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A woman from Australia recently called me on a cold call. She started by calling me ‘Sharon.' For those of you who know me, I refer to myself as Sharon Drew. Folks who call me ‘Sharon' are either making a cold call, or haven't read my books or blogs. I have a long history with this problem, so playfully said, "Ah. You don't know me well. I call myself Sharon Drew and I use both names." [Note: for those of you who study Buying Facilitation® I suggest you begin calls with strangers by giving your own name, saying it's a 'sales call' and then asking who you are speaking with, even though you may have a name in front of you.]

William Hewlett and David Packard Quotes
William Hewlett and David Packard Quotes

Lesson #4: Use the Competition to your Advantage
Two heads are better than one, or so the saying goes. While many CEOs choose to keep all their company secrets closely guarded for fear of losing ground to the competition, Hewlett and Packard were of another opinion. They believed that in some cases, collaboration can actually be better than competition – for everyone involved.

The Art of Distribution

One of the important insights that the Startups 2006 panel hammered home was the importance of distribution for consumer-facing startups. (By the way, an astounding 13,000 people watched this video during the first week.) Many people use the word “distribution” as if it were a tactic when in fact it is a goal. Any bozo can say the word as if it’s a magic bullet; the test is the ability to achieve distribution. Here are my thoughts.

What Gets Measured, Gets Converted, Gets Results
I'll attribute the title of this post to the legendary Peter Drucker, although, that's not exactly what he said - it does capture the spirit though.

100 Ways to Succeed #95
NON-LINEARITY RULES. NON-LINEARITY = LIFE. IF SUCCESS [OR FAILURE] IS DETERMINED ALMOST ENTIRELY BY THE UNPREDICTABLE [LITERALLY], THEN WHAT?

Escaping the Entrepreneurial Seizure: Interview with Michael Gerber

Michael Gerber’s name should sound familiar. I recommend his bestseller, The E-Myth Revisited, as the must-read classic on automation. It brief, it discusses how to create scalable businesses that are based on rules and not outstanding employees; and how to become an owner instead of constant micromanager. Michael also had a enormous influence on me as a first-time writer. His words to me were simple during our first lunch:

How to Upgrade to the Next Version of Yourself
ULTIMATELY: Upgrading yourself benefits everybody. Here's how.

Avert a Mutiny
Some people resist change. When changing your practice over to an electronic medical records system, it is wise to act proactively to prevent a mutinous situation among staff.

Twitter Metrics Programs
The programs that make Twitter metrics possible.

Pay per Click Fraud
The fraud that is exercised each and every day on the internet.

Zero Based Budgeting in Managerial Accounting
Zero based budgeting is a budget-planning procedure for the reevaluation of an organization's program and expenditures. It requires each manager to justify the entire budget request in detail and places the burden of proof on the manager to justify why authorization to spend any money at all should be granted.

Why Do Kids Sell Better Than Adults?
How come as a kid you could sell your parents on almost anything? Now you are having trouble selling potential customers (a.k.a. prospects) on your products and services even though you know they need them. So what gives?

"Making an Ass out of U and Me"
Here is a salutary lesson in why good communications start with checking things out with others and not making assumptions. For when you do, you shouldn't be surprised if you end up looking like an ass.

Spend Analysis versus Spend Intelligence: More Than a Semantical Difference

I believe the phrase "spend intelligence" to be misleading. To me, it sounds like a new take or sub-segment of business intelligence software applications which offer analytics and dashboard capabilities and sit on top of existing systems of record. The problem is that spend visibility and analytics is much more complex, requiring data cleansing, rationalization, classification and other efforts which go far beyond what is needed to gain insight into basic HR, financials, IT and other internal information, which fall cleanly in to the BI camp.

Common Sales Mistakes Part 2
As markets tighten I thought we could reflect on some lessons learnt in the past by highly experienced, successful sales people. The following lessons are from some of the participants of my ‘Sell like a woman' research project and make for interesting reading in ‘what not to do' in sales. Here is the 2nd part of a 3 part series on common sales mistakes.

Introvert Myth - Are Only Introverts Shy?
People who are shy can be either introvert or extrovert. So much research points to this. And one researcher, Bernardo Carducci, psychology professor and director of the Shyness Research Institute at Indiana University Southeast in New Albany, finds there are far more shy people than introverts. It's estimated to be as high as 40 percent of Americans who are shy!

Profit at Any Cost?
Has the economy pushed us so far, the need for profitability grown so strong, that we are willing to sacrifice customer focus? Are we willing to ignore customer safety to avoid a deeper exploration of our business practice that might impact revenues, or force the recall of an unsafe product?

ATTENTION: Work From Home For Moms
I acknowledge the fact being a mother is the most important job I do in my life. However, I also believe with the right balance you can have a life outside of motherhood. The key is finding a flexible job to fulfill your business cravings while devoting the appropriate amount of time to your family.

10 Commandments of Leadership-Not Breeding Sheep

Sheep. Need constant attention. Need to be told and shown every step along the way. Not thinking. Not deciding. Not innovating. Just following and doing what they are told. Nothing more and nothing less. Bah. Sheep in the Workplace Even if you have never left the comfortable confines of the big city, you have been exposed to sheep at work. They are the people that require constant direction, sometimes the same direction, over and over again. They cannot solve problems, cannot think creatively, cannot deal with change and cannot make decisions. There will never be independent risk taking. They develop a co-dependence on leaders to guide them on a constant and continuous basis. They require a great deal of time to get even simple things accomplished. There is no correlation betwe

Does everybody live by selling something?

Whether we call ourselves a salesperson or not, if we have an idea, product, service, skill, capability, talent, or opportunity by which we can make a living and others can benefit from, we need to be able to sell. This means that whatever role we are in, we all need to put ourselves in a position to secure the ongoing custom of customers, members, patients, supporters, peers, students, sponsors, or clients to make a living. Even internal service providers such as HR and Procurement professionals need to be able to sell and consult in order to fulfill their roles accordingly.

Don't Bet Your Business on the Numbers
Don't bet your business' future success just on the numbers. Numbers can't give you the gut feel that every executive, product owner and marketeer needs - especially if you're reinventing yourself and/or your company. Besides, as an old boss used to say, "Figures lie and liars figure".

Self Employment as an Alternative Career to Teaching

Educators who are seeking alternative careers to teaching often do not realize the value of their skills in the world outside of the classroom. In today's tough job market, those looking for a job other than teaching should consider going into business for themselves. The expertise teachers develop make them ideal candidates for self employment. The examples and applications of transferable skills given here are just a small sample of how teachers looking for a career change can become quite successful in their own businesses.

Filling the Sales Pipeline?
The bottom line is that if you want to be able to sell consistently, if you want to have those million dollar and beyond sales careers, if you want to avoid major frustration and wheel spinning, blanketing the earth with emails, voice mails or even phone calls is not the answer.

Preparing for a Job Interview
No matter how confident you are interview preparation is critical to good interview performance and landing your dream job. Here are some suggestions on making a success of your job search.

The Empire Strikes Back?

This week I came across the expression ‘Vigilante Consumer’ for the first time. It seems that consumers are starting to strike back at companies that make it difficult to deal with them when they have a problem. You know what I mean? They have the attitude that they are perfect or at least doing the best that is physically possible to be done and you have a problem that shows a mistake has been made or that the system has failed. You want to explain the problem and nobody listens!

How to Evaluate a Franchisor Training Program
A robust training program is key to successful franchising. Unfortunately, not all training programs are created equally. This article is designed to help you determine if the training program is up to par.

THE TABLE STAKES FOR GREAT LEADERSHIP
Learn the characteristics of truly great leaders.

Maintaining Yesterday vs Creating Tomorrow
John F. Kennedy once said that the best time to repair the roof is when the sun is still shining. That is a luxury we do not have right now. Instead we must proactively confront our fear of change. Embrace it. Learn to be comfortable with it.

Target Marketing Lesson from My Teenage Daughter
It’s so important to target your marketing toward the specific group of people who might buy from you, rather than too broad a group of people. How do you do this?

Three Critical Strategies for Every Web Marketing Campaign
Every business owner with a website has some particular goal for visitors. It can be as simple as signing up for a newsletter or as complicated as completing a large purchase. Whatever the conversion goal is for your website, there are three basic strategies you should follow.

SEO ROI & The Conversion Rate Dilemma
What do legitimate search engine optimization firms charge? Like most things involving the Web, prices are all over the place but if the price is extremely low you can be assured that the quality of the service will match the price.

MOST OF US REMAIN STRANGERS

Leo Buscaglia has been quoted as saying; "Most of us remain strangers to ourselves, hiding who we are, and ask other strangers, hiding who they are, to love us." Unfortunately, there is an incredible amount of truth in this statement. One thing that my life of experiences has taught me is that the likelihood of finding a deep and meaningful love relationship is directly proportional to the amount of time and effort I have spent in getting to truly know and accept myself.

Self Management is Critical for Handling Problems
An article of 1193 words explaining how to choose a better, more effective, and professional path when dealing with unmet expectations from others.

In Sales, Decision Making Has Implications
How do you make sales decisions? Did you ever think of the implication of those decisions? This article explores the potential implications of those critical to not so critical decisions you make as you continue on your goal to increase sales.

Will Your Salespeople Change Behaviors to Improve Their Effectiveness?
"I have changed", a belief and a statement of fact, versus "I will change", a belief and a statement of hope, perhaps even a promise. [Read More]

Toward a better understanding and application of engagement
The improved model of the link between staff behaviour and strategy leads to a sharper and different view of engagement based on engagement as visualization. That is people guided to ‘see’ themselves acting out the ideals needed in the role to succeed and achieve the goals and KPIs. This is exactly the same notion as understood and sued in sports.

Maintaining Your Business Website
If you want to be a web designer, be a web designer. However, if the key focus of your business is building widgets, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that your time would be better spent building widgets, not Web sites

Why doesn't every bookstore carry my books?
Many new authors will be so excited about their debut book that they don't ask their publisher the right questions about distribution. Many assume that their books will get automatic placement in every bookstore across the country. Then the sad reality hits them.

As If They Were You
"Treat everybody else as if they were you." These words gave me pause. I wonder what it would be like if we each did what this "unknown author" is advocating?

The State Of Happiness
Happiness is often thought of as a state of mind. This assumption is both right and wrong. It is right because when you are happy, you usually have happy thoughts in your mind. You have a positive outlook and your mood is generally elevated. Your outlook on life is one of hope and abundance.

STAYING TOP OF MIND WITHOUT BEING A PAIN IN THE NECK
By John Doerr “And if you can't be with the one you love, honey, love the one you're with, love the one you're with, love the one you're with, love the one you're with.…” - Stephen Stills Why does it seem that our clients (and prospects) too often take the advice of seventies rock stars when selecting their professional services providers? Perhaps the following story will shed some light.

Building Rapport – Customer Relationships

Being in rapport is the ability to enter someone else’s model of the world To be able to establish rapport is one of the most important skills a salesperson can have. (A buying environment is a rapport-filled, relationship based, interactive climate in which a person with a need gets informed support in the manner most comfortable to him/her regardless of the outcome.) A buying environment demands a comfort zone to establish trust and rapport – to create a “we space.” "When people are like each other they tend to like each other"

Death by Assumption: Why Great Planning Strategies Fail

To often, assumptions are not clearly identified or managed so that when a plan goes south, there is no way to go back and reevaluate or manage the original assumptions. The absence of "assumption management" is a common cause of the death of many strategic plans. Assumptions must be stated, debated, and continually reevaluated as the plan goes forward. We've provided three practical steps you can take to manage your planning assumption.

Creating a Franchise
The first question that an individual or company needs to ask before taking the franchising route to growth. Is franchising the best method of business expansion for you? Do you have the personal attributes to be a franchisor? What are your motives for contemplating the utilisation of a franchise system?

The 7 Habits of Highly Ineffective Salespeople
The 7 harmful habits that hold people back in their business-development efforts and kill sales.

Problem Solving for Professionals

Effective problem-solving requires effective diagnosis of the problem, not just the symptoms. Identifying and challenging our assumptions and expectations is key to creating meaningful and lasting change, whether personal or professional. Each of us has the ability to do this. However, recognizing the frame that we use to perceive the world may be difficult simply because we’re so accustomed to our own assumptions and beliefs.

Press Release Success Criteria - Is it Newsworthy?
You have decided you need to distribute a Press Release to the local newspapers about your upcoming lecture at the neighborhood library. You also think that the listeners at local radio station FM 99.9 would be perfect attendees at this event.

The Customer is Always Right, (Especially when you think they aren't!)
It takes a long time for a self employed business owner to build up a reputation for great customer service. I am a caring person, and putting customer service first is something I hold very dear as an important aspect of how I do business.

Continual Process Improvement
Organizations need to look at challenging the status quo as a way forward, the pursuit of fresh, innovative ideas, and a process to develop both the individual and collective organization agility. Challenging the status quo is a way to embrace change, and facilitate the endless search for new possibilities.

Active Listening: A Critical Success Factor

In management and sales, active listening is a critical success factor. A focus on listening can lead to more effective teamwork, higher productivity, fewer conflicts and errors, enhanced innovation and problem-solving, improved recruiting and retention, superior customer relations and more. As authors on leadership development have noted through the years, listening is not just a nice thing to do, it’s essential!

Do you have Vision
Visioning is about imagination and discovery versus analysis and forecasts. Vision, coupled with passion, are key aspects of leadership because they inspire people to be creative and innovative. One of the distinguishing characteristics of a good leader is the ability to create an exciting picture of the future or a strong vision, which can capture the imagination.

How to Raise Your Planning IQ

Many brilliant strategies founder in the execution. However, there is an effective way to maximize the chances of success in implementing strategy by raising your "planning IQ." Whenever there is a need to implement a new strategy or intent, or even if confronted with a novel situation, it is always best to take some time to conduct a planning assessment. This can be done deliberately or hastily, formally or informally, individually or by a team. The important thing is to have a method that ensures you are considering all the likely scenarios and courses of action to achieve your goals. The following steps provide a template that can be applied to just about any situation and that ensures your plans will be well considered.

5 Steps to Consistently Outselling the Competition
While there are far too many factors that can lead to a lost sales opportunity, you can greatly improve your odds of closing a sale if you consistently address the five areas outlined in this article throughout your sales process.

The 5 Things Great Managers Sense about their People Every Day
For someone who manages people, being very aware is a vital component in your toolbox. And heightened senses in your everyday business life are critical if you are to get the very best performance from those around you - and for them to deliver the successful results you want. And the good news it that it is easy to build awareness...

Should Leaders Ask Questions or Have Answers?
Most people feel that being a leader means having all the answers. Truth is, most leaders have few answers. What they have is wisdom, giving them the ability to handle anything that crosses their path whether they have answers or not. The know how to find the answers they need. This article talks about 'a different approach to leadership.'

MFI Performance in Countries Visited: A Few Numbers
Before reviewing the performance of MFIs in MicroStart, it is useful to consider what minimum level of performance would justify the expenditures MicroStart is making.

4 Steps to Set Your Mind for Success
In order to be unlimited and powerful beyond measure we must become aware and recognize what may be holding us back. Read on to change beliefs that are limiting into self determination, and learn how to change life with four practical steps.

One Key to Strategic Planning is to Confront Your Assumptions
Strategic planning is designed to help companies go beyond surviving to thriving. However, there are certain dangerous assumptions that can take any company down the wrong path. Read a story that may help you explain how those assumptions actually work.

Your Newsletter The Basics
When designing your newsletter always keep in mind the amount of time you can expect your reader to spend viewing your newsletter. Everyone today is information hungry, but always in a hurry. How you display your content within your newsletter can capitalize on this assumption.

SACRIFICE THE SACRED COWS
The assumption that we have to do things because that is the way they have always been done needs to be challenged if we desire to live life effectively.

Bookkeeping Fees: Difference Between Cost and price
belief that they can hunt around and find a bookkeeper charging a better rate and therefore make the assumption that by paying a lower rate for bookkeeping services they will save mone

Search First, Ask Questions Later
Searches are an extremely important feature for most sites, as the first step of every user task is finding where to begin. A well-implemented text search generally does a good job when people know exactly what they want, but it's much less effective if they don't. To help these individuals, it's best to start with the assumption that your users are human.

The Law of Unpredictability – Unless You Write Your Competitor’s Plans, You Can’t Predict the Future
Many marketing people include an assumption about the future in their marketing plans, suggests Mike Farrell with aspenIbiz. Read this short post as it explains that while many say America’s big problem is the lack of being able to take the long view, without an assumption about the future, it could be difficult to be successful in the world that includes the Law of Unpredictability.

Can We Remove Risk From Our Strategy?
If you could, wouldn’t you choose to test your organization’s strategy before gambling your business and your career on the assumption that the strategy is right? This article contains a short list of tactics to help remove some of the risk from your strategy.

No Pain/No Change...Don\\\'t Believe It - Insurance Sales Training
Ever had this thought, \"The mistake my current vendor made was to assume that because I never complained, they would always get my business. Wrong assumption.\"?

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