Posts Tagged ‘Practitioner’

Becoming More Effective 7 : Define Your Niche

Saturday, May 22nd, 2010 by NLP with Whole Being

Define your niche.

I struggled to define my niche for years, until I came across a little book by Seth Godin, called All Marketers are Liars. He looks at niching initially from the perspective of your customer. This is what he has to say:

“Worldview is the term I use to refer to the rules,values,beliefs and biases that an individual consumer brings to a situation. Frames are elements of a story painted to leverage the worldview a consumer already has. Don’t try to change someone’s worldview is the strategy smart marketers follow. Don’t try to use facts to prove your case and to insist that people change their biases. You don’t have enough time and you don’t have enough money. Instead, identify a population with a certain worldview, frame your story in terms of that worldview and you win.”
Seth Godin - All Marketers are Liars.

As I started to read this little book I suddenly realised that a niche is simply a way of describing a group of potential customers who look at the world and tell the same story about that world. Now I get it… the more specific I can be in choosing my niche the easier it will be to target my marketing message and find new clients, based on finding what they have in common and telling them a story that meets them at their model of the world. Suddenly I recognised the challenge, how do I identify a niche and create a story framed in such a way that it will appeal to the common worldview in that niche? Here is a simple 5 step process that I synthesised to define or discover a niche and tell a great story:

Step 1: Start looking for shared worldviews.

Begin by going to your local newsagent and looking at the titles on the shelves. Any market that has sufficient numbers of interested readers to sustain a publication is a potential niche for what you do. Next search on goggle or use one of the keyword search tools like Wordtracker or Market Samurai.

Step 2: Ask your existing clients a series of questions to identify what they have in common.

Ask these questions and you may be surprised at what your existing customers have in common when you start to look more deeply at the answers they give:

What was your pain before you purchased our services?
What was your desired outcome or goal before you purchased our services?
What do you value about our service?
Why did you choose us?

Step 3: Build a worldview based on what you found in steps 2 and 3.

A great tool that I found recently on the web is to imagine that you are sitting in a bar listening to a person who turns out to be your ideal client telling his (or her) story to the bartender. For example:

Bob “Well, I graduated last year and I’ve been working in burger bars, cleaning, now I’m doing data entry… for £5.80 and hour, and guess what…
I hate my boss… he doesn’t understand me…
and to make things worse at the end of my shift he told me… you’re overqualified and he’s going to let me go.”
Bartender: “That’s really tough”
“Yeah. All I can afford is this beer. So, I’m going back to the job centre and they never have anything except care jobs and stuff… I don’t know what to do next…
Do you know anyone who will give me a chance and show me how to get a real job?”

Step 4: Frame and Construct Your Story.

Use the simple elevator pitch format to frame and construct your story:

Hello I’m…
We help…
What we do is…
So that…
Which means…

Step 5: Tell your Story.

Publish your story, on your web site, blog, newsletter, and tell it when you meet prospective clients face to face, notice how well they relate to your story and refine and improve it based on the feedback you get.

Enjoy.
Warm Regards

Graham

NLP with Whole Being

07564 838012

Live an amazing life succeed in your business.

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Live an amazing life, succeed in your small business.

Visit http://www.businessnlpbrighton.co.uk for your FREE report on 5 Simple Ways to Use NLP in your Business.

Whole Being specialises in the application of NLP in personal development and business, combining over 13 years experience in commercial, account management and general management with 13 years of training and coaching people using NLP. We use NLP methods to deliver the training which means that the skills of NLP are easily and quickly converted into tangible benefits and bottom line results for your business. We have trained over 125 NLP Practitioners, NLP Business Practitioners and NLP Master Practitioners to date.

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Becoming More Effective 5 : Learn How to Network …..

Saturday, February 13th, 2010 by NLP with Whole Being

Learn How To Network…..

My business colleagues tell me that networking is the fastest growing and most effective way for me to “keep my finger on the business pulse” and gain more and new profitable clients. Do you consider yourself to be one of the “networking challenged” who doesn’t like networking and isn’t very good at it. We recommend going aong to face to face networking before using social networking sites as many of the same principles apply. What can you do to improve your skills?

The art and science of nurturing your networking is to learn and practice five key skills:

Step One: First, see clearly what you want to achieve. Ask yourself what you want. For example: ‘ To meet business people who may be potential clients and develop my business.’ Then ask yourself what businesses you would like to work with. Once you have done this go along as a guest to several networking groups to find the type of business people you wish to meet. Choose the networking group or groups you will attend and make a commitment to your self to attend regularly.

Step Two: Learn the process of networking. Be prepared to be proactive and approach people and develop an ongoing relationship based on trust. As a starting point, prepare a few “open” questions to begin a conversation, such as “what business are you in?” Listen carefully to the response and gather information on what you can do for their business. When you ask the person that you are speaking to questions first that will really appreciate that you are interested in them.

Step Three: Prepare your ‘elevator pitch’, being clear on what you do and what are the benefits for your potential clients. We use a simple format:

Hello I’m….. Graham from Whole Being
We help….. Graduates who are unemployed to make the transition from education into employment or setting up their own business or volunteering or work placement or further education.
What we do is….. Workshops,Coaching and Mentoring and E-courses
So that…… Graduates get to use their degrees more fully and find the right thing for them
Which means….. They can add value and make a difference and contribute their unique skills to make themselves and the economy grow and prosper.

Step Four: Develop your memory so that the subsequent time that you meet someone you know their name and something that is important to them. Remember networking is a skill and, like any skill, develops with practice.

Step Five: Notice when you start to achieve what you set out to achieve. How much more business have you gained since you began networking seriously and began having more fun.

Enjoy.

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Becoming More Effective 3

Saturday, July 18th, 2009 by NLP with Whole Being

5 Practical Ways To Get More Influential

Well, of all the places to discover something new, something that works, sitting in the entrance to the Rope Tackle building in Shoreham about to make a sales visit to a big potential new Customer. Well, “he’s probably not really that big !” , I say to myself, but his reputation is that he learns by doing and has no time for “personal development stuff”. His favourite sayings are “I want to be effective”, and “I learn by doing”. I feel that my stomach is a little tense and my palms are a little hot and moist. I wonder, what can I do to influence him to become a customer…..

Well, luckily I’m doing research for the latest workbook that I’m writing for the NLP Business Practitioner Module called Patterns of Influence, so I decide to test out the 5 skills:

Skill 1.Be Likeable and Helpful To People That You Meet To Earn The Right To Influence Them.

Skill 2.Use The Language And Behaviour Of Influence To Create An Agreement Frame !

Skill 3.Make A Great Sales Presentation.

Skill 4.Build a pathway to Yes and Lead Your Prospects to make really great decisions.

Skill 5.Frame Objections as Resources and Negotiate to close more Win-Win Agreements.

So, as I’m waiting in the reception area I’m spinning the feeling of being in a wanton buying state from the top of my head to the tip of my toes. Sounds a bit wierd I know, but it works, I begin to relax and prepare for our discussion.

Step 1 : Be Likeable and Helpful !

“Few people would be surprised to learn that, as a rule, we most prefer to say yes to the requests of someone we know and like.” Robert B Cialdini, Ph.D.

We sit down on a low leather sofa and I smile, shake hands and say “So, I’m curious, how’s business ?”

He tells me “Business is going really well. We’re really busy.”

As our conversation progresses, nod my head gently and gesture to demonstrate that I understand what he’s saying. Turns out that he’s had a bad experience with Steve, at

least I think that’s his name, someone else who came in to talk to him about NLP…..

“Let’s get straight to the point. Does NLP work?” he asks “the other bloke told me I think

in pictures and I thought about it over the weekend and I actually think in words.” He

says.

Step 2 : Create an Agreement Frame.

“The thing that makes NLP work go so quickly is that we make very practical decisions about what order we do things in…..”Gather information!…Evolve system…Solidify change”" Richard Bandler and John Grinder

So I begin from a point of agreement and continue to ask questions to find out what we agree on and playback all the things that we do agree on.

“Do you want to know how NLP works?”

“Yes” he replies.

“Well, I’m sure that you do think……

and when you think of the seafront at Shoreham, how do you think?

“in pictures”,

and when you think of writing a proposal how do you think?

“in words……”

and sometimes you think in feelings, sometimes you think in sounds ….. depends on what you’re doing…….

and I’m curious, have thought what you can do with NLP …..”

Step 3 : Make A Great Sales Presentation.

You can Use your senses to present the information in the way that will be most compelling by matching the way that your prospect is thinking.

“because, we always ask the participants in our workshops, why do you want to learn to use NLP to influence and persuade people ….. Here are some of the answers that we get:

Improve Negotiation Skills - Hit More Objectives

Make Initial Connection - Rapid Rapport

Use Language To Encourage Response

Match Customer’s State and Lead to Where You Want To Go

Close and Say Yes

Yes By Face to Face, Email and Phone”

“When you do the right thing for the right reason you will enjoy influencing and persuading more, take the pressure off and you will be more successful…..

so, can you see yourself using some of these skills, hear the different responses that you get, how you vary your voice tone and tempo, and influence more people….. and get the response that you want…..”

Step 4 : Lead Your Prospects To Make Really Great Decisions.

Your prospect already knows how to make good decisions and you can assist him or her to make another one.

“easily, so are you interested to……learn more……

as I’m sure that you’ve made good decisions before…….

so what more can I tell you and show you……..”

Step 5 : Negotiate To Close More Win-Win Agreements !

By pacing agreement throughout the conversation you will minimise or eliminate any conflict so the need to negotiate will be much reduced.

“…..so can you see yourself on an NLP workshop and hear the sound of laughter…..”

“Yes”. He said. Let’s go……

You too can use these five steps to influence more people. You can also begin to influence yourself to Become More Effective 4 you and click on the link below to get your FREE Report on 5 Simple Ways To Use NLP in your Business from Whole Being.

Enjoy.

Warm Regards

Graham and Claire

NLP with Whole Being

0845 241 0490

Live an amazing life, succeed in your small business.

Visit http://www.businessnlpbrighton.co.uk for your FREE report on 5 Simple Ways to Use NLP in your Business.

Whole Being specialises in the application of NLP in personal development and business, combining over 13 years experience in commercial, account management and general management with an in-depth understanding and daily practice of NLP. We use NLP methods to deliver the training which means that the skills of NLP are easily and quickly converted into tangible benefits and bottom line results for your business. We have trained over 125 NLP Practitioners, NLP Business Practitioners and NLP Master Practitioners to date.

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Becoming More Effective 2

Wednesday, June 24th, 2009 by NLP with Whole Being

In the late 1990’s (MCMXCV for those of you who enjoy Latin numerals) I remember buying a tape course by Brian Tracy with Colin Rose, called Accelerated Learning Techniques, published by Nightingale Conant. I love learning, and this course accelerated my passion for personal development. Well, the Information Age predicted by Brain and Colin is now well and truly upon us, and lifelong learning seems to be an even more indispensible skill and key to personal effectiveness. For example, “Old Timers” in Search Engine Optimisation are those people who have been in the industry for only 5 years !

So last Monday, when I walked into the Friends Meeting House in Littlehampton and wrote on the flipchart, at the start of our latest NLP Master Practitioner course “Why Mastery of Learning” (or Why Misstery of Learning as one person suggested). The responses that I got did not surprise me:

  • Personal Development
  • Create Options in Future
  • Potential Alternate Career Path
  • Make a Difference, Make The Difference
  • Explore a bit further
  • Use in work in appropriate chunks
  • Start up own business
  • Use with staff for motivation

I begin to wonder “how I can help people to learn faster?” and “what are the 5 big mistakes that people make in learning?” I’ve made them all myself, so I may be something of a maven on the subject. Here’s my list and how you can avoid them :

  1. “No Pain No Gain” as Arnold Schwarzennegger famously said. We tend to create motivation by asking “Why?” Motivation away from pain works well to get you moving. Motivation towards pleasure works better to keep you moving in your chosen direction. So identify “why do I want to learn?”, “What is the problem that I want to solve?” to get started and focus strongly on “what do I want?” to maintain your momentum.
  2. “I don’t know how to remember details”. We tend to remember what’s important. So remember details by making them more important, emotionally by making details an element of your success criteria. Begin by eliciting “what’s important in learning?” and “how will I know that I have learned successfully”. Then use sub-modalities to make more precise distinctions.
  3. “I don’t know what works for me”. We tend to use the strategies that we learned at school for learning as adults, and often these strategies are not very effective. So we may tend to waste time using slow and inefficient learning methods. Which of your senses do you prefer to use for learning and in what context ? Which sense do you use first, second, third, fourth? For example: If you prefer to learn visually you can get dvd’s, if you prefer to learn with sound you can get cd’s and if you prefer to learn with self-talk, go buy a book.
  4. “I don’t know how to apply what I’ve learned” We tend to change the reason why we learn as we grow up, from learning wantonly as children to learning more purposefully as adults. So the question of “how is this relevant?” “How do I apply this to improve my business and my life?” becomes more useful. Ask these questions before you begin a new learning project. You can also use future pacing to see yourself using something that you have learned in a new context.
  5. “I don’t know when I’ve gathered enough information” We sometimes tend to approach learning with a mind set of “being right” and wanting to know “everything”. You can counter this tendency by continually asking “What’s next” and “How do I add more value” and “How do I become more effective at learning” and begin to build externally based checks as to how well you’re applying your learning to make a difference.

Last Friday, after 5 days teaching the NLP Master Practitioner Course I asked the participants for their feedback. One of them said “I have to say I really enjoy learning like this !” Enjoy.

P.S. Amazing what you can find on the internet “Likewise the Roman numeral for the year 1995 is usually written as MCMXCV (M + CM + XC + V, or 1000 + 900 + 90 + 5).”

Warm regards

Graham and Claire

NLP with Whole Being

0845 241 0490

Live an amazing life, succeed in your small business.

Visit http://www.businessnlpbrighton.co.uk for your FREE report on 5 Simple Ways to Use NLP in your Business.

Whole Being specialises in the application of NLP in personal development and business, combining over 13 years experience in commercial, account management and general management with an in-depth understanding and daily practice of NLP. We use NLP methods to deliver the training which means that the skills of NLP are easily and quickly converted into tangible benefits and bottom line results for your business. We have trained over 125 NLP Practitioners, NLP Business Practitioners and NLP Master Practitioners to date.

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Becoming More Effective 1

Tuesday, June 23rd, 2009 by NLP with Whole Being

…..the room is painted white and I see five people sitting, chatting to each other, relaxing on moulded white plastic seats, with three large, multicoloured paintings on the walls, suggesting sensuality and opulence. I notice that the group looks relaxed and I listen for a lull in the conversation, a space where I can begin. I stand, clap my hands together to get their attention and say to the group, “ok, let’s begin,so, who’s excellent?”

Two people put their hands in the air and we’re ready to begin our latest States of Excellence workshop at My Hotel in Brighton. For me being in a state of excellence means being in “the flow”, aware of my physical, emotional, mental, social and spiritual state and how to change and align it with my excellence. Being in a state of excellence more of the time and becoming less susceptible to external influences that send me “off course”. Becoming more connected to my environment so that more of my personal resources are available when I need them, and knowing how to create positive thought patterns.

So, once I have described this state, we’re ready to discover the 5 key steps to stepping into your state of excellence easily and effectively:

Step 1 : Get Curious!

“So, I’m curious, what are you like when you are excellent?”

Now, remember when you are in a state of excellence, feel what you feel, hear what you hear, see what you see.

Step 2 : Step into your Circle of Excellence.

Imagine a circle on the floor in front of you and make it your favourite colour. Project what you see, hear and feel when you are in a state of excellence into the circle.

Step 3 : Create your Sphere of Excellence.

Imagine that your circle of excellence is like one of those chinese paper lanterns, that you can pop up into a sphere. Pop it into a sphere, and make your sphere of excellence bigger, brighter, bolder and give it a polish.

Step 4 : Create an Anchor.

Most public speakers or people who are about to do something that they do well have a characteristic sequence or ritual that they go through to create a gesture, just before they speak. Like the young speakers who featured on the TV show “The Speaker” recently. Associate being in your sphere with making that gesture and saying the word “excellence”, (We call this anchoring). Repeat a few times.

Step 5 :Go For It!

Mentally rehearse by stepping into and out of your sphere a few times. Mark out of 10 how much of your excellence you can access in that moment, when you repeat your sequence or ritual, perform your gesture and say “excellence”.

You can use these five steps to prepare yourself for speaking publically. You can slso begin to prepare for Becoming More Effective 2 which is coming next month.

Enjoy.

Warm Regards

Graham and Claire

NLP with Whole Being

0845 241 0490

Live an amazing life, succeed in your business.

Visit http://www.businessnlpbrighton.co.uk for your FREE report on 5 Simple Ways to Use NLP in your Business.

Whole Being specialises in the application of NLP in personal development and business, combining over 13 years experience in commercial, account management and general management with an in-depth understanding and daily practice of NLP. We use NLP methods to deliver the training which means that the skills of NLP are easily and quickly converted into tangible benefits and bottom line results for your business. We have trained over 125 NLP Practitioners, NLP Business Practitioners and NLP Master Practitioners to date.

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5 Big Mistakes People Make in Using NLP in Business (And How You Can Avoid Them …..)

Monday, June 22nd, 2009 by NLP with Whole Being

I was talking to David and Don, two local business owners the other day. David said to me “I know from the work that we have done together that NLP is very powerful. The trouble is that not many people have heard of  NLP.” and Don quickly added “Yes, and why does it have to be called NLP?”

So I decided to bring together 5 of the Big Mistakes that people make in using NLP in business. I have to confess that I have made them all:

1. Telling People That You’re Using NLP.
This is like going to the garage to get your car fixed and the mechanic describing to you in great detail how the fuel injection system works. You may be really interested or you may simply want to drive your car.

2.   Body Matching and Getting Spotted.
The idea behind matching and mirroring is to build rapport with the unconcious mind. So, if your prospect catches you “copying them” that may very probably break rapport. The very thing  you were aiming to avoid.

3.  Using Big NLP Words.
I read in the newspaper yesterday that a facebook group has been set up in protest against the words “despotic tyranny” being used in an A level paper.  Maybe “pre-suppositions, meta programmes and submodalities” can be added to the same protest.

4.  Excessive Touching.
There are other ways of anchoring that are more applicable in business.

5.  Asking A Scripted Set of  Questions.
Likely to make your prospect feel like he or she is in the chair on Mastermind.

So What is The Simple Way to Use NLP in Business and avoid these mistakes I hear you cry !

Well we have created a FREE GIFT for you called 5 Simple Ways to Use NLP in Business.

You can download your copy HERE.

Please make a comment below after you have read the report. We really value your feedback.

Warm Regards

Graham.

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Welcome to NLP Business Practitioner Blog

Saturday, March 14th, 2009 by NLP with Whole Being

Welcome to the NLP Business Practitioner Blog.

Here you will find some of the things that NLP Business Practitioners do so that you can decide whether the training is right for you !

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