Without any stress, not much happens - you stay in bed eating chocolate and gazing at your navel.

Stress 101

A century ago, Harvard researchers Robert M. Yerkes and John D. Dodson charted the relationship between stress arousal and performance, confirming that as stress levels rise, so do efficiency and performance.

Stress activates the body’s fight-or-flight response: heart rate and blood pressure go up and several hormones are released into the blood stream including adrenaline and cortisol.  In the short term, these hormones boost our focus, memory and creativity.

However once stress exceeds a certain level, they noted that its benefits disappear and performance declines.  Mental agility, concentration and mood all take a hit.  We become frustrated, distracted, forgetful and irritable.

This relationship between performance and stress is represented as a curve:

The Yerkes-Dodson Curve

Stress is personal

Everyone reacts to stress differently.  The amount of stress that you find exhilarating may be debilitating for a colleague.  How people respond when their stress levels are too high is also individual, although that individual’s response tends to be consistent.

There are obvious physical signs that you are experiencing bad stress.  Do you suddenly have heartburn or a headache?  Back pain, dizziness or a racing pulse?  You don’t need us to tell you that’s no good.  The trick is to become alert to the more subtle signals that you’re getting overstressed and save yourself getting to the stage of actual physical discomfort.

Watch your concentration levels

After a solid stretch of productive work, it is perfectly reasonable to get up and take a break but if you are mid-task and suddenly find yourself compelled to check out the latest footballs scores online or make a coffee then you’re heading into bad stress.

Watch your mood

Are you feeling less optimistic about the outcome of your current objectives than you were a while ago with no real justification?  If your excitement is turning into frustration, you have crossed the threshold.

Watch your stamina

Don’t just wait for the obvious signs - such as feeling like you’re running out of steam - monitor your concentration spans and if you notice that they are decreasing in length, you could identify an imminent stress problem before you hit that brick wall.

Watch your reactions

Are you falling into negative thought patterns?  Is that major setback really a minor issue that can be overcome?  If a situation seems too black-or-white, all-or-nothing?  Are you overreacting to mistakes, both yours and others… when was the last time you laughed?

Maintaining peak performance

Everyone believes they understand stress but few have learned to recognize when their stress level is getting too high.  If you can do this you can take steps to control it before it takes control of you.

Why don’t you just relax?

Lowering your stress level is not as simple as just relaxing, you need to trigger a specific ‘relaxation response’.

This counteracts the fight-or-flight response, decreasing metabolism, slowing heart rate and breathing, and lowering blood pressure.  Eliciting the relaxation response brings about physiological changes that offset the harmful effects of stress.

A relaxation response is only elicited by completely breaking your train of thought.  So although you need to do something calming, it needs to be fully engaging and it needs to be a different type of brain activity so that you fully distract your mind from whatever was causing your stress.

This might not be with the activity that you think it is - TV watching is out.   Meditative physical activities such as yoga are obvious stress-busters, but physical exertion such as going for a run is only useful if you are definitely not mentally pounding your bosses head in whilst you’re physically pounding the streets.

Get on, and off, your hobby horse

Getting yourself a hobby might sound twee but engaging your mind and achieving a feeling of success on an activity completely unrelated to work is one of the best ways to get professional angst back into perspective.

Photography, knitting, cooking, DIY - whatever turns you on - “an idle mind is the devil’s workshop” goes an old English proverb, simply ‘doing nothing’ is definitely not a way to combat stress.

This is where the old world of checking references and the new world of networking merge - a face to face reference check can raise your professional profile as well as help you be best prepared to support your new employee from day one.

Click here to read the full article over on MediaSalesRecruitment.co.uk

We’re aware that advertising revenue is falling but if you are one of the lucky ones who finds yourself still weighed down with cash, try the belt, designed to keep your trousers up even when your pockets are full of wonga.  Otherwise, settle for the wallet or one of the bags - even if there’s only moths inside - you might as well look like you’re loaded.

Gene Simmons co-founded KISS 34 years ago, and has owned the trademark Moneybag logo for over 25 years, using it on his magazines, book imprint, record company and a few other areas.  He hadn’t ventured into fashion until meeting Jason Dussault, CEO:

“One of the reasons my attendance in high school was almost non existent, was due to a man who I have always looked up to as a role model, Gene Simmons. I spent hours a day dressing, singing and emulating my idol for an upcoming air band, or drawing Gene’s character as the Demon all over my notebooks. My teenage dreams became a reality when I got to meet the man himself and we hit it off, the result being the Moneybag collaboration. It is my great honor to co-release the Moneybag line with Mr. Simmons.”

And our honour to bring it attention in the UK.

http://www.genesimmonsmoneybag.com/

Trust is as simple as following through on your commitments.

Every sales person knows the way to make a quick sale is to develop quick trust.

A good sales person will send you an article with a little note saying it made her think of you.  That builds a relationship.

But a great sales person will call you to tell you she saw an article that made her think of you and promise to send it to you.  Then she’ll send it.  That builds trust.

Great sales people create an opportunity to fulfill a commitment — even when one doesn’t naturally exist — and then fulfill it.

Peter Bregman, CEO of Bregman Partners, Inc

This gem is best described in the company’s own words:

The Original FlairHair Visor is the hot new hat product sweeping the United States and international countries alike. The spiky hair phenomenon is available in a collection of different hair and visor color selections. Even those with a full head of hair will enjoy the cleverness of this product by enhancing their image or just having fun with it! The FlairHair Visor originally made its mark in golf pro shops throughout the United States. It is now available in stores catering to outdoor enthusiasts, chemotherapy patients, and novelty gift shoppers.  FlairHair is also expanding internationally; being sold in Japan, Canada, Europe and Australia.

We’re not sure that having “chemotherapy patients” and “novelty gift shoppers” in the same sentence is great for marketing but they are the experts.

Made in the grand old USA but well worth the international shipping costs:

http://www.flairhair.com/

According to the Harvard Business Review:  until now, you’ve probably been segmenting your customers according to demographics or lifestyle — “over 40″ say, or “new parent,” or “traditionalist.”   That approach makes sense when consumers are confident and more focused on quality of life than survival. But these old schemes are now obsolete, warns Harvard Business School professor John A. Quelch.

Click here to view an interview with John

See also his new HBR article with co-author Katherine E. Jocz, explaining that companies need to rethink their customer segmentation, factoring in people’s emotional response to the downturn.

Are your customers “slam-on-the-brakes” types who are scared to death and slashing all types of spending?  Or are they the “pained-but-patient” consumers who are anxious but optimistic, economising while still splurging on occasional treats?  Maybe they’re the “comfortably well-off,” who continue to buy, but less conspicuously, or “live-for-today” types who blithely carry on as usual.

Whatever psychological segment your customers - or their customers - now fall into, their shifting mood has a powerful effect on their spending.  If you don’t understand your customers new frame of mind, you can’t know what, or how, to sell to them.  How will this new psychological segmentation influence your marketing strategy?

Shortly after we relaunched the new Friday Pint network of sites we received a cold call at TFP Towers from a press release service that we’ve used previously - one of the big guys - which was very timely (so probably a reader of this site).

We hadn’t yet started our marketing in earnest and had yet to send out a formal press release… we had discussed it but were wavering over the cost/benefit of the exercise.  We certainly hadn’t dismissed the idea.

The cold call was excellent timing - we were definitely interested to hear what was on offer - but we’re not going to bite anyone’s hand off in this climate, we were looking for a good deal.

In fairness to the salesperson on the phone, this wasn’t a sale that was closing on this call.  We probably came across rather high-maintenance and we’re definitely not going to spend a vast sum of money.  Also at the time of the call, we were busy.

A few weeks have passed and admittedly it’s got a little hazy about how the call ended: too busy now, request for prices, see what they can do… but we were definitely expecting a response.  In this instance, a quick email follow-up would have sufficed to keep it in mind.

We’ve heard nothing since, no follow-up at all.

We’re not a big or obvious client for a press release service, so to cold call exactly at the right time to potentially engage with us and then do absolutely nothing is fascinating.  Only this salesperson knew that we have bought their service in the past and only this salesperson had qualified to the point of establishing that we were possibly thinking of doing so again.  Imminently.

Conclusion: business must be really very good to qualify us out with no follow-up.

We got put in the ‘too hard’ box and dismissed.  What a wasted effort.

At the very least, send an email with your contact details and a brief note about the content of the call.  This small attention to detail goes a long way.  You’re already on the back foot if a prospect has to make too much effort to find out how to get back in touch with you.  You have simply wasted the energy you drummed up to make the cold call.

Motivating yourself to diligently follow-up when the response to your call wasn’t great is hard too.  But don’t scupper your chances by hearing a ‘no’ that hasn’t been explicitly said.  Unless you are clearly told to get lost, ensure the door remains open.

Build a range of standard emails that will seem personal to an individual prospect with minimal tweaking: some help in justifying the purchase, some enthusiasm about their product, an educational comment about your offering, some creative thoughts - small efforts that will be warmly received.

Once you’re on a roll, thoughtful follow-up after a sales call takes very little time and can make all the difference.

———-

If you were the salesperson who called: to save you time, we’re not thinking of doing anything this month now.  No need to call again any time soon but an email with your contact details would be handy.

Gentle birdsong followed by a discreet cough and the dulcet quintessentially English tones of Stephen Fry wishing you a “Good Morning, Sir” or “Good Morning, Madam”…  It sounds like something that money can’t buy.  But it can.

I trust you will be giving the world the benefit of your appearance today?  The ignorant and the rudderless are awaiting your leadership.

The Voco alarm clock is programmed with nearly 150 different wake-up messages on the Deluxe model and 50 on the Original version.

If you remain unwilling to quit the sack, an alarm will sound until the rosette button is pressed, at which point the Voco will show its contempt for all things modern by dismissing the beeps with one of several comments along the lines of: ‘Ghastly noise, I agree, Sir.’

Starting your morning badly can dictate the tone of the rest of the day.  If  you wake to a ear-shattering buzzing, your whole body will tense.  Too much adrenalin and you’re in fight or flight mode - handy for the commute maybe but less useful for charming clients.

Impatience will lead to simple mistakes, and overreaction to criticism could very well end in violence, tears, and a visit to the local police station.  Don’t say we didn’t warn you.

http://www.firebox.com/product/1830/Voco-Alarm-Clock

Know who you know

When you need something, you want to be confident that a contact will be prepared to give time and energy to thinking how to support you or who they know that could.

Building a relationship with one high quality contact is better than having many low quality ones.  Always go for quality over quantity.  A trusted relationship is just that: one you can rely on.

Look at the range of profiles on LinkedIn - notice that some people have 1,000+ connections - do you believe it is possible to maintain a relationship of ANY quality with 1,000 people?  You would need to speak with 3 people a day including most weekends to get through them all once a year!

It might be corny to remember birthdays and send little messages but knowing who’s a wine buff or keen amateur photographer enables you to engage with your contacts more frequently and outside of your immediate (business) common ground, knowing the small stuff gives you the chance to make yourself more useful to them more often.

Do your due diligence.  A contact who isn’t in good standing in their field or who has a less than sparkling reputation can be harmful to you.

Know what you need

“What really distinguishes high performers from the rest of the pack is their ability to maintain and leverage personal networks. The most effective create and tap large, diversified networks that are rich in experience and span all organizational boundaries.”

“The Social Side of Performance” MIT/Sloan Management Review

How diverse is your network?  Do you have contacts across a broad spectrum of business activities and organisations or do you just hang out with other salespeople you’ve worked with?

Your network of contacts can be very useful when you are looking for a new job but don’t limit yourself to using it only in this way.  You can make yourself invaluable in your current job by always being the one who “knows somebody who knows”.

Your sales director needs someone to give them some marketing advice over a beer or the finance director needs a new credit controller who can hit the ground running… if you have a diverse network of close trusted contacts you may know someone who can help.  This will raise your profile and gain you respect.

Another good test to ask yourself is this: out of the people I go to for advice, how many of them also go to each other?

If you go to ten people for advice and five out of your ten go to the same people, then you’ve only got 50% of the diversity you could have.  As that % gets closer to zero, the value of your contacts diminishes.  Seek out new contacts who aren’t just friends of friends and their value to you will be considerable.

Know what you can give

Think carefully about the type of support and information that your contacts seek from you - do they ask you anything at all?

If you’re the source of the best dirty jokes and gossip, fair enough, but you need to educate your contacts as to what other value you can offer them.  Before you can do that, you need to know yourself!

You can sell, granted.  But you can also do other things - what?  PowerPoint guru, fluent Spanish-speaker, you own a cottage in the Cotswolds.  Work through your professional and personal skills and attributes and list those that are of use to others.  Make sure the people in your network know that you can help them with these things.

Also look at how you can transfer your sales skills to help people you know outside the sales discipline.  Can you give someone more confidence speaking on the telephone or when presenting for the first time?  How about turning your experience at selling media round to support someone new to buying it?

In summary

Effective networking is a continuous activity, practiced until it becomes a mindset.  Networking is a long-term skill that will serve you well over time, but may not bear fruit right away.  Don’t give up and remember that at first you should give more than you get.  If you stick to the basic principles throughout your career, however, your network will become one of your most valued assets.

But what do the Greeks say?

Αὐτὰ μοῦ φαίνονται κινέζικα.

…which translates to something akin to “it sounds like Chinese”.

As for the Chinese, depending on dialect, it will be rejected as “sounds of the birds”, the language of “a book from Heaven” or from a Cantonese speaker you will hear the dismissive phrase “chicken intestines” apparently referring to English.

For the full world tour of “it’s all Greek to me”, check out this wikipedia  article or the slightly funnier Omniglot version.