Entering the piazza, we saw that we had the choice of four restaurants: one that was very busy, two that were moderately busy, and one that had just one couple sitting at a table in the back.

Which do you think we picked?

Here was our thought process:

We couldn’t bring ourselves to consider the nearly empty restaurant. If it were any good, more than two people would have been eating there. We scratched that one.

Then there were the two that were half-filled. One had plastic chairs. That one was out. The other one was cute — a contender.

So it was between that one and the crowded restaurant.

They both had attractive table settings. They had similar menus and pricing. There was no significant difference between the two except that one was crowded and the other wasn’t.

In the less-crowded restaurant, the waiters would be less rushed, the kitchen less pressured. That being the case, we figured we would probably get better service.

But we also assumed that the crowded restaurant must have been crowded for a reason. There was now only one table left. We grabbed it and felt lucky to be there.

How did we decide?

On the face of it, you might say we made a logical decision. But I don’t think that’s what we did. Our logic, such as it was, was more a rationalization of deep-seated impulses. Neurobiologists say that such impulses were implanted in the human brain millions of years ago.

If you want to be a master marketer, you must become an expert at understanding those impulses. Because when it comes to decision making, they are just as important as logic. Maybe more important.

In his classic work Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, Robert Cialdini showed how successful marketers play on these impulses to persuade prospects to buy.

When K and I made our decision, it involved some rational thought. But that rational thought supported what we knew, deep down inside, we already wanted to do.

Cialdini would say that our decision was based on a combination of “urgency” and conforming to “social proof.”

And that’s what I want to talk about today: why you need to include adequate urgency and social proof in your advertising efforts.

When we mention that Early to Rise has 400,000+ subscribers… or when McDonald’s says they serve 52 million people around the world every day — that’s social proof.

Urgency you’ve seen during one-day sales or when a supermarket offers a specially priced item “as long as supplies last.”

I have written about these concepts before. And I have coached a hundred writers about them. But I find that in many of the promotions I review, they are inadequately presented or absent entirely.

What’s more disturbing to me, I have noticed that I sometimes neglect them myself when I write sales copy.

I’m taking the time to discuss them again today because I am guessing that you, too, may give social proof and urgency short shrift. If you do, your copy is not as strong as it could be. And I’m hoping to convince you to make it a habit to emphasize them in your marketing.

I’m also hoping that by writing this essay something will click in my calcified brain and I’ll remember to employ them in all the marketing campaigns I work on in the future. That will be good for my clients… and it will beef up my consulting fees.

When K and walked into that plaza, we had only one piece of prior knowledge about those four restaurants. K had read that one of them was excellent. And so that was the one we meant to go to.

But guess what?

That was the restaurant that was nearly empty. Seeing it so — surrounded by three restaurants that were doing good business — gave us serious doubts.

The review K read had said the food was excellent but the pricing was a bit high. So why didn’t they have more customers — people like us who were willing to pay a little more for good food?

Since there was no one there but two people at a back table, we were scared to try it. Perhaps the management had changed since the review was written. Perhaps someone had died of ptomaine poisoning the night before. Who knew?

We had reliable evidence (the review) that the restaurant was good. But we ignored it because our instincts made us fearful.

Cialdini would have said that was the effect of social proof — in this case, the negative social proof of its being nearly empty.

In his chapter on social proof, Cialdini says:

“The principle of social proof states that one means we use to determine what is correct is to find out what other people think is correct. The principle applies especially to the way we decide what constitutes correct behavior. We view behavior as more correct in a given situation to the degree that we see others performing it. Whether the question is what to do with an empty popcorn box in a movie theater, how fast to drive on a certain stretch of highway, or how to eat chicken at a dinner party, the actions of those around us will be important in defining the answer.”

Cialdini cites a psychological study in which children with an extreme fear of dogs were cured of their phobia by watching a video of other children playing happily with dogs. After watching the video for just four days, for just 20 minutes each day, 67 percent of the children were able to interact comfortably with dogs. And the results didn’t dissipate over time.

As examples of social proof in action, Cialdini also mentions canned laughter on TV sitcoms and the incessant naming of donors during public radio pledge drives.

Now consider how social proof might play out in an advertising campaign.

You are selling a product that happens to be very good. When you create the promotion for it, you say that it is good and you talk about its benefits for your prospects. But you provide no social proof.

Reading your promotion, the prospect is initially intrigued. But because there’s a lack of social proof to back up your promises and claims, he doubts what you’re telling him. He begins to read everything you have written as potential fluff. He wants to believe you (as all prospect do) but his inner brain (the part of the brain that controls emotional intelligence) is skeptical.

What does he conclude?

My guess: that you have given him no proof of your promises and claims because you have none. And if you have none, that must mean the product is unsatisfactory. So he decides not to buy from you. He has plenty of other similar offers to choose from.

Back to our restaurant experience…

We had eliminated the one restaurant that already had us sold because of a lack of social proof.

Now there were three to choose from. We eliminated the first one because of the plastic chairs. This, too, I would argue, was a decision based on emotional not rational intelligence. It’s been our experience that a restaurateur who thinks a plastic chair is adequate is likely to be one who thinks mediocre food is adequate.

So then it was down to two: one half-filled and the other nearly full.

Both could have had great food. We could have asked people dining there what they thought of it — thus gathering social proof ourselves. But the restaurant that was nearly full was filling up fast. There were a half dozen other couples milling around. If we took too long to make our decision, we wouldn’t have the option of choosing the busiest one. So we opted for that and took the one remaining table.

What, then, was behind our final choice?

It was “scarcity” — one of the factors that creates a feeling of urgency. The fact that there was only one table left made us worry that we would miss out. So we yielded not to logic but to an instinct we had that scarcity equals value.

Again, from Cialdini:

“The idea of potential loss plays a larger role in human decision making. In fact, people seem to be more motivated by the thought of losing something than by the thought of gaining something of equal value. For instance, homeowners told how much money they could lose from inadequate insulation are more likely to insulate their homes than those told how much money they could save.

“Collectors of everything from baseball cards to antiques are keenly aware of the influence of the scarcity principle in determining the worth of an item. As a rule, if it is rare or becoming rare, it is more valuable.”

To illustrate the impact of scarcity, Cialdini cites a study in which the owner of a beef-importing business uses one of three prepared sales pitches with his regular customers, wholesale buyers for supermarkets: (1) his standard sales pitch; (2) his standard sales pitch with a bit of information about an upcoming shortage of imported beef in the next few months; or (3) both of the above, as well as an aside that this information about the shortage was not well-known.

The buyers given the second version of the sales pitch bought twice as much as those given the standard spiel. And the third group bought six times as much.

After ordering our meal, we asked our waitress why our first-choice restaurant was empty. (It was now completely empty.) We expected to have our suspicions confirmed — that since that glowing review was published, something had changed. But that is not what she told us.

She said, “I don’t know. But that’s the way it goes here. One night we are very busy and the next night it is someplace else.”

“What do you think accounts for it?” I asked.

“The one that gets the earliest customers usually is the one that fills up,” she said.

So there it was.

Our first choice probably had the best food, but it was now empty because everybody but one couple had come to the same conclusion we had. Like us, they probably made a decision based first on a lack of social proof and second on a feeling of urgency created by scarcity.

If I were the proprietor of any of those four competing restaurants I’d make sure that my place was always full by doing three things.

• First I would rope off all of the back tables and leave them unset.
• Then I’d let my regular customers know that if they came by early in the evening, they could eat for half price.
• And then, as the tables started to fill up, I’d gradually open up more by moving back the rope.

By taking advantage of the principles of social proof and scarcity, I would ensure that my restaurant would attract a continuous stream of customers.

As expert marketers we have an obligation to do the same with our advertisements.

We must, of course, make sure that every promise and claim we make is backed up with factual proof — the results of scientific studies, statistics, that sort of thing.

But we must provide social proof as well. That would include endorsements by trusted authorities and testimonials from satisfied users.

And don’t forget urgency. Urgency can be created in many ways in an ad — but the strongest way is based on scarcity. You must let the prospect know that if he wants the product you are offering at the price you are offering, he must act now.

So there you have it: two extremely important advertising principles. Make yourself a promise that you will pay them heed. I am making that promise to myself as I write this.

[Ed. Note: Social proof, urgency, and scarcity are key psychological motivators that every marketer must understand. But you can't fake them in your advertising. They must be real or they won't be believed. And they won't work if you don't "back them up" with:

• Quality products desired by the market
• A way to build your customer list
• Procedures for testing products, marketing channels, and advertising messages
• Good copy that stirs buyer emotions

And the list goes on...

The ETR Perfect Home Business Quick-Start Kit covers all those bases and much more. It’s basically a start-up guide for would-be online entrepreneurs who are not sure what their first step should be. And it works for businesspeople who are struggling because they made the wrong moves early on. Whether you have an idea for a business... have no idea other than you know you want to work for yourself... or are hoping to jumpstart your career... check it out.]
This article appears courtesy of Early To Rise, a free newsletter dedicated to creating wealth and success through inspiration and practical, proven advice. For a complimentary subscription, visit http://www.earlytorise.com.

2 your online success, Dirk

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Why Multitasking Destroys Your Productivity

Most entrepreneurs I know are proud of their “multitasking” ability. But maybe they shouldn’t be.

The term was originally applied to computers – to describe the way a CPU solves problems by scheduling tasks and switching back and forth from task to task until each one gets done. Well, that may be an efficient way for a computer to work, but it’s anything but efficient when it comes to your productivity.

Dave Crenshaw wrote my favorite book on the topic, and I recommend it to anyone who still thinks and feels that multitasking is cool. On page 29 in The Myth of Multitasking, he writes:

“Around the end of the twentieth century, some wordsmith saw the connection between our increasingly hectic world and the world of the computer. A catchword was born.

Newspapers began peppering their articles with the word. Talk show hosts began using it with frequency. Magazines began publishing articles about how to multitask more effectively.

Multitasking quickly became as popular and accepted as the automobile and the hamburger.”

Dave Crenshaw has a more accurate word to describe flipping back and forth between two (or more) activities. He calls it “switchtasking.”

Multitasking or switchtasking reduces your efficiency (your ability to do the right things) and your effectiveness (your ability to do things right) because it forces you to keep changing your mental focus. During the switchover time (less than a second, in most cases), your concentration diminishes and the number of mistakes you make dramatically increases.

In fact, many states (including California) have outlawed multitasking on the highway by making it illegal to speak on a handheld mobile phone while driving a car.

“A mere half second of time lost to task switching can mean the difference between life and death for a driver using a cellphone, because during the time that the car is not totally under control, it can travel far enough to crash into obstacles the driver might have otherwise avoided,” reported Dr. David Meyer from the University of Michigan.

Okay, so let me ask you a candid question. How many of the following common multitasking activities do you engage in?

• Writing e-mails while speaking on the telephone
• Checking voice mail while speaking to your spouse
• Reading the newspaper while listening to the news
• Watching TV while having a family conversation
• Tweeting while instant messaging while…

I’m guessing you’ve done “all of the above” at some point in your adult life. But my point isn’t to nag you about multitasking. It is to make you conscious of how destructive it can be.

It’s not only mentally stressful to splinter your attention (and make mistakes along the way), multitasking sets you up for failure… and the guilt of not completing everything you set out to do.

Stacking vs.Multitasking

Now if you do two things at once but can keep the majority of your attention on only ONE of those things, that’s a whole different animal. I call this stacking. Dave Crenshaw calls it background tasking. (You can call it whatever you wish.)

Stacking helps you get more done, faster and better. It is a productive use of your time because only ONE of the tasks you are doing requires mental effort.

Here are a few examples of what I’m talking about:

• Eating dinner while watching a video
• Jogging while listening to your iPod
• Driving while listening to the radio
• Writing an e-mail while printing out a document
• Munching on a snack while riding a bicycle
• Listening to the news while showering
• Reading a book while getting a haircut

Stacking doesn’t necessarily guarantee that you’ll become more effective (by doing the right things), but it can practically guarantee more efficiency (doing things right to get maximum results in minimum time).

Stacking & America’s Middle Class

Henry Ford didn’t invent the car, but he did figure out how to produce automobiles that were within the reach of the average American. And I believe he did this by preventing his workers from multitasking.

Prior to his introduction of the assembly line to the manufacturing process, cars were individually crafted by teams of skilled workmen. But instead of having one team work on one car, from start to finish, he created a stacking environment where the cars came to the workers – and each worker performed the same assembly task again and again.

The stacking power of the assembly line reduced the time it took to manufacture a car from 13 hours to less than six. That made it possible for Ford to offer the Model T for $825 when it made its debut in 1908. Four years later, the price dropped to $575. By 1914, Ford claimed a 48 percent share of the world’s automobile market.

What to Do Now

You can stop the insanity of multitasking right now by listing (right here) two or three multitasking activities you commonly engage in at work or at home.

Then, the next time you catch yourself multitasking, stop. Take a moment to think about what you’re doing, and quickly choose one of those tasks to focus on first. Complete that task before you switch to the other one.

I think you’ll find that this automatically makes you more efficient, more effective – and feeling a lot better about yourself for getting multiple jobs done right.

By Alex Mandossian

[Ed. Note: Alex Mandossian knows a thing or two about success. He has generated over $233 million in sales for his clients. And in the past three years, he increased his own revenues from $1.5 million to $5 million. You can get Alex's advice and practical marketing tips for info-publishers, small-business owners, and entrepreneurs for free at www.AlexMandossianToday.com.

Interested in making between $50,000 and $5 million - starting this year? Find out how to do so right here.]

This article appears courtesy of Early To Rise, a free newsletter dedicated to making money, improving health and secrets to success. For a complimentary subscription, visit http://www.earlytorise.com.

2 your learning success, Dirk

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10 Dumb Ways to Start a Business (and Waste a Ton of Money at the Same Time) 

Wealthy Entrepreneurship is based on selling. You test the market with a product you think will sell well. If it does, you keep selling. If it doesn’t, you try something else. This approach lent its name to a recent best-seller: Ready, Fire, Aim. The main idea is that to start and grow a small business you must develop a pragmatic, action-oriented mentality. Rather than spend too much time and money refining theoretical ideas, you develop a prototype quickly and then see if the market will buy it.

As it is said in the book, for every business that fails because of poor planning there are a dozen that never get off the ground because of too much planning. The Ready, Fire, Aim approach obviously doesn’t apply to surgical procedures and rocket science. But it will be very useful for 90 percent of the new-business ideas you are likely to come up with.

Want to start a business selling diamond-studded collars for kitty cats? Fine. There are two ways to go about that: You can spend most of your time and money manufacturing a line of such collars – and only after that is done, start to think about how you can sell it. You can make a single collar and go down to the local flea market or your neighborhood pet shop and see if you can find a customer for it. Most people start businesses the first way. That’s why most businesses fail. But with the Ready, Fire, Aim approach, you devote 80 percent of your initial resources to discovering an efficient way to sell the product. Once you have done that, you have found the key to successfully market it. With that key in your pocket, you don’t have to worry about all the other problems that will arise in the natural course of business. You won’t have to worry, because you will be able to create the one thing that can solve almost every business problem: cash flow.

Here, in a nutshell, is what is meant by Ready, Fire, Aim:

Ready: Get your product idea ready. Make it good enough to sell. Don’t worry about making it perfect. There will be time enough for that later.

Fire: Start selling it. Sell it every way you can. Test different offers. Test different ad copy. Test different media. Keep testing until you discover something that works. This is your Optimum Selling Strategy (OSS).

Aim: Expand your customer base by focusing on your OSS. As your customer base grows, develop business procedures to accommodate that growth. Hire the best people you can to manage your business. Discover, through “back-end” marketing tests, other products and services that your customers will buy. Use those discoveries to refine and perfect a fast-selling line. As this back-end business flushes cash into your company, invest a good deal of that cash into front-end marketing. That is the cycle of a successful start-up venture.

Ready, Fire, Aim doesn’t mean you are willing to be sloppy. Nor does it mean you are willing to sell second-rate products to your customers. On the contrary, Ready, Fire, Aim is the only truly practical way to find out what your market really wants from you.

And for a small business, Ready, Fire, Aim is the best way to get from good to great.

Think of it this way: When we say we have “a great new product idea,” what do we really mean? When I say that, I mean I have a strong feeling that the product will sell well – that it will be a big, commercial success. But the truth is, I have only a hunch about how well my idea will do. Experience has taught me that my hunches are often right… but not always.

If I spend too much time and energy preparing a business based on a hunch, what happens if the hunch doesn’t pan out? What happens is that I’m left with nothing – no money or materials or energy – to start over again. The essence of entrepreneurship is the ability to try and fail and then try again. You can’t do that if you blow your wad the first time you try. So nowadays when I get the feeling that I have a great idea, I figure out how I can test that idea as quickly and as cheaply as possible. Once I know the idea has “legs,” then I can roll out a sales program. And once a successful sales program is underway, I can refine and improve the product.

The truth is, I can never perfect a product in isolation. I used to think I could, but, once again, experience has taught me the arrogance of that kind of thinking. To get from good to great, you need the help of superstar employees and, most of all, feedback from your customers. The best customer feedback comes not from surveys or focus groups but from marketing results. Find out what your customers want by selling things to them. This gets you back into the Ready, Fire, Aim loop. If I had to pick one thing – one characteristic or quality of my work that is most responsible for the success I’ve had launching businesses – I’d have to say it was this Ready, Fire, Aim approach. It’s something I believe in strongly. That’s why I wince when I read the start-up advice of so many “experts” who advocate feel-good busywork over selling.

 I was hoping that when Ready, Fire, Aim was published we’d see no more foolishness of this type in the business press.

But here’s just a short list of the misguided (and even ridiculous) advice I’ve read since my book came out in January of this year: Create an instant-impact message that describes the chief benefit of your business.

Put it on business cards and brochures, which you should hand out at business functions and meetings.

Find a great office space and fill it with furniture.

• Take a field trip to discover how your product or service will satisfy people’s desires.
• Protect your “great ideas” by registering your business name, logo, and slogan.
• Create a paper trail – tracking all meeting dates, attendees, and discussions.
• Consult a lawyer and obtain his or her advice on how to best protect your business and make sure you set up the right legal structure.
• Check with your municipal authority to make sure “they permit a venture like yours” to work out of the home.
• Buy business insurance and “talk to an accountant or attorney” to make sure you’re not missing anything.
•  Get a toll-free phone number (to give the impression that your business is much bigger than it is).
• Do these things before you find out whether your product can sell, and your business is practically guaranteed to fail.

Again, here’s my advice for starting a business:

• As soon as possible, get the product ready to test.
• Test it as aggressively and creatively as you can.
• Spend 80 percent of your initial resources discovering the most cost-effective way to make the first sale (your “Optimum Selling Strategy”).
• Refine and adjust your sales process as market conditions change.
• At the same time, gradually develop business procedures to service your customers and improve your products according to your customers’ buying preferences.

 Ed. Note: There’s a TON of foolish business advice floating around the Internet and in bookstores. But you can get proven, time-tested recommendations for starting and growing a business (from someone who’s built dozens of businesses himself) in Michael’s New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Business Week bestseller Ready, Fire, Aim. And now it’s available FREE. Get all the details here.]

This article appears courtesy of <a href=”http://www.earlytorise.com/” target=”_blank”>Early To Rise</a>, a free newsletter</a> dedicated to <a href=”http://www.earlytorise.com/issue-archive/” target=”_blank”>creating wealth</a> and <a href=”http://www.earlytorise.com/issue-archive/” target=”_blank”>success</a> through inspiration and practical, proven advice. For a complimentary subscription, visit http://www.earlytorise.com.

2 your online success, Dirk

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Success Through Goal Setting

Becoming an expert at goal setting and goal achieving is something that you absolutely must do if you wish to fulfill your potential as a human being. Goals enable you to do the work you want to do, to live where you want to live, to be with the people you enjoy, and to become the kind of person you want to be.

Yet, according to the best research, less than 3 percent of Americans have written goals, and less than 1 percent review and rewrite their goals on a regular basis.

Why do so few people set goals? I think there are five basic reasons.

1. They are simply not serious.

Whenever I speak with a man or woman who has achieved something remarkable, I learn that the achievement occurred after that person decided to “get serious.” In other words, until you become completely determined about your goals, nothing really happens.

2. They don’t understand the importance of goals.

Young men and women who begin setting goals very early in life invariably come from families in which the importance of goals is emphasized.

3. They don’t know how to do it.

One of the greatest tragedies of our educational system is that you can receive 15 to 18 years of education and never once receive a single hour of instruction on how to set goals.

4. Fear of rejection.

The fear of rejection is caused by destructive criticism in early childhood and is manifested, in adulthood, in the fear of being criticized by others. Many people hold back on setting worthwhile goals because they have found that every time they do set a goal, somebody steps up and tells them that they can’t achieve it, or that they will lose their money or waste their time.

5. Fear of failure — and this may be the most important reason of all.

People don’t set goals because they are afraid they might fail. In fact, the fear of failure is probably the greatest single obstacle to success in adult life. It can hold you back more than any other psychological barrier.

If you can overcome all of these obstacles and set well-defined goals, it will enable you to channel your efforts and focus your energy toward something that’s important to you. Goal setting gives you a target to aim at and enables you to develop the self-discipline to continue working toward your target rather than becoming distracted and going off in other directions.

Let me share with you five keys that will help you do that. Each of these keys starts with one of the letters in the word “goals.” Whenever you find yourself getting off the track, simply repeat the word “goals,” and think about how each letter stands for a key that just might apply to your current situation.

The first letter is G, and it stands for “Get to it.”

Sometimes, the only difference between a successful person and a failure is that the successful person has the courage to get started, to do something, to begin moving toward the accomplishment of a specific goal.

The second letter, O, stands for “Opportunity.”

Successful people do not wait for opportunities to turn their goals into reality. They make their opportunities, because they are perfectly clear about the kind of life they wish to create. Once you have taken the time to decide exactly what you want, you will experience an endless flow of opportunities that will help move you in that direction.

The letter A stands for “Ability.”

Many people hesitate to set high, challenging goals because they lack the ability to turn those goals into reality. But remember that we all lacked knowledge and experience when we started out in our careers or fields of expertise. Since you gain the ability necessary for high achievement through knowledge and experience, if you increase the speed at which you acquire both of those, you increase the speed at which you move ahead.

The letter L stands for “Leadership.”

Leadership is simply the ability to get results. And you begin to get results when you accept full responsibility for yourself, for your job, and for the outputs required in your position. You demonstrate leadership when you refuse to make excuses or blame anyone or anything for the problems you are having. The acceptance of the responsibility of leadership enables you to move ahead and take action.

The final letter, S, stands for “Stay with it.”

This is the resolution to persist in the face of adversity until you succeed. Between you and every goal that you wish to achieve, there is a series of obstacles. The bigger the goal, the bigger the obstacles. Your decision to be, have, and do something out of the ordinary entails facing difficulties and challenges that are out of the ordinary as well. Sometimes, your greatest asset is simply your ability to stay with it longer than anyone else.

When you look around you, you will see that all achievement is the triumph of persistence. You will see men and women everywhere who are struggling with and overcoming adversity in order to accomplish something that is important to them. And so can you.

G-O-A-L-S. That’s what you have to remember. And “G” is the first thing: “Get to it!”

By Brian Tracy

This article appears courtesy of Early To Rise, a free newsletter dedicated to making money, improving health and secrets to success. For a complimentary subscription, visit http://www.earlytorise.com.

2 your learning success, Dirk

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Disagreements happen. You can’t always get your way. Everyone has an opinion. There are two sides to every argument.

When you’re dealing with family or friends, you expect to have differences of opinion. Perhaps you are willing to fight for your views and what’s important to you. And often, because of the personal relationships you have, you find a way to work things out.

At work, the dynamic is very different. The professional relationships you develop are based more on achieving success and moving up. Of course, you’ve become friends too, but competition is still part of the system. You want to be seen as a team player, but you want your ideas respected. You don’t want to get a reputation for making trouble. You need to be picky about picking fights.

Disputes that are not worth pursuing fall into several categories:

• The other person will not change. Perhaps they are just as grounded in their principles as you are, and not willing to listen or consider another point of view. Compromise may not be an option in any case.
• The results won’t change the outcome substantially. Think hard about whether it is more important to get your way or to just let it go.
• All the facts aren’t available. Decisions need to be based on the best possible information. Guessing to fill in the blanks will not benefit anyone.
• Other issues are more important. Keep your priorities straight and concentrate on the most pressing issues. Not all issues carry the same weight.
• You’re just trying to prove yourself, not improve the situation. What you will prove is that your ego is more important than the problem you are trying to solve.
• You really have no chance of winning. You may be a voice in the wilderness, and 100 percent correct in your assessment, but save your breath until you can realistically bring others around.

But there are valid reasons for holding your ground, which need no explanation. Pursue a fight when: Your own ideas are being stolen. Your reputation is at stake. Your company’s reputation is being threatened. The action being taken is unethical or illegal. And cost is a major factor.

When an argument ensues, focus on the issue, not the person raising the objection. Make sure your facts are correct and complete. Have documentation available to back up your points. Stay calm — yelling and ranting make you look out of control rather than on top of the issue. Respect the other people and let them have their say. Compromise wherever possible. Bear in mind that you will be working with these co-workers and the success of future dealings hinges on how you treat them.

Letting a disagreement fester is counterproductive in many ways: It creates a hostile workplace, discourages teamwork, wastes time and resources, and in the end, accomplishes nothing. Everyone loses.

Fortunately, with some preparation, you can improve your chances of persuading others to consider your ideas. If I know I’m going into difficult negotiations, I don’t want the result to be an argument. I want everyone to feel like they contributed to the solution. It has to be a win-win situation. Here’s how I proceed:

• Anticipate the sticking points. I never walk into a presentation or meeting without considering what issues and objections might arise. I develop a game plan to deal with concerns and to convince them that the solution I am proposing will address their objection.
• Stay on topic. Stick to the issues, and redirect the conversation back to the original issue if conversation wanders.
• Don’t take objections personally. Pay close attention to the reasons others are challenging your ideas, and try to see the issues from their perspective. If my solution creates a new problem for them, I am willing to reconsider. The point is to solve problems.
• Ask for help. I look to advisers and employees for great ideas. This accomplishes two things: It helps me see the problems from several points of view, and it demonstrates that I am willing to be a team player. I want the best ideas out there, and I don’t always care where they come from.

Differences of opinion don’t have to be dead ends. Learn how to pick your battles, and put your energy into finding the best possible solutions.

Mackay’s Moral: You have a right to fight for what’s right.

[Ed Note: To learn more about handling disagreements in the workplace effectively, without wasting time or money, check out ETR's Epiphany Alliance personal success program. From your personal mentor Bob Cox, you'll learn dozens of techniques for organizing your life at home and at work so you can achieve all your most important goals. Find out more here.

By Harvey Mackay

Harvey Mackay has written five New York Times bestselling books, two of which were named among the top 15 inspirational business books of all time -- Swim With the Sharks Without Being Eaten Alive and Beware the Naked Man Who Offers You His Shirt. His latest book, Use Your Head to Get Your Foot in the Door: Job Search Secrets No One Else Will Tell You, was released on Feb. 18. Harvey is a nationally syndicated columnist and has been named one of the top five speakers in the world by Toastmasters International. He is chairman of the $100 million MackayMitchell Envelope Company, a company he started in 1960.]

This article appears courtesy of Early To Rise, a free newsletter dedicated to making money, improving health and secrets to success. For a complimentary subscription, visit http://www.earlytorise.com.

2 your learning success, Dirk

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