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Executive Sales Skills

power of chatbots

The Power of Chatbots: Enhancing Your Coaching Business with AI

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Are you exhausted from spending hours answering repetitive questions from potential clients? Do you long for more time to focus on the core elements of your coaching business? Look no further! Chatbots, AI-powered tools, can streamline your coaching operations and provide an enhanced client experience.

Streamlining Client Communication

In today’s digital age, where instant gratification is the norm, businesses are harnessing the power of chatbots as valuable assets. Chatbots, which are AI-powered conversational agents, are available round-the-clock to actively respond to inquiries, provide expert guidance, and deliver personalized recommendations to clients. By automating routine tasks and providing real-time support, chatbots help you scale your coaching business while ensuring a superior client experience.

Imagine a potential client visiting your website outside of your business hours, eager to learn more about your coaching services. Instead of waiting for your response, they can interact with a chatbot that promptly answers their questions and provides relevant information about your coaching programs. This seamless interaction not only increases the likelihood of converting potential clients into paying clients but also boosts your revenue and enhances the overall client experience.

Moreover, chatbots excel at consistency and efficiency. They provide accurate and standardized information, eliminating the risk of human error. Clients receive immediate responses, eliminating the frustration of waiting for a reply. By reducing the time spent on repetitive inquiries, you can devote more attention to core aspects of your coaching business, such as developing strategies and delivering high-quality coaching sessions.

Improved Client Experience

One of the key advantages of chatbots is their ability to provide personalized recommendations and guidance. By leveraging client data and interactions, chatbots can offer tailored suggestions based on individual needs and preferences. As a result, this level of personalization enhances the client experience and fosters a stronger connection between your coaching services and the clients seeking them.

Additionally, chatbots can gather valuable insights through their interactions with clients. By analyzing these interactions, you can identify patterns and trends that help you better understand your target audience. This data-driven approach enables you to refine your coaching programs and marketing strategies, ensuring that you are delivering the right services to the right clients.

Getting Started with Chatbots

Now that you understand the power of chatbots, you may be wondering how to get started. Integrating chatbots into your coaching business is easier than you might think. There are various chatbot platforms available that make it easy to create and deploy chatbots without requiring extensive technical knowledge.

These platforms provide intuitive interfaces and tools that allow you to design chatbot conversations, set up responses, and customize the user experience. Each platform has its own unique features and capabilities, so it’s worth exploring multiple options to find the one that best suits your coaching business needs.

Once you’ve chosen a platform, you can start building your chatbot. Begin by defining the main objectives of your chatbot and identifying the key questions or tasks it should address. Create a conversational flow that guides users through the interaction and ensures a seamless experience. Consider incorporating natural language processing capabilities to make the chatbot’s responses more human-like and engaging.

Conclusion

Don’t miss out on the transformative power of chatbots! Embrace AI technology today to enhance your coaching business. By implementing chatbots, you can automate routine tasks, provide real-time support, and deliver an unparalleled client experience. With their ability to streamline client communication and gather valuable insights, chatbots can help you scale your coaching business while building stronger connections with your clients.

To learn more about how chatbots can benefit your coaching business, schedule a call with me at www.callwithlisa.com. Together, we can explore the possibilities and take your coaching business to the next level.

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7 Innovative Management Skills That Utilize Your Left & Right Brain

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Split-brain theories led to what may be an oversimplified assessment of “right-brained” and “left-brained” people. But management skills can get a healthy, holistic boost from them if companies are willing to explore and integrate the merits of both.

Right/left-brain theories started with Roger Sperry, who won the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1981 for his split-brain research. What started as an effort to understand and treat epilepsy led to an even greater understanding of the brain and its allocation of function.

In general, the left hemisphere of the brain is logical, linear and analytical. It’s also the seat of language processing. In terms of applicability to management skills, that equates to numbers, spreadsheets, cash flow analysis, and all things finance.

The right hemisphere, on the other hand, is credited with imagination, ideas, intuition, and all things creative. From a management perspective, the right-brainers can generate a gazillion ideas, but they don’t necessarily fit into the tidy box of predictable, measurable performance.

And therein lies the divide…and the precious expanse of brain power that just waits to be tapped. That is, of course, if companies commit to making their management skills reflect a connected — not a divided — brain.

Companies operating on a left-brain management model value the good of the organization over the success of the individual. The corporate model and mindset are carved in stone, and stability, experience and control are valued over new ideas and meeting external needs. Not much fun, no matter how “necessary” the rank-and-file may seem to those in charge.

Companies operating on a right-brain model, however, welcome creativity and new ideas. Their focus is on the needs of the customer and the autonomy of staff. Innovation is applauded, and adaptation to circumstances isn’t feared, but embraced. The environment is more fluid, with a natural alignment between the company and its individual team members. Think fun, cooperative, progressive.

You may want to roll your office chair out of your left-brained cubicle and straight into a right-brained biz from the “50 Best Places To Work” list. But don’t pack up your desk just yet.

Reality is that both sets of attributes are essential to a business. Unfortunately, most organizations yearn to ‘get out of the box,’ but don’t know how to do so without analyzing the box as they do.

Perhaps you recognize your company in the above descriptions. Perhaps you would like to create a more holistic, integrated work environment. If so, then consider some of these management skills and brainstorming techniques that utilize the left and right brain.

  1. Tend to the concerns of both your divergent and convergent thinkers. Open the floor to non-traditional ideas, then help your people select, evaluate and analyze them. “Stretch” then pull back in. Get everyone involved in both functions.
  2. Create an inspiring setting. Right-brain creativity thrives in spacious, airy, colorful, thought-provoking environments. Cubicles and sterile, cookie-cutter furniture don’t inspire much beyond a desire for 5:00.
  3. Remember that people already are creative. Your management skills don’t have to include teaching people to be creative. Instead work on evoking their creativity. Encourage individuals to reach back and remember times when creativity flourished for them.
  4. When brainstorming, go for quantity first. This idea fluency can feel very uncomfortable for your accountants and analysts, who will instinctively want to stop and critique every idea on the table.

Encourage a veritable flooding of ideas in order to short-circuit the criticism and self-editing. Think of the way photographers may take dozens of photos in order to get one keeper. Remind your rigid thinkers that they will have the opportunity to pare down the bank of ideas and evaluate them later.

  • Establish criteria for evaluating ideas. Doing so will keep your lefties feeling a little more comfortable, while still engaging with new ideas.
  • Encourage new ideas, both in one-on-one meetings and in group meetings and events. When employees aren’t afraid of being dismissed, their creative juices flow. And when they feel appreciated, they are a lot more willing to share their ideas. They are also more motivated to help execute them.
  • Remind yourself and your team that chaos, messiness and ambiguity often precede creative breakthroughs. There is nothing to fear by being immersed in them. The company isn’t going to fall apart just because ‘what-if,’ ‘how-about’ and ‘wouldn’t-it-be-cool-if’ show up at a meeting.

Despite the touted strengths of each hemisphere of the brain, the truth is that the brain isn’t really so dichotomous. The specific abilities that light up the brain map in seemingly isolated ways are actually at their brightest when working together.

Language, for example, isn’t really communication without the emotional nuances behind it. And data is just raw content if you don’t know what to do with it.

If you are in management, applying innovative management skills with a full-brain focus can change the trajectory of your organization for the better. Remember that your edge is going to be the way in which you create, inspire and drive purpose. You set the tone, so make the journey fun. We can help you merge and maximize the skills of all your employees. If we can help you create innovative management skills with a full-brain approach, reach out to us here.

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How To Keep Your Sales Executives Motivated During Lean Times

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Few imperatives are as important to a company’s bottom line as knowing how to keep sales executives motivated during lean times. Salespeople drive revenue, and their chunk of a company’s compensation plan reflects their indispensability. When margins and budgets are tight, keeping these front-liners fortified is essential if a company wants to stay profitable and retain top talent.

A decade after the Great Recession, the American economy is still inching its way back to health. Salary increases remain sluggish, if not recessive in certain industries. And on the sales front, bonus pools are often underfunded, and incentives pale in relative comparison to those prior to the downturn.

Today’s workforce — and especially top sales talent — is more savvy than ever with regard to what is available. Thanks in large part to quick access and exchange of information afforded by technology, employees don’t necessarily settle in for the long haul after hiring. And when it comes to sales people, the average tenure is only 1½ to 3 years.

If you are in charge of hiring and/or managing your company’s sales executives, knowing how to retain your talent is as important as knowing how to acquire it. And an important component of that retention plan involves keeping the key players motivated during lean times.

The modern workforce is much more diverse, creative and multi-faceted than in the days of starkly defined gender roles and lifetime tenures. The topic of work-life balance can no longer be swept under the rug if gender gaps are going to close and great talent is going to stick around. People on every rung of the corporate ladder want more out of life. And that includes enjoying it.

Here are several points for conversation and consideration if you have to keep your sales executives motivated during lean times.

  • Know your team and treat everyone as an individual.

Progressive companies are seeing great results in performance by treating their sales teams like talent portfolios. In the same way that investments are unique in their need for attention, so are sales people. Not everyone is a rainmaker, but every contributor plays an essential role. Knowing the difference between your stars, core performers and laggards will direct your motivation efforts.

Core performers respond better to multi-tier targets and prizes that cater to their personal priorities, even if the stars grab a bigger purse. And using pace-setting bonuses for laggards who need more encouragement and prodding can keep them mentally “in the game” throughout the year.

  • Don’t cap commissions on your star performers.

It’s difficult for a go-getter to stay motivated when finance says, “no more commission after you hit this level.” Capping commissions, even during tight times, won’t incentivize your stars to keep their momentum going. Consider incentives like overachievement commissions and contests that allow for multiple winners.

  • Be flexible and responsive to personal situations.

Believe it or not, there is life outside of work. People have families, medical issues and other priorities that don’t always fit a rigid 9-5 work day. While money is a principal motivator, it’s far from the only one. Knowing that an employer is compassionate and flexible when it comes to an individual’s life is a huge retention feature.

  • Tailor roles to individuals.

Small firms have more leeway in this area, but it is a worthy aspiration for all companies. How can you tap into the unique, even hidden talents of your sales executives to keep them motivated during lean times?

Who says that the only job titles are the ones that have been handed down in textbooks or through your company’s long history? If you want to edge out your competition in a saturated market, tap into your talent reserves and build around them.

  • Say ‘thank you.’ A lot.

The importance of gratitude and recognition can’t be overstated. Elevating your expression of gratitude to meet the personality and response style of the individual you are thanking is as important as the thank-you itself.

Again, it comes back to knowing your team. Be thoughtful and creative in how you recognize the amazing assembly of individuality at your service, and watch your bottom line ask for more room.

Motivated, engaged employees go above and beyond to fulfill the mission and objectives of the company they work for. They contribute more ideas and are more likely to stick around than those who are unmotivated.

Keeping your sales executives motivated during lean times calls upon management to be creative and less general with incentives. Team members who are stressed by harder-won revenues and payouts want to know that they are valued in demonstrated ways.

So, give them what they respond to, including a path to advancement, training, project-leadership opportunities, time off and recognition.

Investing in those who invest in your business with their time and talent will pay off as a great ROI. And those investors will be more inclined to stick around.If you need help keeping your sales executive motivated, we can help. Reach out to us here.

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6 Executive Sales Skills You Cannot Learn From Business School

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You took out a fortune in loans to grunt out that business degree. You learned all the theories, all the executive sales skills, all the investment strategies to generate millions in revenue.

 

That Harvard MBA sheepskin touts your expertise from a place of prominence on your wall. You talk mean-variance optimization over coffee, and “CMS” and “CRM” are mere fillers on your impressive resume.

 

But now you are standing in front of a B2B buying committee, and it is becoming clear that there may have been some executive sales skills they didn’t teach in school. Little late for a refund.

 

No one would argue against the value of a business degree, let alone an MBA. But the applicability of that hard-won accolade has some relevance of its own. For example, many business owners will say that an MBA is more helpful “later” in a business’s development, and when dealing with “higher-end” issues.

 

Start-ups, however, are trying to get their wings, and perfect theories don’t always apply while flapping madly in turbulence. Relying on school for a complete education and preparation for the world of high-dollar commerce is short-sighted.

 

And “sales” as a curriculum or specialized area of study unto itself is a relatively new addition to collegiate business schools. Gone are the days of “personality sells” and “always be closing.” Executive sales skills, just like company offerings, are more involved…and evolved.

 

No matter how thorough (and expensive) that business school education is, there are still skills that simply aren’t (and/or can’t be) taught. And, while the following skills may sound a bit, shall we say, “soft,” they are the glue that hold together an otherwise stellar academic resume.

 

Here are 6 executive sales skills that you can’t learn in business school:

 

  1. How to deal with people. 

    Could anything possibly be more important than good communication skills? Most business execs would take a “good” student with great people skills over a wallflower valedictorian any day. 

    Consider that sales have nothing to do with convincing the other party to buy, and everything to do with building a relationship. Your job is to find out how you can create a solution for someone else’s problem or needs, and that requires trust.

  2. Learning how to fall and rise. 

    This is really a lesson in self-compassion. And it’s not a sappy, self-pitying lesson. It is as essential as teaching an ice skater to get comfortable with falling — sometimes really hard — and to get right back up and into the routine. 

    This is about learning how to recognize failure at earlier and earlier stages so that you can shift course, get out of the mistake, and move on without hating yourself or hanging up your gloves. People with this kind of resilience bounce back faster and grow from their challenges.

  3. Being a visionary. 

    Champions in every arena of life capitalize on a clear vision of where they want to be and placing themselves into that vision as if it already is. Doing so plays into all the energetic principles like the Law of Attraction, creating a veritable magnet for the people and opportunities that help to manifest that vision. 

  4. Curiosity. 

    A salesperson who is naturally curious has the unique ability to place herself into the customer’s shoes, and, by approaching the interaction from that perspective, better assess the problem and present a solution. 

  5. Drive. 

    We all know the difference between people who can be left to themselves (and do the job in spades) and those who have to have everything spelled out for them, often to no avail. 

    People with internal drive are always reviewing, analyzing, looking for ways to better themselves and the company. They stay ahead of the game and are ready when opportunity presents itself. 

  6. Integrity.This quality should be the backbone of life, and not just business. Unfortunately, it is too often lacking — in life, in politics, in business. And its absence has done much to create a stereotype of what “salespeople” do…and how they do it.

 

But when the quality of integrity is present as an executive sales skill, enduring and mutually profitable relationships are built. Not only is the job done, but it is done right. And the customer’s highest good is upheld.

 

An education is one of life’s greatest and most hard-won assets. But not all of what is essential — even in the world of big business — can be learned in a textbook or classroom. Many of the most important lessons enter the classroom with the student, and ultimately shape his or her success after graduation.

If you need help developing or honing your sales skills, we can help. Reach out to us here.