Right now we’re in the middle of the Covid-19 storm. And while we’re all battening down the hatches, at some point the storm will pass. And we need 
to prepare to be in a position to come out of it full steam ahead.
There will be a new reality. Things will not go back to the way they were. Some old ways of doing business may no longer be relevant or in demand.
New opportunities are being created. Our job is to look forward and figure out what they may be and take advantage of them.
I’m going to start with some motivation theory. The reason I’m doing this is because we need to know what intrinsically motivates us to take action and how to avoid unnecessary risk.
It’s an alignment exercise we do with every client and their leadership teams. It helps each member realise their own motivation styles, helps set direction and deal with each other more effectively.
The methodology is used in all our sales training and marketing material as your prosects and clients are motivated to buy either by wanting to avoid a problem to attain some positive result.
We all move towards things we want or away from what we don’t want. Think of the carrot and the stick. If someone has a greater TOWARDS orientation, you can motivate them with rewards. A more AWAY FROM will be more motivated by the stick or what they don’t want to happen.
Naturally this is a continuum. People can be mainly towards with some away from and vice versa. If someone is totally towards oriented, they would be extreme risk takers and not think of the consequences at all – a dangerous place to be. Totally away from and they’d have no direction as they’d be running away from something without looking at where they were heading.
So how do you figure out where someone sits.
Question to ask: “What do you want in a particular circumstance.
If they reply with what they WANT they are more likely to be towards oriented.
If the reply is more what they DON’T WANT, they are more likely away from.
Note: Some towards answers masquerade as an Away From.
To the answer to “What do you want in a ……” ask, “And what will that give you?” as a clarification question.
If this answer is an Away From, you’ll know that in this instance, the person is actually moving away from something.
Just to reiterate, the real challenge with moving away is the person generally isn’t focused on where they end up – which can be in a worse place. And it’s much harder to motivate them to take action. Selling to them can be a challenge as they know what they don’t want, but don’t know what they do want instead.
When listening to someone here are some words you’ll hear.
Towards words: arrive, attain, achieve, goals, accomplish, solutions.
Away from words: avoid, get away from, evade, exclude, escape, problems.
So I’m interested – where do you naturally sit?
Where’s your focus right now in your business? Is it survival? Not going under? Or is it growth? Or some combination. And what’s the underlying motivation?
If you’d like help take advantage of our ability to challenge your thinking, adding 2+2=5, being strategic and lateral. As well as our ability to connect people and resources.
We’ll work on setting your direction, sorting through competing priorities and charting a clear way forward which will see you move into a winning position once this madness is over.
Give me a call on 0414 913 334.
