Becky Robinson's Blog, page 78

Featured on Friday: Marilee Adams

Happy Friday! This week we’ve been busy launching The Idea-Driven Organization by Alan Robinson and Dean Schroeder (if you missed their webinar, you can watch it now), and next week we’re getting ready for the official launch of Lessons from China by Beau Sides. I can’t speak for other members of the Weaving Influence team, but I know the stack of books on my nightstand is getting taller by the week!

However we don’t always focus on a specific book, sometimes we have the opportunity to help promote special events. In fact, the focus today is on an author who happens to have just hosted a terrific webinar last month with Becky Robinson, and is now gearing up for a live event in New Jersey that you won’t want to miss!

Meet Marilee Adams, Ph.D.

Marilee is an author, executive coach, facilitator, and professional speaker. She is president and founder of the Inquiry Institute, a consulting, coaching, and educational organization, and the originator of the Question Thinking methodologies. She is the author of Change Your Questions, Change Your Life: 10 Powerful Tools for Life and Work, a best-selling business and relationship fable about an executive coach and inquiring leadership, and Teaching That Changes Lives: 12 Mindset Tools for Igniting the Love of Learning. She also authored a textbook, The Art of the Question: A Guide to Short-Term Question-Centered Therapy, and her work was featured in the Wharton Business Newsletter. Marilee’s Question Thinking work forms the core of her presentations, keynotes, workshops and workdays in organizations (including Fortune 50 companies), government agencies, nonprofits, and for communities.

Connect with Marilee Online

Connect with her on Facebook, join her Change Your Questions group on LinkedIn, and follow her on Twitter (don’t forget to use her hashtag: #changeyourquestions).

Join Her One-Day Workshop

If you have plans to be in the Princeton, NJ area on April 24, please consider registering for this One-Day Intensive for Facilitating Change. If you’re looking for a game changing advantage for leading or managing change, or if you’re simply looking for ways to make a difference in the morale of your team, I am confident that you would learn a lot at this workshop. For additional details (including cost) and registration, click HERE. Have friends in the Princeton area? Use the social sharing tools to help spread the word about the workshop and invite your community to sign up {TWEET NOW}!

Can’t Make the Live Workshop? Watch the Webinar!

Last month, Becky Robinson hosted Marilee for a free webinar sponsored by Weaving Influence. It was a fantastic hour of learning about change and what it takes to become a resilient change agent. In fact it felt like we were just getting started when the hour concluded, and will certainly whet your appetite to learn more from this great coach and leader. If you can’t make the live event in New Jersey later this month, I encourage you to schedule an hour and watch this webinar.

Enjoy your weekend, and send Marilee a tweet if you enjoyed her webinar!

3 Ways to Eliminate the Need for a “Hard Sell”

My mentor was despairing of me. In my coaching session, he was helping me through my sales technique. I was being particularly dim, although I’m sure it was as a result of the resistance I felt inside whenever “selling” was an activity I had to contemplate. I think he gave up on me when I told him that “I don’t like selling, and I don’t want to sell, and I know that’s a contradiction when I am building up my own business, but it’s the truth.” I am sure he wanted to tell me to go get a job, but he didn’t; far too knowledgeable and professional for that.

After that particular session, I really did contemplate my future. How could I expect to sell my services and products, if it was an activity I didn’t like? When I dug a little further, I realized I felt I had something valuable enough that people would want, and they would be searching for. Wouldn’t they?

I am not a professional at sales as I’m sure anyone who is can identify from the above paragraphs; in fact, there are probably lots of people with businesses who read this who will be shaking their heads at my naivety.  But even after my soul searching, I realized I was on to something.

First, the idea of selling someone a service or product I provided that they did not really want was abhorrent to me. I realize, of course, there are times when you have something very useful to offer, but people don’t realize it; but to be honest, I think they are the exceptions rather than the rule.

Sales models, fascinating though they are, leave me cold. For example, offering someone a limited and time-bound reduction is great as long as it really is limited and time-bound.  I am thinking of popular sofa manufacturers who have a “limited sale” every season; their model is to spread the cost over a number of years, thus ensuring that even though people will largely buy in sale time, they have a continuous stream of income, thus limiting the seasonal highs and lows.

But despite the odds, I am able to sell; in fact a large part of my business is not even advertised. I have developed a number of clients through word of mouth. I haven’t even asked for referrals, they simply have come to me, been so enthused by how I can help, that they’ve passed the message on.

There are 3 things I did to achieve this unexpected success. The activities were not thought out, and evolved themselves.  In hindsight I can see how they were successful, but when I undertook them, I was simply doing what came naturally to me.

Give your services for free until you can demonstrate added value, and do the best you can. I carried out some work for someone else with no expectation of reward. I wanted to find out how I could carry out the services I provided with a “real live” customer to see if it was a feasible model. It was and was ultimately so successful; the client rang me up and asked when they could buy it for real.
Share the secrets of your successful strategy. I shared my success with my mastermind group. They were so impressed, even though I had told them step by step how to deliver my strategy, and they knew the theory of the “how”; they recognized that my experience meant I could deliver quickly and with authority, and so I acquired clients.
Go the extra mile. It is amazing how naturally I want to do my absolute best. My clients know I will pull out the stops for them, where I can. Every week, I think about what I can do to help them more. Every week, they become more and more successful and we support them fully to do so.

I have always managed to trust my instincts, and I believe my reluctance to learn a “sales technique,” while possibly eliminating me from being an accomplished salesperson, helped me find another way.  And while I still need to work on that sales technique; instead of selling, I’d rather be showing, and if you are in the fortunate position to be able to do that, then go for it.

 

Christina Lattimer helps leaders develop self-mastery, helping them to become confident in their own inner guidance. She collaborates with leadership experts, managers and HR professionals to help them get their own message and unique services and products to a wide audience. Connect with Christina on Twitter and Google+.

 

photo credit: Simon Greig (xrrr)

Featured on Friday: #InspiredBook Buzz

We promote a lot of  books around here. Over the last two years, several of our authors have made the decision to use some – or all – of their book profits to help others.

Mark Miller, author and co-author of The Secret, The Heart of Leadership, The Secret of Teams, and Great Leaders Grow, donates the proceeds from his books to three of his favorite organizations.

Last year when tornadoes hit the mid-west during the launch of The Collaboration Economy, author Eric Lowitt made a quick decision to donate a portion of sales to help the victims.

Bill Treasurer continues to donate the proceeds from Leaders Open Doors to organizations that help people with special needs (watch the video to see why).

Others donate privately and we never know about it. The truth of it is, as we get to know these authors we find them to be generous with their time, talents, and resources, and their generosity to others, whether public or private, comes as no surprise.

The latest author to join the ranks of those who are publicly giving back (and asking for your help) is Linda Freeman. In January 2013 we launched her first book, THRIVE!, and for the last few months, we have been working on the launch of her second book, Inspired for Greater Things.

Although the book was in production when Linda left for Cambodia last fall to work with Teen Challenge (you can read about her experience here and here), the trip completely changed her plans. After seeing, first hand, the work being done among former drug addicts, single mothers, orphans, and those who have been rescued from sex trafficking, Linda made the decision to donate 100% of the proceeds from Inspired for Greater Things to construct a biogas digester  (wondering what that is – read all about it here).

Becky Robinson – CEO of Weaving Influence (and my boss) – is always encouraging her team to be “mindfully generous”. This comes to mind as I have the honor of working with Linda on her book launch. Linda is being “mindfully generous” with the book income, making sure that she is not just giving a hand out, but a hand UP, helping better the lives of those who are rising out of their past and looking hopefully to the future. It’s something that excites me, and I hope it excites you as well.

Get Involved

Sign up to be a part of the launch – we’re looking for book reviewers, Twitter love, social media sharing, and interviews.
Read a sample chapter – then use the share buttons to pass it on to a friend.
Use these resources to start building the buzz about this book and the project it is supporting.
Send a TWEET NOW to get the buzz going!
BUY THE BOOK! It’s available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble .

If You’re An Author, You’re A Teacher

Months ago, while incubating my NYC social testing startup, CredSpark, I met an agent who said she was interested in my idea, and she thought we’d be a good fit to recommend to some of her more “teaching-minded” authors.

What an interesting distinction, I thought to myself.  Aren’t all authors teachers, by definition, because they’re sharing insights?

In the intervening months, I’ve spoken with and about many authors, and it turns out, not all authors think of themselves as teachers.  After 12+ years working in educational technology and educational publishing, that puzzles me.  Perhaps it’s because we think of teachers as standing up in front of a classroom, or dealing with students, not grown-ups.  Perhaps it’s because the moniker ‘author’ allows one to exist at a safe distance from the reader, vs. a ‘teacher’ who’s supposed to be just a few feet away from you, and burdened with the responsibility of your learning.

Regardless, I’d like to make the case that ALL authors can and should think of themselves as teachers, for three reasons:

1)      Teachers Are Now Everywhere, So It’s Not A Big Deal.

In civilization’s distant past, teachers were the few storehouses and distributors of information and insights.  The term ‘teacher’ therefore acquired a heavy burden of responsibility.  Good News:  Today, information and insights are to be found on every street corner, on your smartphone, as you wait for the light to change.  That blogger you follow?  Your favorite authors?  They’re your teachers.  Just a couple out of the hundreds of people who’ll teach you in a single month.  So, Author:  How many people have you taught this month?

2)      The Time/Hassle of Teaching Readers Has Fallen Sharply.

 Many of you remember reading books and consuming media in the 1980’s (or earlier.)  Think how much time, effort, and expense was required back then for an author to share his or her insights with 1,000 people?  As Becky Robinson of Weaving Influence will tell you, the audience reach available to authors these days—for a comparatively small amount of the author’s time invested in social media—is staggering.  Your book contains your ideas; engaging with your fans and followers on social media is teaching your ideas—in an extremely time-efficient fashion.

3)      Teachers Are The Most Engaging People In The World.

NYC subway cars contain terrific teacher recruitment ads:  “You remember your 1st grade teacher’s name.  Who will remember yours?”  Those ads resonate because being taught by someone is about the most engaging experience you can have with that person.  It sticks with you.  You feel as though the trajectory of your life has changed to some degree.  You remember them forever.

My plea to Authors: t hink of yourselves as Teachers.

By expanding your self-identity, you will expand your audience, and you’ll be more likely to change their lives.  Which is what they secretly want you to do, when they pick up your book.

 

 

Lev Kaye is the founder of CredSpark, a new social media tool for authors to engage with and to grow their fans and followers.  We use our background in educational testing to help authors create and publish very short, targeted online tests related to the author’s key ideas.  Fans/followers take those tests and easily share them on social media, building the author’s audience, and learning more in the process.  Having launched in January, CredSpark is growing quickly — and looking for more non-fiction authors to join.  Contact:  lev@credspark.com.

Strength Follows Strength (Why I Run)

Somewhere around mile 13, my friend Sharon asked, “Do you feel strong?”

I gave up on trying to talk with her around mile 10, and when I started using hand signals (thumbs up and down), it reminded me being in labor with my first daughter and how silent I became. Obviously, the pain and effort of labor is far more difficult than a distance run, but my attitude running yesterday felt similar. To conserve my energy, I replied with one word answers and hand signals only, much like during labor. Running long distance requires shutting most everything out and concentrating only on continuing to move forward.

To her question, “Do you feel strong?” I responded with the tilt of my hand, back and forth.

Sort of. Not really.

I don’t have to feel strong, I only have to be strong.

I felt like stopping. I felt like walking. But I didn’t. I kept running, though at a slower pace, all the way to the finish line.

This is why I run: to show that I can, to show that I am stronger than I think I am (stronger than I feel!), to practice endurance and perseverance.

When I am strong physically, it overflows to other parts of my life. I can recall my physical acts of endurance to empower me to be strong in other areas.

Strength follows strength.

I do the hard things so I can do other hard things.

Training and running makes me strong physically. Physical fitness translates to mental fitness: I am strong enough to lead my company, strong enough to have the tough conversations I’d rather avoid, strong enough to push forward to grow my company and set big goals.

I can run the marathon in 5 weeks; I can write and publish a book in 2015; I can double and trip the capacity of my company to serve more clients and make a bigger difference.

I can. One step at a time, moving forward toward the finish line.

It’s why I run. Strength follows strength.

Featured on Friday: Beau Sides

If you’ve been following the book launches that Weaving Influence has had the privilege to be a part of since we started back in 2012, you’ll probably have picked up on the fact that we tend to work with those in the leadership community.

This week we were involved in the launch of Lead Positive, coming up on the 31st we’ll be talking about The Idea-Driven Organization. In the past we’ve promoted Help Them Grow or Watch Them Go, Leadership and the Art of Struggle, Leaders Open Doors, The Heart of Leadership, and a host of others.

Today’s author has written a slightly different book, based on his own travels and experience and told in the style of a parable. While it’s not a leadership book, per se, the author is most definitely someone that you would want to listen to and learn from. He has a lot of wisdom to share when it comes to spending time outside of the U.S., handling cultural differences, teaching English as a Second Language (ESL),  and learning that our way is not the only way.

Meet Beau Sides

After more than 40 trips to China, Beau says it feels like a second home. Building cultural awareness and fostering cross-cultural relationships are high on his list of reasons for writing this new book, Lessons from China (launching April 7). In addition to being an author, businessman, teacher, humanitarian, and husband, Beau is also the founder and CEO of Global Partners in Life. GPiL is a non-profit organization that focuses specifically on  orphaned children (including those with special needs) and disadvantaged youth in China, assisting them with their educational, humanitarian, and medical needs.

Connect with Beau Online

Like his page on Facebook, follow him on Twitter, or connect with him on LinkedIn.

Mark It On Your Calendar (April 7 – 11, 2014)

Now that you have joined forces with Beau through social media (you did click through all those links up there, right?), I would love to invite you to join us as we promote Beau’s book during the second week of April. We’re looking for people who are willing to tweet, share, pin, and review Lessons from China. Do you know someone who is interested in China? Perhaps a friend who is thinking about teaching English as a Second Language? Send a tweet now and share the Amazon link with them. If you want to help during launch week, there’s a page of resources to make sharing easy, so check them out and bookmark the page.

Will you help us spread the word?

 

Say Something Meaningful: Crowdsourced on Facebook and Twitter

Our words are powerful.

When we compliment others in specific and meaningful ways, our words can have tremendous impact.

To demonstrate this truth, I asked my friends and followers on Facebook and Twitter to share meaningful compliments they’ve received.

Here are the responses I received:

From @ApopkaDeb: “Thank you for sharing yourself and a part of your story with us.”

From @JaneAnderson: “You’re like an inspirational greeting card” and “You’re our go-to person.”

From David: “They can’t fire you, you are the only one who tells us the truth.”

From @JenniferVMiller: “I’m so glad you’re in this world, Jennifer.”

From @StratLearner: “You are a learning machine!”

From @fab_angie “I can depend on you.”

From @johnsonwhitney: “You are smart!” (She is!)

From Jennifer: Your kids are well-behaved.

From @MegEWallace: “Meg worked magical feats of wonder… spinning straw into something approaching gold.”

From @GianaConsulting: “You’re such an Einstein, brilliant one minute and a ditz the next.”

From @ConnellLessons: “During a coaching session, an executive told me I had found my calling.”

From @brendakenasonwe: “God gave you the most compassionate heart and soul.”

From @BKneuer: “You are a good listener; thank you for being there.”

From @shermanspeaks: “You are a great dad.”

Why did these compliments resonate? Likely they connected in some deep way to the recipients values and beliefs about themselves.

Here’s a compliment that resonated with me today, from my friend @17jamie. He wrote to me, “You are a woman after my heart.” And yesterday, from @djgreer, a compliment for both me and my friend @thehrgoddess, “Like you, Jane, Becky is always worth listening to.”

“Kind words are like honey, sweet to the soul and healthy for the body” ~Proverbs 16:24.

If you have the breath to speak, why not say something meaningful, today, something that will resonate deeply with the people around you? Your heartfelt compliments will be sweet to others.

This blog post is inspired by Dr. Kathy Cramer’s book, Lead Positive, launching this week. If you have not already, buy a copy today! 

I also wrote three other posts inspired by Kathy’s book, graciously hosted around the web: How Will You Show Up Today?, The Worst Things Become the Best Things, and Use the A-S-A Framework to Lead Positive. I dare you to click through and read all three.

Tell me something! What is a meaningful compliment you’ve received?

I’m Contagious!

Our words are powerful.

If we use words that focus on the negative, that negative perspective and attitude will infuse our conversations and infect others.

If, instead, we choose to use positive, uplifting words, our positive perspective will permeate our interactions with others.

On a day that marks the beginning of launch week for Dr. Kathy Cramer’s new book, Lead Positive:What Highly Effective Leaders See, Say, and Do, I must admit, I find it challenging, at times, to follow her advice to focus on what’s working instead of what isn’t working, to see possibilities instead of problems.

Because my attitude is contagious, I must be careful what I say and do, as a leader, as mother, as a friend — in every interaction.

For example, my kids and my team are sometimes grumpy on Monday mornings. I can choose to be grumpy and join in complaining about Monday, or I can choose positive words that focus on the possibilities of a new week and the good things we can look forward to together.

What do people catch from you?

Are your words positive, focused on what’s working and what’s possible?

Or do you tend to talk about problems and what’s not working?

Reading Kathy’s book has given me a new awareness of how my own words and attitudes and their effect on others. I am committed to becoming a #leadpositive leader. I hope it catches on!

I am happy to support Kathy Cramer’s book launch this week. I encourage you to buy the book today to learn more about how you can become a #leadpositive leader. 

 

Featured on Friday: Alan Robinson & Dean Schroeder

Not every week can be a banner week, but I think most of the people on our team are really happy today is Friday. I know I am! But even during the bad weeks, each day we come back, partly because we like having money to pay the bills, but also because we love the people that we have the honor to support. Authors and thought leaders who are pouring their lives and energy into writing books and sharing their hard-earned wisdom.

While we get to help them celebrate book successes and media spotlights, we also love learning from them as we read their work and get to know them through the launch process. Today’s authors are no exception. They have an amazing new book coming out the end of this month and you are not going to want to miss being a part of their launch!

Meet Alan Robinson and Dean Schroeder

Although this is our first book launch with Alan and Dean, it is not their first book together. In 2004 they published Ideas Are Free: How the Idea Revolution Is Liberating People and Transforming Organizations. On March 31, 2014, they will celebrate the launch of their second book together, The Idea-Driven Organization. While juggling busy lives and careers, Robinson and Schroeder have managed to write what just might be one of the best business books of the year, and we can’t wait to have you join us in promoting it!

Dr. Alan G. Robinson specializes in lean production, managing continuous improvement, creativity, ideas and innovation, not to mention the six books he has co-authored which have been translated into over 20 languages. Dr. Dean M. Schroeder is an award-winning author, consultant and scholar, widely respected for his work helping organizations improve management outcomes. Together they are a dynamic team who have written a book that you will not want to miss.

Connect with Alan and Dean Online

Connect with them on Twitter (Alan) (Dean), LinkedIn (Alan) (Dean), and Facebook. Once you’ve liked them, invite your friends to do the same!

Celebrate Launch Week!

Put a big circle around the week of March 31 – April 4 as we get ready to celebrate the launch of The Idea-Driven Organization. On Wednesday, April 2 @ 1 pm (ET), Dean and Alan will be spending one hour with Becky as they share how the best managers and organizations encourage, collect, and implement large numbers of employee ideas. It’s FREE to attend the webinar, so REGISTER NOW, and then INVITE A FRIEND!

Of course there are all kinds of ways to be involved in the launch: pre-order the book from Amazon, leave a review, or help us spread the word on social media using the easy-share tools found HERE. Oh, and if you’re interested in winning a FREE copy of the book, you can always enter the Goodreads giveaway!

From all of us to you… Happy Friday!

Keep Your Book in the Conversation

I mentioned in yesterday’s post that one of my favorite aspects of my work is developing long term partnership with clients.

One of the benefits of a long term partnership with our clients is that enables us to support our authors in keeping their books in the conversation: weeks, months, and even years after their launch weeks.

In order to create sustained sales for your book, you have to continue to share valuable content from the book, on your website and around the web. When you do this, you create awareness of and interest in your book. Alternatively, you need others (other bloggers, influencers) to join you in sharing your book.

As I have shared before, when you write a book, you need to be prepared to marry your message. Promoting your book is a long-term commitment!

Content you share + buzz your content creates + buzz others share = your book in the conversation = book sales.

Time and time again, our work with clients proves this equation. It also reinforces my strongly held belief that if you do nothing to promote your book and its message, you will not sell books.

Focused, consistent execution of a clearly defined promotion strategy is the only way you can sell books and reach your bigger picture goals.

Just this week, we sought to bring a great book back into the conversation. One year ago today, we launched Steven Snyder’s acclaimed book, Leadership and the Art of Struggle. Because we have an ongoing relationship with Steven, we used this anniversary week as motivation to share the book again. We asked bloggers who helped launch the book to tweet and share again. They did! (Thank you!)

As a result, Steven’s book is ranked again in its categories on Amazon. Keeping the book in the conversation = book sales.

We saw the same effect when we celebrated the anniversary of the launch of Bev Kaye and Julie Winkle Giulioni’s book Help Them Grow or Watch Them Go. 

It’s not complicated — in fact, this strategy could not be simpler. Keep your book in the conversation. Use whatever tactics you’d like and let me know if you see results. I am confident you will!

Will you join us in keeping Steven’s book in the conversation? Or, if you have not already, buy the book!

Celebrating one year since the launch of #artofstruggle by @Steven_J_Snyder Buy Now! http://bit.ly/ArtofStruggle Click to Tweet Now!