Six Tips to Become a Better Listener

Let's face it: Being a good listener is not as easy as it sounds. We've all drifted off into our own thoughts when we're supposed to be paying attention to what someone else is saying. Maybe it's because the subject matter is boring or the person is speaking in a monotone; maybe we're distracted by some personal matter that worries us. Whatever it is, these tips can help improve your listening skills:

1. Listen more than you talk
2. Stay focused on what the other person us saying -- not on what you're going to say next. Don't place a story you want to tell while the person is still talking.
3. Never finish another person's sentences.
4. Resist the urge to dominate the conversation. (Review tip No. 1).
5. Give appropriate feedback, but don't interrupt.
6. Occasionally mirror back short summations of what the other person is saying to keep your mind from moving on
to other subjects and to assure the other person that you've understood what he or she has been saying.

Source: FirstDraft November 2008

Potential

Every individual, regardless of his or her profession, education, or socioeconomic status, has the power to make difference.

Source: Steve Case, founder of America Online

Has Your Business Travel Flown the Coop

In an Oct 15-17 survey, 25.5% of Business Travel Coalition respondents reported implementing emergency travel cutbacks in the past few weeks.

Source: Randall Travel Marketing & www.TravelPulse.com

American Confidence in the Economy

45% of Americans think the economy will get worse in the next 6 months, 36% think conditions will be about the same, and 18% think they will improve.

Source: Randall Travel Marketing -- Ipsos Public Affairs

Always have a backup plan

Even if what you're planning seems like a sure thing, it's always good to have a backup plan. In the early 1950s, HP founders Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard needed an additional manufacturing plant to keep up with the company's growth. However, they approached the venture with caution. They chose a general design that, in the vent of a company failure or hard times, could easily double as a supermarket space they could lease.

Source: FirstDraft November 2008

Deny, deny, explode -- not recommended

Be a fighter, but don't postpone your battles. Not facing that fact that you're angry is a good way to bring destruction and inefficiency into your workplace. First, admit you're angry and the anxiety and stress it brings. Then communicate your concerns to the person who's bugging you. If you wait, say four months and then blow up about something the other person has forgotten, and your justifiable issues will be lost and so will part of your reputation. Your legitimate complaint may end up seeming like a sneak attack.

Source: The Manager's Intelligence Report

Always Have a Backup Plan

Even if what you're planning seems like a sure thing, it's always good to have a backup plan. In the early 1950s, HP founders Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard needed an additional manufacturing plant to keep up with the company's growth. However, they approached the venture with caution. They chose a general design that, in the vent of a company failure or hard times, could easily double as a supermarket space they could lease.

Source: FirstDraft November 2008

This Week on Georgia Traveler Southern Rivers North (Columbus)

Hope you caught this past weekend's past episode of Georgia Traveler; it's off to Georgia's Southern Rivers region. Columbus is the destination city where Georgia Traveler visited the Chattahoochee River Walk, the Columbus Museum and the Wild Animal Safari in nearby Pine Mountain. The crew enjoyed the delights of Georgia's Official Barbeque Cooking Contest at the Big Pig Jig in Vienna. Gerald Bryant explored the sometimes ghostly Springer Opera House and the National Civil War Naval Museum. David Zelski took a ride on the SAM Shortlline through Cordele, Leslie, Plains, Archery and Americus. And Phil Proctor sampled a Columbus food favorite, Lieutenant's Scrambled Dog.

Georgia Traveler Episode 107 - Southern Rivers North (Columbus) aired Friday, October 17 at 9 PM and Saturday, October 18 at 7 PM, and will repeat again Wednesday, October 22 at 7:30 PM.

Georgia Traveler 107 also aired on the newly launched GPB Knowledge channel on Saturday, October 18 at 8 PM and Sunday, October 19 at 8 AM.

Leadership -- What's the Best Way

Don't be a monarch. Thoughtful leadership likely means you already have a talented work force in place. That's terrific. But be careful not set up a throne room in the process. Accidental leaders often inadvertently establish a system, of guidance that's unnecessarily restrictive. Guide employees, but don't implement more parameters than are absolutely necessary. "It's important to influence people with whom you work," Lorraine Segil, author and consultant at CIT. "Don't see your business as a hierarchy."

Source: MSN Small Business Center

Becoming a true leader

Real leadership means leading yourself. Passing out orders is as easy as passing out business cards. But a prudent leader also knows how to lead himself or herself -- not merely to provide a genuine example to others, but to become a working element of of the overall machinery of your business. "It's important that leaders have the ability to focus and motivate themselves as they motivate others," says Larraine Segil, an author and consultant who teaches executive education at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.

Source: MSN Small Business Center

Ft. Knox Information Fair

Educators, employers, workforce development specialists from the Chattahoochee Valley, and members of the Columbus Convention & Visitors Bureau are taking a road trip to Fort Knox, KY, this Fall to welcome the U.S. Army Armor Center and School to the region.

As participants in the first Town Hall Employee Information Fair being held November 13, 2008 in Fort Knox, Kentucky, local leaders are packing up their displays and brochures to inform active duty personnel, Department of Defense civilian employees, Defense Contractors, and their spouses, of the workforce training opportunities, public ad private education systems,and employment opportunities here in the bi-state area.

Due tot eh 2005 BRAC decision to move the U.S. Army Armor Center and School from Fort Knox to Fort Benning by September 2011, large numbers of individuals and families need quality information upon which to base their decision to move or stay.

The Chattahoochee Valley Welcomes the U.S. Armor Center and School is the theme of this first Town hall Employee Information Fair. Future fair participants will include realtors, financial institutions, and similar organizations that can assist personnel in relocating to the area.

The CCVB will host an organizational meeting of local attractions, cultural venues, and marketing directors to discuss how to best market the Columbus destination during the one day exhibition.

Source: The Valley Partnership Newsletter

Planners or Suppliers, Who's Got the Advantage?

Neither have an advantage right now, says Robert Mandelbaum of PKF Hospitality, a consulting firm for the lodging industry. "I'm frequently asked f it's a buyers' or sellers' market within the lodging industry and right now, we're finding that it's neutral." However, in the second half of 2009, with growth expected in the economy and a slow down of new hotels opening, the pendulum is predicted to "sway back to the hoteliers' advantage," Mandelbaum said.

Source: Sept 2009 Convention South Magazine

Sales call success tip

1. List the primary objectives for the call
2. In case you're not able to achieve your primary objectives, come in with a set of secondary objectives
3. Bring along Something of value to the customer
4. Prepare four or five pointed questions that get to the core of the customer's primary issues
5. Plan an opening that engages the customer's interest while sharing your agenda for the call