Brian Tracy is among a handful of business thinkers who can be mentioned in the same sentence as Peter Drucker and Tom Peters. The author of 55 books, Tracy has consulted for more than 1,000 companies and addressed more than 5 million people in over 5,000 talks.
A new multi-volume series of pocket-sized, hardbound books published by AMACOM interweaves nuggets of wisdom from Tracy with engaging real-life examples and practical tools, tactics and strategies. Here are some “greatest hits” from the first two volumes: “Motivation” and “Negotiation.” (“Delegation & Supervision” is due out in July.)
Persuasion by social proof
One of the most powerful influences on thinking is what others “like me” have done in a similar situation. When you use social proof, referring to others who have made the same decision, this implies that the terms and conditions you are asking for are reasonable. By going into a negotiation prepared to give the names of individuals and organizations that have already made this buying decision, under these terms and conditions, you significantly improve your likelihood of getting a better deal. It is one of the most powerful tools for successful negotiating ever discovered.”
The impact of emotions on negotiation
Emotions, especially the emotions of desire, fear or anger, can help or hurt you in negotiation. Discipline yourself not to make an important decision or to agree to a condition when you are in the grip of an emotion of any kind. A wise man once told me, “Sometimes the very best deals are the ones that you don’t get into at all.”
Start them off strong
As it happens, the number one motivator in the world of work, and the primary desire of each employee, is that the job be challenging. Start new employees off strong. Plunge them in over their heads by burying them in work from the first day. When you start people off with a list of tasks and responsibilities and regularly express your confidence in their abilities to do the jobs assigned, they will rise to the challenge and become your very best performers, almost from day one.
Don’t take the job back
Two powerful motivators in the world of work are autonomy and freedom. People need to stand out as individuals, to be clearly responsible for the completion of important tasks, and to be measured for individual performance rather than just their team performance. As manager, you can unintentionally “take the job back” by interfering when someone is working to complete the job you’ve assigned to him. Your goal is to push decision making and action as far down the line as possible, thereby freeing your time so that you can do things of higher value.
The rule of three
The most important word in the world of work is “contribution.” For the average person, only three activities account for 90 percent of that person’s contribution. Ask yourself, “If you could only do one thing all day long, which one activity would contribute the most value to your business or organization?” Ask the same question a second and third time. Once you have determined your “big three,” you then resolve to focus your time and attention on those three activities. Here’s the rule for maximum contribution: Do fewer things, but do more important things, and do them more of the time and get better at each one of them.
Get bonus Brian Tracy in an extended version of this feature at SalesandMarketing.com/Closers.
