Dale Carnegie Way Maryland and DC Metro Area

How to Give an Informative Presentation

john — Tue, 14 May 2013 16:33:13 +0000

A normal function of doing business is to listen to presenters provide information ranging from status reports, to procedural guidelines, to policy changes. And for those of us who give presentations, it’s likely that the majority of the presentations that we give fall into this category, in one way or another.

Some individuals are very competent in giving clear presentations to inform. Audience members leave the presentation with a clear understanding of the message, the desired end result, and key points that they need to remember. On the other hand, many presentations to inform are disorganized and hard to follow, leaving the audience with only a vague idea of the point of the presentation.

Successful presentations should have a clear message, an engaged audience, and all relevant points should be covered. Here are some tips for accomplishing that from your friends at Dale Carnegie Training of the Mid-Atlantic:

Opening: Statement of Topic

The opening statement should be brief and clear, leaving no question in the listeners’ minds as to the topic of the presentation. This is especially true when the presentation is part of a longer series of presentations, such as a staff meeting or full-day training.

State Key Message: Desired End Result

This statement should give the audience a clear picture of the main message of your presentation. It is simple, direct, and tells the audience where you are going with this information. It should answer the question in your audience’s mind: “Why should I listen to this presentation?”

Key Points and Results

These points should be stated in straightforward language and clearly express the result of taking the recommended action. In general, the fewer words, the better when stating key points and results.

Closing: Restate Key Message and Desired End Result

To emphasize the key message of your presentation to inform, summarize by restating the key message or the desired end result of your presentation. This leaves your listeners with a message that they will remember long after the presentation.

This post is brought to you by the good folks at Dale Carnegie Training of Maryland and the DC Metro Area, providers of professional development and management development courses and information in Maryland and the DC Metro Area. We’d love to connect with you on Facebook and LinkedIn.

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5 Questions that Build Both Confidence and Enthusiasm

Jim Vogel — Tue, 07 May 2013 16:16:43 +0000

No matter what role you have in the organization, two ingredients of both personal and professional success must be integrated into every activity and every task. It is through both confidence and enthusiasm that goals and objectives get completed here in the Mid-Atlantic. Success must come from within every day. Although external factors can play a major role in day-to-day responsibility, the daily drive to excellence must always come from within.

It is much easier to win friends and influence people through the rock-solid Carnegie Principles when positive attitude and communication are present. It just makes sense to work in teams or make decisions with others when people are friendly, confident, determined, open-minded, and optimistic.

Enthusiasm and confidence indeed come from sincerity and a positive attitude. It is very true that in businesses and in organizations, attitude is everything. A smile and open personality combine to open a lot of doors and they are factors in resolving problems and minimizing conflict.

Equally important is the fact that good people need to surround themselves with positive people. Attitudes can be both engaging and contagious. The influence of others can go a long way.

Ask yourself the following five questions:

How can this situation become a learning opportunity?
Who can I help get better today?
How can I share successes and grow in the right directions?
What is my mission as a leader and as a team player?
What is the other person’s perspective?

As human beings, we often can be prone to both excuses and reasons to give up, or we often think in negative terms. It is all about choice. It is all about opportunity, and it is all about confidence. Remember that it is about results not excuses.

Attitude, enthusiasm, and confidence can change businesses and careers. Follow the path that is driven by good people, and good things will always happen!

Photo: Ambro, freedigitalphotos.net

How to Increase Your Vocabulary Day by Day

john — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 21:14:46 +0000

Dale Carnegie once told the story of a New York speaker who was often complimented upon the firm texture of his sentences and the simple beauty of his language. During a conversation with him, the speaker told Carnegie the secret to his power to choose true and incisive words:

Each time the speaker discovered an unfamiliar word in conversation or reading matter, he noted it in his memorandum book. Then, just prior to retiring at night, he consulted his dictionary and made the word his own. In had hadn’t gathered any material in this fashion during the day, he studied a page or two of Fernald’s Synonyms, Antonyms and Prepositions, noting the exact meaning of the words which he would ordinarily interchange as perfect synonyms. A new word a day—that was his motto.

This means in the course of a year three hundred and sixty-five additional tools for expression was at his disposal. He stored each new word away in a small pocket notebook, and reviewed their meanings at odd moments during the day. The speaker found that a word became a permanent acquisition to his vocabulary when he had used it three times.

Try this technique out for yourself. It only takes a few moments, and it will lead to a richer, fuller vocabulary for you to draw upon when you need it most!

Photo credit: freedigitalphotos.net/Andy Newson

Building Professionalism Through Proper Business Meeting Etiquette

john — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 14:57:46 +0000

Everyone wants to project a professional image when starting out in a new role. Inappropriate behavior indicates lack of experience and makes others feel uncomfortable. People want to conduct business with people who are socially and professionally accomplished. Poor behavior reflects negatively on the individual and on the organization. To avoid the mess that always accompanies inappropriate behavior, cultivate a professional image that allows you to navigate the professional environment with ease and comfort.

Business professionalism refers to the code of behavior that is expected of you in a leadership role. Start by setting yourself apart by demonstrating proper business etiquette in meetings. Here are eight elements to good meeting etiquette from your friends at Dale Carnegie Training of the Mid-Atlantic:

1. Promptness — Develop a reputation for being on time and you will earn the respect of other organized professionals. Others arrive on time and they will expect you to be prompt too. Nothing is more frustrating to a team than constantly waiting for a tardy participant.

2. Greetings — Take the time to greet everyone with a friendly, personal greeting. You will have the time to do this properly if you arrive a little early to meetings so that you can greet others as they arrive.

3. Honor the territory — Sometimes the meeting is on your turf and you are responsible for conducting it. When the meeting occurs on someone else’s territory, you should step back and allow them to conduct the meeting.

4. Look the part — Whether the other participants in the meeting are in formal business attire or dressed casually, you should do your best to fit in. If professional attire is expected, you should wear it; if you are coming in from a job site, take a few moments to dust off and look presentable. If you wear one, it is appropriate to remove your hat during an inside meeting.

5. Listen — In meetings, you should listen at least twice as much as you talk. Keep your eyes and attention focused on the speaker.

6. When guests arrive — Take time to introduce the guest to the rest of the group.

7. Leaving the meeting — Don’t rush out in a hurry; it will seem like you are eager to get away as fast as possible. Stay behind for an appropriate length of time to help straighten up the meeting room, talk informally with other participants, and ask the facilitator any relevant questions.

8. Follow up — Be clear on assignments given during the meeting and be prompt in completing your assignment by following up with any requested information.

Photo credit: freedigitalphotos.net/89studio

How to Think Like a Leader

john — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 15:01:57 +0000

We all need to remind ourselves that we are not pulled to high levels of success. Rather, we are lifted there by those working beside and below us.

Achieving high-level success requires the support and the cooperation of others. And gaining this support and cooperation of others requires leadership ability. Success and the ability to lead others—that is, getting them to do things they wouldn’t do if they were not led—go hand-in-hand.

The success-producing principles of leadership are valuable equipment in helping you develop your leadership capacity. Thus, it is important that we master four special leadership rules or principles that can cause others to do things for us, whether it be in the executive suite, in business, in social clubs, in the home, or anywhere we find people.

These four leadership rules or principles are:

Trade minds with the people you want to influence — Put yourself in the other person’s shoes and ask yourself, “If I were in his situation, how would I react to this?”

Think: What is the human way to handle this? — Praise your subordinates personally at every opportunity. Praise them for their cooperation. Praise them for every extra effort they put forth. Praise is the greatest single incentive you can give people, and it costs you nothing.

Think progress, believe in progress, push for progress — Promotions in all fields go to individuals who believe in—and push for—progress. Status-quoers far outnumber real leaders. Join the leadership elite and develop a forward look.

Take time out to confer with yourself — The successful person in any field takes time out to confer with himself or herself. Leaders use solitude to put the pieces of a problem together, to work out solutions, to plan, and to do their super-thinking.

How Employee Engagement Makes the Difference at Sysco

Susan Dooley — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 19:14:45 +0000

Jerry Hampton knows something about employee engagement. In fact, many would consider him an expert, as he has singlehandedly trained over 2000 men and women to sell -and excel- in the competitive industry of food service.

As the Director of Training for SYSCO, a global leader in the selling, marketing, and distributing of food products, Jerry is charged with creating a high performance sales culture. His team of 138 men and women pound the pavement daily in an extremely competitive environment as they work to grow their customer base. The job is intense, fast-paced and demanding, and rejection is a natural part of the selling process.

I recently had an opportunity to talk with Jerry about his 34 year career with SYSCO, and glean some insights as to how SYSCO creates a culture of performance and engagement among its team members.

The first discovery I made was that SYSCO truly BELIEVES in their people, and they put their money where their mouth is. Each sales representative undergoes an extensive training program to help them understand not only the company and suite of products, but more importantly the value proposition their product line offers. Anyone can be trained to memorize product features and benefits; however it takes a skilled professional to demonstrate the VALUE that SYSCO products will bring to a customers’ bottom line. That’s the ability to understand and apply both the art and the science of selling.

To accomplish this, the company conducts regular and ongoing training, on-site, led by Jerry and his team. Their training room is top notch, offering comfort and new technologies to enhance the learning experience. It is impossible to “mail it in” during one of Jerry’s training classes – his coaching style is personal and deliberate, requiring active interaction and involvement by all participants. Through this process of focused coaching, they create a branded sales process, and a consistent appeal in the marketplace.

SYSCO also sends select sales personnel to outside training. It started 1996 when Jerry sent a few people to the Dale Carnegie® Course to overcome a fear of speaking. The results for these individuals were astonishing. After recommending that so many people to take the class, a colleague challenged him by saying “Have YOU ever taken the course Jerry?” to which he was had to reply no. “Then how do you know it’s any good?” Touché, he agreed and signed up for the next class. As a graduate of the program he became more convinced of its value to the individual, both at work and at home.

Since that time, SYSCO has become a key global partner with Dale Carnegie. “This is a great program and it’s a serious investment,” stated Hampton. “After graduating from the course, our people are able to truly see the perspectives of others; they gain the ability to give sincere appreciation, to manage stress better, and to find new ways of doing business. In short, they get ‘out of the box’ and develop the enthusiasm to move new ideas forward.”

Craig Tomalak is one example. Craig started his Dale Carnegie Course in early 2013. After 10 weeks of working on his human relations and communication skills, Craig commented “This class forces you to view situations from various different perspectives – something we are all capable of but very rarely do. I think we are all guilty of forming habits in terms of the way we handle situations.” The Dale Carnegie course gave him the opportunity to look inward and find those areas of growth and others. That new way of operating has helped him strengthen his relationships with customers and improve his results in the marketplace.

Food service is a demanding and competitive industry and salespeople run the risk of burnout and frustration. Pat Hoffman, a Detroit-area participant reported that the concept of “day tight compartments” was particularly helpful to him. Exercising greater patience, keeping things in perspective, and finding greater joy in the days work changed his outlook, and his results. This ability to manage stress more effectively is consistently reported back to SYSCO as a benefit of the Dale Carnegie experience.

Investing in PEOPLE is a cornerstone of running the SYSCO business. Just as they us only the highest quality ingredients in their food – they place only the highest quality training in their people. This investment in PEOPLE helps create a dynamic and engaged workforce that’s motivated and better equipped to delight their customers. And to Jerry Hampton, that’s what it’s all about.

How to Get the Most From Your Next Networking Affair

john — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 15:43:11 +0000

Spring is a busy time for professional seminars and networking affairs. These events provide one of the cheapest and most effective types of advertising that you and your company can get. But in order to make this happen, you need to get out of your office and network with people. However, the reality is this: very few people go to these events to buy what you are selling.

The important rule to keep in mind when attending these type of events is: When You Are Networking, You Are Not Selling.

When you are at a networking event, don’t focus on trying to sell to everyone. Look at it as an opportunity to be a teacher, a center of influence and a fountain of knowledge for buying what you are selling. By making a few changes to your approach, you can become a center of influence in any industry and, in effect, generate a considerable amount of word-of-mouth advertising.

One of the biggest mistakes most people make when they network is trying to sell to someone (this happens whether or not they are showing buying signals). This is the LAST thing you should do. Don’t talk about how great you are or why someone should buy from you. Just have a general one or two sentence overview of what you do (sometimes known as an “elevator pitch”) and the type of people you work with. Tell people this, along with how much fun you have doing your job, and you will find people asking you more about what you do. If you go into a heavy sales pitch, you will only end up pushing opportunities away.

One of the fastest ways of getting people to talk is to ask them questions about who they are and what they do. By asking these questions, you will quickly get to know people and learn about their company. But don’t stop there. Get out a pen and write down on their business cards some key information about them. When you get back to the office, enter their names in whatever customer contact tool you use so you can keep track of these people electronically. This will make it easier when it comes time to send them electronic newsletters or direct-mail campaigns.

If you do this at every networking event you attend, the word will spread rather quickly that YOU are the person everyone needs to turn to when buying what you are selling. You can also leverage your sales by sending these same people a series of e-mail newsletters and direct mail campaigns.

Photo credit: freedigitalphotos.net/Vlado

Tips for Effectively Dealing with Customer Complaints

john — Tue, 02 Apr 2013 15:42:50 +0000

The first thing to understand is that customer complaints are a part of doing business. And how you deal with customer or client complaints comprises a critical part of delivering exemplary customer service. It is important to remember that customer complaints present an opportunity to provide a memorable interaction where you can provide value to the customer. Here are 5 ways to effectively deal with customer or client complaints from your friends at Dale Carnegie Training of the Mid-Atlantic:

1. Get all the facts — Make sure that you listen to the customer and ask questions. It is only after you completely understand the situation that you can provide a solution that is acceptable to both you and the customer or client.

2. Once a decision is reached, act! — One of the most important elements of customer service is follow-through. It is critical that when handling a customer complaint that you deliver the solution and close the loop which can mean calling or emailing the customer or client.

3. Don’t Expect Gratitude — You will never please everyone and sometimes you might go above and beyond the call of duty and receive no recognition. Let it go. You’re not there for the glory; you’re there to service your customer.

4. Create happiness for others — With each customer interaction you have the opportunity to provide memorable value. This opportunity intensifies when there is a customer or client complaint and you take actions to make everything right for them.

5. Put enthusiasm into your work — Attitude is contagious. If you have a good attitude and greet customers and clients with that attitude you can change the dynamic of the exchange instantly. Address each customer complaint with enthusiasm and you will find that most people will be easy to work with!

Photo credit: freedigitalphoto.net/Danilo Rizzuti

Sales the Carnegie Way

Jim Vogel — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 12:58:49 +0000

Many customers here in the Mid-Atlantic are especially focused on getting the best deal for everything regardless of product or service. Counter that with the fact that many salespeople want to make a good living, especially if it is commission-based. How do the two factions work together for both goals and objectives? Since there are thousands of commissioned salespeople in our area and even more frugal customers, there has to be clear ingredients is to build value. The following is based on the Carnegie Principles of mission and openness.

First be competitive: Your presentation has to be driven by the marketplace. Price is never an issue when value has been created. Fair price and profit truly can go hand-in-hand.

Partner with the customer: Ask questions. Build rapport. Do it together. Needs and wants only come through conversation.

Ray Kroc said when he launched his fast food business: “Look after the customer and the business will take care of itself.”

Listen to your customer: Give them a chance to tell you their story and give them information in exchange. So do your homework as well. Give your client what Mr. Carnegie taught his students almost 80 years ago, a fair and honest experience. The profit will come. If done right, it is the byproduct of the opportunity.

Remember, the four dollar bread you bought at the grocery store did not cost the store four dollars. The five dollar salad at the restaurant did not cost it them 5 dollars to make. There is absolutely no problem with customers allowing some profit. It is how a business stays a business. The lights will not stay on long if a company is breaking even. Profit means stability and a pay check.

Salespeople must understand that customers buy the professional they work with long before they buy the product and service.

Remember nothing happens until something is sold. Selling drives our local economy. The simple Carnegie Principle of trying honestly to see things from the other point of view works every time.

Photo: stuartmiles, freedigitalphos.net

Eight Words That Can Transform Your Life

john — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 19:32:14 +0000

Dale Carnegie was once asked what was the biggest lesson he had ever learned. He replied that, “By far, the most vital lesson I have ever learned is the importance of what we think.”

You see, Carnegie knew that our thoughts make us what we are—our mental attitude is the “X” factor that determines our fate. He quoted Emerson as having said, “A man is what he thinks about all day long…How could he possibly be anything else?”

Carnegie claimed to know with a conviction beyond all doubt that the biggest problem you and I have to deal with—is choosing the right thoughts. If we can do that, we will be on the highroad to solving all our problems. The great philosopher who ruled the Roman Empire, Marcus Aurelius, summed it up in eight words—eight words that can determine your destiny: “Our life is what our thoughts make it.”

Yes, if we think happy thoughts, we will be happy, if we think miserable thoughts, we will be miserable. If we think fear thoughts, we will be fearful. If we think sickly thoughts, we will probably be ill. If we think failure, we will certainly fail. If we wallow in self-pity, everyone will want to shun us and avoid us. Said Norman Vincent Peale, “You are not what you think you are; but what you think, you are.”

At the same time, Dale Carnegie knew that people couldn’t go around with a devil-may-care attitude about all their problems. Unfortunately, life isn’t so simple as all that. But he did advocate that we assume a positive attitude instead of a negative attitude. In other words, we need to be concerned about our problems, but not worried.

Our mind’s power to bring about change doesn’t stop with attitude, however. The famous British psychiatrist, J. A. Hadfield, asked three men to submit themselves to test the effect of mental suggestion on their strength, which was measured by gripping a dynamometer. Under normal waking conditions, their average grip was 101 pounds. When he tested them after he had hypnotized them and told them that they were very weak, they could grip only 29 pounds—less than a third of their normal strength.

Then Hadfield tested them a third time, telling them under hypnosis they were very strong—and they were able to grip an average of 142 pounds. When their minds were filled with positive thoughts of strength, they increased their actual physical powers almost fifty percent.

Remember…“Our life is what our thoughts make it.” Make yours strong, positive, and all it can be.

Photo credit: freedigitalphoto.net/stuart miles