Wednesday, February 13, 2008

NLP in the real world

Last week I was out of the country doing some work for a client, working to assist a company rebrand their product line.

The challenge in these sorts of situations is to get people to shift perspective from the one they may have been living inside for years!

Sometimes you need help to shift perspective - to see things differently.

In fact today I was working on a complicated spreadsheet that I had developed for a different client to help them connect their employees to their business goals. I had become way too close to the spreadsheet and couldn't see the forest for the trees anymore. So I sat down with Jennifer, walked her through the logic and wham - she caught the error.

Sometimes if you can't drag your own brain out of the trenches it helps to have an accountant as a wife!

So with the rebranding exercise, the fun for me was helping the clients to see the world differently - to see their product and brand as if they were consumers...or maybe experts from other industries!

Once I had done the 'work' I had been hired for (it took about 15 minutes), I spent the rest of my time being creative. In the end, the group had thought up hundreds of ways to revitalize the product and brand, it was a fantastic experience.

Now - other than helping people see their situations in different ways, where was the NLP in this?

Here's how: every night just before I went to sleep, I went through the day that had just passed and thought about the resources I needed that would have made things even better. Then I played through the 'movie in my mind' as if I had had that resource.

Then I thought about the next day's agenda and 'installed' the resources I wanted to be able to draw upon the next morning or afternoon.

It worked out perfectly. Just doing this simple exercise, installing the resources into the past and future where I wanted or needed them most, I was able to be fully present for the client, help them through their business challenges, help them ( when they occasionally) slipped back into thinking, "Okay...so like when do we start selling this already?" and rely on my usual spontaneous creative streak that I always have so much fun with.

SO - there's nothing like a bit of reflection and anticipation. When you have something that may not have gone your way, just before you go to sleep, think about what resources you may have needed to make that situation work great. Then you can StateShift(tm) (jargon for current and former students) into the resource and notice how your memories become better....

AND when you have something coming up, the same exercise applies but toward the future.


Remember - the brain always thinks it's 'now' if you're thinking about the present, past or future, and it reacts as if everything's true.

For a great NLP sales course in Toronto, check out www.mininlpcourse.com/Sales.htm

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home