I am reading Jacinda Ardern’s recently published book, A Different Kind of Power. At the start of her term as New Zealand’s 40th Prime Minister, she was asked what she’d do differently. In essence, she said she was going to lead from a place of kindness which in fact she did. I wish we had …
We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak. —Epictetus, Philosopher (over 2,000 years ago) We do a lot of digital listening these days whether it’s reading or listening to videos or podcasts, for example. I prefer listening in conversation. It’s active in real time, and …
Read moreHow to Be a Better Listener and Find What You Seek!
There are not enough listening ears. That’s been an issue for years as people have become more embedded into the quiet, digital space. In the COVID-19 environment, businesses are anxious to learn what they should be doing next. Business as usual isn’t, these days, and is not likely to return to the way it was …
This is our third blog of the widely used SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) analysis to assess the value of Win/Loss analysis. Strengths (Blog 1) are HERE and Weaknesses (Blog 2) are HERE. This blog outlines the opportunities and threats of Win Loss analysis. Opportunities Win/Loss Interviews Provide Deep Insight In our digital age, these …
Read moreOpportunities and Threats from Conducting Win/Loss Analysis
So much about life revolves around effective communication. As a primary research expert, I am always looking to for ways to motivate others to share. You need to understand what makes them comfortable to share. I recently read Traci Brown’s book, Persuasion Point: Body Language and Speech for Influence. While the book focuses on closing …
While Win Loss is a relationship business, like all business processes, it continues to evolve. What are your best practices in there two areas: Monetary Compensation to those you interview for a win or loss AND Recording Win Loss Interviews. Please share with me in the comments section of this blog or email me at ellen at thebisource.com.
I have had the pleasure of interviewing two impressive Directors of Win Loss programs. Both work for large companies that have done win loss analysis for a long while. Both emphasized the importance of company culture in how they set up their win loss programs; how they conduct win loss interviews—both internally and with customers—and how they write up the win loss analysis.
I thought that you would only gain benefit if you conducted win/loss interviews quarterly, but I found out that you can learn so much, even from 20-25 interviews. I hope to share this skill in my book so small and mid-size companies can take advantage of what they can learn from more in-depth interviews with customers and prospects a couple of months after the sales event.
The world has lost one of our greatest women this week, Maya Angelou. She has impacted my life with her statements, particularly this one. “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” Thank you Dr. Maya Angelou
I read two great blogs in the last couple of weeks: David Harkelroad’s which asserted that the biggest problem in strategy is mindset; and an HBR blog on “What Gets in the Way of Listening?” I think they are related since if you truly listen, you are open to having your mind changed. I am curious as to how others deal with their leadership’s lack of listening ears? I know as a telephone interviewer that there are not enough listening ears and that job disengagement in the US is around 70%, so if they answer their phone, they are likely to be informative.