Power Archives - GUJRAT INDIA

Frame Control: How to Bust the Power Frame in Business and Sales Situations

The definition of a frame is a set of emotions and desires that you bring to the table anytime you are communicating with another person. Now the interesting thing about frame control is that whenever two or more people are interacting one person’s frame will overcome the other person’s frame and this person will usually get their way.

Example: Think about a courtroom, you have a judge, two attorneys and a group of jurors. The two attorneys both have their own desires and emotions, the attorney who’s frame is adopted by the jurors will win the case.

Technique: busting the power frame.

This is a technique that you could probably use in a variety of situations but the best examples for it are ones that are relevant to the business situations.

If you are in the business world you have had the experience of dealing with someone who had the power frame because of their massive ego. This is person who is used to getting their way, they are used to people acquiescing to their desires, this is a person who usually does whatever the hell they want to do regardless of the information or how it effects other people. Power frame types tend to be oblivious to what others think. Their ego is rooted in their status. These are usually people who have big titles or feel some kind entitlement.

If you are communicating or negotiating with a power frame a lot of times they will only listen to the first few seconds of what you have to say and then make a snap judgment about what they will do. Inevitably in business and in life we have to deal with these kinds of people coming from this kind of ego driven a power frame. However, the good news is that they are vulnerable to your power busting frame because they do not expect it. They expect your difference & obedience. You will take them by surprise with this technique:

To bust a power frame, use a mildly shocking but not unfriendly act. Do or say something that is slightly defiant but at the same time be humorous.

When you are defiant and funny at the same time, a power frame personality is going to be pleasantly challenged by you and instinctively knows that they are in the presence of a pro.

Example: Let’s say you are a sales person and you are in the boardroom making a power point pitch. While you are in the middle of your pitch you realize that one of the key decision makers of the deal gives you an objection to doing the deal.

Since you are true sale bro you are say: “Hey Chris, that’s a great question, I would really like to finish this presentation because I think when you have the total picture of what I am proposing it will make sense to you” then you go on with your presentation.

A few minutes later you notice Chris is playing on their blackberry and not paying attention to your presentation. Anyone who’s been in sales or negotiates deals for living is familiar with this kind of situation, now say: “Hey Chris, I would just hate to have to use my Jedi powers to take your blackberry from you while I finish my fascinating presentation” While you do this make sure you are smiling big at Chris and roll your eyes a little when you say fascinating presentation.

This line accomplishes a few things:

It’s slightly shocking because you are calling out Chris for not paying attention.

You are being funny saying that you have Jedi powers.

Using positive and body language and joking about your presentation being fascinating you are building rapport between you and Chris.

Chris is now going to be super focused on you for the duration of your presentation.

So when you encounter the power frame be a little defiant or deny them what they want from you while at the same time being funny and friendly and you will win frame control of the situation.

Star Power: The Difference Between Entertainment and Knowledge

This week I hired a publicist. This may not seem like all that uncommon of a thing to do, but for me it was profound. The truth is that my book, “Testimony,” is not doing as well as it could be. I have been told that I need more “Star Power.” Sure, I have a loyal following of people, like yourself, who read my articles, subscribe to my newsletter, or follow me on Facebook. Nevertheless, today that is not enough. Today, you have to have star power or celebrity status to really get your voice heard. Our culture tells us that it does not matter what you say, what really matters is who you are when you say it.

Don’t get me wrong: I am not bitter about this, really I’m not (truly). I am, however, in all honesty, frightened by it. We will form our opinions and take advice from anyone as long as they are celebrity. Reality TV stars become experts in social science, movie stars become equivalent to PhD’s in the field of environmental science, and cable newscasters and entertainers get to tell us what our political and economic beliefs should be. Meanwhile, there is a real voice of reason, expertise, and experience sitting on the sidelines saying “If only I were famous enough, my ideas could change the world.” Instead, we learn our history from Pawn Stars, our science from Myth Busters, business management from The Apprentice, and world news and politics from The Daily Show.

There are a lot of people out there smarter and even more educated than I am, but I believe in my message. I know that my writings come from a sincere heart and a love for truth and honesty. For this reason, I am willing to do whatever it takes to help my message be heard. I don’t claim to have all the answers; however, I also don’t claim to write or speak about anything that I don’t understand. I am the first to admit when I don’t know something and I am always eager to learn. But this is really not about me (I know that’s not the best thing to say for one trying to gain a little more star power). This is about a realization that I was hit with this week, a realization that truth is being ignored or replaced by… I don’t know what. I am frightened by the fact that sincerity and honesty is outweighed by celebrity egos who can’t admit where their expertise ends or begins. I am frightened by the fact that star power commentary holds more weight than real knowledge and understanding. Mostly, I am frightened for a future in which a world looks to entertainment for facts while questioning or ignoring real insight.

People used to buy books based on the content in them and even well-known authors could enjoy a life of anonymity, focused solely on providing well-thought-out, meaningful content that could empower and impassion their readers. This allowed authors the freedom to continually learn and grow and, in turn, their books helped others do the same. Today, authors are not allowed this freedom. Their time is spent gaining star power instead of knowledge. More books are being sold than ever before. Information is everywhere, but what of the content of the books? People choose known faces over expertise, passion, and even truth.

Just in case you did not catch it, the point is that we need to reevaluate how we ascertain quality, truth, and information. Mass media has transformed the way that people learn, grow, and experience life. This is an amazing thing, but we must learn to recognize the difference between entertainment and knowledge. This is not to say that gaining new insights can’t be entertaining, but there is a huge difference between knowledge presented in an entertaining way versus entertainment presented as knowledge. We must learn to recognize the difference and challenge ourselves to look deeper than the celebrity status or star power of those tasked with shaping our minds, thoughts, and opinions.

You just may be surprised to find that the unknown authors, bloggers, and instructors are the ones that can bring real value to the table. After all, they did not set out to be a celebrity; they simply have a story, knowledge, or information to share. The work holds no secondary agenda; they don’t write just to be heard, they write because they have something worth listening too.

LinkedIn – The Power Of Networking

With the introduction of social media in the last five or so years, networking and expanding your relevancy in your community has never been more productive. Unlike most advertising and media, social media enables you to create a two-way communication with your network contacts and potential customers. Therefore, the more email addresses, connections, fans, etc. that you can capture in your database, the easier it will be to communicate within your community.

Social media doesn’t just give you information, but rather, interacts with you while giving you that information. This interaction can be as simple as asking for comments, letting you vote on an article, or communicating an RSVP for an upcoming event. In the case of LinkedIn and Facebook, these social media sites can become big “catcher’s mitts”, enabling you to use these portals as repositories of information.

Proactively embracing social media is both an efficient and effective way to expand your overall brand awareness in your trade area and communities. One social media portal is that can be an excellent source for business networking within your community is LinkedIn.

LinkedIn is an Internet-based business-contact network that enables you to connect to key businesspeople in your trade area. LinkedIn allows you to identify key local contacts in your trade, geography, civic organizations and corporations — then gives you the ability to “connect” with them by sending a LinkedIn connection invitation. You also can join industry-related groups on LinkedIn and post comments on industry topics. LinkedIn is available for a fee but most, if not all the functionality can be accessed for free.

One of the strongest social media sites for networking professionals, LinkedIn has over 100 million members and growing rapidly focused mainly on business-to-business networking in contrast to Facebook, which is more social in nature. LinkedIn connects you to your trusted business contacts (and their networks) and helps you exchange knowledge, ideas, and opportunities with a broader network of professionals — many of which are with people that are 2 and 3 degrees removed from you.

The premise of LinkedIn is that the larger your network of contacts, the better positioned you are in order to garner referrals – either directly or indirectly. Referrals from LinkedIn are commonplace and since this social media portal is built from professionals that actively seek to network, new connections are generally open to expanding their contacts.

Here is the how the site works and how you can maximize its effectiveness:

Profile: Each person on LinkedIn creates a personal profile that can be made visible to all 100 million users. The profile is basically an online “resume” of your current and previous work so that others can see your background. In order to maximize your exposure, filling out your profile in detail is critical and should include:

Complete background
List key words
Recommendations from others
Relevant industry groups

After you create your profile, you can start to add people to your “network” as connections. These direct connections (1st degree) are key colleagues that you know personally. You connect to these colleagues by sending them an invitation to “join your network”. Once you are connected to a direct contact, you become connected to their contacts as well. These contacts are not directly accessible to you, but rather viewed as 2nd and 3rd degree contacts that can be reached through your 1st degree contact.

Home Page: LinkedIn is designed with a cumulative landing page, or home page, that enables you to get a snapshot of all the activity related to your full network on one page. Think of this as command central for your network. Once you have an established network, this is an excellent place to come to every day to review opportunities in a concise fashion. Unlike other social media portals that require more time maintenance, simply spending 5-10 minutes a day here will keep you at the epicenter of activity for your network. Included on your home page are a number of key hotspots:

Connections: You can review all of the status updates of connections in your network as well as seeing new people that join LinkedIn that may be of interest to you to invite to your network.

Status Updates: This is a nice area that enables you to stay on top of the activities of your connections. See a new job title for a colleague – and send them a quick congrats message; read about a new connection in your network – reach out to them with a comment. The more you are active with your connections, the more that will put you in high esteem as an epicenter networker.

Recommendations: As you write or receive recommendations, they are posted on your profile and home page for all to see. What better way to establish credibility in your network then to have a third-party endorse your work. In addition, as you assemble recommendations on your profile, these can later be used as testimonials in relevant marketing campaigns for your use.

Group Status: When you begin to join groups (highly recommended as you will see below) you can monitor all the activities of your groups on your home page. This is advantageous to see as there are a number of discussions, new members, postings, etc. that can flag you to opportunities. Groups offer you the best way to really capitalize on growing your network with people that have relevant backgrounds and geographies.

People You May Know: This section appears daily and is an excellent area to expand your network with the ability to directly send a short introduction as well as an invite to connect. All of the people that appear here are already in your network, just not 1^st degree connections.

Profile Views: Profile updates, photos, status, discussions, group activities and recent connections are all shown on your home page to keep you informed of changes with your connections. It is quite amazing what you can see transform here and in some cases, it can give you “insider” information on people and companies. For instance, changes in a connection’s overall profile may signal an imminent job change or changes to multiple profiles at the same company, can indicate unrest at that company.

Q & A: This section is an excellent way to showcase your expertise in a myriad of topics. The Q & A section can be customized to your background and as you answer questions, the questioner can assign the “best answer” classification to your answer. When this happens, you begin to position yourself as an expert in your field and this will foster more people to flock to you. Ultimately, every aspect of your activities on LinkedIn can cast you in the epicenter of activity coming and going.

Connections: Establishing your initial network is easy with LinkedIn. Starting at your home page, select “add connections” from the tab at the top of the page. From there you can go a few ways: a) send invites to people you already have email addresses; or b) have LinkedIn find them for you. If you are using any of the following email accounts – Hotmail.com, Gmail.com, yahoo.com, AOL.com, Outlook or Apple mail – you can automatically have LinkedIn search your databases to find out which of your contacts may already be on LinkedIn. LinkedIn will identify all those email addresses that are in your contact lists; people that you have received emails from; as well as people you have sent emails to. After a few minutes, you will be presented with a long list of potential connections that will be flagged if they are currently a member or LinkedIn or not. In either case, you may invite them to connect.

In addition, LinkedIn will allow you to look for former work colleagues from previous companies where you were in employed. These colleagues can be sent an invite, even if you do not have their current email address. Select “colleagues” from the same “add connections” page and click on your former companies to find potentially connections from the past.

Building up your contact list is critical, because the more 1st degree connections you have will lead to having more 2nd and 3rd degree connections. That is the start of building a larger overall network through your direct contact base. But, you shouldn’t stop there. Groups are an excellent way to expand your network to the real value of LinkedIn – connecting to people that you don’t know but SHOULD know.

Groups: Groups are the mother lodes of connection-building on LinkedIn. Unlike other ways to connect in which you need the person’s email address, groups can open up the door to creating connections directly through messaging. The first step to maximizing your reach through groups is to search for relevant groups that make sense for you to join. You can conduct your search on the “groups” tab and type in keywords in order to find groups. Once you find a number of groups, send a request to the group organizer and they should approve you within 24 hours.

Once approved to join the group, you will have the ability to view discussions, news, jobs and most importantly, the members. In addition, you will have the ability to sort by geography – i.e. 25 miles surrounding a zip code, for instance. Building your network within the group is simple to achieve. Within the group (and with the free version of LinkedIn), you can see the top 500 members based on the number of connections they have. Although there is a feature that members can use that turns off the ability to send them a direct message, very few users on LinkedIn prohibit direct messaging. Direct messaging is critical because it gives you the opportunity to introduce yourself to people that don’t know you or you do not have their email address.

When sending a direct message, you will find greater success in “soft-selling” your introduction as a way of letting know “you are out there”. Don’t be discouraged if you do not get an immediate answer – in some cases it may take weeks, even months, but doing this only takes 10-15 seconds and you start to establish your network faster.

Companies: Another way to expand your network is to search for contacts through the company search function. There are a few ways that you can tap this database – by company category; size of company by number of employees; and by geography. If your business and its success is contingent on the close proximity of your customers, searching by geography would be the most advantageous way to search new connections.

To search by geography, click on the “location” pull-down menu on the companies tab and put the zip code of your business. LinkedIn will search all of the connections you have in your network (1st, 2nd and 3rd degrees) that are located near that zip code and list the companies for those connections. You will then be able to click on the companies and see what other contacts may be advantageous for you to connect with.

People: To add more connections, visit the “contacts” tab from your homepage. You can then click on “network statistics” and scroll down to the center of the page and click on “Your Region”. Clicking on your selected region will identify all of the contacts in your network – from 1st to 2nd to 3rd degrees. Your focus here would be to convert as many of your 2nd and 3rd degree connections into direct connections to begin to establish a closer, direct relationship with them.

By using LinkedIn, you can create a broader network of working professionals to foster relationships with and begin to build up an impenetrable circle of contacts that are exclusively yours. Targeting prospective connections via groups and companies, in addition to your already established network, will begin to develop a referral system that creates both short and long-term bonds. This network can become a very profitable way to grow your business.

125 Action Statements and Power Phrases

1. If you’re having a tough time getting by on your salary now, how well do you think your family will get by without it?

2. The only thing worse than a home without a mother is a mother without a home, isn’t it?

3. You can say, “I don’t need it”, but can you say “my family won’t need it”?

4. The most valuable asset that a father can leave his children is their mother’s full time care, isn’t it?

5. More good things are lost by indecision than by wrong decision, aren’t they?

6. Someone always pays for life insurance, whether a man buys or not; the question is, who….the man or his family?

7. You say come back in September… But whom should I ask for if you’re not here in September?

8. The difference between an old man and an elderly gentleman can be a decent income can’t it?

9. Wives may not believe in life insurance, but widows always do.

10. Life insurance is a shield to meet the blow that you can’t see coming isn’t it?

11. You would certainly give your life for your children, so why not insure it for them?

12. Have you ever met a widow who said that her husband had too much life insurance?

13. Life insurance is the only plan that will guarantee a known sum at an unknown time.

14. You haven’t needed it (life insurance) yet? Do you carry a spare tyre in your car? Do you own an umbrella? Do you check for the parachute in the aeroplane?

15. The worst time for a wife to become a breadwinner is when she first becomes a widow.

16. If you wouldn’t like to live the rest of your life on the face amount of your present insurance, how do you expect your wife to?

17. Income is provided for a widow or by her isn’t it?

18. Losing a father is bad enough, inheriting a part time mother makes it worse, doesn’t it?

19. You can put me off, but you can’t put my competitors off – death and disability.

20. Life insurance won’t keep people from dying, but it will keep their plans from dying with them.

21. Any partnership that operates without a proper buy/sell agreement is living on borrowed time.

22. It isn’t easy to be old or poor, but it’s a great deal worse to be both.

23. You finish the job if you live; we finish the job for you if you die, become disabled or long term sick.

24. Whatever reason you may have for not starting this plan now will only sound ridiculous to your widow.

25. Just because you stop working doesn’t mean you stop loving your wife, children & grandchildren. That’s why you have permanent life insurance isn’t it?

26. Would you like to buy your parents interest in the company for less then 5 cents in the dollar?

27. Partnerships are like a seesaw. One man gets off the other falls off. Is your business succession plan like that?

28. It’s better to use insurance to protect the partnership because while you will pay $1,000,000 for your partners share you really pay very little for the $1,000,000, don’t you?

29. No person ever dies at the right time, do they?

30. A person needs credit to live, but their family needs cash when they die, don’t they?

31. You may last longer than your money

32. Tell me, how will you treat all your children equally in your will?

33. No debt should last longer than the person who created it, should it?

34. If you buy insurance or not, in the end someone will pay for it.

35. Life insurance is time. The time you might not have. If you need time you need life insurance.

36. Your wife should be left something that will take care of her – not something she will have to take care of, shouldn’t she?

37. Have you a plan to pay for capital gains tax or will you let the family sell assets to cover your oversight?

38. A professional loans their educated brain to create income for their family to live on. Unfortunately the brain is not a going concern. When it terminates, so too does the income it generates.

39. No has always been the first two letters of nothing. I have never liked what nothing implies. Would I be right in assuming that you do not like the meaning of no either?

40. In the final analysis, all you can leave your wife with is “the dignity of choice” isn’t it?

41. If you had a goose that laid golden eggs, would you insure the eggs or the goose that laid them?

42. If you can save as much money in the next five years as you have in the last five years, will you be satisfied?

43. Life insurance? Anybody who doesn’t believe in it ought to have the right to die without it at least once.

44. Sometimes the biggest price in the world is doing nothing. A lot of people do nothing wrong; they just do nothing. That’s what’s wrong.

45. What formula did you use to arrive at the amount of life insurance you have at the moment?

46. What percentage of your income in a lump sum would you like to leave your wife and children?

47. If your partner became permanently disabled or long term sick, how long would you be willing to do 100% of the work for 50% of the profits?

48. If it were free how much insurance would you like?

49. Do you know anyone who has died who had too much insurance?

50. If you were to die because of some one else’s negligence, how much would you want your family to sue for? Should they have any less if you die by other means?

51. Do you have trouble accumulating money and keeping it?

52. What type of lifestyle would you like when you retire? What type of lifestyle will you have if you are forced to retire because of ill health?

53. If you were not here could you pay for all of your children’s higher education or just a percentage of it?

54. What assets would your executor have to sell up to allow your wife and children to keep living in their current lifestyle?

55. Are you aware of your most valuable asset and do you know how much income it is capable of producing in your lifetime?

56. What would happen to your estate if you had died last night?

57. You and your wife together can handle debt, but can she handle debt by herself?

58. Would your executor be embarrassed by the lack of liquidity in your estate?

59. Long term insurance is a good idea in retirement. Just because you retire doesn’t mean you stop loving your family or their need for estate equalisation.

60. Life insurance is like a parachute in an aeroplane. If you ever want it and have not got it, you will never need it again.

61. At no time in life is a wife less able to become a bread winner than when she first becomes a widow.

62. One ordinary father can support four children, but it takes four extraordinary children to support one father

63. A life insurance person brings no financial problem to any prospect, they only bring the solutions.

64. If every wife knew what every widow knows, every husband would be insured for more, wouldn’t they?

65. I can understand your hesitation to pay the $800 premium. You may feel that you are making a mistake. Would you rather make an $800 mistake or a $250,000 mistake?

66. If you suffered a traumatic illness or serious accident would you sooner lose your home or your mortgage?

67. Do you have a family debt extinguishable fund?

68. If you were permanently disabled which assets could your partner sell for full value?

69. Are your debts “good” debt or “bad” debt?

70. “Your price is too high!” Is that if you take the cover, or if you don’t?

71. Do you want your bank to have first call on your estate?

72. If your family was in Financial Free Fall, wouldn’t it be nice to know we could provide the Parachute?

73. If you weren’t here, who would you want to take care of your obligations?

74. Who do you want to inherit your debt?

75. What other assets are instantly created for your family and estate if you die?

76. Tell me what you want to leave out of your debt reduction program. Is it the capital redemption or the promises to your children that their mother may not be able to keep?

77. Which is harder for a widow? Being unprepared or being unfunded?

78. Do you see your family being disadvantaged by the unknown or being disadvantaged by being unfunded?

79. If I could deliver you a guaranteed amount of money for a specified event at an unknown time in the future, would you be interested?

80. We don’t have a choice about good luck or bad luck, do we? It just happens!

81. Your insurance should compensate for an event, not encourage it’s occurrence

82. If life cover was FREE, how much would you want to take?

83. If you became long term sick or permanently disabled, which would you sooner lose, your house or your mortgage?

84. If you knew you were going to die tomorrow, how much insurance would you demand of me?

85. You don’t buy insurance because some one may die; you buy it because families and people keep on living, don’t you?

86. If you don’t protect your income, how will you be able to pay for or afford your other insurances?

87. Even if a couple become divorced or separated, the ex-partner will not see another maintenance payment should the income earner die. How will that affect your children?

88. How would your family be affected if you couldn’t work for 2 years?

89. Which is more important to your wife? The size of your overdraft whilst you’re alive and well or getting rid of the overdraft when you are not here or are unwell?

90. Are you leaving your family an asset or the asset and a liability?

91. What is your gross estate value? What is your net estate value?

92. Are you aware that your children stand to lose two parents if your partner is forced to go back to work after the death of a spouse?

93. How big a reduction in your income could you absorb/sustain if you became disabled?

94. If you were totally disabled yesterday how much would you need to clear your debt?

95. If you were totally disabled yesterday how much capital would you need to produce the income you have now?

96. Modern medicine is saving lives, but it is converting death to disability : long-term economic death. As important as you are, do you know anyone who will pay you an income for the rest of your life should you become disabled?

97. This plan will pay 75% of your salary when no one else will

98. Your family’s outcome relies on your income

99. Earned Income is an extremely delicate and easily destructible asset subject to three hazards; death, early retirement and long term disability. It can be compared with a 3-legged stool; if one leg gives way, the whole stool topples over.

100. Saving your life shouldn’t mean losing your savings

101. Income Protection benefits are Dollars of Dignity. They mean not having to beg, diminishing reliance on charity, not having to borrow (if you still can), sending your spouse or partner out to work, asset sell off, capital erosion or life style down grading.

102. Doctor, have you ever heard of a physician being pensioned by his patients when he was laid up from accident or sickness?

103. (I can’t afford it.) If your salary was cut by $10 per week would you quit your job?

104. (See me later). Before we plan a later date Mr. Prospect, wouldn’t it be eminently sensible to see if you qualify first?

105. Of course you are right, you do realize that life insurance can provide capital to earn income from after you have passed away. But what if you are seriously injured and don’t die?

106. Naturally your superannuation will provide you with an income when you retire. But what if you have to retire early?

107. Comparing the number of doctors to the number of undertakers in the phone book, will give you an indication of the number of unwell people requiring attention compared to the lesser number of deaths requiring attention.

108. You are aware that the biggest gamble your partner and family can ever take is on you. Why not minimize the risk with an income protection plan?

109. Would your bank manager pay off your mortgage if you had a heart attack?

110. If a sole proprietor tells you his business will run itself while he is off, then ask him why he is not at the beach or on the golf course every day instead of enjoying himself

111. Life insurance pays when you die. But what happens if you are only 1/2 dead?

112. Can you guarantee immortality?

113. Did you know that insurance can now be paid on diagnosis of specific diseases and insurable conditions?

114. Do you want your family to have to sell their house if you became disabled or long term ill?

115. What happens if your money machine breaks down?

116. People are money machines. They produce income called money. When the machine breaks down is destroyed or fails to operate the income stops.

117. Did you know there are two ways to make money? People at work and money at work. Money at work is a whole lot easier isn’t it?

118. You have an accountant and a solicitor, but do you have anyone whose responsibility it is to deliver money in the event of a death, disability or long-term injury or sickness?

119. If you were not here what percentage of your children’s higher education would you like them to have?

120. What would happen to your estate if you had died last night?

121. Who would you like to serve as guardian and trustee for your children if you and your spouse died?

122. If the entire family dies in a disaster, to whom do your want you estate to pass?

123. “Whatever the dollar’s future value, the man who has one will be better off than the man who doesn’t.”

124. “You say you have trouble living within your income — consider living without your income.”

125. Ask upfront “What has been the major problem you have had with my industry in the past that I would need to be aware of as we build a relationship together?”