There has been a plethora of blog posts and articles recently, regarding sales training, so I thought I would add my “two penneth” (Quaint British expression, meaning small contribution)

In many companies, very little systematic thought is given to the design of a sales training program. Very often one of the following fallacious schools of thought is encountered.

“Salespeople Are Born Not Made”- therefore the selection process is the only step to getting the right man. Having been chosen, the new recruit is then either successful or not, without any help from the company. Research does not bear out this theory.

“Must Know The Product From The Ground Up” – all training is therefore devoted to lengthy product training, working on the shop floor, progressing paperwork, etc. Whilst product knowledge is very necessary, it is questionable whether this is the right way to learn it or whether this is sufficient on its own.

“Watch Me Son” – the new Salesperson is sent out with an old hand to watch (and thus learn) the experienced person’s techniques. Thus the new salesperson may not only pick up bad habits from the experienced person (who usually is not as trained as a trainer), but also mere observation will not teach.

If a successful training programme is to be developed, it must be planned with careful thought given to the following questions:

• What should be taught?
• Where should it be taught?
• By whom?

And most critical -
• How?

For Example: Objectives Of A Training Program
•  Increased sales
•  Reduced individual selling costs
•  Increased individual earnings
•  Reduced personnel turnover
•  Reduced need for supervision
•  Improved employee morale
•  Better customer relationships

Therefore, the objectives have to be formulated in these terms, i.e. turning the company’s investment in personnel into an asset producing an increased return on that investment.

Conclusion:
Training, particularly sales training is a lengthy and complex process if true learning is to take place (i.e. if behaviour is to be modified) Too often, insufficient thought is given to what is to be achieved, by whom and how. The whole situation firstly needs careful analysis with regard paid to the limitations of training, as well as to its value. Then the programme can be formulated and, very important, evaluated against specific objectives. Only in this way can we be sure that the training is in fact achieving positive results.

Training is an essential part of the profession of selling, as it is in any other profession.

Finally, formal training can also have a huge influence on skills development, especially if it is implemented with two additional ingredients:

The training must be based on what the salespeople need and should be tailored to address diagnosed performance gaps. Using a diagnostic approach – a formal sales team skills audit, saves an organisation money and time because there is nothing to be gained from teaching people something that they are already doing well or, conversely, that they don’t need to do in the first place. A well-targeted programme is far more likely to engage participants’ full interest because they’ll see its immediate relevance to their daily results.

Any training programme will be more effective when the skills that participants learn are reinforced on a regular and continual basis. For maximum impact, every level of management must reinforce training. Such reinforcement can come in many forms, but the best way is for the sales manager to serve as a “model of excellence” who provides an ongoing demonstration of required skills so salespeople begin to live and breathe them.

How do the very best companies develop their sales teams? Find out here

Today’s News: It’s Tuesday, so it must be Top Sales Experts Masterclass day, which means that Christian Maurer is making a welcome return to the stage, with an insightful and wholly relevant presentation.

The Adaptive Value Proposition
Tuesday November 10th 2009 1:00 PM EASTERN (6pm GMT)

“In my last master class on a similar subject, I discussed how value proposition change along the customer’s buying cycle.

In this class we will discuss why the exact same message works for one individual and can fail with another individual even within the same customer organization.

You will learn how to apply 3 different levers reducing the risk for the contents of value propositions not reaching the target.”

I have a few FREE places for you and you can grab one here.

The Sales Lead Management Association is running it’s annual poll to recognise the top fifty most influential people in…you guessed it, sales lead management.

I am ashamed to admit that I only recognised a handful of the nominees, and I certainly do not think there is one outside the US, which is a pity.

However, one name you will instantly recognise is Jill Konrath, and I urge you to vote for her HERE

Continuing the debate regarding sales team development, we have to be aware that there are alternatives to formalised classroom training: For example at JFC, we strongly recommend and indeed provide, formal and informal mentoring. We also coach managers to become coaches themselves.

Mentoring:

In mentoring, salespeople choose a mentor (usually a high-performer or more experienced person within the organisation who can serve as a model and/or guide) and consult that person periodically for advice on a range of issues from strategy for handling a particular sales situation to advice on long-term career development. Since the best way to learn something well is to teach it to others, mentoring programmes offer organisations a win-win proposition: in addition to enhancing the skills and performance of the salespeople, they help mentors develop their sales skills while improving their coaching and management skills as well.

Coaching:

More and more organisations are waking up to the value of building a strong coaching culture. Analogies to athletic coaching are common but especially apt. Training alone does not guarantee that a great athlete will deliver a gold medal-winning performance. This can only come from continuous daily support and guidance from an expert coach. Equally, top sales professionals need expert coaching support from their managers to stay at the top of their game.

Whether coaching is delivered face-to-face, on the telephone, or via e-mail, those organisations that have a strong coaching culture attract and retain the best salespeople.

The challenge for Sales Directors is to provide the support that sales managers – all of whom are hard-pressed for time – need in order to provide the kind of support their salespeople must have. Successful Sales Directors have found a range of supporting tools, resources and kits that save managers’ time and enhance the impact of their coaching time.

Whatever coaching framework is chosen by an organisation, it must be easy to use, flexible so that the coaching sessions are tailored to the needs of their team, participative, so that all of the salespeople are engaged and, above all, fun. The fun factor encourages salespeople to become “hooked” on their own continued development.

You may also enjoy – “Getting The Best From The Team”

And also look out for an upcoming Top Sales Experts Masterclass – “Coaching – The Sales Management Imperative” that I will be co-presenting with Linda Richardson – Founder and President of Richardson Training – on December 8th – I’ll have some FREE places for you very shortly.

Today’s News: You may have seen that over the w/e, I announced the launch of the JF Sales Academy (you can scroll down for more details) and this will co-incide with the launch of the JF Sales Manager’s Mentor Club. This will be an online facility for just six sales leaders at any one time – look out for more details in January.

Finally today, I must mention one of my most favourite sales related blogs. You may have noticed over in the left-hand column that I do regularly read quite a lot of my friend’s posts, and certainly I always make time to catch up with Paul Castain’s Sales Playbook

What I particularly like abour Paul – apart from the great content that he writes – is the fact that he “gets it” as my chum Jill Konrath puts it. That is to say, he is always looking for ways to give back – to support his friends and colleagues. So if you haven’t discovered him yet, it really is time you did – HERE

The JF Guest Author Spot

Dave Brock

Most of the organizations I work with are very high performance organizations.  They have great products, great sales people, and provide solutions that can have great impact on their customers.  However, in meeting with them, I often hear, “Our customers just don’t get it, they don’t see the impact we produce!  How do we get them to better understand?”

The challenge, time after time, is that we have great products that solve important customer problems.  But we express those problems that we solve in our terms—using our language.  Because we are sophisticated it has to include at least one really cool acronym, and if we are in high tech it should mention social media or at least a cloud or two.

But our customers see things differently, they don’t talk like we do.  They express their problems in different terms–their terms.  (Why are we surprised by this?)  We tend not to connect with customers because we are speaking different languages.  We see the same problems, but from different points of view.  We actually can solve their problems, but the customers don’t know it.  Putting myself in customers’ shoes, often, I read the marketing materials or listen to sales presentations and feel like they are speaking Swahili and I only understand English.  Why can’t they speak my language and talk about things that I worry about?

I had a great conversation with a talented sales professional the other day.  He was lamenting on the same issue.  He said, “I know how to ask the most powerful open ended questions about this problem (Imagine one that you solve for customers).  Their response is always ‘I don’t have any issues with that,” or ‘Huhhhhhhhh??????????  What’s that mean???’”  Since he is a great sales person, I asked, “How do you connect with your customers and get them to understand?”  He replied, “Unfortunately, I have to take all our presentations and change them.  I know what their hot buttons are and the terminology they use.  When I use those, they immediately understand what I’m talking about.  I explain our products in their words and we connect.”

Many years ago, I managed a team selling CAD/CAM software.  Our sales people spent a lot of time talking to automotive designers about “flow lines.”  Those car designers, really got what we said and liked our products.  We ran into trouble when we went to the airplane companies.  We started talking to them about the tremendous capabilities we had with “flow lines” and their engineers said, you don’t solve our problems, we care about aerodynamic wing surfaces.  It turned out our capability in flow lines was the same capability the aeronautical engineers needed for aerodynamic surfaces, we just were explaining it in terms that had no meaning to them.  We almost lost some very large sales because those customers didn’t think we could solve their problems!

Sales becomes very easy when we start thinking like our customers.  When we use the words they use, rather than our words for expressing a problem or discussing a concern, we immediately connect.  Marketing has higher impact when we are using the language of our customers.  Brochures and materials in Mandarin, probably don’t have a great impact in Mexico.  Likewise, if our brochures are filled with our pet phrases, cool buzz words, or neat acronym’s.  Marketing materials that talk about what we do in the customer terms have great impact.

Doing this effectively creates a great challenge for sales and marketing professionals.  We can no longer be satisfied with a “one size fits all approach” to our customers.  We have to tailor strategies, programs, materials to our high priority market segments.  We have to be knowledgeable of their problems, goals, and challenges—in their terms.  We have to present our capabilities, addressing the issues they view as important, using the language they use.

Use the customer’s terms and language.  Focus on the customer perspective and connect.  It seems so simple (maybe too simple), but we consistently fail to do this.  We focus on what’s important to us, we impose our language on the customer and expect them to do the translation for themselves.  Imagine what could happen if we changed our point of view and aligned it with our customers’.  We might be able to sell a lot more—-more efficiently.

Dave Brock works with organizations to help them achieve the highest levels of performance excellence. He helps them identify and execute new business, sales, marketing and customer service strategies. His goal is to have a profound difference on the lives and results produced by his clients.

Dave is the founder and CEO of Partners in EXCELLENCE, a leading business consulting company. He has held executive roles in IBM, Tektronix, and other large technology companies. He is an investor, advisor, and director of several high technology start-up companies.

 Today’s News: Here is an early heads up for you……

The JF Sales Academy
Launching Early 2010

The foundation of the JF Sales Academy is a multi-level sales development program based on JFC’s successful Vanguard Suite, a unique four-stage sales competence program, which effectively progresses would-be salesmen and women from “foundation” level all the way through to “collaborative status.

It has been designed to make the absorption of essential skills, attitudes and the adoption of sales process achievable via a timetable which delivers modules in small digestible and easily absorbed chunks.

All of the learning takes place online and is pre-recorded so that delegates can work at their own pace, either individually or in a formal team environment.

Each section consists of ten modules (including the Program Review and Final Assessment) and again, delegates can decide when it is appropriate for them to progress to the next “Level”

Finally, we have now made it possible for organisations or individuals to purchase any of the individual modules within each section and in fact JFC will add about another fifty separate modules, which can also be obtained individually.

More soon….

The JF Guest Author Spot

Paul McCord

I’m a salesman. I sell sales training, management consulting, coaching and speaking presentations. My clients are companies, individual salespeople, business owners, and business and industry associations.

I prospect. I have to if I want to stay in business. I, like every other salesperson, am constantly looking for potential new business.

I also market my services and myself. I have to invest a significant amount of my time and effort in getting my message out to potential clients. The marketing I engage in takes many forms–from writing articles to giving interviews to writing newsletters to attending events and functions to networking and seeking referrals.

In other words, my business is exactly like yours. I engage in the same activities you do. I face the same obstacles, the same setbacks, the same disappointments, and enjoy the same victories.

Whether you sell insurance, parking lot maintenance, copiers, communication systems, or the most sophisticated computer networks, business-to-business selling is in its essence the same for all of us. The details are different. The process may be vastly different. The sales cycle may be months or even years apart. But the basic essence is the same. And the most basic is you have to have a prospect that will accept your efforts to connect with them.

Like almost every other salesperson, I must use the phone to connect with some of those prospects. Nevertheless, I refuse to make cold calls.

In my opinion, there is hardly a more worthless use of time and energy than cold calling.

Cold calling is time consuming for the salesperson and it immediately signifies to the recipient of the call that the person making the call isn’t an expert in their field because most prospects assume that true experts aren’t sitting at a desk pounding the phone.

Yet, that creates a dilemma for me—there are prospects I can’t find a way to reach without picking up the phone and calling them. Despite being a strong advocate of referral selling, networking, and developing referral partnerships, those methods, no matter how expertly I implement them, just can’t get me to every possible prospect that I’m interested in reaching.

Not having a way to connect through other means and refusing to cold call presents a bit of a problem.

Fortunately, there is a solution that allows me to NEVER make a cold call. In fact, it almost always allows me to begin establishing a relationship with the prospect that I can expand and nurture over time. In addition, this simple method allows me to gather a wealth of information about the company, their needs, their plans, and in many cases, key information about the person I’m about to speak to before I ever make the call. Before I call I know whom I’m calling, why I’m calling, and I have a very good idea of where the conversation will be going.

Moreover, seldom do I have a voice mail message go unreturned.

What is the incredible system I use?

Actually, it is so simple and so obvious I almost hate to admit it. But it works. It takes the pressure off me, as well as off the prospect. When I call, I’m simply doing follow-up work, fulfilling my obligation to one of the prospect’s employees.

Once I’ve identified a company to approach about any of my services, I do my homework. I call three or four of the company’s salespeople. My hope is to speak to a salesperson that has been with the company for only a short time, to another who is an old hand with the company, and one who is a top producer.

When I speak to these individuals, I am upfront with the purpose of my call. I let them know who I am, why I’m calling them, what my intentions are regarding calling the company about my services, and request their permission to ask them some questions about the company and their experience with the company. Seldom does anyone refuse speaking with me. If they do, I’ll just call another individual within the company.

I ask a number of information gathering questions such as:

* What type of sales training the company provides

* Their personal evaluation of the quality of the training

* Whether training is provided by outside vendors on in-house trainers

* If they use outside trainers, what companies do they use

* What training needs do they see the company has that aren’t being met

* Who in their opinion I should speak to about training

* If there is anything else I should know prior to calling the person they suggested I call

* Prior to ending the call, I ask for permission to use their name when I make the call.

Three or four short calls—each will only last a very few minutes—give me a tremendous amount of information about the company and potential opportunities for me. Often I learn a little bit of personal information about the person I’m about to call that helps me connect with them. Typically, at least one and often two or three of the individuals will not only give me permission to mention their name but will encourage me to call, giving me a referral into the company. Now, I’ve not only upgraded the call from a cold call to a warm call, but I’ve upgraded the warm call to a referral.

When I do call the company, I use the introductions provided by the salespeople to break the ice and gain credibility. Those introductions turn the call into a conversation about their needs and observations rather than a sales pitch.

If I am directed to voice mail, I don’t panic. I don’t hang up without leaving a message. I don’t leave some misleading message hoping to trick someone into returning my call. I leave a very brief factual message that introduces myself and mentions that salesperson X and salesperson Y asked me to call about some issues that concern them. I almost always get a return call.

Naturally, the person I’m calling wants to know how and why his or her salespeople encouraged me to make the call. Again, I don’t beat around the bush. I tell them that I was doing my homework prior to making my introductory call. The fact that I was willing to spend time learning something about the company, their needs, their salespeople, and their processes tends to impress the person with whom I’m speaking.

Seldom do salespeople take the time to be prepared before making a call. Seldom do they find a way to turn a cold call into a referral. So unusual is it that when someone calls who is fully prepared, the impression is not only positive but also deep and lasting. Furthermore, by demonstrating my ability to find a positive, honest and effective way to connect with them that pricks their interest and almost demands they pay attention to me, they make the connection that I just might have something of value to teach their sales team.

Naturally, I don’t turn every call into a sale. I do, however, begin the process of developing a positive and trusting relationship that will, hopefully, turn into a sale in the future.

My method of reaching the prospects that I otherwise cannot find another way of reaching doesn’t allow me to make tons of calls. I give up quantity for quality. And to tell you the truth, I’d much rather have an introduction to a quality prospect than sit and pound the phone hoping that sooner or later I’ll fall into an appointment.

No matter your product, you too can find individuals within your target companies who can give you the information you need—and their endorsement when you do make the call. Getting past gatekeepers and gaining the prospect’s interest doesn’t have to be a game of deception or manipulation. Investing a little time before calling your prospect opens doors, eliminates resistance, pricks interest, and helps begin the relationship building process. Maybe you should also be concentrating on quality over quantity.

Paul McCord is the president of McCord and Associates, a Houston, Texas based international sales training, coaching, and consulting company. He is the author of the Amazon and Barnes and Noble best-selling book on referral generation, Creating a Million Dollar a Year Sales Income: Sales Success through Client Referrals (John Wiley and Sons, 2008), and SuperStar Selling: 12 Keys to Becoming a Sales SuperStar.

Paul is also a very good chum, and fellow member of the Top Sales Experts Executive Board.

Finally, I urge you to visit his excellent Sales & Sales Management Blog

Today’s News: We have a big week coming up, so hang on to your hats!

First up, the latest edition of  The JF Journal will be published, and you really ought to reserve your copy HERE

Everyone needs some form of motivation to get them to do anything. This really means “sufficient reason” for doing it. It can take very little to motivate someone to do something pleasurable but it can take quite extreme circumstances, to get that same person to do something objectionable.

The key point is that what constitutes sufficient motivation can only be judged by the person being motivated. Circumstances that would motivate one person will leave another unmoved. The task of a manager lies firstly in assessing what will motivate an individual and secondly, in applying that motivation.

There are in fact, eight basic motivators or” hot-buttons” i.e. what motivates and demotivates people in the workplace, and at the foot of this post, you have the opportunity to discover what your “hot buttons” are via a highly accurate interactive assessment.

The eight are:

 Relationship With Manager
 Recognition & Praise
 Financial Motives
 Co-Operation With Others
 Promotion
 Achievement
 Responsibility
 Job Content

Most non-sales people believe that high performing sales achievers are motivated solely by money. This is of course, a complete nonsense.

Top 5% achievers are totally focused on ”Achievement” because they understand that providing they achieve all of their targets and commercial objectives, they can expect to be appropriately rewarded.

High achieving sales professionals are also extremely competitive – it is in their nature to want to win – which is why I am convinced that a brand new initiative recently launched by AllBusiness.com – a sister company of Hoovers – is going to be massively successful.

Do you know a true sales star? Who closes more deals and brings in business for your company or a company you know?

AllBusiness wants to honor the top-performing salespeople who are working hard in today’s competitive market. Tell us about the salesperson in your network who deserves the limelight.

The panel of sales coaches and experts will select one salesperson each month from among the nominees. That person will be profiled in a feature article for AllBusiness and their sister site, Hoover’s, and will receive free membership in a sales networking and coaching program. One annual winner will get a package of sales training and coaching programs, ife membership in Top Sales Experts, and additional tools and resources to continue developing their expertise and talent.

I am honored to be the Chairman of the judging panel, which is packed with world class sales experts – most of whom you will instantly recognize.

I am convinced that you or someone you know or someone you work with, should be nominated, so do please check out the details HERE

OK, now back to that assessment I promised you – but first of all, from the list I gave you earlier, just jot down the three factors which you think motivate or demotivate you the most in the work place – then compare the results.

Click HERE to take the test

Today’s News: I will be posting on both Saturday and Sunday, so do try to join me. I am also going to make a start on Jonathan London’s book – “The Entrepreneurs’s Guide To Selling” which just arrived in the post…no, not that Jonathan London, this Jonathan London

Conversations can be quite confusing -

“Hello, is that Jonathan London?”

“Yes, this is Jonathan London”

“Hi this is Jonathan calling from London” Obviously, that is when I am not in Paris

The last of the six beliefs that can have such a significant impact on our performance, …tomorrow we move on! I really hope that you have identified with this week’s posts.

5. There is no failure, only feedback.

Of course there is failure. If you take a driving test or exam you either pass or fail. Your salespeople will either succeed in achieving their monthly sales targets or fail to meet them. The key is how you perceive ‘failure’.

Every failure can be looked at as a learning opportunity that is beautifully epitomised by Thomas Edison, the inventor of the light bulb. Despite more than 10,000 failures, he stood by his dream until he made it a physical reality. He said that every discarded idea took him one-step closer towards finding the idea that would work.

One of the most powerful self-coaching questions salespeople can ask is, “What will I do differently next time?” or “What can I learn from this?”

Salespeople who make mistakes and learn from those mistakes have a tendency to do better than sale people who are scared to fail.

 Therefore if you can see that when you don’t achieve your targets you have an opportunity to learn, because you have been given great feedback on what not to do next month.

6. Accepting 100% responsibility creates transformation.

Every action you take creates a reaction that is based on the formula of cause and effect. Everything that happens is the effect of an underlying cause. Most people spend their lives operating at effect….”It’s not my fault I always end up in bad relationships.” “Life’s so unfair, things always happen to me.” “We’re in a recession, that’s why I haven’t achieved target.” “If I could only match our competitor’s prices, I’d win more deals.”

True personal power can be achieved when an individual accepts 100% responsibility for what they create in their lives.

To put it another way, you get one of two things; the result or outcome you want or the reasons why you did not (you may recognise these as ‘excuses’!)

The more you focus on the reasons (excuses) and blame circumstances beyond your control you push away your personal power. Therefore, if you believe that you are in control of the situations that life ‘appears’ to throw at you, then you are in control of your thinking and emotions, and therefore in control of your own life.

This belief has given thousands of salespeople the determination to breakthrough so many barriers and overcome countless challenges, when at times it was tempting to wallow in self-pity.

 If something good or bad happens, ask yourself, “How did I create that?”

This question enables you to tap into your brain’s infinite potential and it will give you all the answers you need.

 If you are prepared to commit 100% to taking responsibility, the results can be extraordinary.

Today’s News: You know that when it comes to networking, I am a vociferous evangelist, and so I am particularly looking forwrad to today’s Top Sales Experts Masterclass…

The Rules of Networking
Thursday November 5th 2009 1:00 PM EASTERN

Networking is an essential part of your sales and marketing plan. How you behave in networking settings will have a major impact on how successful you are – now, and in the future.

In this Masterclass we’ll discuss the overall benefit of effective networking, the kinds of events to go to, the value of leads groups, and how to behave in these environments for maximum impact. We’ll review the dos and don’ts of networking. You’ll leave with a better understanding of networking rules as well as ideas of where you should be going to network effectively.

Full details HERE 

Finally, what motivates you in the workplace? What de-motivates you? Tomorrow, you have the chance to find out with an incredibly accurate interactive assessment – be sure to join me.

Today, two more beliefs that can have a tremendous impact on our performance….I have suggested there are six in total, so here are numbers three and four

 3. Resistance from another person usually signals a lack of rapport.

Rapport is a vital ingredient when developing relationships because it builds trust and allows communication to flow. When that state of rapport is there, communication is a lot easier even if you do not agree with the other person. When we do not feel that rapport or connection, we have a tendency to ‘nit-pick’ or find fault.

Customers respond to people they perceive understand their position and are on the same wavelength. If we are encountering lots of resistance from a prospect or a customer, then it helps us to notice that we have not built sufficient rapport. Even if our prospect does not agree with what we are saying, rapport enables us to have an open discussion where we can get an honest reason for their reaction rather than a ‘prickly’ brick wall.

4. Flexibility improves success.

The greater your flexibility, the greater your chances for achieving what you want. If we accept that, every person is a unique individual then we have to accept that each prospect and customer will require a different approach. Using the same approach with all prospects and customers is like playing the lottery; the chances of getting it right are extremely low. If we have high levels of flexibility that allows us to adapt to each prospect and customer’s style then we are able to build more rapport and reduce resistance.

Albert Einstein gave the definition of insanity as doing the same thing repeatedly whilst expecting a different result.

As an example, think about a fly…have you watched how many times a fly bumps its head trying to fly out of a window? I guess that is why it is a fly. The more we are able to adapt, the more opportunities we create.

If what you are doing is not working, try something different and if that does not work try something different again. Flexibility of thinking and behaviour creates awesome sales people. Your team are also unique individuals requiring a unique approach with how you manage them. The greater your behavioural flexibility the easier it is to connect and develop better working relationships.

Today’s News: You may have missed Saturday’s post, so I wanted to alert you to Nancy D Solomon’s superb new book…

“Not your average business self-help book, Impact! is a ‘total person’ development guide that says ‘who you are impacts everything you do’. It doesn’t focus on what’s wrong with you but rather what’s right with you so that you can turn your potential into performance. The secret to success and fulfillment-both professionally and personally-is that you should stop trying to ‘fit in’ and become what others want you to be; that you can become more productive, powerful, and passionate by becoming more of who you were meant to be instead. Why? Because no longer is there any separation between who you are and what you do!”

You can watch this one minute video on You Tube HERE

Then you can find all the deatils and order the book HERE

Continuing with the six beliefs that can have such a dramatic effect on our performance….

It doesn’t matter if you think you’ve communicated well or if you think you’ve been crystal clear, what matters is that your communication is received and acted upon in the manner you wanted.

How many times have you said something to another person who has totally misinterpreted what you meant? Equally, sometimes we are on the receiving end of communication that makes us feel bad. If we can look beyond the communication and try to see a positive intention behind another person’s behaviour, then our relationships and interactions with people become more constructive and empowering.

When we communicate with people and if they are ‘not getting’ our point, then the responsibility is ours to adapt our approach until they do. For example; if we have communicated a price increase and the reasons for that price increase, and our customers have not understood those reasons, the responsibility for this mis-communication lies with ourselves.

 Therefore, we can only judge the success of what we have communicated based on the reactions we get from other people.

It is also important to remember that we all possess five internal senses to code and store our experience of the outside world.

However, most individuals show a preference when it comes to keeping memories. The three major types of preferences that are reflected in communication are:

 Visual  
 Auditory
 Kinaesthetic

To maximize our communication we need to vary the expressions we use depending on the communication preference of the listener not our own.

Today’s News: The TSE Masterclass today is being presented by Elinor Stutz and it promises to be a cracker…

Blazing Your Unique New Trail in Sales
Tuesday November 3rd 2009 1:00 PM EASTERN

Are you tired of pursuing prospects and of the chase?  Wouldn’t it be nice if you could just attract people to your system and have an
easier time of selling?  Not only is the possible but it is easy to implement!

Elinor Stutz will share her system with you for attracting prospects and building relationships so you too may enjoy a Smooth Sale!

In this session you will learn:

How relationship selling differs from traditional sales methods
5 essentials for relationship selling
GROW your business exponentially

Ultimately your clientele will become your sales force.

Full details HERE

 I talk a lot about the success formula we use here at JFC….but here is a reminder:

Attitude + Skills + Process + Knowledge = Success

It looks like this.

 Notice what underpins everything else – it is of course attitude.

This week, I am going to be discussing attitude, motivation and beliefs – in particular six beliefs that do have an impact on you, either positively or negatively…here we go.

1. Every Individual is unique and their perceptions are true to them.

Because we each absorb 2 million bits of information unconsciously and can only process around seven chunks consciously we each have our own unique perception of the world around us. If everyone reading this was asked to explain beliefs, each individual would give a different explanation. So who is right?

Everyone is right because your perceptions are true for you. That is why the more respect we have for every individual and the more we seek to understand the viewpoints of others, the richer our communication becomes.

By respecting the opinions of others, does not necessarily mean that we have to agree with them, we just have to acknowledge that every individual’s reality is the one based on their own unique perceptions.

Tomorrow, I am going to share with you some secrets of communicating even more successfully than you do already!

Today’s News:

Many congratulations to the “Queen of Cold Calling” Wendy Weiss for her much deserved victory over at Top 10 Sales Articles You can check out her winning article plus vote for your favourite November selection…

Wendy now goes forward to the Top Sales Article of The Year final on December 22nd, where she will join the other finalists:

Drew Stevens, Keith Rosen, Waldo Waldman, Patricia Fripp, Nancy Bleeke, Dave Kurlan, Kendra Lee, Steven Rosen, Tibor Shanto, plus November and December winners of course.

The award ceremony will be just a part of the Top Sales Experts Christmas Party, going out live as I mentioned earlier, on December 22nd. There are only 1000 FREE  places available  but be assured, as a regular visitor here you will certainly have the opportunity to claim your seat – more soon.

The JF Guest Author Spot

Nancy Solomon

Last week my good chum, fellow Top Sales Experts Executive Board Member, and quite extraordinary person, Nancy D Solomon, became an author, and this extract describes the experience.

Integrity: When You Do What You Say You’re Going to Do

There are few days as celebratory as when I adopted both of my children. Yesterday wasn’t in that category but it was a close runner up in the special department. My first book, Impact! What Every Woman Needs to Know to Go From Invisible to Invincible! was born. As in, delivered. To Microsoft: A spectacular beginning for anyone or anything.

The author (that would be me) was a tad late in delivering the final manuscript so, in order to get it to Microsoft in time for my keynote at their women’s conference (more on that in my next blog), I had it shipped overnight from the bindery straight to Microsoft.

I arrived early and headed straight for the book room. My eyes searched the hundreds of books looking for that familiar cover. There it was! OMG.

Here’s what I said (okay, shouted):

“I wrote a book! And it has words in it! And it’s going to help women to increase their impact on the world! And I can’t even believe I did this! I’ve wanted to write a book since I was 11 years old (that was a very, very long time ago). And I did it! And I’m so proud of me! And it’s really pretty!”

Yes, each declaration really did have an exclamation point next to it.

Why was it such a big day? Such a huge event my life?

Some of what made it so special was that I thought about writing it for so long; and then there’s the fact that it will help millions of women all over the world (one of my main passions and part of my life purpose); and of course there’s the fact that John Wiley & Sons believe in me and my message so much that they offered me a very nice contract in the midst of a lackluster year in publishing.

But what put it on “My Life’s Top Ten Memories” was simply that I did it.

There is nothing, and I mean nothing, in the world that raises our self-esteem more, faster or better than making a commitment to ourselves and following through on it. When it’s complete, it doesn’t matter how much you procrastinated, how many years you’ve been talking about it, whether or not it actually looks like you thought it would, OR even if anyone else notices what you’ve done.

What matters is that you kept your word. To yourself. Everyone else comes second.

I can honestly say that yesterday was monumental for me. It will be for you too. It might be a small thing or a big one. It might be losing 5 pounds or 55 pounds. It might be clearing your inbox at the end of every day, or remembering to kiss your children goodnight, or telling your significant other how special s/he is.

What it is, doesn’t matter. That you do it does. Why? Because this is your impact; this is the way you make a personally meaningful difference in the world; this is the way that people know you’re on purpose. And the most important person? You guessed it! You!

Initiate Impact!

What is one thing you’ve been promising yourself you were going to do, no matter what?
What is one small step you can take today in the direction of getting it done?

JF: You can read extracts from this amazing book, and then order it here:

Or here..

Or even here…

Then you can catch up with  the woman herself   HERE

Today’s News: As I suggested yesterday, despite the attempted skullduggery – and I do know who the culprit is – we have a worthy winner over at Top 10 Sales Articles, and details will be posted later today, together with the ten nominations for November.