Greg's Right FIT #408

Quick notes to help you grow your business in less time with less effort. . . sometime next week. 

In this issue: 

- Thoughts on Preparation
- Being Human
- Random Stuff

Thoughts on Preparation

• When you see your people laboring over a proposal, remind them it's a summary of the sales process, not a time to introduce new material. If it's new information, get back in touch with prospects and check for relevance.
• As networking events regain popularity, remind your team to prepare for success. Identify prospects, set goals, ask questions, be a good listener, follow up, and track results. 
• If plans for 2024 include price increases and removing the bottom 15% of customers, prepare your team for dealing with the change. The marketing team is perfect for this. 
• Make a plan B. Sometimes plan A fails. The point of a plan B is taking immediate action and keep forward momentum going if plan A falls short. There are a lot of reasons plan A might fall short. Make a plan B. 

Being Human - I have an opinion

"I see it all perfectly; there are two possible situations - one can either do this or that. My honest opinion and my friendly advice is this: do it or do not do it - you will regret both." – Kierkegaard

Must we have an opinion on everything? Is it possible to simply be open to information? It should be okay to say, I don't know what I think about X.

But Greg, you think, that's a weak take. You're a consultant. You get paid for opinions, don't you? 

Kind of. Consultants offer advice. The difference between advice and opinion is experience. In my case, it's experience with a process. If asked for my opinion on a particular software, for instance, you'll get my process for picking similar kinds of software, rather than an opinion about the specific product. 

This works for management consulting, but doesn't work in social situations. What do you think about your favorite sports team? What do you think about the latest scandal? Where do you stand on this war happening in that place? The questions are exhausting. Piled up over an evening, it can feel like a burden. What's your thoughts on everything?

It's human to come up with instant responses to these questions. We're pretty good at snap judgments. Asked for an opinion, we can offer one without any information whatsoever. It's only by reflecting that we might say, I really don't know what I think about that matter. 

Next time I hear myself give an opinion I'm going to make an effort to pause and remind myself, I don't know what I think about X. I haven't had time to think about it. 

Then, after a minute, I'll go right back to spouting off knee-jerk opinions on anything.

Random Stuff

"If I were a bird, I would fly about the Earth seeking the successive autumns."– George Eliot 

I've mentioned the Linden tree that dominates the front yard. It's been here maybe 75 years, and it's pretty set it its ways. For instance, one of its ways is to drop all of its leaves at once. One day you'll be walking up the street thinking, ahh, fall. Look at the golds, reds, and browns on that one, pointing at the Linden. 

The next day? Gone. All the leaves on the ground. When the kids were little, this meant fun, but for me, it meant work. Rake 'em up. Towering leaf piles don't just happen by themselves. 

Most years, as I rake, I see my neighbor from up the way. From him, I learned the tree is a Linden, and it drops leaves first. When I moved in 25 years ago he strolled down the street with his dog, stopped, and said, "That Linden is always the first on the block to drop its leaves. Always been that way."

Noted. He's lived here a long time. 

The next few falls he came by with his two rescue dogs (the first having been lost to a mysterious poisoning incident) and he'd say, "that Linden is always the first on the block to drop its leaves." 

Then the next few falls he came by with no dogs, and he'd say, "that Linden is always first to drop its leaves." (some of the repetition is due to a brain injury that nearly left him for dead, but our talks were repetitious before that event.)

This time he came by with a walker, and he didn't look at me. Our road is rough, in need of repair, and there isn't time to look at neighbors or trees because staying upright takes effort. I don't interrupt him on his way. 

Behind him, a new neighbor comes by with two little fuzzy Maltese puppies. At least they look like puppies. They bark and growl at me. I pretend to be frightened, stopping to watch them sniff and growl as they pass. The whole time, I fight the urge to tell them the Linden is always the first on the block to drop its leaves, something they wouldn't understand.