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1-5 |
2007-03-15 |
Why It's Dangerous to Bash Your Competition |
Over the weekend, my husband and I went to check out a newer timeshare in town. We already own a timeshare, but the sales person we spoke with described this place in such a positive way that we thought it would be worth investigating. And the added benefit was that we could observe their sales process, which is always a learning opportunity. |
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1-6 |
2007-04-24 |
What a 19th Century Opera Composer Teaches Modern Day Salespeople |
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, th |
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1-7 |
2007-05-03 |
What Prospects Actually Want |
All business professionals know they can afford to talk to others about their business, which is why word-of-mouth advertising is the one form of marketing on which plenty of sales professionals rely. However, spend a few months attending various networki |
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1-8 |
2007-05-10 |
The Key to Successful Up-Selling |
The other night we met my in-laws at the 31 Flavors Ice Cream parlor not far from our house. My in-laws thought it would be fun to see our oldest daughter in action, as she's working part-time at 31 Flavors to earn some extra cash. |
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1-9 |
2007-05-17 |
Selling in the Rain! |
The other morning as I was out running with my dog, it started to rain. No big deal, I thought; I trained for a marathon up in Portland, Oregon (translation: I?ve run mile after mile in the rain). Now that I?m living in Phoenix, I was sure that havin |
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1-10 |
2007-05-24 |
ABC of Sales |
At most health clubs you receive a free fitness evaluation and training session with your membership. By taking advantage of this feature, you'll have an hour long session with a trainer, who will assess your level of fitness and your fitness goals, and |
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1-11 |
2007-05-31 |
The Secret to Generating New Prospects |
On Saturday mornings I like to go to the fitness club to take the cardio-kickboxing class. On my way to the locker room this past Saturday, I passed by a gentleman who was looking dressed for work, standing behind a table. The table had a banner draped |
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1-12 |
2007-06-07 |
Daily Tasks Improve Your Business |
One of the reasons it's difficult to build a big sales business is that it seems to take a tremendous amount of energy. There's always something else you could be doing to build your sales business! And that thought is what keeps many sales people worki |
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2-1 |
2007-06-14 |
What Happens When You Wait to Call Prospects? |
Knowing how important a positive attitude is, the typical independent sales professional thinks positively while getting dressed for the day. He affirms that he is excited about all the prospecting calls and follow-up calls he is going to make that day. H |
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2-2 |
2007-06-21 |
What Prospects Do When They Think You Aren't Telling The Truth... |
We learn as toddlers to always tell the truth, but as we grow older the definitive line between truth and falsehood grows fuzzier and fuzzier in our minds. Why is that? The answer is simple. We begin to learn that sometimes the truth isn?t what peopl |
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2-3 |
2007-06-28 |
What Would Happen if Customers Had Fun? |
It's not just girls who want to have fun. Your prospects and customers want to have fun too. When you deliver "fun" to your prospects and/or customers, you create value, and more often than not, an increase in business |
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2-4 |
2007-07-05 |
What If Customers Knew What They Wanted? |
Most people don't know what they want, but they're pretty sure they haven't got it. - Alfred E Newman. There's definitely more truth to that statement than MADness. I can remember quite a number of years ago when I expressed the deep frustration I was feeling in my life at that time to my personal coach. She then requested that I describe to her a typical day of what I wanted my life to be. |
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2-5 |
2007-07-19 |
What Would Happen If You Followed-Up? |
If you've read my book, you know that one of my all time favorite movies is The Wizard of Oz. If you're familiar with it, then you certainly remember the lyrics, - Follow, follow, follow, follow, follow the yellow brick road. Go ahead and hum that tune, but sing these words instead, - follow, follow, follow, follow, follow up with prospects today! |
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2-6 |
2007-07-26 |
What if You Acknowledged Your Prospects? |
This morning I received one of those calls that I hardly look forward to getting. You probably have had calls just like this: |
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2-7 |
2007-08-02 |
What if You Talked About Your Prospect's Needs |
Last week I talked about receiving one of those calls that I hardly look forward to getting. I focused on only one flaw with the caller's script, namely that she never even acknowledged me by asking me questions. |
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2-8 |
2007-08-09 |
A Tale of Two Dates |
Talking to prospects on the phone is like reading those first few lines of Dickens novel, - A Tale of Two Cities. The key is to avoid being the worst, being foolish or incredulous, and to prevent the season of darkness and the winter of despair. |
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2-9 |
2007-08-16 |
7 Keys to Being a More Effective Presenter |
A great way to generate new clients for yourself is to offer a free class on a topic your prospects would want to know more about. Now when I say your prospects, I don't mean everyone. I mean a select group to whom you want to market. Let's say that you're a Realtor®. You might select first time home owners. In that case, you'd want to get information about your upcoming free seminar into the hands of apartment dwellers or renters. |
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2-10 |
2007-08-23 |
What if You Could Get Your Prospects to Listen? |
Imagine you're standing in front of a group of 100 people. You don't really know these people, but you've been given the opportunity to get up and say a few words ab |
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2-11 |
2007-08-30 |
What Happens When You're Focused on Your Agenda? |
As sales professionals it's only natural that we study our products and services and set a goal to contact potential prospects to sell them wheat we're offering. If we get too focused on our own personal plan or if we start thinking that all our prospects need what we're offering, we fall into the trap of being focused on our own agenda. Amazingly enough, that actually works sometimes, so we're a bit surprised when it doesn't. |
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2-12 |
2007-09-06 |
How to Shut Down the Inner Critic |
One of my all time favorite cartoons shows a surgeon holding a little jar, walking into a patient's room and saying, - Mr. Jones, we've successfully removed your inner critic. |
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2-13 |
2007-09-13 |
Turn a Problem into a Lead Generator |
Our son is a bouncer at a local bar that's very popular these days. If you live in the Phoenix area you'll probably recognize the name - Dos Gringos. If you drive by one, you'll know right away that it's a - happening - place because it's almost always packed from four o'clock on. |
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3-1 |
2007-09-20 |
Warning: Hard-Selling is a Dangerous Trap |
Have you ever heard that people hate to be sold to but they love to buy? You probably have. However, you don't usually hear that explained and so you forge ahead doing what you think you need to do to get people to buy from you. Just guess what most people think is required to convince others to buy from them? Go ahead and take a guess. Your guess might even be better than my answer! |
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3-2 |
2007-09-27 |
Getting Prospects to Trust You |
Do any of you remember reading Highlights® as a young child? If you do, you surely remember the little cartoons staring Goofus and Gallant. It occurred to me the other day that most sales people can be put into one of two categories - Goofus or Gallant. Let's see if you agree with me about the category I'd put a particular sales |
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3-3 |
2007-10-04 |
Giving Yourself a Fresh Start |
Yesterday morning I attended the Fresh Start Women's Foundation breakfast fundraiser in Phoenix. I heard amazing testimonials from women who had found a way to pick up the pieces of their shattered lives through the workshops and assistance at the Fresh Start Foundation. |
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3-4 |
2007-10-11 |
Are You Doing to Be Done? |
One of the things that never ceases to amaze me is just how easy it can be to think about past events or anticipated future ones. And the corollary of that is just how challenging it is to stay focused on the present moment. |
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3-5 |
2007-10-18 |
Prospects Want Clarity! |
There's a fairly new restaurant that's opened up not far from where I live. The big sign on it says, "Bakery, BBQ, Gelato." When I first saw that, I did a double take. I thought for sure that my eyes were playing tricks on me. |
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3-6 |
2007-10-24 |
The Principle to Increasing Prospects |
A number of years ago I read about a chiropractor who built three separate million-dollar practices. Certainly if he?d built one million-dollar practice alone, most would call that a great success, although there might be a few who would insist that luck was involved. |
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3-7 |
2007-10-31 |
One of the Scariest Things Salespeople Do |
So many salespeople worry about being perceived as pushy that they fail to do what?s necessary to even qualify themselves as sales professionals, namely, pick up the doggone telephone and call prospects. Now that's scary! |
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3-8 |
2007-11-08 |
A Seldom Observed Secret to Customer Satisfaction |
A few years ago some marketer was bragging that he had a tip in his book that no one ever talked about, and that it was in fact the best marketing tip out there. I thought to myself, - I know this is a ploy just to get me to buy it, but what the heck. I just have to see what tip this guy thinks no one else ever talks about. |
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3-9 |
2007-11-15 |
The Path to Influence |
A couple years ago I watched the PBS series, -New York-, on dvd. If I recall correctly, it was a 16-hour series about the history of New York City. It's one of the most fascinating and intense shows I've ever seen. One of the stories I wanted to share with you is truly inspiring. |
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3-10 |
2007-11-22 |
The One Thing You Do Get For Nothing |
A number of years ago I participated in a fascinating study group with only a few other people. The most powerful topic for me was one on vanity. |
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3-11 |
2007-11-29 |
Teaming Up to Increase Prospects |
A while back Godiva Chocolates and BMW teamed up to run a special promotion. Now why would a chocolate company team up with a car company? I'll show you why in a few moments. |
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3-12 |
2007-12-07 |
Seek First to Understand |
The other day I was sitting in the bank waiting for a problem to be resolved when something wonderful happened. The gentleman in the cubicle next to the one I was waiting in started making cold calls. |
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4-1 |
2007-12-13 |
What to Do When the Customer Isn't Right |
Have you ever heard the saying, "The customer is always right?" I'm sure I could bet a large sum of money safely that you have. Now we all know that our customers are NOT always right, but there's a reason why that phrase is a good one to live by in the sales world. |
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4-2 |
2007-12-19 |
How to Increase Customer Loyalty |
This week I received a holiday card from a direct sales consultant because I?m one of her customers. The day it arrived in the mail it was the first thing that I opened. On the outside of the card it said, ?You are the greatest gift of all!? On the inside of the card, she went into detail about the things for which she is grateful, how excited she gets whenever I place an order, and how much she appreciates my loyalty. It was really much better than how I?m describing it, but a major |
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5-1 |
2008-01-03 |
Why Customers Quit Buying From You |
After 7 years of loyally buying from the same tree farm lot, I vowed this December to never buy from that farm again. The reason I made that decision is actually the same reason many customers that are pleased with a company will take their business and go elsewhere. The reason is Company Indiffernce |
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5-3 |
2008-01-16 |
5 Reasons for YOU to call Your Customers |
It's not uncommon to hear salespeople express frustration after they've left a couple of messages and the potential prospect or customer doesn't call back. When that happens, it's easy to start thinking that the prospect isn't interested, and often times the sales person gives up. My objective today is to help you understand the reasons why your customers don't call you back so that you won't give up. |
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5-4 |
2008-01-24 |
Why the REAL Sale Begins After the Customer Says "Yes" |
Just for a moment I want you to think about all the time, energy, and money you invest into getting a new customer... |
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5-5 |
2008-01-31 |
The Training Differential |
If you head off to a fitness center these days, you're likely to see a good number of people like me looking mesmerized by a big black watch on their wrist. Listen! It's not just a watch - it's a heart rate monitor. If you don't have one, well... what you miss! |
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5-6 |
2008-02-07 |
Staying on Target |
For my long time subscribers, are you tired of hearing me say, "You have to get inside your customer's shoes"? You might be tired of hearing me say that, but I never want you to get tired of actually doing that. |
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5-7 |
2008-02-17 |
How to Take Advantage of The Traditional Holiday |
Use the traditional holiday as a vehicle to stay creatively in touch with your customers and prospects |
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5-8 |
2008-02-21 |
Avoid the #1 Marketing Mistake |
Keep your prospects and customers interested by avoiding the number one marketing mistake |
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5-9 |
2008-02-28 |
Stepping Out of the Comfort Zone |
Sometimes it takes guts to keep calling prospects but the end result is often that they learn how much you care |
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5-10 |
2008-03-06 |
A New Way to Take a Break |
How to get an extra 20 percent from your current activity |
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5-11 |
2008-03-13 |
What Would Happen If You Became Absolutely Consistent? |
Being consistent with certain activities like prospecting can have an enormous impact on the success of your business |
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5-12 |
2008-03-20 |
What Happens When You Badmouth Your Competion? |
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6-1 |
2008-03-26 |
What If You Could Convert More Prospects Into Customers |
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6-2 |
2008-04-17 |
An Amazing Way to Create Value and Build Trust |
Create value with your customers and build trust with authenticity |
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6-5 |
2008-03-24 |
The Key to Generating New Prospects |
One of the smartest things you can do these days is something different than your competitors |
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6-6 |
2008-05-01 |
Who Else Wants to Make Their Customers Feel Spectacular? |
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6-7 |
2008-05-08 |
What If You Could Get What You Want? |