Why everybody benefits from being more ‘Otherish’

What does being ‘Otherish’ mean?

Adam Grant, in his bestselling book Give and Take, talks about the concept of “otherish” being the opposite of selfish and different from selflessness. “Otherish” people consider both their own interests and the interests of others simultaneously; they are looking for win-win situations, as opposed to selfless people who may only consider the other and end up in lose-win setups or selfish people who look for winner-takes-all.

‘Otherish’ is all about a fair exchange of value.

Being ‘otherish’ is an important concept to understand and apply if we are to set up truly customer centric business models where …

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Getting your sales perspective in 2015

Perspective Taking is a critical life skill that can serve us well no matter what role we are in.

Perspective Taking is also a vital sales skill if we want to develop viable relationships with clients, influence people to consider and buy our offerings, grow sales and lead successful sales careers.

What is Perspective Taking?
Perspective Taking is the act of viewing a situation, or understanding a concept, from an alternate point-of-view. Perspective Taking is the process of temporarily suspending one’s own point-of-view in order to view a situation as someone else might. This process does not necessitate any form of affinity, …

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Sales Psychology – The Theory of Mind

When we interact and work with people (customers, colleagues, managers, friends, family, etc.) it is important to be able to interpret and understand where the other person is coming from – their perspective, especially if we want to continue interacting and working with them in a manner that is beneficial to both parties. Interpreting and understanding where another person is coming from does not automatically imply that we agree with their perspective.

We may not agree. However, we at least know where they stand, what their perspective is, how they see the world. Ideally, the other person would respond in kind …

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Ego is a dirty word in sales & sales management

Having a big ego is often associated with the sales profession.   For many years the supercharged Alpha male, 600 lb sales gorilla has been the poster person for successful salespeople.   And then there is the larger than life sales manager who charges in to save the day by taking over the sales call, making the sale and demonstrating to everyone present just how much better he is than the salesperson.  With stories like these swirling in the ether, it is often assumed that a …

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Empathy – The New Sales Edge

Late last year we published the 12 Sales Trends Report for 2013 and released a brief summary of each sales trend in December.  Over the year we will delve a little deeper into each sales trend.  To kick off the New Year we will focus on the Sales Trend Empathy.

This sales trend is seeing smart businesses making it a priority to redress the balance and develop our brains’ Interpersonal sensitivities: our empathetic side to take into account the needs of others as well …

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Sales Lessons out of the mouths of babes

‘Out of the mouths of babes’ is one of those expressions you hear adults utter occasionally. Often amazed at the remarkable or insightful things children say, I think we do children an injustice by thinking this is an infrequent or rare occurrence. The many children I have met over the years are very perceptive, smart and able to see through weak arguments and call people on them, even if the children, themselves, have not acquired the worldly experiences we accumulate as adults.

You may recall that I wrote an article a couple of years ago titled, ‘ Sales Lessons out of the mouths of babes Read Post »

Recognition or Praise?

Sales managers are being told to do more with less, to work smarter to get peak performance from their sales teams, despite increasingly limited resources. As tough as it is, there is one tool in the sales manager’s portfolio that is never in short supply – Praise!

Yet for some reason, many sales managers find it challenging to show their appreciation for their sales people’s efforts, reluctantly doling out praise as if it was in short supply. …

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How Meditation Can Make You a Better Salesperson

In this increasingly complex world emotions such as empathy, compassion and benevolence are emerging as critical qualities of highly successful people, teams, companies and communities. Even in the highly competitive world of business and selling, those sales people and leaders who are able to incorporate these qualities into their daily work and personal lives are finding greater levels of success. This is coming in the form of better sales results and healthier, more prosperous client …

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Are you really listening or just waiting to speak?

Listen or thy tongue will keep thee deaf… – Native American Proverb How long do we actually listen to another person before we start interrupting? How quickly do our own thoughts take over and we start thinking about what question to ask or what we need to say in reply even before they’ve finished speaking? Do we find ourselves interrupting the person to give our own opinion or finish their sentences before they are finished? If this sounds like you, then you’re not listening you are just waiting to speak and as the Native American Proverb above says, if we …

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Time for reflection and recharging

With this holiday period upon us, many of us take time to rest from the busyness of our daily work lives and spend time with the people we love the most. Often time this space can allow us to reflect on our lives, review what is important to us and appreciate those close to us. For some they can simply feel exhausted and just which to lie still in time to recover for the next busy schedule.

With a 24/7 life style we can often get caught up in being ‘ON’ all the time however if we do not take time …

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