Multiple Intelligences & Motivation and Productivity–Tapping the Full Potential of Your Business Team

Probably the most well-known mapping of what motivates us comes from the famous psychologist, Abraham Maslow. He called it the “Hierarchy of Needs”. The basis of Maslow's theory is that human beings are motivated by unsatisfied needs, and that certain lower needs need to be satisfied before higher needs can be satisfied.

For example, if you are hungry and thirsty, you will tend to take care of the thirst first. After all, you can do without food for weeks, but you can only do without water for a couple of days! Thirst is a “stronger” need than hunger. Likewise, if you are very very thirsty, but someone has put a choke hold on you and you can’t breath, which is more important? The need to breathe, of course. On the other hand, sex is less powerful than any of these. You probably won’t die if you don’t get it!

Maslow took this idea and created his now famous hierarchy of needs. Beyond the details of air, water, food, and sex, he laid out five broader layers: the physiological needs, the needs for safety and security, the needs for love and belonging, the needs for esteem, and the need to actualize the self, in that order.

I have reworked the hierarchy a bit under five basic categories:
• Physical needs (which is Maslow’s physiological needs)

• Emotional needs (where I have included the need for safety and security)

• Relational needs (Maslow’s needs for love and belonging)

• Cognitive needs (including needs of esteem)

• Spiritual needs (Maslow’s needs for self-actualization)Understanding these basic human needs is at the core of any effective business coaching and deeply motivating your business partners to produce. In some ways, success in motivating people to succeed in your business this is like what's involved in coaching kids in sports:

1. You've got to insure they have fun;
2. You've got to help them develop the skills needed in the game;
3. You've got to focus on their individual growth, then show them how to be members of the team; and
4. You've got to do everything in your power to help them win.

However, equally important is a person’s “intelligence profile”. An intelligence profile reveals the Eight Kinds of Smart as they show up in a one’s personal and professional life It reveals intelligence areas which are more highly developed than others.

Once you have a picture of another person’s profile you at the same time have some very powerful information for dealing with and relating to them. You also can see areas which can be strengthened and empowered. It gives you powerful clues to help each team member “be all that they can be”.

When we have a sense of this, we at the same time have a sense of what it will take to motivate them, which, as I mentioned earlier results in greater productivity.
When you approach your business partners from the standpoint of The 8 Kinds of Smart, most of your problems with motivating them will vanish. This is because you are dealing with them in ways that are “in synch” with who they are at deep levels of their psyche.

Following are several examples of multiple intelligence strategies you can use to motivate people who have different intelligence profiles.

As you work with these strategies, remember that each person possesses all eight intelligences. So motivation strategies from just one area will likely not work by themselves. But chances are that when you’re working with someone whose dominate intelligence is ImageSmart, for example, you’ll be far more effective in your communication with them and in successfully motivating them if you use some of the ImageSmart motivators.

SoundSmart people are sensitive to all manner of sounds in the environment. They usually have a love of music and rhythmic patterns and might work better with music in the background.

Examples for motivating SoundSmart team members:
• Encourage suggestions on the musical-rhythmic aspects of your advertising.

• Ask for suggestions on how to manage unhelpful or distracting sounds.

• Watch how you say whatever you say in conversation – the sound of your speech may communicate more than the actual meaning of your words.

• Play music during meetings or performance reviews to help set or shift moods and to make transitionsWordSmart people generally have highly developed skills for reading, speaking, and writing. They are likely precise in expressing themselves and irritated with others are not.

Examples for motivating WordSmart team members:
• Offer free and open access for conversation with supervisors when needed.

• Give them articles to read and ask them to write executive summaries to share the information with others.

• Get them involved in writing sales copy for your products or services.

• Ask them to write press releases, industry-specific articles, or reports for publication.SelfSmart people are generally self-reflective and self-aware. They tend to be in tune with their inner feelings, values, and beliefs.

Examples for motivating SelfSmart employees:
• Frequently ask them to “go inside” and be aware of their feelings, intuitions, reflections, and thought processes.

• Give them independent work assignments.

• Provide them time to reflect before having to produce something or give an answer to a question.

• Talk with them about their personal goals and how they see them fitting in with the goals of the company.Once you have figured out what motivates your team or business partners, you at the same time have some very important clues for helping them be more productive. Use the multiple intelligence motivation strategies to create a plan for dealing with an team member based on his or her “intelligence profile”.

For example, plan your daily relating and mentoring / coaching strategies based on their more dominate intelligences; take their more developed intelligences into account when planning training and development; and remember these stronger intelligences when conducting any kind of planning or performance reviews.

The goal should be to tap perceived intelligence strengths "on-the-job" (whether one is working from home or from a traditional office), and come up with plans for enhancing those intelligences which “need some help”

You CAN tap the full potential of your business team!

Multiple Intelligences and Sales & Marketing–Moving Prospects From Where They Are To Where You Want Them To Be!

The old approaches to sales and marketing are dead. They haven’t been working for a number of years. And yet you’d never guess this by looking at the sales and marketing department of the majority of companies in our world today.

One night, while we were all sleeping, customers changed. For the most part they stopping listening to and paying attention to advertising.
•They started putting their phone numbers on national “don’t call” lists.
• They got filters on their computers to prevent unwanted messages from getting through to them.
• They started complaining about spam to their internet service providers.
• They got “pop up blockers” to prevent internet ads from interrupting their online experience.
They reached a point of information overload and they decided to do something about it. Block and ignore information they didn’t want to receive.

My father, who is 87 years old, lives in Colorado Springs. He lives in a great retirement community. When I visit him often in the evening we’ll spend some time watching TV. When ads come on during a program or between programs he mutes the sound on the TV. We talk, or if I’m not there, he simply sits there until the ad is over and the program returns, then he unmutes the TV.

When I’m at home watching TV I wait till ads to go and get a snack, brush my teeth, or do something in my home office. I know I usually have 3-5 minutes before the program returns. I tune out the ads. Companies are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars for these ads slots, but lots and lots of people never fully experience them.

When I get my mail each day from the US post office, I usually throw away about half of the mail I get without even opening it. I have learned to recognize marketing and sales communications from companies I’ve not asked to hear from, so they end up in the circular file next to my desk.

The sales and marketing game has changed, whether you're in a home-based business or a more traditional business setting. And this is precisely because consumers are no longer paying attention to our messages.

Seth Godin, best-selling author of a number of books on the the new sales and marketing paradigm, calls this “marketing attention deficit”. Consumers today have found, and are finding ever new ways, to block those messages they don’t want to receive or have not requested to receive.

So assuming this is right, what do we do? I believe we've got to take a whole new look at our sales and marketing messages and make sure they're are attractive to potential business partners and customers. My advice is start with "personal branding". Dont' start by promoting your business opportunity or trying to sell your products. Start by promoting YOU!

You first job is to get prospective business partners and customers to trust you enough to allow you send them messages you're fairly sure they'll pay attention to. Start marketing YOU before you even think about marketing your product or service or trying to make a sale. Once you've got this new approach figured out, the rest of this special report will help you create messages that have a stong likelihood of getting through prospects' "filtering screens"!

A Different Kind of Sales & Marketing

In what follow you will learn a Sales and Marketing System that is based on the ground-breaking research on multiple intelligences – The 8 Kinds of Smart. A multiple intelligence approach to sales provides you with a new system for “playing ball”, so to speak, in this new sales “playing field”. The article presents a revolutionary system which will help you connect to and relate to your potential customers is a totally new way.

The 8 Kinds of Smart asks us to look at ourselves and other people through a very different set of eyeglasses. The concern is to learn HOW people learn, HOW they process information, and HOW they understand and perceive things. The chart below shows eight ways we do this!


So what are some of the benefits of a multiple intelligence approach to sales and marketing?
• When you can figure out out “where a potential customer or client is coming from” and how they process information, you can better focus your sales and marketing messages to speak directly to them.

• Multiple intelligences give you many ways to more deeply and authentically connect with your potential customers, thus increasing the likelihood of a long-term relationship with them.

• When you know how to use a “multi-modal” approach to sales and marketing you have many more options for helping a customer understand how your products or services genuinely meet their unique needs.

• Your communication skills get turbocharged because you have a wide variety of strategies and tools for molding your sales and marketing message to a potential customer based on their dominant intelligences.

• When you can pick up clues to a potential customer’s “intelligence profile” (which intelligences are stronger and more important to them) you can instantly adjust your sales and marketing presentation to them so you’re reaching them at deeper levels.How do we identify the intelligences in our customers. Customers will say and do things that help you understand where they’re coming from intellectually, if we know what to watch for and listen for. Here are a couple of examples for three of the intelligences.

ImageSmart customers think in pictures. In order to fully understand something, they need to see a picture of it or, if there’s no actual image to look at, they’ll often create one in their mind’s eye through some kind of visualization or the use of mental imagery.

WATCH for. . .
• Desire to touch the product you’re selling
• Closing their eyes to remember something
• Drawing a diagram to communicate with you

LISTEN for . . .
• “I see what you mean!”
• “I can’t get an image of what you’re saying.”
• “Can you show me a picture of how it works?”
Some ImageSmart Sales & Marketing Strategies

• Make a flow chart to show how a product works; e-mail or fax it if you’re selling over the phone.
• Help the customer visualize how to use your product in his or her life.
• Mind map the information as you’re talking; if on the phone ask the customer to create a mind map as you talk.BodySmart customers process information primarily by doing, touch, and movement. They want to know how anything they purchase will work in the real world where a product or service actually will be used.

WATCH for. . .
• Desire to try out your product for them self
• Use their body to express them self (gestures, facial expressions, etc.)
• Want you to demonstrate the benefits and features your product

LISTEN for . . .
• “I have a feel for it, but I can’t express it in words.”
• “That comment really makes my heart beat faster.”
• “Let me try it for myself.”
Some BodySmart Sales & Marketing Strategies

• Perform a physical demonstration of your product or send them a video clip so the customer can experience it.
• Offer your customer a “hands on” opportunity to try out your product or service for them self.
• Show a video of ordinary people using and benefiting from using your product or service.PeopleSmart people often do their best thinking out loud with other people. Collaboration gets their learning juices flowing. Their ability to relate to and understand others makes for strong groups that support all members.

WATCH for. . .
• Empathy with others’ feelings and life situation
• Impressed with other peoples’ opinions about your product
• Mentioning other groups or teams they’re part of who might benefit from
the product you’re selling

LISTEN for . . .
• “Let me repeat what I just heard you say. Tell me if I got it.”
• “I need to talk with my significant other, team mates, close friends, etc.”
• “I wish so-and-so was part of this conversation. They’d really find this interesting.”

Some PeopleSmart Sales & Marketing Strategies

• Use endorsements of your product from respected experts in your industry or from well-known people in society.
• If appropriate, do a conference call where you have a small group in on the presentation.
• Make extensive use of testimonials where other people are telling how the product helped them.Once you have discerned your customer’s needs and their dominate intelligence, the process for using the Sales Strategies is quite easy. You simply take your normal sales presentation and you present it using strategies from the intelligence you have discerned is your customer’s dominant intelligence.

You CAN discover where your customers are and move them where you want them to be!

Have You Turbo-Charged Your Training With These Teaching/Learning Strategies?

Training and development (T&D) are really two sides of a single coin:

• Training can be defined as preparing someone’s skills to perform specific tasks.

• Development is concerned with empowering people who have the readiness to deal not only with present needs but also those of the unknown future. Stephen Covey calls this “sharpening the saw” to be ready for whatever comes.

Training and development are natural processes. In many ways, the evolutionary process and T&D are the same. Evolution is a process by which an organism changes its behavior or form in order to better compete with other organisms or to adapt to a changing environment.

Evolution is the unfolding of potential. Nothing can unfold if it has no potential. Therefore, in a metaphorical sense, evolution can be described as a process of remembering potentials which have been forgotten or which may have not been needed previously.

T&D works the same way. Through the awakening of new knowledge, novel perspectives, untapped capacities, hidden skills, and different ways of knowing, potentials which have been latent prior to this awakening process are now activated. Once this has occurred, one’s perception of everything is different because seeing, hearing, tasting, touching, and smelling–in short living itself– is happening on many more levels than before this awakening.

Obviously what I have just described is the ideal T & D experience. How often does this really happen in training sessions you conduct, meetings you lead, or presentations you give?

How often, instead do you prepare and prepare; you make what you felt was a brilliant presentation, only to have the participants leave grumbling about what a waste of time it was? How often do you knock yourself out to make a presentation interesting but as you look out at the participants you can tell their minds are off somewhere else?

Whether you are talking about traditional business training or "field training", the issues I've mentioned above present themselves. Of course the traditional training situation is often in a classroom, a conference call, a webinar, or an online course in which one is participating. The field training situation is what we often call "on-the-job" training or training in a "real world" setting. Field training tends to me more hands-on.

The good news I bring you in this report is that the awakening I described earlier can happen one hundred percent of the time IF the training session, meeting, or presentation is structured properly to take into account all the we know about how the human brain learns and processes information. And this applies equally to both traditional and field training!

A Multi-modal Approach to Training

What does multi-modal learning mean? In a nutshell it means learning something in wide variety of ways. The scientific research behind multi-modal learning has documented that:
• The more different ways a person learns something, the more they will really learn it.
• The more different ways they learn something, the more they will remember it.
• The more different ways they learn something, the more they will genuinely understand and assimilate itIn most of your formal education you basically learned required information in two or three ways at best—the traditional “reading, writing, ’rithmetic” ways of learning which were are at the heart of most of the learning we did in school.

However, not everyone learns and processes information best in the traditional ways. Most people need to learn and process information several different ways for the information to really stick. In multi-modal approaches to learning people discover how to learn anything more quickly. They discover how to remember forever what they’ve learned. And they learn how to apply the information they get to their personal and professional lives.

When you’re involved in communicating with others, you’ll be surprised at how much better they’ll understand what you’re teaching when you structure your training session to access a wider range of their learning and knowing capacities. The key to doing this is to structure your training around the eight multiple intelligences.

Let me introduce you to a tool that will forever change any training you’ll ever do, whether it’s a formal training workshop, the more informal training which occurs daily on-the-job, leading meetings or discussions, making a presentation, or any time you’re involved in situations where you’re needing to communicate with others.

It’s a revolutionary training tool called the Multiple Intelligence SmartStrategies™. The SmartStrategies™ provide all of the strategies, techniques, methods, and tools you will ever need to put together dynamite training sessions, meetings, or presentations in which people will learn the material you’re teaching better than you ever thought possible, and they’ll have fun in the process!

Multiple Intelligences (a.k.a. The Eight Kinds of Smart) is simply a model for understanding at least eight different ways people learn, understand, and process information. The following diagram shows the eight:


Here's is a a sample of three teaching and learning strategies for each intelligence which you can incorporate into your teaching.

ImageSmart Strategies
• Create diagrams or pictures of the information.
• Visualize how to use the learning in your life.
• Mind map the information

LogicSmart Strategies
• Make graphs of related facts and figures.
• Pass out an outline of the key points and subpoints.
• Use different thinking patterns to analyze the information.

BodySmart Strategies
• Role play or act out concepts of the learning.
• Turn the information into a physical game.
• Watch an expert and copy what they do until you master the skill.

NatureSmart Strategies
• Find equivalents for your information in the natural world.
• Examine environmental issues that connect to the topic.
• Incorporate natural objects into your presentation.

SoundSmart Strategies
• Make up a song about the information.
• Think of background sounds you associate with the learning.
• Use different ways of speaking to explain the information (loud, soft, fast, slow).

WordSmart Strategies
• Turn the information into a limerick or a poem.
• Write it up as a front-page newspaper story.
• Make up riddles, jokes, or puns based on the information you’re learning.

PeopleSmart Strategies
• Interview experts in the area you’re studying.
• Explain your learning to a group of friends.
• Learn with others, with each person learning a part then teaching it.

SelfSmart Strategies
• List personal implications of the knowledge for you.
• List 10 ways to use what you’re learning right now.
• Think about the spiritual or universal implications of what you’re learning.

What so often happens in learning is that people learn something only in the space between their ears and above the neck. How long does it usually last? In my experience, sometimes as soon as thirty minutes after the training session, people have forgotten most of the information.

However, when you employ multi-modal teaching and learning strategies, the learning takes place throughout the entire brain-mind-body system and beyond, in the social environment as well.

If you want to reach everyone, everytime, and know that people will leave your training having genuinely understood your information, you’ve got to present it in a variety of ways to appeal to the different intelligences. And I promise you, the Eight Kinds of Smart are already present in any group you train or to whom you make a presentation!