Jonathan Farrington’s Blog

Rapport is the most important process in influencing others. It is vital if you want to maintain relationships. Without it, you are unlikely to achieve willing agreement to what you want. People who have excellent rapport with others create harmonious relationships based on trust and understanding of mutual needs.

Rapport is the cornerstone of all mutually effective relationships. It needs constant vigilance to keep it alive and effective.

Why Is It So Important?

Rapport is similar to money – when you are short of it, it increases in importance. Without rapport you will reduce your chances of getting:
• Unconditional agreement to your ideas and suggestions
• Full commitment from others
• Business, promotion, friends

The way in which you interact with others has a major bearing on your success as an influencer.

Being in rapport means that you are in agreement with others both verbally and non-verbally.

Ten Good Reasons To Build Rapport

• To really win friends and influence people
• To connect rapidly with a wide range of people
• To communicate magically
• To build solid, lasting relationships
• To create incredible results
• To help others improve performance and increase success
• To handle conflict
• To get promotion
• To talk your way in to things
• To talk your way out of things

A Recipe For Successful Influence

Ingredients:

Trust
Openness
Comfort
Acceptance
Empathy
Flexibility
Something in common
Shared understanding

Method:

Mix together as required. Notice changes and be prepared to maintain a flexible approach throughout. Keep communication flowing on all levels.

Self-Disclosure

Telling others how you feel and what you think and believe, as well as telling them about your background, is a kind currency. Give out information and usually you will receive a lot back in return.

People swarm, flock and group together by type, background, interests, beliefs, gender, work and so on. And one of the most efficient ways to get close to one another is through self-disclosure.

As we begin to experience a powerful common bond, so too does rapport begin. Mutual interests, ideas, values and beliefs are the wrap and weft of social interaction.

Most people like people who are like themselves!

Biographic Matching

It is rare for two human beings to be together very long before seeking to discover similarities about themselves. This biographic matching can be social or economic, achieved through outlook, education or background – common experiences of the world.

When you match, you reduce resistance by playing down differences while building on similarities.

Pacing

Once you are matching one another, you can continue to maintain the rhythm you have created by agreeing with one another, seeing from the same point of view. Pacing is a conscious continuation of matching.

When talking, you can pace:
• Words that are used
• Tone of voice
• Language patterns
• Volume
• Body language used

Don’t overdo it – you may be accused of mimicry. Be elegant – your skills should remain unnoticed.

Leading

One of the goals of matching and pacing others is to be able effortlessly to lead them in another direction. Once you are deeply in sync. With the other people, a change of pace from you will usually result in a similar change in others.

Matching and pacing help you share someone else’s experience and you will begin to know intuitively when it is appropriate to make suggestions, to influence, to lead.

Mismatching

You can also influence behaviour in others by mismatching. It is useful to mismatch when:
• You want a meeting to come to an end – clear up papers, put a pen away
• You want to conclude a telephone conversation – minimise responses and noises off
• You need time to think before acting – use the bathroom, make a telephone call, add up figures on your calculator
• What you are doing isn’t working – go for a walk, listen to some music, make a phone call
• Matching is affecting your mood negatively – break off the conversation, change the subject

Networking

Have you noticed how some people seem to be universally likes, trusted and respected? Chances are that they’re also good at networking – developing a wide network of friends, colleagues, allies and useful contacts.

Networking offers you a structured way of making certain that your ideas are effectively exchanged with others.

And Finally: Networking In Action

How can you get to know your team, other managers and clients better? Are there management associations you could join, luncheon clubs, your local Chamber of Commerce?

Organise team events outside working hours. Be seen at functions, offer to assist whenever you can.

Make yourself known – don’t stand on the edge looking in. Be part of the action.

The JF Guest Author Spot

“Time Management; Are Your People Assertive Enough?” by Kevin Dwyer

Most time management programmes miss a critical element. The element is our own degree of assertiveness.

Time management programmes usually encompass the following elements:

- Goal setting
- “To do” list
- Prioritisation of the activities on the “to do” list

Many people use time management programmes to great effect. Many people successfully self teach managing their time using the same tools and principles taught in time management programmes.

A good, if not the best, example of a time management programme is Stephen Covey’s programme described in his very successful book, “First Things First”.

Covey describes four generations of time management:

1. First generation: - Reminders and to-do lists. We regularly create lists to remind us of what is in front of us. We regularly fail to complete the list, generating a new one. We may fall into the trap of getting more joy out of creating the list than completing the tasks on the list.

2. Second Generation: - Scheduling future events. We identify deadlines to get things done; scheduling our time to complete the tasks we have on our to-do list. We fall into the trap of overestimating our productivity and allow external forces to interrupt our schedule.

3. Third generation: - Setting long term, medium term and short term objectives to reach an ultimate goal. We manage our time to deliver the objectives we have set to reach our ultimate goal. We can set aside tasks which do not contribute to the objectives we have set.

4. Fourth generation: - Committing to the important. We set objectives to reach our goal and divide the tasks we have in front of us into a matrix of urgency and importance. We evaluate our tasks against our goal and objectives using the matrix, with the obvious conclusion that the non-urgent and unimportant are not done at all.

It is a great tool that has helped a large number of people manage their time better. And yet, many people, possibly the majority of people, fail to get full benefit from tools like it.

My observation is that people who fail to manage their time given appropriate tools lack an appropriate level of assertiveness.

If a low level of assertiveness is combined with low emotional energy and low levels of detail, then they are bound to have difficulty managing time in any work environment.

They find it too difficult to pay attention to the details required to evaluate their tasks and prioritise them. They find the requirement to proactively prioritise tasks and assertively stick to a resultant schedule emotionally draining, giving in to other’s requests, when they know it will disrupt their schedule.

If the low level of assertiveness is combined with a high level of tolerance and a high level of consideration of others, their ability to manage their time will almost certainly be impacted upon by the actions of their subordinates, peers, customers, suppliers and bosses with higher degrees of assertiveness.

They will be unable to effectively say no to requests. They will be unable, when confronted with requests to use techniques such as:

- Time shifting - “I can’t help you right now, but I would be happy to at 4:00 pm tomorrow. Does that suit you?”

- Responsibility allocating - “I can help you with thinking through the problem, but completing the research, analysing the options and making the decision is your responsibility”. Or “I will not do what you have asked, it is your responsibility”.

- Goal clarification - “What you have requested is a good idea in itself, but I cannot see how it fits with the organisation’s goal or my goal. I’m happy to be convinced, but at the moment I do not see the connection”.

- Lack of planning on your part does not create an emergency on my part - “I would love to help and I will, but only after I have completed the requests made by people who were on time. I will not penalise them for your being late.”
Most time management techniques add less to their productivity than can be possible If people are not assertive.

However, people can be taught to be assertive.

Making people aware of their level of assertiveness though an evaluation tool such as an EQ profile is a first step. Getting people to seek feedback on their assertiveness and its impact on their relationships and productivity provides further insight.

Self awareness is a powerful tool on its own.

Teaching people how to catch themselves in the act of being non-assertive is another great self awareness tool. Being aware whilst in the act allows one to draw breath and change before the interaction is completed.

A little self evaluation of times when they are not assertive reveals words, emotions or physical attributes which are common across many different interactions. Training people to recognise the triggers and training them to stop when they recognise the triggers is not difficult.

Role plays can be easily built to practice some techniques.

For example, training people to recognise a trigger and then stopping, by saying something like, “Would you mind if we had a time-out? I just need to think for a moment”, will be seen by most as not difficult to do.

Resuming the conversation, being calm and assertive about what they can and cannot do is also easy to add into some realistic scenarios in a role play.

Teaching people to emphasise what they can rather than they will not do and being clear about both is also relatively easy. It only takes a couple of weeks of using an approach such as this to develop new assertive habits.

Using role plays in a face-to-face training programme backed up by working through them with a mentor on a weekly basis builds confidence.

Providing additional reading such as Adele Lynn’s book, “The EQ Difference” will help expand people’s skill sets as they become comfortable with the ones they have practised in the role plays.

There are many tools available to help people manage time. However, without assertiveness, most people will fail to use the tools appropriately. So when you are next thinking of running a time management course, do not forget assertiveness training.

Kevin Dwyer is the founder of Change Factory. Change Factory helps organisations who do do not like their business outcomes to get better outcomes by changing people’s behaviour. Businesses we help have greater clarity of purpose and ability to achieve their desired business outcomes. To learn more or see more articles visit the website above or email kevin.dwyer@changefactory.com.au

Personal note: As well as being a highly valued and key member of The Top Sales Experts Team and a very good friend, Kevin is a genuine thought leader and leadership guru - I particularly enjoy his newsletter “Winds Of Change” which you can subscribe to by visiting his site.

The JF Guest Author Spot

“The Strangest Secret” by John Boe

In 1957, Earl Nightingale, speaker, author and co founder of the Nightingale-Conant Corporation, recorded his classic motivational record “The Strangest Secret.” “The Strangest Secret” sold over one million copies and made history in the recording industry by being honored as the first Gold Record for the spoken word. Nightingale, known as the “dean of personal development,” concluded that life’s “strangest secret” is that we become what we think about all day long.

Your belief system, like your computer, doesn’t judge or even question what you input; it merely accepts your thoughts as the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Think thoughts of defeat or failure and you’re bound to feel discouraged. Continuous thoughts of worry, anxiety and fear are unhealthy and often manifest in the body as stress, panic attacks and depression.

At the core of Earl’s message, he reveals the incredible power of positive self-talk, belief and expectation. What you vividly imagine and hold in your subconscious mind begins to out picture as your reality. Your belief system not only defines your reality, but it also shapes your character and determines your potential.

The Placebo Effect
The ability of the mind to cure a disease even when the medicine is known to be worthless is known as the “placebo effect.” This occurs in medical trials where doctors give patients sugar pills, but tell them they will cure their illness. Often it does, even though the pills contain nothing of medical benefit. The only thing of value in these medical trials is the patient’s own belief that the sugar pills will cure them. It’s the power of the patient’s belief and expectation alone that produces the improvement in his or her health.

I recently read a remarkable story about a group of cancer patients who thought they were being treated with chemotherapy, but were actually given a placebo. Before their treatment began, the patients were informed about the complications associated with undergoing chemotherapy treatment, such as fatigue and loss of hair. Amazingly, based on nothing more than their belief and expectation, nearly one third of the patients who were given the placebo reported feeling fatigued and actually experienced hair loss!

The Power of Affirmation and Positive Self-talk
If you had access to a powerful tool that would enhance our self-esteem and allow you to reach your full potential would you use it?

A good way to create positive self-talk is through affirmations. An affirmation is a positive statement that represents your desired condition or outcome. Interesting enough, your subconscious mind doesn’t know the difference between a real experience and a vividly imagined “mental” experience.

When he was a struggling young comedian, late at night Jim Carrey would drive into the hills overlooking Hollywood and yell at the top of his lungs “I will earn ten million dollars a year by 1995.” When 1995 finally arrived, Jim was the star of the movie “Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls“, for which he was paid twenty million dollars!

World-class athletes understand the value of affirmation and recognize the impact of their mental preparation on their physical performance. They use the power of positive affirmation to reduce anxiety and increase their expectation of achievement. To be of maximum benefit an affirmation must be simple, encouraging and stated in the present tense. By repeating an affirmation over and over again it becomes embedded in the subconscious mind.

To be effective your affirmation must be stated aloud…

1. In a positive manner with the focus on what you want. When you catch yourself saying or thinking something negative about yourself, counteract the negative self-talk with a positive affirmation. Start your affirmation with words like “I am…” or “I already have…”

Example:
“I close sales with little or no resistance.”

“I take good care of my customers and they show their appreciation by referring their friends to me.”

2. In the present tense. Your subconscious mind works in the present tense, so avoid words such as can, will, should or could.

Example:
“I love doing my work and I am richly rewarded creatively and financially.”

3. With strong emotion and conviction.

4. Repeatedly. I suggest you read your affirmations each morning upon awakening and again each night just before falling asleep. Close your eyes and picture the end result.
Feel the emotions associated with the affirmation.

Here are some of my favorite affirmations:

“Every day in every way I’m getting better and better!”

“Everything comes to me easily and effortlessly!”

“I love and appreciate myself just as I am!”

“I love doing my work and I am richly rewarded creatively and financially!”

“I now have enough time, energy, wisdom and money to accomplish all my desires!”

“Infinite riches are now freely flowing into my life!”

“I am relaxed and centered!”

“I feel happy and blissful!”

Do affirmations really work and can they be used to propel a person to achieve greatness? As a young boy growing up in Louisville, Kentucky, 12-year-old Cassius Marcellus Clay dreamed of someday becoming the heavyweight boxing champion of the world. When working out in the gym, Clay would continuously affirm to all within earshot that he was indeed the greatest boxer of all time! While many felt he was brash and boastful, few people actually took this 89-pound youngster seriously. Mohammad Ali used his affirmation to become the undisputed heavyweight boxing champion of the world and arguably one of the most popular and recognized sports figures of all times!

“Watch your thoughts, for they become words. Choose your words, for they become actions. Understand your actions, for they become habits. Study your habits, for they will become your character. Develop your character, for it becomes your destiny.”
- Anonymous

You show me a salesperson with high self-esteem, a positive attitude and a healthy work ethic and I’ll be able to predict his or her success in advance… I guarantee it.

 John Boe presents a wide variety of motivational and sales-oriented keynotes and seminar programs for sales meetings and conventions. John is a nationally recognized sales trainer and business motivational speaker with an impeccable track record in the meeting industry. To have John speak at your next event, visit www.johnboe.com

John is also a highly respected member of the Top Sales Experts team and you can read more about him here

 Finally today, my good friend Wendy Weiss, the “Queen Of Cold Calling” is hosting another of her superb teleclasses, on Wednesday, July 25, 2007 at 4pm EST “How to Easily Create a Compelling Opening that Generates Interest, Attention and Sales.” Full details are here: 
 

The JF Guest Author Spot:

“Dare To Dream By Day” by Tom Richard
Cruising along the highway in his white Taurus, our young salesman finds himself deep in thought. Although he is heading to his next sales presentation, he is not thinking of sales at all. His mind is filled with thoughts of his family.

Flipping down the visor above his head, he looks at the picture he taped there almost two years ago. It is a picture of his dream house – a three-bedroom paradise in a wonderful neighborhood for his family. Looking at the worn picture, he imagines the day this house will be theirs. He can see the excitement on his two daughters’ faces and the smile in his wife’s eyes.

Suddenly, the salesman’s daydream is interrupted as he pulls into the parking lot of his next client. He grabs the padfolio from the passenger’s seat, straightens his tie, and practices his smile in the rearview mirror. Completely relaxed from the morning’s drive, he confidently struts into the familiar lobby, signs the guest log and takes a seat.

From down the hall, he sees his competitor leaving the conference room. He looks somewhat beaten and disheveled. “Good luck,” the competitor says with a cocky, sarcastic tone as he passes.
Our young salesman smiles, “Thanks.” His thoughts are already back to the picture taped to the visor in his car. Thinking of his dream home and the opportunities it will bring his family always bring a smile to his face.

Within moments, the receptionist leads our salesman to the conference room. He is uncharacteristically calm as he shakes hands with each of the five suits seated around the large, mahogany table. Wasting no time, he leans forward, beginning his presentation. His excitement level rises as his enthusiasm and confidence drop from every pore of his body.

Our young superstar glides through the material like a well-choreographed figure skater, clearly outlining what doing business with him and his company would be like. On the opposite end of the table, the chief suit leans back in his leather chair, smiling. He is listening intently to every word our salesman uses.

Then, near the end of the performance, our salesman is interrupted with a single word. “Yes,” says the chief suit. Stopping his verbal melody, our salesman smiles and says, “Thank you, you’ve made a good choice.”

How could this salesman possibly win such a large account with so much ease? Was it his flawless performance? Was it his point-by-point presentation?

No. The truth is that our young salesman belongs to an exclusive club. It is a club made up of those who have a definite purpose in life; those who are not afraid to dream by day. Our salesman’s definite purpose is to make money to provide his family with a better life. His dream is so vividly etched in his mind that it lives in every part of his being and is evident in his life. He knows that a dream is not just a secret wish; it is a lifestyle and a purpose.

When you dare to dream by day, you place your dream face-to-face with the everyday opportunities you have to help you achieve it. You realize that dreams are not meant to hide in the safety of an ephemeral sleep. You give yourself the strength and determination to transform dreaming into doing, and to make your dreams live in the unfolding of your life.

Have the strength to believe in your dreams – completely and continually. As your dreams become internalized and mentally digested, your passion, determination and competence will be unmistakable to everyone you encounter. You will find that every word you speak, every step you take, and every hand you shake will sparkle with the magic of confidence. When you dare to dream by day, you will awake to a world of unlimited possibilities.

Tom Richard has been called one of the youngest visionaries and avatars alive today. He has dedicated his life to spreading the joy that comes from discovering your true self and enjoying the rewards of operating at your full potential. With the Bolt from the Blue team, Tom represents the powerful generation of personal development and self-discovery.

Visit Tom at http://www.BoltfromBlue.com to bear witness to a new experience.

Big treat over on Leadership Turn today: One of the best known leadership gurus, Brent Filson is my guest author - enjoy!

Tomorrow: “Your Customers Really Are The Lifeblood Of Your Business“- I examine ways to make sure they do not bleed away.

Success should be something you don’t just ‘Kinda Sorta’ want to achieve but something you must achieve.

Generally top achievers expect to be successful and as a consequence they usually are. They are driven by a ‘have to’ attitude not a ‘want to’ attitude.

If you have no concrete goals and you have been succeeding in spite of yourself, just think how much more success you could enjoy if you set your sights on a definite path and had a specific time-frame in which you expect to reach your destination.

Setting Goals Keeps You Focussed:

What you should know is that goals give you three distinct advantages, which help you succeed:

• Goals keep you on track.
• Goals let you know when and what to celebrate.
• Goals give you a focussed plan to work with.

If nothing else, goals let others know what they have to aim for to keep up with your standards.

Effective Goal Setting:

Take the time to think about what would make you happy, contented and satisfied and about what would motivate you to become a Top 5% Player.

It’s important to remember that goals are maps; they will guide you towards your success - the more detailed your goal setting the easier it will be for you to reach your destination.

When you are in the first stage of goal setting you also need to remember two important factors - i.e.

• The goal must be better than your best yet - but it must be achievable.
• Goals should be based on productivity not production.

Keeping these two rules of goal setting firmly in your mind will help you to form and stay committed to what is really important to you.

Are you a great goal setter? Leave me a comment and share your success.

Tomorrow: My guest author is the award winning Keith Rosen with a very detailed piece: “Why Should I Talk To You?”

The JF Guest Author Spot:

“The Power Of One” by Kelley Robertson.

One is a very tiny number. However, it can have a tremendous impact on your revenues. Here are some ideas to consider:

• Make one more cold call every day. One extra call a day equals 260 calls in a year. How many meetings could you set up with this number of calls and how many of those meetings could you turn into sales? Consider your current conversion ratio and think of the impact on your business.

• Suggest one additional item to every customer. This is particularly important if you sell lower priced items or work in a retail environment. Too many sales people are focused only on getting the initial sale. However, almost everyone has additional items, products, or services that could beneficial to their customers.

• Invest one day per month developing your skills. Many of the most successful people in business invest in themselves. They attend workshops, conferences, and participate in webinars and tele-seminars on a regular basis. Considering that the majority of people do not invest in developing their skill, you can quickly out-pace your co-workers and competition.§ Read one book every month. Expanding your knowledge will help you become more successful. Read books related to your industry or that will provide insight to helping you improve your skill in a specific area.

• Ask one more question during each sales call. Before you starting “pitching” your product or service, ask your prospect one more question. This question might give you the additional insight you need to more effectively position your product or service.

• Pause for one moment longer than usual before responding to a prospect’s question or request. Known as the pregnant pause, this often prompt the other person to blurt out something they had not intended to say. The secret behind this strategy is that most people are uncomfortable with silence and will begin talking to fill the “dead” air space.

• Get to the office one hour early. Remember the expression “The early bird gets the worm”. That one extra hour first thing in the morning can be the most productive time of the day. You have a better chance to reach decision-makers, there are fewer distractions, and you can often achieve more in that 60 minutes than in several hours.

• Address objections one more time before giving up. Too many sales people give up too soon when faced with objections. I’m not suggesting that you beat your customer into submission in order to close the sale. However, I do recommend that you tackle each objection one more time before you give up.§ Send one more email to the prospect who has been sitting on the fence. Sometimes, people need that little push and encouragement to move forward. But in many cases their time is occupied by other projects and priorities which means they are not focused on your solution. Gentle reminders are often appreciated providing you don’t follow up so frequently that you appear to be stalking them. Even though they may not be ready to make that particular buying decision, you will help keep your name in their mind.

• Ask for an endorsement or testimonial one more time. Endorsements and testimonials are greatly underutilized by most people in business today. Quite often we ask a client for a testimonial but because they have other priorities, they forget. Call them or send an email and politely request the testimonial again.

• Suggest one more idea to help a customer improve their business. Schedule a breakfast meeting or lunch with your customers but instead of trying to sell them something, focus on learning more about their particular challenges. Offer solutions that do not include your products or services and your customers will begin to see you more as a partner than a supplier.

• Send one more thank you card or note. Very few sales people make the effort to thank their customers. You can stand out from the crowd by sending handwritten notes to thank customers for their most recent order, meeting with you, or sending an on-time payment. You can also send a note when you see their company mentioned favorably in the news

Kelley Robertson, President of the Robertson Training Group, works with businesses to help them increase their sales, negotiate more effectively, and motivate their employees. Receive a FREE copy of “100 Ways to Increase Your Sales” by subscribing to his free newsletter available at http://www.RobertsonTrainingGroup.com. Kelley speaks regularly at conferences, sales meetings, and corporate functions. For information on his programs contact him at 905-633-7750 or Kelley@RobertsonTrainingGroup.com.

Today is a very important day for my good friend David Bain of Purple Internet Marketing because it is the day that he launches “The 13 Pillars Of Internet Marketing”

In my view, it doesn’t matter what type of business you’re in or at what level your existing knowledge of Internet Marketing is ~ David’s seminars offer essential training for any business involved in, or intending to be involved in online marketing. I urge you to review “The 13 Pillars Of Internet Marketing” – I have done so already and I honestly learned so much. You will not be able to access details about the product until 17.00 hrs GMT but if you can’t wait, you can pre-register your interest here

Until tomorrow - JF

“If you would win a man to your cause, first convince him you are his sincere friend.” Abraham Lincoln

Nowhere is this truer than in selling, where you are trying to persuade another, often a stranger, to make a decision they may not even have considered prior to your meeting.

The buyer-seller situation – like any human contact – is an exercise in human relations: the interplay, cause and effect of behaviour by two or more people on each other. In the buyer-seller situation, the seller must be responsible for shaping mutual behaviour.

What’s the difference between human nature and human relations?

• Human nature is the instinctive behaviour that governs action concerned with the self and with self-interest.

• Human relations are concerned with how we think and act in terms of other’s interests.

Successful selling demands that human relations be dominant over human nature.

Selling is not something a salesperson does to a prospect. Selling is something you do with the prospect in a process of discovery and interaction – human relations at work.

The greatest barrier to success in this process is the “Egocentric Predicament”. This consists of being overly and unnecessarily concerned with self. Our ability to be perceptive and concerned about others is inversely proportionate to our self-concern.

When self gets unnecessarily in the way, the fruitful cycle of good human relations stops producing.

The key to understanding and accepting others, is to first understand and accept oneself – starting with the realisation that, rather than strive for an unattainable “I should be” image, we should settle for our real self as “I am” – accepting shortcomings along with strengths.
The following points provide a practical answer to the “I am” versus “I should be” conflict.

Recognise it – and recognise that its source is rooted in the views of others.

Either (a) accept your “I am” image or (b) decide on attainable, constructive steps to achieve “I should be” in the future.

Our behaviour is a reflection of our attitudes; and our attitudes grow out of our values. Each is an integral part of the other. Do your life values make it easy for you to put the other person’s interests first?

Sincerity is a much-used word in relation to selling.

Integrity is a kindred word. Integrity implies a consistent kind of honesty: acting outwardly the way you truly feel inwardly. That’s why sound values are so important to your success with others. Remember: “People buy our product not so much because they understand the product… but because they feel that we understand them.”

There are many effective ways of doing this: The best way to create this kind of buying climate is to “transmit on their frequency.” This opens their mind to you…makes them willing – and eager – to listen.

A sincere, specific compliment on a point of real meaning to them gets the other person talking about things of interest to them. It opens doors.

“Before I sell my prospect what my prospect buys, I must first see my prospect as they see themselves.”

In Summary:

Empathy is the magical word in the lexicon of human relations. It means feeling as the other person feels, not just with them. It means putting yourself in their shoes and shaping your attitudes accordingly.

Beyond getting the order, the plus factor in selling is to make people look good in their own eyes and in the eyes of others. Rather than sell to them, we help them buy.

We do this best by building their self-image. This helps them grow. And as we help others grow, we grow. To do this, we must be open and honest - this is the essence of good human relations.

These concepts are applicable to every facet of our lives and in selling, they pave the way to the truest and most fruitful success.

This week, I began the process of forming the adjudication panel for “Top Ten Sales Articles” and frankly, I have been staggered by the level of enthusiasm: Less than 48 hours after sending out the invitations to a very select group of sales experts, eight out of ten are already on board – truly amazing: Next week I will announce the final line-up and hopefully, the main sponsor.

I can reveal that I very rarely stray outside my preferred list of authors, when I have some spare time to read articles – actually most of them are on the adjudication panel of Top Sales Articles – but I “found” Megan Tough yesterday, and I am really impressed with her work. She posted a number of pieces on BuildYourOwnBusiness and you can find her here.

And finally, two new articles for you: On Group site, www.thejfagroup.com you will find “Quality Activity Really Does Produce Quality Results” - here is a taster:

“The less I see of what’s his name? - The more I forget him.”

“Failing to focus salespeople’s activity reduces efficiency and consequently reduces results, because there isn’t a salesperson alive that believes they have enough time in their working week to complete all the activities they want to achieve! Time is a huge constraint on salespeople’s activities so that when their manager asks them for more, it’s no wonder that they are overwhelmed”. continue reading

Meanwhile, on my personal site, www.jonathanfarrington.com I have posted: “Motivation – Moving Beyond The Carrot And Big Stick Theory” - and another morsel for you:

“Professor Frederick Hertzberg has promoted a theory of motivation which goes a long way forward from the original theory of “Carrot and Stick”, or indeed its extension ‘The Reward Theory’, still used by many managers and Companies to try and exhort greater efforts from their staff.

It stems from two-statements:-

- What makes people happy and motivated at work, is what they do.

- What makes people unhappy and demotivated at work, is the situation in which they do it. continue reading

Both highly readable, as you would expect me to suggest!

OK, that’s it for another week, I have a three week break from BlogRadio, until “Top 10 Sales Articles” launches on April 15th (on whichever medium we use) – hope you will tune in for the launch? A defining moment!

As ever, wherever you are, have a great week.

JF

“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,(but not necessarily in that order), 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 reason has always been the same; fear of leaving the comfort zone and entering into the unknown, the land potentially of failure and rejection.

All successful people have at least two things in common: The first is their attitude and the second is that they all expect to be successful and because they want it badly enough, they bring about its happening, i.e. fulfilled expectation.

The drive has to come from within because no one else is going to make us successful, they are too busy minding their own stores: From Einstein, an overused but highly significant quote:”The definition of insanity is to continue to do the same things in the hope that those things will miraculously achieve a different result.” In other words, “Keep doing what you are doing and you will keep getting what you have been getting”If you don’t like it, you have the power to change it.

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

This week on BlogTalkRadio, my guest was Clayton Shold of Salesopedia.com – who, as anticipated, provided some insightful and refreshing commentary on a host of “article community” topics and lots of other things as well – you can listen to the full interview here, or read a transcript here.

I promised to keep you fully updated with the progress we are making on “Top Ten Sales Articles” - well, the site design and layout has been agreed and the team have been burning the midnight oil to ensure we achieve our launch date, which is Sunday April 1st and no I am not fooling.

Our primary objective is to provide a single location where time strapped business captains, sales professionals and publishers can locate the very best business articles every week. For authors we offer a unique opportunity to showcase their work and benchmark the quality of their writing against that of their contempories.

So How Does It Work? – Each week we will research and evaluate sales articles submitted to all the main article communities: We will then effectively perform a cull until we arrive at the ten best pieces of work. Then a panel of globally recognised sales experts will make their decision. The winner will be announced here and on the blog every Sunday and a fresh set of reviews posted. From the four weekly winners we will choose a monthly winner and logically from the twelve monthly winners we will select the Article Of The Year. All overviews will remain on site in weekly and monthly archived sections, providing an ongoing reference point for visitors.

And finally: I have posted two new articles this week – on my personal site: www.jonathanfarrington.com “Negotiation – Planning For A Successful Outcome” highlights the fact that it is imperative to plan prior to entering into a negotiation - here is a brief extract:

“In any kind of negotiation the planning stage is probably the most important. Too often we go in badly prepared and end up giving concessions that reduce the overall profitability of the final deal. The importance of planning is in having a very clear idea before entering into the negotiation i.e……..”

On the group site: www.thejfagroup.com – you will find: “The Seven Essential Qualities Of Leadership” An opportunity to benchmark yourself? And yes, you are right of course, there are more than ten, but I wanted to highlight the most critical, based on my own experience:

– “Although there are many qualities necessary to be a genuine leader in a specific situation, these qualities should be common to all.”

Finally, I have been following the “debate” on ProBlogger: www.problogger.net where a number of excellent bloggers have been discussing how often is too often, when it comes to posting. As you know my preference is for just one entry every week and I aim for quality over quantity – that goes for every facet of my life. Apart from anything else, my decision is based around the time constraints that I am currently working within. However, if you have a view on this, I would be delighted if you posted a comment – do you think I should post more frequently? – or maybe you think less!!

As ever, wherever you are in the world, have a great week and thank you!

JF

By the time you read this, I will have made my first broadcast on BlogTalkRadio.com – maybe some of you will have tuned in: I have to admit that I will be spending much of the weekend trying to persuade the butterflies to fly in formation but it is such a great opportunity to extend the boundaries once again and I am grasping it with both hands.

“The Business Show” goes out every Sunday at 18.00 hrs GMT – that’s 12.00 hrs EST and the primary objective is to provide a brief overview of the next blog as well discussing upcoming events, product launches and relevant business issues. There is a phone-in facility, which I am getting to grips with, so do please accept this as an invitation to call in and take part in the show. You will find full details including schedules, segment titles and phone numbers by following the link in the first paragraph.

Back to this week and if you have ever wondered if you are predominantly left-brained or right-brained, I am going to give you the opportunity to find out. I have always known that the very best sales professionals are predominantly right-brained: I also suspected the Finance Directors and Technical Directors were predominantly left-brained – so where does that leave CEO’s and Managing Directors?

My perception was that it would all depend on their background but in fact recent experimentation currently taking place in the USA, which I am following with great interest, suggests that the most successful business leaders are in fact “balanced” That is to say they have no predominance, so they can think logically and methodically but equally, they can be creative and not be confined by paradigms.

In general the left and right hemispheres of our brains process information in different ways. We tend to process information using our dominant side. However, the learning and thinking process is enhanced when both sides of the brain participate in a balanced manner. This means strengthening your less dominate hemisphere of the brain. Continue Reading and Take the Test

I managed to catch up with the ebullient and highly successful Jill Konrath this week, she of: www.sellingtobigcompanies.com who is currently on vacation in New Zealand – hopefully, she will be introducing herself to Greg and the guys at SalesCommunity.com. I am very keen to share some ideas with her and also elicit her input into a new venture planned for later in the year.

You can find out more about Jill in an interview with my good buddy from the frozen north, the charismatic Clayton Shold: www.salesopedia.com/content/view/597/300/

It has been a while since I mentioned another good friend – David Bain of www.buildyourownbusiness.biz In fact, David has been working extremely hard setting up a brand new and exciting venture: I received this note from him earlier in the week:

“Thought I’d share with you what I’ve been working on recently: www.PurpleInternetMarketing.com ~ The Internet Marketing Training Company.

“It is my feeling that Internet marketing will have to become more of an in-house function in the future. I’ve therefore decided to set up a company that specialises in helping companies devise and implement their own Internet marketing strategy. I’ll be hosting seminars, conducting one-to-one Internet marketing training and advising on E-business strategy.

My first seminar will be held in Edinburgh on 11th April”: www.purpleinternetmarketing.com/13-Pillars.pdf

That last link takes you straight into the seminar details and booking process – if you are planning to attend, I suggest you book early: If you are going, please come up and introduce yourself as I will be there myself – as I have said in the past, David really is a guru when it comes to Internet marketing and the opportunity to listen to more of his wisdom live, was not one I could let slip.

And finally……… Two new articles for you this week:

On the Group site: thejfagroup.com I reveal the dilemma of an ex-client of mine, who found themselves with too many sales leads!

“Few marketers will question the value of sales leads generated by direct mail and other direct response methods. However, a poorly integrated lead generation programme can actually reduce the overall productivity of a salesforce.

This is a true story and only the company name has been changed.

The case of Newco & Co. illustrates the phenomenon. Newco manufacture a range of specialist industrial washroom equipment; they offer service contracts to maintain the equipment and supply their wide range of hygiene disposable products”. Continue reading

And on my personal site: jonathanfarrington.com I illustrate dynamic leadership in action:

“A very good friend and ex-client of mine runs a highly successful information technology service in the South of England and his private-sector customers include many Times Top 100 companies. We often exchange opinions and I recently asked his views on leadership, because I have always been impressed with his commitment to “people development”. Continue Reading

OK, that’s it for another week and as I always say, wherever you are in this (rapidly shrinking) world, have a great week.

JF

PS: Please don’t forget that you can read all my published work for February in “The February Month in Review” – just look for the clock image in the right hand column.

The value of the Pareto Principle is that it reminds us to focus on the 20% that matters. That is to say, of the things we do during our day, only 20% really matter!

Those 20% produce 80% of our results, so doesn’t it make sense to identify and focus on those things?

When our time robbers begin to sap our time, we need to remind ourselves of the 20% we need to focus on. If something in the schedule has to slip, if something isn’t going to get done, we have to make sure it’s not part of that 20%!

A New Management Theory:

There is a management theory that proposes to interpret Pareto’s Principle in such a way as to produce what is called Top Gun Management. Those advocating this theory suggest that since 20% of our people produce 80% of our results we should focus our limited time on managing only that 20%, the so-called “superstars”. In my opinion the theory is seriously flawed, because it overlooks the fact that 80% of our time should be spent doing what is really important and that includes developing all of our people. Helping the good to become better is much more important than helping the great become terrific.

When we work to develop our subordinates, we should be concentrating on converting what I term, the “reactive mindset” because we can certainly apply Pareto’s Principle to reactive versus pro-active. Or, to describe these two mindsets in a different way: The “running towards” mindset and the “running away” mindset: Let me provide you with an example:

The “Running Away” Personality:

The “running away” person is awoken by his alarm clock and he immediately hits the “snooze” button. Ten minutes later, the buzzer goes off again. “Just ten more minutes” he says to himself, “I won’t go for a run today” and he again activates his friend, Mr Snooze. This happens three more times and each time he determines that he will skip a vital activity in order to enjoy a few more minutes slumber – he has already decided to skip breakfast and he will shave in the car on the way to the office. Finally, a full hour after his first alarm call, he leaps out of bed, the image of his boss standing outside his office door, purple with rage at his continual poor time keeping is just too horrible to contemplate and it acts as his spur.

So what actually happened here? Well, if we apply Pareto’s Principle, we identify that approximately 80% of the world’s population fall into the “running away” category. That is to say that they do things not because they planned to do them or that they want to do them, but rather that they fear the consequences of not doing them. They drift through life, as I have said often enough before, like “rudderless boats” completely at the mercy of the currents. They never go beyond the first few stages of Maslow’s “Hierarchy Of Needs” and certainly “self-fulfilment” is completely out of reach for them because they either lack the courage, or the commitment required, or quite simply they lack the energy. After all, it is nice and cosy in the comfort zone isn’t it?

As someone famously once said: “Some people make things happen whilst others just stand and watch what happens”
My take on that is: “A few people make things happen, others just watch what happens, but the vast majority wonder what the heck happened!” (But “heck” is not the word I usually use!”) The “running away” mindset falls into the last category.

Let’s look at the other side of the coin, let’s see how a “running towards” personality handles their relationship with their alarm clock.

The “Running Towards” Personality:

To begin with, our “running towards” person has invested some of their time the previous evening preparing for the next day: The suit has been pressed, shoes cleaned, notes prepared for those important meetings, in fact all of the next day’s objectives have been thoroughly rehearsed mentally and planned for.

When the alarm clock goes off, our “running towards” typically awakes refreshed and completes their final preparations for the day. They have plenty of time for exercising, for bathing, and to eat a proper breakfast with their family – they are in control. They arrive at the office before most of their colleagues,(80% of whom arrive at 8.55 am – just in time, because they fear the consequences of being late!) so that they can respond to e-mails and attend to essential administrative tasks which would otherwise take up valuable “business time”. Life for these people appears effortless, relatively stress free, because they have made it that way, they are busy working at self-fulfilment as they have no need to worry about shelter, security and the like.

These people are”Winners”.

The “Winners In Life”

“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

Can we all become “Winners”? Yes, of course we can. We cannot have everything we want in life but we can have anything that we really want, because if we want it badly enough, we will find the means to bring about its happening – this is called “fulfilled expectation”

Unfortunately, most people when asked don’t really know what they want from life. Some talk vaguely about success without being able to articulate precisely what success means for them. I have heard many interpretations of the word, but the one I still like the best comes from Earl Nightingale:

“Success is the achievement of a worthwhile goal or set of goals”

Therein lays the secret – in order to be successful, to become a “Winner in life”, we must have goals.

This extract from “Alice’s Adventure in Wonderland” accurately illustrates my point.

“Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?”

“That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,” said the Cheshire Cat

“I don’t much care where” said Alice

“Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,” said the Cat

“– So long as I get somewhere,” Alice added as an explanation

“Oh, you’re sure to do that” said the Cat “If you only walk long enough.”

– Lewis Carroll
(1832 – 98)

Each of us has the choice, we can choose to be successful – however we measure success - or we can choose not to be. But if we really do want a more fulfilling and satisfying life – more happiness, greater security, improved health, the means to help others - then we have to accept full responsibility for ensuring we have a rudder on our boat and work to the maxim: “If it’s to be, it’s up to me”.

To those of you who have been attempting to login to The Sales Community, may I apologise: My chums “down under” are experiencing some technical gremlins, which are being dealt with gradually. A project of this magnitude was always going to encounter “challenges” but I have complete faith that Greg and the guys will win the day.

This week I have been updating my “deliberations” on just what makes a highly successful sales professional – what are the component parts, the characteristics? Those deliberations began in 1981, so you can begin to imagine how much time I have invested developing the ASP Profile.

The result of this week’s labours is an in-depth article: “Reconstructing The Pieces Of The Sales Puzzle” which I will share with you here next week.

But this week, two further pieces of work:

On my personal site: jonathanfarrington.com – “Management - Some Thoughts About Structure, Self-Sufficiency And Responsibility”, I reckon is a pretty good read for young and seasoned managers alike.

The Group site: thejfagroup.com – features another “management focussed” article that highlights the need to continually look ahead, without ever taking your eye “off the present ball” – “Successful Managers Focus On The Present But With One Eye On The Future”

OK- that’s a long post this week. For those of you who would prefer to communicate with me one-one, as a reminder, my e-m is jf@jonathanfarrington.com

Have a great week - JF