The Day After

Have you ever learned something new the day after you needed to know it?  That happened to me this week.  Saturday I attended the CAPS meeting in Edmonton and heard two wonderful speakers.  One talked about websites and business development.  It was very informative.  I learned somethings that I did not know, especially things to avoid, and I am grateful.  The speaker was Irene Gaudet.  the second speaker was Tim Breithaupt from Calgary.  His topic was about shifting activity to productivity.  He was referring to marketing as activity and sales as productivity.  It is the first sales presentation I have heard that stuck for me.  He was funny and had lots of great stories that I can relate to and that I will remember.  Most importantly he was honest with us. He explained to me what I have been doing wrong for the past 12 years and more importantly what I had done wrong on Thursday and Friday last week.  I SOOOOO wished I had heard him speak on Wednesday.  Thursday and Friday may have been very different for me.

Tim talked about the differences between Features and Benefits.  PULSE has lots of Features but what are the benefits to the clients?  That’s what people buy …benefits.  All weekend I have been thinking about what the benefit of buying PULSE products are for those who do.  If you have done the training and been coached by me how does that help you?  What do you have at the end that you had less of at the beginning? What I came up with is Confidence.  We sell confidence.  After a PULSE training you are more confident about your ability to handle difficult situations and people.  We don’t’ sell books, coaching, training and keynote addresses.  We sell confidence in dealing with difficult situations and people.  HMMMM???  What do you think?  Does that ring true for you?

I think the confidence comes from the thoroughly researched and theory based approaches that we know work in high conflict.  I thing it comes from the tried and true results of appreciative inquiry and the powerful wisdom of the Enneagram.  The three prongs of PULSE conversation converge and integrate to a powerful approach that we know works.  It is deliberate and reliable.  Knowing it adds confidence and courage to anyone who applies the methods.  We sell CONFIDENCE IN DEALING WITH DIFFICULT PEOPLE AND SITUATIONS. That is at least one benefit that I can see.  I know that the client is the one who identifies the benefit.  As clients if you have other ideas of what benefit you derived from your PULSE experience please share it with me.

Thanks, Tim, for the inspirational and thought provoking presentation.  Only wish I had heard it sooner.