Most professionals have to make a presentation at some point during their carrer and some of us have to deliver them almost every week. However, the single most common reason why people present badly has nothing to do with the quality of their material or their knowledge of the subject, but rather, anxiety – fear of failure.

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? 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: It’s last chance saloon – you really do not want to miss this event! Just click on the banner below to register – It’s FREE

Tomorrow: Some really important announcements that you will not want to miss!

Special Announcement

Selling Through a Slump: Live Q&A on Selling in a Recession
2 p.m. EST November 19, 2008

These are tough times in the selling business. Customers are ordering less, postponing sold business, trimming the number of suppliers, and reducing budgets. It is taking longer to close a sale. Many of your sales staff may never have experienced a downturn like this before. How can sales organizations continue to thrive in an increasingly lean economy?

Tune in to a FREE live interactive discussion with a panel of sales experts, and get your questions answered:

What best practices can you learn from companies that have not only survived but thrived through past downturns?

What specific steps can you take to create a more valuable relationship with your customer?

Which tools should you be using to increase the effectiveness of your selling process?

What role can technology play in making you smarter about your best opportunities?

You’ll have an opportunity to gain valuable strategic knowledge by listening to commentary from proven thought leaders:

Learn what not to do.
Hear about effective methods that you can put in place now.
See the results of our TCC survey of top sales management experts, and learn how the recession is affecting other sales organizations.

Panelists will include Jill Konrath, author of Selling to Big Companies, Denis Pombriant, founder of the Beagle Research Group, and David Bonnette, Group VP of North America Sales at Oracle. Robin Carey, Co-Founder and CEO of Social Media Today LLC, will moderate.

Brought to you by The Customer Collective and Oracle CRM.

This is an event you should NOT miss if you are serious about surviving and succeeding in the worst economic downturn in history: It is going to get a whole lot worse before it gets better.

You have two choices; fight your way through it and come out at the other end stronger, wiser and intact; or do nothing and risk being taken down with it – for me, it really is a “no-brainer” -JF

Welcome to the conversation.

Now for today’s post:

A company’s performance appraisal process is critically important. It answers the two questions that every member of an organisation wants to know:

• What do you expect of me?

• How am I doing at meeting your expectations?

Regular assessments and appraisals are essential if individuals are to continually expand their “skills set” and should deliver three key benefits for an organisation:

• A clear career path for progression (which typically seems to motivate salespeople who operate in a business-to-business environment)

• Evidence of the return on investment made in developing people so organisations are encouraged to sustain ongoing development

• A clear benchmark for salespeople and sales managers, so that they know what is expected of them

Every manager has to appraise subordinates and the mechanics of it vary from ticking little boxes, through marking on five-point scales, to writing an open ended report. However, in all cases the primary purpose of an appraisal is to help the subordinate.

Why Appraise? – Reasons for an Appraisal:

• To provide feedback of individual performance.

• To plan for future promotions and successions.

• To assess training and development needs.

• To provide information for salary planning and special awards.

• To contribute to corporate career planning.

The five key elements of the performance appraisal are:

• Measurement – assessing performance against agreed targets and objectives.

• Feedback – providing information to the individual on their performance and progress.

• Positive reinforcement – emphasising what has been done well and making only constructive criticism about what might be improved.

• Exchange of views – a frank exchange of views about what has happened, how appraisees can improve their performance, the support they need from their managers to achieve this and their aspirations for their future career.

• Agreement – jointly coming to an understanding by all parties about what needs to be done to improve performance generally and overcome any issues raised in the course of the discussion.

So when considering the design of an appropriate sales team appraisal document, what are the areas you should consider including?

This will be very much a personal decision based on relevancy:

If you have read any of my work before, you will, in all probability, know that I work with a very simple formula when it comes to team development and measurement i.e.

Attitude + Skills + Process + Knowledge = Success

I arrived at this conclusion many years ago and my initial reasoning was this:

Attitude is fundamental to any achievement because individuals with the right Attitude are far more likely to embrace the essential Skills, recognise the control that Process brings and have the desire to continually expand their Knowledge.

Skills are the ‘tools of the trade’ and have to be developed on an ongoing basis. They also need to be specific, because too much time can be wasted over-burdening employees with inappropriate and irrelevant skills without any identifiable plan for their future requirements.

Process brings organisation, efficiency and control, both for the individual and for management. Effective process provides objective analysis and indicators which can be benchmarked and accurately measured.

Then there is of course a need to build in Knowledge and that must include knowledge of products, industry, market sectors, competitors, business, own company and last but not least, self!

Therefore, when measuring my teams, I always ensure that I benchmark against that criteria, plus I, and all of my clients, use ASP Profile

Today’s News: This is going to be a particularly hectic week, so do stay tuned if you can: First up, if you missed the “Ask The Experts” webinar that I co-presented with Jill Konrath and Kendra Lee for Landslide Technologies last week, you can download the entire show here

It was incredibly well attended and as we begin planning for the first Top Sales Experts Roundtable on December 9th, featuring: Leslie Buterin, Colleen Francis, Jill Konrath, Paul McCord, Keith Rosen and me – we just know that this inaugral event is going to be fantastic – more details soon.

Over at Top 10 Sales Articles, we have a very special winner this week – you can check them out for yourself here

And over on my other blog “Sales Manager’s Mentor Blog” – I ask: “Are You A Boss Or A Leader?”

Lots of very good webinars coming up this week on Business Expert Webinars, and I’ll be announcing those tomorrow.

Tomorrow: News of a special book launch.

The JF Guest Author Spot

Read the newspaper, watch the television or walk down the hallways of your offices and you may notice a surprising (and alarming) lack of decency.  Before I continue, let me say that I am neither a prude nor a cynic, but the increasing lack of courtesy and decency are a problem for us as individuals and as leaders.

Maybe I am over-reacting a bit to the deeply biting and highly judgmental comments being made by people on both sides of the U.S. Presidential election, but I don’t think so.  The increasingly judgmental and nasty rhetoric by those in the news and on the sidelines raises a significant issue for us in our organizations – How can we cultivate relationships, build teams and create cooperation when these factors are at play?

It’s Not About Conflict

These observations aren’t meant to imply that we should avoid or support conflict deflecting behaviours.  To the contrary, healthy conflict and difference of opinion are needed for us to reach the best decisions, and foster creativity in any group.  We all learned it in elementary school – you can disagree and not be mean.

As leaders we want to foster and support disagreement on issues in order to find the best solutions.  We want to promote people’s passions and opinions, so that they can be heard and be engaged.

But we can  . . .

- disagree without being disagreeable
-  have opinions without being opinionated
- be passionate without being pushy

And the balance that is found in all of these is decency.  If we want to build teams and relationships and have a healthy working environment, we must, as leaders and individuals, strive for decency.

It’s About Culture . . . and Results

These behavioural habits are truly components of our culture.  Whether we regularly verbally attack our competitors or each other, left unchecked or unexamined, these behaviours become the norm and become accepted.  And, like any other element of a culture, it will have an impact on organizational results.

Choose wisely the culture you want to create, and recognize as a leader you play a role everyday in accepting or challenging the prevailing culture.  If you want to guard against the decline in decency, or know you need to turn the tide, consider the following actions:

- Be a model.  If you want more decent and courteous conversations, be more courteous.

- Expect it of others.  Let people know your concerns.  Be specific as to your concerns and make sure you talk about why you are concerned.

- Ask for and give feedback.  Tell people that you will be giving them feedback – both praise for avoiding the negative conversation and correction when you notice it.  Encourage them to give you feedback as well.

- Be consistent.  If this is something that matters to you and the organization, don’t make it your “cause of the week,” but be vigilant and consistent in both your behaviour and your expectations of others.

Experience shows that awareness and consistent modeling will go a long way to adjusting these types of behaviours, especially if they aren’t deeply engrained when you begin.

I hope you aren’t noticing these problems on your teams, but if you are, I encourage you to consider the steps above – they will help you personally and professionally to change your behaviours and be a leader in the same changes for others.

As a final note – I referenced the U.S. Presidential election at the start of this post.  If you are interested in gaining a wide variety of leadership lessons from U.S. Presidential politics, go to http://RemarkablePresidents.com to download a Special Report entitled, Remarkable Leadership and U.S. Presidents.

Kevin Eikenberry is a leadership expert and the Chief Potential Officer of The Kevin Eikenberry Group, a learning consulting company that helps Clients reach their potential through a variety of training, consulting and speaking services. You can learn more about him  here

Today’s News: I have been keeping myself fully updated with the story of Bob Beck – Bob who? – that’s Bob Beck The Plagiarizer. I mentioned it last week? OK, here is the latest from Jill Konrath:

Outing a Plagiarizing Sales Expert
The sad case of Bob Beck: author of Mutual Respect, founder of the “Quid Pro Quo” sales training.

When my colleagues began posting last week about Bob Beck’s plagiarism, I was stunned. I couldn’t believe any professional would stoop that low.

But the proof was overwhelming. You can read about it here:

Dave Stein: Hey! Stop Plagiarizing My Content!
Charles Green: Plagiarism, Concealment or Coincidence
Colleen Francis: Hey! That Sounds a Lot Like Me!!

So tonight I decided to investigate if Bob Beck had taken any of my content. Within moments, I discovered an article of Kelley Robertson’s that had been co-opted and immediately notified him.

Then seconds later, I found the smoking gun!  His article called Low Hanging Fruit was a mirror image of my article on The Seduction of Low-Hanging Fruit.

Here are the first six paragraphs from my article:

I remember the first time it happened. It was on a Thursday, about 4 pm, and I was worn-out after a day of cold calling. I hadn’t uncovered even one viable prospect. Enough was enough! Time to go back to the office and do some paperwork.

When the phone rang, I answered it tiredly. But by the time I hung up I was a new person. I had just talked to one hot prospect!

Her company was BUYING! Not just looking – BUYING! They needed several new systems to handle their growth. And they wanted to make a decision quickly.

“Can we come in for a demonstration,” she asked.

How could I refuse! They came in the following Monday and we spent about two hours together. We discussed their needs and I showed them several possible options. Things seemed to go really well. In parting, they asked me to call back early the next week.

Tuesday morning I left a message. Wednesday and Friday too. My calls were never returned. It wasn’t till a week later that I finally got my prospect on the phone. She thanked me for my hard work, fast service and excellent demonstration. Then, very apologetically, she told me they’d selected another vendor.

He writes (or should I say copies) this on his The CEO’s Trusted Advisor (ha ha!) blog:
(Note: His blog is no longer on line, but is still viewable in Google’s cache.)

I remember the first time it happened. It was on a Thursday, about 5 pm, and I was worn-out after a day of cold calling. I hadn’t uncovered even one viable prospect. Enough was enough!

When the phone rang, I answered it tiredly. But by the time I hung up I was a new person. I had just talked to a hot prospect!

Her company was BUYING! Not just looking – BUYING! They needed several new systems to handle their growth. And they wanted to make a decision quickly.

“Can we come in for a demonstration,” she asked.

How could I refuse (not applying the Quid Pro Quo Sales approach)! They came in the following Monday and we spent about two hours together. We discussed their needs and I showed them several possible options. Things seemed to go really well. In parting, they asked me to call back early the next week.

Tuesday morning I left a message. Wednesday and Friday too. My calls were never returned. It wasn’t till a week later that I finally got my prospect on the phone. She thanked me for my hard work, fast service and excellent demonstration. Then, very apologetically, she told me they’d selected another vendor.

The only difference? He inserted 6 words about his company. The rest of the article is virtually identical. He never identifies me as the author. In fact, he ends the article with:

You will find more stories and tips like this in the book Mutual Respect www.MutualRespect.net  To learn more about the Quid Pro Quo Sales Approach visit www.SalesBuilders.com

If it was a singular happening, I’d let it go with an admonition to add attribution. But it’s not. It’s a clear pattern of behavior. I suspect if I searched more, I’d find other articles that have been plagiarized. 

I’ll be sending Bob Beck a note shortly. If necessary, I’ll get my attorney involved. In the meantime, I don’t want any of you to be fooled.

Here are all the links I could find for Bob Beck’s sales training business:

Sales Builders: http://www.salesbuilders.com
Mutual Respect: http://www.mutualrespect.net
Bob Beck International: http://www.bobbeckinternational.com
Beck Products: http://www.beckproducts.com
SalesBuilder at Squidoo: http://www.squidoo.com/bobbeck
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/salesbuilders

Also, besides billing himself as a “sales trainer” of Quid Pro Quo selling, Bob Beck also calls himself an international keynote speaker, sales guru, best selling author and trusted advisor.

What makes this so sad is that Bob Beck is probably good at what he does. He didn’t have to use other people’s words as his own. But he did – and it totally destroys his credibility.

Tomorrow: All about negotiation and power!

There has been increasing evidence – unsurprisingly - that sales professionals and sales captains are working longer and longer hours, thereby putting health and family relationships at risk. This is not a topic that we can simply sweep under the carpet, it is not going to go away, and I am witnessing it more and more frequently.

Pressure to complete and meet the ever-increasing demands of customers (as well as the need to achieve higher sales quotas) and finishing the year strongly, is forcing people to spend more of their time working -not to mention a stagnant market, that will only become more so in 2009.

Whilst stress does have its benefits, too much can cause errors of judgement, mistakes, accidents and damage to health. Some people are more vulnerable to stress from overwork than others.

American researchers have identified two types of managers – Type ‘A’ who, though thriving on stress, are vulnerable to its effects, and Type ‘B’ who rarely let events disturb them.

Not only are there Type ‘A’ managers but also Type ‘A’ organisations – is yours one?

Types A & B:

Type A: 
• Try to do more and faster 
• Concerned with speed, performance and productivity 
• Tend to be aggressive, impatient, intolerant, hard driving and always hurried 
• Preoccupied with time
• Start early
• Strong competitive tendency
• Always want to succeed
• More likely to have heart attacks

Type B: 
• Easy going
• Take difficulties in their stride 
• Spend time on what they’re doing
• Rarely harassed
• Less prone to heart attacks 
• Take time to ponder alternative
• Usually feel there’s plenty of time
• Not as preoccupied with time

Stress What Is It?

Popular definitions include: ‘the result of a person being pushed beyond the limit of their natural ability’ When used in physics, stress is defined as ‘the external pressure applied to an object’, the resultant change is called ‘strain’

Applied to people, we mix up the two terms, using ‘stress’ to refer to both the pressures we’re under and the effect it has on us

What Causes Stress?

• Where you work – Red tape, changes, demands from customers, uncertain future

• Your Job – Volume of work (too much/little), deadlines, pressures, being responsible for staff

• Your career to date – Still not found your niche, no clear goals, reached your plateau

• Your Relationships – Colleagues, friends, partner, boss, staff, children and families

• Conflicts – Unable to find a balance between work and home; worried about money

• Self-imposed – Giving yourself a hard time, low self-image, poor self-management

What Are The Signs?

• Physical
Headaches, indigestion, throbbing heart, allergies, infections, twitching, nausea, tiredness, weight loss/gain, vague aches and pains

• Mental
Indecision, making mistakes, forgetfulness, poor communication, easily distracted, worrying more, making hasty decisions

• Emotional
Irritability, anger, alienation, nervousness, apprehension, loss of confidence, tension, cynicism, job/life dissatisfaction

• Behavioural
Unsociable, restless, unable to unwind, appetite loss/gain, diminished/increased interest in sex, increase in drinking/smoking, taking work home, too busy to relax, poor personal management

In Summary: Stress Techniques for Handling Stress

Remember, you have some choices – do nothing, fight it or learn to manage it by:

• Identifying what causes you stress and how it shows itself (this will give you a clue about what you need to tackle)
• Concentrating on what must be done and cutting out all those non-essential meetings phone calls and visitors
• Learning to delegate and trust others; none of us is indispensable
• Pacing yourself; have 10 minute breaks throughout the day
• Being tidy and organised; untidiness creates its own problems
• Learning to relax and switch-off, don’t take work home  
• Learn to say ‘no’ – don’t take on everything that comes your way
• Get a balance between work and home; your life is important too!
• Eat properly, avoiding too much fat and sugar
• Improve you listening skills; many busy and energetic people are bad listeners
• Take breaks – make sure you use all your holiday entitlement
• Get yourself on an anti-stress programme if necessary
• Develop breathing and relaxation techniques eg: yoga
• Keep fit – try swimming and/or walking
• Learn to manage your time more effectively

And Finally – Prime Time, When Are You At Your Best?

We all have a ‘prime time’ during the day when we are at our best and fully alert, the secret is to recognise this and complete those activities that require energy, application and thought, when you’re at your sharpest.

When energy is low, we are sluggish and tend to make mistakes, so watch what you eat – a heavy meal and wine make a lot of people sleepy; a healthy meal can provide energy hours.

Work in periods of time; a maximum of an hour before you give yourself a break – this way you’ll concentrate better.

If you want help in identifying your time robbers, this originally titled article will help: “How Identify Your Time Robbers”

Today’s News: I did suggest that the latest Top Sales Experts e-book, would be the last – we plan to go into hardback in 2009.

However, I have relented, and we are producing a Special for Christmas – “How To Sell & Survive In An Economic Downturn – And Have A Great Christmas”

In fact, we are going to install a unique area on the TSE site very shortly, to provide advice and support for front-line sales leaders and sales professionals, including an “Ask The Expert” facility, providing direct access to fifty of the world’s leading sales gurus – more soon.

I cannot tell you how much I am enjoying writing JF Uncut on Saturdays and Sundays – if you missed this week’s posts, simply scroll down.

Finally, to make you smile: “McCain versus Obama – The Dance Off“ - well it made me smile

Tomorrow: On The JF Guest Author Spot I am delighted to welcome back a very good friend and one of the foremost leadership gurus on the planet - best selling author and good all round egg, Kevin Eikenberry – you will not want to miss his pearls of wisdom. 

Our role in the sales situation alternates between sender and receiver of messages. The very best sales professionals devote a large portion of the sales interview to listening.

“Creative ability” is geared to perceptiveness. Our ears are as important to perception as our eyes.

Understanding people and “human motivation” demands alertness to behaviour clues. Among the most important clues are the words people use.

“Human relations” is all about helping others like themselves. Sincere listening demonstrates sincere interest.

The best sales approach begins with a question. Listening for the answer is our guidepost to the right road.

Solutions to problems are based on what we hear in answer to the questions we’ve asked and good listening is the shortest distance between us and more sales; better sales, faster sales.

Good listening is a skill that requires much conscious practice.

There are many bad listening habits common to most of us:

• We lable subjects dull and uninteresting and tune out.
• We look only for facts, not ideas.
• We stress the speaker’s manner of delivery and speech habits and ignore the contents of their words.
• We let our emotions colour and obscure the inflow. (We judge before we understand, and lose the thread.)
• We permit ourselves to be distracted.
• We pretend to listen but we don’t hear 
• We go off on mental tangents.

These poor listening habits are “pick-pockets” that rob us into mental and sales poverty. Be alert to them and avoid them.

Good listening is real work. But there are many things in our favour. Average speech speed is 125 words per minute. We can listen six times as fast. This gives the listener a time advantage over the speaker.

The good listener applies the ”EARS” Formula to exploit this advantage. They:

Evaluate – search for evidence that the speaker might use to support their statements
Anticipate – tries to predict what the next point will be
Review – mentally summarises the main points the speaker has covered
Speculate – read between the lines to ask: “What is he/she really saying?”

It pays also to listen with your eyes as well as your ears. Frequently a gesture or an expression, will reveal as much or more than words.

Remember too, communication involves four steps:

Step One: Sensing the message and the stimuli that goes with it

Step Two: Interpreting it (to be sure you understand)

Step Three: Evaluating it (never judge before you understand)

Step Four: Reacting (either verbally or non-verbally)

And Finally – Some additional hints on listening:

• Be neutral. Let the other person have their full say.
• Give them complete attention… and reinforcement.
• If appropriate, ask them to explain further.
• Rephrase their main points and “play them back” to them…to help them see if they have said exactly what they wanted to say, and to make sure you understand.
• Put their “feelings” into words. This will help them evaluate and perhaps modify their statement…and it gives further evidence of your understanding.
• At the appropriate time, get agreement. Summarise what you have both said as a preparation for the next step. If possible, have them suggest the course of action.

Listening really is that important: First we seek to understand, and we cannot do that, unless we listen.

I think you will also enjoy: “How To Become An Active Listener”

Today’s News: I have a couple of really excellent events to share with you, but unfortunately, the copy didn’t arrive on time. However, I can confirm that the latest Top Sales Experts ebook launched to very loud “hurrahs” – if you haven’t downloaded your FREE copy yet, just click on the banner below.

Our graphics guy, Bill Jeckells, who was responsible for putting the masterpiece together, has been at it again – I asked if we could have a single leaf design, that incorporated the TSE logo – this is what he sent through last night!

Tomorrow: On the JF Guest Author Spot I welcome Dan Adams.

The JF Guest Author Spot

Recently I went to this really cool, really massive grocery store that friends had been raving about. It has all sorts of international foods, smoked pork, fish from all over the world…it was like stepping into a fabulous foreign country!

As we purchased all of our groceries – we were told to grab a gift box of these mango/coconut popsicles (hey I am always game for dessert!) and of course I was thrilled with the little extra touch.

Flash forward – we’ve used the mango/coconut popsicles in some home-made slurpees (with tequila of course!) and loved them.

A few days ago – I was watching a movie and thought “Heyyyyyyy – I want one of those little mango “doo-dads.”

As I opened the wrapper, I was reading the ingredients etc – all good.

And then. I. saw. it. (Insert screechy Exorcist movie music here.) The due date of April 2006!!!!!

My mind was rapidly doing the math – thinking ” This thing has to be almost 3 years old – maybe older!!” I’d been eating petrified mango/coconut goo.

And all of a sudden – the little EXTRA that I had received from the grocery store – left me with a really bad lasting impression of their store.

Are You Handing Out “Goodies” Past Their Due Date?

I know you wouldn’t give any expired food away- but I bet you’ve been tempted to use:
-That un-used box of business cards with your old address
-The out-dated brochures you paid a fortune for
-A give-away that you discovered the printing rubs off
-Cheap candy at your tradeshow booth
-Some silly thing that was cheap but doesn’t work

Remember – Everything Matters!

And it leaves your customers and potential customers with a lasting impression of you. In selling, where top of mind awareness is everything – this is your chance to do something cool rather than cheap.
How do you want to be remembered??

So Have I Been Back To The Grocery Store?

Nope. Even just thinking about it makes me gag a little. Plus – I have told this story to all my friends…and it made them gag too. Remember – viral marketing can go 2 ways.

So there.

Love From Your Bossy Sales Diva,

Kim

Kim Duke, The Sales Diva, provides savvy, sassy sales training for women small biz owners and entrepreneurs. Kim works with clients internationally, showing them The Sales Diva secrets to success! Sign up for her saucy and smart FREE e-zine and receive her FREE Bonus Report “The 5 Biggest Sales Mistakes Women Make” at www.salesdivas.com

Kim is also one of the original members of the Top Sales Experts team and you can read more about here here

Today’s News: There are ten great articles nominated on Top 10 Sales Articles this week – you can check them out here

I am just off to complete a final proof reading of the Top Sales Experts ebook, so depending what time-zone you are in, you may get a chance to read it today – it should post at 5pm GMT – 12noon Eastern. I think you will be mighty impressed, I am! If you have already registered, it will arrive in your inbox automatically, if not, you can register on the home page here

Tomorrow: “God gave us two ears and one mouth”

The JF Guest Author Spot

Paul McCord

Are you a salesperson, professional or business owner who is trying to market to anyone and everyone in your market that might even remotely have a use or need for your product or service? If you are, why?

Why would you try to do something that most salespeople and professionals can’t possibly do well? Marketing on a general scale is expensive—just ask Coke, Microsoft, Old Navy, Sears, State Farm, UBS, or any other major company. They spend hundreds of millions of dollars every year trying to do what you’re trying to do on a shoestring.

But, you say, you’re only working in a very limited area? Fine, do you have the budget of a major, local auto dealership, or major, local furniture store, or any other major, local business that is trying to do what you’re trying to do?

But, again, you say that you’re not marketing to the general consumer but to a specific industry. OK. Do you have the budget your major competitors have to do direct mail, sponsor association events, advertise in industry specific publications, and all the other things your big competitors do?

No, you say, but you don’t need the sales volume they do in order to support all of those things or the massive staff they have. Good, now we’re getting somewhere.

You don’t need the sales volume they need, you don’t have the budget they have, and you don’t have the staff they have. So, why are you trying to capture the same general market they’re trying to capture? You don’t need it and you can’t afford it.

Rather than spreading your time, effort and marketing budget so thin, why not focus on one or two very specific segments of the market where you can become a real player? Instead of trying to spread your marketing budget over say, 40,000 people, why not focus on a small, but highly focused segment of maybe 5,000 people? Instead of trying to get to 11,000 companies, why not focus on 2,000 companies that fit within your ideal prospect template? Better yet, why not focus on 800 companies that are perfect fits to your ideal prospect? 5,000, 2,000, or 800 is still a large number.

By defining your ideal prospect in as detailed terms as you possibly can and then focusing only on that group, you increase your likelihood of selling each prospect, you are more capable of making inroads with each since you can focus your message to that group specifically, and you maximize your marketing dollars. You also can become the expert to really understand and resolve their issues and problems.

Finding and exploiting one or two niches is a far more effective marketing format for most salespeople, professionals and small businesses. Unless you have the time and money to compete with the big boys, you’re better served to do what they can’t—concentrate on and become the expert in a highly focused segment of the market.

Why don’t more salespeople, professionals and business owners focus on niche markets? Fear. Fear of possibly losing a sale. Fear that the niche may not be big enough to find enough clients to stay in business. Fear that they won’t be able to penetrate the niche. Fear that they’re leaving money on the table.

These fears are unfounded for the most part. Becoming a niche player does take time. It takes effort. It takes discipline. However, there is a lot of money to be made being a big fish in a very small pond—and no money to be made being a dead fish in a very large lake.

Today’s News: Most salespeople are looking to finish the year strongly and over at Salesopedia, Clayton Shold is in conversation with Jim Messenheimer about this very topic.

Clayton says: “I refer to Jim Meisenheimer as a sales expert; he refers to himself as a lifetime student of the selling profession. Which ever way you look at him he is a “player” in the sales game having trained tens of thousands of sales producers and thousands of sales managers. He knows what is required to finish the year strong. This podcast examines if you have what it takes to nail the fourth quarter. Jim walks you through six critical questions which strategically look at your business. He professes if you invest at least one day working through these questions you will not only have a banner last quarter but set the pace for next year.”  Simply click on the banner to listen in.

Tomorrow: What do doctors and salespeople have in common?

You would think that particularly now, as we shiver under the dark clouds of financial uncertainty, we would be compelled to leave our comfort zones, and go off in search of greater security?

Not “most” people, because “most” people are too afraid.

I often quote this:

“Prince Rabadash’s army lay close behind them, Anvard ahead. If they did not reach Anvard before Rabadash and his horde, their journey, their entire lives, would have been wasted. The horses, Bree and Hwin (both of whom could, of course, talk) galloped. Certainly both horses were doing, if not all they could, all they thought they could do; which is not quite the same thing. But a lion appeared out of nowhere and with the spur of terror; Bree now discovered that he had not really been going as fast, not quite as fast, as he could“.

This extract is of course taken from “The Chronicles of Narnia”, that fount of a million, simple and usually overlooked truths, and it illustrates perfectly what it takes for some of us to be steered out of our comfort zone.

Perhaps of all the temptations we meet in life, money, power, sex, alcohol, drugs and fame, the subtlest of all is the comfort zone, that invitation to settle for less, to go for content when the stresses of over achievement beckon. The way that takes you out of the comfort zone is the route less travelled by. Most of us when we come to that place where the two paths divide prefer the one that leads to safety, to warmth and to comfort.

Both in sport and in business, I have witnessed countless companies, friends, colleagues and team mates that underachieved, despite having far superior skills and talents when compared to others who have made it to the top. The reasons have always been the same, fear of leaving the comfort zone and entering into the unknown, the land potentially of failure and rejection.

However, I believe there is another way to motivate individuals and coax them out and it relies on one simple fact; most people do not know what they want from life. Certainly, the majority working in a commercial field will say they crave success but without understanding what success means for them. Of course, describing success is difficult, because it will be different for all of us. The definition I prefer is ‘The achievement of a worthwhile goal’

I also believe that I can speak with authority about the comfort zone, but in my case, I was lucky enough to discover Earl Nightingale, probably the greatest motivational speaker and personal development guru of our time,and yes, I include Anthony Robbins, Brian Tracy, Tom Peters et al in that assessment.

If you haven’t yet had the opportunity to listen to Earl, I strongly recommend you seek out his work - I can honestly say that no other single person has had such a profound effect on my own work. 

My experience is that you cannot have everything you want, but you can have anything you really want – you just have to know what it is.

Today’s News: Over at Top 10 Sales Articles, we have just announced the Top Sales Article for September – we now have nine finalists for Top Sales Article Of The Year and just three more places up for grabs

They will join a very illustrious group of world-class authors and sales gurus:

Paul Cherry, Josiane Feigon, Ivan Misner, Mike Brooks, Mark Satterfield, Zig Ziglar, Kevin Eikenberry, Jill Konrath and…..

Just click on the banner below to find out who this month’s worthy winner is…….

You have just over a week to claim one of the last few seats at THE New York event of the month – just click on the banner right at the end of this post

Tomorrow: On The JF Guest Author Spot, my guest is good friend Keith Rosen, who having sent me his latest book, was horrified to have it returned on Saturday: Unfortunately, he sent it to my home address and the rules are now that if you are not in when the postman tries to deliver a package, they don’t try and re-deliver, they return to sender??? Such is French customer service these days.

The JF Guest Author Spot

Billy Cox

Do you wake up in the morning thinking, “This is going to be a lousy day” or “Nothing good ever happens to me”? If you have an important presentation to make, do you tell yourself, “I don’t have a chance at closing this sale”? If you routinely think this way, how does your day turn out? Do you make the sale? I’d be willing to bet you get exactly the results you expected.

Winners wake up every morning with excitement, enthusiasm, and confidence, knowing that success is in store for them. Top performers set their minds for victory; they set their minds for success.

Setting your mind for success doesn’t happen automatically. You have to constantly tell yourself “today is a great day, good things are happening, and new and exciting doors are opening.” Go out each and every day believing success will come your way.

Now, you may think, “My business isn’t doing well, nobody will buy from me, and I can’t pay my bills. How can I live with enthusiasm? How can I be positive when I have so many problems?”

You gotta make a decision that you’re going to have confident expectancy about everything you do. You have to continually expect that things are going to get better. Positive expectation is a conscious choice and a habit of faith. It is a conscious choice to see a positive outcome instead of a negative one. As you think, so it is created. As you believe, so it is done.

Expectancy is about seeing beyond where you are. Look out into the future and see yourself as successful, happy, and enthusiastic. See sales coming your way, see yourself having all the contacts you want and watch your income soar. See things better than they are . . . see them as you want them to be. Develop a habit of focusing on what’s right in your world instead of what’s wrong, on what you have instead of what you don’t have, on your talents instead of on your weaknesses. You’re probably asking, “What if I do that and it doesn’t work?”

My question to you is, “What if you do it and it does work?”

If you will consistently think about and focus on what you want, you will ultimately get it. By focusing on positive thoughts, you open up your mind to start attracting success. This is why top salespeople seem to effortlessly sell so much more than average negative-thinking salespeople. People want to do business with positive, upbeat, successful individuals.

When things look impossible or you’re tempted to go through the day negative and self-destructive, that is when you have to step up and change your belief level. Expect good things to happen. Expect to rise above your challenges. Expect victory!

When those around you predict doom and gloom for everything from the economy to your dreams and goals, remember that success in life, business and sales is mostly a mental game. Your thoughts will drive your results, your success, even your destiny. So proactively focus on the positive, defend your mind against the negative, and expect victory. You have the power to choose your thoughts and your attitude and, therefore, your success.

 
Billy Cox is a Top Sales Expert and an internationally recognized business leader, author, and inspirational speaker he energizes people to dream big, take action, and achieve results. His message comes from the authenticity and credibility of his own inspiring, all-American success story. Billy Cox now teaches the essentials that led to his own success – he has lived what he speaks. Billy pairs his powerful message with a high-energy, passionate, and down-to-earth style.

You can find out more about Billy here: www.billycoxinternational.com

Today’s News: You could be forgiven for thinking that today is officially “Billy Cox Day” – well it is here!

Now you have the opportinity to listen to Billy in conversation with Clayton Shold – the topic is “Positive Mindset” - over at Salesopedia, just click on the banner below.

Tomorrow: My own thoughts about salespeople and limiting beliefs – I think you’ll enjoy it!

When was the last time you were introduced to a professional salesperson and when asked what they did for a living, they said openly and honestly: “Oh, I sell?”

No, rather most salespeople prefer to disguise themselves behind euphemisms such as: “Sales Engineer”, “Account Executive”, “Technical Consultant” etc. But nowadays we have to accept that we all sell everyday – doctors, lawyers, estate agents, architects and politicians. The fact remains that anyone who is in business has to sell themselves and their products – and the so called “Captains of Industry” – Branson, Roddick, Marshall, Hanson, Gates, Dell and Co. are thought to be amongst the best salespeople in the world.

It therefore follows that the quality and success of our salespeople will ultimately determine the success of our business: Certainly the world has become more competitive and in order to survive and prosper we need to continually expand and develop the skill sets of our sales teams.

Sir John Harvey-Jones said “Most companies fail not in their attempts to be innovative or creative. In this country most of them fail because they undervalue the importance of professional selling”

Unfortunately, the task of selling never becomes any easier and as competition continues to intensify, sales people will face issues that can be extremely difficult to deal with e.g. decreased product uniqueness, increased competition within ‘safe’ markets, longer sales cycles and shorter product life spans. Every organisation that intends to survive in the re-engineered environment, which arrived with the new millennium, must, in my view, respond to those realities.

In summary: Our commercial functions, particularly the sales team, represent our forward line, if they are not scoring regularly we cannot possibly achieve our overall commercial objectives – i.e. nothing happens until somebody sells something and all  that investment in costly accounting software, new office equipment, expensive IT systems etc. will count for nothing. We can therefore say with complete confidence, that selling really is the key factor in the total marketing process.

Today’s News: This is going to be a particularly busy week; to kick-off:

On September 17th there is a no-charge webinar, being hosted by JigSaw, that will have an audience of 1,000+ entrepreneurs, business leaders, and sales & marketing professionals looking for an edge or unfair advantage in sales.

During this 30 minute webinar Craig Elias will prove that there is a Silver Bullet in sales. Just click on the banner below for full details.

A great article from Paul McCord was this week’s worthy winner over at Top 10 Sales Articles - be sure to check it out.

Tomorrow: My guest is CEO of The Sandler Institute and fellow Top Sales Expert Steve Kraner, so do join us.