and only then, explain the logic behind our point of view.
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Home Business Tip – How to Avoid Autobiographical Responses
Posted by admin on Feb 4, 2010
We’ve all done it, someone tells us something and we instantly reference back to what we believe is a similar situation in our past, then share our story or offer advice.
This is what is called autobiographical response.
There are four typical response types that reflect our autobiography: we evaluate, we probe, we advise, or we interpret, but none of these responses will be helpful if we do not fully understand where others are coming from. These responses can actually make things worse.
Many people respond in this manner automatically, and they don’t even realize that they’re doing it!
The way to avoid this type of response is to try to step inside the other person, see things as they see them, and empathic listening is a big help.
There are four stages we can work through to improve our empathic listening skills.
The first and least effective is to mimic content. After listening to what someone says, repeat it back to them. This shows that we are at least paying attention to the words being spoken.
The second stage is to rephrase the content. After listening to someone, rephrase in our own words what we just heard and repeat back what we believe they were saying.
The third stage is to reflect the feeling we got from the conversation. We must go beyond the words and try to determine how they are feeling about what they’re saying, and then relate what we observe back to them.
The fourth stage includes rephrasing the content and reflecting the feeling. We’re attempting to capture the meaning in the words as well as the feelings they are experiencing. This is the stage we want to get to for our Direct Sales Marketing and Internet Income Opportunity.
All of this is in an attempt to diagnose the real problem, so we can then prescribe the best solution.
One word of caution … as long as the conversation remains logical, and not emotional, we can continue to ask questions and make suggestions. As soon as the conversation turns emotional, it’s time to revert back to empathic listening.
It’s not always necessary to offer advice. Sometimes people merely need to open up, share their thoughts, and they will come up with their own solutions. I have found that thinking out loud, hearing the words come out, even if I’m talking to myself, helps me to solve my own problems.
The key is to be genuinely interested in others and their well-being. We can listen with empathy, but we must let them arrive at the solution at their own pace. Just because the solution may be obvious to us, doesn’t mean it is obvious to them, and they must arrive in their own time.
Empathic listening may take more time in the beginning, but think how much time it can save if we don’t need to backtrack and correct misunderstandings. Remember, people truly want to be understood.
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Successful Marketing – Understanding Needs
Posted by admin on Feb 3, 2010
Covey’s expression, diagnose before you prescribe, is the mark of the true professional.
We expect our doctor to examine us, take our blood pressure, do tests, and then diagnose our illness before he starts prescribing remedies.
We hope that our optometrist tests our eyes and asks us questions before giving us glasses.
A good engineer analyzes the effect of winds, the suitability of the land, and any other influences before creating the design.
The good teacher gets to know the class, the dynamics of various personalities, before creating the class schedule
The key to good judgment is in the understanding.
The amateur sales person sells his product or service. The effective, professional Direct Sales Marketer first tries to understand the customer’s needs and concerns. Then he relates his products and services to those needs and offers them as a solution.
Integrity is crucial here, and the sales person must be willing to say that his product will not meet the customer’s needs, if this is indeed the case. If we want our Internet Income Opportunity to be successful, we must be prepared to walk away from a sale if it is not the right fit for the client, and us.
Seek first to understand applies to all areas of life.
Tomorrow we’ll look at how we respond to others, and how we often respond automatically, autobiographically, based on our own past experiences.
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Online Marketing – What Is Empathic Listening?
Posted by admin on Feb 2, 2010
Maybe the best approach to this question is to start with what it is not.
The majority of people listen with the intent to reply, they’re forming their response before the conversation is even over! They often miss large pieces of the message.
As I mentioned on my video, there are four basic levels of listening we typically use. Let’s have a closer look at each. How many have you used over the years?
Ignoring – basically, not really listening at all.
Pretending – this is where we nod our head, say uh-huh, oh yeah, things like that.
Selective Listening – hearing only parts of the conversation, like when the TV’s on in the background.
Attentive Listening – paying attention and focusing on the words being said.
Covey includes Empathic Listening as the fifth level of listening, practiced by very few people.
Empathic listening is listening with the intent to understand, really understand. It’s all about getting inside the other person’s frame of reference, understanding their paradigm. This is very important in an Internet Income Opportunity.
Empathy is not to be confused with sympathy. Sympathy is a form of agreement, while empathy truly understands.
Empathetic listening uses more than just our ears. It involves seeing, feeling, noticing behavior, using all our senses. It is listening to deeply understand.
Basic human needs include being understood, validated, and appreciated. These needs can be met with empathic listening. It is only then that we can focus on solving any problems.
Covey refers to it as diagnosing before prescribing. Like the doctor who diagnoses the problem before prescribing the remedy, or the Direct Sales Marketer who uncovers the customers needs before offering a product that will provide the solution.
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Internet Income Opportunity – Understand Before Being Understood
Posted by admin on Feb 1, 2010
We’re about to move on to Habit 5 – Seek First To Understand, Then To Be Understood.
But first, I’d like to review what we’ve covered so far. As we move further into the Habits, it is becoming more evident just how important it is to tackle these habits in sequence if we hope to be successful, and therefore become effective.
The first three habits are all about ourselves, private victories: how we are in control of our own destiny; looking at what we want to accomplish in our lives; determining the best path to take to achieve our goals; and becoming effective self-managers.
The next three habits are all about interpersonal relations, how we deal with others, public victories. This is where we spend most of our time in an Internet Income Opportunity and Direct Sales Marketing.
How can we hope to deal effectively with others if we have not dealt effectively with ourselves first?
Now, let’s talk about Habit 5.
Covey uses the term “Empathic Communication.” Basically, it’s communication with the intent of understanding the other person’s point of view.
Human beings generally want to help each other when they can. In our rush to help we give advice based on our past experiences in similar situations. The problem with this is that we don’t take the time to really diagnose the problem before we offer advice to correct the situation.
Proper listening is the key to effective interpersonal communication.
The four basic types of communication are reading, writing, speaking, and listening. The ability to use these forms of communication well is critical to our effectiveness.
Communication can be considered the most important skill in life, yet we have no formal training in how to do it effectively.
If we want to interact effectively with others we must first understand them.
Just as our actual behavior flows naturally out of our character, so does our communication, revealing the kind of person we truly are.
We must build the skills of empathic listening on a base of true character that inspires openness and trust.
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Direct Sales Marketing – Win Win Wrap Up
Posted by admin on Jan 29, 2010
Today I’d like to wrap up Habit 4 – Think Win/Win.
The last two dimensions of Win/Win are systems and processes.
Systems
Win/Win can only survive in an organization when the systems support it.
Basically, you get what you reward, so don’t talk cooperation and then practice competition.
Frequently, the problem is the system, and not the people. If you put good people in bad systems, you get bad results.
Win/Win puts the responsibility on the individual for accomplishing the specified results within clear guidelines and available resources.
Processes
The question is how to arrive at a Win/Win solution.
Roger Fisher and William Ury, authors or Getting to Yes, suggest that the essence of principled negotiation is to separate the person from the problem, to focus on interests and not on positions, to invent options for mutual gain, and to insist on objective criteria – some external standard or principle that both parties can buy into.
Covey recommends a four-step process:
- See the problem from the other point of view.
- Identify the key issues and concerns.
- Determine what results would constitute an acceptable solution.
- Identify possible new options to achieve those results.
You can only achieve Win/Win solutions with Win/Win processes – the end and the means must be the same.
In a nut shell … Win/Win is not a personality technique. It’s a total paradigm of human relations. It comes from a character of integrity, maturity, and the Abundance Mentality. It grows out of high-trust relationships. It is embodied in agreements that effectively clarify and manage expectations as well as accomplishments. It thrives in supportive systems.
Next time we’ll get started on Habit 5 – Seek First To Understand, Then To Be Understood.
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