The JF Guest Author Spot

Many of us are guilty of it. We are not following up with people we meet. We’re not following up with potential referral partners, and prospective “someday” customers. Some of us are not even following up with the more “probable” prospective customers who are likely to do business with us soon.

We are leaving money on the table, every day.

Why? Well for starters, we are bombarded by email messages. Often we read a message but may not reply immediately. There are great intentions to reply soon, until soon becomes later, and some of us believe that by then, it is too late. 
When I was in technology sales way back in the ’80s, it was commonly told by sales trainers everywhere that it took “7-10 touches” before we build trust with a prospective customer in a complex sale for them to buy. “Touches” include phone calls, e-mails, handwritten notes, letters, in-person meetings and teleconferences.

The last statistics I saw were from 2001 in a Microsoft presentation that it now takes approximately  “17-20 touches” due to the way we are all bombarded with information. We are in an age of info-glut. One can be connected virtually many different ways, and can receive literally hundreds of emails daily. How we handle these communications – especially with our valued, dear prospective clients is where all of us need to take some stock and evaluate.

Touching (following up) with prospective customers, vendors, co-workers and referral partners will cause people to know that you are a “big picture” thinker, willing to build a relationship over time, thoughtful, disciplined, and trustworthy.

Do you have a process for going through your email, and noting customer requests and items to follow up on?

Do you return emails? I had a business associate who was a former co-worker and I invited he and six others to a luncheon. He never replied, even after I phoned once and emailed three times. Finally, the day of the event, he replied and told me he has been in “workaholic mode” – (whatever that is). I work a lot, but I value the people who contact me and strive to follow up with each of them.

In an effort to help create more follow through in our business lives, I’d like to recommend the following:

1. Write five hand-written notes each week. Do it on the plane, in front of the TV, or during your tea or coffee break. Just do it. You will be absolutely amazed at how putting this one habit in place and regularly honoring this time will pay-off big.

2. Respond to all emails within 24 hours – even to say that you’ll need more time. Help encourage others to do the same.

3. Keep a running “to do” list which includes emails and phone calls that need to be made. I use a pen and notebook when away from my laptop…. If you have perfected the use of a Blackberry, Trio, or iPhone, make your notes there.

4. Follow up with prospective clients through a multi-faceted approach – not JUST emails, or just phone calls. People respond differently through different mediums.

5. Some people will reply quicker through email, others by phone – in addition to using a multi-faceted approach, know which approach works best with each contact.

6. Automate your efforts – try Sales 2.0 tools to help you get this done.

7. Know that it is almost never too late to follow up – even with lost business.

8. Create your own metrics. Count up how many times you “touch” prospective clients and whether you are more focused with electronic means, or the phone, or in person.

9. If you have an important contact to make, send an email, then make a phone call. For some people, an email is not enough – but that phone call saying you left the email nearly always will get a response.

10. Have fun with this. Selling should be fun – mix things up, follow up at different times, and have a smile on your face when you’re leaving a voice mail message, because people can hear it through the phone.

  Lori Richardson is a B2B sales coach, consultant, trainer and speaker based in Seattle, Washington. She focuses on helping sales teams and sales leaders with just-in-time, targeted strategies to build sales and sustainable revenues. Lori began in selling technology nearly 20 years ago, and has been successful in roles as sales leader as well as Director of Education for a financial services company.  In addition to her day job, Lori works energetically as a fundraising auctioneer to help professional associations and non-profits raise funds. 
www.scoremoresales.com  Blogs : http://scoremoresales.com/blogs

Lori is also a very influential member of the Top Sales Experts team and you can read more about her here

Today’s News: This week, I have received several enquiries from authors or publicists asking how they can have their articles considered for inclusion on Top 10 Sales Articles. The simple answer is that the panel of sales experts choose the nominations from a very small number of communities who specialise in sales related issues. Why just this very select group? One word – trust. We have an excellent relationship with the CEO at each of these locations, they support us and we also know that the very best authors only submit their work to them.

The current list is as follows:

o Best Management Articles 
o BYOB 
o Eyes On Sales 
o Ezine Articles 
o Sales Gravy 
o Sales Resources 
o Salesopedia 
o The Sideroad 

Incidentally, Salesopedia and Sales Resources have just completed makeovers this week - Clayton and Brian, great job guys!

People who are successful negotiators, always have a well thought out strategy before entering into the negotiation, are well prepared, self confident and structure the negotiation, so that they remain in control of the negotiating process.

The recommended structure for negotiations is:

• Establish the issues being negotiated
• Gather information
• Build a solution

Stage 1. Establish The Issues

Begin by agreeing an agenda for the negotiation i.e.

• What needs to be discussed and agreed?
• Who will be involved and what will be their role?
• What timescales are we working towards?
• What are the major issues that need to be agreed?

Many negotiators make the mistake of negotiating too quickly whereas skilled negotiators spend 20% more of their time asking questions and looking for alternatives.

Do be aware that professional buyers will want to gain your commitment on issues, such as price, early on in the negotiation but you should never commit yourself to anything until you have established everything that is being negotiated.

Seasoned negotiators will often bring up an issue at the end of the negotiation, when you are vulnerable and likely to agree to a one sided (Lose-Win) concession, in order to conclude the deal. You can legislate for this ploy by asking the other side for their . “shopping list” before beginning the negotiation and refuse to accept any last minute additions to the list.

Issues will include things like price, delivery schedule, payment terms, packaging, quality of product, length of contract etc. At this stage issues are kept general and no concessions are made or agreements reached

Stage 2. Gather Information

This is a vital part of the negotiation and you need to remember that there are four kinds of information

• Information you have that you are willing to give to the other side
• Information you have that you are unwilling to give to the other side
• Information the other side has that they are willing to give you
• Information the other side has that they are unwilling to give you

You need to decide, before the negotiation, how much you are willing to share information and what your own information requirements are. This will set the climate for the negotiation and will determine the amount of trust that exists between both parties. Skilled negotiators are able to ask a range of open, closed and follow up questions and are able to listen effectively. They also wait until they have all their information requirements, before making concessions.

Stage 3. Build A Solution

Having gathered information the next stage is to begin to put together a solution. Usually this will take the form of the selling side putting forward a proposal, or opening bid. The opening bid should be ambitious, but defensible. You should always challenge an opening bid and refuse to let an unacceptable bid stay on the table.

Typically, there will then be a process of bargaining, concessions will be traded and movement take place, until, hopefully, agreement is reached. Concessions should not be given away for free and you should be wary about conceding on issues for which you are not prepared.

A final tip: The very best negotiators always enter into negotiation with a “three position plan”

That is: Best Price, Realistic Price and Fallback Price – they never, ever accept less than their “Fallback Price”

Today’s News: Just click on this banner to find out all about Her Majesty’s upcoming programme, she describes it far more eloquently than I ever could – Your loyal servant, as ever M’am.

The JF Guest Author Spot

Your salespeople are the center of your business. Nothing can happen without them. Too often, especially lately, business owners fail to see the value of their sales force. Maybe their sales force is ineffective. Maybe the leadership hasn’t set up and enforced realistic goals and expectations. Or maybe the company leadership doesn’t realize how the sales force impacts their business.

As I work with salespeople and business owners around the country, I hear the same messages. The owners are saying ‘I’m paying my salespeople too much.’ And the salespeople are saying ‘I don’t get any support, assistance, or resources to help me succeed.’

What in the world is going on? For starters, business owners have decided that they aren’t getting value for their dollar from their salespeople. Well, unless they are paying them a really high base without any sales goals or quotas, I doubt that’s true. Think about it – without salespeople, you don’t have customers. If you have a reasonable compensation plan in place, for every dollar you pay your salesperson, you should be getting at least two dollars. So, in reality, the more money your salespeople are making, the more money you are making.

Most business owners have never tried to sell, or have failed miserably at it. Sales is hard work. You have to constantly pursue new business, have a very tough skin, enjoy the hunt as well as the conquest, excel at matching the prospect to the product, and be able to start up a conversation with complete strangers. Wow! How many people do you think can do all of that confidently and successfully? Not many. That’s why it should pay well.

It’s basic economics. The demand is high and the supply is low. When this occurs, the compensation must be high to attract the appropriate people. Now, I don’t believe that high compensation includes a high base salary. When you have a high base, you run the risk of employing people to do sales who merely pull their paycheck – without results to show for their efforts. The reason is this – when the base salary is high, there is no real incentive to produce. Conversely, when the base is low and the commission structure is fair and attainable, your salespeople will be eager to sell. They are earning a base to take the worry away. At the same time, the real money is in the sale. So, they have a vested interest in selling. The more they sell, the more they’ll make. That’s the ideal program.

There are three steps every business owner should implement with their sales force to ensure results are being realized.

1. Establish a reasonable, fair, attainable pay structure with a small base salary, quotas, benchmarks, and commissions based on margins not sales dollars. The commissions should be significant enough that your salespeople can earn a good income from their efforts. **If you are in an industry that is highly competitive and commoditize to the point where margins are extremely low, you may want to offer a higher base and year-end bonus plan.

2. Create a system for gauging quotas and benchmarks. This system should be clear and easy to follow. The consequences for poor and good performance should be spelled out. The end result should be a program that your salespeople can easily follow so they can monitor their own performance and are aware of the consequences of their actions. Measurability is key to the success of any sales program.

3. Work the system constantly. More often than not, the place where there is a breakdown between the ownership and the sales force is at the monitoring stage. For some reason, the ownership fails to effectively monitor the performance of their sales staff and communicate consistently with that staff regarding their results. To achieve success, the ownership has to consistently monitor their sales staff’s performance and implement the consequences. Open, consistent communication helps keep the program working and no one feeling resentment.

Business owners owe it to themselves, their staff, and their clients to make sure they are working their sales program effectively. And they should have no doubt that it is up to them to make sure the program is followed. When there is a reasonable, effective program in place that everyone has opted onto, the business will grow at a great pace and everyone will feel that they are winning.

Copyright© 2008 Seize This Day Coaching

Diane Helbig is a Professional Coach, and the president of Seize This Day Coaching. She works one-on-one and in groups with small business owners, entrepreneurs, and salespeople to help them create successful business development strategies. As a team, they embrace the possibilities. Diane’s website is http://www.seizethisdaycoaching.com and her blog is http://www.seizethisdaycoaching.blogspot.com

Diane is also one of the most recent recruits to the Top Sales Experts team and you can read more about her here

Today’s News: This week I received an invitation to join a fantastic new site, dedicated to networking sales professionals, AccountMaven.com. Membership is by invitation only, but because you are reading my blog, I am going to invite you myself – you can register by following this link I will take the time to complete a tour in the next few days and report again in the next two weeks – enjoy!

And here is a very special message from a very special friend:

Good Morning,

Today you can make a difference in your personal and professional development.

As an Unleash Your Potential subscriber, I hope you have heard of, or maybe have a copy of, my book Remarkable Leadership.

Whether you have a copy or not, action you take today can make a difference in your success and results in the future.

Let me explain.

If you don’t have a copy, and buy one now, you will have the opportunity to take advantage of some gifts from me and some colleagues. Each of these gifts can accelerate your progress as a leader – both on their own and in tandem with the book.

One of those gifts is one full month in our Remarkable Leadership Learning System. Learn more, or make your purchase, now.

If you already have a copy of the book, you will benefit too. As you will receive the same gifts available to all who buy their book today. I’m very excited to be sharing these gifts with you, especially the full month membership in the Remarkable Leadership Learning System.

I’m not going to say anymore – as this page says everything you need to know.

I hope you take me up on this offer – and when you do I look forward to working with you during the entire month of March to help you accelerate your progress towards Remarkable.

You are Remarkable!

Kevin Eikenberry
Chief Potential Officer, The Kevin Eikenberry Group
Bestselling Author, Remarkable Leadership: Unleashing Your Leadership Potential One Skill at a Time

p.s. Make sure to check out the added bonuses for those who buy multiple copies – this is a perfect chance to get all of your leaders a full month of training plus some additional gifts!

Tomorrow: I am on to negotiation skills again and give you my tips for preparing for a successful outcome.

The first thing to remember is that anxiety or nerves means you are alive and without them your resulting presentation would be like you – dead!

What you need to do is learn to control your anxiety and use it to fuel your enthusiasm.

Identifying Fears:

To control your anxiety you must identify what it is that you are afraid of -

  Is it forgetting your lines?

  Is it the audience size?

Once you have established what exactly you are afraid of then establish whether or not you can control it.

Imagine you are the captain of an airliner; do you fear flying? (But you probably fear crashing )Of course not, because you are in complete control of not only the aircraft but also, the crew and the passengers.

You have a flight plan and before you take off, you know the payload, weather conditions for the flight, arrival time, departure time etc. However, what is most significant, you are familiar with flying, you are comfortable with all of that responsibility, because you have flown so many times before and you know virtually everything there is to know about that aircraft.

Therein lies the secret; the more presentations we deliver, the more accomplished we become but equally, we must know what we are talking about, we must know our subject matter inside out, otherwise our audience will find us out

Let’s consider the areas that you can control:

  Your audience – After all you invited them.

  Your material – You designed it.

  Your resources – You chose to utilise them.

  Yourself – You’re no puppet.

If there are any areas you’ve identified that you can’t control, forget them – it’ll probably never happen.
  
Controlling nerves and reducing anxiety:

Organise – Give yourself plenty of time to prepare, know what is going to happen and when. Take the time to rehearse your presentation, preferably with someone you know well. Get them to pride you with objective and constructive criticism.

Visualise – Get into the habit of visualising how the presentation will go, that way the environment will feel familiar even if it’s your first time. Imagine the end of your presentation and your audience smiling with appreciation

Drying Up – Make bullet point notes on individual postcards to prompt you (not lengthy scripts) – you may not need them but they will give you that “comfort zone”. Do remember to number them though, just in case you accidentally shuffle them

Relaxation – Before your presentation take some time for yourself to relax, breathe deeply, go out into the fresh air and clear your head. Do not allow your mind to mentally rehearse the entire presentation, because you need simply to concentrate on your opening lines. Once you have successfully navigated your way through the first couple of minutes, you will begin to relax – a strong opening is crucial

Warming Up – Clear your throat, practise your smile, drink some water to ensure you are hydrated etc.

Dress appropriately and check your posture -If you look the part everyone will assume you know what you are talking about anyway!

Become mobile – It will keep your audience awake.

Use eye contact and smile – They can’t fail to pay attention.

And finally -  practice, practice, practice!

Today’s News: This is an early heads up for an event I think you will not want to miss. My good friend Jill Konrath is hosting a teleseminar featuring another good friend, Jeb Blount – “The Power Principles:How to leverage your talents to achieve your goals” It’s on February 7th and you can find full details plus registration form here 

A really good selection of articles received nominations over at Top 10 Sales Articles this week – tough call for the panel methinks

Tomorrow:On the JF Guest Author Spot - Diane Helbig, fellow Top Sales Expert and runner-up in last year’s Top Sales Article Of The Year contest.

While some decisions are easy (what to eat for supper) many more are extremely hard. Usually, a hard decision involves greater consequences/implications or, in some cases, a higher level of resource commitment.

In reality, not all so-called hard decisions are hard. Some feel harder than others owing to scale:

• If a friend asks to borrow $5 you’re likely to oblige without thinking about it

• If that friend asks to borrow $1,000 you’re likely to be circumspect and ask questions

The decision is the same one in essence – concerning creditworthiness. But, where the amount is greater, we perceive the decision to be much harder because the consequences are greater. Who cares about $5? But, $1,000 is a sum most people would not wish to lose. It represents a risk, but at what stage does the decision become hard – $6, $25, more?

The risk is that the friend might not or cannot repay the money and therefore, you might regret your decision. Your decision will be based on your consideration of the risk and the magnitude of the possible loss, although you might not see it in this way.

Defining Hard Decisions:

We can define a decision as having ‘hard’ characteristics when:

• The situation is uncertain–i.e. there is a greater perceived risk

And also when:

• The situation is inherently complex with many different issues– e.g. the siting of a new airport is immensely complex, especially in these environmentally-aware times, because of the factors that must be taken into consideration (flight paths, air traffic control slots, residents, communications links, etc)

• There are several objectives but one or more is blocked and compromises or trade-offs are needed

• Different perspectives can lead to different conclusions – especially true where two or more people are involved in making a decision; they may disagree about the assumptions, probable outcomes or, even, the decision

The key issue is how to handle hard decisions to ensure they are taken as painlessly as possible. This requires the use of a robust, consistent approach and an appropriate level of detail – essential to ensure that risk is minimised or, at least, understood.

Benefits Of The Right Approach:

A robust, consistent approach to decision-making, together with the required supporting analysis, will:

• Deal with complexities by providing a structure within which the issues can be organised (human beings have real problems dealing with five or more variables)

• Identify uncertainty and then present this in a structured and helpful manner

• Deal with a multiplicity of objectives and trade-offs

• Analysis different perspectives and facilitate logical presentation, in order to obtain consensus/decisions, especially where several opinions are present

• Encourage flexibility to change as circumstances alter and which may invalidate or fundamentally alter the appropriateness of the decision

• Provide an ‘audit trail’ demonstrating how the decision was reached, what was considered, who was involved, etc (very useful when things go wrong and ‘regret’ is considered)

And Finally: Some Decision-Making Errors

Research has identified a few very common errors or points to watch out for when making decisions, in particular:

• Haste – not to be confused with speed. A decision is made before the facts are available or without taking the facts into account. Decide in haste – regret at leisure.

• Narrow perspective – either in the decision itself or, more commonly, in the understanding of the issue and facts.

• Over-confidence – either in the decision itself or, more commonly, in the understanding of the issue and facts.

• Rules-of-thumb – relying on rough frameworks or shortcuts for important decisions instead of carrying out adequate analysis.

• Filtering – screening out unpleasant findings or those that do not support pre-conceived notions or the decision you want to make.

• Juggling – lack of analytical framework and, therefore, trying to manage many variables or pieces of information in your head.

A proper framework helps obviate these problems.

Today’s News: Some of my little elves are branching out I am delighted to announce the launch of Jaqs The Builder, THE place to go for website design, SEO consultancy – in fact everything to do with creating and maintaining optimum online presence – www.jaqsthebuilder.com – I cannot recommend them highly enough.

What blogs do I read? Quite a few actually, but I am going to note my recommendations in the left-hand column next week. One that I do read religiously is Paul McCord’s excellent Sales And Sales Management Blog – you will find it here

Tomorrow: We have just ten days before the launch of The JF Consultancy site – will we come in on schedule? Of course we will, how could you have any doubts

Next Week: My guests are Runner-Up in this year’s Top Sasles Article Of The Year contest, Diane Helbig and the effervescent Lori Richardson. That’s it for another week, as ever have a great w/e and I will be here for you on Monday – JF

The JF Guest Author Spot

If you go to the dictionary, you will find a long list of definitions for mindset, mind, and set. Interestingly they all come before success!

Mind•set (noun) beliefs that affect somebody’s attitude – a set of beliefs or a way of thinking that determine somebody’s behavior and outlook

Mind (noun) seat of thought and memory – the center of consciousness that generates thoughts, feelings, ideas, and perceptions and stores knowledge and memories

Set (verb) focus on something – transitive verb to focus on a goal or task • had set his mind on it

This is not a grammar lesson, and maybe it doesn’t matter how you spell mindset. What does matter is you need to better understand what it is if you wish to be successful. There I spelled it with one word. I’ll continue to spell it with one word; you can use two if you wish.

The spelling is less important than the understanding of just how critical your mindset is to you, especially if you are in a highly competitive environment like sales, sports or business.

Go back and read the definition of mindset again. “A way of thinking that determines somebody’s behavior and outlook.” Every day we have choices to make. Life is all about choices. We choose between right and wrong, good and evil. Being positive or negative.

Think about the impact of mindset. Say you awake and tell yourself, “Am I ever tired this morning, this is going to be one very long day.” Where do you think your energy level is going to be? Let’s say you awake and say to yourself, “This is going to be a great day. I can’t wait to get to at it.” How many dragons do you think you could slay? How we think subconsciously impacts our conscious behaviors. The psychologists call the study of this phenomenon, cognitive behavioral science. It truly is fascinating.

It has been proven repeatedly that our internal self-talk determines our attitude, disposition and actions. Think about the person who has said for years, “I’m great with faces but terrible with names.” Repeating this over and over do you wonder if the mind has taken it as fact and only concentrated on facial recognition, totally ignoring the name, as you have convinced the mind the name isn’t important.

The good news is we can change how we think. We can re-train the mind. Like so much in life, it won’t happen over night; however, it is much easier than you might think. The key is to consciously catch your negative thoughts. In our example with names, if the person caught himself or herself saying they were not good with names and began having their inner voice say, “I’m getting better at remembering names, I just have to concentrate.” Then use what ever trick works for you, name association, using the person’s name in conversation right away to focus on it, what ever.

How often have you heard the world-class athlete comment how they visualize winning their race or event? Their “mental coach” has become as important as their “performance coach” in their training and conditioning.

If you work in the sales arena, you probably know some top sales professionals who appear to always be “up”. They are optimistic, have an organized mind and success just seems to come to them. They have learned, usually from experience, or a mentor, that a person who is an effective thinker is more successful. By effective thinker, I mean someone who controls and leverages his or her inner voice. This person understands the power of visualizing success, of believing in themselves, and believing in their clients. Their positive self-talk enables them, it doesn’t distract them.

I would encourage you, regardless of occupation, to learn more about the power of effective thinking. Do a Google search on Dr. Clayton Lafferty, Dr. David McClelland and Dr. Henry Murray who have all been key contributors to better understating the impact of mindset.

Become and effective thinker, manage your mindset!

Clayton Shold is co-founder and President of Salesopedia “The World of Sales from A to Z”. Visit his site at http://www.salesopedia.com

He is a recent addition to the Top Sales Experts team and you can read more about him here.

Over at Salesopedia Media this week, the focus is on negotiation. There is a great interview with Kelley Robertson, plus some highlighted articles by experts on the subject and me – check it out here

Today’s News: On Tuesday, you will remember that Colleen Francis was my guest and I should have alerted you to her excellent “Sales Secrets Of Top Performers” FREE e-Course, yes, I did say FREE – you can enrol here

Did you check out this week’s nominated articles on Top 10 Sales Articles yet?

Tomorrow: “Decision Making Made Easy….” and I mean really easy!

Most negotiation coaching courses are very good at telling you what to do right but in my experience, very few tell you what you are doing wrong. Last week I was coaching a group of senior sales professionals and I produced this list; whilst not exhaustive, it should act as a guide.

The 40 most common mistakes made by negotiators – recognise any of these from the last time you were involved in a negotiation?

• Failing to prepare effectively for negotiation.

• Underestimating your own power.

• Assuming the other party knows your weaknesses and strengths.

• Being intimidated by the status of the person with whom you are negotiating.

• Concentrating on your problems rather than those of the other party.

• Forgetting the other side has things to gain from agreement as well as yourself.

• Making assumptions about what the other side wants.

• Having low aspirations for yourself.

• Giving too much credence to time deadlines set by the other side.

• Assuming the other side is aware of the short and long-term benefits of reaching agreement.

• Being intimidated by rules set by the other side.

• Misunderstanding tactics used by the other side.

• Talking too much.

• Failing to listen effectively.

• Believing everything the other side says about you, your service, your competition etc.
 
• Being forced into discussing price too early in the negotiation.

• Revealing your hand too early.

• Aiming too low with your opening bid.

• Accepting the first offer.

• Giving away concessions for nothing.

• Conceding an important issue too quickly.

• Making concessions too easily and raising the other sides. expectations.

• Feeling guilty about asking for a concession.

• Making concessions before knowing all the other sides demands.

• Failing to make concessions conditional on final agreement being reached.

• Making concessions of equal size to those on offer.

• Paying too much attention to price rather than value
 
• Discussing issues for which you are not prepared.

• Being inflexible.

• Losing sight of the overall agreement when deadlock is reached over minor issues.

• Responding to a high demand with a counter offer instead of challenging the validity of the high demand.

• Assuming deadlock means agreement is not possible.

• Feeling deadlock is only unpleasant for you and not the other party.

• Trying to be liked during the final stages.

• Bluffing without having a strategy ready should your bluff be called.

• Taking things personally.

• Offering to split the difference…

• Being intimidated by “This is my final offer”!

• Not preparing for the possibility you may need to walk away.

• Carrying out a post-mortem with the other side.

Today’s News: My pal Steve Martinez is always looking outside the square and is never afraid to challenge paradigms, particularly with his marketing. This week, he is asking us to test our selling skills against a robot! Yep, really, and it is a superb challenge, which you will lose He also provides lots of excellent free tools, so do take the test here

Tomorrow: It’s a first time appearance on The JF Guest Author Spot for my good buddy Clayton Shold, with some very profound words of wisdom.

The JF Guest Author Spot  

Last month, I was able to participate in one of my favorite pastimes: I went on vacation. Specifically to my favorite place – the beach!

For many sales professionals, this is a big, big event. “The Vacation”! For me, it isn’t. Why? Because I actually love my regular non-working life, i.e. personal life.

I always find it interesting when people don’t, and who refuse to do anything about it, even insisting they can’t. In the past month alone I’ve listened to four different people complain about where they live or work and conclude by saying, “I’m stuck here.” “Can’t leave, nothing I can do about it now”. That’s like saying, “I can never improve”, “I can never get better”. Top performers know that simply isn’t true and to me, that attitude is hogwash.

Of course you can improve, get better, change and grow. Top performers know that they can always change their situation, and location. Your circumstances, successes or failure are always in your control to change. Every city has big green signs on poles over the highway telling you how to get out. A Greyhound station, a train station or an airport. You have feet, not roots.

No job is compulsory. No annoying customer, client, patient, or spouse must be kept. Everything is choice and everything can be changed.

The person who’s not stuck but says he’s stuck is developing rotten programming – conditioning themselves for failure. If you choose to stay for a list of good reasons, then say so. What is positive about your decision? Don’t say “I’m stuck here.” Say: “I choose to keep this business even though x, y and z, because a,b,c,d,e.” “I choose to stay here even though it’s 20 below 6 months out of the year because the cost of living is lower, I have a job that pays 50% commissions, my business is the dominant one, my store dominates the market, and I have good friends here.”

For most folks, a vacation is a really big deal because they are desperate to escape from their regular life. They want to turn it off. Shut it up. Shut others up. CONTROL their schedule, and tune out from everyone for a while – including their clients. They are stuck in a rut and know of no other escape, except to well…escape.

Top performers know better. They understand how to recharge their batteries and keep enjoying all aspects of their lives while continuing to work and live in the cities and at jobs of their choice.

If you find yourself lacking the energy and the enthusiasm that you once had for your job, if you find yourself craving time away instead of time in front of customer’s then it’s time for a change. Time to recharge and reinvigorate and get your “A” game back:

Here are some ‘best practice’ ideas to help:

1. Quit complaining. I dare you. Just for the day, and then the week. Not a single gripe, complaint, moan, or grumble. Yes it’s hard for most people. What a change of attitude and fortune you will find yourself in as a result!

2. Give up something destructive. Nido Quebin taught me that successful people have a “not to do list”. That is a list of those things I am not to do anymore if I want to be a success. For years, this has meant for me, not watching or listening to the news first thing in the morning. It does me (or you) no purpose to find out who was murdered, robbed or ripped off last night. It’s just a plain depressing way to start the day. I do watch the local business, entertainment and political news because that is relevant to my own business success. Sure, I do also have my fair share of “TV addictions” – the most notable being the A&E series Rome and House.

Typically you will find me watching those shows Sunday night as a reward for completing a successful week’s work, not watching those 2-3 hours per day during the week when I could be reading a book, or getting organized for the next day of selling. No one can afford to get demotivated during the work week. TV – at the national average of 2-3 hours per day is not only a time waster but a demotivator. Turn it off.

3. Turn off the TV and turn on to a book. Wondering what to do if you are not going to watch the Golden Globes? Check out the reading list in the Engage resources page. Recently we have just added a classic. “Atlas Shrugged” by Ayn Rand. I have been meaning to read it since university and finally got around to it. Boy, did it ever motivate me to get off my Christmas pudding vacation butt and get back to work. Don’t just read the book, own the book. Read it, underline it, apply it, talk to others about it and practice it. Reading will inspire you with new ideas, new approaches, and new challenges. Casey in the office is just finishing Gene Simmons best selling business book “Sex, Money, Kiss” and Chris has poured through the dog training classic “Art of Raising a Puppy” in an attempt to master Conrad. We are all readers at Engage. We are all bettering ourselves, everyday. We are not happy with the status quo we know we can change.

4. Switch up your schedule. You can be a morning person or an evening person but if you are stuck in a rut and complaining for a change maybe you need to mix things up. After a good sleep, most people find that morning is when the clearest ideas pop into your head but if you are stagnant try going for an evening walk this week by yourself and let your mind wanders. You will soon find solutions to some of your most nagging problems.

5. Speaking of sleep. You will feel hopeless and resist change if you are operating in a sleep defecate. I keep a notebook and a pen in my bedside table for 2 reasons One, before I go to sleep at night, I write down the things on my mind. I empty my brain so I don’t wake up in the night thinking “I feel like have forgotten something and I don’t know what it is”.

Two, I journal everything I am thankful for that day. All my successes no matter how small. Sometimes those successes are trivial; “chose the salad instead of the fries”, “called my mom”. Sometimes they are significant; “Closed a record month!” Everyday, there are successes and the combination of these two pre-bedtime activities results in a peaceful sleep and a morning full of fresh ideas.

6. Take up a hobby. Your community college, community centre, or other private institutions all have adult learning classes that you can take to improve your skill set and your attitude. Don’t have a hobby to embrace – try Toastmasters™. I still maintain its one of the best and most relevant professional educations for sales people. Take a class in anything that will provide you with new knowledge and inspire you to be a better person. Learn to groom a dog, take pottery, hockey, or study a new language.

Sadly 80% of sales people spend less than $20 per year of their own money on their own development. Be top of class. Invest in yourself. Are you a sales professional? How about taking a professional buying/purchasing course. Learn to speed read. As a bonus, you might even meet new people, who may become potential new prospects. Try something completely different to challenge yourself, one year for me it was sing lessons. I am planning to enroll in improv next fall and get back into Karate. For some real fun, learn how to ride a motorcycle next summer. Now THAT is freedom!

Change and growth is not a process – it’s a mindset and sometimes it takes time to get back on track. Just as it took time to get off those rails. Consider it like losing weight. Those 5 pounds I put on during my 2 week vacation will take 2 weeks (at least) to take off with focus, determination and new habits. I can’t expect to lose them overnight although I can expect to make an instant change now that will lead to big dividends (in this case my pants fitting again) in time.

The opportunity is there for you to accomplish more this year than last. Your job is to take advantage of it. You can complain about your position, moan about your condition, or you can do something about it. Now. Your priority is to start with the right change and keep with it so that the rewards will start flowing.

 Colleen Francis Is the president and founder of Engage Selling Solutions — a thriving sales–training organization that delivers tailor–made, winning solutions to sales and marketing professionals internationally. She credits her personal sales record to having applied what she’s learned from the business habits of the top–10% of sales performers. Businesses of all size call on Colleen — not only because of her highly regarded, people–friendly approach and her company’s innovative field–tested selling principles. They also count on the insight that comes from her experience as a top-ranked sales professional who has been in the trenches of day–to–day sales and marketing.

Colleen is also a founding member of the Top Sales Experts team and you can read more about her here  

Today’s News: As you can imagine, every week I am swamped with requests to recommend this new product or review that new book, and frankly it has to be good for me to even think about it. However, last week I received an e-mail from Shane Redlick announcing the launch of Simple Sales Tracking and guess what? It is a great product! Why? Because it is simple and yet totally functional – and I love both of those. Check it out for yourself, here (Oh, and I do not receive any payment for making recommendations

Tomorrow: I am going to share with you “The Top 40 Mistakes Made By Negotiators”

All meaningful actions are performed for some reason or purpose. This is commonly called “motivation”. Success in selling requires understanding these basics of motivation:

• Your motivation both as a person and as a salesperson

• The other person’s motivation both as a person and as a buyer

The most important fact to remember in influencing the behaviour and decisions of others is that – people do things for their reasons, not ours.

Every successful sale, then, is made not so much because of the excellence of your product or of your sales pitch, but because, consciously or unconsciously, you have found the human reason why your prospect should buy. You have found the door to their motivation and have opened it. The more you understand the function of human motivation, the more successfully you will sell.

In its simplest form, motivation emerges as a cycle. It starts with a want or need, expressed or hidden. Inherent in this is a problem, a problem that must be overcome in order to satisfy the want that must be solved. Once solved, the want can be satisfied and the cycle is completed.

In terms of personal development there are several levels of needs. You will no doubt  be familiar with Maslow’s pyramid of need:

These needs are basic to everyone you sell to, live with, or encounter.

At the bottom of the pyramid are The Physiological Needs.  These include food, shelter, warmth, sex and sleep. They are instinctive needs common to all living creatures. Until these needs are satisfied, the higher needs are purely academic.

Then comes Safety which is almost as basic. Security is another word for this need: security in one’s job, in one’s place in society…safety from unknown dangers…freedom from pain.

Love is a more sophisticated but no less essential need. Every human being wants others to care about them, to receive affection. They want to have the approval of others…to be understood…accepted…respected…to belong. And equally important, they have a need to be involved…to care about and give affection to others. The two are inseparable.

Self-esteem is equally essential. Every human being needs to feel that they are important in some sphere of life…that their presence on earth has meaning and significance. The mature person knows that this begins with self-respect. This need provides a tremendous motivational force.

Self-actualization is the highest need: for personal growth and achievement, for self-fulfilment, the best use of one’s capabilities, the fullest possible realisation of potential, within an honest understanding both of the limitations and scope of that potential.

People of course, are different. Their needs will vary in degree, in shape, and in the nature of their answers. But they are common to all. As you are alert to them, as you understand them, so will your success with others be measured.

How do people seek to satisfy their needs? Thorndike’s Law of Effect supplies the answer:

“People tend to behave in a way to gain rewards and avoid punishment”

Again, this varies with different people. Generally, people can be classified into three dominant types:

• The Achiever

• The Seeker of Social Recognition

• The Security-Minded

(But no one is likely to be a “pure” type)

The Achiever is most likely to be oriented toward gaining rewards.

The Security-Minded is likely to be dominated by the desire to avoid punishment.

The Social Type stands somewhere between the two.

These are the dominating factors. But in varying degrees, each has a little of the other two in them.

In terms of selling, whatever the dominant drive of your prospect, they are above all, buying benefits. Benefits are best defined, in this context, as the results of the product, which enable them to gain rewards and/or avoid punishment.

In making their decision, the buyer uses the “Minimax” principle: To minimise their losses; to maximise their gains. This is true whatever the personality orientation. The emphasis depends again on their individual motivational drive.

The Law of Effect then – depending on specific motivation – relates directly to the Pyramid of Human Needs, and expands in this manner:

The benefits you have to offer are both negative and positive. The right emphasis, directed in the right way, offering both to determine preference is your shortest way to your objective.

In summary, according to Russell: “The essence of motivation is finding meaning in what we are doing. Motivation is an inner control of the individual” Only you can motivate yourself.

All these concepts apply to you in all phases of your life, and your work, as well as they apply to others. Finding the right meaning in what you do will be the great motivator for a more effective you.

Understanding the nature of what motivates each person you deal with will enable you to help them make a decision favourable to both of you.

Today’s News:  I received a very excited e-mail from my good buddy, Jeb Blount of Sales Gravy on Saturday morning announcing a new sales articles section – you can check it out here Bound to be a great success, everything he launches usually is.

Last week, I stayed a few days at one of my favourite UK hotels, nestling in the Derby Dales and as ever, received superb service from Pat Mellor and her team: One amusing incident – I lost my WIFI connection and the box was located outside my room, so whilst Sarah Callaghan stood on a chair playing with the switches, Carrie Gordon held my door open, at the same time receiving instructions from Pat via a mobile and I tried and re-tried to connect – which I did eventually. Way to go girls, excellent stuff. The name of the hotel? Horsley Lodge – if you are ever in the UK, do check them out, you will not be disappointed, particularly if you enjoy a round of golf.

Tomorrow:On the JF Guest Author Spot a return for fellow Top Sales Expert, good friend and one of the leading sales trainers in the world, Colleen Francis.

The human mind is a computer. You programme your computer by the input you feed into it; learning, knowledge, experience and so on. If you programme your mind with images of failure, you will fail. If you build a bank of success images, your computer will direct you to success.

How do you build and input images of success into your computer?

By creativity…by thinking.

The fruit of thinking is knowledge; and knowledge is the medium from which skills are built.

Purposeful self-awareness, plus a knowing application of skill, generates maximum personal horsepower.

The handmaiden of creativity is Imagination. Imagination is the well that brings forth the new ideas that are essential to your growing success.

Brainstorming is the way to keep imagination active, fresh, and alive.

These are the rules of brainstorming new ideas:

• Quantity: Numbers; the more ideas, the greater percentage of success

• No criticism: Don’t pre-judge any idea until you have a basketful to pick from. This is the key – judgment tends to inhibit imagination

• Free-wheeling: Don’t reject an idea because it is unusual or “off the wall”

• Combinations: Combine ideas and see what kind of offspring they produce.

Only after you’ve exhausted all possible ideas do you start the process of selecting and evaluating.

The aim of creativity is problem solving. That’s the essence of successful selling.

The foremost function of the mind is problem solving, we solve problems with our imagination and imagination is a function of our creative ability. A creative salesperson is a problem-solver.

The basics of the selling process:

• Determine desire

• Present the product to satisfy desire

• Help the prospect find the right reasons for a favourable decision

Selling is nothing more than an exercise in problem solving. By constantly keeping your imagination and creativity at work, you will develop the best attitude for problem solving. You will build an unending source of ideas. You will become an idea producer and this will be your source of “value add” that will differentiate you from your competitor.

Differentiate Between Activity and Accomplishment

Activity relates to being busy but accomplishment equates to getting meaningful things done. It takes energy to fail. The successful salesperson channels their energy into creative, productive channels leading to pre-defined goals.

Accomplishment is measured by the amount of creativity involved.

And Finally: Value Added Asks:

“What service or benefit can I add to what I give my customer, other than my product?”

Not just service in the sense of speedy delivery, prompt follow-up and personal attention, which are normal adjuncts of any real sale…but a real plus idea, something extra of value to him beyond the immediate transaction…that goes beyond the nine dots of your job…

Value Add, through idea giving, is the ingredient that earns you the right to ask for the order, and to expect it!

Today’s News: Time is always at a premium for me, but I do take time out every week to “learn and improve” That involves reading – I typically have about twelve books craving my attention in my study – visiting expert sites in my field, catching up with friend’s blogs and thinking: Thinking is one of the few luxuries in my life that I simply could not live without and it is just so important to me.

However, I digress-I want to introduce you to a site which I learn so much from – allbusiness.com – it really is excellent; well laid out, easy to navigate around and has superb contributors, including fellow TSE members Lori Richardson and Keith Rosen – do check it out.

Tomorrow:Work continues on the JF Consultancy site and all the elves are working overtime to launch at the end of the month

Next Week: My guests are the incredibly energetic Colleen Francis and Mr Salesopedia, Clayton Shold, who many people fail to realise, is also an excellent author and not simply the CEO of one of the most successful sales communities on the web (Also winner of The 2007 JF Article Community Award)

Finally, a good friend sent me one of the funniest jokes I have ever read – it has now been sent to half of my address book; the other half are either too young or of a nervous disposition. If you would like me to e-mail it to you, just leave me a comment and I will respond by return – humour (humor) really does make the world go round

As ever, have a great w/e and just make sure you come back and join me next week – JF