Incentive Intelligence

Motivation Show 2010 – Recap

I’m not 24 anymore.  Why doesn’t my brain know this when it is getting so much contrary feedback from my body?  I’m tired.  My feet are tired.  My back is tired.  But my brain races on.  

Love them or hate them – trade shows and conferences are great places for finding things you’re not looking for.  While many people go to these types of things with a specific agenda – people to talk to, products and services to research – partnerships to reinforce – partnerships to establish.

But to me the real value isn’t in the planned – it’s in the unplanned.  I try to walk these events with a blank mind (something some would say isn’t all that difficult for me to pull off.)  That mindset allows me to gather information and allow serendipitous connections to occur.  In addition, when you’re not looking for something in particular you’re more open to having conversations that allow for discovery.

Some of the things I want to be sure to highlight from the show…

 

Helping Hands Rewards

I’m not in the habit of pimping specific products or companies but this one I can promote and still sleep soundly each night.  Helping Hands is an aggregation of companies that employ disabled or disadvantage individuals to produce products – and then offers those products to companies to include in their incentive catalogs.  Here’s a link to their information.  From their website:

"Helping Hand Rewards serves as a conduit and a catalyst between social purpose businesses that produce merchandise and incentive companies.

With its zero-based profit structure, Helping Hand Rewards provides marketing, business development and distribution expertise to socially-focused organizations who are interested in expanding their business into the incentive reward and recognition market."

If you are offer your participants a program that allows them to earn points or credits redeemable through an incentive merchandise catalog – PLEASE – PLEASE check out Helping Hands and find a way to connect your program redemption platform to Helping Hands.  In talking with their CEO he was clear that they can work with any incentive company and connect their redemption platform to your system.  It is a great way to help and a great way to easily be more socially responsible.  Make the call…

 

Stark Service Solutions

Full transparency – no clue if they are good, bad or ugly.  I know they have a great idea and I wanted to not really promote their company but the idea.

According to a description from Keith Williams (Ex. VP  of Stark Service Solutions) – they provide a software solution that interrupts a possible chain of failure in the hospitality industry.  Here’s the overview…

• Guest checks into hotel.
• Guest has been waiting forever to check in and is not in a bad mood.
• Checkin manager sees their pain, hits button on check-in screen, alerts entire staff that Mr. John Smith had a bad experience.
• Entire staff now can exceed expectations in every subsequent touch point during that guest’s stay.
• Mr. Smith now has 10 experiences that exceed his expectations and only one that was negative.
• Hotel turned a negative into a positive.

What this says to me is that this software has the ability to empower each employee to actively impact the success or failure of the enterprise.  Isn’t that the holy grail of employee engagement?  Find a way to connect their specific behavior to success?  This software allows that by bringing the issue front and center – to everyone.

Imagine the housekeeping staff that now know that room 2110 needs special attention, that room service knows that room 322 needs some extra sumptin, sumptin.  Imagine how well that guest will feel about your brand because your employees are now connected to the mission.

In my mind this isn’t just a hotel issue but think hospitals, think restaurants, think any service provider where there are multiple touch points over time – this would be a huge benefit.

Again –never used this company but did think it is a great concept and something to consider.

 

Miscellany…

 

Blogtalkradio – Influence Insider

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In addition we did the monthly blogtalkradio show “Influence Insider” from the show floor.  We talked about the show, Helping Hands Rewards, Social Media AND we had the man himself – Pete Erikson – the head honcho over the whole show call in and give us his point of view.  

BTW – I left the phone on after the show… it’s really over at about 45 minutes… then you get the conversation with the group after the show – not really was supposed to be on the air but hey – technical difficulties and my lack of understanding on how to use my own phone.  Luckily I didn’t say anything I would be embarrassed by.

Listen to the show here.

I2I and Starr Tincup Hook Up

We announced our connection with Starr Tincup to provide branding and marketing differentiation for incentive companies.  Peep the press release here.

 

Hastag Archive #moti

And finally – here’s the twitter backchannel for the entire show from the #moti hashtag…

Now... Time to relax and recuperate.

 

Where In The World Is Incentive Intelligence?

That headline can be read a couple of ways.  

First, from the perspective of what I was thinking when I started this site.  

Too much was written and shared on the web that was plain bad advice relating to incentive and reward activities that I felt it necessary to help inject some critical thinking and analysis into the conversation.  I also felt that too many organizations were implementing badly designed and in some cases, needless, incentive activities.  Our goal was to put some intelligence back in the incentive and reward space. 

The other way to read that headline is that we’re all over the place the next few weeks.  Our effort to bring intelligence to incentives has increased the demand for our point of view – online and in-person.  

So today I thought a summary of where we’re going to be over the next few weeks would be helpful.  Hopefully you can set your calendars and your clocks to get all the yummy goodness we’ll be serving up.

Tuesday Sept. 28, 2010 – Noon EST (or EDT if you prefer – either way it is Noon where I am) – Twitter Chat for KMers.org.

I’ll be leading a twitter chat for the Knowledge Management community at KMers.org on tomorrow.  For those interested KMers.org is a community website focused on hosting and storing twitter chats around the #KMers hashtag.  Their goal is to use social media via twitter chat and a CMS tool (Drupal) to help KMers share information about the practice of Knowledge Management.

My topic on Tuesday will be around using rewards/recognition/incentives to drive sharing behaviors.  Check it out.  Love to hear from you.

Motivation Show Oct. 12 – 14, 2010

Two Presos and Much More

I’m lucky enough to be presenting twice at the show (and you may be lucky enough to be in the audience?)

First up…

I’m adding our point of view on social media within incentives and reward programs during the IRF four-part workshop on “Education Day”, Tuesday, October 12. 

Second…

I’m on my own with a session on October 13th entitled : “Responding to the Assault on Incentives” where I’ll provide our perspective on how incentives fit into the “new age” thinking that’s been bouncing around the interwebs.  You’ll walk away with a way to position traditional incentive and reward programs within the context of new progressive non-traditional engagement activities.  I’m hoping for great conversation so please register if you’re going to be in Chicago on the 13th… Check our rough video promotion of the session here.

Third… Connecting To Social Media "Live"

Influence Insider Blogtalkradio going “on site” at the Motivation Show

Normally we try to do the radio show on the first Wedensday of the month – but this month we’re going live at the Motivation Show.  Inspired by @steveboese when he did the HRHappyHour live from the Fail Spectactulary Event a few months back I’mma gonna try to do the same at the show. 

Stay tuned and I’ll hit you with the details.  Tentatively I’m thinking Thursday at noon but that could change.  If you are at the show and want to be on the show hit me in the comments – we’ll work something out.

Live Video?  

I’m bringing the flip and also my Droid x (which has some great video capabilities) so I’ll be looking for reasons to do some live video and also some video posted to the site.  Again – want to be get your face out there hit me in the comments and we’ll set up a time/place to chat on camera.

Live Twitter Chat – Of Course

I’ll also be using the hashtag #moti while on site so you can follow any and all the twitter chatter you want.  Anyone interests in a tweet up or two – jump on “the twitter” and add the hashtag and we’ll get something going.

October 28th/29th – HR Reinvention Experiment – Omaha, Nebraska

I’ll be traveling to Omaha at the end of the month to help out with Jason Lauritsen's ambitious effort "The HR Reinvention Experiment." The HRRE (I made that up) is an invitation-only gathering of the Midwest’s top HR leaders to chart a new course for the future of Human Resources.  There will be speakers, there will be discussion, there will be discourse, and there will be cocktails.  We will dialogue, discuss and perhaps bicker a little.  At the end of the Experiment, we will be different.  HR will be different.

So that’s my October.  Feel free to jump into the comments section if you want to hook up at the Motivation Show and be on the radio or in a video.  I’m open to almost anything except a late night infomercial on your company.  Other than that I’m sure we can accommodate.  Let me know.

If you have a need in September for a great presenter who's fun to be around, accessible to the audience, pretty darn cheap and usually buys the first round - AND - can talk about how to influence behavior - I'm your guy.  Let me know how I can help.

Building Relationships B2B – Interview with Sean Geehan – CEO Geehan Group

It seems we spend a lot of time on this site talking employee engagement, motivation and recognition.  There is a lot of demand for that kind of information.  

But our practice, and the goal of this site, is to work with clients to drive positive influence with all members of the business ecosystem.  Not just employees – but vendors, suppliers, distribution channels. 

Unfortunately we struggle to find great content and groundbreaking information on how to build relationships and influence behavior outside of the employee audience.  I’ve tried.  I have twitter searches, google alerts, etc. set up to monitor what’s being said about channel loyalty, channel incentives, vendor recognition – too many to list – and I get nary a hit each day.  I might get a tweet here and there about channel loyalty but not enough to warrant ongoing discussion.

I think most of the time when businesses think about the other “businesses” they rely on to make money they think in terms of transactions not relationships.  

• Vendors are people we “negotiate with” to beat down prices (we all know that cost is our only metric for purchasing success, right?)
   
• Channel sellers, dealers, distributors –are only interested in the best deal so most companies rely on price discounts and bundled pricing to attract buyers.
   
• Business customers aren’t people.  They’re economically-driven automatons searching for the lowest price and the longest payment terms.
   

Bunk

Businesses are people.  

Business buyers are business people and they do look for mutually-beneficial relationships just like your employees do.

Businesses that understand this do better.  Zappos treats their suppliers just like they treat their employees – with respect and with a spirit of partnership.  They work diligently to find win-win situations with their suppliers.  They don’t just beat them up for the best price – and then beat them again next time they hit the negotiating table.

Geehan Group Blogtalkradio Show

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This past Wednesday I had Sean Geehan on the rescheduled show Influence Insider to talk about his new book and how to drive relationships in the B2B world. 

Sean is the CEO and founder of Geehan Group and expectant father of the soon to be released book “The B2B Executive Playbook”.

Sean’s book is all about building relationships with business customers to drive sustainable growth and profitability.  

While I may have been a bit scattered in the interview, Sean’s contributions were great and I urge you to listen to the full hour. (And feel free to listen to previous episodes of course...)

To recap some interesting points on why anyone who relies on business buyers versus consumers should listen to the show and buy his book when it comes out…

• B2B companies typically don’t have 11 million customers.  Starbucks has a ton of customers.  Losing one customer to Dunkin Donuts isn’t going to put them out of business.  However, many if not most, B2B businesses rely on a disproportionate number of large customers for their ongoing success.  Losing one of those customers can be a fatal issue.  Sean talks about how to build relationships with these key customers.
   
• B2B companies need their customers to drive future growth and innovation.  Similar to B2C companies – customers decide what’s important.  And when you have few customers their needs are critical.  Knowing what problems they are facing, and getting input on their needs today and in the future create great guideposts for future innovation.
   
• Sales and Marketing for B2B companies is different.  You cannot apply B2C tactics and strategies in a B2B world.  It can’t and won’t work.  Sean provides a great example of a B2C marketer who failed miserably when making the transition to B2B.
   
• Social media isn’t the same in B2B as it is in B2C.  Sean makes a great point of saying – “I believe in Social Media.”  But he also provides some interesting statistics on and thoughts on how social media efforts need to be part of an overall B2B strategy.
   

I’m looking forward to Sean’s book when it hits the shelves and will hopefully get a free review copy (hint, hint) when it comes out.  Until then you can see Sean at the Motivation Show in October where he will be speaking on Oct. 13 about building B2B relationships in his session entitled… "Dominating the B2B World: How Marketing and Sales Leaders Achieve Sustainable, Predictable & Profitable Growth."

Listen to the show and hit me in the comments.  Love to hear your thoughts. Oh, and btw - I'm presenting at the Motivation Show too... "Responding to the Assault on Incentives."

Wednesday - Influence Insider Blogtalkradio - Guest Sean Geehan

Apologies to those that tuned in two weeks ago.  It didn't dawn on me until after I put up the post on needing to delay the show due to an unforseen emergency that the feed for RSS subscribers and email subscribers might not update until after the show's scheduled time.  It did and I heard there were few folks sitting at their desks with sandwich in hand - but no show.

Please accept my apologies and this week I'm getting it out early... 

THUNDERCATS ARE GO FOR WEDNEDSDAY September 15, 2010 

Yep - we're on with Sean Geehan, CEO and Founder of Geehan Group and soon (very soon) to be  author of The B2B Executive Playbook.  I've touted Sean and his group before so I'll just provide  few pithy quotes from an interview he did for Buzz Marketing Technology back in July.  I'm sure we'll hit on some of these topics Wednesday...

When asked about why B2B marketing strategies are so important... 

"The harsh reality with most B2Bs, regardless of the company’s size is the fate of a B2B company lies in the hands of just a few customers.  How marketers address this is the difference, which leads to either dominant, mediocre or disastrous results."

In an answer to a question about where he would recommend B2B Marketers focus for the rest of the year...

"Engaging decision makers from your top accounts – in a group setting, have them share problems they had and how they solved them (many of which your company most likely helped to solve).  This can be as simple as a private event on the front end of an industry event."

And when querried about the focus on customer aquisition versus retention Sean had this to say...

"It’s simple. Everyone gets excited when a new customer is signed. There’s a celebration. The bell is rung. Lots of recognition and rewards are handed out.

How much celebration is there when a long-standing customer renews for the 6th straight year?  Forget that they haven’t bid out the work in 3 years (no competition=greater margin) and they are already in your system (low cost of support, faster payment = greater cash flow). There’s clearly an imbalance here."

I'm going to get into these issues and others as we pick Sean's brain on how to best influence quality relationships in the B2B world.

We look forward to having you listen in - and don't be a stranger - ask questions.  The call-in number is (646) 381-4430 - if you want to ask a question push "1" on your phone and that will alert me that there is a caller waiting and I'll put you on the phone.  You know you want to be on radio don't you...

Updates and Changes – New Date for Blogtalkradio Episode and New HR Examiner Article

Believe it or not I have a personal life and sometimes it actually takes precedence over my work here on the interwebs and with clients.  Today is one of those days.

I’ll be on the road traveling and won’t be able to be in front of a microphone for the scheduled blogtalkradio show “Influence Insider” with guest Sean Geehan, CEO/President/Founder of Geehan Group and soon to be published author.  The show has been rescheduled for September 15, 2010 at Noon EDT – I hope you can adjust your calendars and tune in.  Sean will be addressing what I think – as does he – the much overlooked ways we influence B2B channels.  I was really looking forward to the conversation but we’ll have to just give it a couple of weeks.

In the meantime…

But don’t fret – there is something for you to do today at noon.  You can jump over to the HR Examiner website and read my recent contribution – “Maintaining Human Machines.”

A taste of the article…

The industrial revolution elevated the machine over the “man.” The process, and the machines that chugged away within it, created the value for the company. People were extensions to the machine – the tail to the dog.

Value = People

But that changed about 20 years ago. Humans are now the nexus of value at almost every company. But most companies still manage their business and their people like Henry Ford did over 100 years ago.

That is the disconnect.

In the past HR was required to manage “human” resources in order to make the machines and the processes more cost effective.

The key today, and in the future, is to understand how to maintain and get the most out of humans in order to drive business results.

So – until I get back in front of the golden I2I microphone (or I find another bad incentive theory/practice to keep you from implementing) think about how you would approach human machines and ask - how you would write a maintenance manual for your people? 

Influence in the B2B World – Blogtalkradio – Interview with Geehan Group President

We’re back with another episode of the Influence Insider.  Mark your calendars now.  Next Wednesday, September 1, 2010 at noon EDT we will be interviewing Sean Geehan, President and founder of The Geehan Group.  

Sean has a book coming out in Oct/Nov time frame and he has graciously agreed to spend his lunch hour next Wednesday to talk about the best way to drive sales and results in a B2B environment.  

B2B is Different – They Have Different Problems – and so do you…

We all hear that B2B is “similar” to B2C and we should consider similar tactics when selling and marketing to the B2B market.  But Sean has a bit of a different spin on that “common knowledge.”  Your B2B customers are different and if you sell to businesses you have different issues as well.

You should listen to the show if…

• Your top customers account for a large amount of your revenue
• Your company’s margins are being threatened or eroding
• You have lost or are at risk of losing top customers
• You have had new products fall short of revenue, margin and/or market share goals
• Relationships with real decision makers of your most important customers are questionable
• You struggle to measure the ROI on marketing or R&D programs

Sean Is Listening

I’m guessing some of those issues rang a bell with you.  If so, check out Sean’s company site and read about the book – then make a list of questions you’d like to ask and call in to the show.  The number is (646) 381-4430.  If you’d like to listen in via the internet just click this link - and “turn it up!”

Here's a brief intro via youtube of some of the areas that Sean will touch on:

Now - grab a big marker and put an “X” through lunch next Wednesday at noon EDT and write down – Listen to Influence Insider to solve my B2B issues!”

Talk to you then!

BTW - you can listen to past episodes here:

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The Left and Right Hands of Employee Engagement

Yesterday, Wednesday July 7, 2010 Influence Insider on blogtalkradio made its long-awaited comeback after a two-month hiatus.  And I for one – even though the host – thought the conversation was worth the wait.

The long intro on the show is here – but for those that didn’t see that post we had as guests a smattering of representatives from the great multi-contributor blog “Compensation Café.”  The goal of the call was to ferret out the similarities and differences between consultants in the compensation arena and those of us in the “non-cash” incentive and reward/recognition space.  

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On the right is the player for listening to the show.  It runs for just over an hour.  The voices you hear are those of:

• Ann Bares - @annbares
• Derek Irvine - @globoforce
• Laura Schroeder - @workgal
• Jim Brennan - @Jim_Brennan
• Dan Walter - @performensation

If you haven’t read the blog or follow any of these folks on twitter now would be a good time to do that.

What I learned on the Call - Two Hemispheres of Employee Engagement

I have a daughter who is left handed.  I have a son who is right handed.  My daughter is an artist – painting, drawing, photography – you name it, she’s into it.  My son is the athlete in the family (I tell him he gets it from me but he’s old enough to know that is a load) – he’s spatially aware, good at math, loves science, can track a curve ball into the plate and hit it.  In other words my two kids represent both hemispheres of the brain almost to the point of cliché (remember – right-handed = left brain, left-handed = right brain.)

And that is what my net learning was after the show yesterday.

Compensation consultants focus on the transactional side (left brain) of the employee relationship.  The dollars.  As Ann mentioned in the one part of the show – compensation consultants are known as spreadsheet jockeys.  Their role, in many cases, is to find data, compare the data, run what-ifs on the data and ultimately find a place where the company is “competitive” in the market without going out of business.

Incentive and reward companies are more concerned with the “social” side of the employee relationship.  Those of us who counsel and recommend reward programs that don’t use cash (or other forms of “compensation”) are really worried about building the relationship with the employee “above” the compensation line. 

In other words – compensation consultants are right-handed.  Incentive consultants are left-handed.

The Problem Is…

In this era of “total rewards” and “employee engagement” we’re juggling with only one hand. 

Too often clients want an answer to their engagement programs but only want to apply right-handed thinking.  And many incentive companies look at all employee issues from their left-hand point of view.

I asked on the call if compensation consultants every said – “wait a minute – your problem isn’t compensation-based – it’s reward and recognition-based, let me get another expert in here.”  Most said yes.  I commented that in 25 years I’ve never once had a compensation consultant call and say they needed help in the “left-handed” world of rewards.  And I also know for a fact – I’ve never called a compensation consultant to talk to my clients when the problem was clearly a lack of alignment between compensation and other reward activities.  

We’re doing our clients a disservice by either not recognizing the difference – or by ignoring it because it isn’t in our wheel-house or we can’t make money on it.

Time for Whole-Brain Approach

What I netted from the discussion is that we need to serve our clients better by taking a more “whole-brain” approach to engagement.  Compensation isn’t the answer.  Non-compensation rewards aren’t the answer.

Deftly applied combination of those two things is what really impacts the employee.  

If you are a client – don’t juggle with one hand.  If your compensation consultant doesn’t bring in the non-cash experts ask them to.  If you’re talking with an incentive company – make sure you find a compensation consultant to balance the equation.

Other Things to Listen For On the Show…

• Herzberg was brought up – compensation is a hygiene factor (a post from Compensation Force the other day addresses this as well.)  Bad compensation practices need to be fixed before non-cash awards have the appropriate impact.
• Dogma VS Philosophy - Dan Walter brought up the fact that companies many times look to implement their “dogma” versus design to a “philosophy.”  This is a big point – and one, as consultants, we need to dig into and make sure clients aren’t implementing rules versus designing toward an overall philosophy.
• Communication and Measurement - too often we default to existing measurement systems (ie: payroll) and lack focus on communicating the real value of the total rewards investment.
• Technology may have driven the separation in the past - but now it is allowing for convergence.  

Take a listen… hit me in the comments with your impression of the show and the interaction between compensation and rewards.

Compensation, Rewards, Incentives – What’s the Difference? Next Blogtalkradio Show from Influence Insider

Yeah – it’s been a while since the last episode of Influence Insider on blogtalkradio.  But we had such a great guest in @brianahearn I wanted to be sure we could meet that standard before we went on air again.  And I think we’ve done it.  (If you haven’t listened to the show that featured Brian – do it here – it’s a great discussion on influence.)

Compensation Café Is In the House!

You know them, you love them, and I know you follow them.  It’s Compensation Café and we’ve got them on the show next Wednesday July 7, 2010 at Noon EDT to talk about compensation plan design and how it might overlap with other influence programs such as reward and recognition and other non-cash incentive activities.  

Started by @AnnBares from Compensation Force fame – Compensation Café is a multi-author site featuring (each name will link to their bios on the Compensation Café site): 

Ann Bares, Doug Sayed, Margaret O'Hanlon, Chuck Csizmar, Laura Schroeder, E. James (Jim) Brennan, Stephanie Thomas, Derek Irvine, and Dan Walter

I know we’ll have a Jim, Derek, Dan and Ann on for sure – and fingers crossed, maybe a few more.

Compensation and Rewards

Traditionally, compensation and other “award” programs pretty much lived in their own silos but today – with a bigger focus on the “total rewards package” my spidey-sense says that there is a need for more coordination between these disciplines.  For over 20 years I’ve designed internal incentive and reward programs with nary a thought about compensation structures.  But the last few years have shown me that it is a critical element in the way that we influence behavior with our employees – especially sales folks.

Without proper alignment of these tools we send mixed messages to our audience and that’s a bad thing.  

Tune in and listen to these top-notch minds grabble with the best way to manage the overlap between the hard dollars and cents side of the reward coin and the non-cash reward side.   And follow on twitter at the hashtag:  #insideinfluence

See you Wednesday at Noon, July 7, 2010 as we re-start the Influence Insider engine and give you the best hour of influence discussion on the planet.

Influence Insider – Blogtalkradio – Brian Ahearn – Cialdini Influence Principles

That’s a lot to put in a headline.  But that’s what happens when you try to cram 5 lbs. of information into a 1 hour show (link to show here.)

On Wednesday April 7 we had the pleasure of talking with Brian Ahearn.   Brian is a Senior Sales Consultant who specializes in sales and customer service training, with an emphasis on applying influence and persuasion in everyday situations. He is one of only two dozen individuals in the world who currently hold the CMCT designation. This specialization in the psychology of persuasion was earned directly from Dr. Robert B. Cialdini – the recognized authority on the science of ethical persuasion. 

Dr. Cialdini says of Brian: 

"When Brian Ahearn speaks, people listen. That is so because he knows his material thoroughly, and he knows how to present it superbly. The upshot is that the genuine insights he provides are not just immediately understandable, they are also immediately actionable and profitable."

To his credit, Brian carried the hour almost by himself with examples and ideas on how to use proven principles of influence in an ethical way to drive behaviors.

We touched on employee wellness programs, 401K enrollments, sales calls, positioning attendance at webinars – you name it we found a way to get a discussion on influence going.

Brian blogs at Influence People and you can follow him on twitter at @BrianAhearn

The Principles of Influence

Click play above to listen to this show.

You really need to listen to the full show to get the most out of our discussion but in a nutshell we talked about the difference between ethical influence and manipulation.  Brian walked through the 6 principles of influence as outlined by Dr. Cialdini, that when applied in the appropriate setting and at the appropriate time, can have impressive impact on the likelihood someone will comply with your requests.  The principles include:

Reciprocity - People feel obligated to give back the same form of behavior they first received.

Liking - People prefer to say “Yes” to those they know and like.

Consensus - We look to others to see how we should respond in certain situations.

Authority - We typically look to those with superior knowledge or expertise when making decisions.

Consistency - People feel internal psychological pressure to be consistent in word and deed.

Scarcity - We value things more when we perceive they’re rare or diminishing.

My favorite - especially with all the hype surrounding social media is the Consensus principle.  We truly like to be part of the crowd and want to follow their lead.  In fact one of the most intriguing things I heard from Brian was that our brain actually processes exclusion from a social group as "pain."  Here's a link to Dr. Cialdini talking about this phenomenon.  

 

For more information on Influence I suggest you get and read, re-read, and then re-re-read the book Influence-Science and Practice. 

Stay tuned for our next show - May 5th at Noon EDT - I'll be updating you on our guest soon.

Influence Insiders – Wednesday, April 7, 2009 – Cialdini Influence Discussion

We have a real treat in store this Wednesday, April 7 at noon EDT.  

Brian Ahearn will be on Influence Insiders as a guest talking about how to ethically influence behavior. 

Brian, CMCT, is a Senior Sales Consultant at State Auto Insurance Companies, specializing in sales and customer service training, with an emphasis on applying influence and persuasion in everyday situations. He is one of only two dozen individuals in the world who currently hold the CMCT designation. This specialization in the psychology of persuasion was earned directly from Dr. Robert B. Cialdini – the recognized authority on the science of ethical persuasion.  He is also a cum laude graduate of Miami University, and writes the blog Influence PEOPLE where he shows us how the Cialdini principles of influence can be applied in our personal and business lives.

Influence – Science and Practice – The Influence Bible

For those unfamiliar with Dr. Cialdini’s work his book Influence is the result of years of study into the reasons that people comply with requests in business and other settings and has sold over 2 million copies.  The book has been translated into twenty-six languages, consistently ranks among the top selling books on Amazon.com, been listed on the New York Times Business Best Seller List, is on Fortune Magazine list of "75 Smartest Business Books", and to quote Guy Kawasaki of Apple fame and author of many books, including the bestsellers "The Art of The Start" and "Rules for Revolutionaries"...

"There are some books that are “must reads” for entrepreneurs; some for marketers; some for salespeople; and some for programmers. And then there are a handful that everyone should read. IMHO, one such book is Influence--Science and Practice by Dr. Robert Cialdini , a psychology professor at Arizona State University."

I know from doing quick show prep with Brian he will have plenty of real-life examples of how the main principles of influence can be applied to subtly and effectively influence people. 

How You Can Be a Part of The Show…

You can listen in online from your computer or call in via the phone at: +1 (646) 381-4430

If you call in you can participate in the discussion by simply pressing “1” on your phone and you will go into queue and will be put on live as soon as an opening becomes available.

I’ll also have a twitter back-channel open on twitter looking for the hashtag #influenceinsiders if you want to post a question or comment.

This should prove to be a lively and interesting conversation so block the time, grab a sandwich and log in (or call at +1-646-381-4430)

All of us at Influence Insiders look forward to the discussion and your contribution.  

 

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