Years ago, I watched the Dr. Phil McGraw show and he said “If you are going to sell things that Betty buys, you better see life through Betty’s eyes.”  I never forgot it and if you’re in business, neither should you.

Researchers Colleen Butler and Paul Chinowsky identified the interpersonal skill of empathy as one of five key emotional intelligent behaviors that need additional attention during the development of executives. To be empathetic is to understand the emotions of others; to walk in another person’s shoes.

To continually grow your business, you must seek to understand the needs of your customers and see life through their eyes. If you were sitting on the other side of that desk what would you want to hear?  You would want to hear the benefit of the product or service, what sets it apart from its competition and its value to your organization. Abraham Lincoln said, “When I get ready to talk to people, I spend two thirds of the time thinking about what they want to hear and one third of the time thinking about what I want to say.” Based on your customers’ needs, challenges and products, what do you think they want to hear?

Before you show up for your next business meeting take time to research who the client is, what they do and how you can service them.  Whatever you do, don’t focus on problems, have a solutions focused mindset on how you can help your clients achieve their goals.

Coaching psychologists Dianne Stober and Anthony Grant found that having a solutions focused mindset enables people to access and use the wealth of personal experience, skills, expertise and intuition that resides within all of us. With that mindset, determine the goal of the meeting and what action you want to happen. A goal expressed plants a seed in your client’s mind and with the right action plan can grow. Action planning is the process of developing a systematic means of attaining goals.  This is extremely important let me tell you why.

By: Dickie Sykes

Read the rest of the article in our December issue of Kalon Women.

Follow Us: Facebook – Join our LinkedIn Group – Join Kalon Communities (Networking Site) – Twitter

One Response to “Do You Know Betty?”