Reader Offer Grow in life and business: The importance of Belief Systems in Convincing and Winning

about the Wartburg automotive industry, the history of the castle and information about local culture and tourism. Customisable, dynamic, multi-coloured LED ceiling lights also synchronise with the content. The installation was completed in the covid pandemic and opened to visitors in Spring 2022. The experience portal has been very well received and impresses all who visit the Wartburg Castle grounds. “The high quality of product and uncomplicated cooperation with the Peerless-AV sales department meant we had maximum support throughout. We’re very happy with the result; it’s a visual delight,” concluded Hörsch.

Winning in a competition, be it in business or personal life, requires more than just meeting the requirements and having a good track record. There are several dimensions to convincing and winning, but the most important and often overlooked one is the belief system. This layer of values and expectations, although not directly mentioned, holds great value to the client.

Discovering both your own belief system and that of your client will give you brand new insights in the beliefs you share and the beliefs which di-vide you. Belief systems are the fundamentals of the Why, the How, and What things you create, make or buy. Here are the ingredients to discover when you want to start winning:

The Basics: Winning with the "What"

In a stable and predictable environment, the "what" is delivered is enough to win. For example, if a client requests a battery drill with 5000 revs, 7.2 Volts, and 2 years guarantee, delivering the drill is enough to win on a transactional level. The requester sets the requirements, and the supplier delivers them. This type of winning focuses on the "what." Adding the "How" to the "What"

However, if you deliver the requirements and price perfectly, but still don't win, you may be missing out on deeper factors. For instance, when we were looking to insulate and renovate the rooftop of our house, it was not just a transactional deal to us, but one of heavy investment and risk. In such cases, asking the experts "how" they are going to organize the work can make all the difference. For example, one company explained step by step how they are going to do the job, tailored specifically to my house, giving me trust and a good night's sleep. The company that ex-plained the "how" won the deal.

Combining the "What," "How," and "Why"

Besides the "what" and "how," the "why" can make a significant differ-ence in winning. For instance, in the hiring process, two questions to al-ways ask are "why do you want to work for us?" and "why should we hire you?" A good answer to the "why" shows intrinsic motivation and commitment and demonstrates a strong match and synergy with other employees in the company. The more challenging and dynamic the de-pendence between parties, the more important the "why" becomes in winning.

Taking it One Level Deeper: The Belief System

management and collaborated closely with architects and the museum’s content provider {insert name} to specify the right solution for the project. inSynergie had worked with Peerless-AV in the past, on projects such as the Buga national garden festival, and specified the SmartMount® Full Service Thin Video Wall Mount with Quick Release (DS-VW755S) to support 55” Samsung displays (UM55H-E). Product was sourced from AV distributor Kern & Stelly.

The DS-VW755S provided the ideal solution for this unique museum space. Designed for quick service access in recessed video wall applications, the mount provides the ultimate in versatility and is perfect in cases where overall video wall depth is a concern. It is also simple to install, can be mounted in portrait or landscape, and is tested

A total 63 units of the DSVW755S and Samsung 55” displays have been installed in portrait orientation. The front video wall has an 8x2 configuration, the two left side video walls are in a 2x2 and 3x2, the right video wall is a 6x2 and the back video wall a 2x2. Cladding is used around the video walls to give the feeling of naturally blending into the building’s architecture; old and new combined. The cladding can also be removed easily for service and maintenance access to the screens.

The experience portal is 360 degrees with an interactive podium at its centre. When a visitor touches one of the six figures on the podium, this triggers a new two-minute video sequence which comes to life across all five video walls for a totally immersive exhibition space. Each video tells a story

There is one more aspect to consider in winning. It is the least visible, or even invisible to most and that is your belief-system. This is present in every person, team, and organization, but is not openly discussed. The belief system is the set of unwritten rules that govern behaviour in a group. What if I make a set of house rules with: “Rule number one - In this house, we don’t kill each other”. Imagine you come to my house for the first time and see this rule. Would you feel comfortable and safe? You are probably thinking: “Wow, these people are obviously not from the same planet if they have to spell this out as a rule.” This works the same way in business. In business, failing to pay attention to the relevant belief systems can re-sult in a situation where you think you have delivered the best proposal ever, only for the client to respond that you "haven't understood a single thing of what we're doing here."

The belief system, and the other aspects of winning can be best explained using a tree as a metaphor.

•The WHAT is like the apples on a tree. They are the things we look at and value first.

•The branches and leaves of the tree are the HOW. Many leaves and branches make it possible to produce great many apples.

•The tree trunk is our WHY. It is strong, solid and essential to grow high and let the leaves catch lots of sunlight.

•The roots of a tree is our BELIEF-SYSTEM. It is invisible, but es-sential to the tree’s trunk, branches, leaves and fruits.

Sometimes winning is as easy letting someone a pick an apple from the tree (transactional winning). In many other cases where the transaction is more complex, dynamic and outcome uncertain, assessors (buyers, jury etc.) will look seriously at the other factors: How will they do it? Why do they do this? Getting insight into the whole tree is important for long term and sustainable winning, producing the right and great apples every year.

About the author:

Patrick Alexander, the author of the book ‘The secret of Value Based convincing Winning’ is an expert in winning and shaping the winning process. During his career he won and lost multiple times. As an inven-tor, he participated in a national contest with 2000 others and tackled several stages before winning this contest. During the last 10 years as a proposal architect, he worked with dozens of teams in making complex and winning proposals and tenders, contributing millions of Euros per year to his company’s revenue. Patrick’s mission is: Let people, teams and organizations with the highest value win. Let those win, who most deserve it!

More information on http://www.valuebasedwinning.com.

The book can be ordered via the website and https://www.amazon.co.uk.