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The Pitfalls of Delegation
Delegating has become a major marker of good management skills, but overtime the effort has lost its connection to reality. Delegation is not always the answer, but rather an important tool to be combined with staff management and strategies that bring out the best in people without risking the quality of work outcomes and results.

Assumptions Are Conversation Killers
Assumptions can really derail a conversation. Don't make assumptions about the other person when you are in conversation. If you find you are making assumptions, test them out. Ask, "Why do you thing that is so?" Remember, in many cases you really don't know what the other person is thinking or feeling. To quote Bernard Shaw, "You think you do; but you don't."
Techniques to Increase Conversions
Knowing the definition of having a conversation and completing a conversation from your website is important to the success of your online business. This article is designed to help better understand the techniques behind successful conversations.

Ten Famous Quotes - How can they be applied today?
We all love quotes. Whether they be light and funny such as the many Homer Simpson faux pas or whether they are time honored and serious, they add meaning to our writing, our conversations and even our attitude for the day. But what about your business? How are some of the most famous quotes relevant to you and your entrepreneural spirit today?

MONEY OBJECTIONS: IT'S NEVER ABOUT THE MONEY
After having several conversations with a new prospect and his team, we all decided to move forward and get them trained in Buying Facilitation. As per our agreement, I wrote up a contract and sent it out to “Joe”. Then I got an email from him saying he needed to put the program on hold for six months at least, so that his new hires could prove their value and start earning money.
Email Etiquette - Part 1
As email has become a valued business tool and more people use it to communicate. The conversations and communication can become more productive and agreeable if you can become skilled at writing them.

Email etiquette - Part 2
Email has become a valued business tool and more people are using it to communicate. Increasing your knowledge of e-mail etiquette will give you the advantage of superior communication. Conversations will progressively become more productive, efficient and professional.

Monologue Has Given Way to Dialog
Like never before, communication and dissemination of information is in a state of change. The Internet has boomed, busted, and re-emerged with technologies and practices that are enabling new conversations that can start locally, and have a global impact. This fundamental shift has created a new landscape of influencers and an entirely new ecosystem for supporting the socialization of information.

Article Marketing and How to Always Have Ideas
One very recent question I got from someone that was considering article marketing had the fear of running out of ideas. While I have been doing article marketing for some time now, it is very rarely I get stumped on ideas. I have had a few conversations with other article marketers and they seem to get stuck once in awhile also.
Lesson #5: Communicate Success
“My management style is based on the art of communication,” said Johnson. “For communication is an art, not a science. It is an emotion, not a statistic.”

\"No\" to average
Say no to being average.
Right of First Refusal
Following is a question I got the other day.
Insights for a New Millenium
An old adage reminds us that if you have foresight, you are blessed, and if you have insight, you are twice blessed. Here are two insights to make you quadruple blessed.

Surface chats at B-school
Dawn Morrow, an MBA candidate at the UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School, wrote this to me after I spoke there recently. Great observations about the surface chats that happen at B-school and everywhere else.

As Usual Im Nobodys Market
After a brief email exchange today from an extremely smart and capable friend suggesting a potential feature for my blog, his response was “As usual, I’m nobody’s market.” He provided a humorous followup to the comment “that’s a great blog title” from one of the people on the email thread with “Ah, if only I didn't have to suck up to the world, that would be a great title for my contrarian-curmudgeon blog.”
Two Questions That Matter Most
When you consider writing marketing copy, throw out all your notions about features and benefits, riveting, detailed descriptions and techno jargon and focus on answering the only two questions that really matter - and do it before you pass go.
Talking To Yourself
One of the most moving experiences of my life took place on Sept. 13, 1997, when I was autographing books. . .One lady who asked for an autograph had such a compelling expression on her face that I knew I had to listen carefully to what she had to say. She shared with me that when she got the self-talk card that was included in one of my audiotape programs, she couldn't even read the first list of qualities that she was supposed to claim.

Those idiots in sales just don’t get it
I’m presenting a workshop this week titled - How to get sales and marketing on the same page.
The Knives Your Sales People Should Have
In December, I wrote a post titled Give Your Sales People All The Knives. While I let you draw whatever conclusions you wanted from the post, I thought I’d follow through and give you a little more detail about what I meant by the statement.
6 Ways To Recession-Proof Your Business
All businesses are having to adjust quickly to some stark new realities. In this current environment of seesawing markets - surging and then sagging commodities, volatile currencies - huge gains... then huge drops in stock prices - it's getting harder than ever to predict what's going to happen.

Social Media in Marketing Mix
In social media, marketers are fast learning that their brand is the sum of the conversations about their company. And the rise of social media has created yet another forum for companies to enter the conversation and communicate with their customers. While the final chapter on defining social media and how it will work for companies is yet to be written, we do know that social media cannot be ignored. The key for many marketers is to understand how to use it within their marketing mix to ensure the optimal return on investment for the entire marketing budget.

Can Your Salespeople Sell More Effectively by Asking More Questions?
Selling by asking questions is hard. A list of questions isn't the answer. Left to their own devices, your salespeople won't be able to create the kind of questions that are needed. You might not be able to either.
Why the Relationship is So Important to the Sales Outcome
Many people have written extensively on the topic of relationships and selling. One common topic is that people only buy from people they like and the other is how to develop strong relationships. There is nothing wrong with either of those topics but they surely miss the mark in two important areas.
Salespeople Become More Effective Part 2
You must talk about Sales Process and, assuming it's been formally developed, structured, optimized and introduced, include it in every daily coaching and development call so that the backdrop for your conversations is "Where in the process are you?" In Baseline Selling, that would sound like "Which Base are you on?"
How to fill your pipeline pre- and post-sale? Thought leadership is the answer
Filling the sales pipeline is one of the most talked about aspects of marketing and sales. In this article I challenge conventional thinking about how to fill the pipeline and advocate that in fact thought leaderhip is one of the most effective ways to do so.
10 Attributes of the CEO Who Drives Sales and More
My second conversation was with an effective CEO who is completely unlike those that I described in the other article. My good CEO has the following 10 qualities that have a positive impact on the sales force:
Becoming a Rainmaker
The most effective approach to improving marketing skills is one that results in a fundamental shift in a person's perception of himself, others and the whole marketing process. Marketing is not simply a "numbers game." A person in any field of endeavor can learn to view marketing as an opportunity to do something positive for others, for their company and ultimately for themselves.

Overcome Call Reluctance - Get Your Salespeople to Prospect
By decreasing both the amount of resistance and time spent overcoming the resistance, you might be able to make it less overwhelming and therefore easier for your call reluctant salespeople to experience prospecting success.
Are You Looking for Salespeople with Entrepreneurial Spirit?
While most salespeople don't have Entrepreneurial Passion, most Entrepreneurs aren't very good salespeople. They lack the DNA, skills and competencies necessary to consistently outsell their competitors, but they (sometimes) compensate for it with their 24/7 passion. Can you have both? Yes - entrepreneurs can be trained to sell effectively! And there are some salespeople who actually have this love of what they are selling. The key is to be able to successfully attract, identify, on board and retain those rare salespeople.

Who’s Recovering the Quickest – Is it You?
We hear that the recession is on the wane and that there may be growth this year, albeit with high unemployment plaguing us for a while. Notwithstanding that you as the self-employed entrepreneur may not yet be feeling a recovery, it is happening.
Play Your Position
Learn to play to win in life - no holding back.
Can thought leadership survive without online?
The traditional way we communicate with our stakeholders has changed. It is no longer about communicating to them but rather with them with. Online and social media play a major role in this and it is a role that has serious implications for becoming a thought leader.
How can failure and thought leadership go hand in hand?
The very nature of true thought leadership means that you will fail at some point. If you are leading the conversation, debate, research, commentary in your sector there will always be detractors. Don't let fear of failure hold back your thought leadership campaign.

Asking Better Questions To Get Better Results In Your Network Marketing Business
To get better answers in life you have to ask better questions. How does this work in you network marketing business? How do you become great at asking the right questions at the right times to really get results? This is a vital skill which will take a fair bit of effort on your part.

Three Keys to Reducing Defensive Reactions to Feedback
Providing quality feedback is the most underutilized "tool" in any manager's toolkit. Because of the typical difficulties associated with such discussions many managers avoid or mishandle this basic responsibility. This article shows how to craft talking points that have a better chance for a "you're right, I do need to work on that" employee response instead of the all too common defensive reaction.

Accountability Factor for Clients and others
Have clients be accountable would be a heven sent for many salespeople, here is how you can make it happen for you.

Effective Business Relationships - It Takes Just One Small Thing
Building useful relationships in a business world is probably one of the most valuable actions anyone can take. And we need all the help we can get to make this work...
Getting my beauty sleep between emails
The ubiquity of email and our reliance on the web as an information source is well ingrained in our lives. We have little tolerance for slow servers and are easily frustrated when we can’t just hit ‘send’ with instant results. I recently had ample opportunity to sit and reflect on the speed of communication and how it’s changed so much in our lives. It was the change in rooms, however, that helped me change my point of view.

Social Networking to Turn Social Networking Into a Million Dollar Game Plan
The sheer number of contacts you can generate via online networking today should have you researching social networking marketing ideas and implementing them as soon as possible. Whether you are an individual entrepreneur, a small business owner or a business owner with a multi national determines how important it should be for you to check out social networking marketing ideas.
Social Networking Strategies Or Just Good Manners in the Social Web?
Social Networking Strategies is the new buzz term for marketing to individuals through social networking sites online, and numerous industries are certainly abuzz about it right now. The concept of networking incorporates the social interaction taking place online as well as various forms of networking between consumers and organizations with strategies to connect people, ideas and products.
Do Social Networking Sites Wet Your Social Marketing Appetite Or Leave a Bad Taste in Your Mouth
Going places is a lot easier now. Not only can you visit new places and see old and new friends, you may have conversations with them and see their face from the comfort of your office chair, your couch or your bed. We're talking about social networking here, and the opportunities to do this abound on many types of sites on the internet.
Start Bidding Farewell to Excuses
Even the best of intentions will prevent us from achieving goals, achieving success, eliminate procrastination, and much more, because we often weave excuses into the framework of our daily lives. Well, the time has come to learn to alter our behaviors and take control of our lives. Take a peek inside to learn how.

Social Media Marketing - 7 Ways to Explode Your Authority
Have you ever asked yourself if social media is important for you business? The answer is without a doubt YES! You can say whatever you want, but in the end of the day people choose to follow you as a leader. They don't really care about what the product is or what the opportunity is all about. If people see you as a authority and as a person with real meanings and true values, that what they are going to buy in to.
Twitter Metrics Programs
The programs that make Twitter metrics possible.
Positive ADHD Traits
Just like adults who don’t have ADHD, not all people with ADHD have the same talents and strengths. However, there are a group of positive talents that are often seen in people with ADHD and below are five of them. Give yourself credit for the things you do well. This in turn will boast your confidence and self-esteem.
Build New Entrepreneurial Skills and Start a Business! Take Control of Your Future.
The tough economy is ripe with opportunity for those willing to act. Take control of your destiny by planning your next entrepreneurial endeavor.
The Automatic Income Reducer (The Television)
Numerous articles have been written and published on why people fail in network marketing. The net effect of all of this attention is that this subject has been researched, dissected, and preached about. Although many items occur on the list of distractions, the largest culprit or automatic income reducer appears to be somewhat unanimous and that is the television.
What is the Soul of Your Business?- How to Make Your Noncustomers New Customers
Breakthrough ideas for helping your re-think your strategy for growing your business by providing the kinds of products and services your customers and clients really want but don't yet know it.
Burnout or Boredom?
When your energy is depleted is it because you're burned out or simply bored? How can you tell? Read on.
Twabulous Twitter Tools
Twitter related tools and plug-ins are multiplying by the day. When I say multiplying, I mean not one or two, but, hundreds of new tools. Below are a few Twitter tools to enhance your Tweeting experience, finding new tweets and more. There’s a reason why others are using these services and you should too.

Retailers Get Smart, Get Close To Customers
Resourceful retailers are finding creative ways to reinvent themselves and transform their business into something that entices and keeps customers. The more creative a retailer is, the more that business is going to last. Even in an economic down-turn, 50% of consumers will often pay more for a better customer experience.
Making Relationships a Work of A.R.T.
But if, on the other hand, you forget about yourself and what you can get, and focus on the other person and what you can help them get, they will never let you down. One of my favourite quotes of all time is one by the world famous sales trainer Zig Ziglar. He says "You can get almost anything you want in life, if you'll just help enough other people get what they want." Do you know what other people want? Are you willing to help them get it?

Mining Your Soul for Gold
Everything that you are seeking right now is already within you. That's a big statement but it's based on my belief that we are here as a physical representation of Divine energy. That is, the Universe lives through each of us, and that (naturally enough) includes living through you.

Help! My sales team isn’t coping with the fallout from the GFC
Many sales people, for the first time, are experiencing tough times when it comes to selling and many are not sure how to handle themselves in these difficult situations. The current climate is, indeed, a test of character. Many sales people, especially those in their 20's and 30's have not likely experienced selling in tough markets before. For the past 12 years prior to 2008, at least, the business climate in our market place has been, for the most part, buoyant. As we all know it's very easy to sell when times are good. It now begs the question: How well have we prepared ourselves practically, emotionally, and physically to manage our way through these tough times?
Create your own legacy on the internet through your marketing business
Passion is a vital characteristic of an entrepreneur. This article explores the definition of passion and applies its meaning to business and also shows the vital role entrepreneurs play in creating their legacy on the internet
Monetize Your Message: HOW to profit WILDLY in the new world of Speaking - Part TWO
marketing Your message... Speakers today are facing unprecedented challenges in demonstrating their value and overcoming the now-standard obstacle of decreased funding for events and training opportunities. In Part TWO of this article series for aspiring and experienced speakers, we learn EXACTLY how to combat this and remain profitable.

Strengthen Business Sales in a Tough Market
When times get challenging, its time to evaluate other methods of getting the job done.

The Power of Language
Developing Awareness and Power in how we use Language in the Art of Communication.

Are Sales Tools the Solution?
When your salespeople focus and play with the tools instead of using the tools to support their selling efforts, the tools become part of the problem. Am I suggesting a 15-hour work day? No. You need balance, you should spend time with your family. But salespeople must do the work that doesn't involve interacting with their prospects, at times when they can't reach their prospects.
Sales Leadership, A Clear Message and a Fit Sales Force
I was talking with a number of friends about what 2009 / 10will hold for us, our families, our communities and our businesses. Without exception, we discussed the current and possible effects of the GFC (global financial crisis) on our markets and especially on our thinking and our actions moving forward. We discussed the importance of open, clear and honest communication and decisive leadership, clear goals and defining what we stand for. We discussed the fact that it would be very hard for people to make ‘easy' money this year i.e. playing the stock market, etc. No more making money by just moving money around. And that people now needed do some real work to get real revenue coming in the door. (not that some of us weren't doing that already.)
10 Ways To Empower Your Communication In Business
"A Piece of Blarney Stone" 10 ways to empower your communication The Blarney Stone is a historical stone, or actually part of the Blarney Castle in Ireland where it was believed that kissing the stone can grant you the gift of gab. Yeah, it seems strange in this day and age, but who are we to question tradition? It's not like I'm saying that Santa Claus doesn't exist (OOPS!). There is so much to know about conversation that anyone, even I, could ever realize. You can go though watching talk shows; radio programs; clubs dedicated to public speaking; ordinary conversations; certain rules still apply when it comes to interaction through words. It may sound tedious, I know, but even though it's your mouth that's doing the work, your brain works twice as hard to churn out a lot of things you know.

Introvert Myth - Why Are Introverts Perceived as AntiSocial?
The words, social introvert, might seem like an oxymoron to some people. The truth is that most introverts are social but because we might be social differently than extroverts, we get labeled antisocial. So what's going on?
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!
Slow Down to Make MORE Money
If you are sick of twittering till your thumbs fall off, facebooking and blogging until you have a headache, and networking neurotically, you have to read this article! I can't tell you the number of entrepreneurs I speak to who will tell me all they are doing to "chase success" and then ask, "What else should I be doing?" While I admire their stamina, the truth is that their schedules are already staggering. They already have so much going on, it made me tired just listening to it! But we are ALL busy these days. And if we are NOT experiencing success, doesn't it make sense that we should ADD something to the equation? Not always. Sometimes (most of the time) MORE is simply too much! Sometimes (most of the time) we need to slow down... to make more money, to accomplish more, to succeed wildly!

The Five Stages of Partnership
All partnerships, and all relationships for that matter, go through five predictable stages. Knowing these stages is like having a map that will help you to accurately assess where you are in your partnerships, see where you have been and where you can go. This will also allow you to deal effectively with the particular concerns of the stage you are in.

Got the right people in place
Getting the right skill sets and behaviors in the right spot is not always easy, yet it will make or break that new hire!

Listening to Hear What I Don't Yet Know
Many of you are writing me to say you want to invent what your future will look like 'cause you're tired of falling into life as it unfolds all on its own. How are you going to do that?

Stop with the 4-letter Words!
CIOs and BU executives are businessmen. So stop with the argument that they want technical sales information. They have to justify their 'business' just like every other executive. Trust me, they are not discussing 4-letter techno words in their executive meetings.
Time Management in an Instant by Karen Leland and Keith Bailey
Time is a rare commodity for most business people, entrepreneurs, working moms, authors and many others. So, learning to manage time better is something that most people need to do. This book is a quick read (which will save you time) and is packed with 60 time management techniques. Which tips will be right for you? If you are a business owner - how much could you save in payroll costs if your employees learned to manage their time better?
Five Common Misbehaving Sales Behaviors Keeping You From Your Goal to Increase Sales
Are the most common and simplest behaviors (think sales skills) costing you business because of how people perceive those behaviors? Maybe it is time to check out if these behaviors are costing you sales not to mention a lot of negative talk behind your back.
Five Essential Steps for Creating a Coaching Culture
How can you create a workplace where people are leaderful, impactful and work together in collaborative and innovative ways? It’s easier than you might think for it does not require huge funds, nor more rules or regulations or meetings. Organizations that have invested time and energy into providing a coaching structure that promotes individual and organizational growth report significantly reduced staff turnovers, increased productivity, greater happiness and satisfaction at work.

Writing Skills Atrophy Among Copycats, And Do-It-Yourself Business Communication Marketing
One of the best business communication marketing moves I ever made was sending out a monthly newsletter to current and prospective clients. I say that because it's a natural form of self-promotion minus obnoxious hype. You get your name out there -- with a lot of the keywords that attract search engines -- and you give readers an inkling of what you can do for them. Its value lies in an almost nonexistent "nag quotient." Far too often, I get insistent, "look at me!," "have I got an introductory offer for you!" emails from search engine optimization firms, online degree factories, "experts" in attracting government contracts, weight loss specialists, you name it. Not a one adds an iota to my knowledge of what they offer. Hype is what it is. But a newsletter that gives practical advice is truly effective business communication.

Smart Retailing: Get Close to Customers
Resourceful retailers are finding creative ways to reinvent themselves and transform their business into something that entices and keeps customers. The more creative a retailer is, the more that business is going to last.

Quit Swinging the Bat and Start Hitting the Ball
Correct technique can assure favorable outcomes. But focusing on technique alone can become a distraction.

Stress Defence Number 1 - Find a Mentor
Having spoken to over a quarter of a million peopls and consulted thousands of companies david Oliver draws from his life experience to share the biggest stress defence of al. Find a mentor. DISCOVER WHY

Work-life Balance "Putting on the Brakes"
"Putting on the Brakes", first published in Atlantic Business Magazine, advocates that enjoyment-based decisions are the key to work-life balance and provide coaching questions from business coach Karen Kelloway to help get you there.
7 Tips to Overcome Cold Callin Jitters
Think of cold calling or telemarketing as having meaningful conversations where you may be able to add real value to a client. If you don't ask, you don't know! Also people can't love you/your service if they don't know about you!
Get More Clients by Making Your Marketing Materials the Life of the Party
When you sit down to write your marketing materials, you’re really getting ready to have a one-on-one conversation with the person who’s going to read them. It’s up to you to decide what kind of conversation that’s going to be. If you make it sound like your typical, formal, boring, all-about-me marketing, people aren’t going to stick around to read the whole thing…

Learning in a New World
The fundamental role of a leader is to be the architect of the future for his organization. There is no future without authentic learning. Thus it is time to restructure nearly all of the current training programs and HR offers. There will be great resistance to this and new leaders will have to emerge, but it is time for a bit of revolution!

DO YOU KNOW WHAT THE REAL ART OF ‘CLOSING-A-SALE’ IS?
I LEARNED A GREAT LESSON FROM SOME PROS. ON THE REAL ART OF 'CLOSING A SALE'.
Twitter Tools: The Definitive List of the Best Twitter Tools Ever
Are You On Twitter? Then You Need to Start Taking Advantage of the Best Twitter Tools. They Will Make Your Job Easier, Get More Followers than Ever and Give Your Business Wide Exposure.

Three Ways to Start a Conversation and Finish with a Sale
Ditch your elevator pitch. Zap your infomercial. And whatever you do, keep your carefully worded, painstakingly developed, positioning statement to yourself.
Home Staging Helps Sellers Meet Conditional Offer Deadline
The Staging Diva® discusses how, in a slow real estate market, home stagers can help when it comes to meeting conditional offer deadlines.
5 Questions to Ask When Choosing a Web-Design Firm
Every day, I meet with companies who are looking for a web-design firm, and naturally, I'd like some of them to choose us. But I've also noticed something during these conversations: often, people don't ask the most important questions. A meeting with a web-design company is an interview. You want to make sure their business is legitimate, and you want to get a sense for the personality and culture of the company. Most of all, you need to understand their approach to the unique challenges you're tackling with your project. In 5 minutes, these 5 questions will tell you more than an hour-long presentation...
CONFIDENT NETWORKING - how to talk to anyone, anywhere at any time
Networking can be a daunting task when individuals fear what has often been termed "making small talk". This article provides the basic communication skills together with a proven formula for ensuring that an individual can talk to anyone, anywhere, anytime about anything.

Harnessing the Power of Social Media Tools
A few hour investment in social media like Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook can help grow your business
Being Present To Your Inner Brilliance
Learn key questions to ask when considering important business and life decisions
When Things Go Hardest...
During times of economic downturn, life and work become increasingly difficult for virtually everyone. Organizations and their people tend to flounder in a sea of uncertainty, while struggling with their decision making processes. Those leaders who have historically preceded us in troubled times, provide key insight into the aprropriate attitudes and actions which can sustain us through the current recession times.
Speaking Beyond Your Fears
People are putting things off because of the economy, because of lack of resources or not enough time. thing is, you can't buy back time. You can ask yourself (and answer) the question "When is the right time?" But while you do that, look at the ramifications of putting it off for the 'right' time as well.

Driving With The Handbrake On! The Texas Smoothie.
Entrepreneurs get trapped - one of those traps is what Michael Gerber calls "Doin' it, doin' it, doin' it!" where the tyranny of the urgent prevents us from doing the big-picture things that made us entreprpeneurs in the first place. Jerry from Texas found a unique and idiosyncratic path out of that trap.
Do you have a Truly Profitable Mindset?
With all the negative talk about the economy in the media, it's no wonder we're all concerned about the growth and vitality of our business. Use these three quick tips to keep your mind focused on what truly matters so your business thrives no matter what!
Smart Women Ignite Their Fire
This article is about how we as women, can sometimes go through many years in our lives without allowing ourselves to realize our Big Idea, Dreams and Goals. We are so busy taking care of others that we hold our passion and desire inside of us. We fan the flames of other’s desires and dreams and put ourselves last. It’s important to create the time and space in our lives so that we can feel fulfilled and full of passion and purpose—bring our special gift to the world.

What are your Strengths!
Focus on your strengths and you will grow.
3 Ways to Keep the Change
Think about it for a minute; as a kid you were told what was going to happen. You were told you were moving to a new house, or a new city, or a new school. Your family did not wait until they got your "buy in", you were just packed along with the furniture and off you all went.

INTERACTING WITH OTHERS
An interaction has verbal content and non verbal communication-gaze, gesture, expression, voice, volume, tone etc.
Conversations for Effective Action
In your work, and in your life away from work, you participate in conversations. People speak, and people listen. And more is happening - promises are made, requests are made, invitations are issued, proposals for new projects are presented. Things happen in conversations. In fact, it is in conversations that people make things happen. Only four things can happen in a conversation. We call these Basic Linguistic Commitments. The four linguistic commitments for action are requests, promises, assertions and declarations, and they happen in conversation, and this is all that’s happening.

Is Twitter For The Birds?
So you've signed up to Twitter. But you're unsure as to it's value. This article explains how you can get value from the social media scene and Twitter.
Do you want results, or a process? Differentiate the tools and the objectives.
Remember the old adage, a person whose only tool is a hammer tends to see all problems as a nail. Yet for most of us, results are more important than a shiny bright smooth process, yes? If you don’t think so, skip this article.
3 Simple Steps to Using Email as a Sales Tool
E-mailing is now undoubtedly the main means of communication between businesses and business people. I would continue to advise salespeople to always try to speak directly to prospects where possible. There are times however that e-mailing is the only available option, so the ability to craft effective e-mails is now a very necessary sales skill.
Twitter Marketing – Using Twitter to Promote Your Business
Twitter is a micro-blogging platform. It lets you post up to 140 characters at a time. Some people post their status every 5 minutes (“Waiting for the bus”, “On the bus”, “Walking home”) and companies use Twitter to get the word out about new products, blog posts, and other random stuff. Companies from all over the world have Twitter accounts and thousands of people following them. Some of these companies are Apple, Intel, H&R Block, and Zappos. Barrack Obama has over 38k followers! To leverage the Twitter potential you need to have people following you. That is, people that want to be updated on what you are up to.
How to have your mind serve you
Change your thoughs and patterns and you can change your life
Observing Twitter: 5 things you may not know about this brave, new world
While those unfamiliar with social media may consider Twitter the most foreign of planets, it really is based on some very basic and familiar principles. These five observations may help you feel more brave about exploring this networking Web site.
Home Business Expert: How To Prospect
Every business must have customers and this is where knowledge as to how to prospect comes in handy because many of them will eventually become customers.
Professional Services Win More Sales by Educating Instead of Telling
Are you a professional service provider such as a lawyer, realtor, insurance agent, financial advisor, business coach, sales coach or executive coach? Would you like to win more sales while decreasing your sales to lead or sales cycle time? Then why not use your sales skills educate your potential qualified customers (a.k.a. prospects) instead of the traditional sales based marketing approach of telling them?
Now is the Time to Master Financial Conversations
While these are admittedly challenging times for many, I still see a lot of sales being made among the companies we are working with. The biggest difference in selling today is the amount of time it takes for sales to close, especially compared to the last few years. But some sellers aren’t feeling any pain – their sales aren’t taking longer in spite of the economy – and yours don’t have to either.
Ten Ways to Avoid Customer Contact
A sarcastic but all too true look at how some websites make it difficult to contact them. Don't be a victim of these pitfalls - unless you want to.
Strategic Thinking for Restaurant Business Operators
What is necessary now in operating a food service business today is the need to think, plan and act more strategically than you ever have before. To ask more complex questions and find deeper, more long term answers than you have probably ever done or felt the need to do.
Leads for the Sales Force - Not
I received an email last week from a LinkedIn connection promoting his new super duper lead engine that connects salespeople with the most powerful buying influences in the world. Wow.
Driving Guest Loyalty In An Economic Downturn
Yeah, yeah, another article about the same stuff to do in a down economy. Not really. I’m as fed up with them as you are - trust me, probably a lot more since they really don’t address anything that really matters. But this time I was reading, “The Importance of the Customer Experience in a Down Economy” and could not get past the introduction without my brain kicking into overdrive with references for our business.
Five Fundamentals to Sales Super-Stardom in 2009
The single biggest difference between success and failure is your attitude. While this might be a much talked about concept in all walks of life, the reality is that only a very few actually ever truly get it. Great attitude is the common denominator of success; everything else including talent follows or is learnt. Top sports people have got it, top business people have got it and top salespeople have got it.
7 KEY STRATEGIES TO BOOST YOUR BUSINESS
Learn all you can about marketing. Marketing is absolutely crucial to the success of your business and you avoid it at your peril! New business owners can think that marketing is quite a complicated process. However, it's not rocket science and the basics can easily be learned.
Riding the Waves of Uncertainty
Doing business in tough times seems to be the major focus of every conversation these days. Three strategies for getting through any economic storm ahead.
You Don't Always Have to Be Right
You know the situations - you're in a conversation with someone and it starts to get a little contentious because you differ on the "facts."

Reinforcing training: Getting Managers Involved
Just because a training session was completed doesn't mean that information and skills learned will "stick" with trainees. In order for that to happen, it's imperative that managers understand how to reinforce what was learned and how to use that learning to meet the goals of the company.

Your Path to Effective Service Selling
Selling services is far different than selling products, and for reps who want to be successful at "service selling", it's imperative to understand where the differences exist.
Confident Smalltalk Planner: 6 Steps to a Perfect Event
Confident Smalltalk Planner: 6 Steps to a Perfect Event
Sales Training – Salespeople Debut of Confidence
Without confidence, salespeople will have it tougher to get to the top of their career, their business or their earning power. With six phrases in a song from The Sound of Music by Rodgers and Hammerstein, salespeople can begin to demolish those doubts.
6 Stages of Building Confidence: Learn step-by-step how to Deliberately Raise Your Confidence Level
Use this powerful framework to assess where you are in your confidence level and how to get where you want to be. Begin building your confidence today so you can have the life you love and deserve!
Finding alternate lead sources within your company
Many sales reps often overlook valuable lead sources within their own company, and spend precious selling time looking for leads outside their office doors. They attend networking events, travel to conferences and trade shows, partner with other sales reps, and research potential external lead sources, but rarely consider all the invaluable sources of information around them.

Customer Service: Where Everyone Knows Your Name
Customers don’t interact with organizations. They interact with people and it is that experience that determines whether they buy or not; whether they become loyal customers or a lost opportunity. When your employees are engaged with your organization, when they believe in and enjoy what they are doing, then those positive feelings extend to the customer. Happy employees make happy customers and this translates into increased sales and profits. The attitude and feelings of your employees directly influences the customer experience.

Are You Suffering From Sales Rage?
The slowing of the economy coupled with a now official bear market has many in business and especially in sales feeling these affects. Possibly, your frustration or rage may be showing?

ADD VALUE TO LIFE
We can just as easily choose to add value to life as we can to devalue life.
Strategies For Utilizing Social Media Outlets
Today there are more and more people who are beginning to use social media outlets to help promote and market products. There are many ways that you can learn how to use these social media outlets to increase sales if you know what you are doing. In fact, many people are beginning to realize that this is a top marketing strategy.
Sales Training – Self-Confidence is What Top Salespeople Build and Maintain
Self-confidence in salespeople is something that can both be built and maintained. But how do we know when our self-confidence may need either? What happens to the salesperson that ignores the indicator lights? Here are the top three of six indicators that self-confidence need a boost.
Have You Ever Felt You Didn't Know How You'd Get Your Next Sale?
Unless you’re already a top producer I suspect your answer is “yes”. It’s a problem that just won’t go away until you decide to do something about it once and for all.

The Secret Other Insurance Producers Won't Tell You
If you’ve been in the insurance industry less than four years you’re holding onto a dream. The dream that someday you’ll have a full book of business with lots of residual income is what fuels your fire. The dream that someday you won’t have to work so hard to get appointments is what drives you to make one more call.

How to Avoid 4 Key Sales Objections
As you’re holding a sales conversation with a potential client there are three conversations going on. The outward verbal conversation between the two of you, the inward conversation in the potential clients mind, and the one you’re having in your mind. Currently you monitor two of those three conversations.

How to Say it to Sell More
You don’t necessarily respond to what you hear and what you read the same way your prospects do. The reason is because your prospect may not have the same underlying motivation to act or respond as you. I don’t just mean in a sales conversation.

Utilizing Your Press Coverage
There are countless ways in which you can effectively utilize copies of articles or tapes of programs you have appeared in. This media can be like gold if utilized properly.

Are Your People Skills Killing Your Profits?
If you listen to the conversations from people who are not self-employed you'll notice they will often discuss the problems they have with management. Having two members of my family, my daughter Tia and husband Tama working as employees, many of our daily catch-ups are centred on this topic.

Obsessive Management Disorder
The difference between leaders and followers in retail and what is needed to become an effective manager of people.
Getting In Control
Advice from an expert in work/life balance uses the acronym C.O.N.T.R.O.L. to help you get some balance in your life.
Five Ways to Sell so Price Doesn't Matter
In the current business climate, price has become the ultimate differentiator. It sometimes feels like it’s the only thing that matters to our potential clients and customers. The global economy has impacted both product prices and services. Want a cheap knee replacement? Go to Asia. Ditto if you want your website updated or your book printed. So, how do we sell our products and services if we can't provide the lowest price? This article tells you 5 ways to sell so that price doesn't matter.
Help Others Manage Their Daily Baragge of Email and Save Time Too
Computers have made our world a much more information rich society, but they have also created so much information that it is sometimes hard to track it all. Most executives average about 100 pieces of e-mail per day! Are you adding to that barrage? According to the National Association of Professional Organizers, e-mail has added one to two hours to each person's work schedule per day compared to 10 years ago. Here are 10 tips to use when you are the sender of e-mail to save you and the receiver time.

The 16 Most Persuasive Words In The English Language - Part 1
It is possible to become much more persuasive that you are now, and within a few hours, by applying some simple but powerful principles of persuasion understood by very few sales people.
Will You Ignore The Stranger Next To You?
The best way to get new clients is to always be expanding your network. This article will show you how -- because you never know where it will lead.
Sales Productivity is All About Outcomes (so why focus on inputs?)
Selling business-to-business is all about outcomes (sell enough, and your commission will increase). Yet many companies looking to improve their results focus, today, on improving their inputs. B2B sales productivity requires a focus from beginning to end on outcomes. Sales efforts aren't productive if they don't yield sales and get prospects to progress towards sales. Proof of sales is dead easy. Proof of the latter is much harder. It's commonly based on what Rep have done and their impressions of their prospects' interests. Give Reps better, more precise, data on their prospects' interests, and help Reps (using this data) invest their efforts wisely, and their productivity will improve. Sales cycles will shrink. We've proven it.

Tips On Writing - Are You Speaking Your Customer's Language?
One of the funny things about humans is we all expect other people to communicate in the same way that we do. However, what researchers studying a science called Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) have found is that people see and make sense of the world differently. We each have our preferred ways of representing the world in a similar way that we prefer to use either our right or left hand.
The Three Conversations of Leadership: Management Leadership Training
The Three Conversations of Leadership: Management Leadership Training. Please visit www.ihhp.com for more information.

Words of Power
Words have power – words spoken with clear intent and emotion carry more power than just random words on a page. Many businesses try and create their business plan or marketing material by just copying what someone else has done. They take the words, shuffle them around a bit and then label it with their company name.
Coaching Tip: Stop “Trying” and Start “Doing”
“Try” invites a wishy-washy attitude that gives people an excuse to bail out of committing to doing (or having) something desirable or undesirable. You cannot try to do anything. You either do or you don’t. Ready to say YES to your dreams and desires?
Four Disciplines of Extraordinary Leaders
"The best leaders are great because of the way they think. Extraordinary leaders separate themselves by the way they...
Five Questions to Evaluate Employee Engagement
When I think of employee engagement, I think about organizational commitment, empowerment, communication, and results! I think about employees who strive to "be the brand!" The following is a list of five questions to evaluate employee engagement.
Make Your Contacts Count
Make Your Contacts Count! A Great Book to Read for Business! Now, more than ever, it's time to maximize your networking...but don't you wonder how best to do it? One way to jumpstart your skills is to read the 250-page book that is filled with great strategies, "Make Your Contacts Count: Networking Know-How for Business and Career Success" by Anne Baber and Lynne Waymon. Here's some detailed information about what's in this great book!

Mastering the Art of Executive Presence
As an executive you virtually live in a fishbowl. People are constantly observing you and forming opinions about your capabilities. You must constantly and genuinely mold these opinions about who you are, and what you can accomplish.You must master the art of executive presence.
Are You Selling The Wrong Thing?
If you are focusing on selling the wrong thing you will repel prospects and unnecessarily complicate the sales cycle.
Are You A Knower Or A Learner When Selling?
Learn the difference and the importance of being a knower or a learner when selling.
Make More Sales By Avoiding The Product Trap
It's wonderful that you are passionate about your products and services but this won't help you make sales. Learn the key ingredient in the sales process that will have you closing more sales than ever.
WHEN IT COMES TO MARKETING SERVICES: WE DON'T DO MARKETING
By Mike Schultz and John Doerr As we speak with leaders of professional services firms and ask them, "What do you currently do for marketing?" a certain percentage of them reply, "We don't do marketing." What we find, however, is maybe they do more than they think.

THE TOO SALESY PARADOX WHY PROFESSIONAL SERVICE PROVIDERS CANT SELL AND WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT
By John Doerr The distress is obvious. The complaints are frequent. The clear disdain for the activity is surprisingly unfiltered. What are we talking about? Selling, or more specifically, selling professional services. In conversation after conversation as I work with clients, conduct seminars, or network with my professional colleagues, I hear the same comments: Selling conflicts with my values as a professional. Selling gets in the way of building strong relationships. You have to have it in your genes - like a used car salesman. I don't sell professional services - I work with my clients to create the best solutions. People won't respect me as a professional if I am selling to them. I can't sell to them. What will they think of me? It (selling) is not what we do around here.

Selling Value - Hear Yes to These Questions
No matter what your pricing philosophy is at your company, buyers always buy based on value. Hearing yes to three quesions will allow you to build greater value in your pricing.
Money Talk
Conversations about money abound. We usually talk aloud about money when we’ve just had an unexpected bill pop up, a dry season with income or some other painful experience. It’s quite acceptable in American culture to complain and fret to each other about our finances. In fact, others will join in with you to make a fast pity party. It’s almost cool to complain.
Finding Your Cash Cow
Most of us are looking for the way to generate more money on a consistent basis. We’re looking for the “cash cow”, “money machine”, “passive income” or the “money magnet”. There are literally millions of ways to do this. What is most important is that you make the distinction that YOU are the money generator, not the business or the investment.
SALES CALL PLANNING WHAT TO KNOW BEFORE EVERY SALES CALL
By Mike Schultz and John Doerr A good part of business development success is, as some say, just showing up. But show up prepared and success is what you will get.

YOU WON THE CLIENT NOW START MARKETING TO THEM
By Mike Schultz Answer: More often than you think. Question: How often should I send marketing messages to my current and recent clients? In How to Market Training and Information, Don Shrello wrote, “Regardless of how often you contact your clients and prospects (those who have already…purchased something from you), you're probably not contacting them enough.

COMMUNICATING THE VALUE OF YOUR SERVICES CREATING A NEW REALITY
By John Doerr “…but I know it when I see it.” - Potter Stewart, Associate Justice, United States Supreme Court In writing his ruling on pornography, Justice Stewart probably sounded like so many of the clients you work with as a professional service provider. Since you are selling something clients cannot see or touch, they have a hard time knowing exactly what they are buying and what value they will get in return.

DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOUR CLIENTS REALLY NEED
By John Doerr Ray Kinsella: So what do you want? Terence Mann: I want them to stop looking to me for answers, begging me to speak again, write again, be a leader. I want them to start thinking for themselves. I want my privacy. Ray Kinsella: No, I mean, what do you WANT? [Gestures to the concession stand they're in front of] Terence Mann: Oh. Dog and a beer. - From the movie Field of Dreams, 1989 All too often it seems I am stuck in this great scene from the movie Field of Dreams (one of my all time favorites) when I ask professional service providers what needs they fill for their clients.

RAIN SELLING HOW RAINMAKERS LEAD SALES CONVERSATIONS
By Mike Schultz and John Doerr Sales Conversations for Services To advance in their careers and become Rainmakers (those people at services companies that bring in the new clients and revenue), professionals such as accountants, lawyers, management consultants, and technology consultants eventually need to excel at selling professional services. Rarely, however, are these poor souls given a primer on rainmaking, especially when it comes to leading sales conversations and sales meetings. As a result, they often just 'wing it' and learn by doing, making many avoidable mistakes and losing opportunities to win new clients.

Do you really hear me? Or: why Positive Sales equals Listening
How can you sell your product or service to anyone without knowing what it actually is that they need? You shouldn't, is the short reply. Selling means not only 'making a sale' but focusing on the customer's needs, circumstances and wishes. Get to know them in order to understand them, and do it by asking and listening instead of talking and telling. Why? Because that is what effective, positive sales is all about.

Are You Asking the Right Questions to Increase Your Sales?
The right questions probably aren't the questions you’re using now. Do you and your prospects feel uncomfortable with the questions you're asking?

How to Avoid Getting Off Track When You Cold Call
Let’s say you’re on a cold call, and it’s going well. You have a strong connection with your potential client. But the conversation starts to wander off the topic. And you’re not sure how you can regain focus without the other person feeling pressured. Well, the traditional sales approach tells us to always focus on getting the sale. So when cold calling conversations start to wander, we’re taught to bring the focus back to our linear sales road, including having the potential client answer certain questions. The problem is that these questions only look like parts of a conversation. They’re actually covert attempts to make others to believe they need our solution.
Make Cold Calls More Successful- Stop Focusing on the Sale
All the sales gurus have been teaching for years that you must be enthusiastic and aggressive in cold calling tactics. You’ve been trained to focus on the sale and move cold calling conversations toward a sales conclusion. What would you think if I told you to surrender your sales agenda entirely? The new sales mindset actually does just that. It brings cold calling out of the dark ages where you’re going into battle almost as soon as you dial the phone. It lets you get rid of “pitches” and “strategies” and “closing techniques.” And instead, you can become a real person again.
How to Handle Objection When You Cold Call
We’ve all had the somewhat startling experience of thinking things are going really well during a cold call, and suddenly someone pulls back on us. They give us an “objection,” or just say something to end the conversation. Most of us have been trained to overcome objections during our cold calls, and keep moving forward. The thinking is that if you’re persistent enough, then you’ll make the sale. In other words, we’re supposed to bypass people's objections and concerns because we’ve already decided for them that they should buy what we have to offer.

Positioning, “Social Polarity” and Vibrant Blog Communities
Blog communities and commenters play a role in defining the blogs they socialize in. What’s your community of blog commenters like? If you had a chance to build your blog all over again, what would you do differently? Blogs are great tools for knowledge sharing, and in essence the blogosphere is one gigantic self-organized online network of individuals sharing their raw and unedited thoughts openly. It’s a vibrant and ongoing conversation, and the saying “there’s strength in diversity” holds in this case.

The Village Effect - Networking in Wales
This article originally appeared in The National Networker. Andy Lopata looks at networking groups in Wales and the importance of relationship building to break down borders.

Making the Most of Networking Events
Many people attend networking events, but they don't necessarily make the most of them. This article shows you how to make every networking event a success.
Are You Saying This Magical Phrase To Your Customers
Are You Offering Change To Your Customers? I just loved how Maria captured selling with one phrase. "I offer change." And yet, you and I both know that the majority of people try to sell by INFO DUMPING all over their customer vs ASKING what kinds of CHANGE their customer is looking for. Remember - selling is when you're offering a means, an opportunity for someone to make a positive change. How cool is that?

Even Better Than Great
What aren't you thinking of that's holding you back or could help you evolve? If you figure out the answer to that, you won't be great. You'll be even better than great!
Inquiry As A Replacement For Self Doubt
I had several conversations with entrepreneurs this week who were struggling with a specific issue that had plagued them for a while. In each case these are strong, capable entrepreneurs who I’ve known for a long time. As with all entrepreneurs (and humans), they have strengths, weaknesses, and blind spots. In each case, I felt like self-doubt had crept into their brains around the specific weakness they were struggling with.
Sorry, You Can’t Be My Online Friend
Validation of Dunbar’s number in Twitter conversations
Anatomy of a Success Strategy
Your success strategy is not simply what you do. It’s at the source of what you do. It’s an expression of who you’re ultimately being as a person and a leader. The purpose of this exercise is to identify who you’re already being. From there you can you move beyond the limits of it.
6 Keys to Communicating Your Value
Co-author of Rainmaking Conversations, Mike Schultz, explains how to conversationally portray your value when introducing yourself.
10 Rainmakers Principles to Live By
Co-author of Rainmaking Conversations, Mike Schultz, explains the ten principles the most successful salespeople live by.
16 Principles of Influence in Sales
Co-author of Rainmaking Conversations, Mike Schultz, explains that to improve sales persuasion skills, the underlying components of influence must be understood and applied.
Building Rapport
Co-author of Rainmaking Conversations, Mike Schultz, explains how to make sincere connections with prospects to help close more deals.
Digging Deep into Needs with the Five Whys
Co-author of Rainmaking Conversations, Mike Schultz, explains how to uncover a prospect’s true problems and needs rather than treating its symptoms.

Goal Setting for Success
Co-author of Rainmaking Conversations, Mike Schultz, explains the importance of setting personal sales goals for long-term success.
Six Questions You Absolutely Need the Answers to for Sales Success
Co-author of Rainmaking Conversations, Mike Schultz, stresses the importance of continuous self-evaluation in your efforts to reach sales success.

Politics in the Office
Can you have civil discourse in the office on the 3 Taboo Topics of sex, religion & politics? I hope so, what else is there to talk about?
7 Steps to Acquiring an Instant Intellect
Want An Instant Intellect? An easy way to stand above the crowd if to demonstrate your mastery of communication. It is easily shown in your own communication style.
Be Constructive, Not Destructive
An article of 1257 words focusing on how to use communication wisely and offers three steps to eliminate destructive conversations.
No One Gets To Be Wrong
An article of 1070 words that embraces the concept that no one is wrong for being who they are and offers three tools for communicating more effectively.
Staying Positive in a Negative Environment
An article of 931 words focusing on five things you can do to be the positive force in your workplace.
Where, Exactly, Are You Going?
Are you sailing in the direction you want to go? Are you deploying your assets, your time, your energy and your intelligence to create the life you truly want? If not, don't blame the conditions. Instead, challenge yourself to become a more skillful sailor.
5 Ways to Keep Visitors Coming Back
Polls and surveys are other forms of interaction that you should definitely consider adding to your site. They provide a quick way for visitors to voice their opinions and to get involved in your website. Be sure to publish polls or surveys that are strongly relevant to the target market of your website to keep them interested to find out about the results.

Building Your Own Business but Wary of the ‘S’ Word?
“Selling” has gotten a bad rap! We’ve all experienced obnoxious salespeople who have turned us off…made us cringe…and even stopped us from pursuing a purchase we really wanted. Have you ever really, really wanted something…like a new car…but dreaded the sales experience so much that you’d sooner wait until your car broke down? If we ourselves have had poor experiences with salespeople, how can we expect to enjoy becoming one? But then again, how can we expect to grow our business without becoming one? The truth is…we can’t…so let’s bite the bullet and figure this “selling” thing out.
Are You Ready to Use a Coach?
If you are considering working with a professional coach start by asking yourself if you are ready. Here are some questions to help you decide if its time to engage a coach.
…And The Last Thing You Say In Marketing
People seldom remember the details of a marketing message the first time they see it. They read your message (see: The First Thing You Say In Marketing…) because something about it appealed to them. How you end the communication determines how they “walk away” from your marketing.
Learn the 10 basic steps to change negative attitudes
Negative/ bad attitudes spread like viruses, from one individual to the next and can "infect" entire groups, communities and organizations. Once an attitude virus begins to spread, it becomes an epidemic in no time. Health suffers, productivity suffers, finances suffer, and the relationships suffer.
Business Success Tip: Integrity & Reputation
People talk. A negative comment to one person can snowball into multiple conversations. A message can be sent over the internet in a split second. How do you want to be known?
UTILIZING YOUR MEDIA to Land More Business
If you use it correctly, media begets media.
Sorry No More
Do you find yourself saying “I’m sorry” too often at work? Have you noticed a pattern of prefacing feedback or sharing of your ideas with an “I’m sorry, but?” Clients often come to me noticing their overuse of this phrase and the negative impact it has on their professional stature. What place does saying “I’m sorry” have in the workplace?
How to Finesse the Money Conversation
Are you perpetually nervous when talking to prospects dreading the moment when you have to tell them your fees? Read on for three tips that will get you past fumbling and on to finessing the money conversation.
How to Talk to Prospects and Win Them
The thought of talking to prospects can make even the most seasoned entrepreneur nervous. It doesn't have to be this way. All you need to know are these seven steps to winning conversations with prospects.
Work at Home Moms and Their Bad Rap?
Beware, this is a tad controversial. And I'm sure many readers may not like what I am going to say. It may even upset some, but I am guessing the people that get upset, are most likely the ones that are guilty of what I am writing about. It is about an issue that I feel needs to be addressed based on the conversations over the last few years with many work at home moms. These moms in business have become frustrated by how other work at home moms can seem to indirectly affect their business. Unfortunately, many work at home moms seem to fail to realize that they are business owners, and thus should be acting like business owners. Those who do not, have continued to give the term "Work at Home Mom" a bad rap.
Descriptive Stories Sell on More than One Level
Perhaps you've heard or been taught that sharing Features, Advantages and Benefits (FAB) is a more effective approach than just feature dumping on our prospective customers. But do we effectively do that in our sales conversations? Let me share a simple experience where a young shoe salesman (Joseph) did this very well.

No Medicine Cures Negativity Once It Starts Festering In Your Network Marketing Business.
You should encourage all of your team members to contact you directly, regardless of their position within your organization, if they find their sponsor to be unresponsive. Train them to “throw up” their negativity rather than “throwing it down” to infect other members of the team.

Having Conversations with Prospects
Have conversations with 3 prospective customers to discover their greatest challenges, why and how they buy, whom they buy from, and what solutions they’re looking for.
Working Across Borders
Have you worked overseas before? What as that like? Have you considered how you would enhance your conversations with your colleagues, customers and consumers? What would it be like to engage in conversation with somebody who leads with a different life, culture, mindset and attitude?
Is It Time To Press Your Reset Button?
Have you reached the point in your life or business where you just want to stop everything and start over? If you’re feeling that way there’s good news - you have a reset button and can press it anytime you like.
The 3 Cold Calling Phrases That Get Results
How can we possibly avoid rejection and still stay “real” while cold calling? Well, the truth is that the more genuine we are, the less likely we are to be rejected.

When Prospects Give You The "Silent Treatment"
If you’ve been selling for a while, you’ve probably had at least one experience in which your prospect suddenly started giving you the “silent treatment.”
Four Keys to Making Your Cold Call Stress-Free
From the traditional point of view, cold calling conversations should constantly lead towards making a sale. We’ve been given only one path to follow, and that’s getting a “yes.”

Should You Use Sales Letters Before You Cold Call
Remember the numbers game? Well, that is the same thought behind sending out sales letters. The hope is that with every hundred or so letters, a few sales will result.

How to Make Your Cold Calling Problem-Focused
We rarely think about our prospect’s problems when we cold call. It’s just easier to focus on our product or service. Naturally, it’s really tempting to make cold calling all about us and what we have to offer, rather than about the other person.

How To Use Your Right Brain When You Cold Call
Unlock the power of your right brain for cold calling success!
How to End Your Fear of Cold Calling
3 Steps to changing your mindset about cold calling!
How to Cold Call with Integrity
The way we've always wanted to do cold calling!
How to End the Cold Calling Game of Chasing a Sale
4 steps to warm up cold calling conversations
How to Build Great Relationships through Cold Calling
Master the foundation for cold calling success
Hidden Sales Presssure: 7 Ways To Make It Go Away
Everyday, people from all over the world send me their selling challenges. This one just came in from Julie in Atlanta, Georgia:
Why Trying To Get The Appoinment, Can Be a Recipe for Dis-Appointment
Last week, this e-mail from Jack arrived in my inbox:
Dead Silence From Your Prospect: The Worst Sound Of All
Could this be the worst moment in your selling cycle?
The Surprising Truth about Cold Calling
Haven’t you noticed that the old "tried and true" cold calling techniques that were once successful in cold calling have now completely lost their effectiveness?

How to Recognize and Diffuse Hidden Pressures in Cold Calling
Wouldn’t you like to make cold calling pleasant for both you and the other person? The best way to achieve this is to completely eliminate sales pressure.

7 Ways To STOP Chasing Decision Makers!
You probably know this scenario well: Your main contact at a company has expressed interest in possibly purchasing your product or service.
Change: Communicate! Communicate! Communicate!
Change can exhibit itself in many different forms and in many different ways. A thing, system, process, etc., can be altered, converted or replaced by giving it a different form through transformation, reengineering or reinventing. The reason for change occurring can also be reactive or proactive. The point being, change has become our constant companion in many different forms and from many different directions. Those people and organizations that can develop the capacity to undergo spontaneous change will most likely be the ones who will be best prepared for the future.
Staying Motivated In A Struggling Economy
Fear is a very powerful emotion. When we live in fear, even of the unknown, there is a tendency to isolate, exert control and be on the defensive. It drains our energy and creates exhaustion. The majority of coaching conversations I am having these days are about this fear generated by a struggling economy. Worry over business progress, finding a job, salary and bonus eliminations, increased job performance expectations have taken over people’s mindsets thus decreasing motivation and focus for themselves and their business.

Nurturing Creativity at Work
Good managers know that creativity is essential for the health and prosperity of the companies they work for. And therefore, good managers also know that their single most important job is to nurture creativity in those who report to them.

Does Economic Recession mean Career Vision Recession?
In my conversations with individuals over the last several months a common theme has occurred. Many have said, “In light of the economic times, I need to put my own Career Vision on hold.” Does Economic Recession mean a Career Vision Recession?

Conflict Resolution
Most conflict is not right or wrong, it just is. It is a natural reaction when we or others feel challenged, pressured or threatened. Conflict is indeed needed to help individuals and organization grow, develop and mature. There are several basic needs such as security, identity, self-actualization, bonding and recognition that result in conflict and drive the need for conflict resolution.
7 Reasons Why People Procrastinate
Learn reasons why procrastination might be a problem for your business and life success.
Why Coaches should work from both the inside out and outside in
This article discusses the importance on focusing on BOTH behavioral and transformational approaches to improving results.
Build your power base
This article provides an overview about how to build an effective power base. It is excellent for both executives as well as executive coaches and business advisors.
Resilience, Resilience, Resilience
This article gives an overview of the importance of resilience, and how to develop it. For coaches, it suggests ways to help clients develop resilience.
You Are Either Influencing or Being Influenced
In business (and really in life in general), you are either influencing others or being influenced by others.
"Get Juiced" for Work - Ten Simple Tips to Energize for Your Work Day
Do you lack the vitality and energy to live the life of your dreams? Is it difficult to wake up in the morning knowing another day brings the same old things? If so, utilize a few of these tips to get you juiced before you head to work and give yourself a lift in the morning to feel great about yourself and your job!

10 Rules for an Internet Marketer
These are important things to remember if you're an entrepreneur, an internet marketer, working on your own website or on the sites of clients.
Puppy Training for Salespeople?
Today’s sales training might take some lessons from how dogs learn new and acceptable behaviors. The early formative years are important, but it is still possible to teach an old dog new tricks.

Build a Dynamic Business - 10 Steps to Start You Off
What does it take to make businesses perform extremely well? It's when your people work together in incredible ways, to create far more than you might expect...

Solve Problems Permanently Ask WHY
Someone once said that the real issue behind a problem, is one or more levels below the problem. So, solving problems by fire-fighting when they arise, is firstly, not going to actually solve the problem for good. And secondly, it's tiring, wearing, distracting and worse, it causes a really demotivating environment. Definitely not good - not good at all. So the best thing is to find out what's really going on, and to do this, you need to go deep. Here's how...
Succession Planning - Your Route To Sustainable Business Success
Succession planning is all about having a great team working for you and then more. It's about releasing the unlimited potential in the whole of your workforce. To do that you need to know them all very well indeed. Here's why...
Ask Me Another - Just One More Thing
Building strong relationships is all about having two sides appreciate each other and want to build a bond that works both ways. This can generate the enormous benefits of collaboration. Here are twelve benefits why...
Accept Responsibility in Every Conversation - or Be a Victim
Our choice in every conversation, every day, is to accept responsibility for the result or be a victim. Accepting responsibility requires three skills: Planning Every Conversation, Speaking the other Person's Language, and Using Responsible Listening to Control the Conversation.
The 3 Kinds Of Confusing Brands And What To Do About Them
“What do you do?” Such an innocent and curious question! And in the small business world, it’s where so many conversations go horribly wrong. As the other person starts to answer, a funny thing happens. The conversation starts spinning out of control. Maybe they’re talking too much. Maybe they don’t really know how to answer. Or perhaps they decide, on the spot, to make up and “try out” a new reply they’ve never given before. In any case, the person who asked the question in the first place goes from curious to confused, and starts looking, desperately, for the door. Don’t be the business owner who’s confusing the nice, curious people you’re meeting. Here’s a handy guide to the 3 kinds of confusing brands and what to do about each one:
Developing an Eye for Beauty
This article is about developing strategies for handling issues of respect and treatment of others.
Reclaim your Life-Live in Balance
Living a balanced life is making a series of adjustments much like sailing. When the winds change you need to adjust your sails. And so that's the way it is with life. Changing course is not easy but if you can recognize the signs sooner that let you know that your life is out of balance, you'll be able to sail in the direction that you want to be going. This involves exploring the vast unknown and its opportunities. And it's about clear boundaries and learning to say "no."

If I procrastinated less I would ……….?
Procrastination is the scourge of getting things done and lacks courage because it’s often a way of avoiding things.

The F Word: How To Make Facilitation Facile Again for Executives & Their Teams
Do we really know how to engage people in a committed way to get results effortlessly? Or do we know more about how to get compliance. Check out these insights and you will soon be on your way to understanding the truth of group dynamics
One Word that Can Help With Life Balance!
Somehow, in forgetting to keep balance in our lives, we forgot one of the most important words in our conversations. At work and even when growing up, we heard it more than we cared. The word, is “no.”

Tough Conversations:Talking Over What Really Matters
Typically we enter into difficult conversations prepared to explain our own view points. What is needed is to hold off until we explore as much as we can the other’s person’s perspective. Enter into the conversation with a learning objective. Don’t assume that you understand enough to explain things. Tough Conversations begin with hard listening.
Loving Art & Conversing with Artists
How do you speak to an artist? Are artist really any different than accountants? How do you treat artists in conversation? Are you artist-friendly, or not? Read the article and you can answer the question from at least one artists point of view.
8 Strategies to Guarantee Success in Cold Calling
No one will buy from you if they do not know of you, your company/products/services. Every sale has its own cycle. Depending on what you are selling, it could be a short cycle of a day or two, or it could be a long cycle of a year or two.
8 Strategies to Guarantee Success in Cold Calling
No one will buy from you if they do not know of you, your company/products/services. Every sale has its own cycle. Depending on what you are selling, it could be a short cycle of a day or two, or it could be a long cycle of a year or two.
8 Strategies to Guarantee Success in Cold Calling
No one will buy from you if they do not know of you, your company/products/services. Every sale has its own cycle. Depending on what you are selling, it could be a short cycle of a day or two, or it could be a long cycle of a year or two.
Networking for Fun & Profit
Networking events can work for both business-to-consumer (B-to-C) and business-to-business (B-to-B) companies. Some of these events have a theme; such as industry (hospitality firms), descriptive (marketing firms), or location (businesses on the west side of town). Your local business press should print the networking groups in your area along with the day, time and location of their meetings. Many networking groups are local, while others are national lead exchange groups such as Le Tip and BNI.
Six Conversations for Team Success - The Key Questions
Intelligent conversations for teams help them to focus on what really matters.  Team development events, away days and team meetings are all opportunities to review how the team works. There are fundamental questions that any successful team or organisation pays attention to on a regular basis.  These twelve questions cover six areas and together ensure a balance between an internal and external focus.  
Strategic Tips From Your Strategic Thinking Business Coach To Improve Personal Communications
Personal conversations are one of the most common aspects of our human conversations. Personal conversations are an essential facet in almost every one of our relationships. And one might say that the quality of those relationships is dependent upon our abilities to verbally communicate. Have you ever had any training to help you develop your personal conversational skills? Have you ever wished that you could be a better conversationalist? Do you realize that personal communication skills are one of the most powerful and strategic assets you can possess? People with effective communication skills have a real strategic advantage for business and social success. Your strategic thinking business coach has the following strategic tips to improved personal communications.

Other conversations Related Articles

Strategic Tips From Your Strategic Thinking Business Coach To Improve Personal Communications
Personal conversations are one of the most common aspects of our human conversations. Personal conversations are an essential facet in almost every one of our relationships. And one might say that the quality of those relationships is dependent upon our abilities to verbally communicate. Have you ever had any training to help you develop your personal conversational skills? Have you ever wished that you could be a better conversationalist? Do you realize that personal communication skills are one of the most powerful and strategic assets you can possess? People with effective communication skills have a real strategic advantage for business and social success. Your strategic thinking business coach has the following strategic tips to improved personal communications.

Tough Conversations:Talking Over What Really Matters
Typically we enter into difficult conversations prepared to explain our own view points. What is needed is to hold off until we explore as much as we can the other’s person’s perspective. Enter into the conversation with a learning objective. Don’t assume that you understand enough to explain things. Tough Conversations begin with hard listening.
Leading Change - Engaging in Fierce Conversations
Business is fundamentally an extended conversation. Whether you're speaking with your boss, team members, colleagues or direct reports, conversations shape what gets done. As a leader, you must engineer conversations to foster clarity, cooperation, creativity and a connection to company values.

Ten Tips for Emotionally Intelligent Conversations
This article provides some powerful tips you can use for having fierce conversations at work, particularly difficult conversations that have to deal with conflict or lack of trust. These ideas are helpful for people who have trust issues and are in conflict with one another. They have been found to be very powerful and effective in helping leaders and employees engage in assertive and emotionally intelligent conversations.

Personal Impact and Influence – The Conversation Control Map
Conversations are how things get done in organisations. These conversations might be meetings, email interactions, telephone conferences or chance corridor or water cooler discussions. What they have in common is their purpose. Business conversations are there to solve a problem or make a decision. A mental model or map helps people notice where a conversation is and provides pointers to what to do next to move it to a more useful place.
3 Sneaky Reasons that Sales Appointments End in "No Sale"
I went to lunch with a NuSkin rep recently. I love hearing network marketing (MLM) sales pitches because they are the perfect place to explore sales techniques. I’ve probably heard around 30 MLM “opportunity” conversations in the past couple of years. I’m struck by how often these conversations sound similar. Not the opportunity itself, but the way the reps present the opportunity...

Train the Trainer on Handling Difficult Conversations Training to Improve Workplace Communication
Handling difficult conversations and people requires discipline. Fortunately, by following a set of simple yet powerful guidelines, you can significantly improve your conversations with others. This article presents a number of guidelines you can use to handle difficult people better.

Changing What's Normal Conversations
Two trends I like in professional speaking are that presenters are more and more catalysts for conversation and there is an audience expectation of the speaker to engage in conversation. I love these trends as they are a personal preference. Conversations of meaning are a challenge for most people particularly in the age of all things digital. Here are my top twelve tips for engaging in meaningful conversations:
Six Conversations for Team Success - Making Team Away Days More Valuable
Intelligent conversations create meaning and understanding for the people that take part. Conversations are an essential aspect of learning - with thoughts and ideas challenged, opinions exchanged and wisdom created. The most useful intelligent conversations for teams have two broad dimensions. The outside and inside worlds. The outside world is where stakeholders' expectations, opinions and decisions determine whether or not the team and its products and services are valued. The inside world is, in reality, of secondary importance. How the team works together is only relevant to delivering the business strategy.

Six Conversations for Team Success - What To Talk About
Having intelligent and productive conversations helps teams and individuals recognise their strengths and weaknesses, knowns and unknowns, facts and assumptions.  A structure or agenda for the conversations helps keep discussions focussed and purposeful. The really important conversations, those that are vital to survival and sustained success are about the outside world - where the customers, suppliers, investors, stakeholders, sponsors, partners and supporters live.
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