What to do?

The only competition you will ever have is the competition between your disciplined and your undisciplined mind. - James Arthur Ray. This quote is at the bottom of my emails. While no ever comments on the quote I gets lots of comments on the economy. Everyday I hear an excuse, the government, or a job, or their appearance, or their parents, and it goes on. Those are just excuses made up to justify why people arent successful. And, guess whos sending you those excuses? Its, their conditioned mind. The one thing that you must change is you. Its the only thing you have control over. For now, you have a decision to make. Are you going to accept the life you have today and the person you are today, and simply accept whatever circumstances life throws at you like everyone else?

 comments (0)

50,000 Thoughts

Just left Atlanta and spoke to a wonderful group, THE LUXURY MARKETING COUNCIL. One of the key points in our conversation was the number of times the average person thinks each day. A number of years ago the National Science Foundation estimated that our brains produce as many as 50,000 thoughts per day depending on how deep a thinker you are. Other estimates run as high as 60,000/day, that would be John at the Luxury Council. Positive and creative thought is important for the times we are experiencing right now. We must focus our thoughts to achieve the success we so desperately need today. Without the ability to focus we wrestle with the MONKEY MIND THEORY. Thats where the mind becomes an out-of-control generator. And in many cases that generator is a very negative producer. Lauren Versaggi left the meeting with great focus. She felt that if she could ask better, more emotional based questions, sales would improve. And guess what? She will improve and her sales will improve!

 comments (0)

Inauguration

One thought ... on the most personal note that I can muster - Obama's journey makes it possible for me to do one thing. I can now look into the eyes of my seven year old daughter and say, "you can do anything in the world you want. Nothing is impossible for you!"

 comments (0)

The year ... Is it new (Revised)

Today is celebrated as the first day of a new year - 2009. As I look around I don't see many "new" things. The recession ... that's not new, we had that before. Check your history books starting around 1932. The hangovers from last nights party are not new ... we even had that before (sorry if that's to close to home). There seem to be three types of business perspectives out there - none of them new: 1.) The people that are running around with their hair on fire. They respond to every bad piece of news that comes out 2.) The people who have decided to dig in and wait for this economic downturn to "blow over." 3.) And my favorites ... the forward thinking, aggressive people that see this as an opportunity to gain market share. All the best this year - but let's get it going the right way. This is the time to gain your market!

 comments (0)

What would Indiana Jones do?

This weekend's box office supports the idea that Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones may be the adventure hero of this (or any) century. Seriously, who can compare? Sylvester Stallone? Steven Seagal? Maybe Mel Gibson? I have to cast my vote for Indiana. He stands up to every challenge -- even the fact that his movies were not considered for DVD sale until 20 years later! As times change, however, I wonder how Indy would do in a job outside the confines of archeology? Say, sales for instance. How would our hero fair with the sometimes lonely, always changing, often challenging world of sales. I think not so well. In this case, my vote would have to change. We would need a new hero, and I vote for Matt Damon as Jason Bourne. Bourne combines all the elements needed in a tough selling environment: He's an excellent fighter -- good for those buyers who won't sign the deal! He's in great physical shape -- able to run from office to office. He's resourceful -- whether making bombs out of toasters or selling value in the face of price concerns. And the big one -- Bourne was smarter than Indy under fire, and in today's market smart wins!

 comments (0)

Always Be Interviewing

The number one mistake in building and maintaining an effective sales team is a flawed hiring process. While there are many elements to consider, my first concern has always been to interview constantly. Always look for exceptional people in and out of your industry. Here are some of my other suggestions for hiring: - Pass on experience and look for people who show some element of emotional intelligence and personal magnetism. - Interview each person at least three times before you send them to another team member. - Prepare questions that take the applicant past normal responses. Get them to solve a sample problem, ask about the last book they read, or ask how their performance has been measured in the past. Finally, interview before one of your positions is open. Nothing hurts hiring like the rush to fill the position.

 comments (0)

How to Build Confidence

January 29, 2008 How to Build Confidence Posted at 11:23 AM As long as I've worked with, trained, and improved sales people, the number one focus for success has been their confidence. More important than any sales tactic is how each sales person feels about themselves. Simply put, people sell to their level of esteem. Here, then, are key areas to improve your team's confidence and esteem: Knowing you: Sales people who want to improve their mediocre performance must begin by understanding themselves. What takes them up, what takes them down, and more importantly, what do they want most in life? Knowing the company: And by knowing the company, they must know the people. One of the key areas of team building is knowing and embracing the people around them everyday. When you have people you know and depend on, you sell better. In part because they know they can depend on you so they work harder for you. All of this equals more sales. Knowing the customer: Author and businessman, Harvey McKay, wrote a list of 64 things you should know about your client to really be effective. Many sales reps only know very basic things about the client. The more you know, the more confident you are, and the more you sell. Knowing the product: Become an expert on your product. If you are lacking in this area, here is the key. Learn one product at a time. When you become "expert" at one product, you condition yourself to learn other products at the same level of effectiveness. Set your vision: Set a vision of where you want to go. When anyone has a burning vision of what they want out of life, small set backs remain small. The end result is that very few things get in your way. You don't see the small stuff and your eyes stay attached to where you want to be. Confidence, in the eyes of your clients, suggests that they can depend on you. It gives them the feeling that you can bring with you the solution to their problem. Years ago, I discovered that people buy from you in direct proportion to how your product or service helps them. You cannot convey, "help" without confidence.

 comments (0)

No More Cold Calls

January 25, 2008 No More Cold Calls! Posted at 1:42 PM We are now selling in difficult times. I believe that down markets mean sales life is shorter: shorter lines of customers, shorter time to get their attention, and shorter amounts of patience for your service. Here's the good news: someone, somewhere is buying something even as you read this. The truth we search for is not whether the market is down but whether we can become more efficient in our sales effort. Face it, as a company, you can handle most problems, but if sales stop, everything stops. In short, your entire company should be a selling organization. The goal shouldn't be predicting the market but targeting strategies that will help your company sell better in shorter time frames. There are several strategies we will talk about in the future but today let's focus on developing business. First, no more cold calls! They don’t give enough of a return, and we typically have the wrong people doing them (the new hires). Instead, let's try Six Degrees of Separation for business. If the world is truly "connected," -- and it is -- why make cold calls when we can find connections to people who can deliver business to us? Instead of calling strangers, let’s spend that time targeting two areas: One, who do we know who we've done a good job for? Chances are they are connected to people who would also buy from us. Two, who do we want to do business with? We know someone right now (within six degrees) who can introduce us to potential customers. By using this strategy, we can shorten the sales cycle. The benefits are many but two stand out: One, your sales team sells with a higher level of esteem. Two, you become much more efficient in your sales effort and increase new business regardless of market conditions.

 comments (0)

Apple Rebate

You may have heard by now, Apple reduced the price of its highly marketed, long-awaited iPhone by a third. And they did it only a little over 2 months after the phone first came to market. This is the phone Apple spent a year doing an excellent job hyping. The campaign was so successful that people camped out overnight for a chance to be one of the first to own one - myself included (although I had a "hook-up"). So those of us who had purchased the luxury of "first on my block to own one" iPhone for $599 were correct to feel a sense of betrayal when Apple announced unexpectedly that, the phone would cost $399. Apples attempt at calming iPhone owners was a Gem ... a $100 store credit. The store credit is nice, but it would have been better and seemed more sincere if a rebate check was sent because, lets face it, a $100 store credit means it only costs Apple about $50, maybe less. When you sell a luxury item such as a phone that frankly only does a couple of things you can't get on other phones. Perhaps the strategy should be to make the early adopters happy to sing your praises.

 comments (0)

 comments (0)