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Sales Tagged Articles
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Winning Business the Right Way
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| A look at winning business for your company through the use of three key traits. |
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Executive Level Positioning
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| Positioning yourself in both a horizontal and vertical level with regards to your co-workers before evening reaching the executive level and the importance associated with it. |
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Success model: Targeted marketing of investment goods and long-lasting consumer goods
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| Still quite often ‚Marketing‘ is misunderstood to be ‚PR‘ only. For many industries like apparel, food or even automobiles this is true, to a certain extent. Not so for investment goods or long-lasting consumer goods. |
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The Magic of Thinking Big: Developing the Power of Belief
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| I recently re-read a book that I read many years ago. It was a great reminder of the power of the mind. It’s like I tell the people that I coach, “If you think you are a winner you’re probably right. If you think you are a loser, you’re probably right.”
The Magic of Thinking Big is a great book that will help you recognize that you’re thoughts and belief in yourself are the aspects that are propelling you forward or holding you back. Knowing this is probably nothing new to you however the tough part is to learn how to develop the power of belief.
Schwartz suggests three ways to develop belief:
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The Sales Meeting Agenda
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| The impact of having a sales meeting agenda. |
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Always be Qualifying
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| The importance of qualifying throughout the sales process. |
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Setting Sales Appointments
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| Tips on getting the buyer to accept that first meeting. |
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Selling on Price
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| Using value along with price to make a sale & keep the client in the long run. |
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Readt Set Grow ... Your 2010 Plan
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| Ready Set GROW... That's right GROW! Do you have a personal growth plan for 2010? As we begin the New Year, it's imperative that you know where you want to go in life and that you have a plan to achieve it. College Football Hall of Fame Coach, Lou Holtz, says, "To succeed, you've got to have a vision and a plan."
Did you know that most people spend more time planning their family vacation than planning their life? How about you? Have you ever outlined all the goals and achievements you would like to accomplish in the next year or five years? Are you crystal clear on the one target you would like to hit in your lifetime? Have you ever taken the time to set your goals and create a plan to make them a reality?
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Financial Skills Selling
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| The value of having the ability to read an organization's financial statement to identify areas in which the company may be struggling. This gives one the ability of knowing in advance, what areas need to be worked on. |
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A New Race Car to Success in 2010 for Christmas This Year
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| A car lovers point of view on how to grow your sales in 2010. Steps to chose the road, the engine and the fuel you use to get your business to its best year ever! |
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Why is Cold Calling Like Buying New Shoes?
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| On an introductory call, that first call with a prospect, you are not asking that prospect to buy from you-you are asking the prospect to have a conversation with you |
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Differentiation is the Key
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| The importance of looking for ways to differentiate oneself from the competition. |
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Emotional Marketing, Part Two
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| In another article I talked about Emotional Marketing. I concluded it by saying that once the prospect has indicated an interest in what you do, that it wasn't the moment to pitch your service or outline all your product offerings. In fact, it's not even time to try for an appointment. In this article, I'll talk about the next step. |
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Effective Negotiating
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| Reviewing different models that help in both negotiating and overcoming objections when dealing with prospective buyers. |
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Can Simply Being Nice Save You Money?
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| It occurred to me (at the tax office of all places) that simply being nice to others really does save us money. This morning while paying taxes, I was pleasant and took the time to be nice and two ladies really did everything in their power to save me some money. As I then drove to my office, I pondered the application of "simply being nice" to a more general business application. Can we as leaders role model being nice and teach our employees to be the same way? Can being nice impact our bottom line? Do we sometimes neglect the very people that mean success or failure in the game of business? |
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Boosting Holiday Sales – 5 Mistakes to Avoid
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| How to make money with the holidays.
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Another simply way to increase your influence
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| Another simply way to increase your influence - just by simply touching them on the shoulder or the forearm.
How does it work - read on |
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Sales Success TIPS - from a Waitress?
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| Long ago, before restaurants and hotels told us how much we “owe” in tips and gratuities, a tip was always given up front. It still is in some locations (e.g., some doormen and concierges and maitre d’s). Why? TIPS stands for To Insure Proper Service. |
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HyperRealism As a Motivating Factor In Web Video
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| If there is one thing every Web business executive can agree on, it's that websites need to motivate people to act. That action can be to place an order, send an email, pick-up the phone, or maybe just join a mailing list, but whatever the intended response, your website must cause a reaction. It's a case of simple cause and effect. |
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Sales Management - The Next Sale Is the Game of Your Life
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| No matter you're a salesperson or sales manager every sale has a significant and immediate impact on your career. Everyday you play the game of your life. Learn how to make it to the playoffs and win with this article. |
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Do This and Lose Sales
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| Salespeople focusing on product lose sales because they miss the solution |
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Make Your 2010 Goals Work
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| A key element that pushes some forward to success and holds so many back. |
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ARE YOU FANATICAL FOR YOUR CUSTOMER?
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| Is your customer's best interest at the center of your attention |
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Dealing with the Current Downturn
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| The current economic times are challanging, but we cannot "throw up our hands" and just react. We need to take smart, measured actions. |
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Employee Motivation Programs - Top Reasons Incentives Work
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| Employee motivation programs - more than likely you have know of them, however if you are not implementing them inside your small business, you are making a dangerous mistake. You see, while you will observe that these reward programs will require a monetary investment on your part, they might bring you incredible returns in the extended run. From incentives to unique prize giveaways, there are so many numerous ideas that you might get your own employee motivation program started and here are a few of the best reasons to do so. |
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First Things First - Solve The Right Problem
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| Most people miss the greatest part of sales - the ability to go out and truly learn about people, their businesses, their challenges and their opportunities and provide ideas, products and services that will make their lives better! How great is that. This is often lost of most sales people, because they are too focused on making the sale rather than solving the problem. |
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Saving Your Way to Success
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| How many times have you heard small company owners say they can cut costs to save their company? |
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THE 2nd BIGGEST MARKETING WASTE
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| I will discuss what the 2nd biggest marketing waste is. |
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The Canadian Business Sales Marketplace
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| Searching for business listings in Canada can be a time-consuming and frustrating endeavour. In comparison to the U.S., Canadians do not have much to choose from when it comes to an active small business for sale marketplace (relatively speaking, of course). This article examines some of the reasons why. |
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Requests for Proposals (RFP's)
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| An overview on RFP's and the importance associated with RFP's in selling. |
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Know Your Competition
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| If you want to win you have to understand who you are competing against. Your competition are those businesses or individuals that you are losing sales to regularly. If you want to win business, you have to understand what they are offering the your not, what you have to offer that they don't, and craft your sales pitch to make sure the prospect clearly knows why they should choose you! |
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Know your customers and increase your profits
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| Every wonder how your business can improve? Or, do you see your competitors striving ahead while your business gets left behind! There is a simple fix and it all begins with knowing your customers. |
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C-Level Sales Training Tip 14 - Credibility Is the Magic for Selling to C-Level Executives
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| Credibility is paramount to sell, and develop professional relationships with C-levels and other powerful people. This article will explain the simple process to establish and enhance your credibility with C-Level executives, doctors, and other influential people. |
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Growth Through Strategic Customer Service
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| Take all possible steps & proactively grow your organization this year – and in doing so, we might do well to remember that one way to make money is to not lose any! |
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Which Half of Your Sales or Management Effort is Working?
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| As inidcated by John Wanamaker's famous quote, frequency is an important element of marketing. It is also an important element of selling and of sales management...
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Down with Networking!
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| Networking is probably one of the toughest and most important aspects of the job search..not to mention our careers and overall professional development. Unfortunately, it’s also one of the most hated, misunderstood and, consequently, poorly practiced areas in our careers, too, which is probably why many of us dread networking altogether. Still, like it or not, we simply must do it. It’s too difficult to land a job, an internship, or a new client today without networking. |
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Be Easy To Do Business With - Turning Your Prospects Into Clients
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| If you want to turn your prospects into customers, then you need to ask yourself if you are easy to do business with? Well actually, you need to ask your customers if you are easy to do business with. When you sell, you sell an experience. Your next job is to ensure your prospects receive the positive experience you sold them when they actually do business with your company. |
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Who Really Achieves Success in Sales?
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| Whether you have been in sales a short time or for years, achieve a level of success that is rooted in integrity...The kind of success that cannot be matched.
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Selling to Purchasing Departments
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| One of the most difficult parts of a salesperson's job is dealing with purchasing departments...Here are a few vital points to keep in mind when dealing with a purchasing department.
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About Sales, JV Partners and Wet, Sloppy Kisses
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| Do you hate sales, or have a lukewarm affinity to it? What if sales wasn't such a big deal? Could you then fall in love (or at least like) with it? This lighthearted account shows you how to approach your prospective clients or Joint Venture partners in a fun, authentic, and effective way. |
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Increase Sales by Understanding Your Sales Process
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| As a business coach, at some point early in my relationship with my clients I'll ask them to map out their sales process and it never ceases to amaze me that some of those really smart businesspeople have never sat down to look at how they sell, how they train their people to sell, and what works - or doesn't!
I'll often get the response, "Well, we just sell it to them", which doesn't give one much traction when it comes to assessing or improving sales.
The first two things you need to know in order to be able to assess your selling process are real answers to the questions, "Why do people buy what you sell?" and "Why do they buy it from you?"
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Lower Stress At Work Is Just Good Business Manners
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| Few things within a business are guaranteed to raise tensions, shorten fuses and lower productivity as are simple bad manners and yet, when times get tough and stress rises, good manners are often an early victim.
When the erosion of good manners then leaks from team relations into customer relations (as it inevitably must) that, in turn, costs sales - not just immediate sales, but all of the remaining sales you would have made to that client had you retained them for years to come, and the sales of all the other people whom they were miffed enough to discourage from dealing with you in future!
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The Most Important Rule of Business
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| Discover a simple rule for massive success. |
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Salespeople: What Works - Commission or Retainer
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| One of our coaching clients asked for some thoughts on structuring rewards for their sales people, and the following notes arose from our thinking on the subject.
On reflection, even though it's just an outline, I thought it may be relevant to some of you, so here you go:
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Tracking & Diagnosing Sales Performance
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| One of my clients was recently wrestling with a common business challenge - a contracted professional salesperson who was not delivering results. She was uncertain about the correctness of insisting on a report of his activities because her initial request had been met with, "I don't have time for that. I'm busy getting out there seeing people. What do you want: Sales or reports?"
Like most "half truths" this one caused her some angst: She did want sales; activities were not what she was paying for - but the arrangement wasn't working, and she could not see why.
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Winning Sales by Understanding Your Sales Process -
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| Your Present Selling System.
If you’re in a business that is more than a few years old, it is a certainty that someone within that business has developed a system – or a habit - of selling that works for your market – if only in part. If that system is not the best it could be, then your sales are less than they could be.
It’s really that simple!
Does it stand to reason then that, if you understood the system you have evolved to sell your product (we’ll use “product” to include services), you may be able to use that understanding to improve or optimise your system – and increase your sales thereby?
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How To Go From Down To Up, Fast
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| Yesterday was not one of my better days. Despite starting off the year full of excitement and hope, yesterday I was really down in the dumps. For starters, I caught a cold and didn’t have much energy.
Everything on my to do list looked like moving a mountain and I just wasn’t up to doing a thing. That useless feeling somehow went from being a momentary feeling to escalating into the entire year being a mess. |
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Keeping Your New Year’s Resolutions
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| Oooh, I’m so excited! I love this time of year. The New Year brings with it the promise of new beginnings, new adventures and new opportunities. Are you pumped about your resolutions for this year?
As you know, many folks struggle with keeping their New Year’s resolutions. It’s not that they are hard to set, but somehow hard to keep up with. One trip to the gym in January will tell you how many people have resolved to lose weight, yet another trip in March will show you how many have fallen off the wagon in just two months. |
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15 Beads For Happiness
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| Thanksgiving is the American day to reflect on our blessings and gifts. It is a time for family and friends to gather together and name the things they are thankful for in their lives. What would happen if we did that more often?
A few years ago when I was in Greece, I picked up a string of beautiful red and silver beads. There are 15 of them, strung on a lovely silver chain and tied off with a silver tassel. The Greeks use them as prayer beads but I’ve developed a new use for them. |
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What Can I Do?
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| I’m sitting in Barnes and Noble eavesdropping on the people around me. Yes, I do things like that because I learn a lot. Here is the conversation at the next table,
Woman in green, in response to a comment about a boss: “So, what are you going to do?”
Woman in red, sighing heavily: “I don’t know. What can I do? I’m stuck waiting for him to make a decision. I hope he does it soon. I wish there was something I could do.” |
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Watching Valentina
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| It has been a fun few weeks around my house. I’ve had two lovely visitors from Germany, my girlfriend Valentina and her mom, Barbara. Of course, we’ve had a blast traveling around and seeing the sights of Virginia and DC and blathering away in our own bizarre mix of English and German. What struck me, though, was how much I learned from watching Valentina. |
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You Don’t Always Have To Jump
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| As I climbed down the rickety metal ladder from the top of the Oribi gorge to the small ledge below, my heart was racing. Sure, I was secured in a study nylon harness, but my knees were shaking so hard I could barely walk. Adrenaline was coursing through my veins at breakneck speed.
From the bottom of the ladder, I walked out to the edge of the cliff and looked over the edge down at the river and rocks 33-stories below. |
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What I Bought WIth $81,000,000
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| The other day I was driving 30 minutes to go to a client’s networking event and I saw a sign that pumped me up for the entire day.
It was the lottery sign showing the jackpot at $81million.
I started thinking about what I’d do with that much money |
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Is It Okay To Aim Low?
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| This is a question I’ve been asking myself for a long time.
Self-help gurus the world over preach the virtues of thinking big, reaching for the stars, aiming high and stretching your limits.
But is that always the right thing to do? |
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I’d Like To But…
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| There is a little phrase that I hear everyday and I’ll bet you do too. Maybe you hear if from coworkers, clients or even your kids. Maybe you even hear it from yourself.
Does it drive you as nuts as it drives me? |
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Why Bad News Sells
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| I was having a meeting with the director of a division of child services for Virginia the other day and we got on the subject of reports about foster parents. She told me how disheartened she was that stories of poor care make the front page but stories like the one about a man in the Northern Neck who fostered a teen with AIDS through his last year of life go unnoticed.
A quick check of the headlines on any major news website confirmed her viewpoint.
That got me thinking about why bad news sells. |
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How Much Is Your Career Worth?
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| I’ve been doing a lot of research lately into between people who make success look easy and those who work like dogs just to keep up.
Here are two of the things I’ve uncovered. |
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What Is Under Your Covers?
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| My new client, Mark, just bought a new business. He was a homebuilder and since that industry wasn’t going too well lately, he decided to branch out into a line of kitchen renovation products.
His reasoning was that since he was used to talking with people about building $300,000 homes that it should be easy to sell $2500 kitchen accessories. |
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Driving lessons
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| Thursday morning I hopped into a friend’s car at 5:30am Central European Time for the one-hour drive from Bocholt to Düsseldorf in order to attend a BNI meeting.
Since I haven’t driven alone in a car in Germany for over 20 years, I was a bit apprehensive. The night before I carefully mapped out the directions on Google, but lacking a printer I had only a list of directions and no overview map. |
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The Three Second Miracle
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| Ever have those days when you are faced with a constant string of challenges, obstacles and set back on the path to your goals? Here’s a quick way to overcome every one of them in just three seconds (or less).
When you’re faced with a roadblock you mind automatically goes into assessment mode. That is, it looks at the situation and says “I can’t get past this.” |
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Does Passion Have A Price?
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| If you’re like me, you’ve got a lot on your plate these days. We’ve recently added some new revenue streams to our business, I’m starting a non-profit organization to save homeless animals and I’ve begun dating someone who lives 4000 miles away. I’m also working on my golf game, walking my beloved dog and catching up with some very interesting brain research I’ve been studying. Oh yeah, and I’m learning Italian and German. |
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Is The Economy Good Or Bad?
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| There is a plethora of economic data pouring in from around the world. Oil is at an all time high, the mortgage crisis seems to be larger than initially expected and the government doesn’t seem quite sure how to handle it. So what is a business owner (or salesperson) supposed to do?
In researching the Great Depression recently, I came across a statistic that said that more millionaires were made during that time than at any other time in history. Not flash-in-the-pan millionaires, but long-term successes. So what did they do that enabled them to flourish while others suffered greatly |
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The Genius At Work
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| Ever wonder why 80% of businesses fail in the first five years? Many people would say it is because they are undercapitalized. Michael Gerber, the genius behind the best-selling “E-Myth” would argue otherwise.
According to Michael all small businesses are failures and it is due to one, and only one thing. |
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What If You Could?
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| As a student of psychology, I’m often fascinated by what makes the most successful people in America different than the rest. It is interesting to note that the top 20% of our citizens control fully 94% of the country’s wealth. So what is it that makes them soar while the rest flounder near the ground? I think I might have an answer.
I don’t think that millionaires are necessarily smarter or even more risk-tolerant than other people. I think they simply see more opportunities for wealth creation than the rest of us. They find more ways to win because they don’t worry about losing. |
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A Lesson From My Dog
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| Many of you know that I am the very proud owner of a wonderful 8-year old Ibizan Hound named Gracie. We’ve had our ups and downs over the years together and I’ll admit she’s taught me a lot about myself and others. This past Fourth of July she taught me a great lesson about selling and owning a business. |
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A Dream… A Vision… A Life
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| It’s that time of year when many of us are beginning to get really busy. Sales are picking up before the dog days of summer hit, kids are off on spring break and the longer days entice us to be more active. Since the weather is so beautiful this time of year, I have a task for you. But not just any task. This is one that will change your life forever if you do it right. Are you ready for the challenge? |
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Two More Hours In The Day
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| How many times have you heard someone (maybe yourself) say, “I wish I had more time to do all the things on my list - there just aren’t enough hours in the day!” While it is true that we all get the same 24 hours to spend each day, there are great differences in the way we spend those hours and how much we accomplish.
Last week I talked about using Power Blocks to focus your energy into productive chunks of time. This week I want you to think about the hundreds of time wasters in your business that are keeping you from getting more done. Here are a few that might be killing your productivity. |
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Power Block Your Way To Focus
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| I recently sent out a survey to my clients asking them about their top issues in 2010 and an amazing 73% said that “lack of focus” was a major hurdle facing them.
As an entrepreneur and self-diagnosed sufferer of “bright shiny object syndrome,” I completely understand. The inability to stay focused on my goals over the course of year has derailed my plans many a time. |
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Should You Spend Time Planning This Year?
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| That seems like a silly question perhaps, but so many business people don’t bother really planning their year (much less their entire business) that I have to ask.
If you don’t have a plan yet, here a few of the best reasons to make time in the next two weeks to get one done. |
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Are You Limiting Your Income In 2010?
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| It is planning time again! This time of year many of us are looking back at the past year and deciding what we are going to do for the next year. It is a time of reflection as well as a time to get excited about what the future holds.
I spend a lot of my time in December helping clients get strategic plans for the coming year in place. Each time I work with a new client, I am surprised at the way many of them have been to taught to plan and how those teachings keep them earning far less than they are capable. Here is one of mytop suggestions for planning for 2010. |
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A Fast And Easy Way To More Abundance
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| I listen to lots of books on tape and I read pretty voraciously too. Sure, I consume my fair share of murder mysteries and fiction but many of my favorite books have to do with developing one’s mind and deliberately creating one’s future.
Recently I’ve been listening to a book called “Money and the Law of Attraction” by Esther Hicks. The very beginning of the book has two interesting questions; “Do you know what you want?” and “Are you vibrating at the right frequency to attract it?” |
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Why Johnny Can’t Focus
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| In my roles as adviser, trainer and consultant I get to talk to a lot of people. Business owners, salespeople, other trainers, managers – you name it, I end up chatting with them. One of the questions I typically ask is “What is keeping you from living exactly the way you want?” and more often than not one of the answers is “I just can’t seem to stay focused on my goals.”
Lack of focus seems like an American epidemic and I think I have the answer to the problem. |
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Three Lessons
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| Do you ever have one of those days when you just hit a rut? It’s like you can’t seem to make progress on your goals. No matter what you do, it seems like you’re either standing still or moving backwards.
I’ve had one of those weeks recently. All my goals seemed so far away and all I could see what how far short I’d fallen on some of them. Then three things happened which reminded me of just how far I’ve come. |
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What Do You Do At 3:15am?
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| It is dark and rainy outside. I can hear the storm pounding the windows as I lie in bed unable to sleep. My dog is happily curled up next me and dreaming her doggie dreams of chasing (and catching) squirrels.
But I’m wide awake. |
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Are You Folding Your Client’s Underwear?
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| I was having dinner the other night with my friend, Erin, who was complaining that she had to leave early so she could get home and finish doing the laundry. There was a pile of underwear sitting in a basket and it needed to be folded and put away. Erin really wanted to get it done before the next day when her husband and son would be using it.
I asked Erin what her family would think if she didn’t fold their underwear and she said laughingly they wouldn’t even notice; they’d be just as happy living out of a laundry basket. |
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Where Is Your Attention?
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| I’ve been doing a lot of studying lately. For me that means reading lots of books, listening to audios and watching webinars and movies. It also includes studying people to see if the things I read about hold true in reality.
Here is one of the most important things I’ve learned in the past few months of study. |
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The Orange Index Card Trick
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| I recently finished reading David Allen’s “Getting Things Done” and I have to say I found it very interesting. While I consider myself a very organized and productive person, I learned quite a few things from the book.
The most powerful thing I learned was to put all of my thoughts of things to do in one single place. I’ve always been a list maker and have most of the items in my head on the list but I didn’t have them all until I read David’s book. |
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The Five Why’s
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| So, did you hit all of your goals in 2008?
If not you likely encountered some obstacles, either mental or environmental that stopped you. In order to overcome those obstacles it helps to understand where they come from.
Asking yourself the question, “Why is that so?” can be really helpful in getting to the root cause of your challenges and help you find solutions to them. |
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How Travel Helps Your Sales
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| It’s no secret that I’ve been traveling a lot lately. In the past 4 weeks I’ve been in 3 countries and countless cities. In addition to having a great time, I’ve discovered that being away from the office has actually increased my sales. Here’s why.
Getting out of the office and recharging my batteries is, of course, a wonderful part of travel. A chance to get away and stop thinking about work is a terrific break for the brain. |
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The Three Second Miracle 2
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| Ever have those days when you are faced with a constant string of challenges, obstacles and set back on the path to your goals? Here’s a quick way to overcome every one of them in just three seconds (or less).
When you’re faced with a roadblock you mind automatically goes into assessment mode. That is, it looks at the situation and says “I can’t get past this.” |
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Let The Trapeze Go
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| Well here we are; it’s June already. So what have you done with your first six months? Given vacations, holidays, heat waves and other days off, most people only actually work about 10 out of the 12 months of the year. That means you should be at 60% of your total sales goal by now. Are you at 60% and moving forward daily?
Most salespeople I meet are already off target at this time of year. In fact, many of them have even started adjusting those lofty goals they set in January (remember those?) down a bit. Why does that happen to so many of us? And how do we change it? Let’s use a little analogy to clear things up. |
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A Little Mistake That Could Cost You A Fortune
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| There you are, across the table from a prospect. It’s been a very good meeting so far and he seems to like you, your company and your product. You’ve asked some insightful questions and he’s given you frank answers. In response to his answers you’ve laid out an attractive solution to his problem and he seems interested. After you finish speaking, the prospect pauses a moment and then asks you the magic question. “So,” he says, “How much does the solution you’re proposing cost?” |
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Get The Best Out Of Your Business
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| Have you ever wondered why some weeks are just better than others? Did you ever think that maybe each one could be better than the last one, on and on, forever? Here’s a tool for making that happen.
Get out a piece of paper and do the following: |
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Four Words Can Make You a Millionaire
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| When you walk into my office, you’ll notice a few things right away. I’ve got huge floor-to-ceiling bookcases filled with business books of all types. There is a beautiful painting done by one of my dear friends. Of course, there is an enormous collection of elephants in all shapes, sizes and colors.
But there is one thing in my office that will make you more money than anything else. It’s just four simple words on my white board. |
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Elephant Sized Changes at Dancing Elephants!
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| 2007 is here and with it has come a number of exciting changes at Dancing Elephants! We’ve changed physically and psychologically and we want you to be able to learn from our experience. It’s been an interesting few weeks around our office and we’re excited to share the changes with you. |
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The Marketing and Sales Genius of Howard Stern
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| I doubt that MBA classes are being taught today about the marketing and sales genius of the Howard Stern Show. The reality there is probably more lessons to be learned in listening to two hours of Howard Stern than taking two hours of an MBA class. Who knew you could learn so much about business from a so-called shock jock. |
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Are Your Arms Wide Open?
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| Do you ever have one of those weeks that just knock you for a loop? The kinds where it feels like you are a roller coaster? High as a kite on Monday, wondering where your next check is coming from Tuesday, feeling a little like you got kicked in the head by a mule on Wednesday, just doing your best to endure Thursday and then flying again on Friday? |
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How Openness Yields Results
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| As you know, I had the incredible honor of speaking at the National Speakers Association Convention this past week. My topic was creating a one-page strategic plan in just 20 minutes and on one sheet of paper.
I speak on planning from a different perspective, that is, I talk about it from a right-brain or intuitive perspective, not the traditional “what I did last year plus 10%” route that many planning gurus take. |
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How Much Is Your Sanity Worth?
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| I’m a pretty good handywoman and I know my way around my power tools. I’ve got all the tools needed to complete some projects around my house but I’m not going to use them. Instead, I’m going to hire my friend, Pete, the handyman to tackle these little jobs for me.
Here’s why… |
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The End of Buyer’s Remorse
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| I’ve been doing a lot of research lately in preparation for a new online training course I’m developing and I’ve come across some very interesting ideas that you might be able to use in your sales process.
One of the most powerful is how buyer behavior has evolved over the past ten years and how you can adapt to and take advantage of those changes. |
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Why I Hate Asking For Referrals
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| I just read an article in Entrepreneur Magazine by one of the most respected marketing folks in the industry. Normally, I really like John Jantsch’s work but I have to disagree with him this time.
John suggests that you should ask every customer for referrals to their friends. I think that is one of the worst mistakes a salesperson can make. |
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Starting At Step 4
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| It happened to me again. I was meeting with another small business owner with exactly the same problem as at least 1000 others I’d met with.
In the course of our conversation, it became clear to me that she wanted to start at step 4.
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Who Is Your Proud Family?
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| Once again I was on the couch at 5am watching Disney cartoons. I like to get up early and get a bit of work done before I go for a run. While I’m cleaning out the last evening’s email, I watch a bit of children’s television to pick up a life lesson or two.
This morning, I got a great business lesson from Lilo and Stich. |
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I Can See Inside Your Head
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| There are tons of reasons why but one of them is my friend, Holly. She is an expert in marketing to women and one of the most well read people I know. When she and I get together, I learn so much, it boggles my mind.
A few nights ago we were having dinner, and sharing stories. In the middle of one, she popped out with the most amazingly insightful, simple phrases I’ve heard in a long time. |
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Stop Networking!
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| Okay, I’ll admit, the headline is a little misleading, but I wanted to get your attention. What I meant to say was stop networking the wrong way and wasting time and money.
If you’re like many salespeople you’ve been to networking events and had some success. But are you having as much success as you can? Let’s take a look these six quick and easy things you can do to make networking a sure-fire way to fill your pipeline. |
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Summer Is For...Prospecting?
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| Here we are at the beginning of summer, that traditional time when Americans leave their offices behind and head out to the beaches, mountains, amusement parks and other vacation hotspots, in search of a break from the 9-5 routine. As a salesperson, you might be tempted to slow down your prospecting activity because everyone seems to be on holiday. Instead, why not try these tried-and-true summer business builders. |
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How To Make A Fortune With A Love Story
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| I’d like you to think about a company that you do business with that you absolutely love. Not one you just like, but one that you love to buy from. It could be a product supplier such as a clothing store or car dealer or a service provider like an insurance company or restaurant. Think of an interaction you’ve had with that company that stands out in your mind as a great customer experience. What did they do and say that made it so wonderful? |
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How To Make Networking Pay Off
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| We’ve all heard that networking is a great way to generate business yet many salespeople don’t find it profitable. Why do some people make a great living through networking while others struggle to get even one sale from it? The answer is to understand the purpose of networking and use it to your advantage. |
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If My Dog Could Talk
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| As I’m writing this article, my dog, Gracie, is curled up next to me on the couch, sleeping happily. So far, today, she has been on a long walk in the rain, chased squirrels in the alley, had a big breakfast, snoozed on the bed and had a few dog treats. Not a bad morning.
Over the last 10 years that Gracie and I have been together I’ve learned a lot about sales and life from her. Here are a few of the things she has taught me. |
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Is Your Mouth Costing You Money?
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| I share an office with 7 other people, so you can imagine how much chatter, interaction and “sharing” goes on, whether I want to listen or not. Each day I hear what is happening in the other businesses through the walls and in the hallways.
As I was listening to one co-worker share her most recent interaction with a client, it dawned on my how powerful the story you tell impacts your listeners (even those who just passively overhear you) and your income. |
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How To Eliminate The Price Objection Forever
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| There are two ways to make money in sales.
The first way is to be a low-cost provider and sell a high volume of your product or service.
The second way is to be a high-cost provider with large margins and sell few items, but make more on each one. |
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What Are You Asking For?
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| A friend stopped into my office today and suggested I read the book “Women Don’t Ask” by Linda Babcock. While I haven’t read the book yet, the conversation got me thinking about success (of course!). |
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10 Key Points: Writing E-mails That Sell
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| Do you want to sell through an e-mail solicitation? Here are 10 things you need to do when writing your e-mail to improve your sales results:
1. Focus on value. Make sure the e-mail offers a very clear benefit to the customer.
2. ... |
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The Spirit Of Giving
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| The holiday season changes people.
Normally easy-going folks turn into store-storming gift scavengers and tight-fisted Scrooges find their hearts melted by the spirit of the season.
Even salespeople and business owners change their tune during the holidays. Rather than worrying about how much each piece of marketing will cost, they often dip generously into the company coffers and spend freely on fruit baskets and foil-laden cards. |
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Grandma’s Lesson
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| Thanksgiving this year was a fabulous family affair. We had the entire crew of aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, etc. including dogs and cats romping around my aunt Cherie’s house. My grandmother was there cooking up a storm despite having had brain surgery to remove a tumor just nice months before. What a woman. |
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24 Words That Will Change Your Business
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| Chicago in 1932 was a mess. The Great Depression had a firm grip on the city. Businesses failed one after the other and people lined up outside missions to get bread or soup as their only meal of the day.
At the Club Aluminum Products Company, things were dire. The seller of a new and expensive line of cookware, the company had seen its high pressure, door-to-door sales pitches declining in effectiveness. |
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Competence Is In The Eye Of The Beholder
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| You’ve heard the old phrase, beauty is the eye of the beholder. Yesterday I got a reminder that competence, and other business success factors, are also determined by the customer.
I got a great referral from my friend, Rick. I’ve known him for years and I think the world of the work he does. We share clients fairly frequently so I wasn’t surprised to get a call from one of his clients, asking to work with me. |
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The Gift Of Receiving
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| Every family has one. That one person who shoulders all the family burdens, keeps the family secrets and cleans up the family messes. The one who is everyone’s sounding board and shoulder to cry on. The one who remembers all the holidays, birthdays and anniversaries. The one around whom the family always gathers.
In my family, it’s my grandma. She has been the rock in my family for as long as anyone can remember. |
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An Open Hand
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| Inspiration comes to me from the strangest places.
The other day I was watching “Clean House” a show I am addicted to. It is all about watching people let go of clutter and free themselves to function at a higher level. The hostes, Niecy Nash, is a very sassy woman who speaks real gems sometimes. |
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Who Are You Talking To?
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| Twenty minutes after we boarded the plane, the pilot came on to tell us that there was a maintenance issue with the aircraft and we would be slightly delayed taking off.
The red-eye from San Francisco to Charlotte ended up being over an hour late leaving the airport, meaning many passengers, including me, were going to miss their connection flights. As I had no particular place to be the next day, I settled in to for a nap. |
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What Is Your Word?
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| Every now and then I do something rare in my life. I step outside my tried and true shopping routines and I go someplace different for my supplies.
This week it was time to venture beyond my trusted Ukrops and go to Walmart for groceries. Now, you have to understand, I have a philosophical dislike of Walmart and all it does to local communities and suppliers. I believe in capitalism and Walmart’s right to do business as they see fit but I also believe in my right to object to their business practices by spending dollars elsewhere. |
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The Zulu Salesman
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| In South Africa, we stayed at a wonderful game reserve called Zulu Nyala. Most of the workers there come from a local Zulu village and take incredibly good care of the guests at the lodge.
One man, in particular, stands out because he was such a great salesman. “Mike” works in the gift shop and is single-handedly responsible for making sure guest go home with plenty of reminders of their stay in South Africa.
Here is how Mike worked… |
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Why Tom Is Going Out Of Business
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| It happens the same way every time we talk.
My friend, Tom, calls me up every so often to ask my advice about his business. Tom has been doing consulting for a little over two years now and his sales just aren’t where he wants them to be. He is barely making enough to take care of his family. Tom lives in constant fear that he won’t earn enough next month to make ends meet.
Each time we talk, I ask him the same question… |
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How Much Does The Customer Experience Matter?
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| After watching Jeffrey Pine’s video on authenticity and the power of the experience, I decided to conduct my own personal experiment. My lab was the realm of beauty salons.
For the last five years, I’ve gotten my hair cut at a local salon known for its fantastic client experience. Total cost of a haircut there is typically $60.
Yesterday, I took my appearance in my hands and headed to the local discount haircut chain where I paid $5.99 (with a coupon) for a trim. |
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How Buyers Make Decisions (Part 1)
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| Have you ever sat across the table from a prospect and wondered what was going through his head? Or perhaps you were creating an ad or marketing campaign and you thought, “Will this really appeal to my buyers?” If so, you’re not alone. |
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How Buyers Make Decisions (Part 2)
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| In last week’s article, we discussed the importance of emotions in the buying decision. Remember, in order to make a sale you have to satisfy the buyer’s emotions.
So, what kind of emotions do buyers have? That is, what are the ways in which you can emotionally satisfy them? In order to answer that question, you must understand human motivation. |
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How Buyers Make Decisions (Part 3)
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| In last week’s article we discussed the five basic human motivations and how to sell to an achievement-motivated buyer.
This week we’ll take a look at recognition-motivated buyers and how they like to buy. |
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How Buyers Make Decisions (Part 4)
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| Over the last few weeks we’ve been talking about what motivates buyers and how you can help them make the best decision for themselves. Doing this allows you to make the sales you want in a honest, ethical manner and ensures that your clients are so happy they come back for more and refer you. |
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How Buyers Make Decisions (Part 5)
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| For the last few weeks, we’ve talked about how achievement, recognition, and affiliation-motivated buyers make decisions. That was the easy part.
This week we’ll explore how control-motivated people decide what to buy. Read carefully - these are the tough ones. |
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3 Easy Ways: Drive More Traffic To Your Site
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| Do you want to increase traffic to your website? Would you like to create a site that others seek out? The good news is that you can build your ranking in the search engines and elevate your status as a trusted resource simultaneously. That’s because you can build traffic by using articles you write (or are ghost written for you).
Here are three ways you can use your articles to drive traffic to your website: |
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Is Your Job Title Holding You Back?
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| Take out your business card and look at your job title.
If you are a typical salesperson, your title is likely something like “Account Manager” or “Sales Representative”. If you are a business owner, you’ll read “Owner” or “President” on your card. |
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11 Rules for Selling to a Skeptic
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| Let us examine eleven of the fundamental techniques used by those who succeed in persuading the worst of cynics. |
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Accelerate Your Growth with Business Coaching
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| For many entrepreneurs, business planning is not their area expertise, so they often feel overwhelmed, procrastinate, and focus on the wrong things. This inadequate planning ends up costing them tens-, hundreds-of-thousands, or even millions of dollars. Learn how planning with business coaching can dramatically accelerate your company's growth and profitability. |
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The Invisible Close Sales Nugget: What to Do After You Get Off the Stage
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| Get to the sales table quickly. I told you they were simple. Yet, how many times have you been waylaid by a few people dying to ask you their questions? You don't want to be rude, but customers are waiting for you in the back of the room with their credit cards in hand.
3 Simple Secrets for Claiming Your Back-of-the-Room Sales
The best way to handle that situation is to just get back there quickly: move your body. Don't let anyone get to you before you've left the podium and don't break your stride until you've reached the sales table. When someone tries to stop you
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Summer Sales Doldrums
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| Many sales people and just as many business owners bemoan their annual summer sales slump. Their numbers are down and they just can't understand it. Some solopreneurs and consultants use lackluster responses to their marketing as an excuse that they can take more time off because ‘nothing’s happening in the market’. |
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Customer Service and the 21st Century Business Model
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| James Dicks examines the changing times business is facing when dealilng with their customer. |
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Customer Service Stabbed Marketing in the Office with a Knife
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| Do you have a clue what is killing your marketing efforts? Whether you are a small business or large corporation, it is likely at least one of these customer service issues is planning the death of your marketing dollars! |
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Something Old and Something New - Apply Both for Sales Success
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| The phrase "something old and something new," which is often heard while brides are getting married, can be applied to using social media tools successfully. Many companies jump on the new idea band wagon, often discarding old ideas and methodologies that still produce results. Let's take a look at two ways you should combine new social media with good 'ole fashioned sales principles. |
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10 Ways to Increase your Sales
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| Want to increase your sales and grow your business but worried you will come across as a pushy sales person? Not sure what to do or where to start to ensure your business is a success this year? The key to success, particularly in sales, is planning ahead and always be willing to try something new.
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5 Quick Sales Tips to INCREASE sales
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| Did you come back from the New Year break invigorated and inspired to make 2009 your best year yet? Have you just realized that it’s the middle of February and you still haven’t done anything?
Use these 5 quick tips and get motivated, get active and start taking the steps toward building your success this year. |
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Achieve your Sales Targets with your Sales Pipeline
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| Being aware of and managing the amount in your sales pipeline each week, fortnight or month can have the single biggest impact to achieving your sales consistently from month to month and quarter to quarter.
It is an important forecasting tool that all businesses should use even if they don’t have salespeople, as it clearly shows how many sales to expect and when to expect them. |
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Are you asking questions that make your customers & prospects THINK?
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| Questioning or probing as it is also known, is most of the most important skills you can learn when dealing with customers and one of the most powerful. The ability to ask questions that uncover important information about a customer’s needs, current supply and willingness to change is a strong characteristic of a ‘consultative’ sales approach.
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Boost your Sales through Reinvention
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| Is it just me or is 2009 going to be the biggest and best year yet?
Despite what is being reporting in the media and what we are seeing overseas, many of the people that I’ve spoken to recently are extremely motivated and confident that 2009 is going to be their best year yet (including me).
So if 2009 is going to be your best year yet, now is the perfect time to sit down and work out what you want to achieve and what you need to do to make this happen. |
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Build your Sales Pipeline and Boost Your Prospect Numbers
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| Do you get frustrated constantly searching for prospects and contact information? The traditional methods of building a list of people that you can market and sell to such as purchasing databases, driving around business parks and noting the tenants of buildings that you walk past are great, and they do work, however, they are costly and time consuming. |
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Business Networking Tips
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| Networking has been good to me over the years. Apart from referrals, it has been the single most successful way of generating new business and building my professional network. It must be the salesperson in me, but there is nothing more rewarding than meeting and connecting with new people who end up as friends, associates or clients.
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Consultative Needs Based Selling Approach
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| Looking at your business from a sales perspective and most importantly understanding your business from a client perspective, is one of the most important first steps in sales.
Most people hate being sold to but love the feeling of buying; so the clearer you can explain how your business helps and "what is in it for them" the easier it makes prospective customers to make a buying decision.
The consultative/problem solver approach qualifies and listens to the customer and helps them to buy what they need. The consultative approach focuses on the needs of the customer and how you improve or benefit them in some way. |
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How can I increase the number of Referrals I receive?
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| I’m sure most of you would agree that selling to someone who has been referred to you is much easier and more enjoyable than those generated through traditional sales efforts such as direct mail and cold calling. The success rate is higher because they are in the market for your services and are also much less price sensitive because the referring party has told them the value and benefits that you can deliver. |
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How can I make cold calling easier?
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| Lately I have been working with a number of sales teams to help them increase the success of their cold calling and I thought I would share with you some of my tips for success: |
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How can you find the best of the best in sales?
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| Many people believe great sales-people are born, not made but I disagree because sales is a process that can be taught to anyone and it is simply how the process is applied that separates good from great. Success in sales comes from skill development, attitude, confidence and behaviour.
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How to avoid being a pest in your sales follow up
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| Did you know that one of the biggest gripes against salespeople by decision makers is the lack of follow up?
Many people resist following up because they find it uncomfortable and don’t want to seem pushy or annoying and many people don’t follow up because they simply forget. This lack of follow-up presents a great opportunity for those who are organized and take the time to do it. |
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Overcoming Sales Objections
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| Objections are simply reasons or concerns that a prospective client has as to why they won't make a decision when you want them to. You will hear statements such as:
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Quick Prospecting Tools
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| Do you get frustrated constantly sourcing new sales and contact information? |
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Sales Tips to give your sales a boost in 2010
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| customers, the same results can be achieved.
Besides, you can find new customers from referrals within your existing client base.
Here is a couple of quick tips to help you build your revenue in 2010. |
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Quick Tips to Presenting Proposals
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| These quick tips will help to reduce some of the 'discomfort' that can be associated when presenting your pricing options |
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SALES TIPS AND TRICKS
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| Want to increase sales but don’t have the sales skills or worried you will come across as an aggressive, pushy sales person? The key to developing confidence in sales is by being flexible and open-minded about trying something new! |
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Sales Tips for Selling in a challenging economy
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| It’s difficult to ignore the news of the financial crisis that is occurring around the world and the fear and uncertainty that it is creating. Here in Australia many companies have been tightening their budgets and reducing their spending over recent months and it looks like it’s going to continue. So what does this mean for those of us running businesses or working in sales? |
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Sales Tips for the First Appointment
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| “It’s all about planning and preparation”
It’s amazing how many sales people and business owners I talk to who under-estimate the value and importance of planning and preparing for a first appointment.
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Make Small Commitments. Get Big Changes. by Michael Dalton Johnson
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| Real and permanent change doesn't happen by simply resolving to do something. That's not enough. True change is a slower process. It takes time and self-reflection. This article's simple, yet profoundly powerful, advice can gently help you change your life and accelerate your personal growth. |
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Lead Gen Isn't Enough
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| Do you spend a lot of time collecting names that might be prospects?
Do you spend a lot of money learning how to follow prospects on line, so you can guess where they are in the decision making process?
Has all of this activity substantially increased your ROI?
What you're forgetting - or ignoring - is that no matter what information the buyer needs, or how often they (and their colleagues) visit your site, or how deftly follow their activity with your ability to track ‘Digital Body Language,' at the end of the day, you will not be there when they sit down to decide. |
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Sales Meeting Timeframes
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| A quick discussion and point of view on the timeframes for typical sales appointments. It also goes through how one can arrange a presentation based on different timeframes given. |
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Handling Rejection - Get Back On The Horse!
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| Why do we fear the word no? What is it about this word that makes sales people pile on more work, create more stress and come up with the craziest excuses all just to avoid hearing it. No can be one of the most important words we hear in sales, and one we should both value and learn from. |
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Setting the Presentation/Proposal Meeting Date
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| A quick view and advice on the difficulties associated with the timing and timeframe of proposals. |
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Activity/Activity/Activity
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| An overview on how to set one's own activity level with regards to sales. |
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Are They the “Real” Decision Maker?
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| Keys to finding the "real" person making the decisions. |
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Are you a Leader or a Follower?
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| Positive aspects of the current social and networking abilities. |
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Handling Objections in Today’s Sales Environment
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| Methodologies on how to handle and identify obstacles and objections with regards to the sales environment. |
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Presentations - Easy as 1 - 2 - 3
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| A view on the simplicity that can be associated with the word presentation. |
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Professional Presentation Skills
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| Simply going through the process of a presentation and its relative simplicity. |
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The dba of a Professional Sales Person
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| This article highlights the "doing business as" a Professional Sales Person |
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The Diary of a Mad Sales Person
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| Finding a working balance between the selling and administrative sides of the aisle. |
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The Difference Between Winning the Deal & Losing the Deal
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| Items that cause the difference and the result the comes from it. |
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The Sales Meeting Objective – Is It Mutually Beneficial?
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| Being sure to define the benefits associated with the products and services that will impact the businesses involved before the meeting takes place. This is done through various asepcts including, but not limited to increasing revenues, decreasing business expense, improving productivity, enhancing marketing, improving technology capabilities, improving security protection. |
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The Value 2 (Squared) Equation
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| The importance of showing value to both the buyer, and the buyer's end user: Value 2 (Squared). |
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What is So Wrong with Selling on Price?
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| Problems associated with selling on price. |
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Wireline vs. Wireless
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| Importance associated with the sales process. |
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Invest In Yourself! To Turn Your Prospects Into Customers
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| If you want this year to bring significant Return On Investment that the largest investment you need to make is in yourself! |
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4 Common Mistakes in Sales that you do not Want to Make
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| It is as simple as this, we all make mistakes, however you can stop yourself from making these common yet affective mistakes in your sales. If you want to gain the best from your sales then simply keep reading. |
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Allow Clients to Realise they want your Sale
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| The key to sales is allowing your client to realsie that they want your sale. Find out how to do this by following these simple steps. |
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Are you a Winner in your Sales? Find out how to be.
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| On sales training courses we are often asked 'what separates winners from losers'
Wouldn't you love to know what separates the winners from the losers in sales? Would you love to learn how to achieve the top sales in your profession? Well below are 4 simple secrets that can be the defining difference in your sales.
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How to Follow Up When Prospecting Into Your Network Marketing Business
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| Successful network marketers know how to follow up because they understand that it is important to cultivate relationships with prospects before converting them into customers or new distributors. When you learn how to follow up, you will start cultivating relationships. |
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Stories to Tell
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| Stories are a powerful way to communicate. As little children we eagerly hopped into bed in anticipation of a great bedtime story. As school age children we would compete to see how many novels we could read in one summer away from school and homework. Then as we became adults, we dropped those habits and lost the pleasure the stories gave us. |
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So, You Got The Sale, Now What?
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| When you close the sale with a new client don’t you feel great? Did you know that you increase the lifelong value of that new client by doing a few more steps? They aren’t secrets, but when you apply them, they unlock the door to greater returns for you. |
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Are You Upset
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| It's tough to meet a need that doesn't exist... |
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The Invisible Close Sales Nugget: You Made the Sale, Now Keep It!
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| Buyer's remorse is a natural reaction, as is a person pulling back after stretching beyond what he or she has done before. After buying your offer, some people will question whether they did the right thing. What you need to do is show them that YES, they did. One of the best ways to |
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How To Increase Sales Before You Ever Say A Word
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| Increasing sales is something on every salesperson & sales manager's radar screen. This article is not about making one more call or practicing your script. It's the secret to doing all sales activities well... and it's in every one of us. |
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Do You Ask For Referrals Or Hope For Referrals
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| Getting the referrals you deserve has more to do with your level of assertiveness than your ability to recite a script you learned in a referral training class. |
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Increase sales by optimizing your sales funnel
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| Businesses sell but are rarely as intentional as they should be about it. While a business might do a lot of things to market and sell their products, they might be doing too much! Even more success with less effort is possible by taking a closer look at the sales funnel. Use these strategies to optimize your sales funnel and get more people buying from you faster. |
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Going For The Gold
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| Going for the gold is a mindset that everyone can adopt. You don't have to be an Olympic downhill skier to go for the gold. Always seek to be the best you can be.
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The Secret to Having Sales Mojo!
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| The result of investing in myself beyond what felt comfortable has been exponential growth. I'm serving more people than I could ever have imagined only one year ago. They are experiencing transformation they only dreamed of and I get to be part of that. I'm personally stretching myself every day to grow and |
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It Is All About the Buyer
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| A simple set of statements that reminds us what this sales event is truly about. |
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Features VS. Benefits-the Key to Jolting Your Sales NOW
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| Focusing on the benefits of your product and/or service is key to successful marketing. Learn how to increase your sales with these simple marketing strategy adjustments. |
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The Secret of Winning Sales Presentations - Turning Listeners Into Buyers
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| This is the crux of it: whether your potential buyers build trucks, sell medical equipment or distill beer, as individuals sitting in your audience, their personal point of view is predictable. That's a valuable fact--because it means you can target your presentation perfectly. Indeed, when you can predict what your audience is thinking, you are on your way to a win. This article explains how to turn listeners into buyers. |
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Internet Marketing And Home Business
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| A lot of us hope of being our own bosses. The lure of good money and flexible work hours is quite the dream. Never the less, many are afraid to venture out on their own. They fear that they don't have the capital required to start a business or they don't want to loose the security of their steady job.
The solution could be starting a business at home. The reality of the matter is that you can begin your home business without any capital. Ask yourself this, do you have a spare room or space in your house. Do you have a computer with an internet connection? Do you have a telephone? If you have these three assets you have the essentials of an office from which your home business can be started. |
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Why Making an Offer is a Service
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| I'm going to say it plainly; it's a disservice to your potential clients not to make an offer. Think about it. People have come to hear you speak live or during a teleseminar or one on one, because there is something you're offering that they know they need. And when you just stand up there and educate them and you don't make an offer that gives them |
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C-Level Sales Tip 18 - Good Interviewing Leads to Great C-Level Presentations
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| Learn from this article how to get C-level executives or anyone to open-up and tell you everything you want to know about them personally, the sale, their company and more. |
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Are You Giving Away Too Much?
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| Bonuses are very important and you should definitely include them with your offer. But rather than spending time and money creating new products, take a look at what you're already offering. Often there are real jewels hidden in your package that you could take out and |
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Build Trust Fast
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| Being trustworthy is not enough. Sales people must first overcome the stereotype. |
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Hate Something
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| Perhaps for you, things haven’t gone pear shaped before and you are reading along just for the ride. I hope you never find yourself being forced to make cold calls. No matter how impenetrable your titanium shell, customers can still hear the tremor of desperation in your voice. Then things go from bad to worse.
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Selling in a Downturn
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| Seven Solutions - 120 words - 30 seconds:
Get proof that your stuff does what you promise. Verifiable evidence convinces ahead of sales skills.
Find prospects less affected by the downturn. Some are shrinking less or still growing.
Use evidence and proof to develop better messaging and multiple messages.
Cast better seeds on more fertile ground. Present better messages to more qualified prospects. Thrive on a small improvements.
Vary your approach – phone, voicemail, email, letter, post card, introduction, or fax. Like advertising, effective sales prospecting depends on repetition and persistence.
Have the customer quantify the cost of inaction. It is a brave manager who spends money in a downturn without a concrete business case.
Training works. Attend or study a top sales course for new ideas.
Full article > |
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Why Salespeople Fail...
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| In this day in age, no one seems to want to EARN anything anymore. In SALES, you have no choice! What you put in, is what you get out, period. In this outline, you'll learn why salespeople fail and ways to go about selling the old-fashioned way, driving on-going, recurring revenue. |
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A Business Network Makes You Powerful – Article 1 of 8
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| There are three key accelerators to a person’s success: integrity, knowledge and network. While there are other things that are important to success, these are key drivers. However, without a personal network you are powerless! The larger and stronger your network is, the more powerful you become. Most people focus their attention on integrity and knowledge. However, the highly successful business people have figured out that building their network is essential to promoting their uniqueness as well as furthering a higher degree of success. You cannot build empires alone. Nonetheless, even if you are not trying to build an empire, it is always simpler to accomplish things with many people’s help than to try to go it alone. |
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Jump start stalled sales - four steps to help close faster
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| Here are four ways to get a stalled prospect off the dime |
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Revitalize Your Referrals
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| How to get more qualified leads from your network |
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Hate Selling? Start a Movement Instead.
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| When you are fired up and focused on the changes you want to see in the world, you won't even have to sell. Marketing is important, but any marketing you do must be preceded by defining the movement you want to perpetuate and the changes you want to make in the world. |
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Why Follow a Sales Process?
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| The importance and benefits of following a sales process when working as a sales professional. |
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Make The Phone Your Best Friend
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| Do you believe that to close a sale you must ‘get in front of prospects?’ Why? Really. Have you ever asked yourself why? Do you tell yourself that you MUST have that eye contact? That ‘face-to-face’ juice? Do you tell yourself that if you’re not in the field, you’re not selling? |
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Social Media Marketing for Sales, Actions and Leads
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| When it comes to marketing and sales, there are three different types of intended outcome. The first, a complete sale, is the ideal, and forms the basis of many major internet affiliate programs. The second, per-action marketing, is intended to push users through a certain chain of actions, often a non-paid website membership process or personal survey. |
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Anatomy Of A Buying Decision
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| Before your prospect makes the decision to buy your product or service, four decisions must be made. For the most part these decisions will be made inside their heads or in conjunction with others depending on whether it is a joint decision making process or not.
In small to medium sized businesses one person may make the buying decision, but in larger companies it is usual for the decision be made by a group of people.
Whatever the amount of people involved in the buying decision, the same four decisions must be answered. |
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Why Should I Buy From You?
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| This is an absolutely fundamental question that you and your business must be able to answer.
It is a question that every single one of your customers ask either implicitly, to themselves or explicitly, to you. Do you have a clear, succinct, compelling, competition busting answer to this question for your business? If not, you are in trouble! |
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80/20 – You Keep Hearing It – But What Are You Doing About It?
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| Everybody loves to talk about the 80/20 rules of selling, but did you know that 80/20 rules apply to most things you do and are in life. |
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Vision is more than a destination
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| Vision in real leadership doesn't just means seeing where you want to go, but also seeing how you are going to make it happen. Seeing the process, the entire path, the things that you need to do to make it happen. The things you need to do to make that vision a reality. What you need to do to make it happen. What you need to do and the when, where and how. |
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Losing vs. Not Winning the Sale
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| If a salesperson doesn’t win a sale, then they must have lost it, right? Wrong. There is a not- so- subtle- difference between ‘not winning’ and losing. When a salesperson does ‘not win’ a sale, it indicates that there was something that the salesperson did not do to win the sale. He’s responsible for not winning. Losing the sale, on the other hand, sounds like something simply happened to him. |
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Consistent Sales Growth
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| I'm sure that some of you are saying, "We have sales growth." I'm sure that you do. However, is it consistent? Is it predictable? Is it at the level that you projected when you did your budget last year? Is it enough to overcome an unexpected loss of revenue from accounts, drop in rates, etc.? One of the problems about total revenue that I'm hearing this year is that "we're on target with new sales, but revenues are down because…? Well then, the reality is that new sales may be on target with what was budgeted, but they are not on target given your new adjusted budget deficits. |
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Prospecting, the #1 Job for the CEO
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| Does your company need more sales? I¡¦ll assume that for the majority, the answer is yes. When did you last schedule and then spend an hour prospecting for your business? With the mountain of things to get done each day and the number of people looking for time on your calendar, there is just no way that you can do that too. Maybe you don¡¦t really prospect, but leave that up to your sales manager and sales team. Beware! You must cast the shadow, walk the talk and be the lead prospector so that your team understands that prospecting and bringing in new business is the number one job. Even for you. |
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Sales Commitment and Shadow of the Leader
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| “You have to understand that people stand in the shadow of the leader.” This comment came from the top executive of a very large corporate client of ours. And I had to ask, “George, what do you mean, shadow of the leader? He replied, “It’s pretty simple, Tony. People will do what they see the leader do, not what the leader says.” |
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Sales Core Competencies
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| How do you spend your time now when it comes to your own professional development? Aside from any company sponsored program you might attend, what else do you do and what do you focus on? Certainly, continuing to learn the technicalities of your business is critical, but in all the years I've been working with sales people, no one has ever told me they lost the deal because they were technically unprepared. Typically, the reason people lose business is due to lack of sales “know how”. This includes the failure to help the prospect overcome objections, the inability to overcome price issues, a failure to undo the current relationship and the inability to get someone to act. These are the symptoms that you must address when working on “fixing” the choke points in your sales system. |
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Sales Mission Complete
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| I recently had the great honor and privilege of visiting our United States Military Academy at West Point, NY. I was overwhelmed by the courage and passion of those that occupy this post. They are truly remarkable people and I was struck by how much the disciplines they practice relate to selling. Yes, it might be a stretch to tie what happens at West Point to sales and selling, but not much of a stretch. This group of young people consistently demonstrates at an extraordinary level all of those competencies necessary to succeed in selling: courage, desire, commitment, persistence and ethics. They are sales people in fatigues. They spend their day selling others on the connection between athletics and winning on the battlefield. One of the metrics for success: bringing everyone back alive. That is life or death. |
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Dress for Success as a Sales Professional
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| The importance of dress code when it comes to sales. |
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The Foundation to Sales Success in Today’s New Economy of Buyers
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| Selling in today’s new economy of buyers requires a strong foundation in order to succeed. It is crucial to your overall success to begin with a strong foundation to support the productive behaviours within your Selling System. Your attitude, which stems from your individual beliefs, is the foundation for productive behaviours and sales velocity.
A brand new positive and proactive attitude will certainly attract more buyers. It will assist in changing your ineffective behaviours or habits into defined daily disciplines and efficient habits will provide you with more focused targeting. The result will be a better return on time invested (R.O.T.I.).
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Facilitating Buying Decisions: a definition
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| Recently, I’ve noticed many folks using the term ‘facilitating buying decisions.’ First, let me state that we have a program by that title, that can be licensed to train in companies. It’s a very fun program, teaching sellers how to sit in a buyer’s seat and learn every aspect of how they choose vendors and solutions. Learners not only learn how their buyer’s buy, but I teach them the 6 most powerful Facilitative Questions to help buyers make a decision in their favor. Here’s a preview of one of the questions: How would you and your Buying Decision Team know when it was time to bring in an additional resource that will fit with the ones you’re currently using? |
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The One Response Your Prospect Wants To Hear...
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| Today’s marketplace is an endless sea of meaningless marketing messages and hollow promises. So, when it’s your turn to pitch your product or service... will you be able to deliver the one response that your prospect absolutely wants to hear? |
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Shoes / Watch / Grooming
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| The importance of the three to the potential buyers in the marketplace. |
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Need For Approval and Sales Don’t Mix
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| “Need for approval” is the second-most powerful and most common weakness we find in sales management and their people. Research conducted by Objective Management concluded that someone with “need for approval” will be about 35% less effective than someone without this weakness. The reason? |
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Associate Programs Advantages and Disadvantages
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| Affiliate programs have some awesome advantages, and if you implement them correctly,you can make incredible money with affiliate programs. |
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Ten Tips for Selling B2B in China
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| As the world economy struggles to recover, China continues grow due to strategic infrastructure investments by the Chinese government. Companies with products or technologies that support the government's agenda may have major opportunities. But, selling in China is filled with challenges and expert guidance is advisable. As a beginning, we offer ten key point (tips) for your consideration. |
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The Rule of Thirds: How to Truly Listen
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| Success in sales requires you to understand your prospective client before you can do any sort of pitching, convincing or persuading... and it takes to succeed is the "ability to listen" . |
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The Invisible Close Sales Nugget: 5 Questions to Ask Your Host Before You Get on Stage
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| If you've been around me for any length of time, you know that I'm a big proponent of free speaking gigs. By that, I mean those opportunities that don't pay you to speak upfront, but that can yield big results from back-of-the-room sales. |
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Proposal and Presentation Tips
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| A simple set of tips for sales presentations and business proposals in today's business environment. |
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Sales Secrets from Baja California
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| The successful marketer and the savvy salesperson know that people buy what they value and only what they value and this value is determined by the prospective client, never by the seller or marketer. |
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12 Lessons in Leadership From The Wizard...
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| 12 Lessons for enhancing leadership and personal performance from the Wizard of Westwood and Coach Bru's accompanying questions and insights. |
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The Job of Sales Must Expand
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| Sales is a needs assessment-problem discovery/solution placement model. We use relationships and industry knowledge and well-conceived product data to align with prospects to help influence them to choose us.
Now, with technology, we have even more capability to offer product data and find our what’s happening with the buyer. The internet, e-marketing, webinars, websites, are offering buyers whatever data they may need to choose. With our fabulous technology, we can track them, cookie them, send them stuff, entice them with blog posts. But at the end of the day, until or unless they make a purchase, we’ve done it all for naught. |
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Profitability - Pricing Strategies to Make Money
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| At a meeting the other day, a marketing consultant opened her talk by asking the group, "What are you worth?" She went on to discuss all the different ways we minimize our worth or discount our value in desperate attempts to close the sale. After all the pitfalls of pricing and selling were laid out, she closed the talk by asking again, "What are you worth?" The responses around the room were very entertaining as people began to realize or give themselves permission to adjust their prices to make a profit! |
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How to Raise Prices
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| Bob Goedjen, guest blogger at Cisco Innovators Forum says that if 90% of entrepreneurs have under-priced themselves, plus many businesses have cut prices during the recession, how do you raise prices now that the economy is picking up again? I asked Bob Goedjen of Silicon Valley SCORE to give us his insights. |
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You Cant Afford Average Salespeople
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| Pitfalls of order-taking salespeople. |
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Dont But Heads With Customers
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| Customer objections can become stepping stones or stumbling blocks. Many salespeople fall into the “yes but” trap which weakens their negotiating position and could blow the sale. |
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Levels of Sales Competence
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| Most salespeople and sales managers often are unaware of where they fit on the sales effectiveness continuum. Dave Mather, a 30+ years sales trainer explains the basics of sales competence levels. His experience shows that less than 6% of salespeople ever reach to top level. |
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ProblemSolving's Problem
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| Problem-solving is deeply entrenched in our business culture. Dave Mather, a 30+ year business consultant, describes the pitfalls of being a habitual problem-solver and why this might hurt business results. |
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12 Lessons in Leadership Part Two...
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| March Madness is underway, brackets are busted and there have been more first round single digit victories and upsets this year than ever before in tournament history. Consequently there are still multiple Cinderellas looking to advance to the big dance. The lesson from round one is outmanned does not automatically mean outmatched. If you're not the #1 seed in your industry, this must energize you and your team. |
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Top Sales Pros do These 10 Things----Why Don't You?
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| Every month, I run a Coach Call on two different topics. On this month’s second call, I listed the Top 10 things that the top sales pros do that most of the others do not. Since I recorded this call, I have had dozens of people respond that the call opened their eyes to the things that are necessary to stay on top. Furthermore, many of the respondents commented that the Coach call helped them get back on track to re-start doing the things that they used to do. In either event, due to the overwhelming response to this call, I have decided to write a corresponding article for those of you who are not part of the Coach Call program. |
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Buying Facilitation® and Sales: the dynamic duo
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| Sales is a great model for understanding need, discovering problems, and introducing/placing solutions.
Buying Facilitation® is a great model for helping buyers navigate their behind-the-scenes political and relationship issues that must achieve buy-in before they get consensus to purchase a solution – you know, that mysterious stuff buyers go through privately while we sit and wait for them to buy.
By using both two models consecutively, selling and buying becomes a very different experience than the one we are accustomed to: the timing is different, the skills are different, the outcomes are different, the relationship is different and the competitive and money factors fade away. |
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Go on Vacation to Grow Your Business
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| If you want to improve your business, go on vacation. Vacation is a great time to decompress, not accomplish anything meaningful, and eliminate any noise coming from an alarm clock. It's also a great time to observe customer service and sales. My vacations have always left me with a few business takeaways. Here are some observations: |
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Negotiation Checklist to Ensure a Successful Outcome
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| Purpose of negotiation is to resolve situations…negotiate more effectively with help of this negotiation checklist & ensure a successful outcome.
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Your Pipeline Could Be Fuller
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| Keeping your pipeline of prospects full is no easy task...but the payoff is worth it.
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"Lazy Sales Professional" - An Oxymoron
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| A look at how much work goes into being a sales professional. |
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Selling with Integrity
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| What, exactly, is selling with integrity? Is it about creating great solutions that make a difference in companies and lives? Or respecting and serving our prospects and clients and employees? |
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Managing the Sales Territory Effectively
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| Different methods of effectively going through and seeing where changes are necessary with regards to territory management as well as noticing what has been successful. |
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The sales pitch is dead
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| The approach to sales as we know it is dead. Why? Because a company's clients/consumers/target audience, call them what you will, want more. In this content rich society they crave information and insights and companies/brands that can help them make sense of their world. |
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Top Seven Selling Mistakes To Avoid This Year!
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| We've made every selling mistake in the book. Some of them over and over again until we realized we don't know what we don't know. Then we change and learn the top selling mistakes to avoid to be successful in selling. |
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Overcoming Objections 101
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| Every top sales person knows they will face objections. The most successful sales people aggressively prepare for the objections beforehand and address them directly, in order to win the sale. You can too. Here’s what it takes. |
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6 Disciplines Necessary to Succeed In Business
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| If you currently own a business and you've been struggling to find ways to build your revenue and profits then it's time to get serious. Focus on those things you need to do to really make a difference this year.There are six aspects of your business that you can concentrate on that will allow you, in a period of 12 months, to double your turnover and profits. Here they are... |
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Where Did The Trust Go?
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| Have you lost clients because of bad customer service or because you broke promises to them? Are you trying to reinvent yourself as a business who offers excellence? |
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Outcomes You Deliver – Why Are They A Secret?
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| At the intensive workshop in Toronto with my mentor coach, the question was posed: What are the top things you do for clients? What outcomes do they receive? The answer was easy to rattle off. But then I realized I had been keeping it a secret – even from clients. I was being smug and arrogant with my fat secret which contradicted my mission and purpose. |
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Are You a Joiner?
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| Have you ever considered why you join a certain group, organization or opportunity? Do you join everything that is available or do you carefully consider your reasons for joining a group or organization? |
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Why Social Networking Your Way Won't Build Your Business
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| In an era dominated by ever-expanding technology and social media pressures, always remember that personal connections, referrals, and earning trust count most... |
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The Proposal Document
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| A simple overview on a few pointers for proposals. |
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The More Things Change--The More They Stay the Same
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| With change occurring all around us daily, there are some pieces of advice that stand the test of time (and dramatic market shifts!)
Occasionally, we will revisit an article from previous years at the request of some of our readers. In this particular instance, we discovered that advice that's sound for good times is even more sound during tough times!
Below, you will find an article that I wrote back in Spring of 2005 at the height of the new construction "boom" here in Northern California. The article points out the need to pay attention when things are really rocking in your business. The interesting part is that the advice given as a result of the example in the article holds true today in the midst of a much different marketplace. The more things change, the more they stay the same---pay attention! Gerry |
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“Funnel” or “Incubator?”
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| Friendly violent debates are really a lot of fun. They’re also the best way to practice selling complex ideas. Fortunately for me, there are lots of folks ready, willing and able to have no-holds-barred, free-for-all arguments about my allegedly brilliant ideas. One of my favorites involves the traditional “sales funnel” metaphor. |
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Sometimes Unintended Consequences Are A Good Thing
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| We’re all familiar with the “Law of Unintended Consequences.” My personal favorite is still the plastic whistles that were packaged with Cap’n Crunch cereal back in the ’70s. Blowing the whistle into your phone triggered a connection to AT&T’s long distance dialing AND by-passed their billing system. Free calls! Not exactly what Quaker Oats had in mind. (…and Ma Bell was not pleased.) |
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