I got your attention, didn’t I? You must be wondering.. what is it I need to know, more than anything else. And the more I digress, the more you want to know. You may be thinking right now whether I am dangling a carrot right in front of you. Yes, you are absolutely right. Question is, why are you still reading this since there’s every possibility I may just be playing a fool with you. Well, let’s just say that you have no choice. You have come thus far and you seriously need to know what is that something that now, more than ever, you need to know. Give you a clue. It is a secret that a lot of top-notch speakers adopt to have their audience eating from their hands. It is a persuasion technique that has been subtlely added in the sales pitch, without you knowing. It is a formula that once you understand will serve you well.
In James C. Hume’s bestseller “Speak Like Churchchill, Stand Like Lincoln”, he termed this secret, technique and formula as the Power Button.
In an essay, you can easily draw attention to phrases or words by highlighting it, increasing its font size or italicizing it. But how do you do that in a speech? Well, you can raise your voice or switch the tone of your voice. However, I have seen skilful speakers adopting the Power Button Strategy to have you eating from their hands. It preps you up for the line to follow, usually an important line that the speaker wants you to remember.
For example, LET ME AGAIN SAY WHAT I ALWAYS TELL THOSE CRITICS OF AMERICA [pause]… we will…
Or THE SECRET OF HOTEL MANAGEMENT IS SIMPLE. IT CAN BE SUMMED UP THIS WAY [pause]… our customers must always come first.
The line in caplocks is the power button. Once you hit the power button, you effectively get the attention of your audience. They are going to pay attention to what you have to say next. However, a power button only works when the proceeding sentence is an important one. It could be your message or key idea. The zinger line that you want to use to burn a hole in your listeners’ ears.
You can think of the power button as a preamble to what’s important. It can be as simple as “WhAT I AM GOING TO SHARE WITH YOU NEXT IS GOING TO WORTH ALL YOUR TIME SITTING HERE…” Remember to insert a pause before you tell them the zinger line.
That’s right. The power button preps your audience for something impactful or important to come. The pause creates the suspense. And of course the zinger line blows your audience away.
Eric Feng is the go-to guy if you want to learn how to impress your investors and customers through public speaking. For more tips and tactics that you can use immediately in your next presentation, visit The Public Speaking Blog.
Author: Ethan Theo
Abe WalkingBear Sanchez is an International Speaker / Trainer / Consultant on the subject of cash flow / sales enhancement and business knowledge organization and use. Founder and President of www.armg-usa.com, WalkingBear has authored hundreds of business articles, has worked with numerous companies in a wide range of industries since 1982 and has spoken at many venues including the Shakespeare Globe Theater in London.
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Why Sleep Is Not An Option!
As i type this entry at 12:03am EST, i am again reminded what I love about owning a business. Its the freedom of knowing that if i want to do work in my home office at midnight and try to change my life and that of my family and employees, no one can stop me! And when i get on a thought trail in the middle of the night, I am hard to stop.
I have decided to sell businesses, buy businesses, fire people, hire people, change people’s reality for both the better and worse, all the while never once worrying about overtime, lack of access to my computer, cleaning crews or login procedures, you see, I own the joint! And it feels good.
For anyone considering starting a business, i will caution or encourage you that if you really have the stomach for it or a passion for an idea, you will be shot by an arrow that Cupid would wake up in sweats with fear of! I promise you that!
As a business owner, I never shut it down. I went on vacation at the end of year at a swank resort in Florida, have a $1000 a night suite for my wife and kids, a spa to die for, 2 pools, beautiful beaches, warm weather, sun and fun at my finger tips, miles of beach and the flattest ground known to man to run and the entire time i am thinking about my newest start up idea.
What will I call it? How will i fund it? Will I have partners? What URL should I secure? Which of my 6 development firms will i hire to build the site and do the optimization? Do i outsource it to my developers in India who are cheaper but challenged with their desire to be so literal? Do i write the content for the site or have someone else do it? What are my corporate objectives? And the parade of thoughts go one for 5 days and 4 nights!
And can i tell you, it was the best vacation i had in years. You see, a business owner is so adept at mental multi-tasking that i can play with my kids at the beach, have cocktails, talk to my wife, answer e mails, think about dinner reservations, plan the route of my morning run and which spa treatment by whom and never miss even the slightest detail! And they call me crazy! HAHA! I laugh at those bogged down with minute details! I am a big thinker. Big ideas. Big dreams! Always have been. Always will be.
The Blackberry is just a mechanical version of my brain. Calls, e mails, texts, schedules, documents, thoughts, web access. I look at my Blackberry as a mirror image. So you see, i live off of less than 5 hours of sleep a day. Any more and i am lethargic and grumpy because i might miss an opportunity to fine tune my global strategy or my opinion of a new hire or a suit i want to buy or a flight i need to take or a contact i need to cultivate… And the song goes on in my head all day and all night.
Pleasant dreams!!!! Enjoy them for both of us, because i am far too involved at this moment to sleep. I will have plenty of time to relax when i am gone!
Evan Morgenstein: Entrepreneur, Consultant, Sports Agent, Motivational Speaker. Morgenstein started in the tech industry after graduating in 1987 from Syracuse University. Working for several partially owned IBM partnerships, Morgenstein learned from some of the best. He has parlayed that into a dominant company Premier Management Group in the celebrity talent and sports marketing industry.
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Why You Should Keep Mum to Mom
For years you’ve listened to your mom’s sage advice: “Turn off the lights,” and “Save your money” Most of the time that advice was pretty good and many times you even followed it. Now don’t tell your mom I said so, but there’s one time when your mother’s advice may not help you and that’s when you are about to invest in a franchise opportunity.
Look, I still think mom is right up there with baseball and apple pie. It’s just that when it comes to making a life-changing decision, those “trusted advisors” in your life may not be the best people to help you make the choice. Whether it’s your Uncle Ed, your best friend, or Dear Old Mom, your biggest fan can quickly turn into Ebenezer Scrooge when you tell them you want to buy a business.
Let’s take Uncle Ed. He’s been around the block a few times and knows a number of people. As a matter of fact, he knows a guy who knows another guy who had a brother-in-law who once owned a business and it didn’t do well. Now that business may have been selling pet rocks a decade after the fad went out of style and the owner may have spent more time in hip boots fly fishing than he did in his store selling painted stones. But in Uncle Ed’s mind, only one fact is relevant: “The guy didn’t do well.” Therefore, he is certain, you won’t either.
Is this the person you want to make a career decision for you? He may think he wants what’s best for you but instead he’s picturing you as having already failed. If you need advice about purchasing a franchise, make sure it is from someone who understands franchising.
I’m not suggesting you keep your franchise research a big, dark secret. But I would suggest that you carefully consider who you listen to. If you don’t, you will find yourself swamped with well-meaning but ill-considered advice.
“But I tell my best friend everything,” I can hear you say. “She knows me better than I know myself.”
If you are considering business ownership as the next step in your career, you’ve already done a good deal of soul-searching and self-evaluation. There’s always the element of risk in a new venture but, because you are considering business ownership through franchising, you’ve already taken a big step towards limiting that risk.
Franchising offers you the ability to start a new business without starting it from scratch. Your franchisor will provide you with training, an operations manual, marketing assistance, on-going support – and more. They know what works in their business and truly want you to be successful.
Of course if there’s one person who truly has your best interests at heart, it’s your mother, right? No one can disagree with that. However, let’s take a look at this picture through your mother’s eyes.
First, she’s coming from a different generation. In her day, people picked a career, got a job, and then worked in that job until they retired. I’m generalizing here but for a good part of the last century, having a job meant security. Keeping a child safe and secure was mom’s number one goal. Therefore, she believes you should have a job. She wants you to be happy but she’d rather have you safe and any change in routine is seen as fraught with potential danger.
Now, there is one person you must include in your decision making and that’s your spouse. Any decision you make should be with the full support of your partner. Many franchisors require the spouse be a part of all phone conversations and face-to-face meetings because they know that no decision will be made unless the spouse is onboard. Whether or not your husband or wife will be involved in the business, it is of critical importance to a new franchisee that the significant other agrees with the purchase and will provide emotional support.
As for the others? Our experience shows that those trusted advisors can be well-meaning, but sometimes they are not equipped to help you evaluate such a significant decision. Generally, family and friends want to support us and want to see us do well, but they also recognize their job as protecting us from dangerous decisions.
In the end, buying a franchise is not about your uncle, your best friend or your mom. It’s about you and your future. You need to make the decision whether owning a franchise is the right move. If you need an advisor, make sure you choose someone who understands franchising and will help you make a decision based on fact, not emotions.
Mom was right about so many things. Sitting up straight, eating vegetables and getting enough rest are still part of my daily routine. But mom and your usual trusted advisors aren’t usually experts in franchising. So, when considering business ownership, you may want to keep mum to mom. When your franchise purchase is a fait accompli, invite your trusted advisers to do what they do best: bring the balloons, buy the champagne and help you celebrate your new business!
Kim Ellis is the President of Bison.com, a leading online resource for franchise and business opportunities. She has been quoted as an industry expert in USA Today, Wall Street Journal and a variety of local and regional publications regarding trends in business and franchising. Kim combines her entrepreneurial spirit with a diverse background in marketing and operation to help others succeed in franchising.
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Hurry Up and Wait!
As part of what my company does in the talent representation business, we go to many photo shoots with our celebrities. From Playboy to Reader’s Digest. From Sports Illustrated to Newsweek. An area of expertise i have acquired is the art of Hurry up and Wait! Even though most people don’t do what i do, they understand this concept. I have a cure. One word really, PREPARATION!!!
The best way to reduce wasted time and focus on the job at hand is to have you, your staff, all parties involved prepared. For the obvious and the unthinkable. The tiniest detail can snag a multi million $ project. To have all of the duck in a row is always a monumental undertaking but one worthy of everyone’s dedication and commitment.
Whatever your industry is, there are projects and programs that require fore thought. If you are in charge or aspire to be in charge here is a great moment for you to shine! There is nothing senior management likes less than paying for people just sitting around and doing nothing. Creating meaningful activity not just action with no purpose can undoubtedly facilitate continuity and expedience.
Whether you are on a photo shoot, media tour, television commercial shoot, corporate team building event, brain storming session, etc., plan to work and work your plan!
Evan Morgenstein: Entrepreneur, Consultant, Sports Agent, Motivational Speaker. Morgenstein started in the tech industry after graduating in 1987 from Syracuse University. Working for several partially owned IBM partnerships, Morgenstein learned from some of the best. He has parlayed that into a dominant company Premier Management Group in the celebrity talent and sports marketing industry.
General discussion concerning severance and separation agreements from a business owner’s perspective.
One topic I get a lot of questions about is severance and separation agreements.
Generally, severance refers to giving an exiting employee a monetary bonus or settlement above and beyond their regular compensation. A separation agreement usually refers to an agreement wherein the exiting employee promises not to sue, file a regulatory agency complaint, take business or information with them, or compete with their former employer. In return, the employer gives the employee something of value (usually money).
So, a business could give an exiting employee severance without a severance or separation agreement, but usually doesn’t use a separation agreement without awarding some form of severance (i.e., consideration). If this is confusing, the below will hopefully clarify my point.
Recently, a client asked me about a separation agreement for an employee over the age of 40.
Relative to dealing with an employee who’s 40 or older, if the employer is seeking a release of all claims pursuant to the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), there’s a 21/7 rule that applies. Under the rule, which is actually contained in Section 201 of the Older Workers Benefit Protection Act, a release of claims under the ADEA is only valid if the employee’s release is “knowing and voluntary.” More specifically, in order to be “knowing and voluntary,” the exiting employee has 21 days to review the agreement, with or without legal counsel, and has an additional seven days in which to revoke their signature (beyond the initial 21 day review period). Other requirements may apply given certain considerations. In short, depending on the nature of the separation agreement, the 40 and older employee might have rights not afforded to younger employees.
Regardless of the exiting employee’s age, a separation or severance agreement that’s intended to release the employer from all known or unknown claims is essentially the employer’s purchase of the employee’s agreement not to sue or file a complaint with a government agency, not to take business or information to a competitor, or sometimes, to not even work for a competitor.
When I’m initially contacted about this type of employment agreement, I ask the client why they think they need such an agreement. More specifically, what are your goals/purposes: to reward an exiting employee for tenure and/or quality of service, to prevent a lawsuit or complaint from being filed, to protect the confidentiality of company secrets and information, to prevent an employee from competing with them, or a combination of the aforementioned?
Businesses often ask:
* Should we offer severance to an exiting employee?
* When should we offer it?
* How much should we offer?
* Are the terms negotiable?
* Should we ask an exiting employee to sign a separation agreement that includes noncompete and confidentiality clauses?
* What about protected class considerations (e.g., race, sex, age, disability, etc.)?
* What will my other employees or competitors think if they find out that an employee signed such an agreement or received severance?
In order to help the employer focus on what issues they need to resolve, a business should analyze whether the exiting employee has been contentious or dropped hints of a lawsuit or complaint, or commented about the competition or competing with the employer. In order to help focus the employer on what issues they need to resolve, a business should analyze whether the exiting employee has been contentious or dropped hints of a lawsuit or complaint, or commented about the competition or competing with the employer. If an employer believes that an employee will sue or complain to a regulatory agency, then a separation or separation agreement should be strongly considered. If a lawsuit, complaint or any other factors of the employee’s exit isn’t a concern, then a severance or even no action might be appropriate.
Keep in mind, that unless there’s a contract or agreement to the contrary, or obligations under the Worker Adjustment Retraining & Notification Act (WARN), severance isn’t necessarily required, and in many instances an employee can just leave.
Clients typically ask whether by offering an employee a severance, separation, or some hybrid agreement, they’re setting a legal precedent within their company or creating a feeling or belief of entitlement to such a benefit among employees. In short it’s not likely that the company will be legally obligated to offer the same to other employees. However, if other employees learn about such agreements, there’s a greater degree of possibility that a sense of entitlement will result. So, when deciding whether to use a separation or severance agreement, a business should consider the impact on employee morale, and to at least some extent consider the legal ramifications of using such an agreement.
One way of reaching a bottom line for these agreements is that an employer should not enter into an agreement with an employee, and have to engage an attorney, unless the employer is reasonably sure that they’ll obtain a benefit from the transaction that they wouldn’t get in the normal course of business. Ultimately, as with most business decisions, whether to utilize an agreement or not is a cost versus benefit analysis.
Consistent with the disclaimer on found on my website, the above is a general discussion–i.e., every specific issue or case leads to its own specific resolution and should be handled accordingly.
As a labor and employment attorney and businessperson, Charles Krugel has represented management in hundreds of negotiations, in-house and 3rd party proceedings. Charles has over 13 years of experience in the field and he has run his own successful management side practice for the past 7 years.