Sales Sherpa

Sales Training from the Ghostbusters

2005-06-27T11:06:00.000-04:00

Sales Training from the Ghostbusters: "Bill Murray’s character then presents the best sales presentation and close that has ever been written into a movie script!"

Sales Language: What's Wrong with But?

2005-06-20T08:49:00.000-04:00

Sales Language: What's Wrong with But?: "Sales Language: What's Wrong with But?

-by Shamus Brown

Language is one of the most important tools you have to influence someone.

The most successful salespeople and persuaders use positive, active sales language that instills confidence in them and their capabilities.

Here is one word that you'll want to avoid using as much as possible when you are selling and persuading."

Inner Game of Prospecting by Connie Kadansky

2005-06-15T08:08:00.000-04:00

Salespeople and entrepreneurs under perform because they don't sell enough. They don't sell enough because they don't have enough prospective buyers to sell to. And they don't have enough prospective buyers because they don't initiate contact with new prospects in sufficient numbers. For many low producing salespeople, initiating first contact is emotionally uncomfortable, so they avoid it, put it off or contort it into alternative and sometimes barely recognizable contact strategies such as colorful mailouts, deflected identities ('I'm here to advise you, not to sell you anything') or calling only on limited, emotionally 'safe' segments of the market. This coping style is called compensatory prospecting. It is practiced by many salespeople and some entire sales organizations and businesses.

When to Send Literature, And When It's Just a Brush Off

2005-06-13T08:14:00.000-04:00

by Art Sobczak

You've probably heard it before:

'Yeah, why don'cha send me sumthin' on that?'

That request sends sales reps scrambling for the literature racks, and the resultant massive revenues generated every day by sales reps for the U.S. Postal Service likely have helped avoid even larger postage rate increases than we're regularly forced to swallow.

Click here to read the rest of this Free Sales Training Article by Art Sobczak

Increase Your Selling Confidence

2005-06-10T07:51:00.000-04:00

You can measure the gap between successful salespeople and average ones in the extra steps they take. They practice daily the following guidelines:

Be on time. In fact, arrive a few minutes early, so you can mentally prepare for your sales presentation. When you arrive on time, your professionalism shows your prospects that you value their time as well as your own.
Ask specific questions. Find out exactly what the prospect needs and wants from your company's product. If you get the details early, than you can avoid possible misunderstandings and delays later on.
Dress appropriately. Your first impression is extremely important, so always dress in a professional manner. A well dressed salesperson with good posture radiates professionalism and honesty. Since certain parts of the country are more relaxed in their style, know your regions style and dress according to it. You don't want to be ostentatious, just obviously successful.
Listen attentively. Listening is an all-important skill and salespeople often overlook this fact. Focus your attention on what the prospect says. Don't let your mind wander. Listen for subtle clues that may indicate your customer is ready to make the purchase.
Be concise. Use the "KISS" method. Keep It Short and Simple so your prospect can understand all aspects of your presentation. Use stories rather than lists or statistics to illustrate a point. Stories will help you hold your prospects attention.
Be enthusiastic. Ralph Waldo Emerson once said: "Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm". Be visibly and verbally excited. Many people feel that they don't have anything in life to be enthusiastic about. Through your excitement, you can help them change their attitude. Enthusiasm is contagious!
Maintain eye contact. Eye contact is important for two reasons. First the eyes are an important channel of nonverbal communication that allow you to read your customer's true feelings. Second, if you maintain eye contact, your customer can gain greater trust. If you can't look them in the eyes, they may doubt your integrity.
Say "Thank You". These two simple words can bring dramatic results. They area sign of appreciation and your prospect will realize that you do value their business. Send a thank you note after the sales call. Show your prospect every common courtesy.

Follow these eight steps and watch you selling confidence and your sales soar higher than ever before!

(c) 2005 Neil Greenberg

Proven Two Minutes Magic Exercise to Conquer the Fear of Phone

2005-06-09T08:28:00.000-04:00

I got a confession to make! The little communication device used to scare me to death!

I would pick ip up and dial a prospect and when the phone rings my heart would start pounding wishing that the recipient does, to pick the phone up. When the phone is picked, guess what?

My home business was rationalised and crippled by the fear of phone. The telephone is a very essential tool to expose your business. Some persons have become millionaires due to using the phone proficiently.

However, when I discovered the two minute exercise a new world opened converting me into a calling machine. Despite the fact that English is not my first language, I have a commanding personality over the phone.

I will show you the magic pill to eliminate the fear of phone in record time. It doesn't matter the level of your fears but be assured that the exercise works.

Are you ready? Lets take the ride!

First and foremost acknowledge the fact that the phone does not cause fear we talk on it everyday. The potential negative results and perceived failure from the call creates the uncomfortable feelings that leads to avoidance.

Here is the simple exercise:

List down as many telephone contacts as possible. Your contacts must comprise of warm list[people that you know] and cold leads. You can order a list of telephone leads regardless of the quality. Write down a script in relation to your business.
Start making calls to your prospects one by one. Limit your time to two minutes and stick to your script. If the recipient does not pick up the phone leave a message. Do not focus on the result concentrate on making calls.

Do you fear playing lotto just because you lost? Play as many as possible phone calls lotto and do not expect to win.

What will happen?

The fear will take its toll reaching the highest peak! Your prospects will notice present of fear from your conversation. They will sense it in your voice and reject your offer.

Now this is the key! Without your knowledge magic is happening inside you. You are targeting fear with a laser beam and melting it away. You are now building little victories on gradual basis. The fear that crippled you will start to subside generating you a momentum that will seem foreign to you.

You will not understand how easy it will be to pick up a phone and call a prospect. You will eliminate the nerves and replace it with confidence.

You will be astounded by the feelings and the power of two minutes exercise. Go for it! Launch the fear attack campaign to improve your business and better your lifestyle.

Peter Benson publishes articles that identifies obtacles that may hinder your business to grow. He provides practicle solutions to anyone looking forward to succeed in business. Grab a free subscription at http://www.HomeBusinessGeneration.com

8 Sales Lead Generation Methods

2005-06-08T08:31:00.000-04:00

I've been getting lots of email from my readers lately. And one thing that I hear often is that people need more sales leads.

In order to generate sales leads, you need three things:

A written profile of your target prospect,
A list of suspects containing potential prospects,
A method of reaching your sales prospects.

In this article, I am going to discuss eight proven methods of reaching your sales prospects.

Complementary Partner Referrals

I put this sales lead generation method first because this one generates the highest quality sales leads. How you do this depends on the market you are in. There have been a lot of articles written about networking through chamber and association meetings, so I won't rehash that here.

If you are selling business to business, you want to strike up relationships with sales reps from companies who call on the same businesses as you do. An example is if you sell an information technology consulting service, then partner with a few computer systems hardware vendors. These reps call on the same customers as you and you complement each other by sharing leads and information about customers and prospects.

Cold Calling

As much as nearly everyone dislikes this one, it is very effective for sales lead generation when executed properly. If you consistently prospect for leads by phone, you will consistently generate sales leads.

You can find more cold calling tips at my website listed at the end of this article.
Live Seminars

Live seminars are a great sales lead generation technique because you are usually delivering your a pitch to a prospect very early in their buying process. The key to a successful seminar is offering a solution to a problem that your target market really wants to solve. You can give the pitch yourself, or get one of your company executives to do it (sometimes business "celebrity" can help pull more sales prospects in).

Live seminars can be done inexpensively. The costs for in-person seminars are comprised of room rental, refreshments, audio-visual equipment, and promotion. Teleseminars are the least expensive, with the only costs being conference phone line rental and promotion. Webinars are actually more expensive due to the hefty fees the online meeting services charge to use their services.

Trade Shows

Trade shows are a good way generate sales leads if you can find events highly targeted to your prospect audience. Often such events yield low-quality sales leads because they are attended by the recommenders and influencers and rather than the true decision-makers.

I rate this method lower on the list, yet it is a valuable one if your company has the budget and there are industry events well-targeted to your audience.

Mass Mailings

Sales letters are one of the more underused sales lead generation methods. There is an entire industry of people dedicated to selling this way called direct marketing. But most field sales reps and business professionals don't know how to use this technique well.

Success with this method comes as a result of mailing a well-written letter to a good quality list of names (quality = targeted at your audience).

Two good primers on this are "The Ultimate Sales Letter" by Dan Kennedy and "Selling to VITO" by Anthony Parinello.

Advertising

This method can be highly effective when done right. You must find publications that are able to deliver your target audience. You must run ads that stimulate people to take action. To generate sales leads, you must avoid big-company style image ads.

I am no expert on advertising, but I do know that if you can't do this one right don't do it at all because you can blow through your marketing budget fast.

Internet Advertising

This one is very appropriate for small businesses and some independent professionals. With a well-designed website, you can generate sales leads through "ads" that the search engines create from your webpages. If you know what keywords your prospects are likely to search for you with, then you can generate very targeted and qualified leads.

This method is not for everyone though, as your prospects must be searching for something related to your products, services or the problems that you solve.

Email Publications

What you are reading right now is an example of an email publication that keeps my name and business in front of 9000 people every month. I collect all of my names through my website, but that isn't the only way to do this.

A sales rep or business owner could create an email newsletter and mail it to sign-ups from an offer presented at a seminar, at a trade show, in a mass mailing, in an advertisement, or on a cold call.

If your a sales rep, why not create your own email newsletter? You could send out industry news and tips to suspects in your market. Eventually a few of them will become customers because you are on their mind more often than your competition.

----
© 1999-2004 Shamus Brown, All Rights Reserved.

Shamus Brown is a Professional Sales Coach and former high-tech sales pro who began his career selling for IBM. Shamus has written more than 50 articles on selling and is the creator of the popular Persuasive Selling Skills CD Audio Program. You can read more of Shamus Brown's sales tips at http://Sales-Tips.industrialEGO.com/ and you can learn more about his persuasive sales skills training at http://www.Persuasive-Sales-Skills.com/

How To Dramatically Improve Sales Closing Ratios

2005-06-07T07:39:00.000-04:00

A closing question asks for a final decision. A trial-closing question is one that asks prospects for an opinion. Trial-closings should be non-threatening questions that ask how your prospective customer feels about what you have presented. Typical trial-closing questions can build in their directness as these examples illustrate:

• “How does this approach sound?”

• “Which of the two demonstrated packages do you like best?”

• “Do you see how this approach can save you money?”

• “What are your feelings about our guarantee program?”

• “Do you need additional information before making a decision these products and/or services?"

Ron Willingham, one of today’s top sales trainers has stated, “From the time you begin your demonstration to the point you feel a close is appropriate, your objective is to get opinions, reactions, feelings or feedback.” Without asking trial-closing questions you’ll never have enough information to effectively close a sale.

When a sales or service industry professional closes after a presentation, tying off a sale is made much easier when trial-closing questions are executed throughout the presentation phase of your discussion. For example:

“Paul, how do you feel about our program as it has been explained to you?”

- or -

“Paul, can you see how the cost savings in our plan will more than offset the cost of installation?”

When you close on an appointment, tying off an appointment (sale) is made much easier when you use trial closings throughout the conversation. For example:

“Bob, with your busy schedule, would an afternoon or early morning meeting time be best for you?”

- or -

“What this means to you, John, is that you can receive a free analysis on your present services with no obligation to purchase our services. Can you see how a 15, no more than 20 minute meeting might clarify some of your issues with your present vendor and give you the information you need to make a sound decision?”

As you receive a favorable response from your trial closings, it really makes it difficult for your prospects to give you an arbitrary “no,” when you later ask them to purchase your product or package of products that you have demonstrated. As you practice using trial-closing questions, you'll watch your closing ratios and profitability dramatically improve.

VIRDEN THORNTON is the founder and President of The $elling Edge®, Inc. a firm specializing in sales, customer relations, and management training and development. Clients have included Sears Optical, Eastman Kodak, IBM, Deloitte & Touché, Bank One, Jefferson Pilot, and Wal-Mart to name a few. Virden is the author of Prospecting: The Key To Sales Success and the best selling Building & Closing the Sale, Fifty-Minute series books and Close That Sale, a video/audio tape series published by Crisp Publicantions a dividion of Thompson Learning. He has also authored a client acclaimed Self-Directed Learning series of sales, coaching & team development, telemarketing, and personal productivity training guides. To obtain a substantial discount on two of Virden's new manuals, 101 Sales Myths and Organizing For Sales Success, check the listings on The $elling Edge, Inc. website at: http://www.TheSellingEdge.com/book1.htm.

Control Your Sales Calls From The Start

2005-06-02T08:32:00.000-04:00

Sales calls that you control are what all salespeople want. I am a big believer that questioning is the most important skill for sales professionals. In order to stay in control of your sales calls, whether by phone or in person, you need to be the one asking questions most of the time.

To be the one asking questions most of the time, you have to get to questioning right from the start of your sales calls. This issue's tip is about how to make this transition quickly with finesse, whether you are calling by phone or are in person.

To accomplish this, you will need to eliminate beginning your sales calls with long-winded "presentations" about your company. This may seem counter-intuitive. You may have reasoned that your prospect doesn't know who you are, and needs your introductory "presentation" as background for a sales discussion.

Although this is the mode many of us are used to, the reality is different. If you politely give your customer a valid business reason for you to ask questions from the start, you will find that virtually all of your customers will let you do this. You will then be able to spend most of your valuable time investigating what your customer wants and needs.

OK so here's how you do this. Once your sales calls have started and you have established rapport, you say something like the following:

"Mr. Jones, I am with XYZ Company, and we help companies to [insert your benefit here]. What I would like to do today is ask you a few questions to see if it makes sense for our companies to do business together. How does that sound to you?"

You can modify the above to your own style, but let me first show you what makes this opening work. In reverse order, you are asking permission to ask questions, you are stating that your purpose is to see if it makes sense to do business together, and you are suggesting a common benefit of doing business with your company.

By asking permission to ask questions, you establish the format of your sales calls, and put yourself firmly in charge. In stating that you want to see if it makes sense to do business together, you are saying that this is a mutual decision, and that you aren't just out to sell them something that they may not need. By suggesting a common benefit of doing business with you, you are giving a prospect, who may not know much about you, a reason to continue with the sales call.

Until a prospect has decided that you understand their business problems, a simple benefit of doing business with you suffices to get your sales calls started. If your company is a known quantity in your market or to your prospect, you can skip the benefit completely as the prospect already has a reason and context for the discussion.

There's no need for long-winded openers on your sales calls.

© 1999-2004 Shamus Brown, All Rights Reserved.

Shamus Brown is a Professional Sales Coach and former high-tech sales pro who began his career selling for IBM. Shamus has written more than 50 articles on selling and is the creator of the popular Persuasive Selling Skills CD Audio Program. You can read more of Shamus Brown's sales tips at http://Sales-Tips.industrialEGO.com/ and you can learn more about his persuasive sales skills training at http://www.Persuasive-Sales-Skills.com/

Failed Salespeople Share Similar Traits

2005-06-01T07:35:00.000-04:00

We are each responsible for our own success - or failure. Winning at a career in sales is no exception. To ensure a win, you must take a proactive approach. Prevention of failure is an important part of that process. If you find yourself saying "I'm not cut out for sales," "I'm not pushy enough," "I hate cold calling," "I can't take the rejection," or "My manager is a jerk"-you are heading down the wrong path.

Here are some recurring characteristics and traits of salespeople who thought they could hit a home run in a sales career, but who struck out in their attempts. Many of those people had a bat on their shoulders, but failed to swing at the ball as it passed them by. Hopefully none of these apply to you.

They don't believe in themselves.
If they don't think they can do it, who will?

They don't believe in their product.
Lack of conviction is evident to a buyer and manifests itself in low sales numbers.

They fail to set and achieve goals or fail to plan.
Always define specific goals for the long term-what They want-and the short term - how They're going to get what They want.

They're lazy or just not prepared to make the sale.
Their self-motivation and preparation are the lifeblood of their outreach. They must be eager and ready to sell or they won't.

They can't handle rejection.
Prospects are not rejecting them. They're just rejecting the offer they are making, or, they are rejecting because we don't suit their needs.

They fail to master total knowledge of their product.
Total product knowledge gives them the mental freedom to concentrate on selling.

They fail to learn and execute the fundamentals of sales.
Read, listen to tapes, attend seminars and sales meetings, and practice what they've just learned. Everything they need to know about sales has already been written or spoken-learn something new every day.

They fail to understand the client and meet his needs.
Learn to question and listen to the prospect.

They can't overcome objections.
This is a complex issue. They are not listening to the prospect. They are not thinking in terms of solution. They are not able to create an atmosphere of confidence and trust suitable enough to cause (effect) a sale. People are not afraid of failure, they just don't know how to get success.

They can't cope with change.
Part of sales is change: change in products, tactics and markets. Roll with it to succeed. Fight it and fail.

They can't follow rules.
Salespeople often think that rules are made for others. If they think rules are not for them – they should think again. They cannot "break" the basics. They can only break themselves against them.

Success in professional selling comes to those who think in the long term. Those who start in sales for a reason and who have chosen to succeed. After that success decision is made you need only to trust the process and keep learning.

(c) 2005 Neil Greenberg All Rights Reserved

10 Tips for Telephone Success

2005-05-31T08:32:00.000-04:00

The telephone is an often under-appreciated and much maligned piece of office equipment. Have you stopped to consider how much business you conduct over the telephone? These 10 tips will help you improve your telephone presence and presentations.

You are the “Manager of First Impressions” for your business. Whenever you pick up the telephone, put a smile on your face first. It will enhance your vocal quality and you will sound pleasant and relaxed.
Listen attentively to the person you are speaking with. Recall why your dog is such a good listener: listen actively and in the moment. Multi-tasking is the enemy of effective listening.
Let other people talk! Make sure your caller has completely finished speaking before responding. Remember: sometimes they aren’t done talking; they are just coming up for air.
Use open-ended questions to get people to speak more freely. You should always talk less than the person you have called. It makes others feel more comfortable, particularly if you are asking them to make a decision. The more they talk, the easier it is for them to “buy into” what you are proposing.
To create affinity with your callers, speed up or slow down your speaking voice to better match theirs. They won’t realize why they feel comfortable, they just will.
Use your words for best results. Keep in mind you can phrase anything positively, negatively or neutrally. Phrasing your words positively will help you get better results more easily.
Voice mail can be your friend. Avoid leaving voice mail messages but if you must, think of it as a 30 second commercial on a highly rated radio program. You have the opportunity to get your message into the “ears” of your most desired audience. Your message should reflect this.
Plan your telephone presentations in advance. Think out all the various scenarios you might be faced with and write it out. This is called pre-call planning.
Tape yourself for self-improvement. Listen to yourself carefully and decide what areas you want to improve.
Make an action plan. Focus on only one area at a time. When you feel comfortable, move to your next area and repeat.

We use the telephone as our primary form of personal communication. People who are good with this medium increase their opportunities for success.

Jo Ann Kirby is president of KRG Communications Group. She has 20 years experience in sales, telephone sales and sales management and an extensive background in training and development. Her background also includes extensive b2b telesales management experience. Jo Ann has been published in The Toastmaster, NAPPS Network and Commerce magazines. More can be found at http://www.krgcommunications.com

Sales has very little to do with selling by Jeffrey Gitomer

2005-05-31T08:12:00.000-04:00

Everyone in sales wants to learn how to sell their product or service better. And everyone is wrong.

©2004 - All rights reserved Jeffrey Gitomer, author of The Sales Bible and The Little Red Book of Selling, is the President of Charlotte-based Buy Gitomer.

7 Power Habits that Build Financial Independence

2005-05-27T07:33:00.000-04:00

Financial independence is having the freedom to support yourself through your own efforts. Here are seven fundamental habits that will help you achieve and maintain financial independence.

Express Gratitude

Financial independence begins with gratitude. Set aside a daily period to offer a sincere thank you for every blessing in your life. Include people, places, possessions, talents, and memories. Offer gratitude for your future dreams as though they were already in your possession.

Gratitude will allow you to attract the blessings you want. When they arrive, protect them from the thieves that could rob you of your financial independence.

Liberate Your Future

Debts of the past are thieves of the future. If you want financial independence, live a simple life style that does not create unnecessary personal debt. Living with class does not require being extravagant. If you are conservative most of the time, you can be extravagant at the right times.

Do not allow credit card companies to hold your future hostage. Take control. Seek professional help to get rid of credit card debt that robs you of high monthly interest payments. Borrowing is a tool that should produce a return on your investment, not cost your future security.

Commit to Wellness

Your health is also an asset that you need to protect. Wellness allows you to manage and enjoy financial independence. Get regular physical checkups and maintain a sensible physician-approved exercise program. These can help to minimize illnesses and maximize the rewards of a productive life.

Maintaining wellness requires an ongoing commitment. Another area of commitment that is equally important to financial independence is one of personal financial discipline.

Develop a Saving Discipline

A financially independent future requires saving, and saving requires discipline. As credit card debt diminishes, savings can begin to increase. An emergency savings fund of six to twelve months living expenses is a wise idea. However, you will want major long-term savings plans for such goals as education and retirement.

Do not expect the government to take care of your financial future. If you want to remain financially independent, take ultimate responsibility for every chapter of your financial life. That responsibility begins with wise investing and respect for money.

Invest Wisely and Respect Money

My father taught me to have several investments that produce an ongoing, passive income. This, he said, would allow me to remain independent if I were to become physically disabled. These investments are like "feeding geese that lay golden eggs". Passive income streams also provide additional capital to place in other financial growth investments.

Respect for money is the beginning of saving and investing. Respect for a dollar begins with respect for a penny. You will always have dollars if you take care of your pennies. Even the smallest of assets and investments need protection.

Protect Yourself and Your Loved Ones

In the article, Ten Traits of Successful Entrepreneurs, I wrote that one of those traits was making a commitment to protect the welfare of your family and loved ones. Ensuring the safety of your financial assets is part of doing this.

Adequate insurance coverage for your life, health, and property is a wise investment. You should also use professional legal, financial, and security services to help protect your business, property, and all the things you have worked to acquire.

Design Your Financial Independence with Qualified Help

Seek qualified professionals to help you design your financial future. You do not need to be a financial expert to become financially independent, but you must become financially literate. Seek professional guidance from experts in financial planning, taxes, and accounting. These people can work with you to help you realize your financial goals.

Begin today by seeking out professionals that can help you achieve your financial goals. Become financially independent in your own mind. Express gratitude for the blessings you will receive as if they were already in your possession. Avoid and eliminate unnecessary personal debt, and live a healthy lifestyle. Save with discipline, invest wisely, and respect your financial assets. Protect the assets you have worked to acquire, and you can enjoy the financially independent lifestyle that you have envisioned.

© Copyright 2005 by Steve Brunkhorst. Steve is a professional life success coach, motivational author, and the editor of Achieve! 60-Second Nuggets of Inspiration, a popular mini-zine bringing great stories, motivational nuggets, and inspiring thoughts to help you achieve more in your career and personal life. Get the next issue by visiting http://www.AchieveEzine.com

Breakfast of Failures

2005-05-26T07:32:00.000-04:00

“If you want to increase your success rate, double your failure rate.” --Thomas Watson, Sr. Founder of IBM

Before the Breakfast of Champions – there was the Breakfast of Failures:

• C.S. Lewis (The Chronicles of Narnia) had over 800 rejections before he sold even one piece of writing.

• Oprah Winfrey was not deterred when she got fired from her television reporter’s job being told, “You’re not fit for TV.”

• Og Mandino (The Greatest Salesman in the World) had lost his family to drink and became a homeless person before becoming an inspirational bestselling author selling over 30 million books.

• Marie Curie, recipient of two Nobel Prizes once said, “I tried out various experiments…and the results were sometimes unexpected. At times I would be encouraged by a little unhoped-for success, at others I would be in the deepest despair because of accidents and failures resulting from my inexperience…I was taught that the way of progress is neither swift nor easy.”

• Bill Gates and Michael Dell were college drop-outs.

• Babe Ruth had more strike-outs then any other baseball player of his time. He also had the most home runs.

• Ann Bancroft, the first woman to travel across the ice to the North Pole, reminisced later about not reaching a goal to cover 2,300 miles across Antarctica (bad weather forced them to be airlifted off) on an expedition with her sister: “Once again this [expedition] is another successful failure.”

• After auditioning for his band, musician Eddie Bond told a young Elvis Presley to “Stick to driving a truck, because you’ll never make it as a singer.”

• Abe Lincoln lost his job and his sweetheart, failed miserably in business, was defeated for state legislature, had a nervous breakdown, was defeated for nomination for congress, lost the renomination, was defeated for US Senate, defeated for nomination of Vice President, and again defeated for US Senate, before being elected as the sixteenth President of the United States.

Forget about living a ‘comfortable’ life. I’m not interested in the items you’ve crossed off your to-do list today. I want to know: have you failed – I mean really FAILED lately?

Sharif Khan is a professional speaker, writer, coach, and author of Psychology of the Hero Soul, an inspirational book on awakening the hero within and developing people’s leadership potential. For more information, visit http://www.herosoul.com Email: sharif@herosoul.com

Copyright © 2005 by Sharif Khan.

Cold Calling Reluctance

2005-05-25T07:31:00.000-04:00

Most salespeople I know consider cold calling a dreadful, but essential activity in our profession. Even those who are good at it rarely like it. Nevertheless, those who are successful in sales do it regularly because without prospects, one does not sell anything.

If you hate cold calling to the point where you won't do it, you've got a serious problem. Let this go on long enough, and you'll watch your commissions drop from low to zero as you lose your job.

If you truly hate cold calling to the point where it is really hurting your sales, I may know one of the reasons why.

Where's The Pressure?

Too many salespeople take the bulk of the pressure on themselves in the sale. We've been conditioned into it by a society that teaches us that buyers shop, and sellers are there to "serve". You've heard this before... "serve the customer".

In "serving the customer", we feel that we have to do whatever they ask to get the sale. Some prospects act like bratty children that just have to have their way. This can be quite annoying to deal with.

In letting this belief "serving the customer" dominate our attitude towards buying and selling, we give up a lot of power. It's kind of crazy if you really think about it. The prospect is the one who does or does not have a problem to solve. Its not your problem - you are just offering a potential solution.

If your prospect does have a problem to solve, then it is his responsibility to solve it - not yours. What you can do is help him figure out how to solve it, and offer your products or services if they solve the problem.

When cold calling, you are looking for problems that you can actually solve. How effective you are at cold calling is really a matter of how effective you are at uncovering problems that you can solve. It is *not* a game of how good of a "pitch" you can deliver over the phone.

If you plan your cold calling by trying to craft the most interesting, exciting, and sparkling pitch to wow your prospects into meeting with you, then you are putting way too much pressure on yourself. This may just be stressful for you, or it can even be disabling to the point where you can't or won't do any cold calling.

I have a simple formula to take the pressure off of yourself and put it where it belongs - on your prospect.

Cold Calling Formula

Introduce Yourself, Your Company, and Your Results.
Get Permission To Ask Questions.
Ask Questions To Uncover and Amplify Problems and Opportunities.

Simple, huh? So simple, it may seem too easy.

The secret to the cold calling formula is how you do each step. Here's an example:

"Hello, this is Shamus Brown calling."

"I am with Jupiter Financial Partners, and using private equity, I help people get high investment returns without the risk and volatility associated with the stock market."

"Do you have a few minutes to let me ask you a few questions about your investments?"

"What percentage did your investment's increase this past year?"

"Oh, they didn't increase... they declined by how much?... hmm, sounds bad to me, but I am not you - is that kind of performance OK with you?"

This follows the simple format outlined above. Introduce yourself and your company, and wrap that introduction with a statement of the results that you provide for your customers. This is one of the keys to making cold calling easier.

The only thing your prospect will likely hear at the beginning of the call is your results. When you are cold calling someone, you are interrupting them in some way. Their attention is elsewhere. When they hear the results that you offer, you will get their attention IF they are interested in those types of results.

Next, if they are interested in those results, they will more than likely answer yes to your request to ask a few questions and talk further.

Finally, you immediately get into probing for problems, and amplifying the consequences. Once you are there, you will stir up their motivation and desire to talk further about your product or service.

Stop using lengthy introductions in your cold calling. If you get that slightly uncomfortable or nauseating feeling in your stomach while delivering your phone "pitch", it is because your pitch is too long. The longer your pitch is, the more you are "at risk" because you do not know how the message is being received.

Shorten your cold calling opener to just the essential results that you provide, and then get right into probing for problems. You'll sell more this way.

© 1999-2004 Shamus Brown, All Rights Reserved.

Shamus Brown is a Professional Sales Coach and former high-tech sales pro who began his career selling for IBM. Shamus has written more than 50 articles on selling and is the creator of the popular Persuasive Selling Skills CD Audio Program. You can read more of Shamus Brown's sales tips at http://Sales-Tips.industrialEGO.com/ and you can learn more about his persuasive sales skills training at http://www.Persuasive-Sales-Skills.com/

How To Be An Innovator In A World of Change

2005-05-24T07:52:00.000-04:00

Innovators are opportunity-oriented.

What’s the hidden opportunity in that problem? Where is the opportunity in that trend? How can this be made to work better? Innovators search for the unsolved problems, the markets inefficiencies, and the unmet needs and wants of existing customer groups. They also search for unmet needs and wants and build new customer groups.

Innovators are strategists.

They attempt to anticipate the future to maximize their ability to thrive and prosper in that future. They continually define and redefine their goals, and have well developed but flexible plans to reach them.

Innovators “unhook” their prejudices.

In their approach to problem solving and opportunity creation, they constantly attempt to rid their thinking of preconceived beliefs, biases, thinking ruts, and unchallenged assumptions.

Innovators are trend-spotters.

Innovators monitor change (social, attitudinal, technological, and so on) so as to spot new opportunities before everyone else. But what passes for “vision” is really just a unique way of deciphering where things are headed. Innovators do this by concerning themselves with the “big picture”. They utilize every available moment to keep abreast of these trends.

Innovators are idea-oriented.

Innovators gain an edge through the way they work with ideas. They are constantly generating ideas, always on the lookout for concepts they can borrow and apply from other fields, constantly developing and experimenting new ideas.

Innovators rely upon intuition.

In a world that is growing ever more complex and fast-paced, innovators use their intuition as a kind of sixth sense. It helps them assess risks, read people, recognize emerging patterns of change, and make complex decisions.

Innovators are extraordinarily persistent.

They are willing to “face the heat” in pursuit of their dreams. Their passion for ideas helps them overcome what might otherwise be roadblocks, and they are long-term thinkers.

Innovators are resourceful.

They see no walls to implementing ideas because of their skill and persistence at gathering Strategic Information (specialized, state-of-the-art knowledge and insight). They understand the role of information in the Innovation Age.

Innovators are feedback-oriented.

They constantly poll their customer group to determine how their product or service can be improved. Feedback acts as their “checks and balances” mechanism. It guides their decisions and helps them avoid prejudices and blind spots.

Innovators are superior team builders.

They realize they cannot succeed alone. They either need teams to help them implement their ideas, or, if they work alone, support networks or fellow professionals, mentors, friends, and advisors.

Do You Know the Emotion Behind the Objection?

2005-05-23T13:40:00.000-04:00

Prospects have many reasons (you might think excuses) for not buying your product or service. Many of these objections, however, are actually emotional defenses, and before you can overcome the obstacle you must recognize the emotion behind it. To help you analyze why your prospect doesn't want to buy from you, ask yourself the following questions.

1. Does the buyer feel neglected? This is a prime danger of taking regular customers for granted. You could well walk in expecting a sure-thing order only to find that your customer isn't sure he or she wants to deal with you anymore. Why not?

The buyer may feel that the amount of steady business that his or her company has provided merits more of your time and attention then you've been giving lately.

The buyer may feel that his or her job depends on dealing with a supplier who can be trusted to deliver what was ordered when it's supposed to be delivered., who will still be available after the order is signed.

If you've determined that neglect is the emotion behind the buyer's objection, the best thing to do would be to let the customer get all those feelings outside in the open. Once the buyer has made you aware of your shortcomings, he or she may still give you the order-once promised to do better in the future.

2. Does the buyer feel that you're not showing enough respect? To some buyers, salespeople who just "drop by" are telling them that they aren't important enough for an actual appointment.

Make sure you show respect for your customers' time-especially in the initial stages of developing an account-by taking the time to set up an appointment for your call. Later, customers may indicate that its okay to stop by any time you have a useful idea to share with them.

3. Is the buyer afraid of doing something new? Fear of taking a new course of action is a common emotion. Staying with a known product or service is a secure investment.

When this fear is the emotion behind the objection, you must show the buyer-tactfully, of course-that not trying new methods or products eliminates the possibility of benefiting from them. Especially if the buyer has been burned before by a new-and-improved product that turned out to be neither, you may have to prove that your product or service will really do what you've said it will, that its value is worth its cost.

4. Is the buyer afraid of abandoning the old? Closely related to the fear of taking a new course of action is the fear of abandoning an existing one-especially one that represents a major start-up investment-even if its proving unsatisfactory. A company that has already made a significant investment in its existing program will probably be hesitant about dropping a similar sum on a totally different alternative.

If you realize that the prospect is not going to abandon what it has, you still don't have to abandon the company as a client. Look for ways that your product or service can help solve some of the problems created by the existing system. But take care not to sound too critical of what could be the buyers ( or someone in top management's ) pet idea. Don't tell the prospect to dump the existing product and switch to yours. Instead, explain that you are aware of the problems and that if the prospect will allow you to explain your alternatives, you'll be able to show how your product or service can help them correct them.

Making an honest attempt to understand the emotions behind sales objections helps you to position your product or service in a way that makes it easier for your prospect to say “yes”.

3 Tips For Getting Through The Voicemail Screen

2005-05-22T08:33:00.000-04:00

How many times have you heard that you gotta get past the gatekeeper and get to the decision-maker to make the sale? Countless books and sales trainers have talked about this for years. Much of this advice was written for a world without voicemail.

Today's flatter organization has fewer administrative assistants for management, which means fewer live gatekeepers to screen our phone calls. The delegation of authority has also resulted in decision-makers being found at lower levels in the business than ever before. More and more decision- makers now use voicemail as their primary or even exclusive gatekeeping and screening tool.

Today I am going to discuss a few sales tips for getting through to your target in the world of voicemail hell. The first rule as always in sales is to be prepared, so you should have ready two or three major pains and visions that your product solves or enables. Make sure you have prepared at least one strong pain that your prospect is likely to identify with (pain elimination is a stronger motivator for most people than vision creation).

TIP#1 - Call At Weird Hours

People who screen their calls normally during the 8am to 6pm business hours will often pickup the phone if a call comes in at 6am or 8:30pm and they are working at their desk. With some of the insane hours people work these days, this can be very effective. They will pickup the phone generally thinking that the only person who would call at 8:30pm at night is their spouse or a friend. Who could possibly know that they are at the office at that sick hour? Try calling anytime after 6pm, and up until 8pm or 9pm when you really need to reach this person. If they are that important to the business, and that hard to reach, chances are that they work very late, very early, or both.

Getting the direct extension number of a Director or VP in a medium to large size company can seem like an impossible task. Some top people will have a direct extension that the receptionists won't give out. Instead, the best you get is a general department extension like 555-2000 (where there actually is a gatekeeper). Other times you get only the gatekeeper's voicemail (now you are really stuck in voicemail hell).

TIP #2 - The Wrong Extension Trick

Call another extension at the company randomly, say 555-2198 and ask for your target. You more than likely will get a person who is not experienced in taking outside phone calls. When the receiver of your call says you got the wrong extension, tell them that you have been getting passed around to the wrong extensions, the wrong people, the wrong voicemails, and that you are really frustrated - sound really distraught. Tell them you must return this call, but that you lost the direct number or that it was garbled on your voicemail. Ask them if they can tell you the direct number to dial so that you don't get passed around by receptionists into the wrong voicemails anymore. The key here is to sound distraught. You want them to feel a little sorry for you, so that they will want to help you. People like to help others in need. Armed with the direct extension number for your decision-maker, see Tip #1.

TIP #3 - Prepare A Commercial

You may decide that the best use of your time is to leave a message. If you want any chance of getting your call returned, you better make it good. My favorite approach is to tell a brief story to get the prospect's attention before they have a chance to realize that this is a voicemail from a salesperson and hit delete. Your story should contain a customer who had pain that your product solved. Start your story by saying "Hi Greg, Shamus Brown here. You know, XYZ company was experiencing an extreme... [fill in the blank with a strong business pain here]" Do not identify yourself as a salesperson or identify your company at the beginning of the commercial. Make the pain sound real bad - talk about the serious consequences of it. Then finish your commercial by saying "Greg, to find out how my company, ABC company, helped XYZ company eliminate this problem, give me a call at (555) 555-1212."

To leave or not to leave a message depends a lot on the nature of what you are selling and the prospect base that you are selling to. If you are selling to a small group of companies, then I would not leave a message until after being very persistent with the first two approaches. If you have a high number of potential prospects to call on, you could use the commercial approach on everyone. Be flexible and persist and you'll eventually make contact.

On a final note, the best way to get to a decision-maker is to get introduced to the person. Partnering with another company that already has an existing relationship with the prospect is very effective for leveraging in at a higher level. Selling someone else below first takes more time, but is often the way that business is done in the real world. These tips above will come in handy when you are at a loss for how to get a referral introduction.

© 1999-2004 Shamus Brown, All Rights Reserved.

Shamus Brown is a Professional Sales Coach and former high-tech sales pro who began his career selling for IBM. Shamus has written more than 50 articles on selling and is the creator of the popular Persuasive Selling Skills CD Audio Program. You can read more of Shamus Brown's sales tips at http://Sales-Tips.industrialEGO.com/ and you can learn more about his persuasive sales skills training at http://www.Persuasive-Sales-Skills.com/

The Six Essential Leadership Attributes

2005-05-20T08:43:00.000-04:00

Leadership is the foundation for all organizations, whether corporate, nonprofit or government. Leadership is a high calling and responsibility, upon which all else the organization is or does rests. Moreover, leadership is always top down, never bottom up.

Therefore, much has been written on the subject of leadership and many writers and speakers have tried to list those attributes they believe are essential for leaders. However, most often these attempts focus upon traits that make a leader personable, affable and popular. The following six attributes are results of character and personal integrity and as such are deeply seated within those who possess them. They must be developed through self-discipline, time and pressure; they are not inherited; and cannot not feigned, at least not for long. Such attributes are the result of instruction, commitment and a deep concern for what is right, as well as for the best interests of others. They are modeled on a daily basis. Tested and proven in times of trial and adversity. Moreover, they are as precious as gold and equally rare.

Attribute #1 of Leaders - Set High Standards

Leaders set high standards for themselves and those who follow. I am reminded of leaders like Booker T. Washington, who began with a vision, not of what was, but of what could and should be. Born a slave shortly before the outbreak of the civil war, he taught himself to read. As an adult, he saw the need to establish a college for ex-slaves, who were excluded from the existing higher education system. When he first arrived at Tuskegee, AL, where he had expected initial funding and a building suitable to his purpose in founding the Tuskegee Institute, he found only ruins. At this point, most of us would have given up or decided it was not the right place or time, retreating to wait for a better turn of circumstances. Instead Booker T. Washington began by teaching his students to garden, so that they might eat and sell the excess to raise the funds necessary to buy books. Then he taught them to make bricks from which to build the buildings and for sale to raise cash for the other materials needed. Booker T. Washington knew that nothing of true value resulted from any course of action other than by hard work. Indeed, this was his motto and a foundation upon which his students began their education. He set high standards for himself and his students and he expected results.

Attribute #2 of Leaders - Live Your Standards and Mentor Those Who Follow

Leaders live up to the standards they have set and mentor those who are attempting to follow them. Many leaders are consistent in demanding of themselves compliance with the standards that they espouse. Those who do not are only fooling themselves. Nothing disqualifies a would-be leader faster than a double standard, one for them and another for those under their authority. Anyone who thinks that they can maintain such a charade is sorely mistaken. Their subordinates will soon see through their duplicity and loyalty will rapidly be replaced by disgust and only grudging obedience and lip service.

Where most leaders fail however, is in mentoring those who follow. For some reason leaders expect that their followers will learn through osmosis, how to attain to the standards set by their leadership. Certainly, modeling by the leaders is a necessary component of the process, but much more is needed. You do not train a child from infancy on through adolescence by modeling proper behavior alone. It takes consistent, concerted effort verbally communicating not only what is expected, but how. Yet for some reason, most leaders think that merely establishing the standards is all that is necessary. Effective leaders invest themselves into their followers. The best example from all of history is Jesus. He spent three years teaching, mentoring, and living out his standards intimately before a dozen followers, who later set the Roman world on fire. In that short three year period, Jesus’ disciples came to see, accept and claim His vision as their own and the remainder of their lives clearly reflected His profound impact upon them. He became to them the embodiment of the standards He espoused.

Attribute #3 of Leaders - Create and Share a Vision

Every successful leader must instill the vision of where the organization is going and what is necessary to attain that goal. Without a vision, there is no unity. I am constantly amazed at the number of organizations that continue year after year in a near total absence of vision and therefore unity. In the corporate world, research and development departments create products and services for which there is no market, manufacturing continues to produce items with which customers are dissatisfied, find difficult to assemble and use. Engineering creates designs that are costly and inefficient to manufacture and customer service forces customers to endure a labyrinth of voice mail selections and web site menus that frustrate and confuse customers seeking a “real” person with whom to speak.

Even in organizations that tout themselves as “visionary”, all too often this vision extends to only some aspects and functions of the organization. Rarely does it permeate its essence and fully to its core. A splintered vision or one that is implemented in a fragmented manner will always result in competing interests and elements within the organization, vying for resources, each thinking their particular function and sphere of effort is most important. Winston Churchill had an enormous task in the war years following the demise of the Chamberlin government. How to unify and develop Britain’s terrified populace and rapidly dwindling industrial base into a single cohesive force with the will to defeat Nazi Germany, despite the seemingly impossible odds and specter of impending invasion. What did Churchill say at such a critical hour in Britain’s history? “I can offer you only blood, sweat, toil and tears”, was his call to the nation. He certainly did not sugar coat his message. Britain responded with everything its people had, hanging on through seemingly ceaseless bombings, rocket attacks and finally the Battle of Britain. His words of encouragement, simply: “Never, never, never give up.” He possessed a singular vision in those dark days of World War II, before the United States entered the war against Nazi Germany and he communicated it ceaselessly to a nation that hung on by a thread.

Effective leaders are driven by a singular vision, not of what is, but of what is to become and they make sure that everyone around them understands and buys into that vision.

Attribute #4 of Leaders - Make the Hard Choices When Necessary

Effective leaders are characterized by a willingness to make the hard decisions when necessary. Gene Krantz, the Apollo 13 Houston Flight Director provides an excellent example. Half way to the moon on a “routine” space mission, an on-board explosion rips the outer shell of the spacecraft, damaging critical life support and propulsion systems. The best solution is also the one that appears most impossible. Continue the mission to the moon and use its orbit as a slingshot to return the three astronauts to earth. The only problem is that they lack the necessary life support and power for a trip that long. Krantz’s answer; declare first that no astronauts will be lost on his watch. “Failure is not an option”, no matter how impossible the present dilemma appears. Then make the irreversible commitment to the best course of action. The explorer Cortez burned the boats, thus making retreat impossible. Yet it is human nature that at times of extreme crises, the majority wants to keep their options open. True leaders, however, recognize that for the organization to reach the desired goal there must be total concentration on the chosen solution and everyone must know that going back is not an option.

Attribute #5 of Leaders - Be Visible and Out Front

Leaders, to be respected, must be visible. That is visibly out front. The unseen leader is the leader not followed. Visibility is critical and fortunately in our age of global telecommunications, this is easily done. However, being visible and being “out front” are not necessarily one in the same. Marriott Hotels is interesting in their practice of very conspicuously placing a painting of the Marriott’s, father and son, in the lobby of each hotel. Why did they do that? Vanity? No. Identity. To both their clientele and staff, this father and son team was present and leading the way, not just from their presence in their painting, although it was certainly a constant and graphic reminder that someone was actually at the helm. Everyone in the Marriott organizations knows someone is ultimately responsible and furthermore, they know who that someone is. Everyone knows where the buck stops, as Harry Truman would say. In today’s far flung organizations spanning contents, in your organization, whatever its size, do people really know where the buck stops? Do they, customers and staff alike, have a clear and constant sense that someone, a real person, not voicemail, is really in charge? And more than in charge, do see you as their leadership, being out in front, or merely locked away in some ivory tower corporate office, out of sight and out of mind.

General George Patton is a classic example of out front leadership. Old blood and guts George. His men loved him and his men hated him, often at the same time. Patton had a reputation for incurring the heaviest casualties in the opening hours of every conflict in which he engaged, and his troops knew it. They also knew that he had the lowest casualty rates per engagement, because he was unafraid to commit his resources unsparingly and without regard to the lives that would be lost in so doing. He knew that to save the most men from death, he must be willing to endanger the most and yes, send some to their deaths, in some cases, many. His troops also knew one other thing about their leader. That when he sent them into combat, no matter how savage, he, General George Patton, would go with them. Leading from out-front. A habit for which, he was repeatedly subjected to criticism from his superiors. Contrast this with General William Westmoreland in Vietnam. Clearly there were many reasons for the morale problems suffered by U.S. troops during the Vietnam War and no one cause can be singled out as overriding, but the fact that as his infantrymen lay in the muddy rice patties, watching their buddies dying for a cause they did not understand, they also knew that their commanding general was dining daily in Saigon, on gourmet food served on fine china and linen table cloths, served by G.I. attendants wearing starched white waistcoats and white gloves. Patton’s response to his superiors when criticized for his exploits at the frontlines of battle was characteristically that, “he knew no way to lead from behind”.

Attribute #6 of Leaders - Instill Hope in Those Who Follow

The final attribute of successful leaders is their ability to instill hope. None of us can continue to grow, develop and perform at our highest potential without hope. Hope for success, hope for recognition and reward and most importantly, hope that indeed we can make a difference in the long-term outcome. Hope supplies the essential fuel that enables the human spirit to continue moving forward, especially in the face of severe adversity. This was the context in which President Lincoln spurred the North forward in light of the Union’s defeat after defeat in the bloody carnage of the Civil War. A hope that at the end of the long and terrible night, we would emerge once again as one nation and that this time, all men would be able to enjoy the privilege of being free.

Conclusion

We live in a time when cynicism and doubt, especially in regard to leaders and their motives are rampant in every area of our culture, including not only corporate, but also government and nonprofit organizations. Would be leaders, to be effective and ultimately successful, must demonstrate to those they expect to lead, the personal integrity required to develop within themselves these six attributes. To live out these attributes, not perfectly, but humanly, including failing, admitting failure and learning from it. Thereby, leaders can instill within their followers the loyalty and commitment necessary for them to accept the high standards the leader sets, models and mentors; adopt the leader’s vision as their own and accept the inevitable hard decisions; for their leaders are out front, visible; providing hope for the future.

Copyright 2005 by John Di Frances

John Di Frances is an internationally recognized organizational legacy expert and professional speaker.

Anthony Robbins' 12 Reasons Why People Dont Get Wealthy

2005-05-19T08:45:00.001-04:00

According to Wallace Wattles, in his popular wealth treatise called the Science of Getting Rich, said that, "There is a science of getting rich, and it is an exact science, like algebra or arithmetic. There are certain laws which govern the process of acquiring riches, and once these laws are learned and obeyed by anyone, that person will get rich with mathematical certainty."

It is true. Those who make wealth know that it comes about by application of simple rules and principles. Those who don't make wealth don't know about these simple things, and so they assume that wealth is a result of luck or pure chance or something just as superstitious or silly.

Anthony Robbins is one of the top success coaches in the world, having coached star sports players, heads of states and Fortune 500 executives. In his Get The Edge program, he listed down 12 specific reasons he has come to observe to be the leading causes for most people's lack of wealth.

Here they are:

They never decide and really define, very specifically, what wealth means for them. The keyword here is specifically. Can you imagine how hard it would be to build a car or a plane without making a blueprint or sketch drawings of it first? You have to know what your target is before you go chasing after it.
They make wealth a moving target instead of a fixed one (this is related to point one above). Once you have your target, fix it. Don't change it until you reach it. You must accomplish each step, celebrate, and then set course for a new step, a new target.
They define it in a way that seems unreachable. You only achieve what you believe. No more, no less. So you must make it believable for you. Set goals that will make you move forward and stretch, but not too high that even you yourself don't believe you can. Take the biggest step you believe you can, achieve it, then take the next biggest you believe you can. This will build positive reinforcement in your self-confidence as well.
They never start. Ok, this is obvious. If you keep thinking about it forever, it will forever remain in the thought level. You have to act! Start somewhere, anywhere! Only after you start do you begin to get some feedback which will help you plot your course better. The aircraft has to first take off before it starts to adjust course for its destination. You must start, somewhere, anywhere, doesn't matter, just start! Act!
They never make it a must. Let me explain what it means to make it a must. It means marshalling all your intent, your will, your direction, into one singular flow that is directed towards your goal. All obstacles are viewed as challenges to be overcome. You will meet obstacles, and so expect it, but also expect to move forward anyways. Use your obstacles to develop strength and skills, don't run away. Find out how to go past them. Find out! There is always a way, always. And if your emotions are acting against your desire, embrace them, learn what they are, know yourself, but keep moving forward. Make it a must, and it will happen. Guaranteed. You don't know in how many steps it will take, but you know it will happen.
They don't have a realistic plan. If you want to do something, find out how it is done from someone who has done it before. Make a realistic plan. Copy from those who have succeeded before you. But don't throw away your intuition. Your intuition is extremely powerful once you learn how to listen to it with practice.
If they have a realistic plan, they never follow through on the plan. Well, if you don't follow the plan, who will?
They give responsibility to others ("experts") instead of to themselves. This way, they never really learn how to do it, and if there are failures they never learn why the failures happened and so they are bound to repeat them. It is a good idea to get advice, but do it yourself. At least understand it yourself even if you will delegate the actual doing.
They give up when they face challenges. Going through the challenges is what has made people rich, not giving up. Look, there are always challenges. So get used to that. You will only get where you wish to get to if you are willing to face the challenges along the path. All challenges are opportunities dressed in work clothes, remember that. After the challenge is over, you will discover the amazing fruit it held for you.
They fail to conduct their lives as a business; they never ensure that they make a profit year by year. Get a personal finance package like Quicken or Microsoft Money. you need to have budgets and cash flow statements for your personal finances and your businesses. It is easy with those software packages. If you don't keep records and track, you wont know when you are making or losing money until it is embarrassingly too late.
They allow other people's ideas to affect their decisions unreasonably. There will always be people who don't believe in your way, or who are pessimistic, who try to pull you down, or whatever. And they will sometimes be your closest friends and family. You cannot change that - they have a right to be who they are. It is OK. Allow them their thoughts, don't judge them for that, but don't feel obligated to accept their thoughts of follow their way. Don't allow other people, now or from the past, unreasonably affect your decisions. Allow them their way, and you live your way.
They don't get quality coaching. This is extremely important! Coaching is simply getting mentored by someone who has succeeded wildly in the area of your interest. Get coaching! Our education system hardly equips us for real life, so don't assume that because you went to college you are properly equipped. Hardly. You need to keep learning. The most successful people attend seminars, read books, join mastermind groups and clubs, find mentors, network, and even hire expensive personal coaches to make sure they succeed.

How many of these reasons can you identify with? Well, now that you see the reasons, you now can look at yourself and make sure that you don't follow ways that are known to not lead to wealth. Follow what works and it will work. And don't forget to enjoy yourself along the way.

David Cameron is the author of wealth and self development books such as A Happy Pocket Full of Money, showing many how to create the lives of their dreams and beyond. Download free trial ebooks, software, courses. http://www.imagesofone.com/?c=a

Avoid The Thirteen Habits of a Failure

2005-05-18T08:43:00.000-04:00

Jim Rohn, the success guru and mentor, said, “Failure is a few errors in judgment repeated every day.” The word to watch is “repeated.”

Now there’s a difference between temporary and permanent failure. We fail at many things in life; it’s all part of our growth and development. A baby starts to walk and falls down, tries again, falls again. Eventually she walks. Failure evolves into success. You make an investment in a stock, based on the seller’s advice. It turns out to be a dud. Failure here may teach you a lesson - a need to do more research on the stock, or on the seller – or on both. You meet someone, fall in love, and get married within a month. Three months later you’re in the middle of a divorce. Another failure with a lesson learned, hopefully.

Then there’s permanent failure; he does the same thing over and over again and gets the same bad results. He earns the title, “Failure.”

Everyone wants to know how to be successful, but not everyone is prepared to take the action required to do (or stop doing) what it takes to achieve success. We avidly devour books on success and motivation. They are some of the biggest sellers found in bookshops, usually listed under “psychology”, “self-improvement”, “management”, or “business.” People attend lectures and seminars by business and motivational speakers on how to be more accomplished, more productive, and more successful. They are impressed, inspired, and uplifted. But 80-90% of those people do nothing as a result of attending those events. They take no action to achieve what they know and believe should be done to change their circumstances for the better. How come?

Rather than spout off here about how to become successful, I’m going to talk about how you can become a failure – a little reverse psychology. I can talk about this because I’ve been there and I’ve learned some tough lessons. Tom Peters said failure in itself is good, even necessary. Without failure there can be no real learning or achievement. Permanent failure, however, is when we don’t learn from our temporary failures. The real issue is that if you don’t focus on what causes failure, and if you don’t decide to do something about it, you’re perpetuating permanent failure and blocking any path to success.

Here are thirteen ways to fail consistently:

Have no written goals whatsoever.
Have no plans.
Take little or no action, even if you have goals.
Associate with the wrong people.
Watch too much TV.
Never listen to, or inquire about, others’ interests.
Avoid all risks.
Complain and whine constantly.
Depend on others too much.
Don’t read or study success.
Stay in your comfort zone.
Blame others for your “bad luck.”
Be afraid to say ‘No!”

Here’s how to reverse the flow of permanent failure

Make a big circle around the ones that are true for you.
Make a decision to make them part of your new focus.
Rewrite each circled item like this: for example, # 1: “Because I have no goals whatsoever, I am dissatisfied (or bored) with my life” or “I see no success in my future” or “I will never be promoted”, or some other negative result you can think of. Be as honest as you can. Then decide to change the status quo. Pick one item and work on it, starting today. Let me know how you made out! In future articles I will elaborate on some of these specific causes of permanent failure.

John Madden is an international speaker, trainer, and author of “Leap, Don’t Sleep” (How to get different results by doing something different). He helps businesses and individuals become more successful through customer service training, changing present results, coaching skills for managers, stress management through humor, time management, and interpersonal skills. You can email him at john@LeapDontSleep.com; web site: http://www.LeapDontSleep.com

Are You Really Swamped or Just Disorganized?

2005-05-17T13:33:00.000-04:00

“Time is what we need the most and what we use the least.”
-Benjamin Franklin

I asked a potential client if he had received my e-mail sent out four days ago. He replied, “I’ve been swamped.” When we visited at his office, I had the opportunity to meet one of the most stressed out and over-loaded people I’d seen for a long time. And most of it was his own doing! Of course he took a while to accept that fact until I showed him just a couple of things he did during our meeting which caused his problem.

About ten minutes into the meeting, his administrative assistant walked in and asked him to remind his friend at Kiwanis the next day to return the PowerPoint projector because they’ll need it for the 3pm meeting on Friday. He said, “Sure”, asked her about something else - which developed into a four-minute conversation - apologized to me, and tried to remember what he was saying before the interruption. He answered his phone three times, and agreed later that he didn’t need to take the calls right there and then. It was just a habit.

So, instead of planning the customer service seminar we’d discussed, we decided to postpone it in favor of a workshop on managing time and stress. You can’t give great customer service if you’re not managing your time effectively.

What are some time stealers, and what can you do about them?

Playing it by ear – without a plan. If you start out your day at the office or the factory not knowing the first thing you’re going to do, you are setting yourself up to have your time pre-empted by others. Take a few minutes at the end of your day to determine the three or four priority actions to be taken next day. Firm up the one you’re going to start with – and make it one that is high priority.
Procrastination. We tend to put off doing those things we know are important but are not exciting enough to get us motivated. Visualize the expected result from doing something important that you’ve been putting off. This morning, starting at 7am I decided to follow my own advice about procrastination, and I spent a very profitable hour and a half re-organizing the scattered files in my office into the filing cabinet - to free up desk space and reduce the tension that often comes from having many objects of work in your line of vision.
Activity versus Action. Do you spend more time involved in activities than in action? It happens often when I’m writing. While searching for background material, I often get sidetracked by an interesting piece of information or another article. Other “activities” might include watching TV, reading a trade magazine, talking on the telephone about nothing in particular, surfing the Net, or reading the mail – especially junk mail.

The only way to control this is to stay focused. I have a sign in my office that says “I MUST DO THE MOST PRODUCTIVE THING POSSIBLE AT EVERY GIVEN MOMENT.” I got this idea from the sales trainer and motivational speaker, Tommy Hopkins. It helps.

Learn to say NO! People avoid saying NO because they don’t want to offend, they’re afraid of letting someone down, or they’re worried what others might think about them. Try this:

Say firmly and without hesitation, “I’m sorry I can’t do (whatever they’re asking you to do) today.”
Give a reason, “because I’m working on this project which has to be finished before Friday”
Offer an alternative, “You may want to check with Stephanie, I think she’s got some free time this week, now that the budget is finished."

John Madden is an international speaker, trainer, and author of “Leap, Don’t Sleep” (How to get different results by doing something different). He specializes in customer service, coaching skills for managers, stress management through humor, creative problem solving, and interpersonal skills. You can reach him at 316-689-6932 or 1-800-301-2924; email at john@LeapDontSleep.com; web site: http://www.LeapDontSleep.com

The Dos and Dont's of an Elevator Pitch

2005-05-16T07:49:00.000-04:00

The dreaded question: "What exactly does your company do?" It's a simple question, but do you find that every time you answer it you give a different answer?

One of the first steps in positioning and branding a new company is to craft an elevator pitch. Simply put, an elevator pitch is a clear, compelling description of your business that is short enough to be understood (by your mother no less) in the time it takes to ride an elevator. That's about 60 seconds or 150 to 225 words. This is not an easy as it sounds. To do it well requires a great amount of thought, strategizing, and finesse.

Here are some quick Dos and Don'ts:

Do start with a hook: what is most compelling about your story?
Do show how you solve a problem. Too many companies offer a solution, but never identify the problem they are solving?
Do briefly describe what you sell but don't kill them with details at this point.
Do tell them who you are: who is behind the company and why you will succeed. (Got a great advisory board? Mention it.)
Do briefly describe the target market: who it is; what industry; how big.
Do mention how you will get revenue.
Do note your competitive advantage be it intellectual property, distribution, partners, or whatever.
Do speak in plain English. Don't use acronyms, technospeak, hype, or marketing babble.
Do show enthusiasm and passion (if you don't believe it, who will?) but don't go over the top. (That's why used-car salesmen are forced to sell used cars.)
Do practice, practice, practice. It should roll off your tongue naturally and consistently. No ums or uhs.
Do make sure everyone in the company has the same story. Don't forget the receptionist. You don't want to be in a position where members of your own team have contradictory descriptions of your company.
Do adjust for your audience. Customers are more interested in what problem you are solving for them than how you plan to make money. Save those details for potential investors.
Do close with a call to action. Get a business card, schedule a follow-up call, set up a presentation, something.
Do write it down. This will have a million uses--from the boilerplate in your press releases to online directory listings--to get your company description in the world consistently. Do shorter versions as well.

Jennifer Guinan, president of Sage Strategic Marketing, offers 19 years of experience in marketing, communications, Internet and search engine marketing, and PR for companies and organizations large and small. Guinan’s background includes national and international marketing and communications executive management and strategy, PR and media relations, and consulting. Her experience spans multiple industries from financial, healthcare, and life sciences to technology segments including software, networking, telecommunications, embedded systems, and wireless. She has developed M&A communications strategies, executed crisis management campaigns, successfully launched a number of startup companies, and strategized and implemented company repositioning, product launches, and issues campaigns. Contact us: http://www.sagestrat.com or jennifer@sagestrat.com

Six Steps to Personal Success

2005-05-12T07:49:00.000-04:00

by Ed Hutchison

Trying to keep up with the Jones only drags good, honest, hard-working people into more credit debt and despair. The Jones’ lifestyle looks glamorous on the outside with their big house, high class automobiles and other luxury items. However, on the inside, it’s only a matter of time before this unstable house of cards comes crashing down.

The following statistics are evidence:

• Over three million more people are living below the poverty line
• Over one million more bankruptcies have occurred in the last year
• Over 70% of divorces are caused by financial issues

It is more difficult to continue struggling than it is to simply apply proven strategies to help you upgrade the quality of your life without all the unnecessary stress.

If your picture of success doesn't match your current life, then now is the time to learn how to...

Master Your Mind: Unconscious negative thoughts are keeping you from the financial success you want.
Choose Your Mountain: Your financial success requires more than just goal setting.
Generate A Passionate Purpose: This will give you more power over achieving success than anything else you can do.
Chart Your Course: Learn how to fill the grave of debt in your life forever.
Build Relationships You Need: How to treat people so they’ll bend over backward to help you achieve your financial goals.
Promote Yourself: Branding isn’t just for corporations. It’s vital to your financial success.

Ed Hutchison is CEO and President of the North American Boxing Council (NABC.net). He works with pro athletes, trainers & managers at all levels. He writes daily on his personal website http://www.winrz.com - Winrz.com Home Page for Winners about self help, leadership and success."

Three Call Behaviors of Successful Salespeople

2005-05-11T07:36:00.000-04:00

Huthwaite research has shown that successful salespeople exhibit certain sales-call behaviors throughout the selling cycle that their less successful counterparts may not know about. Specifically, there are three basic practices that lead to more sales:

Let the customer talk more than you do.
You may be selling the world’s best product or service, and you may be convinced it will solve all your customer’s woes. But in your zeal, you may not be hearing subtle and not-so-subtle clues about their true needs. The more your customer talks, the more you will learn about their implied and explicit needs, which puts you in a better position to offer them the most customized and most helpful solutions. Also, customers who talk more gain a better understanding of their own situation, and begin to realize the importance of solving their problems. How do you get them to talk?
Ask more of the right questions!
If your sales calls are leaving you with little information and a sense of incompleteness, you’re not asking the questions that will uncover your customers’ needs. You need to fully understand their situation, the problems it’s causing, and the implications of those problems before trying to suggest a solution. Only by asking more of the right questions can you make a confident assessment and show how your offering fills a customer need. Which brings us to:
Hold off on offering products and solutions until later in the call.
You can’t know what solution to offer if you don’t uncover customer needs and decision criteria first. For example, if you spend your time with the customer talking about how quiet your machine is, and noise is not a factor your customer cares about, you’ve wasted your time. Until you’ve investigated customer needs, you won’t know how to add value. Don’t offer a solution until you know what problem you’re trying to solve.

Everything in Life is Selling

2005-05-10T07:43:00.000-04:00

Robert Louis Stevenson said 'Everything in Life is Selling' and it is. Whether as a child you cry until you get what you want; whether as an adult you provide a service to your employer in return for payment; or whether as an individual you make sure that you look your best before meeting someone on a date, they can all be defined as selling.

Selling has been with us probably forever. It could be said that the first salesperson was probably the Serpent in the Garden of Eden. Selling apples in return for infinite wisdom may seem far removed from your own sales activities but they are nevertheless linked.

Selling is a professional skill which can be learned by anyone wanting to learn. Sales skills are not inherent. You can learn the same skills used by the most successful of salespeople but that does not guarantee that you will be successful in sales. As with anything that is skills based, ultimate success relies on internal motivational factors such as commitment, drive, determination and resilience.

There are several of things to bear in mind: -

There is nothing new in selling. Most courses and most theories of selling look remarkably the same, simply because the basics of selling hold true whichever environment you work in.
Selling is a lot simpler than some people make it out to be. That simplicity however belies the need to work hard at it. Acquiring selling skills requires significant practice.
Selling is an honourable profession with a dishonourable reputation
Some people appear to do it naturally

The problem is that whilst the skills of how to do this can be learned by everybody, not everybody wants to learn the skills. It is possible to provide you with all the knowledge and skills you will need to be a successful salesperson but unless you have the right attitude towards selling then the acquisition of this knowledge and the practice of the skills required will be wasted.

Here are some basic principles about selling and your role in the success of your company which should be the foundation stone of your route to sales excellence:

Treat Selling as a Profession

The reason why most people do not regard selling as a profession is that too many salespeople do not treat it as a profession. Professionals embark upon their careers by studying the subject in some depth; become qualified in their profession; practice the skills relentlessly; and update their knowledge and skills regularly.

Many salespeople adopt some of these principles in terms of product knowledge, but forget that the main tools of their trade are not the products they use, but the way in which they communicate. If we were to say that salespeople speak, then it would be an over-simplification of the power of speech. What made Humphrey Bogarde, Richard Burton, or James Mason famous had as much to do with the sound of their voices than of their acting ability.

Knowledge therefore should not be restricted to what you sell, but how you sell. Studying psychology, communication, and relationships should be as much a part of your induction to sales as a history of the company. Learning about how people react to one another is just as important as where your products are placed in the market. Understanding about buying motivation is as vital to a professional salesperson as understanding how the balance sheet works.

Accept Personal Responsibility for Sales Success

There is no such thing as luck in selling. Successful salespeople make their own luck. They engineer to be in the right place at the right time with the right product. Your sales success is dependent upon you and no one else. Theirs might contribute to it, in the same way that you contribute to the overall success of your company, but in terms of your own performance then you are responsible. Accepting personal responsibility puts you in charge.

Understand Yourself

If you analysed what motivates you, you will be well on the road to knowing what motivates others. Self-analysis is a prerequisite for sales success. Set goals, priorities and deadlines. Those who are achievers do not rely on luck but generally have a game plan that they work to. They know what they want and work towards achieving it.

Understand that Customers will buy 'expensive' when appropriate

If people only bought what was cheap then all companies would be selling the same thing. There are companies selling items which are more expensive than yours and companies selling items which are cheaper than yours. People buy what they believe satisfies what they want. Your own house will be crammed full of things which you could not justify on price alone - your customers are the same. Most customers buy things without comparing them. Think of the last five items you bought and what comparisons you made before parting with your money.

Treat Customers how you want to be treated

An old maxim in selling is 'If you do what's right for enough other people, they will do what is right by you'. Speak to people how you would like to be spoken to. Treat them how you would like to be treated. It won't work every time, but even the times it doesn't will physically and mentally make you feel better.

Age, Gender and Experience count for nothing

Successful salespeople come in all ages, from each gender, and have varying degrees of experience. Sales success is no respecter of age or experience. Buyers will buy from people whom they trust and trust is a matter of reaction to the behaviour of others not grey hair or the sharing of the sports news. That said, image is important, and yet everybody can improve image.

Persevere

Your attitude should be that everyone wants to buy from you at some time. Providing that you keep in touch on a regular basis, one day you will be in the right place at the right time with the right proposal. Most unsuccessful salespeople stop contacting customers on the occasion just before the one on which they buy.

The best of salespeople are usually those who have doubts about their ability to the extent that they are constantly trying to improve themselves in case anybody finds them out!

Learning is a never-ending experience. Someone once said 'To cease to learn is to cease to live'. I encourage you to live a little.

------------
Frank Salisbury is a highly experience motivational speaker, and inspiring business coach, particularly to the sales profession. Frank is recognised as a leading authority in the field of sales - including sales process design, sales performance, and sales coaching.

He strongly believes that whether we work in the public or private sector; whether our organisation is commercial or non-commercial; that we are all in sales. His favourite quote, which has become his maxim, is from Robert Louis Stevenson – ‘Everything in live is selling’. He has spoken at numerous conferences and seminars where his style has received popular acclaim for a speaker with a passion for life, and achievement.

He is Managing Director of Business & Training Solutions Ltd – a sales consultancy based in Ireland and the UK. He can be contacted at frank@btsolutions.ie 28 Rye Close, Banbury, Oxfordshire. 0044 (0)1295250247

Seven Mental Laws of Selling

2005-05-09T07:52:00.000-04:00

There are Seven Mental Laws of Selling by Brian Tracy that explain how your internal thoughts control and influence external events:

The Law of Cause and Effect

This law states that all events occur because something caused them to occur! If something happens there is a reason. The other six mental laws of selling are related to this first law. They explain why certain causes lead to certain effects!

The Law of Compensation

You get out what you put in! You are compensated fairly for your efforts, however much and however little!

The Law of Control

You feel good about yourself if you are in control of your life! You feel negative if you are not in control. Do only the things that are consistent with what you want to accomplish, and you will gain a positive attitude!

The Law of Belief

Whatever you believe, with emotion, becomes your reality. Believe that you are a great salesperson, and you will be a great salesperson!

The Law of Concentration

Whatever you dwell upon (giving power to) grows and expands in your life. The more you think about something negative or positive, the bigger it becomes. Think about positive things, and your life will be dominated by with positive outcomes (and vice-versa).

The Law of Attraction

Nothing succeeds like success. The more you have, the more you get! The more positive and enthusiastic you are, the more you’ll succeed.

The Law of Correspondence

Your outer world is a reflection of your inner world. The outer world reflects the person you really are. If you are positive light, for example, then you will be treated in a positive manner!

Steps for Successful Goal Setting

2005-05-06T08:11:00.000-04:00

Desire
Set a goal that you intensely desire. It must be entirely personal, and not something for anybody else other than for yourself.

Belief
You must believe, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that you can accomplish your goal. Make your goals are believable. They must be set high enough so that they will challenge and stretch you, and at the same time are possible to achieve.

Write it down.
By writing down your goal, you program the goal into your subconscious mind. A goal without a being written down (with due dates) are just dreams – waiting to become a goal.

Determine how you will benefit from accomplishing your goal.
If your goal is financial, write down the changes that your financial goal will make in your life.

Analyze your current position.
Do a complete financial statement. Where are you now in relation to where you want to be? Determine your starting point.

Set a deadline.
Place a time element on your goal. Time will help measure your progress.

Identify the obstacles you will have to overcome to accomplish your goals and write them down.

Clearly identify the knowledge you will require in order to accomplish your goal.

Clearly identify the people whose cooperation you will need.

Make a plan.
List all of the activities and prioritize in terms of importance and time. Review your plan and rewrite it until it is exactly what you want.

Get a clear mental visualization of your goal as being already accomplished.
Think about it constantly. You will accomplish your goal to the degree that you can clearly visualize having already accomplished it.