Business Growth Newsletter #233- Zoom calls, Uncommon value, Bunny justice

GREG’S BUSINESS GROWTH NEWSLETTER #233
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Quick notes to help you grow your business in less time with less effort. . . sometime next week.

In this issue:

– Techniques for FIT
– Being Human
– Random Stuff

Techniques for FIT
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• Our brains are having trouble processing remote calls. Makes sense since 93% of communication impact is non-verbal. Know this going in and make adjustments. Copy the pros, movie makers. Lighting, sound, eye contact.
• What’s your resting face look like? It’s ok to review the game tape, watch a recording of your calls without the sound on. You are who you are, but can you do anything with posture, gestures, or expressions?
  

• Neat trick in person to person communication is looking at the other person’s eye iris. Right into their eye color. It does something magic, but it’s hard to replicate on web calls. Try looking into the depth of the camera’s green light.
• The pros know silence is a powerful communication tool. It gives your comments a chance to sink in. With web calls, silence comes with a lag and messes up our timing. Plan for it. Take two extra beats before moving on.

Being Human – Offer uncommon value
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“Don’t be in the business of playing it safe. Be in the business of creating possibilities for greatness.” – Bob Iger

At the beginning of the pandemic, I was reading Bob Iger’s autobiography. He comes to the point where he applies for the CEO job. He knows the competition, knows who the board is favoring (not him), and has a laundry list of things he wants to get done if chosen.

At this moment, one of the consultants to the company offers to help him out. He simplifies Iger’s laundry list, and focuses on the vision. Then he gives him a plan for dealing with the board, finding his champion, and limiting the true negative votes.

The consultant wasn’t paid to do this, he saw a place where he could help and stepped up. (The consultant used to run political campaigns, telling Iger this isn’t an interview process, it’s a campaign.) For all I know, the consultant did this with all the top CEO candidates, but it was a gesture powerful enough to make it into the book. My guess is it resulted in a lot of future business and referrals too.

It’s like the old adage says, if you help enough people get what they want, you’ll get what you need. Look for ways to help.

Random stuff
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Judge Dredd

Wilson the Amazing Border Collie takes his job as border patrol agent seriously. Daily he charges into the back yard, scoops up a toy along the way, and starts looking for movement. Sometimes it’s birds, most of the time it’s squirrels, and this year it’s been a lot of bunnies. He chases, gives his toy a death shake, growls, and sends the message, this will happen to you, dear intruder.

I think it’s hilarious. He’s done this since he was a puppy. He’s never come close to catching the creatures and I think the squirrels like it. I’m sure it’s a behavior I encouraged at some point because well, I encourage it now. Before I let him out I say, “Wilson! Ready to get some squirrels?” and get him a little amped up before saying, “release the hound!” My lovely bride tells me not to because something bad will happen, but I find it entertaining.

In the garden we added marigolds which I heard are supposed to help bunny proof the produce section. I’m convinced it did the opposite, attracting them. The big yellow flowers always seem to be chomped along with the pepper plants. I peek out the window and see it happening. A fat rabbit going to town on the flowers. Kind of cute but destructive. I knock on the window to scare him away. He just turns his big black eye to the house and keeps chewing a stalk. I pull up the sash and give him a “shoo!” but nothing.

By this time my urgency is building and Wilson is about to come out of his skin. “This is what we play for!” Both of us are in the yard, wild with bunny bloodlust. I flush the bunny and Wilson gives chase. Most days, the bunny speeds to the fence and squirts under it. But not today. No, today the bunny made a wrong turn and Wilson the ABC meted out a swift and terrible justice.

RIP bunny.

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