Perception

It seems the video of 'Did you spot the gorilla?' was removed from Youtube. For those that missed it, try this video perception test instead...

Did You Spot the Gorilla?

It's surprising how many people miss the gorilla when watching the short clip that I posted on my blog last week. This clip was developed by Daniel Simons to study the psychology of vision. It points out that because you are asked to focus on something specific, you often miss the seemingly obvious as your brain will filter out what it feels is not important. In this case, you were asked to count the passes and so a gorilla beating it's chest was deemed less important by your brain and so it filtered it out.

Richard Wiseman uses the video to demonstrate the 'blind spots' people have to opportunities and argues that those people that learn (or naturally) manage to identify these hidden opportunities are more likely to succeed and maximise opportunities in their personal and professional life.

The challenge in life is to look at things from different perspectives and not close your mind off to knew thoughts and ideas. You can read more about Richard's findings from his book 'Did you spot the gorilla?'

How Many Passes?

Watch this basketball clip and tell me how many times the basketballs are passed...

Top Ten Tips for Engaging Learners

Even the most mundane subjects can be made much more interesting if participants are given plenty of opportunity to do things with the subject material, to think things out for themselves and to talk to each other. Participants also need to know where a session is supposed to take them. They need to know about the intended outcomes, and (more importantly) what these mean for them and what they will be able to show when they’ve achieved the outcomes. Here are ten tips to make training more engaging:

1. Establish participants’ ownership of the agenda. Ask them what they really want from the session or what they feel they really need from the session. Write their expectations on a flipchart. Ownership is achieved best when it’s the participants own words.

2. Express the intended learning objectives. Work out carefully some completions of ‘By the end of this session, you will be better able to…’, and talk them through why it will be useful to them to achieve these learning outcomes. After all, it’s the reason for the training!

3. Acknowledge their experience. Don’t tell them anything you can ask them first. Usually, there will be people there who already know the answers to most questions. Give the group as a whole ownership of their answers to questions, rather than you being the source of all wisdom.

4. Keep them busy. Get them learning by doing, rather than listening to you explaining the theory. If it’s an area that can only be described through talking, create a discussion, or even better, get them to stand up and review ideas on flipcharts around them room.

5. Give participants a variety of different things to do in successive tasks. For example, use different activities such as written, brainstorming, prioritising, sorting, discussing, arranging, playing, acting, case studies, games and so on.

6. Plan short tasks, not long ones. It is usually better to break a task into four fifteen minute stages than to run it as a one hour episode. Where tasks need to be longer, ensure you involve everyone and alternate the lead.

7. Be a time lord. Managing our own time is important enough, but when training it’s really important to manage other people’s time well too. Boredom quickly sets in when participants have too much time for a task, so as soon as some have finished, start debriefing.

8. Celebrate their successes. Cultivate the art of asking participants the right questions, so that they come up with the answers. When they have worked out how to do something, they remember it far longer than if you tell them how to do it.

9. Make it fine to learn by getting things wrong. Point out that for many things, learning is deeper when people get things wrong; they find out in an unthreatening environment why they were wrong, and how to make them better.

10. Don’t lecture. When you need to give your participants some information, do so in a handout, and then get them to do something with the information rather than just write it down or read it themselves.

Trainer Bubble Partner with ITOL

Trainer Bubble are pleased to announce their status as an approved partner with the Institute of Training and Occupational Learning (ITOL).

This partnership will provide our customers with the opportunity to benefit from specific partnership discounts and offers as well as the assurance that our business practices are in line with ITOL standards.

About ITOL

The Institute of Training and Occupational Learning is the UK's fastest growing network for trainers, and is now the professional body of first choice for those specialising in training, development and occupational learning. ITOL are the only Institute in the UK solely committed to occupational trainers and their needs. They truly are the natural home for everyone involved in the world of learning. Visit the ITOL website at www.itol.org

Membership

We are currently in the process of developing a Trainer Bubble/ITOL membership collaboration, which will offer you specific member advantages as well as membership to an institute that is truly committed to the future of training.

Keep visiting Trainer Bubble at www.trainerbubble.com for great training resources.

Sales - How to Handle Objections

Objections are a fact of life for a salesperson and a lot will say that they hate when they get them. I really don’t think this should be the case as objections are just another way for a prospect to say, “I need more information” and can actually be a good sign that a sale is not too far away. After all, if you handle the objection effectively, what reasons are there left not to buy?

The most common reason for salespeople disliking objections is the simple fact that they are not prepared for them. There are no excuses for not being prepared for objections, after all, there are only so many objections that you are likely to receive and believe me, the prospects of the world are not sat in a room right now thinking up new and better objections in order to catch you out!

A truly effective salesperson will spend time practicing and perfecting their response to these objections and when they receive them the response will be so slick and meaningful the prospect will have no option but to buy the product or think up a whole new objection…that can be answered just as quickly!

Another thing to consider when overcoming objections is the way you deliver them to the prospect. There are four practical techniques to follow.

Pre-empt the objection – The best way to avoid receiving objections is to answer them in your pitch. If you have an awareness of the common objections that you get to your product/service, not pre-empting them seems madness.

Some salespeople might argue that it’s best not to highlight the downside to a product. Believe me; even if your prospect doesn’t say it, they’re thinking it. Get the issue out in the open and answer it straight up. That way, when you reach for a close, the prospect will not have the objection.

Treat objections as questions – Objections are not something to be feared. If you treat the objection as just another question that drives you towards the sale you will find that your body language and tone of voice doesn’t alter and your enthusiastic response will be seen by the prospect as a positive statement of confidence in your product.

Agree with the prospect – This is no time for an argument! You are not opposing the prospects statement, simply helping them to understand your point of view. There is a tendency to use words like ‘but’, which put up barriers between you and the customer. Instead, make them realise that you respect their query by supporting it and then stating your side of things. A good technique to follow is one developed by Zig Zigler (well known sales trainer), which is…

Use Feel, Felt, Found - This process is great for handling objections whilst still acknowledging and respecting the prospects point of view. When a customer raises an objection, you say something like; “I understand how you feel, our other customers felt the same way too until they found that…” This technique is incredibly simple and yet amazingly effective.

This is an excerpt from the workbook in the Trainer Bubble training materials for 'Practical Selling Skills'. Visit our website now to view the rest of the content.

Effective Customer Care - Mind the GAP's

Providing effective customer care is crucial to the success of any business. We all realise this, and yet at times it feels that no matter how much we meet and exceed customer’s needs, they still want more. So, are customers becoming more demanding? Is customer care slipping? How can we keep up the momentum? I believe I have the answers, but first, let me take you on a journey...

I had decided to take a holiday in a 5 star resort in Thailand. My partner and I were greeted at the baking hot airport by a hotel driver in an air conditioned Mercedes and taken directly to the foyer of the luxury hotel. While we signed in our luggage was ferried off to our room and we were asked to relax in the comfortable chairs with a chilled, refreshing drink. The air conditioning above gently pumped out cool air as the smiling receptionist quietly enquired about our trip, whilst efficiently taking our information. After several minutes a golf buggy pulled up next to the reception and we were driven the 100 yards to our villa on the complex.

As we entered our room we were hit by the smell of fresh flowers and the sight of crisp, fresh, white sheets on the bed. We opened our luggage, which had been placed carefully by the wardrobe, grabbed our bathing costumes and immediately headed for the pool.

At the pool we were greeted by a member of staff that had not only reserved a seat in the shade for us, but also provided clean white towels for us to lay on. While we relaxed, our every whim was met by a smiling member of staff who seemed to instinctively know when you were getting too hot and needed a complimentary drink or one of the hotels famous 'alcoholic ice pops'.

Now I'm not just saying this to make you jealous, there is a message to this story because this service was way above anything I had ever experienced in my life. I simply had not been treated so well at any point up until that time. It truly was the 'exceptional customer experience' that you hear what seem to be urban myths about. By the third day I was starting to get really used to it, I stopped with please and thank you and began to really just relax and enjoy the experience. That's about the same time things took a turn for the worse...

On the fourth day we turned up at the pool and the staff member was not there. The towels had been carefully laid out at a table for us to collect and my partner and I managed to get our usual sun lounger with the parasol above it (although I had to put it up). When the staff member turned up about 1 hour later I called him over as by then I really needed a drink (there was a bar by the pool, but I didn't feel inclined to walk over to it). I asked him why he had not been there first thing and he explained to me that he had to help out at the front desk as a large party of guests had arrived and there was not enough cover. I was pretty irritated by this and it was only when my partner suggested that if I didn't stop complaining to her she was going to throw me in the pool that I relaxed again. I have to say it spoiled things somewhat though and from that point on I started to look for things that weren't quite right.

Now, I consider myself an easy-going type of person, one who is level-headed and fair. I am not the type to get easily agitated and if I'm honest I would say that whilst writing about my 'bad' experience I am a little embarrassed by my thoughts at the time. However, this for me is the true issue as far as customer care is concerned.

When a business, quite rightly, attempts to exceed customer expectations then they have to be prepared to accept that very soon this becomes the norm. If the hotel that I visited had not made my experience so fantastic in the first place I would have been none the wiser. However, once they had made that expectation any slip in standards would be deemed 'bad service'. This is the challenge that all businesses face, which I call, 'Minding the GAP's'.

GAP stands for Good, Accepted and Poor, which are the three levels of standard that customers grade a business by. Unfortunately, customer care is not as easy as always staying in the ‘good’ area. As you will have seen from my example, after a while the good merely becomes the accepted, which if not met, becomes poor.

It truly is a conundrum, which can only be resolved by hard work, determination and a little bit of inventiveness.

Firstly we need to ensure that the people providing customer care appreciate that the GAP process happens. Once they understand the concept, they can be more prepared to realise why customers become seemingly ‘ungrateful’ for the wonderful service they provide and therefore maintain a positive mindset.

In any business we need to have an element of ‘thick skin’ and if the person providing service does not see the benefits and reasoning behind effective customer care and the value that working in the ‘good’ area provides, then the battle is lost. The concept of exceeding expectations must be valued by the individual and they need to appreciate how working in the ‘good’ area will improve their personal working experience.

Once the team understand the concept of GAP, they can start to identify what the specific ‘good’ and ‘accepted’ are for the business; this will help them to relate to the customer experience in a way that they probably hadn’t considered before. It is no good telling members of staff what must be done. If they have no reason to buy into this concept, then it will not happen it’s as simple as that. To buy into something you have to feel part of it. This can be achieved by allowing the team to develop their own thoughts on the matter.

The team should also be encouraged to develop the next ‘good’ elements. What are the extras they can do to further exceed the customer expectations? What will provide that wow factor? If the culture of inventiveness can be developed within the values of a team, you will create a wonderful working environment and truly become masters of customer care and perhaps then you can holiday in Thailand off the proceeds!

Visit Trainer Bubble where you can download our fantastic training resource on Effective Customer Care, which gives you all the course materials you need to run an exceptional training event.

Energiser, for just a little training fun.

Here's a little test you can use during breaks or lunchtimes to add a little fun to your training sessions.

Doctors have concluded that if you can find the face in the coffee beans in 3 seconds, the right half of your brain is better developed than most people. If you find the face between 3 seconds and 1 minute, your right half of the brain is developed normally. If you find the face between 1 minute and 3 minutes, then the right half of your brain is functioning slowly and you need to eat more protein. If you have not found the face after 3 minutes, the advice is to look for more of this type of exercise to make that part of the brain stronger!

Developing Well-Formed Outcomes with NLP

An outcome is a goal that you develop in such a way that conforms to your subconscious mind. A goal is usually quite general, whereas an outcome is specific to the individual and provides a very clear understanding of what to do. The structure of an outcome should activate our personal resources in such a way that it becomes actionable.

Going through the six questions creates a detailed internal representation in your mind - an important step in creating a belief in your objective. It may not be necessary to go through all of the questions for every objective. Use your discretion and apply the questions that are appropriate at the time.

1) State you outcome positively

You need to be very clear about what it is that you want so that you can remain focused. You should be precise about what you want as ambiguous definitions will not provide you with the direction you need. If you say, ‘I want to be happier’, then a good joke might suffice! However, if you were to say, ‘I want to lose 2 stone’, the intention is clear.

You should also avoid negative statements as your brain cannot process them. If you say, ‘I don’t want to work here anymore’, all your subconscious can here is, ‘work here’. If you start to think, ‘I don’t want…’ consider what you do want instead and write that as your outcome.

A useful technique when coaching is to ask the coachee what the present situation is and follow this up with what the desired future outcome is.

Where are you now? Where do you want to be?

2) State your outcome in sensory terms

The term representational system refers to how we use our five senses of smelling, tasting, hearing, seeing and feeling to represent or experience events. Everyone has a preferred representational system; some are more visual others are more feelings based. Consider what you will see, hear, feel and so on.

As a coach you should quickly establish the preferred representational system of the coachee and adapt your language to suit.

3) Evidence Procedure

Evidence procedure is another way of asking ‘How will you know that you have achieved your goal?’ The following questions should help you to understand this.

How will I know that I have achieved my outcome? What will I be doing once I have achieved it? What will I see, hear, feel etc. when I achieve it?

4) Is it ecological?

This stage is to ensure that the outcome fits in with all areas of your life. You should consider how it will affect your career, family, health etc. What will be gained? What will be lost?

5) Is it self initiated and are you in control of it?

It may be that someone else wants you to change, but it’s really not something that you want. Of course the likelihood of you achieving your outcome in this case is lessened and so you should ensure that the outcome is driven from within.

You may also find that you achieving your outcome is not solely in your control, this could make it difficult for you to achieve your outcome. Try the following questions to help at this stage.

Who is this outcome created for? Is the outcome solely down to me to achieve?

6) Is the context clearly defined?

The context is the way your outcome will happen. When, where how and with who do I want this? Asking these questions will help you define steps that need to be taken to achieve your outcome.

7) What resources are needed?

What people, knowledge, skills, attributes do you need to help you reach your outcome? Some questions to consider…

What resources do I currently have? What resources do I need to acquire? Have I achieved anything like this before? What can I learn from that? What if I act as if I already had the resources I need?

Using this process will ensure you achieve effective results each time.

This is an excerpt from the training course 'Coaching with NLP', which you can purchase and download from our website at Trainer Bubble.

Meetings or Work? – A Modern Dilemma

What is it with business people and meetings? I’ve lost count of the mundane, ineffective and downright pointless meetings that I have had the misfortune to attend so far this year. If one more person drags me half way across the country to attend a meeting about the meeting before it I’m pretty sure I will throw myself out of the meeting room window.

I’m not against meetings per se, but it seems that people are pre-occupied with talking about issues rather than getting their hands dirty and actually dealing with them. I guess it’s easier to imbed yourself in a days worth of appointments talking about ‘the state of the business’ than it is to spend time actually trying to resolve anything.

The trouble with this abundance of dross gatherings is that it turns people off to the worthwhile meetings that really do help to address ‘real issues’, which can create a positive benefit to the future of the business.

So, for those of you that are interested only in positive meetings with purpose, let’s lay down some guidelines…

1) Never call a meeting if the information can be distributed or matter resolved by alternative, simpler means.

2) Provide a clear agenda and any relevant information to those due to attend the meeting. If they are required to prepare information, let them know.

3) Only invite people that absolutely need to be there.

4) Always start and end the meeting on time.

5) Stick to the topics on the agenda.

6) Be clear on the goals of the meeting and work towards them.

7) Do not allow AOB to become inane ramblings. If people want to have a general chat, ask them to do it elsewhere.

8) Prepare for the meeting and be clear on the content. If you have not prepared adequately then postpone, avoid bringing people together to ‘chat around the topic’.

9) Avoid ‘satellite’ meetings. If you can combine topics and all relevant people are due to be there, do so.

10) If the meeting becomes no longer necessary, don’t have it!

See, simple really isn’t it? So stop calling a meeting every time you need a break from the real work and start planning for successes. If you want to have a moan, save it for the water cooler!

You can download our new training resource on 'Leading Meetings' at our website www.trainerbubble.com