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Creating High Energy Websites

& Promotional Materials

By Jerry V. Teplitz
 

INTRO
Kinesiology
Muscle Checking

Why do some websites and ads work-- and others don't? There are as many theories as there are experts. One key explanation is usually overlooked. The energy the-copy and the graphics on the website, or in the ad, generate. If energy is present, it encourages people to stay at your site or read your piece; if energy is lacking, they will most likely disconnect or throw it away.

I've developed a system to discover whether a website or ad is/has a positive or negative impact on your energy system. I determine this by using a technology I've studied and applied for 19 years: Behavioral Kenesiology or muscle checking.

Kinesiology is a way of determining how everything around us affects us. Initially, when I demonstrate this technique in my keynotes and seminars, it looks to the audience as if it's a trick. Once I have everyone choose a partner and then experience it for themselves, they self-validate what I'm sharing.

Two of our clients are Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen, co-authors of the famous Chicken Soup for the Soul book series. Jack has stated he won't release a book unless it's been muscle checked! In December 1999, seven Chicken Soup books were on the New York Times bestseller list!

Here are the instructions so you can validate Kenesiology for yourself:

Your partner faces you with one arm at the side of the body and the other arm raised out until it is at a 90-degree angle to the floor, thumb pointing to the floor.
Place one of your hands just above your partner's wrist on the extended arm. Place your other hand on your partner's opposite shoulder.
Instruct your partner to resist as you push down on the extended arm. You are not trying to force the arm down; you simply need to feel the normal level of resistance. Push with a steady pressure for several seconds; then release.
Keep the same position, arm extended. Your partner should think of something sad or someone disliked. Allow a few seconds for focusing on the thought. Then push down on the extended arm. It will usually go down easily, though your partner resists.
Wait a few seconds, then tell your partner to resume the position while thinking of something gratifying or someone well liked. Again, allow a few seconds for focusing on that image, then push down on the arm. The arm will usually stay level and strong, even if you push harder than before.

Now that you understand the concept, let me share a bit of what I do to determine if a book cover is weakening, neutral or strengthening.

While someone looks at an ad, you can muscle check them. If their arm goes down, it means the ad is having a negative impact and will probably not be read. If it stays up, it means it's not weakening. The third level (which is too complex to explain in this article) is to determine if the ad is strengthening. That's the level at which we want each Chicken Soup book to be.

If we discover something is weakening, we'll give input as to what specifically needs re-doing to get it to the strengthening level. One of the first ads I applied this technology to was an ad Burt Dubin, Speaking Success Systems, had run in SHARING IDEAS Newsmagazine. I muscle checked the ad wording and discovered it was weakening. I made suggestions for changes, and he did what I suggested. Here's what Burt had to say:

"I waited four full months to get back to you with my report on how well the new display ad in SHARING IDEAS is doing. You'll recall you muscle-tested my previous ad and found it to be a 'downer'. It weakened muscles. You called my attention to specific dissonant areas of the ad. You recommended they be excised. Then, you tested the new ad and found it positive. We tested the new ad. The results: Inquiries more than doubled. Sales fully doubled."

Once you start applying this technology, you will discover ways to create high energy websites and promotional materials to capture the attention of surfers and readers. Anyone interested in selling 40 million books like Jack and Mark?

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Switched-On Selling:
Balancing Your Selling Brain

Activate both sides of your brain
for more sales success.

By Jerry V. Teplitz
and Marilyn L. Teplitz

INTRO
Educational Kinesiology
S.O.S. Success Stories
Check Your Muscles
Change Your Brain
Greater Levels Of Success

You are about to to do cold-call canvassing. As you reach for the phone, you glance at your desk and quickly decide to clean it first. Then, as you reach for the phone again, you remember that you need to get some things from your car. And after that, you stop and list the things you need to pick up on the way home.

The day ends, and the calls are never made. You really did intend to do the calling, but time and time again you just didn’t seem to get to it.

Sound familiar? It's not that you don’t know how to cold call-you've taken all of the seminars, read all of the books, and know the techniques. But when you finally force yourself to do it, it just doesn’t go very well.

Very often you make excuses to put it off. For some of us it may be closing the sale. You believe you can close a transaction and know the techniques, but you just can't seem to be able to do it. In a word, you are stuck. Your body and your brain seem to take you anywhere but to the place you need to be. You are "switched off" for a part of the selling process.

If you are saying to yourself that cold calling and closings aren’t your problems, simply think of a part of the selling process that you find difficult to do or that you avoid. In all these examples, it's actually your brain and body that have switched off. The task you wanted to do has become a struggle.

Selling requires that you think clearly, be analytical, and be attentive to details, which are all functions of the left hemisphere of your brain. Selling also requires being creative, intuitive, and able to see the broader picture, which are all functions of the right hemisphere of your brain. To be truly successful in sales you need to use both sides of your brain together. For example, you need to understand your clients' needs, create answers to fulfill their needs, and find alternatives as you attend to all of the details in between the opening and the closing of the sale. If you are using only one side of your brain in the selling process, you will be stressed and switched-off. Successful selling requires a whole-brain, integrated approach.

Educational Kinesiology
There is a way to switch your brain on for selling-to ensure that both the left and right sides of the brain are active and empowering you in every step of the selling process. Success can be created in the selling process, stress can be alleviated, and both sides of the brain can be activated through a process for brain integration called Educational Kinesiology.

Educational Kinesiology was developed over a period of 15 years by Dr. Paul Dennison, a specialist in learning disabilities and a leading pioneer in brain dominance patterns. In working with learning-disabled children and adults, Dr. Dennison found that when they are reading or doing a math problem, for example, one side of the brain is switched off while the other is attempting to figure it out. It’s similar to trying to drive a car while using only your left hand and foot. Although you may be able to do it, it's much more effective to use your whole body in the process.

Dr. Dennison discovered that by using very simple body movements that stretch the muscles and facilitate the integration of both sides of the brain, direct changes in brain functioning and reduction in stress levels take place in the body. With the integration of the brain toward the goal of success, the task of selling becomes easier and less stressful. Dr. Dennison synthesized these simple body movements from ' work done in the fields of developmental optometry, neuro-linguistics, left and right brain research, acupressure, and kinesiology (muscle testing). This method has now been tailored expressly for the selling process through the concept of "Switched-on Selling".

S.O.S. Success Stories
Switched-on Selling does not teach selling techniques-rather it teaches simple physical movement techniques to allow sales- people to use the whole brain to exceed their present levels of success. What are the benefits of this concept? As an example, one real estate agent had been in the business for five months and had listed six houses but had not sold any. Within a week after using the Switched-on Selling techniques, she sold five out of the six listings by herself. Another real estate agent had been avoiding follow-up calls to clients with whom she had been in contact.

In the week following her taking a course that taught the Switched-on Selling concept, she made four follow-up calls and closed three sales.

An insurance agent had been averaging one contract every three weeks. In the year since she attended a Switched-on Selling seminar, she has averaged two sales every week for the first seven months and then increased her sales to three a week when she moved to a new company. And within one month of being with the new company she became the top sales agent for the month.

Another insurance agent re- ported that when she was getting ready to make cold calls, she found herself picking up the phone and putting it down several times. Realizing that she was blocked, she did the simple exercises she had been taught for two minutes. That same day she

made 40 calls and was able to schedule 35 appointments.

An insurance company in South Carolina used the seminar as part of its training program last year. It compared the four- month production of the agents who had gone through the seminar with that of those who had not. It found that those who had gone through the seminar had sales averaging 39 percent above those who did not.

Check Your Muscles
One of the most interesting and unique components of Educational Kinesiology and Switched- on Selling is the use of "muscle checking" to determine what movements the body and brain need to switch on the brain for selling. As someone exerts pressure on another person's deltoid muscle in the arm, the muscle will either stay locked (switched on) or release (switched off depending on how it is responding to internal or external stimuli.

This muscle checking indicates the response of the person's subconscious, and the responses are remarkably accurate.

Kinesiology also allows us to easily see and experience how everything around us and within us affects our strength and ability to act. Using a partner to practice, try it for yourself using the following simple steps:

1. Face your partner. Have the partner raise one arm straight out, perpendicular to the body, thumb pointing down. (This position is similar to when a bird spreads its wings.) The other arm should remain at the side.

2. Place one of your hands on your partner's extended arm, just above the wrist. Place your other hand on the partner's opposite shoulder.

3. Instruct your partner to resist as you push down firmly on the extended arm. You are not at- tempting to force the arm down, but are simply checking your partner's normal level of resistance. 'You should start firmly, not suddenly or with a jerk, push for several seconds and then release.

4. While your partner keeps the arm extended, have him close his eyes and think of a negative sales experience. Have him shake his head when he has it fixed in his mind, then tell him to resist while you press down on the arm. The arm will usually go down easily, even though your partner attempts to resist.

5. Now tell your partner to close his eyes and think of a positive sales experience. Once your partner has the experience fixed in his mind and shakes his head, tell him to resist again while you press down on the extended arm. The arm will usually stay level and strong, even if you push harder than you did just a moment before.

6. Now have your partner extend the arm and change the original negative situation into a positive in some way. When you press down, the arm will usually stay extended, as the person has liter- ally changed his mind about the situation and the negative is no longer affecting him.

7. Switch roles and have your partner check you.

This muscle-checking technique is not a trick-the results are real and repeatable. In fact, many thousands of people have been checked this way, including thou- sands of business and salespeople who have checked each other during seminars.

Because you already checked the normal level of resistance the person demonstrated at the start, the results also have nothing to do with muscular strength. The thumb is turned down to make sure you are only checking one muscle, the deltoid. The muscle will either stay firm during the checking, which means that the body's life energy and brain functioning are strong, or the arm will go down easily, which means the body's energy and brain functioning are weakened. The contrast is very easy to see.

Change Your Brain
In the Switched-on Selling concept, the muscle checking is first used to determine the effect a negative sales situation has on you. To dissipate the negative energy so that the negative situation does not ruin your day, there are two simple body movements you will need to do. The movements actually change how the brain is perceiving the situation and how the body is reacting to it. The physical movements may seem unusual at first, but you will quickly become comfortable with them and find them to be both effective and restful. Practice these movements as follows to get the stress-relieving and energy- -changing effects:

1. Have a partner muscle check you while you are thinking of a negative sales situation. Your muscle will check weak.

2. Next you will do a movement called "Cooks Hook-Up" (see Exhibit 1). While you are holding the Cook's Hook-Up position, keep the negative thought you would like to dissipate in your , mind. Put as many details and as much. color and intensity into the thought as you can. Although most people will tell you not to think negative thoughts, in this situation it is necessary to do so to take the negativity out of the brain. After a short time, you may find yourself having difficulty focusing on the negative. If that happens, change your thoughts and start viewing the situation positively.

article5-1.gif (32968 bytes)   article5-2.gif (40156 bytes)
Exhibit I: The two-part "Cook's Hook Up" helps eliminate negativity in the brain.

3. To do the Cook's Hook-Up, sit comfortably in a chair. Place your feet flat on the floor. Put your left foot onto the top of your right knee. Place your right hand on your left ankle, and place your left hand on the ball of your left foot near your toes. Close your eyes, place your tongue on the roof of your mouth one quarter of an inch behind your teeth. Breathe normally, and hold the negative thought. Hold this position for 30 seconds to a minute.

4. Keeping the eyes closed, the tongue up, and the negative thought focused, place both feet flat on the floor and bring just your fingertips together like a teepee in front of you. Hold this position for 30 seconds to a minute, breathing naturally.

5. When you are finished, open your eyes.

article5-2.gif (40156 bytes)6. The second movement you will do is called "Positive Points" (see Exhibit II). On your forehead, in the middle of your eyebrow and halfway up to the hairline, there is a small bony protrusion known as a frontal eminence. Place the middle three fingers of the left hand over the left frontal eminence and the three fingers of the right hand over the right frontal eminence. Apply a very light pressure.

7. Close your eyes and remain in this position for 30 seconds to a minute. If you feel the negativity dissipating, begin to focus on a positive side of the event. When you are finished, open your eyes.

8. Have a partner muscle check you again while you keep the same situation in your mind. You will experience that your arm will stay solid.

After you have completed these positions, you will find that you are able to recall the situation but that the negativity is gone from your memory. Using these positions will demonstrate to you the power of movement over your brain and your body. You can use these two positions whenever you have a negative sales situation occur. Consequently, a negative sales situation first thing in the morning no longer has to ruin your day.

Greater Levels of Success
The above stress-relieving and energy-changing movements are an example of just one aspect of the Switched-on Selling concept. The rest of the concept focuses on other parts of the selling process to ensure that your body and your brain are switched on for every aspect of selling. From the pre-approach to prospecting to presentation and follow-up, you can switch on your brain and body to allow you to reach even greater levels of success. By doing this, you will bring the 21st century's technology of change into your life today.

Jerry V Teplitz, Ph.D., J.D., is president of Jerry Teplitz Enterprises, Inc., a consulting company specializing in stress management, employee productivity, and sales development seminars. He is a professional speaker and author of the book Managing Your Stress: How To Relax and Enjoy.

For information about taking the Switched-On Selling, Switched-On Network Marketing or Switched-On Management Seminars or getting certified to become an Instructor go to www.Teplitz.com/switched-main.htm.

Copyright ©1990, Jerry V. Teplitz

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THE VIRGINIA BEACH
Beacon

RELAX: Use your brain button
to relieve stress

By Leo Hohmann
Virginia-Pilot/Ledger-Star Staff

Intro
Educational kinesiology
Sample seminar
Muscle checking
Medical community
Results

Jerry Teplitz has never been afraid to try something new or unusual.

He went from being a lawyer at the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency to master teacher of Hatha Yoga. Now, he's into balancing people's brains.

Teplitz, president of Jerry Teplitz Enterprises Inc., a Virginia Beach consulting firm, maintains a vigorous speaking schedule. He jets from one end of the country to the other and abroad to speak at conventions and before corporate personnel about stress. But he is also in the beginning stages of incorporating something new – educational kinesiology.

If that term doesn't ring a bell, don't fret. It's something Teplitz was introduced to just last year by a former client. The techniques of educational kinesiology, developed by Paul Dennison in California, were originally used to help dyslexic children learn to read. A small but growing number of broad-minded adults now claim the Dennison formula is responsible for improving their skills in public speaking, reading, listening, selling and a host of other areas.

The overall object of education kinesiology is to get the right and left hemispheres of the brain to work in unison. When the brain is "balanced" for public speaking, for instance, Teplitz says there will be less stress and more energy focused on the task at hand.

The left side of the human brain works to provide memory and the ability to think logically. It also controls motor skills. The right side is responsible for creativity and controls feelings and emotions.

"A lot of times, the two sides of the brain don't work together. You're not integrated," said Marilyn Spence, who is Teplitz's fiance and business partner. "If we integrate those two sides of the brain, we operate in a lot smoother fashion. If you operate solely out of one side, it becomes very stressful."

The couple uses yoga breathing exercises, aerobics and exercises along with visualization to get clients' brains in balance.

Teplitz and Spence, who met in February at a "World Peace" seminar at the Fellowship Center, are now conducting seminars together at 4317 Tillman Drive, Teplitz's home and office, off Bonney Road. They taught their second educational kinesiology seminar in Virginia Beach last weekend, attended by 16 people. Some came from as far away as Wisconsin, Illinois and Connecticut at $325 per person.

Among the 16 were an attorney, healthcare workers, a counselor and a college student. All were searching for some way to make their life run smoother.

Walking in on a Teplitz-Spence seminar would likely startle the average onlooker.

At the outset, participants were instructed to massage their "brain buttons," located just under the collar bone. A strategic point, the brain button will "switch on" one's brain for learning when massaged, Teplitz explained.

Another exercise has a group of about five people standing shoulder to shoulder in a tight circle. One person stands in the middle, his eyes closed, arms draped over his chest and completely relaxed. The purpose of the exercise is for the person in the middle to build trust and let his body be tossed gently around the circle. What follows is something called a "muscle check" to determine if the person was actually relaxed or if he just thought he was. The assumption here is that one's muscles speak more truthfully that one's mind.

"Your muscles will actually talk to you if you listen to them," said Spence, a former labor relations consultant for the Department of the Navy.

Teplitz and Spence believe that one can communicate with his subconscious mind through what is called an "indicator muscle," usually the deltoid. It, when checked, it responds positively by locking the arm in place, the participant is gauged to be "switched on," or ready to re-educate his body.

Teplitz admits that the medical community is skeptical of psychologist Dennison's theories. But he says they can't deny the results.

"Their reaction has been, basically, 'I don't understand it but it really does work’," Teplitz said. "They do have questions because, let's face it, it's not something they were, taught in medical school. They don't understand it, but they can sure observe its effects."

Those who attended last weekend's seminar believe they left with the power to cure all kinds of insecurities, hangups and negative attitudes that have been preventing them from reaching their goals.

"I learned a system that can be applied to every negative thought that I have, every goal I could design to accomplish and everything I want to be," said one student. Another woman claims to have broken a lifelong addiction to chocolate during the seminar.

All but two of Teplitz's seminars have been conducted outside of his hometown of Virginia Beach, but after the response last weekend, he and Spence-have decided to conduct another here in November.

Teplitz is still amazed by the results of educational kinesiology. After a client is balanced by Teplitz or Spence, they are told to perform various "brain gym" exercises at home to maintain the balance. One such exercise requires crossing one's legs and arms and visualizing a divided brain coming together as a whole. Another exercise merely consists of curling a finger around the ear to "switch on" for hearing.

"It’s more than just for people with learning disabilities. It's learning to pick and choose life," Teplitz said. "Sarah had a problem swallowing vitamins. She had to chew them all. She would choke just from the thought of swallowing a vitamin. Then I did the balance on her and down it went."

In July, Teplitz and Spence conducted the first education kinesiology seminar on the East Coast with a group of about 25 educators in Virginia Beach. Teplitz also has taught a seminar tailored specifically for sales people called "Switched-On Selling".

Teplitz says that while the physiological changes that occur during the exercises cannot be explained, he does not believe they are spiritually triggered. He sees the criticism of educational kinesiology as similar to that which chiropractic treatments have had to endure. As more research is conducted, answers will be supplied to the doubting Thomases, he says.

Teplitz says he isn't worried by the charges that this is merely another off-shoot of the New Age cult movement.

"I would consider it one of the new methods of dealing with educational problems, and now it's expanded into a new way of people being able to work with their own goals they have in life in a very fast manner," Teplitz said. "Anything that’s new, in some respects, you can say is New Age."

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ROAD WARRIORS

travel.jpg (46470 bytes)

MANAGING YOUR TIME AWAY FROM HOME

by Jennifer Juergens

Intro
Before you leave
On the road again
Once you get there
Meanwhile at the office
Making time for yourself

On the road again?
Here's some expert advice on how you
can make the most of your travel time.

Meeting planners are frequent travelers: They spend many hours waiting in airports, sitting on planes and driving -- or standing -- in traffic. They often find themselves living in hotels for days at a time. These "interruptions in routine" are routine; the successful planner cannot let them slow him down.
"You have to be totally organiza\ed," sas Bonnie Pearce, the planner president of Bonnie Pearce Associates, Albany, N.Y. "You are always going to be negotiating with time, and you always have to accomplish something."

How, then, can planners keep ontop of their workloads while traveling? How can they take time that could be a dead loss and make it work for them?
For one thing, they can take the advice of other planners and time mananement experts. The latter, often speakers who travel extensively themselves, have given the problems of roadtime particularly careful consideration.
"You need to be organized to travel, and most aren't," says Merrill Douglass, preseident and founder of the Time Management Center, Atlanta.

"You have to develop good habits. I "Don't leave home without it." So says Jerry Teplitz of Jerry Teplitz Enterprises about his ever-present, easy-to-use luggage cart.

Larry Baker, president of the Time Management Center, also of St. Louis, takes the cautious approach a step further. "I reconfirm airline, hotel and car rental reservations," he says. "I once was set to speak at a meting 12 miles away from the airport, and the car rental company couldn't find my reservation. And they had no cars. That only has happen once. It won't happen again."

Baker ships out speaking materials in advance and makes sure they are there before he is. "Sometimes we've even had a double shipment, nothing to chance," he says.
Arranging communication with the office is another part of Baker's pre-trip routine. "I check arrangements with the staff to make sure we have everything coordinated," he explains. "Then I know any decisions that have to be made, and they know where I am, when I'll be there and how to get in touch with me."
Baker puts together a folder of things he needs to do when he gets back and leaves it at the office and packs a stack of work he can do once he's finished a seminar. He also carries a list of clients he'll be seeing on the road. It includes their address, telephone numbers and, if he needs them, maps to their offices.

Merrill Douglass, who for the past two decades has spent 160 days a year on the road, has taken this kind of organized packing to its limits. He has designed and had made a special leather insert for his briefcase. It has pockets to hold his calculator, dictating machine, pencils, post-its, stamped postcards, writing pads, stationery for writing his children, his passport and color-coded file folders -- green for finished work, red for unfinished work, etc. Everything is in its place and is easy to locate.
Douglass can even remove the leather insert from his briefcase, put it into a larger attache case, add a shirt and a change of underwear, and he's set for an overnight trip.
Douglass and former partner Larry Baker also have devised an expense envelope for business travelers. The trip information is written on the outside of the envelope, and the receipts are stored inside. Again, there's no fishing around.

BEFORE YOU LEAVE
First, there's the matter of arrangements. To make sure she's on track, meeting planner Frances Marshak, of Consolidated Aluminum Corp., St. Louis, calls the property she'll be using and runs down a list of questions, including the distance from the airport to the hotel and what type of ground transportation is available.

ON THE ROAD AGAIN
Long drives. Stalled traffic. Airline delays. Layovers. Most people consider these as downtime. But they don't have to be. So-called dead time can be the perfect time to clear up details.

Fred Pryor suggests using a dictating machine in either a car or plane. "Most people don't use dictating equipment proficiently, but it can be very useful."
Pryor has a car phone and says he may return three or four calls on the way to a speech. He thinks cellular phones could reduce stress for planners who spend a lot of time on the road, and he says a phone's cost could be justified to an employer simply by getting the work done.

Larry Baker says that, while cellular phones are becoming popular with people who drive frequently, salespeople use them much more often than meeting planners. "In three or four years, we'll see them more," he says. "Planners will have to look at how many calles they miss and see what the value of those call is."
Baker believes people could accomplish much more while waiting for flight in airports. He particularly advises avoiding the lounge, a real timewaster.

Elam of Great American Reserve Insurance Co., Dallas advises calling to make another reservation before getting on line. That way, the traveler doesn't have to worry that all the available seats will be taken by the time he gets to the counter. He can be assured his reservation is in the computer. Also, Elam always carries an air flight guide to check altenative flights.

Teplitz says he saves minutes and stress by not checking luggage. If his connection is tight, he can run for a plane with luggage cart in tow. "I can get easily from one terminal to another," he says. "I think the luggage cart is a wonderful thing."

As for the time spent on airplanes, Sandy Bohl, president of Professional Conferences, Sharon, Conn., says it makes her dream of buying a portable computer. "I've wasted a lot of hours on planes, especially on the long flights. I could be getting a lot of work done. A computer also would be great when I get ideas or for conununicating with the office," she says.

Fred Pryor agrees on the usefulness of laptop computers. He spends his time on the plane writing speeches and updating files and schedules on his laptop. (Tepliz warns anyone taking a computer out of the country to have it registered with U.S. Customs before boarding. He adds that, if a computer is company owned, it must be accompanied by a validated export license.)

Working on a plane does not, however, necessarily mean lugging a computer. Time Management's Douglass, for example, often uses flying time to correspond with clients. Rather than dictate for later transcription, he writes on prestamped cards. "I'd rather do it by hand, and just drop it in the mailbox," he says.

ONCE YOU GET THERE
Time-management experts say that because people drop many of their normal work activities while traveling, they often complain of spending personal time working. The solution, they say, is for the traveler to consider the hotel room the office and to act as if travel time is work time. "Every time we decide to do something we're deciding not to do something else. We have to learn to prioritize," says Baker. "One way to spend more time with the family when you get home is to work at the hotel in the evening. I have a principle that the work of a trip, including travel expenses and travel report forms, be completed before the trip ends."

Many planners have devised ways to keep on schedule when traveling. Consoliated Aluminum's Marshak says she does most of her planning for future meetings while she's on the road visiting sites. "I have individual folders for each person I'm going to meet: the sales staff, the reservations manager, convention services, etc. I have questions prepared for each, which is time saving for them and for myself. I keep notes on our meetings, which include ideas and details that have been discussed."

Professional Conferences' Sandy Bohl keeps a diary in which she records the details of each meeting. It includes the attendance list, an outline with an agenda, airline information, schedules and contracts. "Every meeting has its own section, and every meeting is in it," she says. "I keep the entries up to date. Although I feel like a walking office, the diary shows me what I should be doing when."

Planner Bonnie Pearce also feels that the only way to keep everything running smoothly is to touch every file --present meetings and future meetings --every day. "Even if the meeting is three months down the road, I have a 'to do' list on the front of the file. I follow up on everything," she says. "I never go to bed at night before I make my agenda for the next day. Then when I get up I review it."

MEANWHILE, BACK AT THE OFFICE
Of long distance office management, time-management expert Douglass says: "You have to delegate a tremendous amount in order to keep things running smoothly. Of course, you have to have a superb staff, which means they must be trained."
Delegating, Douglass adds, doesn't mean abdicating responsibility. Instead, it means avoiding that common trap: trying to do everything yourself.

Pearce points out that the staff must be trained in the field to do the most effective job. "I have two others in my office who know how I work. They think for me. It's a marriage. They are treated as partners and feel they have ownership."

Greg Elam agrees that an office that runs smoothly starts with people who understand you and your priorities. His basic rule is: "If anything goes wrong I want to know before anyone else so I can solve it and figure out how we can avoid the problem in the future."

Pryor gets specific. He says that when a planner phones the office, he or she should talk to the staff in terms of expectations. "Hold them accountable for their results. Find out their level of progress."

MAKING TIME FOR YOURSELF
Meeting planners on the road are constantly running, and many are on call 24 hours a day. But all agree that anyone can pack for eight days using one carry-on. It has taken years of skill and development."
Being organized comes down to having the ability to set goals, which in turn leads to setting priorities, according to Fred Pryor, author of The Energetic Manager and chairman of the Board of Pryor Resources, Shawnee Mission, Kan. "You have to generate energy and excitement in what you are doing," he says. "It comes down to romanticizing everything you do. You can either sit there and think of work as an obligation, or turn everything up and get into it. It is a constant mental shift. The scientific definition of energy is the ability to do work. You have to think the journey is the destination rather than only being satisfied when you get the job done."

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Reprint of Article published in
Prevention
THE MAGAZINE FOR BETTER HEALTH

Push Here
For Pain Relief

The art of easing pain with finger pressure is an old one, but this young lawyer-turned-healer claims it still works.

by Linda Shaw

Intro
Positive feedback
Ex-Lawyer, Ex-Skeptic
How to Relax and Enjoy
Results

The toughest audience Jerry Teplitz has ever had to work with was inside a prison. "The prisoners didn't know who I was or why I was there or what on earth I was going to do," recalls Jerry. "They were basically told they could either work or see my program, so they obviously chose me over work."

There later were moments on stage when Jerry wished they hadn't. Usually five minutes into his program, he would have nearly 100 percent audience participation as he instructed people how to use -various techniques to relax or to energize their bodies. But the prison audience was different - restless, talkative, smoking and shuffling around.

To make matters worse, in order to demonstrate shiatsu, the ancient Japanese finger pressure technique used to relieve numerous ailments, Jerry usually picks someone who has a headache from the audience. Unknowingly, he picked a prison ringleader from the fidgety crowd.

"He sat down on stage and I demonstrated the headache technique on him. When I got done, he said his headache was worse," laughs Jerry, who still remembers the misery of the moment. "I talked to him a little more and discovered he was having a migraine headache which he gets all the time. So I did the shiatsu treatment for migraine on him and his pain completely disappeared."

Positive Feedback

Before the prison performance Jerry always had been astonished by the success of his program. Whether he faced a crowd of college students, business executives or older adults, his program seemed to have something for everyone. Maybe an audience full of convicts was stretching his luck just a little too far. And then the prisoners' performance evaluation forms were turned over to him. To his surprise, the prisoners had written that they believed shiatsu and meditation would help them in their lives.

Subsequent feedback from prison staff members further boosted Jerry's spirits. "The monetary system of the prisoners is cigarettes," relates Jerry. "A staff member told me that one prisoner earned two packs of cigarettes by doing shiatsu for another one's headache. And the toughest guy in the prison is a Muslim who carries a file folder with all of his prayers in it. Tucked within that folder is the shiatsu headache diagram I left with them," Jerry says. "It was the toughest audience I ever went through, but there, too, it worked."

In Jerry's program, audiences learn by doing different finger pressure techniques used to relieve headaches, migraines, sore throats, sinus colds, eyestrain and neck fatigue. "It's a seed planting profession," says Jerry. "I'm planting the seed for people that they can heal themselves in a whole variety of ways. They've got more power and potential than they probably ever thought they had."

Ex-Lawyer, Ex-Skeptic

Actually, Jerry admits he isn't anyone to quibble over skepticism, since he was the biggest skeptic of all when first introduced to what he does now. A graduate of Northwestern University Law School, Jerry was a lawyer with the Environmental Protection Agency in Illinois before he abandoned law for a more unorthodox lifestyle. 

Pressure points Jerry Teplitz demonstrates a shiatsu pressure technique used to relieve headache pain.

"If you had asked me in law school if I could see myself doing this five years after I graduated, I would have thought you were crazy," he quips. "As a lawyer you are trained in skepticism and to tear things apart. I tried to tear these things apart. They wouldn't tear. The more I tried, the more I experienced, and the more excited I got." He began attending the Temple of Kriya Yoga in Chicago and became a master teacher of hatha yoga. Eventually, he quit the law profession. "It was like taking a deep breath and, in a sense, going off the deep end - but knowing there wasn't a deep end there."

How to Relax and Enjoy

Jerry has written a book with Shelly Kellman entitled How to Relax and Enjoy, which describes some shiatsu methods, hatha yoga exercises, general relaxation and meditation techniques, and discusses proper nutrition. With several other books in the planning stages, Jerry continues to lecture to groups around the country and in Canada. He claims that in as little as two hours he can teach people relaxation and energizing techniques they will be able to use for the rest of their lives.

"You can use shiatsu on yourself as well as on other people," explains Jerry. "My goal is to make people self-sufficient. My real purpose in doing a lot of this actually is to put me out of business. That will mean everybody is running around healthy because they know how to do these things."

Shiatsu is an ancient therapy that is older than Japan's recorded history. Practitioners wanting to relieve a headache use the fleshy part of their thumbs to bear down on a series of pressure points along the skull and the back of the neck. Jerry reports that headaches and hangovers can be relieved in as little as a minute and a half. In some cases, a third treatment is necessary to alleviate all pain. "Of course, if anyone has an ongoing problem, I recommend seeing a doctor," he adds. "The individual should look at what is going on in his or her environment. Something is really pretty intense either physiologically or externally that needs treating."

 To relieve headache: draw an imaginary line from center of forehead to base of skull (left picture) and apply pressure to each point. Then press points from crown of head to temples, as shown by arrow. Press points on each side of head simultaneously. (Points are about an inch apart.)

 

Pressure points
Then find middle rear of ear lobe (right drawing) and press on points in direction of arrow. First point is two inches from lobe, next is half the distance to center, third is center or medulla. Then follow spinal column to shoulders, pressing next to spine (not on it).

But for ordinary ailments, shiatsu is quite effective, says Jerry, although no one really knows why. "There are several theories," he continues. The hard pressure exerted by the thumbs may cause extra blood to circulate through the painful area. The blood acts as the natural cleanser of the body, bringing antibodies and oxygen to the area and removing waste products and carbon dioxide, says Jerry. A second possibility is that shiatsu may act like acupuncture, stimulating certain nerve meridians and motivating the body to heal itself. Others suggest that when pressure is put on the head, natural substances called endorphins are released by the brain. Endorphins act as pain inhibitors which block the pain signal throughout the body. Another theory is based on the physics concept that every action has an equal and opposite reaction. "With a hangover a person has restricted blood vessels," says Jerry. "The shiatsu pressure may cause the blood vessels to expand and relieve the pain."

Whatever the scientific explanation may be, Jerry says shiatsu often works as long as people follow the directions.

Results

Although he has worked with the therapy for several years now , Jerry still is surprised at times by its effectiveness. He relates the story of a friend with wisdom teeth problems who called him long distance for help. He was in intense pain but his dentist could not see him for several weeks, says Jerry, so "I proceeded to give him the instructions for the shiatsu treatment for toothache over the phone. I saw him a few months later and he said not only did it work, but after several treatments the pain completely vanished. He still had to go to the dentist, but he was totally painless to the point of going," says Jerry.

In case of a toothache, shiatsu may provide three or four hours of pain relief. When the pain returns, all the person may need to do is to repeat the shiatsu treatment. "Shiatsu is a good alternative to aspirin and to the negative effects of any chemical on the body," Jerry asserts.

Jerry enjoys his work and believes he can teach others to enjoy life no matter who they are or what they do for a livelihood. "My fantasy for the future is that instead of company coffee breaks, they will have meditation breaks," he says. "Production will go up and absenteeism will go down because people will just be a lot happier with what they're doing."

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Reprint of Article published in the articl1a.bmp (17362 bytes) Volume 3, Number 4

 

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By Jerry V. Teplitz

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INTRO
Determining your style
Characteristics of the Styles
Your Clients' Style
Blending Seller and Buyer
Conclusion

Have you ever tried to sell a client on your property and had difficulty establishing a rapport? Have you ever emphasized something you thought important and your client responded blankly? Do you find some clients make slower (or faster) decisions than you think appropriate?

Answering yes to any of these questions means that you have run across a client whose buying style is different from your selling style. To be more successful you need to learn to adapt your selling style to fit your client's buying style. By "reading" your client's behavioral style and appealing to that person in his or her terms, you can actually increase your sales dramatically.

In the early 1930s, a concept was developed by WiIIiam Marston, which was later elaborated upon by Dr. John Grier. This concept divides people into four basic personality types. It's understanding these types that will al low you to sell your property more successfully. Many companies using this approach have increased sales from ten to 30 percent.

The first step in this process is discovering your own style. The next step is recognizing your client's style, and the final step is to apply this information to your present sales approach.

The four basic styles are called Dominance (D); Influencing of Others (I); Steadiness (S); and Compliance (C). An important point to keep in mind is that no style is better than another; rather, the key to being a successful hotel salesperson is being able to adapt your selling to fit your client's buying style.

Determining Your Style

To determine your own style you will need to answer the following questions. When selecting your answers, focus on the behavior that best characterizes you when you are wearing your "selling hat."

Question 1:

Is your selling behavior style active and outgoing?
or
is your selling behavior style reserved?

If you answered active and outgoing, you are either a D (Dominance) or an I (influencing of Others) behavioral style. If reserved, you are either an S (Steadiness) or a C (Compliance) behavioral style.

To find out even more specifically what your style is you will need to answer the following questions:

If your last answer was a D or I:

Are you more of a relater with others
or
a director of others?

If you are a relater, then you are an I. If you are a director, then you are a D.

Those whose first answer was an S or C need to answer the following questions:

Are you more concerned with how to complete task details
or
with the importance or quality the task requires?

If you are concerned with task details, you are an S. If you are concerned with the importance or the quality of the task, you are a C.

Characteristics of the Styles

Now that you know what type of style you are, look at the characteristics of the different styles.

If you are a D, Dominance style, you like getting immediate results, causing action, and accepting challenges. You prefer to make quick decisions to solve problems, and you enjoy taking charge.

if you are an I, Influencing of Others style, you enjoy contacting and entertaining people while making a favorable impression. You are very verbal. You like generating enthusiasm and creating a motivational environment. You want to help others and enjoy participating in a group.

If you are an S, Steadiness style, you like staying in one place while concentrating on the task at hand. You are loyal and have tremendous patience, which allows you to be a good listener and able to calm excited people.

If you are a C, Compliance style, you enjoy following standards and procedures, concentrating on details, and working under controlled circumstances. While you can be diplomatic with people, you like accuracy and will criticize someone's performance, if necessary. You are a critical thinker and believe in authority.

Your Clients' Style

Now that you know more about your style, explore your clients' style.

The D Style

If your clients are a D style, they are highly interested in seeing the new and innovative things about your property. They usually possess a fairly strong ego and do not like to waste time. To sell these highly individualistic go-getters, get right to the bottom line. Don't waste their time with a lot of facts and figures. They just want to hear the high points of your presentation. They, in turn, will be loyal as long as you provide them with service.

The D style is more impressed with your efficient, no-nonsense business manner than any testimonials or data. They would rather leave cost factor details to someone else.

There are several DO's and DONT's for each of the styles which are important to understand. For the D style you DO need to be efficient and omit details. DO be strictly businesslike, as they will let you know if they want to chat. DO flatter their egos. When on a site inspection of your property, stress both the prestige and efficiency of your property. DO make sure you give them direct answers. Finally, DO give them a short summary and close.

Here are the DONT's for the D style. DON'T explain too many details unless they ask for them.

DON'T give your opinions. DON'T be evasive or indecisive, but do give them plenty of options.

The I Style

If your clients are an I style, they are the friendly, gregarious types who want to talk and socialize. They make great salespeople themselves (they may even try to sell you something).

With an I style, spare them the details because they are not interested in them. They love the new and innovative aspects of your property. The I is fairly easy to sell if you are sociable with them. This also means they can easily wind up going with another property, so give them plenty of follow-up service. Buy them lunch or even a cup of coffee, and closing will be easier.

Here are the DO's for the I style. DO let them talk, and give them compliments about their accomplishments. DO use their own words to direct the discussion back to business. If you can, DO use the testimonials and name drop. DO be enthusiastic and friendly. DO have your summary focus only on the major selling points.

DONT's for the I. DON'T give them a lot of facts (you'll create confusion). DON'T chatter so much that you don't get around to selling them.

The S Style

The Steadiness (S) clients may be a bit shy, but they want to be your friends. These clients are not suspicious, but are slow to make changes. They need to feel they can trust you. You need to show them that your property is more traditional, and if they're booking a convention that is family oriented.

With an S client, take it slow and easy. Speed can lose the sale. They will want to see your entire property and want plenty of statistics. To earn their trust and friendship, ask about their family and hobbies. Emphasize the traditional and proven nature of your property, and make reassuring follow-up calls.

Here are the DO'S for the S style. DO be low key. DO keep your explanations quiet and simple but loaded with details. DO involve the family in the decision. DO stress the property's security and the security of the surrounding area. DO provide them with a complete cost picture. DO assure them that their decision is right, and that their group will be pleased.

DONT's for an S. DON'T go too fast or omit details. DON'T get too friendly too quickly.

The C Style

Compliance (C) clients may sometimes be suspicious of you. These individuals can become solidly faithful to you, but only after they trust you. They are tough clients to get (and to lose, once you've got them). They are not great talkers or innovators.

With a C style, give them solid background information and convince them that your property works. Testimonials from other satisfied clients help especially if it is from another C. They need time to absorb details and digest the facts before taking the next step. They will want to see your entire property, even the kitchen area. They like traditional properties.

Here are the DO's for the C style. DO set a tone of trust and sincerity. DO emphasize how you will minimize their group's difficulties. DO stress the need for them to make an early decision. DO be patient, explain things fully, and ask them "how" questions to get their opinion. DO give a complete detailed financial picture. If you have a written description of your property, DO be sure what you say is consistent with the written description.

DONT's for a C. DON'T give the C client a hard sell. DON'T get personal about their family, if you don't know them well. DON'T physically pat them on the back at the first meeting. DON'T speak too loudly, or answer their objections lightly.

Blending Seller and Buyer

Now that you understand yourself and your clients better, you need to put it all together. Because to be truly effective you will need to blend your selling style with that of your customers.

Blending for the D Hotel Salesperson

You are strong-minded and confident. You like to deal with new, innovative items, and you become bored with details.

To sell a D: Be yourself. One D communicates well with another.

To sell an I: Be a little more friendly than-usual, not quite as businesslike. You should get along fairly' easily with him or her.

To sell an S: Slow down, give assurances, give more details, be friendlier, give him or her a chance to digest facts, don't overstress new or innovative aspects.

To sell a C: Present plenty of proof and facts, make sure all questions are answered, take it much slower than your usual pace, and don't be "pushy."

Blending for the I Hotel Salesperson

You are friendly and happy-go-lucky. You lack attention to details, become easily bored, and are very social and people-oriented.

To sell a D: Don't joke, make small talk, or throw your arms around him. Stay businesslike, and don't waste time.

To sell an I: No problem, just remember to ask for her agreement.

To sell an S: Earn her trust before becoming too friendly. Stick to the facts and figures. Some socializing and small talk about your families is acceptable; you will need to show a lot of knowledge about your property and her group's needs.

To sell a C: He is probably your most difficult customer. He's not impressed by story-telling or socializing. Give him facts, figures, and proof. The best you can do is try to act like another C.

Blending for the S Hotel Salesperson

You are steady and dependable, but easily discouraged. You can lack confidence in your sales abilities when placed in new and difficult situations.

To sell a D: Assert more confidence, and don't be intimidated or scared off by the strong-willed and challenging D. Come back strongly with the answers he wants.

To sell an I: You may not like his over-friendly, time-wasting attitude, but you should get along fairly well.

To sell an S: Like you, she'll probably require lots of assurances, so be confident.

To sell a C: You'll have a fine rapport as long you can confidently answer all her questions and firmly present specific facts and figures. Don't be intimidated by her skepticism.

Blending for the C Hotel Salesperson

You are a well organized facts and figures person who prefers selling the traditional aspects of your property.

To sell a D: Be careful; don't overwhelm her with all your facts and figures. just hit the high points. And muster enough courage to sell those new and innovative aspects of your property.

To sell an I: Again, resist the urge to lay out all the facts; just hit the high points, being as friendly as possible. Try showing her the new and innovative aspects of your property.

To sell an S: Just don't talk too fast, and you'll get along well. Give him plenty of time to digest the facts you present. Talk about his family a little, too.

To sell a C: This is your easiest sale. You'll see eye to eye with him from the start.

While few people are pure "D, I, S, or C," you will find that blending your style will be one of the most effective and successful sales techniques you can acquire. Use the people in your office whose styles are different from yours to help you discover how to approach that tough client more effectively. You will find that the more you use these techniques, the easier it will become to identify clients and close your sales.

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Understanding and Motivating Volunteers
By
Jerry V. Teplitz, JD, Ph.D.

© 2004 Jerry V. Teplitz

INTRO
Determining Your Style
Characteristics of the Styles
Your Volunteer’s Style
Blending Seller and Buyer

Have you ever had a board member with whom you had difficulty relating? Have you ever emphasized something you thought important and your board members or committee chairs responded blankly? Do you find some board volunteers make slower (or faster) decisions than you think appropriate?

Answering yes to any of these questions means that you have run across a volunteer whose behavior style is different from yours. To have a more effective relationship with the volunteer you need to learn to adapt your behavior style to fit theirs.

In the 1930s, WiIIiam Marston developed a concept which was later elaborated upon by Dr. John Grier which divides people into four basic personality types. Understanding these types will allow you to relate more successfully.

The first step in this process is discovering your own style. The next step is recognizing your volunteer’s style, and the final step is applying this information to your relationship.
The four basic styles are called Dominance (D); Influencing (I); Steadiness (S); and Conscientiousness (C). Keep in mind the key to being successful is being able to adapt your approach to fit your volunteer's style.

Determining Your Style

First you need to determine your own relationship style by answering several questions. When you select your answers, think about which response best characterizes you when relating to volunteers.

Question 1:

Is your relationship style more active and outgoing?
or
More reserved?

If you answered active and outgoing, you are either a D (Dominance) or an I (Influencing) style. To find out more specifically what your style is select one of the following:

Are you more concerned with directing of others
or
Relating to others?

If you answered relating, then you’re an I style. If you answered directing, you’re a D.
If you answered reserved, you are either an S (Steadiness) or a C (Conscientiousness). To find out more specifically what your style is select one of the following:

Are you more concerned with accepting of others?
or
Assessing or judging of others?

If you answered accepting, you’re an S. If you answered assessing or judging, you’re a C.

Characteristics of the Styles

Now that you know what style you are, let’s explore the different styles characteristics.

If you’re D, you like getting immediate results, causing action, accepting challenges and making quick decisions to solve problems.

If you’re I, you enjoy contacting and entertaining people while making a favorable impression. You are verbal and enthusiastic.

If you’re S, you like staying in one place while concentrating on the task at hand. You are loyal, a good listener and patient.

If you’re C, you prefer following standards and procedures, concentrating on details, and working under controlled circumstances.


Your Volunteer’s Style

Now that you know more about your style, let’s explore your volunteer’s style.

D Style

A D style volunteer is highly interested in being involved in new and innovative projects. To convince him get right to the bottom line and don't waste his time with lots of facts and figures.

I Style

An I volunteer is the friendly, gregarious types who enjoys talking and socializing. She’s great at convincing other. Spare the details she is not interested. She loves new and innovative projects.

S Style

An S volunteer may be a bit shy but wants to be your friend. He’s not suspicious, but is slow to make changes, likes the traditional and needs to feel he can trust you. To earn his trust and friendship, ask about family and hobbies.

C Style

A C volunteer may sometimes be suspicious of you. They can become solidly faithful to you, but only after they trust you. They’re not great talkers or innovators. Give solid background information on projects.


Blending Seller and Buyer

To be truly effective, you need to blend your relationship style with that of your volunteer.

If you’re a D

  Working with a D volunteer: Be yourself. One D communicates well with another.

Working with a I volunteer: Be more friendly than usual and less businesslike.

Working with an S volunteer: Slow down, give him assurances and a chance to digest facts.

Working with a C volunteer: Present plenty of proof and facts and answer all questions.


If you’re an I

  Working with a D volunteer: Don't tell jokes or make small talk. Stay businesslike; don't waste time.

Working with a I volunteer: No problem, just ask for their agreement.

Working with an S volunteer: Earn their trust before becoming too friendly. Stick to facts and figures. Talk about your families.

Working with a C volunteer: He's not impressed by story-telling or socializing. Give him facts, figures, and proof.

If you’re an S

  Working with a D volunteer: Assert confidence, answer strongly, and hold your ground.

Working with a I volunteer: You may not like his over-friendly, time-wasting attitude, but you should get along well.

Working with an S volunteer: She'll probably require assurances, so be confident.

Working with a C volunteer: Confidently answer all her questions and firmly present specific facts and figures.

If you’re a C

  Working with a D volunteer: Don't overwhelm her with facts and figures. Just hit the high points.

Working with a I volunteer: Resist the urge to lay out all the facts; just hit the high points, being as friendly as possible.

Working with an S volunteer: Don't talk too fast. Give him time to digest facts. Talk about his family.

Working with a C volunteer: You'll see eye to eye with him from the start.


Blending your style with your volunteer’s is a most effective to increase you success with working with your volunteers. As a leader of volunteers I want to share with you a poem that was shared with me by Dr. Herb True.


 

Watch your thoughts
They become your actions,

Watch your actions
They become your habits,

Watch your habits
They become your character,

And watch your character
It becomes you!

As you relate to your volunteers, you are bringing your behavior style into play with theirs to create more success for both of you. Happy blending!

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10 Tips to Prevent The Afternoon Slump

by Jerry Teplitz, JD, Ph.D.

If you’re like two-thirds of the population, you’ve experienced the afternoon slump. You know the feeling…it’s mid-afternoon and you feel tired and drained and want to call it a day. While you still plug away at your work, you often find that you are not as productive as you need to be. You’ve hit the afternoon slump.

This drop in energy is not all in your head. It is a physiological response from your body. Fortunately, you can employ methods to reduce the slump’s frequency and to shorten its duration once it does start. Some of the methods work solely on the individual level, while others require a company-wide initiative. When you utilize these 10 tips and instill them in your office, you will replace the afternoon slump with a time of increased productivity.

 

Tip #1: Drink your water. Even if you are simply working behind a desk all day, your body still uses water. So don’t wait until you get that thirsty feeling in your mouth. By that point you are already dehydrated, which can impair your physical and mental functioning. If dehydration is one of the factors attributing to your afternoon slump, you now are experiencing both a brain slump and a body slump.
To prevent this, drink a minimum of eight glasses of water a day, more if you are physically active. Keep a water pitcher and a glass on your desk so you can easily sip water all day. Don’t fool yourself into thinking any type of liquid counts toward your water intake. Liquids like coffee or cola dehydrate you and worsen the slump.

Tip #2: Avoid sugar and simple carbohydrates. While a candy bar mid-afternoon may give you a quick sugar rush, in the long run, it actually worsens the slump. Sugar and simple carbohydrates get absorbed immediately into the bloodstream. In response, your blood sugar rises, and your body secretes insulin to bring your sugar level back down. Unfortunately, your body doesn’t know when you’ve stopped eating the candy, so it drops you down into a low blood sugar level by taking too much sugar out of your body. This is why people who rely on sugar for energy have highs and lows throughout the day.
But candy isn’t the only culprit. Simple carbohydrates, such as a white bread sandwich and some dessert at lunchtime, can cause your blood sugar to drop after an hour or two, causing the afternoon slump. To avoid this, incorporate more proteins and complex carbohydrates into your diet, such as products made with whole-wheat flour, brown rice, etc. They won’t trigger blood sugar highs and lows, putting you more on an even keel.

Tip #3: Eat small meals. Have six small meals over the course of the day instead of three large ones. When you eat a big meal in one sitting, it overwhelms your body, causing it to work harder to digest the food. As a result, the digestive process diverts blood away from your brain and your extremities and uses it in the digestive track. With smaller meals, your body doesn’t have to work as hard.

Tip #4: Evaluate your lighting. Most offices are lit with cool white fluorescent tubes, which have a terrible effect on how people feel and function at work. A better option is full spectrum fluorescent tubes, as these simulate the wavelength of sunlight. Studies have shown that full spectrum lighting provides many benefits: headaches disappear and afternoon fatigue declines, while productivity levels actually rise.
If your office doesn’t already use full spectrum fluorescent tubes, you might want to replace the tube just in your office. Your company may want to replace the tubes company-wide because it is an investment in your company’s human capital. As everyone’s productivity increases, the company will quickly recoup its investment. The gains will certainly outweigh the expense. After one company re-lamped their offices, they started referring to their lights as their “happy lights” because employees feel so good being under them.

Tip #5: Take walking breaks. Walking gets your blood circulating, helps you breathe better, and stimulates your brain due to the increased blood flow. Take a five or ten minute walk during the day. Walking outside will give you the extra benefit of fresh air, but walking around the office is okay too. If you don’t have time to take a walk, run up and down the stairs for two minutes. That will give you the same benefits in half the time.

Tip #6: Meditate. Meditation is great for rejuvenating your body. Each time you meditate, you’ll feel like you just took a six-hour nap. By meditating for fifteen to twenty minutes twice a day, you’re keeping your body continually energized. If you do run into the afternoon slump, meditating for a quick five minutes can immediately re-energize you.
Physiologically, when you meditate, you go into a state that’s similar to deep sleep. Your heart rate, breath rate, and vital signs are lower than the normal state of sleep, so in effect, you give your cells and your body a tremendous amount of rest in a very short period of time. You may even find that you require less sleep at night since you are giving your body much well needed rest twice a day.

Tip #7: Take your vitamins. Several vitamins have an energizing affect on your body, such as B-complex and Ginseng, so take them every day. You get the maximum benefit from your vitamins when you divide your dose throughout the day and take them with a meal. For example instead of taking 100 milligrams once a day, take fifty milligrams with breakfast and fifty with lunch. By doing so, you get much better absorption and greater benefit.

Tip #8: Listen to some music. Music can energize you, but choose carefully. Some music can actually weaken your system and fatigue you. For example, hard rock can make you feel jittery. Find some music you enjoy. Upbeat music can get your body into a more upward stance. If you are listening to music with lyrics, make sure they are positive and motivating.

Tip # 9: Take time to breathe and stretch. Deep breathing is another way to give yourself an energy boost. Your cells require an exchange of air in the lungs to get the waste products out of the body. If you’re not breathing enough, you’re getting a build-up of waste products. By doing some breathing exercises during the day, you’ll get a lot more fresh air into your system, your cells, and your brain.
Try this exercise: Breathe in slowly, filling your stomach first, then the chest, and finally the shoulders while counting to seven. Then exhale slowly, starting to exhale at the shoulders first and finish with the stomach, again while counting to seven. Do this three to six times. When you do, you are dramatically increasing the exchange of fresh air in your body.
Equally important is to stand up and stretch. When you stretch and move, you not only increase the blood flow in your body, but you are also stimulating the lymphatic system, which removes waste products from your body and only functions from muscular contractions. So if you are sitting for hours at a time, you are actually building up waste products in your body. Do some stretches mid-morning and mid-afternoon.

Tip #10: Handle negativity. Negative people and images can have a draining effect on your energy. Conversely, if you spend the day surrounded by positive people and images, you can feel energized by them. If negative people surround you at work, use your mind to go into the positive realm when they’re going into the negative. Make a conscious effort to stay positive even when others are negative around you.

Beat The Slump and Enjoy Your Night
No one enjoys feeling tired and drained. So incorporate these ten tips into your day and encourage others in your office to do the same. When you do, you can turn the mid-afternoon hours into a time of increased productivity. And when you feel better at the end of the day, you will have the energy to enjoy your evening.

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Par and Beyond: Secrets to Better Golf
by Dr. Jerry V. Teplitz
(c) 2003 Jerry V. Teplitz

INTRO
Brain Integration
Muscle Checking Practice Instructions
Par and Beyond: Secrets to Better Golf

You’ve bogeyed your last hole, you are about to hit your next drive. As you take your practice swings, your mind is still on the last putt that you blew. You take your swing and it’s a slice. In your mind you say to yourself “Oh no, I’m going to bogey again!” and you do.

Sound familiar? You know the techniques and mechanics, but you just can’t get either your mind or body aligned with each other so that they do what you want them to do. In a word, you are stuck and “switched off,” and your golf game is not going well at all.

Golf requires you to think clearly and be analytical which are functions of your brain’s left hemisphere. Golf also requires you to be creative and intuitive which are functions of your right hemisphere. To be a truly successful golfer you need to use both sides of your brain at the same time; you need an integrated approach.

Brain integration is one of the components of the video training program Par and Beyond: Secrets to Better Golf. The video uses the concept of “muscle checking.” As a professional speaker and trainer, I have demonstrated this muscle checking concept for over 20 years. Audiences have found it both amazing and exciting. To understand this concept you will need a partner to practice on as you follow these instructions.

 

1. Face a partner. Have your partner raise one arm straight out from the side of his body with thumb pointing down.

2. Place one hand on your partner's extended arm, above the wrist and the other on their opposite shoulder.

3. Instruct your partner to resist as you push down, firmly and steadily, on his extended arm for several seconds. Your partner’s arm should not move down more than a couple of inches.

4. While your partner keeps his arm extended, have him close his eyes and think of a negative golf experience. When he has it focused, press down on his arm. His arm will come down easily.

5. Now ask your partner to think of a very positive golf experience. Once he has it in focus, press down again. His arm will stay level and strong.

6. Have your partner check you.

The muscle checking is real and repeatable. It is indicating the response of your partner’s unconscious mind to negative and positive golf experiences. The results have nothing to do with muscular strength; rather, you are accessing a neurological phenomenon. With the positive thought your muscle stays strong indicating that your body's life energy and brain functions are switched-on. With the negative thought your muscle switches off demonstrating how negative thoughts actually affect your physical body, and this interferes with your golf game. As you observed and experienced for yourself, the contrast is very easy to see.

Since the Par and Beyond: Secrets to Better Golf video does not teach golf techniques and mechanics, you will still need your golf Instructor to do that. Rather, the video teaches techniques which will allow you to get rid of your negative thought in 90 seconds. It will show you how to maintain you energy and focus throughout a round of golf. 

Click here for more information about Par and Beyond: Secrets to Better Golf.


Here is what some satisfied users had to say about their experience:

“Within a week of watching the video my scores started dropping two to four strokes each round. I was finding that my drives were going longer and more in play than usual. Your video program allows me to concentrate and focus like I’ve never done before. It works!”
Shep Hyken
St. Louis, MO

"I went to Par and Beyond to write about Dr. Teplitz’s technique with a certain skepticism but soon realized everything he taught made sense. When I got home, my next round of golf was my life¹s best and now the techniques are part of every round I play!"
Tom J. Fox
T&L Golf Magazine

"As we discussed I have had a real problem with my putting from the three to eight foot range. After your session I made five of the six putts I had in that range. Later that week I had a match play competition, which I won."
Dennis Barnes, Sr.
St. Louis, MO

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Beating Travel Stress:
The Art of Surviving on the Road
by Jerry Teplitz, JD, Ph.D.

INTRO
Sleeping on the Road
Accentuate the Positive
Beating Jet Lag
Enjoy Your Trip

Whether for holidays or business trips, traveling can grate on the nerves of even the most patient soul. From security checks to winding lines to time zone changes, today’s traveler faces countless aggravations and inconveniences.

Don’t let travel stress dampen your spirits and ruin your voyages! If insomnia, travel burnout, or jet lag plague you as you zip from city to city, all is not lost. By employing several nutritional, physical, and mental strategies, you can relax your body and relax your mind. You’ll soon see that touring can indeed be an enjoyable experience, even if unexpected snarls creep into your travel plans.

Sleeping on the Road
Overstuffed pillows. Cardboard-stiff sheets. Saggy mattresses. The discomfort of hotel hopping can challenge the most otherwise indiscriminate sleepers. If you find yourself struggling to catch a few elusive Z’s, a few simple techniques will quickly and effectively help you fall asleep.

  • For the Mind

Never underestimate the power of the body to heal the mind. One technique for helping you sleep on the road is a progressive relaxation exercise that will stop the chatter of your mind. Start by closing your eyes and breathing deeply and regularly. Tense and relax your muscles, starting at your feet for a few seconds. Continue this tense/relax pattern through each part of your body, working up to your head. If necessary, repeat the process a second time. This simple process will force all tension from your body, allowing your mind to shut off while you settle into a comfortable slumber.

Another effective strategy is listening to relaxation tapes. Rhythmic music, often in combination with nature sounds, synchronizes with your breath, allowing you to release stress and fall to sleep. Musician Steven Halpern, Ph.D., for example, has developed a series of compositions called, appropriately, Effortless Relaxation and Sleep Soundly. Pop them in the CD player, and let the soothing begin.

  • For the Body

You can further decrease the probability of tossing and turning in your stiff hotel bed with some help from Mother Nature. Several herbs and other natural over-the-counter remedies may help alleviate your situation.

Valerian Root is probably one of the best herbs for letting the body go night-night. Another is Melatonin, a hormone secreted by the brain’s pineal gland, which controls the body’s reaction to the light-dark cycle. Many health food stores sell Melatonin as a natural remedy for jet lag.
You may consider taking a sleeping pill for the first night of your trip, but be careful of taking sleeping pills regularly, as you can become dependent on them. If all else fails—and you’re not lactose intolerant—a nice glass of warm milk may also do the trick, as it contains L-Tryptophan, which has a great calming effect on the body.

Accentuate the Positive
Lost luggage and unheld reservations can drive a travel-weary person to the edge. With waning energy, your frazzled nerves can easily get the better of you. When you find yourself tempted to curse out a rude taxi driver or read the riot act to a clueless desk clerk, it’s time for you to take a step back. Pause for a moment and consider the following mind and body solutions for diffusing tension while you’re on the road.

  • For the Mind

Contrary to what you may believe, negative words will not help clerks or cabbies better perform their jobs. The truth is that belligerence will not greatly improve your situation, either; rather, it will stress you. And guess what? Positive thoughts actually keep your energy at a much higher level than negative ones.

To prevent negativity from draining your reserves, consider utilizing an “energy bubble” in stressful situations. The moment you feel yourself getting riled up, stop and take a deep breath. Imagine an invisible bubble surrounding you; consider this shield to be an extra layer of protection between you and the outside world.

This has the effect of removing yourself emotionally from a charged situation, providing clarity and calm. You’ll be amazed to find that negative thoughts or situations will have a difficult time breaching your bubble and reaching you.

  • For the Body

Holistic healing techniques reveal many of our body’s secret remedies. A little-known fact is that we have hidden “energy buttons” that help boost vitality and, in turn, aid us in dealing with inevitable travel hassles. They may sound silly, but they work!
Place your tongue at the roof of your mouth, about one-fourth inch behind your front teeth. To locate another energy button, place your index finger and thumb together, forming a circle. Take a few breaths, and shortly, your body will begin to channel newfound energy. Before you know it, you’ll be refreshed and unfettered by the inconveniences that come your way.

Beating Jet Lag
During long-distance travels, time zone shifts can wreak havoc on your body. Differences in light throw your circadian rhythms for a loop, often leaving you yearning for bed in the afternoon and wide-awake in the wee hours. Fear not, bold voyagers! Help is readily available.

  • For the Mind

Meditation is an effective weapon in combating jet lag. It has the power to reset your body’s internal clock, no matter how many time zones you travel through.

Start by making a commitment to meditate fifteen to twenty minutes twice a day for two to three weeks. When you are flying to a different time zone, add one or two extra meditations to your day. In addition to minimizing the intensity of jet lag, physiological and psychological benefits include lowered heart and breath rates, increased immune system response, and reduction in reaction times. An added bonus: Your quality of sleep will increase so your nightly sleep requirements may even decrease.

  • For the Body

The New Zealand government realized that they needed to help their commercial pilots’ difficulties with jet lag, because once you fly out of New Zealand, you go through many time zones. After much research they discovered a homeopathic formula called No Jet Lag. Take it every couple of hours while you’re flying, and jet lag disappears.

Enjoy Your Trip!
If you have no choice about the time and duration of your trip, you may as well enjoy it. Take care of your mind and body to minimize stress and maximize fun—or at least tolerance. Travel experiences can be opportunities of a lifetime. Don’t let stress prevent you from appreciating your destination and forging lasting memories. Bon voyage!

About the Author:
Author of the books Managing Your Stress: How To Relax and Enjoy, Switched-On Living and Brain Gym for Business, Jerry V. Teplitz, JD, Ph.D., is currently the president of his own speaking and consulting firm. He’s been a road warrior for 30 years and created the six CD audio album, Travel Stress: The Art of Surviving on the Road. With a masters and a doctorate degree in holistic health sciences from Columbia Pacific University, Teplitz is a former attorney who practices what he preaches to prevent travel burn-out. Contact him at 1 800 77-RELAX (1 800 777-3529) or go to www.Teplitz.com.

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YOUR SELLING SUCCESS FORMULA

By

Dr. Jerry V. Teplitz, J.D. Ph.D
© 2004 Jerry V. Teplitz

INTRO
Four Basic Personality Types
Determining Your Style
Characteristics of The Styles
Your Client's Style
Blending With The Seller and The Buyer
Conclusion

Have you ever tried to sell your product and you couldn’t establish a rapport with the customer? Have you ever emphasized something you thought important and your customer responded blankly? Do you find that some clients make slower (or faster) decisions than you think appropriate?

Answering yes to any of these situations means you’ve run across a customer whose buying style is different from your selling style. To be more successful you need to learn to adapt your selling style to fit your customer’s buying style. By “reading” your clients behavioral style and appealing to that person in their terms, you can actually increase your sales dramatically.

In the early 1930’s, a concept was developed by William Marston which was later elaborated upon by Dr. John Geier while he was Chairperson of the Behavioral Science Department at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis. This concept divided people into four basic personality types. It's your understanding of these types that will allow you to sell more successfully. Many companies using this approach have increased sales from 10 to 30% because their sales people can now sell to customers that they previously did not understand how to approach.

There are three steps to this process. The first is discovering your own style. The second step is recognizing your customer’s behavior style, and the final step is applying this information in order to effectively modify your present approach to selling.

DETERMINING YOUR STYLE
There are four basic styles or behavior categories in which you could be placed. They are called: DOMINANCE (D); INFLUENCE (I); STEADINESS (S); and CONSCIENTIOUS(C). An important point to keep in mind is that no style is better than another; rather the key to being a successful salesperson is being able to adapt your selling style to fit your customer’s buying style.

To determine your own style you’ll need to answer the following questions. In selecting your answers it is important to focus on the behavior you do the most when you are wearing your “selling hat”. Even though you may do parts of both questions, you will need to make a choice. Pick the answer that you do at least 51% of the time.

QUESTION:

Is your selling behavior style more active and outgoing?

or

Is your selling behavior style more reserved?

If you answered active and outgoing, you are either a D (DOMINANCE) or an I (INFLUENCE) behavior style. If more reserved, you are either an S (STEADINESS) or a C (CONSCIENTIOUS) behavioral style.

That’s the first step. Now to find out even more specifically what your style is, you’ll need to answer one of the next questions:

D OR I QUESTION:

If your first answer was that you were a D or an I then:

Are you more concerned with directing of others?

or

relating with others?

If you answered relating, then you are an I. If you answered directing, then you are a D.

S OR C QUESTION:

For those whose first answer was an S or C, you need to answer the following questions:

Are you more concerned with how to accepting of others?

or

With assessing or judging of others?

If you are more concerned with accepting of others, then you are an S. If you are more concerned with assessing of others, then you are a C.

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE STYLES
Now that you know which of the four styles you are, let’s take a look at the characteristics of each of the styles.

If you are a D, Dominance style, you like getting immediate results, causing action, and accepting challenges. You prefer to make quick decisions to solve problems, and you enjoy taking charge.

If you are an I, Influence style, you enjoy contacting and entertaining people while making a favorable impression. You are very verbal. You like generating enthusiasm, and creating a motivational environment. You want to help others, and enjoy participating in a group.

If you are an S, Steadiness style, you like staying in one place while concentrating on the task at hand. You are loyal and have tremendous patience which allows you to be a good listener to calm excited people.

If you are a C, Conscientious style, you prefer following standards and procedures, concentrating on details, and working under controlled circumstances. While you can be diplomatic with people, you like accuracy and will criticize someone’s performance, if necessary. You are a critical thinker, and believe in authority.

YOUR CLIENT’S STYLE
Now that you know a bit more about your style, let’s explore your customer’s style.

The Dominance Style
If your customer is a D style, they are highly interested in seeing new and innovative products. They usually possess a fairly strong ego, and do not like to waste time. To sell these highly individualistic go-getters you need to get right to the bottom line. Don’t waste their time with a lot of facts and figures. They just want to hear the high points of your presentation. They, in turn, will be loyal to you as long as you provide them with service.

The D style is more impressed with your efficient, no-nonsense business manner than any testimonials or data. They would rather leave detailed research about the product and cost factors to you.

Do's and Don'ts Based on the Client's Buying Style

There are several DO’s and DON’Ts for each of the styles which are important to understand. Here are the DO's for the D style client:

 

DO need to be efficient and omit details.

DO be strictly businesslike as they will let you know if they want to chat.

DO stress how prestigious and efficient your product is.

DO flatter their ego.

DO make sure you give them direct answers.

DO give them a short summary and close.

Here are the DON’Ts for the D client's buying style:

 

DON’T explain too many details unless they ask for them.

DON’T give your opinions rather give them plenty of options.

DON’T be evasive or indecisive; just give them clear direct answers.

The Influence Style

If your customer is an I style, they are the friendly, gregarious type who wants to talk and socialize. They make great salespeople themselves (they may even try and sell you something). They tell jokes and stories and are less concerned about business.

With an I style, spare them the details as they are not interested in them. They love new and innovative products. An I is fairly easy to sell if you are sociable with them. This also means they can easily wind up doing business with a competitor so give them plenty of follow-up service. Buy them lunch or simply a cup of coffee and closing will be easier.

Here are the DO’s for the I style buyer:

 

DO let them talk, and give them compliments about their accomplishments.

DO use their own words to direct the discussion back to the business you want to accomplish.

DO use testimonials and name drop.

DO be enthusiastic and friendly.

DO give your sales summary by only focusing on the major selling points.

DON’Ts for an I buyer:

 

DON’T give them a lot of facts (you’ll create confusion).

DON’T let there be so much chatter that you don’t get around to selling them.

The Steadiness Style

The S customer may be a bit shy, but does want to be your friend. These customers are not suspicious, but are slow to make changes. They need to feel they can trust you. When you show them products talk about how traditional, family oriented and safe the products are.

With an S customer, take it slow and easy as speed can lose the sale. They will want to see your entire line of products or services and they will want to think about it before they make a decision. To earn their trust and friendship, ask about their family and hobbies. Emphasize the traditional about your product or services during your reassuring follow-up calls.

Here are the DO’S for the S buying style:

 

DO be low key.

DO keep your explanations quiet and simple, but loaded with details.

DO involve the family in the decision.

DO stress the safety of the products.

DO provide them with a complete picture, including all hidden charges.

DO assure them that their decision is right, and that there is no financial risk.


DON’Ts for an S:

 

DON’T go too fast or omit details.

DON’T get too friendly too quickly.

Consciousness Style

The C customer will initially be suspicious of you. These individuals can become solidly faithful to you, but only after you have proven yourself to them. They are tough clients to get (and to lose, once you’ve got them). They are not great talkers or innovators.

With a C style, give them solid background information and convince them that you get results. Testimonials from other satisfied clients work well, especially if the testimonial is from another C. They need time to absorb details and digest the facts thoroughly before taking the next step. They will want to see the entire line of your products. They are suspicious of new and innovative designs.

Here are the DO’S for the C buyer's style:

 

DO emphasize how they can minimize their financial risk.

DO stress the secure financial benefits they will achieve if they buy now and what they will lose if they wait.

DO be patient, answer their questions fully, and ask them “how” questions to get their opinion.

DO give a complete detailed financial picture.

DO be sure what you say to them is consistent with the written materials and your company's website.

DON’Ts for a C:

 

DON’T give the C customer a hard sell.

DON’T get personal about their family, if you don’t know them well.

DON’T physically pat them on the back at the first meeting.

DON’T speak loudly like a carnival barker, or answer their objections lightly.

BLENDING WITH THE SELLER AND THE BUYER

Now that you understand yourself and your customer more clearly, we need to put it all together. To be truly effective you’ll need to blend your selling style with that of your customers. Your customer is not going to change their style to match yours. You will need to temporarily change your style to better match your client’s buying style and meet their wants and needs.

BLENDING YOUR STYLE

Let’s now examine how you can go about blending your style to the different styles of your customers.

BLENDING FOR THE D SALESPERSON

You’re strong-minded and confident. You like to deal with new, innovative items, and you become bored with details.

  To sell a D: Be yourself. One D communicates well with another.

To sell an I: Be a little friendlier than usual, not quite as businesslike. You should get along fairly easily with an I customer.

To sell an S: Slow down, give assurances, give more details, be friendlier, give them a chance to digest facts, don’t overstress new or innovative aspects.

To sell a C: Present plenty of proof and facts, make sure all questions are answered, take it much slower than your usual pace, and don’t be “pushy.”

BLENDING FOR THE I SALESPERSON

You're friendly and happy-go-lucky. You lack attention to details, become easily bored, and are very social and people-oriented.

  To sell a D: Don’t joke, make small talk. Stay businesslike, and don’t waste time.

To sell an I: No problem. Just remember to ask him or her for their commitment to buy.

To sell an S: Earn his or her trust before becoming too friendly. Stick to the facts and figures. Some socializing and small talk about their family or hobbies is acceptable. You will need to show a great deal of knowledge about the product.

To sell a C: He or she is probably your most difficult customer. They're not impressed by story-telling or socializing. Give them facts, figures, and proof. The best you can do is attempt to act like another C. It’s won’t be easy, but it is the only way to succeed with a C.


BLENDING FOR THE S SALESPERSON

You’re steady and dependable, but easily discouraged. You can lack confidence in your sales abilities when placed in new and difficult situations.

  To sell a D: Assert more confidence, and don’t be intimidated or scared off by the strong-willed and challenging D. Come back strongly with the answers they wants.

To sell an I: You may not like their over-friendly, time-wasting but you should get along fairly well.

To sell an S: Like you, he or she will require lots of assurances. Watch what you say and how you say it.

To sell a C: You’ll have a fine rapport as long as you can confidently answer all their questions and firmly present specific facts and figures. Don’t be intimidated by their initial skepticism.

BLENDING FOR THE C SALESPERSON

You’re a well organized facts-and-figures person who prefers selling established, time-proven products and services.

  To sell a D: Be careful; don’t overwhelm him or her with all your facts and figures. Just hit the high points. You’ll need to muster enough courage to sell them those new and innovative products or services.

To sell an I: Again, resist the urge to lay out all the facts; just hit the high points, being as friendly as possible. Have a few good jokes ready to deliver. Try showing him or her new and innovative products or services.

To sell an S: Just don’t talk too fast and you’ll get along well. Give him or her plenty of time to digest the facts you present. Talk about their family a little, too.

To sell a C: This is your easiest sale. You’ll see eye to eye with him or her from the start.

CONCLUSION
In conclusion, while few of us are pure “D,I,S, or C” you will find that blending your style will be one of the most effective and successful sales techniques you can acquire. Companies that have used this concept have seen sales increase from 10 to 30% because their salespeople are now selling the styles they previously didn’t know how to sell.
To help you develop your skills use the people in your office who are the other styles as a resource to help you role play how to approach that tough customer more effectively. You'll find that the more you use these techniques, the easier it will be to identify clients, and the more sales you will be closing. Happy closings!

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YOUR MANAGEMENT SUCCESS FORMULA

By

Dr. Jerry V. Teplitz, J.D. Ph.D
© 2004 Jerry V. Teplitz

INTRO
Determining Your Style
Characteristics of the Styles
Your subordinate or team member's style
Blending With the Team Member and With the Manager
Conclusion

Have you ever had difficulty managing a subordinate? Have you ever asked a team member to do something and they did it wrong or didn't do it at all? Have you ever wanted to move quickly on a project decision and found that the people you were working with wanted to be more cautious?

Answering yes to any of these situations means you’ve run across a subordinate or team member whose way of operating in the world is different from your way of managing. To be more successful you need to learn to adapt your management style to fit that person's communication style. By “reading” your team members behavioral style and communicating to that person in their terms, you can actually increase your management successes dramatically.

In the early 1930’s, a concept was developed by William Marston which was later elaborated upon by Dr. John Geier in the 1960s while he was Chairperson of the Behavioral Science Department at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis. This concept divided people into four basic personality or behavior types. It's your understanding of the different types of people you are managing that will allow you to be more effective.

There are three steps to this process. The first is discovering your own management style. The second step is recognizing your subordinates or team member's behavior style, and the final step is applying this information when appropriate in order to effectively modify your present way of communicating.

DETERMINING YOUR STYLE
There are four basic styles or behavior categories in which you could be placed. They are called: DOMINANCE (D); INFLUENCE (I); STEADINESS (S); and CONSCIENTIOUS (C). An important point to keep in mind is that no style is better than another; rather the key to being a successful manager is being able to adapt your management style to fit the other person's communication style.

To determine your own style you’ll need to answer the following questions. In selecting your answers it is important to focus in on the behavior you do the most when you are wearing your “management hat”. Even though you may see yourself in each part of the questions below, you will need to make a choice. Pick the answer that you do at least 51% of the time.

QUESTION:

Is your management behavior style more active and outgoing?

or

Is your management behavior style more reserved?

If you answered active and outgoing, then answer the next question that says D OR I QUESTION. If you answered more reserved, then you need to skip down to the question that says S OR C QUESTION.

D OR I QUESTION:
Select the response that fits most closely:

Are you more concerned with directing of others?

or

relating with others?

If you answered directing, then you are a D (DOMINANCE) behavior style. If you answered relating, then you are an I (INFLUENCE) style.

S OR C QUESTION:
Select the response that fits most closely:

Are you more concerned with accepting of others?

or
With assessing or judging of others?

If you are more concerned with accepting of others, then you are an S (STEADINESS) behavior style. If you are more concerned with assessing of others, then you are a C (CONSCIENTIOUS) behavioral style.

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE STYLES
Now that you know which of the four styles you are, let’s take a look at the characteristics of each of the styles.

If you are a D, Dominance style, you like getting immediate results, causing action, and accepting challenges. You prefer to make quick decisions to solve problems, and you enjoy taking charge.

If you are an I, Influence style, you enjoy contacting and entertaining people while making a favorable impression. You are very verbal. You like generating enthusiasm, and creating a motivational environment. You want to help others, and you enjoy participating in a group.

If you are an S, Steadiness style, you like staying in one place while concentrating on the task at hand. You are loyal and have tremendous patience which allows you to be a good listener in order to calm excited people.

If you are a C, Conscientious style, you prefer following standards and procedures, concentrating on details, and working under controlled circumstances. While you can be diplomatic with people, you like accuracy and will criticize someone’s performance, if necessary. You are a critical thinker, and believe in authority.

YOUR SUBORDINATE OR TEAM MEMBER'S STYLE
Now that you know a bit more about your style, let’s explore your subordinate or team member's style.

The Dominance Style
If the person is a D style, she is highly interested in focusing on developing new and innovative directions and solutions. They usually possess a fairly strong ego, and do not like to waste time. To convince these highly individualistic go-getters you need to get right to the bottom line of what they will need to be doing. Don’t waste their time with a lot of facts and figures. They just want to hear the high points of what you want them to do and let them go do it.

The D style prefers an efficient, no-nonsense business manner to developing friendships. They would rather leave detailed research to others.

Do's and Don'ts Based on the Subordinate or Team Member's Communication Style

There are several DO’s and DON’Ts for each of the styles which are important to understand. Here are the DO's for communicating with the D subordinate or team member:

 

DO be efficient and omit details.

DO be strictly businesslike as they will let you know if they want to chat.

DO stress how important what they are doing is to the group's mission.

DO flatter their ego.

DO make sure you give them direct answers.

DO summarize what they are agreeing to do and the time limit involved.


Here are the DON’T’S for the D subordinate or team member's style:

 

DON’T explain too many details unless they ask for them.

DON’T give your opinions rather give them plenty of options.

DON’T be evasive or indecisive; just give them clear direct answers.

The Influence Style
If your subordinate or team member is an I style, he is the friendly, gregarious type who wants to talk and socialize. He'll make a great salesman. He tells jokes and stories and is less concerned about business details.

With an I style, spare them the details as they are not interested in them. They love new and innovative ideas, concepts and projects. An I is fairly easy to convince of the direction you want them to go if you are sociable with them. This also means they can easily change so give them plenty of reinforcement and follow-up for having them continue working with you.

Here are the DO’s for communicating with the I style subordinate or team member:

 

DO let them talk, and give them compliments about their accomplishments.

DO use their own words to direct the discussion back to the business you want to accomplish.

DO tell them how higher ups in the organization have endorsed the project.

DO be enthusiastic and friendly.

DO summarize what you want them to focus on.


DON’Ts for an I subordinate or team member's style:

 

DON’T give them a lot of facts (you’ll create confusion).

DON’T let there be so much chatting that you don’t focus on explaining the mission

DON’T give them a lot of facts (you’ll create confusion).

DON’T let there be so much chatting that you don’t focus on explaining the mission


The Steadiness Style
The S subordinate or team member may be a bit shy, but does want to be your friend. She is not suspicious, but is slow to make changes. She needs to feel she can trust you. When you are giving her mew tasks to do show her how it fits into the current mission and direction of the group.

With an S subordinate or team member, take it slow and easy in explaining a project because speed can lose them. They will want to understand the entire project and they will want to think about their role in it before committing completely. To earn their trust in you spend some time asking about their family and hobbies. Emphasize the traditional about the direction you are proposing and schedule follow-up times.

Here are the DO’s for the S subordinate or team member:

 

DO be low key.

DO keep your explanations simple, but loaded with details.

DO provide them with a complete picture, including all the unknown difficulties.

DON’Ts for an S subordinate or team member:

 

DON’T go too fast or omit details.

DON’T get too friendly too quickly.


Conscientious Style
The C subordinate or team member will initially be suspicious of you. He can become solidly faithful to you, but only after you have proven yourself to him. While he is a tough employee to get to buy in on a project, he will stay committed longer than most others. He is not a great talker or innovator.

With this style subordinate or team member, give him solid background information. If another C, who is higher in the organization, supports the project, let him know about it. They need time to absorb details and digest the facts thoroughly before taking the next step. They will want to see all the details of the project. They are suspicious of new and innovative project directions.

Here are the DO’s for the C subordinate or team member:

 

DO emphasize how their part will fit in with the bigger picture.

DO stress the need for them to buy in now.

DO be patient, answer their questions fully, and ask them “how” questions to get their opinion.

DO give a complete detailed picture of the project.

DO be sure what you say to them is consistent with the written materials you are giving them.


DON’Ts for a C:

 

DON’T push the C too hard to make an immediate decision.

DON’T get personal about their family, if you don’t know them well.

DON’T physically pat them on the back.

DON’T answer their objections lightly.

BLENDING WITH THE MANAGER AND THE TEAM MEMBER
Now that you understand yourself and your subordinate or team member more clearly, we need to put it all together. To be truly effective you’ll need to blend your communication style with that of your subordinate or team member. If your subordinate or team member does not know the information in this article, then they may not know to change their style to match yours. To create a more effective relationship you will need to temporarily change your style to better match your subordinate or team member's style in order to meet their and needs and desires.

BLENDING YOUR STYLE

Let’s now examine how you can go about blending your style to the different styles of your subordinates or team members to convince them of the direction you want them to go or action you want them to take.

BLENDING FOR THE D MANAGER

 

You’re strong-minded and confident. You like to deal with new, innovative projects, and you become bored with needing to focus on details.

To convince a D: Be yourself. One D communicates well with another.

To convince an I: Be a little friendlier than usual, not quite as businesslike. You should get along fairly easily with an I subordinate or team member.

To convince an S: Slow down, give assurances, give more details, be friendlier, give them a chance to digest facts, and don’t overstress the new or innovative aspects of a project.

To convince a C: Present plenty of facts about the project, make sure all questions are answered, take it much slower than your usual pace, and don’t push them too hard.

BLENDING FOR THE I MANAGER

 

You're friendly and like to focus on new projects. You lack attention to details, become easily bored, and are very social and people-oriented.

To convince a D: Don’t joke or make small talk. Stay businesslike, and don’t waste time.

To convince an I: No problem. Just remember to ask him or her for their commitment to the project.

To convince an S: Spend time earning his or her trust. Stick to the facts and figures. Some socializing and small talk about their family or hobbies is acceptable. You will need to show a great deal of knowledge about the project.

To convince a C
: He or she is probably your most difficult subordinate or team member. They're not impressed by story-telling or socializing. Give them facts, figures, and proof. The best you can do is to attempt to act like another C. It’s won’t be easy, but it is the only way to succeed with a C.

BLENDING FOR THE S MANAGER

 

You’re steady and dependable, but easily discouraged. You can lack confidence in your abilities when placed in new and difficult situations.

To convince a D: Assert more confidence, and don’t be intimidated or scared off by the strong-willed and challenging D. Come back strongly with the answers they want.

To convince an I: You may not like their over-friendly, time-wasting approach but you should get along fairly well.

To Convince an S: Like you, he or she will require lots of assurances. Watch what you say and how you say it.

To Convince a C: You’ll have a fine rapport as long as you can confidently answer all their questions and firmly present specific facts and figures. Don’t be intimidated by their initial skepticism to an idea or project.

BLENDING FOR THE C MANAGER

 

You’re a well-organized facts-and-figures person who prefers working on established, time-proven projects and services.

To convince a D: Be careful; don’t overwhelm him or her with all your facts and figures. Just hit the high points about a project. You’ll need to focus on the new and innovative aspects of a project.

To convince an I: Again, resist the urge to lay out all the facts; just hit the high points about a project, being as friendly as possible. Have a few good jokes ready to deliver. Focus on the new and innovative aspects of a project.

To convince an S: Just don’t talk too fast and you’ll get along well. Give him or her plenty of time to digest the facts you present. Talk about their family a little, too.

To convince a C: This is your easiest style to communicate with. You’ll see eye to eye with him or her from the start.

CONCLUSION
In conclusion, while few of us are pure “D, I, S, or C” you will find that blending your style will be one of the most effective and successful management techniques you can do.
To help you develop your skills, use the people in your office with whom you already have a good relationship as a resource to help you communicate more effectively with that difficult team member. You'll find that the more you use these techniques, the easier it will be to identify subordinates and team members, and the more successful your communications will be. Happy relating!

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TEPLITZ EMAIL REPORT
Special Flu Supplement

October 2004

INTRO
The Place To Start For Flu Prevention Is With Soap
Herbs That Give You An Option
Let's Talk More About Sambucol
Reduce The Flu's Impact With Sorrel
Check Out Your Lighting

Since there is so much concern about the lack of flu shots and the fears that people are having, I decided to post a special supplement about what you can do to prevent or cure the flu from a natural standpoint. Please pass this one on to other people so they can also be aware that there are options to the flu shot.

The Place To Start For Flu Prevention Is With Soap
Soap is the place to start for protection from the flu. Just by washing your hands for 15 seconds will wipe out most of the disease causing organisms on them. Within 5 seconds of soap hitting our skin dormant viruses and bacteria like E. Coli get caught in the soapy water. The soap also tears off the outer coating of flu viruses. It also flushes away yeast and staph.
Remember it will take 15 seconds of lathering for all of this to happen. Also, anti-bacterial soap is not the best choice as bugs can develop resistance. So…just some regular soap, thank you.

Herbs That Give You An Option
Here are several herbal approaches to take to prevent or cure a cold or the flu:

1. Many studies have shown that Echinacea is an excellent cold and flu fighter. Whatever the bottle says to take, double it and take it morning and night.

While you can get Echinacea at the drugstore or health foods store,Dr. Julian Whitaker has discovered a new, highly potent form of Echinacea called Echinamide(tm). Echinamide(tm) is available from Healthy Directions at 800 722-8008.

2. Astragalus is a Chinese herb. It stimulates the immune system. You can look at using it as a preventative by using it to boost your immune system. Again, whatever the bottle says to take, double it.

With both Echinacea and Astragalus, you can start taking them before you even get the flu. This activates your immune system to operate at higher levels of effectiveness, which means you might not even get the flu.

3. There's a natural cough syrup for chest congestion that goes under two names. The brand name is Sambucol or you might find it under the herbal name Elderberry.

Let's Talk More About Sambucol
It is made from elderberries, which is why you might find it under the name Elderberry. In a study researchers gave half the patients Sambucol and the rest a placebo. In 3 days, 90% of the patients taking Sambucol were completely cured. Blood tests showed the flu was completely gone. You can purchase Sambucol at your local health food store.

Reduce The Flu's Impact With Sorrel
There's a traditional African flu remedy that reduces the flu's impact. It's called Jamaican sorrel and is meant to be brewed as a tea. In studies with rats, it's also been shown to stop skin cancer, lower blood pressure, as well as, preventing healthy cells from becoming cancerous.

Tea, anyone? Just make sure it's Jamaican sorrel. You can call Vital Botanicals at 800 609-4326 to order some.

Check Out Your Lighting
Many of you receiving this email have heard me talk about the effects of fluorescent lighting and how much more beneficial full-spectrum lighting is. I've shared how late afternoon productivity increases, fatigue disappears and headaches stop happening. I want to now share with you a story about full-spectrum lighting and the flu.

I was speaking in Boston to people who owned stores where you can rent VHS tapes. One gentleman raised his hand and shared that he had heard me the year before and had instituted in his store many of the things that I recommended, which included changing the lighting. He said in that year's time not a single employee was sick with the flu over the course of a very severe flu season. Oh yeah, profits also went up. He attributed both impacts to the tubes.

So…to help you out I would like to make you a special offer by giving you a 10% discount if you order a pack of 10 tubes or bulbs by November 10. Both the tubes and the bulbs come with a 60 day money-back guarantee. This way you can take charge of your office space or home space while potentially having extra protection from the flu. To learn more about full spectrum lighting, click here www.Teplitz.com/lights.htm.To get this discount call Dorothy at 800 77-RELAX (800 777-3529).

Hope this information helps you make your decisions on how you'll fight the flu.

Dr. Jerry V. Teplitz is an attorney and has a Ph.D. in Wholistic Health Sciences. He is celebrating his 30th year as a professional speaker, Dr. Teplitz has spoken to over one million people. Clients have included ASAE, NYSAE, FSAE, American Bankers Association, National Association of Realtors and Young Presidents’ Organization. He has been honored by the National Speakers Association by receiving the title Certified Speaking Professional. Dr. Teplitz is author of the books, Managing Your Stress: How to Relax and Enjoy, Switched-On Living and Brain Gym for Business. Dr. Teplitz can be reached by phone at 800 77-RELAX, or by Email to Jerry@Teplitz.com.

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