A Haunting Thought

Happy Halloween!

A haunting thought for a lot of people is public speaking. Just the words alone conger up feelings of trepidation and embarrassment, most likely from earlier experiences. So the memories of what happened in the past, somehow appear in the present, and we feel the way we did, then. It’s creepy right?

At Trivium Performance we know that feeling. If you’ve ever had that experience, you know how scary that can be. That’s why we always lay a solid foundation for all of our participants. We’ll teach our participants how to craft a ‘guided conversation’ they will be sharing with the audience they are speaking to today. Rather than having a ‘script’, our participants have a tool, a roadmap that serves as a ‘reminder’ of what to ‘talk about.’ This tool frees them up to truly connect with their audience and be themselves. This is a very important distinction.

Our work with executives and teams is focused on helping your team to prepare, design, deliver and get better results from meetings, presentations, and phone calls.

We bring our 30+ years of experience with us to help your team be the best they can possibly be. If you are looking for knowledgable and experienced professionals to help strengthen your team, solidify your message and grow your business, call us at 843-301-1768 now.

Scott

Scott T. Hays
Founder and CEO, Trivium Performance
843-301-1768
shays@triviumperformance.com

*NOTE: Our contact information has changed.

Trivium Performance, 20 Wilkinson Way, Suite 3101, Bluffton, SC 29910-4786, United States

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The Perfect Pitch

“The strength of the team is each individual member.
The strength of each member is the team.”
— Phil Jackson

Creating and delivering a successful ‘team presentation’ is not a simple undertaking. Not only does everyone on the pitch team need to be at the top of their game from a presentation skills perspective, they must gel as a well-coordinated, unified team, laser focused on one thing, winning the clients’ business.

Let us help you craft the perfect pitch and provide you with a repeatable process you can use every time!

Click here to find out more: www.triviumperformance.com/pitching-program

Call me at 843.301.1768 to discuss your situation.

Scott

Scott T. Hays
Founder and CEO, Trivium Performance
843.301.1768
shays@triviumperformance.com

Working Smarter

We’ve all heard the saying “Work smarter, not harder”, but when it comes to marketing, we may not be tapping age old, agency intelligence 101, ‘know your audience’. We often leap right in to what ‘we want to say.’

The most successful marketing efforts have the earmarks of a healthy submersion into who the target audience really is, what they want, what they don’t want, what makes them do backflips, what we know to be true, what is the audiences’ demographic, and the list goes on and on.

While this approach makes TOTAL sense, sometimes we just can’t help ourselves. We HAVE to tell them what WE want to say.

STOP. Before you do anything, do a thorough Assessment of Your Audience. You AND your audience will be glad you did.

Let me know how it goes. I love success stories.

Sincerely,

Scott

Scott T. Hays
Founder and CEO, Trivium Performance
843.301.1768
shays@triviumperformance.com

Opportunities To Learn

Swiss engineer George de Mestral grew frustrated with a recurring problem. Whenever he went hiking, his clothes and his dog would get covered with burrs. The little pods were hard to pry out of his socks and nearly impossible to get out of his dog’s hair. De Mestral decided to study his problem under a microscope. He was amazed at the tiny hooks in the burrs. The experience led him to invent VELCRO®.

If you have challenges that you’re facing right now. This may actually be a great opportunity for you! Viewing the problems we have as challenges and seeing them as opportunities to learn and grow rather than burdensome forces of opposition frees us from getting stuck!

At Trivium Performance, that’s what we do. We help clients solve business challenges. Click Here to find out more about our solutions or just call us at 843.301.1768 to talk.

We look forward to working with you and your team.

Sincerely,

Scott

Scott T. Hays
Founder and CEO, Trivium Performance
843.301.1768
shays@triviumperformance.com

Building The Playbook

Having talented people on your team is a great start. Having great products to present makes it even better. Now, let us help you build a comprehensive Sales Playbook for your team. We will work closely with you and your team to make sure your GamePlan is complete.

Your Sales Playbook will include:
1. Trivium Roadmap(s)™: What to ‘say’
2. New Slide Presentation(s): What to ‘show’
3. New Matching Marketing Materials: What to ‘share’
4. List of FAQ’s: Toughest questions & answers to each
5. Objections: Possible thwarts & how to overcome each

Click Here to find out more or just call us at 843.301.1768 to talk.

We look forward to working with you and your team.

Sincerely,

Scott

Scott T. Hays
Founder and CEO, Trivium Performance
843.301.1768
shays@triviumperformance.com

Growth Opportunity

Our world has been turned upside down. Business as usual is a memory. The coronavirus is serving to disrupt life as we know it. We don’t know what all this means just yet or how it will all play out. What we do know, is that for now, we have to adapt to the ‘new normal’ with regard to conducting business.

Many of us, for the first time, are being forced to work from home, leveraging video-conference technology to conduct meetings with colleagues, clients and prospects. So, whether we’re using Cisco Webex™, Zoom™, Skype™, GoToMeeting™, or Google Meet™ we’ve got to be ready, willing and able to connect and communicate effectively in virtual environments.

This is a great opportunity to strengthen relationships and grow your business!

As a corporate communication consultancy, we invested in state of the art Cisco Telepresence™ video-conference technology at the outset. We have been training, coaching, consulting and collaborating with clients ‘virtually’ for years.

So, whether its conversing face to face, over the phone, via video-conference, conducting small group meetings, or webinars for large groups, we’re ready to help you and your team perform at the highest level.

Visit our website www.triviumperformance.com to find out more or just call us at 843.301.1768 to talk about your situation, what you need, and how to best make that happen.

We look forward to working with you and your team.

Sincerely,

Scott

Scott T. Hays
Founder and CEO, Trivium Performance
843.301.1768
shays@triviumperformance.com

Learning To Be Thankful

I read an article the other day that talked about the likely probability that a fourth dimension, one we never knew existed, in fact does. Is it also possible that we can alter our outcomes in life by increasing our awareness of where our attention is, at all times? Just an idea, postulated.

If it was possible to manifest good 'particles' in to our life, that would be a breakthrough, a 'big idea' and one that could literally transform our lives. Not easy to get our arms around initially, but... with a bit of openness, willingness, and persistence, we might find a recipe for success. If it was possible, do you think this would be a 'game changer'? I do.

What have we got to lose? Time? Energy? Not much relatively speaking, to possibly uncover a secret that could literally change our lives forever.

So, here's my challenge. To you and to me too. Let's test this 'theory' together and report back. Let's choose to look upon everything that happens in our lives as positive, as 'learning opportunities', as lessons that help us. Sometimes immediately, sometimes down the road. But 'Learning To Be Thankful' for everything life presents to us.

At the end of the day, we all have choices. We can bemoan our circumstances, our challenges, our relationships, our situation. But the question remains, does that serve us? Or does that make us a prisoner of our own making? I'm suggesting 'the way out is through.' The way out is 'appreciation'. The way out is thankfulness. Being grateful for everything we are experiencing, every breath we take and every mistake we make.

I hope and pray that your Thanksgiving is the most meaningful one you have ever had. No matter what your consequences.

Let me know how it goes!

Scott 843.301.1768

APPRECIATION

The Cambridge English Dictionary defines appreciation as : 1. the act of recognizing or understanding that something is valuable, important, or as described: 2. increase in price, value, etc.

I often use the word appreciation when communicating with my clients as well as my family and friends. I do it judiciously. I choose to use this word because it has positive connotations. Whether it's used in a financial context or in a personal context, it's positive.

It's not done to manipulate people. I do it to compliment people, to honor people. I do it because I'm sincerely thankful for the time, energy, input, effort or assistance people provide.

Good leaders know that their people need to be recognized when they do something good. They know that people thrive on positive reinforcement. That's not to say that we don't offer up some 'areas for improvement' from time to time as well. I have a philosophy I refer to as 'cheerful, repeated, coaching.'  The hard part is the 'cheerful' part!

Life is not always easy. We all have been in tough situations. We all have endured life challenges and we can all be thankful for the help others have provided.

It doesn't cost anything. Not a penny. It just takes a small degree of willingness coupled with a healthy dose of humility to simply say 'thank you.'

So, now is a great time for all of us to reflect, to take note, to look around, and think about the people we value, the people we appreciate, and make a conscious decision to support the people we depend on.

They will appreciate it!

If you enjoyed this brief, spontaneous combustion of light, and hopefully insightful thoughtfulness, I'm glad. I enjoyed writing it. There's a lot more to talk about on our website. We invite you to visit us at www.triviumperformance.com

If the mood strikes, you can always reach us at 843.301.1768. Thank you for taking your time to connect. Scott

A Holistic Approach To Communication

Triv”i*um\, n. The word is a Latin term meaning ‘the three ways’ or “the three roads” forming the foundation of a medieval liberal arts education. The three “liberal” arts, logic, grammar, and rhetoric; being a triple way, as it were, to eloquence.

We chose the name Trivium because we have a holistic bend. We firmly believe that the best speakers, the best leaders, the best athletes, the best coaches, the best parents, the best teachers are the ones that show up in mind, body, and spirit.

The finest examples of exceptional human performance, of any kind, showcase this holistic attribute. There is a mental component, a physical component, and there is, for lack of a better word, a spiritual component.

LOGIC was The Art of Thinking. When we talk about the mind, we are referring to our ability to think clearly and rationally, to reflect, to know our audience, to notice our own behavior and how other people respond, to be able to communicate authentically with others, to ask good questions, to truly listen to their answers, to respectfully probe deeper, to understand.

GRAMMAR was The Art of Symbolizing. There's clearly a physical component to high performance, of any kind. When communicating with others, how purposefully we use our hands, how we move our bodies, how we use our voice, how we use and interact with visual aids, the posture we exhibit, all can play a key role in how we are perceived and how effective we ultimately are.

RHETORIC was The Art of Communicating that which is thought and symbolized, to persuade others. Last, but certainly not least, there's our spirit. How we feel about a subject, how much conviction we have about a product, how invested we are in providing a quality outcome, all of these will somehow manifest in our behavior. It might be our facial expressions, it might be the energy we bring, our level of engagement, the stories we tell, our humor, our humility, our deepest inner feelings, all uniquely unveiled in order to help us authentically connect with others.

At Trivium Performance™, it's not about just doing one thing, it's about doing all three, it's the compounding effect that makes the difference. It's the ability to bring all three components to the table at the same time that sparks a 'yes.'

It may seem overwhelming, we know that. That's why, in our programs, we break it down into chunks. We use a modular approach. It's layered, strategically. We do a lot of exercises. We have participants do a lot of practice presenting. We provide open, honest feedback. We use the video camera so participants can see themselves. We provide confidential, individual coaching.

So, whether you personally want to be a better presenter, a better leader, or help your team improve, approaching your communications holistically can help.

Think about the people you will be speaking with, step out of your shoes into theirs, even if it's just for a short time. Create a plan for how you should approach this conversation. When you Communicate, do it with openness, honestly and clarity.

If you or someone you know is looking for help on the communication front, be it individuals or team, call us at 843.301.1768 or email me, Scott Hays at shays@triviumperformance.com to set up a time to talk.

Get The Message™

Most people are good at what they do. They just aren't that good at talking about what they do.

The problem with that is that a lot of 'would be' clients, people that could very well benefit from what you do, just don't know what you do or all that you do, and therefore they don't call you to help them solve their problems. It sucks because you could very well be the ideal solution to their problem.

Here's a way to solve for this. In your marketing approach follow these steps:

STEP 1:  State The Problem. (Which I just did.) STEP 2: Discuss Alternatives. STEP 3: Recommend a Solution.

Let me see if I can 'eat my own cooking' here.

Alternatives: *Option 1 might be to hire an advertising agency.

Pros: They do market surveys to help you better understand your target audience. They help you distill your unique value proposition. They create clever marketing campaigns to help promote your brand.

Cons: These market studies cost time and money but may not tell you anything you did not already know. They don't know your industry nor your target market as well as you do. They charge you on an hourly rate. The bill is often 'off the charts.'

*Option 2. Do it in-house. You have a marketing department.

Pros: Control. You select the people tasked with this assignment. You control the spend. The second advantage is Knowledge. Aside from the sales team, you know the products and services and industry better that anyone else.

Cons: It's hard to be objective when you have a 'horse in the race.' The talent may or may not be there to give you the results you need. Marketing and sales teams don't always have a mutual love or respect for each other. There may be a shortage of open, honest, communication. Politics might play a painful role.

*Option 3. Hire an experienced consultant to facilitate a project focused exclusively on crafting the most compelling messages possible for your specific target audience. Not only on your company, but your products as well.

Pros: Objectivity. The consultant does not have a 'horse in the race.' Their objective is to help distill the best message possible and help the client win new business. Period. Knowledge. They have a proven process for accomplishing the task at hand. Experience. They have done this for many years with numerous companies. Unity: The entire team unites and gains confidence in having a single, strong, core story, that everyone in the company can tell in their own personal way. Validation. Their clients provide raving testimonials to validate the consultants' credibility.

Cons: There is a significant contribution in terms of time, energy and money. What successful project doesn't?

Our Recommendation: Select *Option 3 It is incumbent upon all of us to clearly articulate our value proposition so that the people that CAN benefit from our Solutions... DO.

If you or someone you know needs help crafting and telling their 'core story' or 'stories' about your company and products, tell them you know of a company that does just that. The name of the company is Trivium Performance. Tell them to visit www.triviumperformance.com to find out more, then tell them to call 843.301.1768 and ask for a guy named Scott Hays.