The Ten Worst Business Sayings
Frances Cole Jones
1. Thinking outside the box
2. Touch base
3. At the end of the day
4. Going forward
5. All of it
6. Blue-sky thinking
7. Out of the box
8. Credit crunch
9. Heads-up
10. Singing from the same hymn sheet
To these she adds the following from her personal list of things [a word I detest] she would prefer not to hear her clients say:
1. Pick your brain
2. Drill down
3. Throw it against the wall and see what sticks
4. At this moment in time
5. 24/7
6. I, personally
7. The ball’s in your court
8. It’s not rocket science
[Note: Back to “thing,” a word that has no meaning. It could refer to an idea, a feeling, a list, an aroma, a whack on the side of the head, a kick in the seat of the pants, a moose call, etc. Because it could refer to anything, it refers to nothing. Even worse is the phrase, “The thing of it is….” Ugh!]
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Frances Cole Jones founded Cole Media Management in 1997. She prepares people to stand out from the competition in every interaction—in business and in life, helping countless CEOs, celebrities and public personalities present their best selves on camera and onstage, in boardrooms and in person. She conducts presentation skill seminars and sales trainings for companies nationwide. She also speaks at colleges around the country preparing students for job interviews and their professional futures. Her published books include How to Wow and, more recently, The Wow Factor.
She invites you to visit these Web sites:
Who’s your “fish”?
Frances Cole Jones
When you’re headed into a sales situation, it’s important to take a step back and ask, “Who’s the fish here?”
What does that mean? As Warren Buffet’s business partner, Charlie Munger, relates, “Many years ago, a Pasadena friend of mine made fishing tackle. I looked at this fishing tackle – it was green and purple and blue; I’d never seen anything like them. I asked him, ‘God! Do fish bite these lures?’ He said to me, ‘Charlie, I don’t sell to fish.’”
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So, before you go into a sales situation (which, one way or another, is any situation), always be clear about who is the driver, gatekeeper, or the facilitator of the sale and who is the potential end user, and make sure you have the right “bait” for both.
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Frances Cole Jones founded Cole Media Management in 1997. She prepares people to stand out from the competition in every interaction—in business and in life, helping countless CEOs, celebrities and public personalities present their best selves on camera and onstage, in boardrooms and in person. She conducts presentation skill seminars and sales trainings for companies nationwide. She also speaks at colleges around the country preparing students for job interviews and their professional futures. Her published books include How to Wow and, more recently, The Wow Factor, published by Ballantine Books.
She invites you to visit these Web sites:
The chute you pack may be your own
In her recently published book, The Wow Factor, Frances Cole Jones identifies a number of “things” one must do (and must not do) to guarantee an edge in today’s business world. For example:
“In the Marines, ‘riggers’ – the people who pack (i.e. reassemble after use) parachutes for other Marines – have to make at least one jump a month. Who packs their ‘chute’? They do: One of the parachutes that they packed for others to use is chosen at random, and the trigger has to ‘jump it.’ This system helps make sure that no one gets sloppy – after all, ‘the chute you’re packing may be your own.’
“The Romans used a similar technique to make sure that bridges and aqueducts were safe: The person who designed the arches had to stand under each arch while the scaffolding was being removed.”
“If you want your company to last as long as Roman bridges have, ask yourself if everyone is truly responsible for outcomes by these measures – and if you yourself are. Are you performing every task with the concentration and commitment you might if a life [perhaps yours] depended on it?”
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Frances Cole Jones founded Cole Media Management in 1997. She prepares people to stand out from the competition in every interaction—in business and in life, helping countless CEOs, celebrities and public personalities present their best selves on camera and onstage, in boardrooms and in person. She conducts presentation skill seminars and sales trainings for companies nationwide. She also speaks at colleges around the country preparing students for job interviews and their professional futures. Her published books include How to Wow and, more recently, The Wow Factor. both published by Ballantine Books/Random House.
She invites you to visit these Web sites:
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