bubbleblog

When a conversation isn't a conversation

2008-04-30T17:10:00.002+01:00

I've just had an interaction with a member of my local community. You know the type, exchanging pleasantries then moving on to go about one's business. Actually, the moving on bit was a little more problematic. Reading body language was not a strength for this person. As I looked at my watch, turned my body as if to move away, nothing was making any difference or stemming the flow of words. What started out as an exchange of pleasantries turned into a monologue of updates on family issues, love lives, car purchases and minor ailments, without pause for breath or any interest in my situation.

In a work setting I would have no qualms on offering feedback on what it is to partake in real conversation. But this wasn't work, and in a social setting, good manners prevailed and I eventually got away when inevitably this person stopped for breath. Maybe there's an opening in the market for training conversation as a social skill. Or maybe not.

Conversational selling.

2008-04-22T18:56:00.003+01:00

Safely back from HRD expo and caught up on the waiting emails and phone calls. Now is the time to be following up on the great conversations we had with potential clients and future business partners. Or it would be if I could get off the phone from all the sales people now calling me as a result of us being listed as a participant in HRD!!

It's one of the occupational hazards of being a business owner that many other businesses want to sell you something. After all, it is what we want to do with our prospective clients albeit I think we go about our 'selling' with a little more subtlety than the average call-centre operative that seems to have been bending my ear for the last 2 days.

I've had good and bad examples of sales pitches this week. Having worked in sales for many years and subsequently designed and delivered many sales training and coaching interventions, I believe the bubble team are well qualified to know a good sales pitch when we hear one.

What makes a good sales pitch? Well, the most important aspect for me is whether the sales person is genuinely concerned about my needs and is actively listening to me, responding appropriately, not continuing to rattle off a script no matter what I might say. Also, well skilled handling of objections is a key attribute of the great sales person. And you can always rely on me to throw in a few objections even if I want the product. That way I can test the depth of the sales person's understanding of their product or service. If it is only superficial then I worry about the credentials of the company providing the product or service. I would in this case probably decline the offer and look for the product or service from another provider.

For me, a great sales pitch (and advertisement for the company represented) boils down to the sales person having in-depth technical knowledge of the product or service, backed up with a well structured but flexible script. When rehearsed well, these two aspects allow the sales person the confidence and flexibility to enter into a conversation with me. Something I am always more likely to respond to in a positive way.

Bubble - Live From London

2008-04-15T22:06:00.004+01:00

Its amazing, what you can fit in an Audi estate. Tables, chairs, rugs, live goat, glasses (the drinking kind), fish bowl, picture frames, with the pictures separate (why oh why?), pens, printed leaflets, glasses (the seeing kind), laptop, suitcases, and assorted DIY implements.

It must have looked like I was returning to college after an easter break. The journey down was fine, and all I can say is thank the lord for sat-nav, as Mr Livingstone's signage department obviously need some development. Either that or they are getting ready for the next invasion of England,and have spent the last 6 months turning signs round so they face the wrong way.

The signage incident meant that I had 15 minutes to unload the car before I got slapped with a £300 fine. Good job I'd been lifiting wiights in Manchester on friday night then.

Setting up the stand at HRD was actually quite easy, apart from one minor hiccup. I'd left the chair legs at home. Fell free to insert your own 'legless' joke here. A quick call to mission control, and some were located at IKEA. Thats chairlegs, not jokes.

It was quite nervy this morning, so many questions. How would the stand be received, would it be busy, what type of people would the stand bring in?

It was a hit! You could probably see the joy on our faces, as people said that it was a 'different stand, and stood out', ' very engaging', and was 'stimulating conversation'. There were few comments about the pictures of the bubble gang on the wall, especially the 'good looking one with spiky hair and glasses'.

The degree of engagement with the brand, and with the ideas that we were putting forward was something that we hadn't expected. People understood the approach that we wanted to take, and from multi-nationals to sole traders, we had some amazing conversations, which is what we are about.

We'd spent the past 4 months planning for this day, and it was worth every moment, every decision that was discussed in triplicate, every design detail that decided on, then undecided, and then we decided that we were right in the first place. It proved to us all that the team we have at bubble are unique, engaged with the ideas that bubble stands for, and engaged with each other, driving each other to excellence. Theres no other team I'd rather work with.

Ladies and Gentlemen, bubble has officially arrived!

Something in the air?

2008-01-29T13:46:00.001Z

I'll put my hands up now, I'm an Apple fanboy. Not the fruit, but the company.

So another January, another keynote from Steve Jobs, I'd booked it in my diary a couple of weeks before hand, so I could watch it on engadget.

The ceo of Apple spent a little under two hours whipping the apple fanboys into hysteria. Famous for challenging the market place, and fiercely innovative, Apple had alot to live up to.

When Steve Jobs introduced the MacBookAir, not only was it a massive step forward in laptop design, it was also something that hadn't been seen before. A laptop, with no CD or DVD drive. How would the masses react?

Innovation sometimes comes at a price of course.

The timing couldn't have been worse, two days later the stock-market plunged, taking apple shares down from their high of $200 to just over $130.

Like all innovative products, they take a bit of time to catch on. The first iPods sold miniscule amounts, as did the first iMacs, but Apple have been here before. During the last tech slump, they simply increased spend in R & D and training, and they innovated their way out of the tech downturn.

The result, a company with no debts, and $18 billion in cash in the bank. Not too bad for a company that was 3 months away from bankruptcy 12 years ago.

Apple invested in the development of their workforce, and they'll do the same this time no doubt. Why? It produces astounding results, innovation in the marketplace, and increases loyalty to the company, and therefore discretionary effort. Apple, have one of the lowest staff turnover rates in the tech market. They also have the highest loyalty amongst employees.

They invest heavily in their organisation, with the focus on T&D, and R&D. The two are linked, increase the capability of your workforce, and you increase the capacity for innovation.

The second thing that dawned on me as I watched Steve Jobs deliver his keynote, is what an amazing presenter he is. Admittedly he's playing to a captive audience, but he owns that stage.

Theres a great piece here about this year's keynote. Some good lessons to be learned I think.

Now all I have to do is find a crowd of a few thousand folks to practice on. Any offers?

Visions for 2008

2007-12-18T17:51:00.000Z

With the end of the year fast approaching, for individuals, thoughts often turn to New Year's resolutions. For organisations, the equivalent might be a review of their Vision and Mission statements.

Following a discussion on the merits of vision and mission statements with my Masters learning set and a review of the approach bubble takes to organisation development, I was prompted to share some thoughts.

Many organisations, large and small, have written vision and/or mission statements. Some are put together with the support of representative employees and actually reflect the true strategic intent and values of the organisation. However, in my experience very few prove to be motivational beyond the first few weeks of introduction and many are looked at with cynicism from day one. Moreover, I've seen organisations with and without vision and mission statements achieving similar levels of engagement and success.

So if the vision and mission statements aren't doing it in terms of motivation and engagement, what is? Well, don't throw the vision and mission statements away just yet. Vision and mission are extremely important to motivation and engagement, just not in the written, high-level, generalised, stuck on the wall form that most organisations create.

What is important is the spirit of the vision and mission, expressed through the actions of every employee. I call this the organisation's "reason for being". And it isn't about product, service, market share or quality - although these remain important. It's more to do with community, learning, growth, shared experiences, friendship.

An organisation's reason for being is about community and meaning, and its vision is about product and profit. The former motivates and engages, the latter gives direction and work goals. Both are necessary. Both need attention. Great companies know this and deliver the former in bucket loads.

Are there any lessons for the individual setting New Year's resolutions? Look into your heart for goals that offer meaning. They are more likely to offer up the necessary motivation through their very own reason for being.

A partridge in a pear tree

2007-12-10T14:08:00.000Z

The "12 days" of christmas originated when days began at sunset. They went from sunset on December 25th to sunset on January 6th. Because days now start at midnight, in some places the 12 days start on December 25th, in others on December 26th- interesting hey?

This information has dramatically changed my life, as i have always thought the 12 days of christmas started 12 days before christmas, so it would start this thursday! i had already got my carol sheet to hand and started getting my throat into tune, resulting in a sore throat!! - you really do learn something new everyday!

The 12 days of christmas carol is one of my favorite festive songs, as it gets everyone involved and has everyone in fits of laughter trying to remember the verses. People also have different interpretations as to the meanings of " 2 turtle doves" or " 7 swans are swimming"

If you want to learn more about this (some people like me do!) look at the following link:

BBC Christmas Carols

and if you really want to get into the festive spirit and the 12 days of christmas early get singing!

Time to reflect

2007-11-07T13:01:00.000Z

I'm typing this from deepest Sussex in the fantastic surroundings of Roffey Park Institute where I'm on my 3rd Masters residential. It's great to meet up with my fellow cohort members and to be exposed to top class academics and speakers. Most of all it's so beneficial to be away from the desk and from home, in 44 acres of beautiful countryside with time to reflect. Time to be and not to do. We are after all human beings not human doings. It's useful for me to remember that sometimes.

The Return

2007-10-15T10:46:00.000+01:00

October 15th

Well my 2 weeks off has been and gone and I have returned to my morning routine of fighting for the shower, fighting to eat my breakfast whilst fighting with my 1 year old to get ready, all to get into the car and fight my way through the traffic to the office.

Only today’s car journey was slightly different, it was accompanied by the voice of Michel Thomas, the linguist who in his lifetime has learnt over ten languages and has taught many of Hollywood’s A-list stars to speak a variety of different languages.

This is because on my 2-week break I set a goal that I will learn Spanish. My husband, Dan has successfully worked his way through the Michel Thomas audio language course in Spanish to the advance stages, and not to be outdone I will follow in these great footsteps.

Being a keen football fan, to help make his learning more fun, Dan would translate the sports pages of Spanish newspapers. Great idea I thought. What could I translate to keep my interest and make it more fun?

I know! Just off to the newsagents to buy ¡Hola! the Spanish version of Hello! As well as learning Spanish I’m also going to be up to speed with all the gossip and be able to discuss the latest must-have celeb sandals with the locals on my next trip to Spain. Hasta la vez próxima mis amigos.

I'm worried I'm sounding like my parents!

2007-10-02T15:19:00.000+01:00

Maybe it happens to all of us as we "mature" but the best entertainment on the radio I've heard for eons has been the Radio 1 Birthday celebrations! The best part for me has been the Golden Hour on Chris Moyles - me, crawling along the motorway with other drivers thinking I must be doing some kind of remote audition for x-factor!! The issue though is when discussing the covers of classics such as town called malice with my other half, I caught myself letting out a nostalgic breath and stating "well, its not a patch on the original, I used to listen to that tune when I woz a young........, no shoes......, 18 miles to the nearest shop....,etc". Now, certainly the first part of my good ol'days speech was accurate, however there is no excuse for spouting absolute tosh - it's like cars "not been what they used to" - good, it's called progress - heaters, MP3s, cruise control, reliability...... ok, come to think of it the 2 things aren't connected - McFly doing town called malice and technological advances in travel, my only conclusion to this story is that, on reflection, I'm now ranting like my grandparents!!

Starbucks and The World Café

2007-10-01T09:14:00.000+01:00

After a quiet weekend of writing and watching the world cup rugby, I thought I'd share a few thoughts on the power of the spoken word when one is attempting to find new meaning amongst a collection of apparently disparate thoughts.

I'd got to a point with my writing where instinctively I knew there was a common thread appearing but just couldn't put into words what it was. I did the usual things like walk away from the computer and make a brew. I even did something completely different (put some plaster in a hole in my wall) but still my thinking didn't reveal the insight I knew was waiting to emerge.

By chance, a friend sent a text to say they would be in Starbucks in half an hour and did I fancy a coffee and a catchup. I don't need asking twice and I was in the car in minutes.

After commenting on how shabby the local Starbucks was beginning to look, the conversation turned to the piece I was writing. Within 5 minutes of articulating the content and my thinking to that point, wouldn't you know it, the insight I was looking for came right out of my mouth in clear and concise form. Brilliant! I love it when that happens. Just articulating my thoughts through the spoken word was enough to move my thinking to a new place.

This reminded me of a conversation I had recently with a fellow L&D professional who is looking to utilise the concept of The World Café in her organisation. I revisited the book last night and found the following few words that seem to sum up this type of experience. One of the book's authors quotes her 84 year old mum who shared this insight:

"You see, conversation is action. You can think things and you can feel things but it doesn't become 'real' until you express it. Then it begins to germinate."

The World Café by Juanita Brown and David Isaacs - definitely worth a read. Starbucks, Macclesfield - could do with a good clean.

A great day out

2007-09-28T10:33:00.000+01:00

A trip to the Call Centre Expo at the NEC this week held a couple of surprises.

The first was meeting Michelle Dewberry, last years winner of The Apprentice. She's smaller than she looks on telly - but isn't everyone?. I've not read her book yet but it has some very enthusiastic reviews. I might get round to reading it or more likely ask Rog or Nic to read it - I've got loads of reading piled up already!

Anyone out there already read it and want to comment?

This encounter reminded me of the time I interviewed Ruth Badger for a sales role. She was in the final stages of the application process for The Apprentice at the time so her application with us didn't progess any further. It's a small world.

But best of all from the Expo was hearing Sir Ranulph Fiennes talk of his lifetime of adventures and the lessons learned. Fascinating and very amusing. Rog and I got a signed book each which was an added bonus. We flicked straight to the gory pictures of frost bitten toes and fingers - ouch!

Oh to have one tenth of the discipline, perseverance and courage of Sir Ranulph!

That's it for now. Friday today so off to watch England beat Tonga.........please!!!

Under Starters Orders!

2007-09-20T14:43:00.000+01:00

It would appear that we're off. I think that we were expecting a fanfare or something. Turns out that the CIPD conference in Harrogate was our launch pad. We spent a few days talking, discussing, walking and generally getting our faces around!

It served us well, allowing us to gradually hone our messages, adjust them for our audience, and prepare us for the delivery side of things.

The team at bubble have spent time over the past few months making sure that everything is ready to go, hence the lack of fanfare when we stepped into the commercial world with our offering. It feels right, like we were born to do this.

Actually, we are already working with client organisations, but we didn't really feel really up and running until the website is live. So crack open the champagne, and have a glass on us, in the words of Stuart Hall doing 'It's A Knockout', 'They're off!'

One of the things we do well, is delivering on agreed expectations. So your experience with bubble shouldn't be like the following clip!