In today’s fast-paced, constantly changing environment, it continues to amaze me that people make things more complicated than they need to be- if you can’t explain what you do to someone that asks, in a single sentence under 30 seconds, you need to go back to the drawing board- fine-tune your elevator pitch, so that it can be precisely and succintly be delivered to your audience- nobody, has time to listen to you go into a verbose description of what you do- they will switch off and tune you out, after the first 20-30 seconds-it does’nt matter what you say after that.
Life is short and unpredictable- if you have something on your mind, say it now- don’t wait for the perfect moment or specific time/location- it does’nt exist and is a mirage that you will never get to; if you love someone, say it now; if you want to apologize, do it now- don’t wait…. Tomorrow may not come, you may not be around, the other person may not be around….it may be too late tomorrow. Don’t procrastinate- do it now, say something now….even if it’s not perfect..it’s ok. Perfection is not necessarily the optimum strategy, today.
The other critical concept to understand is that everyone is different- we are each wired differently, think differently, wear our respective pink-colored glasses, are brought up differently and have grown up in diffferent environments- do not expect the other person to see your viewpoint and agree with what seems to you, to be to be an obvious, no-brainer decision- if you do that, you are setting up yourself to disappointment and failure. Instead, expect push-back, questions and counter-arguments- that does not mean, that the other person is trying to be a prick- it just means that they need to understand the facts of the situation better and then allow them to make their decision and come to their own conclusion- you can put across your viewpoint and how you arrived at your decision… that may or may not have any impact or bearing on the decision the other person arrives at. Your client/prospect will buy your product/service for their own reasons, not yours. They will understand the facts that you provide, internalize them, do a SWOT analysis, think emotionally, justify rationally and then come to their own decision- it may not be what you want to hear and you may not agree with it, but it is what it is.
To all my married friends and colleagues out there, please keep the above in mind, when you communicate with your spouse….Trust me, you will feel a lot better and remember, a happy wife is a happy life……..Onward & Upward.
