For individuals in the sales industry, ensuring clients hear what you are saying (selling) is a critical component for success—but the proverbial sales pitch can feel like a 90-mph fastball as you rush through your presentation in the usual limited meeting time.

Yet, the art of selling might be more about the art of listening rather than speaking. Building a loyal customer is like building a relationship. It’s a two-way conversation of hearing what the client needs and providing solutions they can trust and use.

Populous, one of the world leaders in innovative architecture has mastered the art of listening by building a large-scale brainstorming event gathering clients from various sectors. These collaborations, called “Imagine That,” give attendees and the company a more comprehensive understanding of trends shaping their industry, while the meaningful design workshops will certainly be used to impact Populous’ approach to design in the future.

Don’t have the resources to gather clients for a big brainstorming session? Try one of these alternatives:

• At your next client meeting, try to start by engaging in a broader conversation about the goals, trends, and business challenges the client faces in the coming months.
• Can’t fly your team in? Introduce your company’s research experts through a short teleconference or on FaceTime or Google Hangout
• Send a quick note and share relevant research that your team recently published.
• Develop a short online survey clients can take. There are some simple online survey tools you can use to create and gather data.
• Join in on social media sites to post pictures of happy clients, new products, and show customers what your team is up to with photo essays.
• Check out online feedback and message boards. Joining IAVM gives Allied Members access to VenueNet, IAVM’s online community. VenueNet is a great place to get the industry pulse and suggest solutions to questions posted on discussion boards.

Listening can act as a powerful tool to encourage innovation. By listening to your client you may be the first person in your organization to realize it’s time for a change in products.

One of the best events to hear what venue managers are saying about the industry is  VenueConnect, IAVM’s annual conference and trade show. This year’s event will be in Portland, Or., July 26-29. The conference brings in venue professionals from around the world and many are the decision makers for their venues.

Make sure your company reserves a trade show booth and signs up to get connected one-on-one with venue buyers through the association’s new hosted buyer program, IAVM DirectConnect, where venue’s tell us what they plan to buy and how much they plan to spend and you set up a series of short meetings during the conference to help them accomplish their buying needs!

(photo credit: dalbera via photopin cc)

Tony Hsieh doesn’t want to be CEO of Zappos anymore. Okay, that’s not quite true. In reality, he doesn’t want the title “CEO.”

In a move that some outlets are already touting as the hot, new management trend of 2014, Hsieh will flatten his organization and implement a Holacracy.

Hola what? Yeah, a Holacracy (it’s capitalized because it’s a brand, folks), which is “a distributed authority system—a set of ‘rules of the game’ that bake empowerment into the core of the organization,” as defined by HolacracyOnce LLC. “Unlike conventional top-down or progressive bottom-up approaches, it integrates the benefits of both without relying on parental heroic leaders. Everyone becomes a leader of their roles and a follower of others’, processing tensions with real authority and real responsibility, through dynamic governance and transparent operations.”

For Zappos, about 10 percent of the company currently operates under a Holacracy. By the end of year, all 1,500 employees will operate under the system.

However, Alison Griswold, a reporter for Business Insider, says it won’t work. She says that the fundamental issue is that people don’t self-regulate or discipline themselves that well. Another reason is attrition.

“Companies bled talent as successful managers jumped ship instead of losing their titles,” she wrote. “At the same time, poor and mediocre managers that the companies hoped to effectively demote continued to be seen as de facto leaders.”

Over on Medium.com, Alexis Bowers with HolacracyOne addresses some of the common myths surrounding the operating system.

“Holacracy specifies how to decide, not what to decide,” Bowers wrote. “There are principles an organization can align with when designing systems like compensation that will align well with Holacracy, but there’s no one prescribed answer.”

And it’s not a cure-all, either.

“It is simply a technology that specifies how an organization can build its bones and structure itself,” Bowers wrote. “It probably doesn’t do all of the magical things that folks think it will do, but it can be pretty transformative. Holacracy will not make unicorns pop out of cupcakes, but if practiced regularly, there is increased transparency, efficiency, and more distribution of power and authority.”

Back up there. It won’t make unicorns pop out of cupcakes? Well, then, maybe it’s not for me. Maybe it’s for you, though. How would you imagine your organization operating under a Holacracy? Please share your thoughts in the comments.

(Image from the HolacracyOne Facebook page)

Here are the answers to the crossword puzzle featured in the October/November issue of Facility Manager magazine. As a reminder, any IAVM member that sends in a photo/scan of completed puzzles from the next issue will be entered into a drawing for a complimentary registration to VenueConnect 2014 in Portland, Oregon! (Submissions must be received by the deadline printed with each puzzle.)

When you’re a Certified Facilities Executive (CFE), it shows that you’re a skilled manager, that you’re committed to the industry, and that you’ve pledged to continue your professional growth and development.  You’re also recognized as an expert in your profession by those inside and outside of the industry.

“I love what I do and obtaining my CFE is not the end, it is only the beginning,” said Cat Dragon, CFE, in our February/March 2013 issue. “It has opened doors for me to provide greater service for the good of the whole.”

It also provided Dragon with something else.

“Credibility…with my colleagues and students, with clients, with potential employers for my students,” she said. “The certification are not given out lightly; they are earned. The certification fosters a stronger spirit of professionalism and shows your commitment to the education value within our field.”

Now’s the time to join that group of your peers who have reached the pinnacle of achievement with IAVM by becoming Certified Facilities Executives. With the holidays and end-of-the-year activities now behind you, accept the challenge to make 2014 the year you earn your CFE.

Applications and written essays are due no later than Feb. 1, 2014.  Apply today!

There was a lot of industry news this past week you may have missed. Here are some headlines that caught our eyes.

Hey, Stars, Be Nice to the Stagehands. You Might Need a Loan.
—The New York Times
“The stagehands of Local 1 of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees bring some of New York City’s most glittering stage effects to life, from the auditoriums of Lincoln Center to the theaters of Broadway. But their work comes at a steep price, even at venues where they do little more than load in orchestras and set up music stands.”

Super Bowl Security Takes Shape
—ESPN New York
“…the NFL will begin construction of a double chain link and jersey barricade fence nearly 4 miles long. Ultimately, it will encircle MetLife Stadium and a 300-foot buffer in all directions, as well as the Izod Center and the power station that feeds them both, and the fence will serve as the security perimeter for the nation’s biggest game, the Super Bowl on Feb. 2.”

6 Fundamentals That Can Make You a Better Manager in 2014
—Forbes
“…when it comes to operational effectiveness, chances are that will be determined by how well you execute fundamentals day in and day out.”

Sochi Watch: Everything You Need to Know about Russia’s Massive Olympic Security Operation
—Foreign Policy
“Just five weeks before the 2014 Winter Olympics kick off in Sochi, two bombings in the Russian city of Volgograd have highlighted security concerns in the volatile region, and drawn attention to the massive security apparatus emerging around the Olympic games.”

Saving the Lost Art of Conversation
—The Atlantic
“‘I am going to be a little boring,’ Sherry Turkle announces as we sit down to tea in the living room of her sprawling Boston townhouse. ‘And you’re going to be a little boring, too.'”

(Image: Suzanne DeChillo/The New York Times)