How good is your writing? find out in a few simple steps

Without any further ado, let me get straight to your writing.

Agreed, you don’t want to be a writer, that does not qualify you to write badly and not care about it. For starters, people who read your writing get traumatized for understanding what you have written. People with low self esteem might think its their fault, while it was actually yours.

Writing is all about ease of reading. (Easier said than done, most people write only for themselves, in which case, this article is of no use to you. Go back to what you were doing. This article is for those who write for others)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flesch%E2%80%93Kincaid_readability_test

Please click on the link above for the technicalities of the theory, this article is written to raise your interest, that’s it.

Did you know the Reader’s digest magazine is written with a readability ease of 65.

In the state of Florida, all insurance documents have to have readability above 45.Yes, it is a law which ensures a man with average IQ can understand the terms and conditions in a language he can comprehend.

The readability ease score for this document is 66.5 (Note: that’s almost Reader’s digest standards)

I recommend this concept to improve your writing, if you think you can do better.

Is Analysis a skill OR a frame of mind?

WisdomToolz successfully implemented a program titled “Performance Analysis toolkit”, the program was designed to help delegates get the analysis frame of mind while MS excel was merely a tool to aid analysis.

One of the main reasons behind “paralysis by extensive analysis” is the focus on the tool more than the output the analysis provides. Six sigma projects are more about common sense, but they insist on Pareto charts to identify major causes, is Pareto the only way to find out what your burning problems are?

Well, not many black belts will be able to answer that. Pareto is a tool, it is not analysis.

For more on the Performance Analysis course, you can click the link below

http://www.wisdomtoolz.com/corporate-offering-performance-analysis-tool-kit-simulation.html

When do you know you have a great idea?

I’ve seen a few trends when people like your idea, they may not appreciate it they way you like it. Look for the below statements and you know you have managed to shake their intellectual lethargy (Pun intended)

1. I know someone who does something similar, very interesting

2. I had a similar idea, not in the same domain though (And they will give you their spin)

3. I like the flow, I was wondering if we can work on something on a different platform?

When you hear this from the person/organization, you know you have made some in-roads there. Now it is all about capitalizing on it. There is where the sales professional in you rolls up the sleeve.

Superb learning for Salesmen

This is a quote from Zig Ziglar.

“

Every sale has five basic obstacles. No Need, No Money, No Hurry, No Desire, No Trust

”

No Need :- The biggest obstacle which can be avoided only if you do your homework. Prospecting can reduce the number of No Need customers. Gone are the days of Ariel bombing, the new word in sales is “Sniper shots”

No Money, No Hurry and No Desire – is what you encounter after your pitch. The easy one to overcome in this list is No Hurry. At least, you can give them an offer to hurry up and pick up a discount. Higher the number of No Desire is a clear reflection of poor salesmanship. No Money should always be read as “I don’t have the money to buy what you are selling, I only have money to buy what I want”. Matching the Clients want with your offering is the only way to tackle this

No Trust- Lesser said the better. This is where reputation building matters. Your Facebook updates, your linked-in updates, your tweets,…are reflection of your personality. Be careful of your online reputation, thanks to traffic, most people would start moving meetings online. They will check you out online, so its as important as personal grooming during a face to face meeting.

So, what messages are your online updates sending to your prospect?

5 points to do before you start a business

I cannot claim to be an authority, hence the questions below may not be the complete list. This is my version of the truth.

1. Understand the use of Porter’s 5 forces model. See if your business idea survives this model

2. Invest time on building a business model, try the link below for getting an overall view of the business you like to be in

3. Ask friends and family to come over for a brainstorming session (Avoid negative people, they don’t help find answers, they leave many questions instead) on improving your business plan. (If possible, pay for their time by picking up the tab)

4. Find a partner with complimenting skills, not the same skills.

5. Once you decide upon it, go right in. You will find out the truth soon anyways.

The above has served me right, since it is more of common sense, I’m confident it will help you to.

All the best

Making an offer, None can refuse

WisdomToolz has taken a good step in paying for skill. We internally believe, “Pay peanuts, Expect monkeys”. Hence, we arrived at a simple but an effective logic.

Our remuneration plan does not depend on the last drawn salary of the job seeker. We don’t care if you were paid more than Tom Cruise per year, we only pay for skill.

We listed down skills that we need for the role into three categories

1. Must have skills

2. Good to have skills

3. Non negotiable skills (These are ones, when absent will mean the end of the conversation. Example: Analytical skills in my business)

Once the skills you need are listed, we now place an importance scale to each (The sum of the importance/ weightage will be 100%)

Derive a simple and transparent rating scale to assess proficiency on a scale of 1 to 5 (Or 1- 10 or just about any scale as long as you keep it constant)

Have a threshold for the minimum score below which you rather not hire.

Arrive at a review score after the probation period to reassess the score with actual work performance given importance. Allow the Confirmation of the employee only if he/she scores better than their score during the hiring phase.

If this seems like rocket science, forget it, you rather not try rationalizing with your job market. The market will find a way to convince you to pay-up.

Freemium

Yes, that’s exactly how most successful pricing strategies are evolving into.

By definition, Freemium is a business model where a product is given away for free but a premium is charged for advanced features, functionality or related products or services.

The word is a combination of “Free” and “Premium”

Linked-in is a classic example of Freemium.

Basic profile is free while everything else has a cost attached (and rightly so…)

Freemium is the way forward. Make your products compatible with this model and stay invested. Dividends are bigger in such investments.