Personal Note From Anne:

Putting the Power Back in Presenting: Creating Groundbreaking Presentations with Ideas Instead of Tricks!

For lots of professionals, putting together a presentation means starting with PowerPoint. Desperate to get their points across in a way that makes them stand out, they turn to flashy slides and animated features. In short, they embrace technology and neglect the one thing that can make a difference:

"How to Structure Your Message so They Hear It"

This Ebook, the first in the Outcome Focus® Approach Series, shows you how to do just that. In under an hour, you can learn how to make a real impact with your presentation. Designed to answer the questions that busy professionals have put to me over the years, it shows you exactly how to put your message so that it isn’t just heard, but remembered and acted on. Click Here to Preview the first chapter right now.

Remember, this guide isn’t just a collection of articles and tips. Inside you’ll find actual scripts and examples that you can put to use right now. Like each title in the series, it’s designed for busy professionals who need results, not people who have hours to spend going through each theory and idea. I’ve taken the best and made it easy to use. To see what I mean, check out the free preview.

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How can I move people to make a decision, especially if they are not the decision maker?

Use as a training tool: Present the situation below to the group and have them brainstorm how they would best handle the situation. Then share the Outcome Focus™ answer and see how it relates or differs from solutions the group found.

Situation:

Anne, I know I should not step over people to find the decision maker. But, still, I don't want to waste my time. So, how can I motivate people to help facilitate a decision or point me to the decision maker?

Outcome Desired:

This is tricky. If you try to push for a decision with a person who is not the decision maker, they could feel boxed in and ultimately never present your information to the levels above. You want to get to the decision maker as fast as you can. You want to treat your audience at all times as an ally, because you never know who will advocate for you.

Other Person's Perspective:

Your audience wants to find out what you are presenting in order to either introduce you to the right person internally or basically block you from moving forward. They see it as their job to "screen" all new offers.

How to Handle:

The big question that begs to be answered here is: Why are you talking to the person who is not the decision maker? I realize that you can't always get directly to the decision maker, but you do need to know right up front what decisions the person you're speaking with can and cannot make.

So let's assume that you are not able to meet with the decision maker because the person you are meeting with made you believe that they were the decision maker. In this instance, you need to softly turn things around so you can get to the decision maker.

The best way to do this is to simply ask the person, "Who would we need to run this by as a courtesy in order to get it implemented?" You will find at this point they will usually give you a name because they do not feel you are trying to pull authority from them.

Once you have that name say, "So if we are going to run this by Jody in order to get it implemented, what is the best way for us to get her involved right up front? I want to do what will make this the easiest for you to ensure your greatest success, and I have found from past history that it works best for us to get the Jody involved early."

I know that almost every sales and presentation book tells you absolutely to deal only with the decision maker. But the reality is, in today's world, you can sometimes make the person with whom you're meeting an excellent internal candidate and salesperson for you.

Anne's Outcome Insights:

Quotable Quotes “A great attitude does much more than turn on the light in our worlds; it seems to magically connect us to all sorts of serendipitous opportunities that were somehow absent before we changed.” - Earl Nightingale See Anne’s latest You Tube video Body Language: Understanding What a Person is not Saying http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjqQYLmrQCo Learn how to get the job you want, the promotion you deserve! With one click of a button you will begin to learn how to recession proof your career. You will be able to hold the knowledge of HOW to interview in order to get the job you want, the promotion you deserve. Begin your journey by signing up for your free 5 weekly interviewing email lessons. Each week you will receive a lesson on how to interview to get the job you want, the promotion you deserve. Sign Up Here Order Here: www.interviewingsystem.com Enjoy Anne Warfield's new Blog: Learn more: http://annewarfields.blogspot.com/

Outcome Focus™ Guest Column Lighting your way with new perspectives!

Assertive or Aggressive? Watch the Chin and Listen for the Silence By Dianna Booher It's odd that aggressive people never realize they're being aggressive in their communication style. Ask them, and they'll tell you they're just being "frank," or "telling it like it is," or "being realistic" or "telling the honest truth that everybody else was thinking." A quick definition: assertive communication involves expressing yourself confidently while allowing others to express opposing views. Aggressive communication refers to expressing yourself in a way that seeks to overpower or disallow any opposing views. But I repeat: Rarely does anybody ever consider themselves an aggressive communicator: In fact, in meetings when things get heated, you hear disclaimers such as these: "Well, I don't mean to be argumentative, but ..." Then the speaker becomes argumentative, brusque, defensive, or offensive. In reading one of my favorite publications, Communication Briefings, I ran across an article by Anne Warfield (http://www.impressionmanagement.com/): "How to Be Assertive Without Being Aggressive." Ms. Warfield identifies some surefire ways to calibrate your own communication style when you have that sinking feel that maybe you are crossing that fine line between assertiveness and aggressiveness: Do listeners remain silent after your speak? Do listeners immediately start to argue with you? Do listeners square their shoulders or lift their chins when they respond to you? If you answer yes to these three questions after you speak, you may be coming across more aggressively than you intend. Do listeners ask questions about what you said? Do listeners thoughtfully challenge what you said? If you can answer yes to these last two questions after you speak, you probably have a genuinely assertive style. Self-diagnose here and take it on the chin. Better Anne Warfield to break the news than, say, your boss or a customer. © 2008 Copyright, Dianna Booher. All Rights Reserved. Dianna Booher is the author of more than 40 books including her latest, The Voice of Authority: 10 Communication Strategies Every Leader Needs to Know (McGraw-Hill, June 2007), Communicate with Confidence, Speak with Confidence, and E-Writing. She is the CEO of Booher Consultants, a communication training firm offering programs in oral presentations, writing, and interpersonal skills, and has been named one of the "21 Top Speakers for the 21st Century" by Successful Meetings Magazine. www.booher.com or 800-342-6621.