Psychology Says You Can Actually Sell Anything, So Long as You Use These 4 ‘Hidden’ Switches

by murika Comment Closed
The most knowledgeable and renowned marketers in the world view marketing not as an "art form," but rather as an exact science. This is because marketing, like science, has been researched to death, experimented with since the dawn of time, and studied to the point where we can predict exactly what will and will not work....
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How to Boost Sales When Consumers are Spending Less

by murika Comment Closed
Know me before selling me; that’s what Americans expect from sales reps. In a recession, it’s critical to align with customer preferences to avoid losing sales to rivals. Competition is stiff, as people have less disposable incomes. A 2018 study by the Federal Reserve found that 40 percent of Americans can’t come up with $400 to pay for an emergency. And that’s before 40 million people were out of work virtually overnight. Here are tips to increase sales, even when the economy is in flux....
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I Refuse to Participate in the Recession!

by murika Comment Closed
I started BNI in 1985. Since then, I’ve navigated my company through three recessions, and we have now entered our fourth  since the mid-'80s. Along the way, I’ve learned that mindset has a lot to do with how one navigates a tough economy successfully. This first became clear to me when I was at a large networking event during the recession of the early '90s. As I walked around the room, I discovered that almost everyone was completely fixated on how horrible things were. It was incredibly depressing. I found myself meandering until I saw someone standing in a corner observing all the distraught business people in attendance. I walked up to him, introduced myself and asked him what he did.  He told me he was in real estate. I prepared myself for the onslaught of horror stories, but instead, he said that things were going really well for him. ...
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Adam Grant Just Explained How to Answer the Question Everyone Hates Most

by murika Comment Closed
That insight comes from Wharton professor, author, and TED speaker Adam Grant. In a recent piece about the perils of authenticity, Grant describes a fascinating study in which researchers from several universities across the globe studied international teachers applying for jobs in the U.S. and lawyers applying for jobs with the U.S. military--deliberately choosing two very different sorts of jobs and candidates. They looked at the candidates' agreement or disagreement with "self-verification" statements like this one: "It's important for an employer to see me as I see myself, even if it means bringing people to recognize my limitations." Then they compared those answers with the candidates' likelihood of actually landing the job....
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There Are 2 Types of Leaders: Water and Rock. Here’s Why Both Are Important

by murika Comment Closed
Researchers are keen on the idea that there are different leadership styles--autocratic, visionary and servant, for instance. Arguably, however, no matter which style you lean on most naturally, when it comes to flexibility, I've come to believe through my personal experiences that there are just two main types of people. You are either a rock or water leader. The traits of rock leaders. Rock leaders, as you might guess, are overwhelmingly firm in their decisions. What they do often serves as a foundation for the behaviors of everyone else, and others recognize their exceptional strength. ...
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3 Major Opportunities That Will Come From This Pandemic

by murika Comment Closed
There’s reason to be optimistic. Throughout history, terrible events have led to great transformations. The bubonic plague of the 1300s led to the modern employment contract. Cholera epidemics of the mid-1800s gave us urban parks and radically improved infrastructure. The 1918 Spanish Flu revolutionized healthcare. What are we in for this time? I started calling some smart people for a podcast titled "The Good That Comes From A Pandemic", and their answers thrilled and inspired me. Here were three big things I learned:...
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Want to Build Unbeatable Mental Toughness? Here Are 5 Surprisingly Effective Ways

by murika Comment Closed
Just one week after he graduated from Yale Law School, while he was training for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, Seun Adebiyi was diagnosed with lymphoma and leukemia. This forced him to put his Olympic dreams on the back burner as he rethought his life plans. Adebiyi knows all about mental toughness and resilience. After experiencing firsthand the difficulty of finding stem cell donors (the odds of finding a genetically compatible donor is less than 17 percent for those of African descent, compared to 70 percent for Caucasians), Seun took it upon himself to found Nigeria's first national bone marrow registry--the second ever in Africa. ...
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Highly Confident People Avoid These 14 Behaviors

by murika Comment Closed
An organization is never more confident than its leader, which accentuates the importance for leaders to display unswerving confidence in themselves, their vision, their strategy, and their people. Leading with confidence involves important nuances like avoiding the opposite (leading from a place of fear) and learning how to handle criticism. It also involves knowing not only what traits to project but what behaviors to avoid. Having seen a multitude of leaders over a 30-plus-year career, from über-confident to the point of arrogance down to timid and unsure, I've developed an eye for what constitutes highly (but not unjustifiably) confident leaders and the behavioral traps they avoid. Here are the 14 behaviors the self-assured self-select out of. ...
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10 Exercises That Will Help You Develop the Mental Strength You Need to Crush Your Goals

by murika Comment Closed
If you want to lift heavier objects, you need more physical strength. Large biceps and a strong back will go a long way toward helping you do the heavy lifting. Well, the same can be said for your mental muscles. If you want to be able to tackle bigger challenges and overcome more obstacles, you need more mental strength. Like physical muscles, your mental muscles require a good workout. And these 10 exercises can help you start developing the mental strength you need to crush your goals. ...
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A Navy SEAL Commander Says Persevering Through the Toughest Challenges Requires These 4 Actions

by murika Comment Closed
When it comes to getting through difficult challenges, there are certainly people who handle it better than others because they're tough. Then there are Navy SEALs. I'm a professional speaker and after my keynotes I quite often get the chance to talk to the audience. After a recent keynote where I preceded a Navy SEAL who spoke on succeeding under extreme pressure, I was engaged in a discussion with a group of leaders from a utilities company that were enthralled with all things SEAL. They told me about a Navy SEAL commander by the name of James Waters. He granted an interview to theweek.com on October 2015 on how to tackle brutally tough challenges with extreme determination and perseverance. ...
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7 Signs That Say You Have the Mindset of a Great Leader

by murika Comment Closed
One of the things I love doing as an Inc.com columnist is being able to share compelling stories. Especially stories of extraordinary leaders who overcame unthinkable challenges to now teach us lessons of resilience, hope, and a new way forward. Kevin Hancock, sixth generation family CEO of Hancock Lumber, is one such person. Hancock was diagnosed with spasmodic dysphonia, a rare neurological disorder that makes speaking difficult. Two years later, he began traveling from his home in Maine to the remote Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. There, he encountered an entire community that did not feel fully heard. ...
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Elite Military Mind Tricks to Reframe Uncertainty

by murika Comment Closed
Uncertainty is a business killer. As a business owner, you're already dealing with many unknowns. To successfully navigate them, you need to be able to rely on some future projections that represent a sense of stability. The current coronavirus pandemic has just about made that impossible. While some companies can get around that uncertainty through the use of advanced technology, others are caught up in the current crisis. This is where leadership is needed. Leaders, however, are subject to the same level of uncertainty as everyone else. To guide others through the crisis and make better business decisions you have to be able to successfully manage the uncertainty you feel. ...
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How to Run a Successful Online Meeting: 6 Effective Strategies

by murika Comment Closed
With the current COVID-19 epidemic still ongoing, many businesses have gone remote. More employees than ever before work entirely from home, and that’s bound to be the case for some time yet. In times like these knowing how to run a successful online meeting is essential. Team communication is more important than ever to keep everyone on track. Video conference software allows you to meet up with your team and employees over the Internet and talk to them live. But if you’re the one in charge of hosting a virtual conference, and this is your first time dealing with it, you might not have the first clue where to begin. That’s where this post comes in....
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