Jonathan Farrington’s Blog

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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!

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”

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

Most people are familiar with the old saying, “Easy come. Easy go” In the sales world we often observe that sales people who experience success quickly falsely assume that the sales profession is going to be easy. After a month or two, however, those fortunate few often reach a different conclusion. Without much sweat equity invested, they head off and look for the next rainbow. If only we could teach a new saying, “Easy come. Forget That” We may not have that saying, but we can look at a 19th Century opera composer who expressed it and set the example we may well want to copy.

After experiencing a degree of success with his very first opera, a young and unknown composer, Giuseppe Verdi, hit the big leagues by receiving a contract to compose two more operas for the most famous opera house in Italy. Talk about a winning sales presentation! One could certainly say that his success came quite easily.

Anything But Easy:

Verdi’s next opera was to be an Opera buffa, a form of comedic opera, but the life events that preceded the opening night of that opera were anything but comical. In August 1838 Verdi’s 16-month old daughter died suddenly. Just fourteen months later, his 18-month old son died of bronchial pneumonia. Only eight months after the death of his son, Verdi’s wife died after an illness of just five days. Within twenty-two months, Verdi’s entire family was wiped out. Imagine trying to write a comedy while the family members around you are dying one after another.

Not surprisingly, Verdi’s second opera was a complete flop. Easy come, easy go? Not on your life. Verdi’s first success might have come easy, but the bad reviews he received from his second opera hardly sent him away crying. Instead he dug in his heels and decided never to pine for the approval of his critics. From that disaster he developed an intense emotional independence. Now there’s something all sales professionals can use - emotional independence.

One of the Great Secrets of Successful Entrepreneurs:

In the sales business, it’s easy to see our prospects and even our loved ones as the critics that hold our fortune in their hands. If our prospects tell us “No,” or if our loved ones tell us, “You’ll never be a successful entrepreneur,” we think the die is cast.

Time to let the 19th century composer, Giuseppe Verdi, teach you one of the great secrets of successful entrepreneurs! Buck up, spit in the eyes of your critics (figuratively speaking, please!), and decide once and for all that the only opinion that matters is your own.

Verdi cared little about what the critics said and he learned to face failure and success with equanimity. One of his famous letters in its entirety simply said, “La Traviatta last night? a fiasco. Was it my fault or the singers? Only time will tell.”

Just in case you didn’t know, time told all right. Verdi is considered by many to be the greatest of all the Italian opera composers.
Regardless of whether or not the direct sales or the network marketing business has come easy for you, decide right now to face failure and success with equanimity, that is, with poise, with imperturbability, with (dare I say it?) confidence. Let failure be your instructor. Be willing to learn what you need to learn from each failure and then take three more giant steps forward.

It’s not the approval of the critics that you need to succeed; it’s the approval of one infinitely more precious. It’s the approval of someone who’s been with you for every moment of every day of your entire life.

End each day by giving yourself the critique you long for. It goes something like this: “You did the best job you knew how to do today. Well done!”

Author, Sales Trainer, and Professional Speaker, Tammy Stanley founded and directs The Sales Refinery, a sales training firm that assists independent sales professionals generate more business through powerful marketing, selling and leadership strategies. She offers several free reports, “7 Steps to Easier Prospecting,” and “3 Simple Secrets to Attracting More Prospects in Your Sales Business” and a free weekly ezine, The Sales Refinery Insights, at her websites: www.tammystanley.com and www.carpephonum.com

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

Today’s News: It just feels as if everywhere you turn, there is another upcoming tele-seminar or webinar or podcast? I have listened in on some pretty banal and mundane offerings recently but there are a handful of sales experts that I will always find time to tune into - earlier in the week, I alerted you to Paul McCord’s event with Landslide Technologies and my very good friend Jill Konrath has one up and coming on January 24th - Changing the Game: The new rules of sales engagement - you will find full details here

Tomorrow: To finish off the week in style, some thoughts on how to brainstorm your way to success!

The JF Guest Author Spot

Many people spend some time at the end of the year working on the New Year. These people typically fall into two groups: those who use the end of the year as a way to be introspective and look back on the past year, and those who spend time looking forward; setting goals and planning the coming year.

Actually, there is a much larger third group – the group that intends to do one or the other of these things but ends up doing neither. Why this third group exists is the topic for another article, but reading this article can provide a path to help you if find yourself stuck in inactivity each December!

Each of the first two groups is doing something positive and helpful, but both are missing something. They are each doing half of the two step process for accelerating your success. Here are those two steps:

• Reflect
• Project

Either of these steps can be useful, however when you place both of them together, you create a powerful synergy. Let’s look at each individually.

Reflection

Reflection is key to capitalizing on your past experiences. Have you ever met someone who seems to make the same mistake repeatedly? This person isn’t taking time to reflect on what worked (and what didn’t) in their past experiences. Reflection allows us to learn and grow from our past experiences. You can see why people like to do this at the end of the year – it gives them time to take stock of their year and look for the things they learned.

Doing this reflection successfully though is about more than collecting lessons; it is also about growing from those lessons. Effective reflection leads to an outcome – an intention for applying those lessons in the future, which leads to the second step.

Projection

Projection is a process of looking forward. When people take time at the end of the year to look ahead and set some goals they are projecting. Projection is planning; thinking about the future, deciding what you want and then expecting success. When we plan from a perspective of expected success, we plan more thoroughly. And when we plan more thoroughly, we improve our ability to execute on those plans.

As you can see this is a more engaging process than just creating a New Year’s Resolution. The good news is that this more integrated approach gives you a much better chance of making your “resolutions” real.

How To Do It

Now that you know the steps, you may be looking for more guidance on how to do them. While books could be written on specific details and tools, you’d likely rather be reflecting and projecting than reading an in-depth treatise on approaches. So let me make it simple.

Ask yourself questions.

Ask yourself questions to reflect on the past year, on the lessons you learned and more.

Ask yourself questions to think about the coming year, what you want to achieve and how you can use the lessons of the past to reach those plans more rapidly.

Asking questions and answering them is one of the most powerful ways to help you reach any new goal or objective.

Only at the End of the Year?

I’m writing this in mid-December and this is definitely a time of year when this two-step approach is helpful. But you can use this approach any time you wish, or any time you are looking for a kick start on success.

Maybe . . .

• Once a quarter
• At your birthday
• At the start (or end) of a new job
• At the start (or end) of a big project

You can reflect and project anytime you want – in fact the more you think in terms of learning from your past and applying it to your future goals and plans, the more you accelerate your progress!

Like many other things in life, the more time you put into these processes the more valuable they will be, and yet simply working on a daily basis with this dual focus of reflection and projection can be helpful as well.

______________________________________
Potential Pointer: The best way to succeed includes knowing where we have been and using that knowledge to as a foundation for planning the future. Using a process of reflection and projection provides a two step process to accelerate our success in any endeavor.
________________________________________
Copyright © 2008 - All Rights Reserved, Kevin Eikenberry and The Kevin Eikenberry Group.

  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. To receive your free special report on Unleashing Your Potential go to http://www.kevineikenberry.com/uypw/index.asp

Today’s News:

 You also have a second opportunity to download Kevin’s superb personal planning tool - just click on the image.

I am utilising it myself and I cannot recommend it highly enough

Tomorrow: When the playing fields are getting ever flatter in most sectors, what is it that really creates competitive advantage? Find out tomorrow.

The JF Guest Author Spot

What does it take to be successful in sales? Certainly effort, hard work and dedication is important. An excellent understanding of the sales process is also essential. But it’s more than that. The most successful people I know have a slightly different outlook than their coworkers and associates.

I recently worked with a group of people who, collectively, had an extensive amount of sales experience. And, for the most part, they all boasted a pretty successful career. Even though they expressed some frustration that they didn’t close as many sales as they would like to, or that prospects didn’t always return their calls, they didn’t bitch, moan, whine or complain about it. In fact, I didn’t hear a single complaint during the entire session. After more than a decade of conducting sales training workshops and programs, I can say that this mentality is rare.

It was evident that this group of people possessed a winners attitude. And I believe that this attitude contributed to their success. So, just what is a winner’s attitude?

A winner’s attitude is the ability to focus on your long- term goals even though your short-term results are not on track. This is more difficult than it seems. Too many people take their eyes off their long-term goal when they experience a slow month or two and end up focusing on their lack of results. As a result, they get sidetracked and their sales continue to suffer. In the words of Earl Nightingale, “You become what you think about.”

A winner’s attitude means resisting the temptation to blame the economy, competition, or current market conditions when sales are soft. Winners focus on what they can control unlike the average sales person who redirects the blame to take the heat off himself.

A winner’s attitude means exploring different options and approaches to selling. The best sales people constantly hone their skills. They read books and articles. They listen to CDs or Podcasts. They take advantage of every training program they can including webinars and tele-seminars. Winners know that business gets more competitive every day and they take action to improve their knowledge and skill. They work at incorporating new techniques into their existing style.

A winner’s attitude means focusing on showing the value of your product or service. Unlike average sales people, winners don’t focus on price. They know that most buyers and customers are more concerned with solving their problems and getting a complete solution rather than getting the cheapest or lowest price. While average sales people are quick to offer a discount, winners concentrate on showing customers how their product is different than their competitors.

A winner’s attitude is accepting the fact that you won’t close every sale. Winners recognize that a series of ‘no’s’ brings them that much closer to a ‘yes’. Winners may not enjoy losing a sale to a competitor but they’re not going to beat themselves up when it happens, providing, of course, they can say that they did everything in their power to capture that business.

A winner’s attitude means learning from every sales interaction to improve your future results. Winners take every opportunity to learn. A sales manager once told me that he evaluated every single sale when he first took on a new territory many years earlier. This brief analysis and self-critique helped him improve his performance so he didn’t repeat his mistakes. Plus, in each subsequent sales call, he modified his approach slightly, and in a few short years, sales in his territory increased many times over.

A winner’s attitude is one of optimism and enthusiasm. The most successful people I know all have a great outlook. They know that every cloud has a silver lining, and when ’stuff’ happens, they recover quickly. They look for ways to prevent ’stuff’ from occurring because they learn from every situation (see above point). Winners don’t dwell on the past-they focus on the future because they realize that they can’t change what has already happened. However, they do know that they CAN influence what happens from that point forward.

Sales managers who possess a winner’s attitude work with their sales reps instead of chastising them for a lost sales opportunity. Winning sales managers coach their team, go on sales calls with their reps, and provide on-going training for their sales people. They also go to bat for their team and support help in every way possible. Sales managers with a winner’s attitude celebrate individual and team results and they foster a strong sense of pride within the organization. Ultimately, they lead by example and create a team of winners.

What are you doing to develop a winner’s attitude?

© 2008 Kelley Robertson, All rights reserved.

  Kelley Robertson, author of The Secrets of Power Selling helps sales professionals and businesses pinpoint what they need to do differently to improve their sales. Receive a FREE copy of “100 Ways to Increase Your Sales” by subscribing to his free newsletter available at www. kelleyrobertson.com. Kelley conducts workshops and speaks regularly at sales meetings and conferences. For information on his programs contact him at Kelley@RobertsonTrainingGroup.com

Today’s News: One of the services we will be providing when we launch The JF Consultancy shortly, is an online sales team assessment to accurately identify current development needs and forecast future ones. Why? It is our opinion that millions of dollars are wasted every year on uneccessary or ineffective sales training because the assessment of needs is abdicated to the training companies themselves, most of whom only have their interests at heart.

We will provide unbiased, independent advice and we will not be recommending training providers, unless specifically asked to do so.

Utilising a brand new, highly sophisticated assessment tool called X-Sell, we believe this service will revolutionise the way forward thinking organisations develop their sales teams and in the process, save themselves a great deal of money - more soon.

One of my favourite locations for submitting my work is Eyes On Sales and they recently published one of my articles, which highlights how the very best companies develop their sales teams. You can read it in full here

Tomorrow: “Transactional Analysis And It’s Effect On Customer Interactions”

Assertiveness skills are very important in many situations; by being assertive you are letting people know what you want, need or prefer, in a way which is acceptable to both you and them. Put simply; assertiveness is about getting what you want without upsetting anyone.

Let’s start by defining assertiveness.

Definition Of Assertion

“Expressing opinions, thoughts and feelings in a non-defensive manner clearly and openly. It is being able to make requests and to refuse requests that are unacceptable”

Indicators Of Non-Verbal Assertive, Aggressive & Passive Behaviour

If you want to become more assertive, pay particular attention to your non-verbal behaviour as this needs to be in line with your verbal behaviour. If they are at odds it is the non-verbal behaviour that is usually believed  The following are indicators, and only that. Just because someone does not have good eye contact and looks away a lot, does not mean to say that they are passive. It is their whole demeanour that is important

Assertive Non-Verbal Behaviour

- Firm eye contact, not staring

- Expresses anger and pleasure in face when appropriate, sincere reaction

- Features are steady, not set or changing frequently

- Stands and sits upright

- Open hand movements - relaxed posture, head held up

Aggressive Non-Verbal Behaviour

- Tries to dominate by staring

- Finger pointing

- Gives very knowing smile and set face when angry

- Arms crossed

- Stands and sits upright, head ‘in air’, leaning forward

- Raised eyebrows in disbelief

- Jabbing movements with hands, banging desk, clenched fists

- Paces impatiently

- Sits forward or steps forward

Passive Non-Verbal Behaviour

 - Hesitant eye contact

 - Looks away often and down

 - Over smiles, gives ghost smile, even if angry

 - Quick changing features

 - Slouches, head down
 
 - Fluttering hand movement, or playing with fingers or wringing hands

 - Sits back or steps back

 - Eyes raised in anticipation

Now let’s take a look at verbal behaviour.

Indicators Of Verbal Assertive, Aggressive & Passive Behaviour

Assertive
 
- Questions to find out thoughts, requirements, etc. of others

- Offers suggestions and ideas, not advice

- Never blames others

- Distinguishes fact from fiction (assumption, opinion)

- Steady voice, clear, well pitched, warm and sincere

- ‘I’ statements. ‘I prefer’, ‘I’d like’

- Clear concise statements, to the point. ‘I’d like to introduce this into the department within three months’, instead of wrapping up what you want with so much waffle it is unclear what you actually want

- Focusing on what can be done, not what can’t be done

- Problem solving statements

- Ability to give and receive feedback, both developmental and motivational

Aggressive

- Hard, brusque, over firm, voice rises at the end of sentences

- Too many ‘I’ statements

- Abrupt statements, often containing ‘My’ said in a superior fashion

- Hostile, threatening questions

- Blame put on anyone but self

- Gives feedback in the form of ‘Well, what you should do is…’ Does not solicit or accept feedback easily

- Doesn’t ask questions to find out facts, makes assumptions

- Sarcastic, point scoring

- Assumptions and opinions are put over as facts – uses statements like: ‘Well you probably wouldn’t remember’, and “ Not that you’d understand”

Passive

- Often lifeless voice, too quiet, monotone, over warm, voice drops away at the end of the sentence

- Waffle, long-winded statements

- Uses lots of “fill-in” words e.g. ‘Um’, ‘Yes’, ‘Well’

- Continually apologises and asks permission

- Few ‘I’ statements

- Puts self down, ‘Well I never could do it as well as you’

- Feels the need to justify a great deal

- Agrees with people, often with people of opposing views (Just to keep the peace)

In Summary: We All Have Assertive Rights

• The right to be assertive

• The right to choose not to be assertive

• The right to have and to express our views

• The right to be listened to

• The right to make decisions

• The right to admit we don’t know

• The right to say ‘no’ without feeling guilty

• The right to be consulted about decisions affecting us

• The right to change our mind

• The right to be treated with respect

In fact, the right to do anything that does not violate the rights of others.

Today’s News: Someone asked me the other day if, having established a great resource for sales leaders, were we considering developing one for salesmen and women. The short answer is “Yes” it is something we are contemplating but I pointed out that the hundreds of resources on Sales Leadership Zone are not exclusively for managers, they are also equally useful for front-line sales professionals - and they are free!

We will be adding several new sections shortly and launching a newsletter, so if you have not enrolled yet, why not do so today?

Tomorrow: On the JF Guest Author spot, Kelley Robertson, good chum and fellow Top Sales Expert with: “A Winner’s Attitude” which identifies what it takes to be really successful in sales.

The JF Guest Author Spot 

Customers buy from effective sales people. Customers trust effective sales people. Customers are loyal to effective sales people.

Colleagues admire effective sales people. Colleagues seek help and mentoring from effective sales people. Senior managers trust and rely on effective sales people to get the job done.

Effective sales people are always looking for new ways to help customers. Effective sales people grow business relationships and hence sales volume.

To be an effective sales person requires an exceptional blend of behaviour, skills and knowledge. The requirements are:

Behaviour

Accountability for achievement of bottom line results is a must. It is not acceptable to fail because of external events. Successful sales people find a way to succeed despite external events. They have a determined attitude to achieving results.

Working alone is not an option for a sales person. They rely on individuals and teams within their own organisation and within the customer’s organisation to be successful. They work in and build teams, inspiring others to excel so that they might achieve their desired sales results.

Being a successful sales person means being disciplined, so that over-promising and under-delivering are the rare exception. Further, self development and learning is the norm. For example, they learn about their customer’s industry and business as a matter of course. If they have supervisory responsibilities they address performance issues directly and fairly.

Successful sales people find ways of improving the business by making their customers business more efficient or effective. They are prepared to try out new approaches and take well balanced risks.

Skills

The skills of building relationships are vital to success in selling. Sales people must value and work at developing interpersonal relationships in all interactions they have across the customer’s organisation, as well as their own. For example, the importance of a good relationship with the personal assistant of the general manager is no more evident than when trying to access the general manager at a busy time.

Negotiating to achieve outcomes considered valuable to customers and to their organisation is necessary for building profitable relationships. Likewise, ensuring the supply chain fulfils the needs of the contract or agreement often requires subtle negotiating skill.

Managing the financial aspects of the contract is where the real value is locked in. Sales people must be able to ensure that bills are paid on time.

Successful sales people raise the capability of the sales organisation through the development of others. They will coach and train those who need it to deliver a better overall outcome for the organisation.

Identifying the critical issues or opportunities using all relevant and available information is crucial to sales success. Successful sales people determine the causes and possible solutions of problems in a manner that enhances customer relationships.

Knowledge

Product, service and logistics knowledge are the base of knowledge that successful sales people use to help solve customers’ problems.

Understanding the customer’s operations, services and products and their value chain is the knowledge that successful sales people use to define customers’ problems.

Having a deep understanding of customers’ structure and process is the knowledge by which successful sales people determine the most pressing customer problem to solve and for whom to solve it.

Planning sales calls so that they are efficient and effective requires knowledge in detail of the geography customers and prospects reside in and their daily schedules.

A successful sales person is a professional. The behaviour, knowledge and skills required to be a successful sales person are unusual to find in one person. That is why successful sales people stand out.

©2007 Change Factory

 Kevin Dwyer is a pragmatic change management advisor and founder of Change Factory. He comes from an old school that experienced and led change first and learnt the theory later.

Kevin’s interest in sales is in developing the reinforcing loops of corporate goal, strategy, marketing and sales tactics, KPIs, recruitment, career and competence development, coaching and counselling that influences more customers to move through their buying process with the selling organisation. You can learn more about Kevin and the Change Factory here

Today’s News: You may well be aware that the culmination of the 2007 Top Sales Article Of The Year competition resulted in a win for Keith Rosen with “Why Should I Talk To You?“ Our congratulations to Keith and of course to the other eight finalists for producing such superb work.

The 2008 contest is under way and the first ten nominees of the year have been posted over at Top 10 Sales Articles

Tomorrow:”We All Have The Right To Do Anything That Does Not Violate The Rights Of Others”

I am back! I cannot believe how quickly the festive period flashed by and then into 2008, but I am revived, refreshed and raring to go again -it is going to be a fantastic year and I am so looking forward to it.  

It is that time of year when all professional and dedicated sales professionals should be focusing on what they want to achieve next year. Having said that, most people, and I would estimate 80%, because Pareto’s principle is always pretty accurate, will not set objectives and in failing to plan will in effect, be planning to fail.

The greatest difficulty most people have is knowing where to begin, so here are some thoughts that will hopefully assist you in constructing an achievable plan for the next twelve months and beyond.

You have to set yourself goals, become goal orientated and a goal achiever - otherwise you will drift through life like a ship without a rudder hoping to be swept into a “harbour of opportunity” Unfortunately, without a rudder, you are more likely to end up on the rocks and in later life look back in frustration: “I could have” “If only I had” etc, but by then it will be too late.

Do You Have A Life Map? – If Not, Think Of The Pilot:

Before a pilot takes off he knows the distance and the payload; he has assessed the weather conditions at departure and arrival points and he has contingency plans should those conditions dramatically change in any way.

He is the manager of his crew, he is prepared at all times for the unexpected and he is capable of making instant decisions. He is also able to psychologically accept the mundane

What Have You Been In The Past? Making An Honest Appraisal:

The objective of appraising your past performance, whether that is last year or your entire life is to improve and capitalise on your strengths and eliminate your weaknesses or limitations. Completing a SLOT analysis regularly will help you enormously.

The SLOT analysis can be an extremely useful technique for you to think about what you can offer relative to your external environment and helps you to take stock of your position so that you can plan your future development.

S = Strengths:

What can I do well? What are my best skills and attributes? Where do I have the greatest talent? (Try to illustrate your ideas with concrete examples.)

L = Limitations:

What am I less good at? (In which aspects of your work and personal life do you need improvement? Is the improvement needed large or small?)

O = Opportunities:

What is currently happening that can give me the opportunity for personal growth and improved performance? As technology changes and society advances what new opportunities will occur that I can take advantage of?

T = Threats:

What changes or forces may affect my current situation or act as a barrier to future development? Which people might get in the way? How could I sabotage my own development?

The Strengths and Limitations elements are personal to you. Opportunities and Threats lie in the external environment.

Use Your SLOT Analysis To:

• Identify how you can maximise the use of your strengths

• See how you can compensate for your limitations

• Identify opportunities, particularly ones that may not be immediately obvious

• If at all possible, see if threats can be turned into opportunities

What you have been in the past can only have two influences on the present – positive or negative. I believe that successful people have invisible plastic wings on their shoulders and this prevents them continually looking back: They only take good experiences forward with them, casting off disappointments, errors of judgement and unhappy times. Negative people on the other hand, do look back over their shoulder often and carry all the bad experiences forward with them in a large sack on their back. They expect the future to be very much the same as the past and it usually is – this is of course, the “Phenomenon Of Fulfilled Expectation”

And yet, ask a group of divorcees who have since re-married, if they are happier now with their new partners and you can be sure that they will be. Ask anyone who has gone through the stressful experience of redundancy and then found another job, if they are not now happier and more secure – they will be. So you see, the future really is better than the past if we choose to make it so, we have to attack the future fearlessly to achieve a better tomorrow

“The winners in life constantly think in terms of I can, I will and I am. Losers on the other hand concentrate their waking thoughts on what they should have done or what they don’t do”  Dennis Waitley.

My good friend Kevin Eikenberry has produced a fantastic free tool to help you with your planning and you can download it here.

Today’s News: I received a wonderful surprise early in January: Clayton Shold of Salesopedia e-mailed me to say “I wanted to let you know you have the honour of being the third most popular article on Salesopedia in 2007!  Your article “How To Gain A Thirteenth Month Each Year” was viewed 3303 times.” 

It is quite strange that often, the articles which I think are fairly mundane and factual, get read the most. However, if you haven’t read it yet, you can do so here.

Tomorrow:On the JF Guest Author Spot I welcome back my good buddy from down under, Kevin Dwyer of the Change Factory.

Essentially, the task of the Sales Manager is to produce revenue for their company through the operations of the sales staff for whom they are responsible. The size of this revenue, and the profit (however defined) which it should show, are usually predetermined in order to achieve the aims of company policy. The objectives which they set for the various activities which are involved in carrying out this task should therefore be derived from, and be compatible with, company objectives, such as return on capital employed, cash flow, market position, growth.

Since, like other managers, the Sales Manager depends on those who work for them to produce the results by which they are judged, consideration can usefully continue by regularly examining the nature and characteristics of their role.

As we near the end of the year, this is an excellent time to take stock and ask yourself some important questions to ensure that you are totally prepared for the fresh set of challenges that lay ahead next year

* What are the objectives of my department, function and company?

* Am I satisfied that I feel these can be achieved - that I have a plan for this?

* In what ways can my department/company be improved?

* Is the work in my area altering in nature, quantity or quality?

* Can the work be done it a better way?

* Have I the right equipment and facilities?

* Have I the right number of staff?

* Am I happy that all my subordinates are correctly placed and loaded?

* Are my staff doing what I want them to do?

* Do any of my staff need further training? Have I a training plan?

* What are the staffing trends?

* Are my staff happy? Do I spend enough time with them?

* Have I a trained deputy?

* Am I satisfied personally?

* Is my authority defined and adequate?

* Is my relationship with senior management satisfactory?

* Where is my next promotion coming from?

* Am I doing too much routine or administrative/clerical work?

* Have I enough time for thinking?

Summary:

For a group of people to remain “consciously competent” at optimum performance levels, they require frequent injections of stimulation, motivational guidance and prompting otherwise they can easily lapse into” unconsciously competent”, or worse, “unconsciously incompetent”

The primary objective of a professional Sales Manager has to be:

“To achieve consistently superior results, through the performance of every key individual.”

However, you can only achieve that objective if you yourself, are fully committed and focussed on what will be required.

Today’s News: OK, no more elves, I promise Actually, with 2008 firmly in mind, you may enjoy an interview I did with Clayton Shold of Salesopedia recently, where I share my thoughts on creating a business development strategy and also reveal an original sales process concept for ensuring all three types of selling work are properly managed. You can catch the ten minute podcast here.

Tomorrow: My last official posting of 2007 and I will be reviewing my year and revealing my plans for 2008 - be sure to join me. - JF