Training
September 2009
Let’s Have a Great Meeting!
Don’t undervalue the impact meetings have upon Distributors, Leaders and Managers. Great organisations run content rich, informative and motivational meetings.
Here’s an outline of one of the greatest meetings I ever attended, it changed my life and I’ve reproduced it many times in different sales environments and different countries. Every time I’ve run this meeting I’ve seen people change. It’s like a light going on.
It’s one of those meetings that create a turning point in people’s lives and careers. You don’t have to be a great public speaker or ‘natural born motivator’ to get it to work. Just follow the steps below and use your own personality and experience.
You need a flipchart and a few different marker pens and preferably more than four people attending.
Start by saying that you’re going to be talking about successful people and what makes them different. Draw two vertical lines down the flipchart page dividing the page into three equal columns.
Now ask the group to think of someone they know who is successful. Preferably someone from outside the business they’re in. It may be an ex-boss or a business owner, or someone who started out with nothing and today is enjoying a great lifestyle. Let the group have half a minute or so to come up with someone. Ask if everyone’s got someone in mind. If some people are struggling to think of someone they know personally you can suggest they can use a public figure but preferably someone from the world of business and commerce rather than a sports celebrity or TV star.
When everyone’s got someone in mind ask the group to think of an adjective or word they would use to describe that person. Give a few examples such as ‘serious’ or ‘hard working’ or ‘assertive’ in order to get them on the right track. Ask them not to shout it out. Ask one person what that word would be. They may say something like ‘ambitious’ or ‘confident’, Now write the word 15cm (6’’) down from the top of the first column on the page. Now go to each person in the group and ask them for their word and add their answer below the previous one and so on and start compiling a long list of words one below the other in the first column.
Some people will repeat a word already given, that’s ok, you may be able to offer an alternative, e.g. if someone repeats ‘ambitious’ you can suggest ‘determined’ and add it to the list.
Sometimes the group may get stuck and you can prompt them with a few scenarios such as ‘What’s your person like when the pressure’s on?’ or ‘What are they like when they meet new people?’ or ‘What are they like when a decision has to be made? What are they like when things go wrong?’
Go back round the group once or twice more and finish off by asking for ‘any more, anyone?’ until you’ve got at least 12 words in the list. If you can get more even better, but no more than one column on the flipchart page.
Now go to each person in the group and ask them to give a brief outline of ‘their person’. Give an example of your own such as ‘A mother of three, divorced, started her own business part time and today employs over 50 staff and lives in a beautiful 5 bedroom house all paid for.’
When everyone’s finished outlining ‘their person’ ask them to consider the word(s) they gave and think about whether the word(s) they gave is a result of ‘their person’s’ intelligence level and formal education, or a result of ‘their person’s’ attitude and the way they go about things.
Write the word ‘Intelligence’ at the top of the middle column and the word ‘Attitude’ at the top of the right hand column.
Now go to the first word (e.g. ‘ambitious’) and ask the group ‘If someone is ambitious, is that because they’re super intelligent and qualified or is it because of their attitude and the way they go about things?’ The answer will be ‘Attitude’. Put a tick mark alongside the first word in the ‘Attitude’ column.
Now repeat the process for all the words and in almost every case the answer will be ‘Attitude’. Some words will attract the answer ‘Intelligent’ for obvious reasons, e.g. if the word on the flipchart is ‘Brainy’ or ‘Clever’ the answer will not be ‘Attitude’, but that’s not a problem because the majority of words will produce the answer you want.
The conclusion to this is obvious and startling. In almost every case success is determined by attitude. The finished result should look something like the table below.
| Intelligence | Attitude | |
| Determined | X | |
| Ambitious | X | |
| Communicator | X | |
| Hard worker | X | |
| Aggressive | X | |
| Never say die | X | |
| Pleasant | X | |
| Thorough | X | |
| Good fun | X | |
| Clever | X | |
| Calm | X | |
| Tenacious |
Write on the flipchart
Your attitude will determine your altitude
Explain that if someone sets out to be a brain surgeon or nuclear physicist then intelligence and brainpower are obviously important and perhaps attitude has a smaller part to play. But in the commercial world of sales and customer service where we’re dealing with people and their desires, feelings and emotions, attitude will always be the key factor.
We all remember someone we went to school with who was super intelligent and passed all their qualifications, but today is no more than average in terms of their career. On the other hand most of us remember some old school pal who was academically lacking but is today head of a successful enterprise.
There’s no better way of seeing this than going to a social networking site or old school friend site and seeing what happened to the brainiest kids in school.
Finish by saying that no matter what’s happened to you so far in life you now have an opportunity to start over in a new business where ‘We don’t care what’s happened to you in the past, we don’t care about academic qualifications or previous career experiences. We’re only interested in who you are today and what you can do today. Don’t filter your future through the past.’
Today really can be the first day of the rest of your life, it’s entirely up to you….and …Your Attitude will determine your Altitude.
IJMS are UK based and assist Direct Sales companies sell more and spend less. They are available to work globally.
www.ijms.co.uk
