I have often thought there are so many lessons from the martial arts for our businesses. Here are my musings after 53 years of training in traditional Karate.

Stepping on to the floor

The dojo is the ultimate equalizer. Whether you arrived by chauffeur driven Roller or took Shanks’s mare, once you step on to that dojo floor only your ability and character separates you from everyone else.

In business we forget this and allow people to accrue titles, status and power unattributed to their abilities. We need to see beyond the spin and politics and ensure that people’s real abilities are recognized and rewarded.

Starting

The class begins with a short meditation interval. This is designed to focus the mind and separate the day from what will now come. Next everyone is bowing toward the front. The front of the class represents all who came before us. We are not here today based solely on what we have done. Others were here before us building the art and the organization. By bowing we acknowledge the continuum and our responsibility to keep it going. Now we bow to the teachers, respecting their knowledge and their devotion. Finally we bow to each other expressing our solidarity as fellow travellers on a journey of self-discovery.

How do we start the work day? Is there a chorei or morning gathering of the work group, to get everyone aligned and focused on the WHY we are there.

Stretching

We warm-up our minds and our bodies by going through a set routine to stretch our muscles to be able to operate at a very high level of performance.

If you are a sales team, are you beginning your day with role play practice or are you just practicising on the client?

Basics

We repeat the same drills over and over, every class. We are seeking purity of form and perfection of execution. We are preparing ourselves for a Zen state where we can react without pre-thought.

A large amount of our work is routine, but can we improve the systems, the execution to bring in greater efficiencies and achieve higher productivity?

Sparring

Free sparring is 100% spontaneous, ebbing and flowing with the rhythm of move and counter move. At a high level, this is like playing a full chess match in one minute, but using our techniques with full body commitment.

When we compete in the marketplace are we a speedboat or an oil tanker? Are we nimble, adaptive, on purpose and aware of market changes? Are we thinking steps ahead of the opposition, anticipating their moves and constantly outflanking them, applying our brains over their brawn?

Kata

These are full power set pieces, representing a battle against multiple opponents. The forms are fixed and the aim is perfection. The form is set and so Zen like releases the mind to go beyond the form.

Are we able to keep reproducing execution pieces of our work that are perfected? Can we refine our actions for the maximum effectiveness? Can we eliminate mistakes, defects and rework entirely at all levels in the organisation?

Strengthening and warming down

Strength training is there to build the physical power and our mental perseverance. We do a final stretch to reduce stiffness and muscle pain by reducing lactic acid build up in the muscles.

Are our training methodologies making us stronger than our rivals in the marketplace? Are we allocating sufficient time to grow our people? Are we seeing outcomes from the training time invested?

Finish

We repeat the bowing and this time we add the Creed. Voicing carefully chosen words which represent the value system of that dojo, (e.g. Effort, Patience, Moderation, Respect) so that these are the last things setting into our minds, before we go back to our usual routines of life.

How do we end the workday? Do we set up for the next day by reviewing what we did today, what we achieved and what we need to work on tomorrow? Do we reflect on the quality of our performance and think about ways to do better?

The hardest sales job in the world is selling something you don’t believe in yourself. The acid test is would you sell this “whatever” to your grandmother? If the answer is no, then get out of there right now! It is rarely that clear cut though. The more important test is whether what you are selling solves the client’s problem or not. Selling clients on things that are not in their best interests is a formula for long-term failure and personal brand suicide.

There are elements of the sales process which are so fundamental, you wonder why I would even bring them up. For example, believing in what you sell. There are lots of salespeople though, trapped in jobs where they don’t believe but keep selling.

The more common problem is that they actually do believe in what they sell but they are not professional enough to be convincing in the sales conversation. They often have a sales personality deficiency, where they are not good with people or not good with different types of people.

When I joined Shinsei’s retail bank, I recognised immediately that 70% of the salespeople should never have been given a sales role. My brief was “we have 300 salespeople and we are not getting anywhere – come in and fix it”. The vast majority of people in the role of convincing wealthy Japanese customers to buy our financial products were really suffering. They lacked the communication skills, the people skills, the persuasion power, the warmth, the concern for the customer, etc., which they needed to be successful.

As Shinsei, we worked out who was best suited for a sales role and gave those people the proper training to equip them for success. The remainder were given a role elsewhere in the bank. What training did we give them? The ability to ask good questions, to fully understand wealthy customer’s needs.

At Dale Carnegie we do a lot of sales training and we see the same client issues come up continuously. Certainty around the thing being sold must be in evidence. Selling is the transfer of your enthusiasm for the product or service to the buyer. Your body language must naturally exude belief. Your face needs to be friendly.

Fluency in communication is critical. Be it Japanese or English, a lot of “filler words” like Eeto, Anou , Um, Ah, etc., might help you to think of what you want to say next, but you come across as if you are not sure or convinced about what you are saying or proposing. We definitely don’t buy sales person uncertainty.

Success in sales is based on following a sales process. That process is based on three powerful foundations – your belief in what you are selling, your ability to fluently articulate back to the buyer what you heard they need and how your solution satisfies their need.

If you want your sales team to be successful, make sure they get a proper sales process, get certainty, get fluency and get going!

One of our problem areas is what to do with our hands when we speak. Judging by most of the presentations I see in Japan, few speakers have worked this out yet. Here are some common habits we can improve upon to make ourselves much more persuasive and professional.

1. Hands in front of the body.

The arms and hands when held in front of the body create a subliminal barrier between the audience and the speaker. It is saying “I don’t trust you, I am scared of you and I need to protect my most vital organs from you, in case of sudden attack”. We want to show we are totally confident and have a welcoming attitude to our audience.

2. Arms behind the back, clasped together.

Since cave dweller days, we have learnt not to trust people whose hands are not visible to us. They may have been concealing a weapon. Instead have the palms open and facing forward, a gesture which is universal and timeless indicating “I am not a threat to you, because, as you see I have no hidden weapon”.

3. Arms folded across the chest or one hand touching one elbow while the other hand is held near the face. Like number one, these are defensive postures specifically designed to keep your audience away from your vital spots.

In speaking term though, these postures send all the wrong messages. We want to be trusted as a speaker and to do so, we have to show we are open to our audience.

4. Hands in the pockets. This is a particular favourite of male executives who have no idea of what to do with their hands when speaking. The really confused thrust both hands into their respective trouser pockets achieving a sort of stereo effect. It presents the hands where they can be seen from the front, but it denies us the opportunity to use gestures during out talk.

5. Holding something in our hands.

Sheets of paper can become a distraction as we tend to wave them around. The pages quiver and shake if we are nervous and this is visible to our audience. We are sending the wrong message to them. We want to convey belief and confidence in our message. We want to remove all distractions from what we are communicating and we want to free up our hands so we can employ our gestures to bolster our argument.

6. Gripping the podium, the microphone stand or holding the hand microphone with both hands. It can make us appear quite strained as we apply muscle power to the upper arms and raise our shoulders, as we ensure the podium does not make a sudden attempt to scarper. Best to not even touch the podium at all and just feel free to raise your hands for gestures.

Don’t touch the microphone stand at all. Restrict the hand microphone usage to one hand only, so the other is free and readily available for emphasis

Okay, now its time for the show, Soredewa ikimasho, so let's get going. The hush has now swept across the room. All eyes are fixed on the MC, breaths are being held, awaiting the announcement of this year’s winner. Amazingly, it registers that it is your name they are calling to the stage. Emotion wells up. Your team join you for handshaking, shoulder hugs, high fives and backslapping. The prize is now firmly ensconced in your hand and you are beckoned to the microphone. What happens next?

Do you find your mind is experiencing whiteout and goes blank. Do your nerves suddenly kick in when facing a sea of faces with thousands of eyes boring into yours? Do your knees mysteriously seem to have been drained of all their sinuous strength? Do you launch forth into a raging torrent of Ums and Ahs, followed by indiscriminate rambling, punctuated with pathetic apologies for your inability to string two words together?

Are you having an out of body experience watching yourself have a public meltdown of stupendous scale. Seeing yourself trash your company and personal brands simultaneously, because you are demonstrating to all that you are a total dud as a professional?

What would have been a better approach? Expecting to win is a good place to start. From that thought flows a stream of things that must be done, just in case lightening does strike, unlikely as that may have seemed at application time. What will be the content, how will you start, how will you end?

It could go like this:

“Ladies and gentlemen, let me say thank you to the judging panel for selecting us. I am sure it was a very demanding job for you and the organisers of today’s competition. On behalf of all the candidates, allow me to say thank you one and all for your efforts.

Inside our company, Taro and his team regularly took the last train home in the coldest, darkest depths of winter and were back early the next day, bright eyed and bushy tailed, to get the Z project completed. Thank you all for going the extra mile, for your loyalty, commitment and perseverance, when so many doubted we could do it.

We would not be standing up here tonight, if it wasn’t for Tanaka san at XYZ company. She gave us a chance to demonstrate we could deliver on schedule, on budget and at the right quality. I know that she had to weather some particularly tough internal meetings with her Directors last fall, but she went to bat for us. So we all say a very big “Thank you” to her and we are delighted she can be with us tonight.

As we all know, we often spend more hours working with our colleagues than we spend with our own family. When we get home, exhausted, we unburden ourselves and share our concerns and worries. We need to set the ledger right and also share in the good times and tonight is just that occasion. I would like to thank my own family for their total support, which keeps me going.

I would also like to recognise all the families of our team members who equally are giving their support. We know it is a sacrifice and we appreciate that you make that on the company’s behalf. So this prize tonight goes to all the angels at home who keep us going and make it all worthwhile.

Finally, I would like to say how proud I am of our widget. We are committed to making the lives of our clients and their clients easier and more effective. We are on a mission to serve as many people as we can, because we know we are bringing value and growth to their businesses. Entwined inside their growth and success is our success and that thought drives us each and every day to do our best. Thank you!”

That is two minutes. We have managed to say a lot in two minutes and we will leave a very positive impression with the audience hearing that speech.

What if you go to all this trouble and you don’t win. You have definitely improved your speech making skill and you have put yourself out of harm’s way. Both are major wins, even if the big prize eluded you this time. There is always next year, the next occasion and your speech is ready to rock. You have positioned yourself in a good place from every angle.

If we are presenting a brochure, flyer, price list, hard copy slide deck or any other typical collateral item, then we should adopt best practice for greatest success. Have two copies always, one for you to read and one for the client, unless you are a genius of reading upside down (which by the way seems to include all Japanese!).

At the start, put your copy to the side for later if you need it and turn the client’s copy around to face them. Then proceed to physically control the page changes of the document.

Don’t just hand it over, if you can avoid it. You want to walk them through the pages, under your strict supervision. There is usually a lot of information involved and we only want to draw attention to the key points. We don’t receive unlimited buyer time, so we have to plan well. You don’t want them flicking through the pages at the back and you are still explaining something up the front

By the way, don’t place any collateral pieces in view of the client at the start of the meeting. Keep them unseen on the chair next to you or in your bag. Why? We want to spend the first part of the meeting asking solid questions to uncover their needs. Don’t distract the buyer from answering your questions – this is vital to understanding their business and their needs.

As we hear their answers we set off a chain reaction. We mentally scan the solution library in our brain and start lining up products for them. The details will be in a brochure or a flyer etc., but by showing them at the start we will distract the client. It also implies I am here to sell you something. What is our mantra? Everyone loves to buy but nobody wants to be sold. Keep the sales materials out of sight, until you absolutely know what you will need.

If we hand over the sales materials at the start, they will be reading something on page five and you will still be focused on page one. If you allow this to happen, control of the sales conversation has been lost. The salesperson’s key job is to keep control of the sale’s talk direction, from beginning to end. If you can’t do that, then selling is going to be a tough employ for you.

After placing the document in front of them, facing them, pick up your nice pen and use it to show them where to look. There are many distractions on any single page, so we need to keep the show on the road and them focused on the key items. Our pen is our navigator.

Know where the items of most interest in your materials are located, based on what you heard earlier and skip pages that are not as relevant. Do not go through the whole thing, from beginning to end. You want them focused only on the most relevant and interesting elements of your presentation. Also you have to narrows things down, because you just don’t have that much time available to you.

Action Steps

1. Control the reading flow of the presentation document

2. Use you pen as the navigator through written materials

3. Only show the materials after you have had your questions answered and know what they want

We are all pretty average on recalling events, people’s names, locations, sequences, inanimate objects, etc., but we are geniuses on remembering feelings. We are especially good on how people made us feel and what super memories we have developed in this particular department. Business is deemed to be logical – cool, balanced, unswerving on the road to greater efficiencies. Ironically, we are such emotional beings trying to be detached, but we are usually not very good at it though.

Ever find yourself still chewing over some ancient injustice? Something doesn’t arrive on time or in the right format and we have that chemical reaction that is triggered by the emotions of anger, disappointment, fear or frustration. People say something trying to be funny or witty but we take it badly. We instantly feel insulted, embarrassed, hurt, mortified or humiliated. There are some basic principles of successful human relations we forget at our peril.

“Don’t criticize, condemn or complain” is an all weather wonder. Let’s resist the urge to correct others, to tell them off, to bring their personal failings to their attention immediately. It is not a cure that works well and in fact just builds pig-headed resistance, as the guilty party seeks to justify their dubious actions.

“Let the other person save face” is a handy principle to keep in mind in public situations. Not everyone is quick, elegant or urbane and some people seem to invite correction, but let’s resist that urge. Just because they may not obviously react should be cold comfort. Remember to beware the dog that doesn’t bark.

“Show respect for the other person’s opinion. Never say you are wrong”. Even if you feel they are so totally incorrect it is barely fathomable. Restrain yourself from leaping in and pointing out they are an idiot.

“The only way to get the best of an argument is to avoid it”. Incredibly, even people in sales forget this sage advice and want to argue with the client. We might win the battle over the point of contention, but we will lose the war over the long term. Maya Angelou summed it up brilliantly:

“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel”. So how do you make people feel? Apply these principles and let life get easier.

The Master of Ceremony (MC) goes to the microphone to get the programme underway but the audience are simply oblivious, caught up in their own riveting conversations. The situation is much worse at receptions where alcohol is already flowing and the people down the back are generating a roar, a positive din, that drowns out the speakers.

Here are seven ideas that will shut down the noisy rabble and provide a proper platform for the speaker to be heard.

1. Make sure to turn off the background music well before you are ready to start. Surprisingly, this is often forgotten by the organisers. Speakers should not try to compete with irritating white noise in the background.

1. Preferably always have someone else introduce you. Their job is to quiet the room in preparation for your presentation. This doesn't always go to plan though, because it can be a lucky draw on who introduces you. Be ready to take over if you need to, in order to restore some decorum.

1. Don’t allow the podium to dominate you

If you worry about speaking behind high podiums and appearing to your audience as a stylish coiffure just peaking above the water line, always arrive early and have the event staff provide a small raised dais behind the podium for you. Even better, dismiss the podium altogether, because now we can use our body language to maximum effect.

1. Voice projection is key for cutting through crowd noise.Today’s microphone technology is very good, so you don’t need to have a stentorian voice to be heard. However, placing the microphone too close to your mouth creates dissonance, making it harder to hear you. Mysteriously, some speakers have the opposite problem and hold the microphone so low that there is almost no sound being heard. I saw a guy the other day wrap his entire hand around the microphone mesh – don’t do that if you want to be heard.

1. Use Pauses. When you face a challenging noisy crowd, make sure to hit the first few words very hard. To get things going, start with a strong “Ladies and Gentlemen” with power invested into the first word and remember to draw that first word out slightly (Ladieeeeees). Elongate it for effect but don’t overdo it . Now include a small pause before a strong finish to the phrase. Like this: “Ladies and Gentlemen”

1. I have seen speakers using assorted cutlery to bang on a glass, to create a chime that signals it is time to “shut up everyone and listen”. It works, however, one word of warning - don’t speak while pounding. Get their attention then speak.
2. Similarly, you can also use powerful music to drown out the crowd’s babble and make them listen to what is coming next. Just a short piece will do, as it signals action is about to commence and people will switch their gaze to you at the front of the room. After the music ends, again use a slight pause and then start.

To be heard above the din, remember: turn off the BGM well before you start; have someone else quiet the room for you; don’t allow the podium to dominate you; practice with the microphones, so that you know the correct distance and angle of elevation to use; hit the first word hard and elongate it slightly; use pauses – they add power to the speaker; if you strike a glass to produce a crowd-quieting chime, don’t speak while pounding; a short burst of music can silence an audience and clear the way for you to start speaking