Explanation of key acronmym’s use in my training

DBAE, TOYF, SODA, VAK, IDP. These acronyms are often used in my sales presentation and business pitch client work.

Recently a participant in a workshop wanted to have ready access to the meanings of these acronyms.
Below are a list of the acronyms, what they stand for and how they can be applied.

DBAE (Don’t Be Anywhere Else)
To maintain attention and prevent daydreaming in a meeting or in an interaction, simply write DBAE in the top right-hand corner of your meeting agenda or notepad.

Doing this will help you cue yourself to stay focused in the meeting. In addition, in a one on one interaction you can imagine the DBAE letters written on the other person’s forehead, to prompt you to maintain focus and not to daydream.

TOYF (Think On Your Feet) options
There are numerous TOYF options you can use when you are under pressure in a presentation, meeting or interaction.

One valuable sequence option is to:
a. Ask for a moment of thinking time
b. Use that time to ‘park’ the audience and then go inside your mind and choose a (not necessarily the best) response option
c. Say something like, ‘Top of mind in response to that question I’d say . . . (then say what popped first into your head)

SODA (Stop – Observe – Decide  – Act). Let me explain SODA. Whenever you feel pressured, the SODA sequence technique is a good one to use. Often you’ll be tempted to immediately Act in response to pressure. Don’t do that.

Rather, Stop. This means you Stop speaking. Observe the environment around you (ie. The people and how they are responding/acting in the moment. Decide on a response option from the option choices available. Act on what you have decided.

By using the SODA loop, you’ll be perceived as someone who is a fast thinker (paradoxically by stopping your speaking and slowing down your body movement you’ll be perceived as a fast thinker, as confident, persuasive and as someone to trust.

VAK (Visual, Auditory, Kinaesthetic)
Self-esteem expert and success coach Jack Canfield maintains that you are responsible for your own ‘feel-good’. I recommend to clients that they keep a ‘Win Note Log’ in their smartphone or in their physical diary.

A Win Note Log is a written record of positive things, successes that occur in your life, which you regularly review.

The Log could include positive comments you receive about your work, or a positive feeling you had after making a tough phone call to an A class prospect, or a good outcome from a meeting.

I recommend that you re-read the Win Note Log comments on a regular basis. This review will be valuable as it can increase your positivity when you’re having a bad day. It also can give you encouragement when you have to perform a difficult task.

When you review the Win Note Log entries it’s important to ‘relive’ the event by using VAK.

That is,
– VISUAL: For example, if a person had given you a compliment in person, you would revisualise how that person’s face looked as they gave you the compliment

– AUDITORY: ‘Rehear’ the person’s voice as they gave you the compliment.

– KINAESTHETIC (Kinaesthetic refers to feeling): You could also ‘refeel’ the feeling you felt when they gave you the compliment.

Doing this VAK of a past event, in effect repeats the intensity of impact the event had on you when it occurred.

IDP (Intentional Daily Practice)

I recommend to my clients that when they identify a technique or behaviour that they want to improve, that they Intentional Daily Practice (IDP) that technique/behaviour, so that over time, it become a natural part of their personal communication.

In practice IDP could work like this. Suppose you needed to inject more energy into your speaking voice. At least once a day, before speaking to someone you would need to decide (make an Intention) to add energy to your voice, and then speak the message with that added energy. On the next day, you’d need to again IDP that injection of voice energy in at least one live speaking utterance. And continue to do this IDP of the technique for every subsequent day ongoing – until is becomes a habit.

The ‘how to apply’ for this post: For my past clients and workshop participants, to help you remember, when needed, the above acronyms in the future, simply put the word ‘Acronyms’ in the search bar of my website, and this blog post will be selected.