Bananas and…Advise and….

Bananas and…Pealing challenges

So your nursing home chain just announced they’re opening up their business for bid. They say it’s got nothing to do with dissatisfaction with you – they just want to be sure they’re getting the best deal available. And the buyer even says they hope your proposal will top any others.

So what to do? Well first it’s time to look in the mirror and decide if you’re already giving them the best deal you can – and the one they really deserve. Assuming that honest self-examination delivers the verdict you’re doing exactly that, then you need to take steps to insulate yourself from what the likely competitor(s) will offer.

And because you know their game and the sort of promises they’ll probably offer you’re perfectly positioned to start unpeeling them. And that can be accomplished by simply explaining to your buyer exactly what they can expect to hear.

By educating them on what the competition will almost certainly offer you’ve begun to peal the banana. And done well you’ll be sowing seeds of doubt on the authenticity and especially the deliverability of those likely promises.

Undertaken judiciously and delivered with the same level of planning you’d invest in a key sales presentation, you’ll dramatically lessen the attractiveness of those promises. And with luck just maybe you’ll even succeed in influencing them to call off the bidding program altogether.

Next up: The deal we’d like or the one we’d take?

Advise and…Sourcing it

It makes perfect sense to occasionally seek outside advice for important matters. But the problem is that you might be using a source for that advice who’s not the best available.

Your rich uncle (who inherited his money) may not be the right choice for advice on growing your business. And your twice divorced friend probably isn’t the best place for marital guidance.

If you’re considering something important and need help it may seem obvious, but it’s best to ask someone who’s successfully dealt with the matter for which you need help. Despite the fact we’d all readily concur with that piece of wisdom, it’s amazing how often we’ll fail to follow it.

That otherwise smart source who doesn’t have direct experience with your challenge might be okay, but it’s not optimal.

But no matter how well sourced and qualified the adviser, there’s the matter of us being a critical listener because just maybe the opinion offered even by that qualified source isn’t right.

And since we’re the ones who’ll live with the decision, being both open to listening and being a critical listener at the same time is so important.