Possibility thinking

Affirmative action, Human Brain, Labelling, Marketing, possibility thinking, Sales, Thinking

A lot of times I get stuck in my thinking. This especially happens in stressful situations where I ascribe an intention without the facts. To all of us, a person not picking up the phone – seems like the person is trying to avoid us, then our mind goes in frenzy identifying all the reasons that the person could be avoiding us and our mind takes us back into some random situation and we feel all bad and low.

We end up putting labels on the person, that he/she is bad, deliberately doing this to us etc. etc.

Its quite possible that the person’s phone was on silent and she didn’t notice. She may end up calling you when she sees your call and then you realise you have ended up wasting so much time.

So generally what I have started doing when I feel that something is not okay, I take the initiative in trying to check out first if everything’s okay. A lot of times I have come to realise that the person was going through some personal challenges of his own and could not have been in a position to talk with me.

But more than that I realize that there was nothing personal that this person had against me.

Now why did I give you all this story. Because a lot of times when a prospect stops responding to you, we end up ascribing all kinds of motives. When a product that you were so passionate about is not picked up in the market, then also we start ascribing all kinds of ideas.

With possibility thinking you try to look at – is there something else, is there something which I am not noticing, is there something which is absolutely unrelated to us because of which the prospect has stopped talking to us.

In sales this happens most when suddenly the prospects stop responding to your mails. More often than not I have observed that the manager gives another responsibility to the person you were interacting with and he puts your proposal on the back burner. Nothing personal with you.

One of best ways to get someone to open up in such situations is to write an “apology mail for bothering her and asking if there’s something we could have done better to not have put her off” In most situations an apology mail like this gets the person to respond with the exact situation because most people want to be fair and they don’t want you apologising for something you didn’t do.

On the other hand you could also have competition which you never thought of , suddenly appear and suddenly sabotage your sale by targeting the boss of the person you were interacting with.

With possibility thinking you like to keep asking questions without getting negative about the situation, and then getting it clarified. Time is the most important thing for a sales or marketing person. Spending that time , rueing about and ascribing all kinds of ideas to the person is a waste of time. its better to keep eliminating negative possibilities and identifying more positive possibilities.

This is not about positive thinking, about a glass being half empty or full. This is about being constructive in your usage of the limited resource that you have – called time.

Till next time then. Keep thinking in terms of possibilities.

Carpe Diem!!!

A helper’s high

charity, Habits, Happiness, Human Brain, Karma, mindset

This is a term I learned today while I was reading the book 5 Day Weekend.

I have mentioned in multiple posts earlier how when I am feeling low, I try to see if I can donate something. Even Joe Polish talks about how if you’re feeling depressed – go and help someone. It’s not necessary to do it with money only.

You go to an old age home, or you could go and offer your services to an orphanage etc. When you see the fact that you have something to give and help, it changes your whole body and emotional state.

This phrase immediately struck me because I also feel a high which cancels out my depressive emotions the moment I give to charity.

However I have always felt that there is a Karmic reaction to doing good. When you do good by doing charity it sets in motion a whole set of emotions in your mind.

It improves your self esteem, improves your mood, reduces your stress levels and makes you more calm and peaceful. Since you are on a high by helping someone you also tend to become more grateful.

In the Indian thought process if you are facing a lot of bad luck in your life, then you can slowly start reversing the “bad” part by doing charity, by helping others.

Till next time then, be on a high by helping others and make this world a better place.

Carpe Diem!!!

Thinking time- adding Beethoven, Mozzart & Jazz

Focus, Human Brain, Music, Thinking

This one will be a very short post.

I like to keep updating you on the successes I have with some activities which I have suggested to you earlier.

I have written multiple times on how if you can take out focused thinking time every day, you will be able to achieve much more in a day.

Last few days I have been using music from the various symphonies created by people like Beethoven, Mozzart. The symphonies they have created take your mind into a different zone for concentration and you are able to get into focus very fast. Assumption is you are sitting in a quiet room.

I have been a fan of Jazz since childhood. Especially the teams which play the trumpets, clarinets et al.

Since the Amazon Prime music has good selection of Jazz bands also, I tested them and I got the same benefits.

If getting focused thinking time is a challenge, I would suggest you try these music possibilities.

Till next time then.

Carpe Diem!!!

Asking the right questions in the market – 2

Human Brain, Marketing, Questions, Sales, Thinking

I have already written a few posts on the ability to ask better questions.

When you are in a leadership position its very easy to get caught in the “why” spin. I am also at fault on this because I have been a big follower of the 5 Why’s process. The challenge which I always had was that I was dealing with people – whether my own sales team or the customer.

It’s not always easy to get the emotional side with a Why question.

The second part was that in a lot of cases you get multiple points which seem to be the root causes. The key is how do you prioritize among them.

When you’re dealing with machines and factories it is relatively easier to prioritize using things like the Theory of Constraints.

Today while I was going over the book The Road Less Stupid by Keith Cunningham I came across another type of question which he gives. I think you should read this book if you are someone who makes a living by managing teams.

He says one question structure which he has found very useful is “How might I …. so that I can…..”

I tried this same structure on one of the pertinent problems we face. Till now my general system for understanding the problem, as I mentioned was the 5 Why’s.

Today however I tried this and the answers which came out were much more constructive. Now I need to see how easily they get implemented. However it did change my thinking and made me less adversarial.

I would suggest you also try this method and off course read the book and let me know your views.

Till next time then.

Carpe Diem!!!