This may be a bit self-indulgent, but writing style is a favorite topic of mine. Dan Tudor over at Landing the Deal authored this post – Great Sales Copywriting a couple days ago. The tip in the post are applicable to all writing, not just sales copy. The takeaway tip: The opposite of active voice is “passive” voice. Here’s an example: “While visiting China, a brand-new idea in vitamin supplementation was discovered by Dr. Smith.” You feel like Dr. Smith just stood around until he accidentally bumped into the idea, right?Now let’s change that sentence to active voice: “Dr. Smith discovered a brand-new idea in vitamin supplementation while visiting China.”… Read More
Continue ReadingThe Truth About Lies
Interesting article – The Top Seven Signs That Someone is Lying to You – that provides clues to look for when talking to others face-to-face. The article is a quick read and well worth your time. An excerpt: No eye contact. Generally, if someone is lying they will not look you in the eye, at least during a certain part of the conversation. Normally, people make eye contact for at least half of a conversation, so anything less than this could be suspicious. One caveat: there are some people who will take great pains to make eye contact with you even if they’re lying, simply to make you think they’re… Read More
Continue ReadingDeep Thoughts in Email Signatures
It’s a holiday weekend so we’ll look for levity here at The Hire Sense. Remember “Deep Thoughts with Jack Handey” on Saturday Night Live? This article from CareerJournal.com is quite amusing in that same vein. The author comments on those pithy little sayings that many emailers attach to their signature. Read the article – it is quite amusing. My favorite: “There are 10 kinds of people in this world — Those who understand binary and those who don’t.”
Continue ReadingHigh D Behavior
A strange story from here in Minnesota is the founder and CEO of Lifetime Fitness. The CEO has had numerous encounters with the local authorities including his latest incident – allegedly harassing a teenager at a local high school parking lot after a driving incident. I bring this up simply for the fact that I would guess this CEO fits a specific selling style – a very high Dominance factor and a very low compliance factor. This style leads to a rebellious, quick-tempered person. This CEO takes that style to an extreme. We have a customer who once employed a salesperson with this type of style (we assessed him). He… Read More
Continue ReadingCommunicating with Style
From Tough Talks on monster.com: Generally, we recognize that open, constructive communication is crucial to business success. But many dodge these chats at all costs. Others charge right in loaded and ready. Others try to dance around the topic and not hurt feelings. None of these strategies is likely to accomplish your goal, so you end up where you started. Let’s parse this paragraph out and look at the Selling Style for each line: But many dodge these chats at all costs. (High S) Others charge right in loaded and ready. (High D) Others try to dance around the topic and not hurt feelings. (High I) The only thing they… Read More
Continue ReadingEmail Writing Tips
Admins Must Have the Write Stuff from monster.com provides excellent tips regarding proper email writing. The topics seem to be applicable to blog writing too. Quick quiz for you – what is a homonym? (answer below) I have broken almost all of their tips . . . recently. Anyway, I found this fact interesting: Use the Right Font: Most default fonts, like Times and Arial, are hard to read on screen. “You can cut down on missed typos by changing to Verdana,” suggests Peha. “It was specifically designed to be read on a computer monitor.” If your company requires a certain font, compose your text in Verdana and then change… Read More
Continue Reading“…people quite their bosses, not their jobs”
I enjoy Tory Johnson’s articles from the abcnews.com website. Her latest offering, Bad Bosses Can Infect an Entire Business, is a quick read with a strong point. Employees need positive reinforcement. Some styles (High I) require more while other styles (High C) do not. Some employees are rewarded by praise while others are rewarded by money. Part of our business at Select Metrix is to identify these items in employees so that their managers can be more effective in leading them. The takeaway quote from this article (emphasis mine): Study after study confirms that workers are more committed to their jobs and are more productive when they know that management… Read More
Continue Reading