Posted by distinctivecoaching on June 24, 2009
Yes, that’s correct. Due to a site reconstruction, we’ve moved.
For more informative, riveting, fascinating, thrilling articles, posts and general know-how on achieving your ideal business, sales, marketing, networking, social networking, productivity, motivation and all things that go into YOUR successful business, please see:
http://www.DistinctiveCoaching.com/Blog-posts
We’ll be waiting there for you . . .
Biz Coach Jason
Posted in Business development, Business ethics, Business owner, Creativity, Entrepreneur, Events, Goal setting, Humor, Inspiration, Interviewing, Motivation, Netiquette, Networking, Phone sales, Rosarito Mexico Bike Ride, Sales, Sales Training, Social Networking, Upgrading skills, marketing | Tagged: Entrepreneur, marketing, Networking, productivity, Sales, small business, small business owner, Social Networking | Leave a Comment »
Posted by distinctivecoaching on April 16, 2009
With so many people looking for work right now, the art of the job interview is as important as ever. And this is true for both the job candidate as well as the hiring manager.
Competition for jobs is so fierce, and hiring the wrong person can waste time, money, energy, productivity, and cause a lot of stress for everyone involved.
This article is written for the hiring manager, to help them make a great staff decision, but it is also helpful to the job candidate as they prepare for the interview.
When I coach my small business clients that are growing their business and hiring new employees, I give them the standard questions to ask, such as “Tell me about yourself”, “What are you three best skills”, “What is your biggest weakness”, “Where do you see yourself in three/five years”, “Why do you think this would be a great job for you”, etc.
We also work together to create questions that asses skill sets that they want their new hire to have a mastery of. These questions typically start with “Tell me about a time when…” and end depending on appropriate skill or characteristic that is being assessed.
For example:
“Tell me about a time when/describe a time when…”
- “… you had a disagreement with your manager, but you just knew that you were right.”
This can asses many things: conflict resolution skills and styles, relationship building & maintenance skills, communication abilities, etc.
- “… you were working with a difficult or irate customer.”
Obviously, this looks at their customer service tendencies, philosophies and behaviors.
- “…as you approached an important deadline, you saw that you weren’t going to make it.”
This can show how they prioritize and set action plans and goals, in addition to how they handle unexpected and possibly stressful situations.
- “…you had to give a poor review or rating to an underachieving employee that you were managing.”
This might give a glimpse to their leadership and mentoring abilities and styles.
Some follow up questions to their initial answers might include:
- How did you handle that?
- What was your biggest concern at the time?
- Do you feel the situation was resolved?
- Looking back, do you think you would have done anything differently?
These are great questions from the hiring manager’s perspective, and they can be difficult for the job candidate to prepare for.
I suggest an interviewee take a look at the job description and make a list of probable skills that the interviewer may want to measure appropriate for the position. Prepare examples from your experience that demonstrate positive outcomes. Sometimes there is no “right answer” – the interviewer just wants to asses your thought and communication style to see if it is a fit with theirs or with the department or company culture.
And lastly, both sides need to be very truthful when answering interview questions. If you concentrate too hard on selling yourself or your company during the intweview, you’ll probably accomplish just that. But when the new hire begins working, you might find it’s a very poor fit and will probably not have a happy ending for either side.
I hope these ideas help both job candidates and hiring managers alike.
To your succes,
Jason
Where is Jason speaking next?
Take a look at www.DistinctiveCoaching.com/events.htm to find out or have him speak at your event!
Jason E. Rosado
Business Coach & Professional Speaker
Helping entrepreneurs, small biz owners, and sales professionals achieve your ideal business in 12 months or less.
Vision, Strategy, Sales, Success.
773.829.1276
Jason@DistinctiveCoaching.com
Website: http://www.AchieveYourIdealBusiness.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/BizCoachJason
Facebook Profile: http://profile.to/BizCoachJason
Facebook Business Group: http://groups.to/IdealBusinessCommunity
Posted in Business development, Business ethics, Entrepreneur, Interviewing, Upgrading skills | Leave a Comment »
Posted by distinctivecoaching on February 24, 2009
“Create Your Ideal Prospect”
- How good are you at getting customers from networking events, online forums, email campaigns and other prospect contact situations?
- Could you increase your sales effectiveness if you knew exactly what to say, how to say it, what to expect, how to follow up – and put it into the “Prospect Success Formula?”
Most of us entrepreneurs, small biz and sales professionals have several missed opportunities every day, because we aren’t taking our cues from the people we meet and talk to, are not properly positioning ourselves, or are spending too much time and energy focusing on the wrong aspects our dialogs.
And when we do recognize these opportunities, we often let fear and lack of preparation get in the way of really taking advantage. I know I have encountered the sleazy sales person or annoying pitch-happy networker when I’ve been out at events. I’ve also gotten introduction emails from unknown or vaguely known people that make my stomach turn. I don’t want to come off that way to others, and I want to be ethical, moral and helpful with my networking, marketing and sales presentations.
“Luck is when preparation meets opportunity.”
This means that we create our own luck. And when you work for yourself, the importance of this cannot be stressed enough. People don’t succeed with their business just because of luck – especially in this economic environment. You have to be prepared.
And here’s your opportunity to start that preparation, easily and enjoyably.
During this free teleclass, you will:
Please join me on Wednesday, Feb 25 at 9:30am CT for this exciting live workshop that will take what you already know, combine it with new insight and give you superior networking, marketing and sales results!
Here is the link to register: http://idealprospect.eventbrite.com
And… for those that are on the live call, I will be giving a free bonus you will not want to miss, and a very special prize for one lucky winner!
All the best,
Jason
P.S. Don’t miss this one! If you want to explode your sales, and even if you aren’t 100% sure you’ll be able to make it, there will be follow up from the event that you won’t want to miss! http://idealprospect.eventbrite.com
Where is Jason speaking and presenting next?
Take a look at www.DistinctiveCoaching.com/events.htm to find out or have him speak at your event!
Jason E. Rosado
Business Coach
Helping entrepreneurs, home-based & small biz owners, and sales professionals achieve your ideal business in 12 months or less.
Want to get started? Sign up for your FREE “Business Success E-Series”!
773.829.1276
Jason@DistinctiveCoaching.com
Website: http://www.AchieveYourIdealBusiness.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/BizCoachJason
Facebook Profile: http://profile.to/BizCoachJason
Facebook Business Group: http://groups.to/IdealBusinessCommunity
Posted in Business development, Entrepreneur, Events, Networking, Sales, Upgrading skills | Leave a Comment »
Posted by distinctivecoaching on December 16, 2008
Question:
I know I put a lot of work into keeping tabs and making notes on my contacts. Can you recommend of a book, computer program or a skill or two that helps keep you organized in this area?
Answer:
This is a very good and important question. What I do is:
1.) Make notes on their business card
2.) When I get home, I type those notes into the “Notes” section of the Outlook Contact. I also put down the event or situation where we met. This is an easy one to overlook, but can be VERY helpful later. After meeting hundreds of people over the years while networking, I wish I was doing this from the start.
This also makes searching your contacts for specific events, information, professions, etc. very easy, in turn making referring quality people easy as well as effectively and efficiently helping those that are asking for referrals.
Note: If you have me in your contacts list, go now and type in “Awesome business coach for networking, marketing and sales for entrepreneurs, small business owners and sales professionals” 
Then email me and tell me what to type in for yours!
3.) When I send a follow up email after the meeting, I try to put something personal in the message about our conversation – what I enjoyed, found interesting, etc.
This does two things:
First, it reinforces in my mind who they are and what we talked about (and helps me to recall their face as I am doing this).
Second, it also reminds them specifically of who I am, giving a personal touch and helping me to stand out from the other 20 people they met that night.
4.) After seeing them again at another event, I will go back and type in the details of that encounter. It makes keeping everyone easier to remember both with a physical record and also in my memory.
Doing these four steps has helped me tremendously with networking, fostering relationships and being able to help others. I have fairly often gotten, “Wow, what a great memory you have.” Or “I’m impressed that you remember meeting me last year…”
If anyone would like to see more tips on successful networking, please checkout http://tinyurl.com/Networking10Tips and also join us on Facebook at http://groups.to/IdealBusinessCommunity
All the best,
Jason
Helping self-directed and self-managed professionals achieve your ideal business in 12 months or less.
Want to get started? Sign up for your FREE “Business Success E-Series”!
Jason E. Rosado
Business Coach
773.829.1276
Jason@DistinctiveCoaching.com
Website: http://www.AchieveYourIdealBusiness.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/BizCoachJason
Facebook: http://profile.to/BizCoachJason
Posted in Business development, Networking, Upgrading skills | Leave a Comment »
Posted by distinctivecoaching on October 31, 2008
Listen in to the 10/30/08 show. In this spirited conversation, I was interviewed by Jackie Rogers of The Kitchen Table Entrepreneur about gaining clarity, vision and growth in your business through coaching: http://snipurl.com/BizCoachJasonVoiceAm
Topics: The importance of gaining vision and clarity for success; How to build a networking, marketing and sales mindset; How to grow your business using coaching; What to look for in a great coach; The core areas that coaching can help your business; and much more . . .
We had a very lively discussion. I hope you enjoy it!
All the best,
Jason
P.S. My blog can now be accessed and viewed on Facebook! See http://apps.facebook.com/blognetworks/blogpage.php?blogid=69071
Website: http://www.AchieveYourIdealBusiness.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/BizCoachJason
Facebook: http://profile.to/BizCoachJason
Posted in Business development, Business ethics, Business owner, Entrepreneur, Goal setting, Motivation, Networking, Sales, Upgrading skills | Leave a Comment »
Posted by distinctivecoaching on October 7, 2008
With all the people I have been connecting with lately (especially high school classmates) that have been asking what I’ve been up to over the past 18 years, here it is.
Last 18 years.. Ok, here it goes:
Music (trombone & baritone horn, teach brass lessons, D&B Corps conductor), started school (University of Illinois), bars, left school, travel, work (Opened a restaurant), work out, bars, closed a restaurant, music (University of Illinois - Chicago Jazz Band – trombone), finished school (UIC), travel, work (Service Rep, Training & Manager), moved to Lakeview (Chicago IL), running, work out, bars, volleyball, tennis, work (Training Manager), travel, engaged (in Paris), bars, work, travel, married (in Chicago), volleyball, bought house in Berwyn IL, travel, work (Microsoft Product Trainer), bicycle, networking, volleyball, opened own business (www.AchieveYourIdealBusiness.com), tennis, networking, bicycle, travel, networking, joined Facebook, wrote on a few ”walls” today. And I might eat lunch soon.
There are a few small details I may have left out somewhere in there.
What are your updates?
Posted in Business owner, Entrepreneur, Networking, Upgrading skills | Leave a Comment »
Posted by distinctivecoaching on June 29, 2008
Q: I have a really big call with a decision-maker at a very large company who may be interested in licensing my software. It’s a perfect match for this company and industry, and this should be a healthy relationship in many ways.
I’m wondering what to focus on in this call. I realize I need to have the mechanics of the call figured out, but I’m wondering what this call should be about, in other words, what should be on the agenda.
A: Congrats on the opportunity!
I would cover four areas during the call:
1.) Focus on what they want. Ask a lot of questions that get at where they want to be and a little about how they want to get there. Also ask about what barriers are present, and what some challenges might be to getting there. Then present the points of how your software will help them to get past their barriers and achieve their high-level wants.
2.) Go beyond the product and sell yourself as an added value – a resource, an ongoing support, a referral partner, whatever else you have to offer – again, making sure that what you bring to the table will help them to get to their dreams, wants and desires.
3.) Possible questions to ask include: “What would be your best case scenario for this relationship?” and “What would be the best part about that?”, “What might be some potential pitfalls?” You’ll want to stir their desires, and address their fears and doubts. Provide whatever assurances that you are able to for those.
4.) Lastly, don’t try to close before you ask how they see the fit. Make sure they see that your product and service will help them get to where they want to go faster and easier than anything else. Once that’s been secured and you’ve addressed their doubts and fears, then close the deal.
I hope this helps, and please let me know if I can be of assistance in any other way.
All the best, and good luck!!
Jason
P.S. If readers thought this was good stuff, I would like to share more with you. Just to go www.DistinctiveCoaching.com and sign up to receive free Business Success Tips.
Posted in Business development, Entrepreneur, Sales, Upgrading skills | Leave a Comment »
Posted by distinctivecoaching on June 11, 2008
“Strengthening Your Success”
I grew up a shy, introverted kid lacking self-
confidence in social areas, and not surprisingly,
I was terrified of speaking in front of people.
I vividly remember a five minute monologue
that I had to memorize and recite during 7th
grade English class. (If I ever come across
Mrs. Mitchell, I would still like to ask her what
the point of that was.)
The fact that everyone else in the class also
had to also perform a scene didn’t help calm
me down. I remember almost hyperventilating
to get the words out. My stomach got queasy.
My face was flushed. My temperature rose, and
panic started to set in. I felt very exposed,
nervous and vulnerable as I struggled recalling
the right words, getting them out in the right
order, and trying hard NOT to think about the
twenty other kids in the room with their eyes
piercing right through me as I went on…
I don’t recall exactly, but I probably earned
about a “C+” on the assignment.
So where does that leave me now?
Well, ironically I ended up creating a career
and now a business with public speaking as an
integral component. And I actually love what I do,
including delivering training sessions, providing
workshops and being a guest speaker to audiences
sometimes as large as 200 people.
Who would have thought? Not me. And
probably not Mrs. Mitchell.
What are your weaknesses?
If I were to ask you to write down your top three
weaknesses, it probably wouldn’t take you too
long to do it. However, if I asked you to write
down your top three strengths, I bet it would be
more difficult.
What are the differences between strengths
and weaknesses?
Most people would answer “Strengths are what
I do well, and weaknesses are what I do poorly.”
That’s pretty straightforward and makes a lot of
sense. But I believe that truly successful people
might instead answer, “Strengths are what I do
well and weaknesses are what others do well,
or what I overcome with my strengths.”
So, how important are strengths?
For you basketball fans, did Michael Jordan
become the best basketball player ever and
lead the Bulls to six championships by working
hard on his assists and rebounding? No, he
had other teammates to take care of those
parts of the game. He concentrated on his
shooting. He constantly worked to improve his
area of strength and went from good to great.
One of the easiest ways to overcome or
get around your weaknesses is to use
your strengths.
For me, public speaking was definitely a
weakness. But teaching and helping others
were strengths. So was leadership. When I
developed and combined those three strengths,
the outcome was a good foundation for public
speaking. Then all I was lacking was
confidence and practice.
Another option would have been to find other
ways to get the job done without the need to
speak in front of large groups. For example, I
could have done only one-on-one or small
group training. In order to “delete” the need to
use a weakness, determine other methods of
achieving the same end results. If you want to
build your business but aren’t good at writing
articles, you can host group discussions on the
topic instead. There are almost always other
options if you take the time to find them.
Another example of my stage fright, dread
and quick thinking…
When I was organizing an event in college (and
still inexperienced at public speaking), I was
scared to death when I found out at the spur of
the moment that I had to give a one-minute
welcome speech that I hadn’t prepared for, to
the room of 50 adult and student attendees.
So I made a split second decision and
delegated it to someone else right at that
moment. I was using my leadership and
relationship strengths to get out of having to
use a weakness.
How do you find out what your strengths are?
Start by making a list of activities you enjoy.
Most often we are good at what we enjoy, and we
enjoy what we’re good at. I enjoy teaching and
helping others. I have found ways to do this
through my business and volunteer activities:
coaching, networking, guest speaking, delivering
workshops and writing articles.
Is there one thing you do each week that you
really enjoy? What do you like to do to relax?
And one of my favorites: If you could go back to
kindergarten instead of working for a paycheck,
what kinds of activities would you do most days?
What subjects did you excel in early in school?
Why? Was it the subject itself that was a strength
for you, or was it the skills you used that helped
you enjoy and be good at it?
Ask similar questions to those that know you
well – your friends and family: “What do you see
as my unique strengths?” Some good follow
up questions might be, “What kind of problems
have you seen me best helping others with?”
“When do you think I’m at my best?” “In what
kinds of situations?” “Why do you think that?”
You can also take a strength or interest
inventory assessment. There are many out
there, some are quite expensive and others are
free or reasonable. It’s been my experience
that the free ones often provide more general
findings, so you may want to seek help in
reviewing the results.
Whatever your method of evaluation, I highly
recommend making the effort. Reflect on how
your strengths and weaknesses impact your
overall business strategy as well as your daily
effectiveness.
Assess if you are losing time and energy by
trying to use a weakness as an important piece
of your plan, and if you are maximizing and
leveraging your strengths.
Then tweak your action plan accordingly to take
full advantage of your strengths.
You’ll get a lot more done, have better results,
and enjoy the process a whole lot more.
Here’s to your strengths and your success!
All the best,
Jason
Jason E. Rosado
Posted in Business development, Business owner, Entrepreneur, Goal setting, Inspiration, Motivation, Sales, Upgrading skills | 4 Comments »
Posted by distinctivecoaching on April 30, 2008
A question for you…
Actually, I have a few questions for you:
What’s the best thing that could happen to you
right now? What would happen if you doubled
your sales? What if you got twice as much
done in your day? What would it be like if all
your business and personal relationships were
effortless? What could you do to make your
business thrive?
Ask yourself: Are you asking enough
questions every day?
For most of us, the answer is ‘no.’ Let’s take a
look at why…
To start, what do all those above questions
have in common? Obviously they are all
questions. Nothing shocking there.
They are completely open-ended questions.
They don’t look for a “yes” or a “no” but instead
for some original thought in the answer.
They don’t communicate judgment or bias
towards the pending answers. Also, they don’t
imply an expectation of specific answers.
Therefore, because they are “opinion neutral”
and open-ended, they empower the person
being asked to come up with their own original
answer, leading to creative thinking, new ideas
and better results.
Finally, they all start with the word “what”. As
we all learned in school, questions can start
with many different words, and we’ve been
taught to mix it up. But the questions above,
and many powerful others that can change our
business, relationships and spur success,
typically start with the word “what”. What’s
behind that?
“What’s with the ‘what’?”
Changing your asking habits is not easy.
Questions that start with “why” are the ones
that usually pop into our heads. They are
shorter and often seem more to the point. In
our world, we value brevity and directness.
Time is valuable, so we like quick thinking and
quick acting. But “why” questions are often
leading, negatively charged or rhetorical, all of
which negate the point of asking.
“Why did you do that?”
This is a common one for all of us. Often it
means you did something wrong, and it may
sound more like a statement than a question.
Consider a common scenario, such as a
manager looking for feedback from an
employee on something the employee wrote.
“Why did you write it like that?”
This question from a manager can make an
employee worry about coming up with the
“right” answer or feel they have to justify their
work. But it’s possible the manager was just
curious about the choice of words, and not
intending to communicate an opinion or a
judgment. A great alternative question might
be: “What were you hoping the reader would
take away from that wording?”
This gets to the underlying issue.
This question digs deeper to what the manager
really wants, which is to determine the possible
result of the work, not the emotional reasoning
of the employee when they wrote it. It gets to
the real issue faster and in a more supportive
way, which in turn empowers the employee and
further builds the relationship between manager
and employee. Sounds like a useful concept to
have in a business, doesn’t it?
You might even use a “what” question to follow
up a question that you were asked:
“Should I go ahead and run the program?”
Instead of saying, “No, I don’t think you’re
ready,” how about trying any of the following:
“What are some of the alternatives?”
“What would be the outcome if you waited?”
“What’s a possible benefit to doing it next
week?”
And the answers you get back may actually
give you feedback that you really hadn’t
considered, taking things in a completely new
direction. Improving the decision-making
process, encouraging team work, and having
better results would just be side effects.
The Challenge…
The next article I send will be how to
incorporate these ideas to supercharge your
networking and sales…
But before I send that out, I would like to ask
you to challenge yourself:
Track your progress on asking ten “what”
questions for the next three days to clients,
co-workers, family members, etc., when your
first instinct is to either give feedback or ask
a “why” question.
See how their reactions are different from the
ones you have come to expect. And also note
how the path forward unfolds from that interaction
and what positives changes occur both immediately
and long-term.
So, you now you have it — ask more questions!
Open-ended questions. Questions that start
with “what.” And let’s hear what happens.
Talk to you later!
Posted in Business development, Business owner, Entrepreneur, Motivation, Networking, Sales, Upgrading skills | Leave a Comment »
