A wonderful discussion about Emotional Intelligence in the A/E/C industry. How do people make decisions, how to compete in a commoditizing market, what is the whole picture.
The reason that clients choose on cost alone is because they figure that you are going to be the same pain-in-the-ass consultant that they've always dealt with. What if there was another way? What if they only selected between consultants they loved? Would that reduce your competition somewhat?
Think out of the box? Groupon -- buy one building, get one free. Um... probably not a good differentiator in a business.
Emotional Intelligence isn't counseling, group hugs, etc. This is based on neuroscience and physics. Why do we mimic the emotions around us? Because there are Mirror Neurons. We can change people's brains through emotional responses.
Try not responding to someone smiling at you. Autistic kids' mirror neurons are not firing. They cannot pick up the emotional cues. But in general, emotions are contagious from a physiological perspective.
Positive emotions help the brain in creativity and production. More interesting info www.heartmath.org. Did an exercise on positive/negative - started story on positive note, and then switch to negative note, and switched back and forth. Positive person was creating the story, and negative person was shooting everything down.
Do you have a "Yes, but" environment at work? Are ideas shot down constantly? People are trained to find problems and fix them -- they are not trained to be creative and innovate. Take this system back to work instead: "Yes, and..." Start a conversation with a possible solution to a problem. The next person says "Yes, and..." and contributes something/idea to the solution. And so on. The ideas flow more freely, the energy level increases, and the inhibitions fell away.
We looked at the emotional profile of 500 construction managers. High scores in independence, assertiveness, stress tolerance, problem solving, etc. Low scores in emotional self awareness, interpersonal relationship, empathy... all of the soft, social skills. (check out xtranormal computer animation of engineer at an interview - is this on YouTube?)
Decisions are made in the subconscious (95% - based on emotion or memory), and your logical brain will find a reason to accept it (5%).
If you hold a Power Pose (arms raised, or hands on hips, or feet up on desk/hands on head) -- testosterone went up 20%, and cortisol (stress hormone) went down 20%. The Power Pose makes us feel powerful, and give us a sense of "alpha." It will help us overcome lack of self-confidence, nerves, etc.
If you haven't worked with a client before, you have to build the emotional connection and "memory" in the course of the RFP and interview. Think about peanut butter -- you buy the brand you buy because you like it, you grew up with it. Really, a price difference between brands won't make you change brands. What would it take to make you change? What would it take to make your target client change?
They are going to hire you because they like you and they trust you. Period. By the same token, one guy on the project who is a jerk will ruin your client's experience, and make it near impossible to work there again.
How can we get an emotional effect (that we want) from our clients? First impression -- the outgoing message on your work phone. Try changing your message when you're standing and walking. It will infuse your message with energy and a friendly voice.
What emotion does your office convey? Reception area? Eye contact? Art on the walls? Something on the coffee table? What your people say to newcomers? To guests? The coffee service? What emotional impression are you making for your staff?
What emotional attachment can you make to your service, your people, your brand?
Once you've created a positive emotional experience for a client, what's the next step? Transformational. If you can make a transformational experience for the client, you're golden. Find out their interests and passions and help them with that, gold. If you are having a great training, invite them.
Brent Darnell has a lot of free information at www.brentdarnell.com. And go to www.change-u.com to build in the accountability and mentors to help us implement change.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad, @craftkat
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