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The following is Cydcor's review of The Good Listener: Better Relationships through Better Communication by Hugh Mackay.
About The Good Listener: Now in its second edition, the Good Listener is a guide to communication within relationships by social researcher Hugh Mackay. Originally published as “Why don’t people listen?” the book discusses communication and why it is difficult for most people to properly communicate ideas to others.
One of the more interesting ways that Mackay teaches communication skills is by creating a fictional, and rather dysfunctional, family. As Mackay explains it, “most of us learn about communication from our families,” and by illustrating communication problems through the issues of a single family the reader will hopefully retain the lessons more completely.
Cydcor recommends this book to future leaders because: Communication is one of the most important skills for a leader to learn. Not only does clear communication help leaders to motivate and inspire their people, but it also helps organizations to promote discipline and strategic alignment. The very best leaders are good communicators and many otherwise excellent companies struggle based on communication issues within their leadership.
Mackay does an excellent job of explaining why listening is important to improving relationships, and provides practical advice on how to listen and resolve conflicts through communication.
Our favorite part: Our favorite passage appears rather early in the book and sets up the entire premise for Mackay’s thesis:
“The real mystery is why, when we are so keen to communicate, we so consistently fail to take into account what our experience should have taught us at a very early age: the fact that, generally speaking, people only pay close attention to things which directly concern them- things which are relevant to their own situation, their own needs, their own interests- and, even when they do listen, they will be listening to everything in their own way.”
Mackay goes on to explain that people are not blank slates on which we can write our messages, rather every person has their own mechanism for viewing the world. Everyone sees the world very differently, and because of this we often communicate in a way that makes sense for us but not to others. It’s an eye-opening look at why communication fails, and how it can be repaired.
Cydcor is the global leader in outsourced sales. Follow Cydcor today for more information on careers, sales and other business information.
WESTLAKE VILLAGE, Calif., May 16, 2014 -- Cydcor, the leading provider of professional in-person sales teams, announced the company will be moving to a new location to continue serving its thriving network of independently-owned sales offices and significant internal growth.
Cydcor's new 40,000 square foot headquarters will be located in Agoura Hills, California, and be double the size of their current location in Westlake Village. The new building will have a Silicon Valley look and many outdoor spaces exclusive to the company. It will host a collaborative and open landscape that accents Cydcor's corporate culture of collaboration, teamwork, and innovation.
"Cydcor was able to double the size of their footprint while maintaining the ability to remain on one floor," said Bryan Lewitt, Senior Vice President for brokerage firm CBRE. "Additionally, the new location's amenities include free covered parking, balconies, an atrium, and building top signage."
The new headquarters is also conveniently located near the U.S. 101 freeway, providing easy access to clients, sales office visits, and new hires from Los Angeles and Ventura counties. The new expansion and space will help support Cydcor's clients and tremendous network of independently-owned sales offices across the country.
"We have doubled in size since we moved to our current location five years ago – demonstrating how we consistently fulfill a unique niche for our clients and provide service to our field offices," said CEO Gary Polson. "Cydcor's growth is consistent, strategic and deliberate, and our business is resilient to the varying economic climates."
This is Cydcor's third move in just more than ten years. Cydcor started with about 2,900 square feet in 2001. In 2005, Cydcor started knocking down walls to gain and additional 6,800 square feet, and then again by adding a separate suite for another 2,000 square feet in 2007. In early 2009, they moved to the current location in Westlake Park Place, a 27-acre campus style office development, where they occupy the entire fourth floor with 19,000 square feet.
Want to learn more? Like Cydcor on Facebook and follow them on LinkedIn.
About Cydcor
Cydcor is the leading provider of outsourced, face-to-face Cydcor sales teams to a diverse client base of companies in a wide range of industries, including telecommunications, office products, home entertainment, energy, and financial services. Serving Fortune 500 and emerging market clients in the business-to-business, residential, and retail channels through in-store marketing initiatives, Cydcor works with a network of over 300 independently-owned corporate licensee (ICL) Cydcor sales offices, providing clients access to more than 4,100 sales professionals. The privately-held company is based in Westlake Village, California. For more information about Cydcor, go to www.cydcor.com.
Here is Cydcor's review of The Personal MBA: Master the Art of Business by Josh Kaufman.
About The Personal MBA: This is a pocket version of what you would learn in business school. Getting an MBA is a big commitment of both time and money. One book can’t replace an education, but The Personal MBA provides tools and resources to get you in the right direction to become a successful business leader. Josh Kaufman founded PersonalMBA.com as an alternative to the business school boondoggle. His blog has introduced hundreds of thousands of readers to the best business books and most powerful business concepts of all time. Now, he shares the essentials of entrepreneurship, marketing, sales, negotiation, operations, productivity, systems design, and much more, in one comprehensive volume. The book argues that true leadership comes from self-driven individuals and not from school.
Cydcor recommends this book to future leaders because: It explains the big concepts of navigating both the corporate world and the path of entrepreneurship. These concepts include The Iron Law of The Market (being limited to the size of your market and how to identify large, unsaturated ones), The 12 Forms of Value (many ways to create value for customers), The Pricing Uncertainty Principle (knowing how to support charging more), and 4 Methods to Increase Revenue (the ways in which you can earn more money for your business). The book covers the nuts and bolts of running a company, large or small.
Our favorite part: Kaufman provides a long list of examples of people who did not need an MBA to succeed in business. Quotes from prominent businessmen to motivate you is also a great help, and when you want more information, the book also contains a list of the “99 Best Business Books” for further learning.
Cydcor is the global leader in outsourced sales. Follow Cydcor today for more information on careers, sales and other business information.
As a leader in outsourced sales, Cydcor knows how to create winning relationships with clients. Building trust is the foundation of a sales relationship. Trust takes time, effort, honesty and hard work for clients to feel comfortable with your delivery. Even in your career, moving up at work takes the ability to build trust and sell yourself to future managers or employers. Here are some tips from the experts at Cydcor for building trust in your professional life.
What are some ways that you build trust in the workplace? Tell Cydcor on Twitter!
Another great book, Cydcor reviews The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell.
Description of this book: Gladwell, a journalist and writer for The New Yorker magazine, is known for his comprehensive examinations of how change or success happens. The Tipping Point is an in depth look at how ideas get made into wildly popular companies, books or trends. Everything from television shows to teen smoking, popularity of ideas is modeled like an epidemic. There are carriers, those that evangelize the idea and get people excited about it. Malcolm Gladwell explains that there are three types of people involved in spreading an idea: connectors, mavens and salespeople. Connectors are people with a wide social network that are good at creating communities to rally for the concept. Mavens are knowledgeable experts that enjoy educating the public on their area of expertise. Salespeople are gifted at drumming up excitement for new things.
Cydcor recommends this book to future leaders and business people because: Gladwell has a talent for identifying key factors in how to make something popular. The biggest difference in an idea that fails and one that succeeds is knowing the right people to hand your idea to. Networking, knocking on the right doors and finding the people who will think the idea is “cool” is the best way to become a viral sensation. However, Gladwell also explains that ideas need to have “stickiness” factor that will help the important people spread it to others. Both of those factors also have to an in an environment where the idea and the people are relevant to current sentiment.
Our favorite part: "The success of any kind of social epidemic is heavily dependent on the involvement of people with a particular and rare set of social gifts."
Cydcor is a leading outsourced sales company that specializes in omnichannel sales. Follow Cydcor on LinkedIn or Twitter for more professional development advice. Want to work for Cydcor? Find our openings on the Cydcor Careerbuilder page today.
In the digital world of today, most people are checking you and your business out online. Using social media can be an excellent way of building trust and supporting your brand. Cydcor uses a wide variety of social media platforms to reach various audiences and spread ideas. Here are some of our favorites and why.
Twitter is a great business tool. For no cost, businesses have access to a high performing platform to connect to your audience. As you work to establish yourself as an accomplished leader, with Cydcor or otherwise, social media can be a good tool to establish a strong network. Twitter is a great real time tool that will allow to easily spread news, ideas, blog posts and expertise to a wide variety of people. You can also use the # sign (a hashtag) to facilitate chats and answer questions related to a specific topic. You can follow Cydcor on Twitter here.
Facebook has a more relaxed feel to it. This platform is more about building community with people who already feel a connection to your brand. Facebook allows users businesses to post a variety of media and allows for each post to have comments, likes or the ability to share. Like Cydcor’s Facebook page.
LinkedIn can be great for recruiting an excellent team and finding other businesses to partner with. Built to be a professional networking site, LinkedIn shows information about companies and the individuals’ work experiences. LinkedIn shows to have a higher rate of interaction if you are promoting your blog or business related articles. Connect with Cydcor on LinkedIn.
Pinterest is a great place to collect ideas, inspiration and blog posts and present them to an active audience looking to share save those ideas. Cydcor has a variety of career-related Pinterest boards that are fun and interesting. Check out the Cydcor Pinterest Page.
What’s your favorite social media and how do you use it to promote your brand?
Professionalism is a way of behaving in a business or work setting that shows others you are reliable, knowledgeable and authoritative. At Cydcor, we pride ourselves in instilling top standards of professionalism for our team members, especially when they are in the field representing clients. Cydcor team members love to have fun at work but also know that basic professional behavior is a key to success.
Many employers refer to professionalism as “employability skills” or simply technical and verbal skills. According to a survey by York College of Pennsylvania last year, many human resource managers reported that professionalism has decreased significantly in recent years. Researchers cited that casual attitudes and a culture of entitlement are the main reasons why young people are coming off as less professional.
Generational gaps in the workplace may be to blame for the sentiment as well. In the age of the start up, many young people are finding jobs where they can act as though they are spending time with friends instead of entering a professional setting, but that style does not work for every work environment. Regardless of what is considered acceptable, being more polished and professional is always impressive, and it is advantageous to have a professional persona for business situations.
Being consistently on time and delivering expected results is the most important part of being professional. Instilling confidence in employers and clients that you can be relied upon will improve your work performance and increase your good reputation. Being on time and delivering results are values that Cydcor champions for our workplace.
Wardrobe can be a touchy subject, but how you present yourself will say a lot about you to a client or employer. Basic grooming and hygiene is important to appearance, but wearing quality clothes that fit well, are pressed and clean will also show that you take pride in your work.
Improving you vocabulary and grammar is also an excellent way to communicate that you are a skilled professional. You can improve your speech by joining a local Toastmasters group and improve your writing skills with a class or by reading books such as E.B. White’s The Elements of Style.
Would you like to join the Cydcor fleet of sales professionals? Find us at the Cydcor Careerbuilder page for open positions.
The Cydcor team decided to review Permission Marketing by Seth Godin
Description of this book: Permission Marketing refers to what is now termed as “inbound marketing”, which is a way to build a business where customers are coming to you based on your presence, reputation and word of mouth. Sellers use permission marketing to get the right message to the right people in a way that is desirable to them, rather than blasting a ton of generic content to a mass market. Sometimes, making a sale is not about insistence, but rather respecting that customers choose to give sellers and marketers their precious attention, and understanding that their attention is a valuable thing not to be wasted. The way to permission marketing is making promises for the customer and then establishing trust by following through on those promises.
Cydcor encourages team members to take this message to heart- customers are to be respected and their needs met.Cydcor recommends this book to marketers and business people because: The best message of the book is humility and patience. Permission marketing means sellers need to craft a message that is valuable to consumers and worthy of their attention. This message has to be a genuine offer, and when that agreement is settled, it is important the seller not ask for more without also offering more. Seth Godin writes in an easy to understand, no-nonsense manner that makes his message simply make sense.Our favorite part: “A Permission Marketer goes on a date. If it goes well, the two of them go on another date. And then another. Until, after ten or twelve dates, both sides can really communicate with each other about their needs and desires. After twenty dates they meet each other's families. Finally, after three or four months of dating, the Permission Marketer proposes marriage.”
Cydcor is a leading sales company that specializes in face-to-face relationships and professional development. Follow Cydcor on LinkedIn or Twitter for more professional development advice. Want to work for Cydcor? Find our openings on the Cydcor Careerbuilder page today.
Back to Basics was Cydcor's theme for the 2014 Keys to Success conference in San Antonio, Texas last weekend. Cydcor holds the Keys to Success event every year as an annual kick off. The meeting announced awards and promotions for Cydcor team members, and recognized achievers in our network of independently owned sales companies. Cydcor team members and other sales professionals got the opportunity to network and see the sights in San Antonio.
The Back to Basics Conference for Cydcor reviewed what it takes to be successful in the sales and marketing business. Inspirational stories on staying persistent and effective at work was shared across tables and on stage. Guest speakers encouraged sales teams to stick with it, take care of your people and never give up.
Cydcor had a great time in Texas and the team is looking forward to a great year!
Cydcor team members recommend this refreshing look at what it means to sell in To Sell is Human.
Author: Daniel H. Pink
Description of this Book: Daniel Pink’s To Sell Is Human is about the art and science of selling, not only professionally but also in our personal lives. Selling is not just person going door-to-door selling products, or someone trying to make a commission quota. Everyone in society is now in sales in some particular way: selling their ideas, personalities, or projects that they want to get done. Pink looks at all aspects of the modern workforce and comes up with a great guide for anyone struggling with taking on the identity of a salesperson today.
Why People Should Read This Book: The book offers many concepts with actual statistical data and scientific evidence to back up points. Pink’s book succeeds at clarifying the typical view of sales as a negative connotation. We often motivate ourselves for all the wrong reasons when it comes to selling, and that’s not just for selling products. The book is very accessible and easy-to-read. Although this topic has been discussed to lengths in other sales books, Pink finds a way to put his own spin on the theory of selling in our world today.
My Favorite Part: Pink stresses that the old selling environment has changed significantly. Buyers now have the same information that sellers have, which used to give salespeople an advantage. He comes up with a new phrase for successful sales called Always Be Closing. Along with that comes the new ABCs: Attunement (perspective of audience), Buoyancy (handle rejection well) , and Clarity (help others see the whole picture). Other advice he offers is six successors to the elevator pitch, which allows a seller to propose something interesting to compel a conversation.
Want more recommendations from Cydcor? Check out this similar Cydcor review of Crucial Conversations.
There is nothing like a perfect song to get pumped up for the morning. At Cydcor, we know working in sales takes energy and motivation. Here is a list of some of our favorite songs to get you ready for work.
What are your favorite songs to fire you up for work?