Be Impressed, Grasshopper, Not Impressive

"Master," the Young Professional addressed his mentor, "You have told us that in order to hire us, a client must Like us and Trust us."

"That is correct, Grasshopper," the Master replied.

"I understand how I can earn a client's Trust," continued the Young Professional, "But how do I get him to Like me in the short time I might be in his presence?"

The other professionals snickered at this simple question, but they were secretly glad their classmate was so bold as to ask it, because they did not know the answer either.

The Master smiled gently and explained, "To be liked, you must try to stop being liked."

A look of confusion passed across the students' faces, and although he was blind, the Master could see it.

"We want to talk about our education, our skills and our accomplishments. We want our clients to see how well we dress, and the fine vehicles and homes we have acquired through our efforts. We want them to warm to our smiles and our conversation," the Master explained, "but what our clients want is for us to like them."

"To be Liked by a client, Grasshopper," the Master continued, "the client must perceive that you like him--that you are impressed with his accomplishments, however small they might be, and that you care about him."

"Ah," exclaimed the younger man, "I must be impressed, rather than impressive."

"Good, Grasshopper," the Master said gently smiling. "But it's more than being impressed," he continued, "You must Listen deeply and ask questions with Childlike Curiosity-not just about the problem you were trained to solve, but about his family, his hopes and his dreams."

A light began to grow in the younger man's eyes and, once again, the blind Master could see it.

"What you seem to be saying, Master," he began with excitement in his voice, "is that clients don't care how much we know, until they know how much we care. Is that it?"

"Yes, Grasshopper," the Master replied warmly, "You have learned well."

The younger man bowed, and the blind Master acknowledged it.

Turn Good News Into a Sales Pitch

I recently read an online article by Eric Chabrow on CIO Insight titled "Computer Jobs Hit Record High". While there can be negative news about employment readily available, I thought I'd share with you some signs of a sector with strong economic numbers that might bode well for you and your sales.

The article states "unemployment among computer-related jobs hovers near historic lows as the U.S. information technology workforce tops 4 million for the first time."

It also says that "the number of workers employed by IT services firms rose by 56,100 this past year to 1,414,400, a 4.1 percent increase, according to last month's BLS establishment survey of some 160,000 businesses and government agencies covering about 400,000 worksites."

So what does all this mean?

Chabrow writes: "Why would IT employment remain robust as unemployment rises in most other job categories? IT performs a critical role in business productivity, and the efficiencies it brings are crucial for employers looking to trim costs -- including payrolls -- as fuel and related expenditures soar and the economy and dollar weakens. In addition, companies today cannot operate without functioning IT systems, so certain business technology skills cannot be eliminated if a company wants to remain competitive."

Furthermore, "The increase in IT services employment reflects the continuing need by companies for outsourcers to manage corporate IT infrastructures as well as provide hard-to-find but needed skills to develop and support new applications and systems."

Again, the quote is -- reflects the *continuing need by companies for outsourcers* to manage corporate IT infrastructures.

Besides this good news there are at least a couple of take-aways:

* First, look at ways you can further increase business productivity. Chances are some of your clients are going to trim costs. Help them by making sure there is a technology solution that is going to help them stay efficient.

* Second, it is a good sign that payrolls at IT service firms are growing. It's a sign that many of your customers are looking to save on cost by outsourcing to companies like yours.

From a marketing standpoint I would suggest having your sales reps use the data I've quoted to ask questions about future plans, cost cutting measures, etc. Help them plan by being part of the solution.

The other item from a marketing standpoint is that you can create topics around these data points having to do with saving money, cutting cost, and staying ultra productive and efficient.

Limiting Factor Analysis

Limiting factor is any factor which limits the activities of the organization. The most common limiting factor is the sales volume because a company can not sell the entire product it manufactures.

Limiting factor analysis help companies to identify bottleneck resources and use best combination of available resources to maximize profit. Limiting factor in an organization or a company might be raw material, labour time, machine time. Limiting factor analysis can be applied where there is only one limiting factor involved. In case where there are more than one limiting factor, we have to use Linear programming or Simplex method.

Linear programming involves mathematical model which is solved using mathematical equations. The common area on the graph paper is called Feasible Region. The simplex method can only be solved using spread sheet software such as Microsoft Excel. In limiting factor analysis we calculate each product contribution (sales less variable cost) and then divide the contribution by per unit of limiting factor. Let's suppose raw material N is in short supply (that is it is a limiting factor) For example (Data is based on per unit of each product):

Product A Sales Price : 100$ ; Product B Sales Price : 200$

Variable Costs A : 50$ Product B : Variable Cost 135$

Contribution Per Unit A .......... 50$

Contribution Per Unit B .......... 50$

N used per unit of A 10 Kg

N used per unit of B 20 Kg

Therefore:

Contribution per Kg A ..........50/10 = 5

Contribution per Kg B .......... 65/20 = 3.25

As you can see Product A Contribution per Kg is greater than that of Product B, so every effort should be made to produce as much units of Product A as possible. After producing all units of product if company still has some kg of raw material N, then it should utilize N to produce Product B. In short the Products are ranked according to Contribution per Kg in order to maximize profitability.

Creating Urgency

"Without a sense of urgency, desire loses its value." --Jim Rohn

Let me repeat that because it's a building block of persuasion: without a sense of urgency, desire loses its value. That's an incredibly powerful statement and is absolutely spot on. In persuasion, once you've created trust and a feeling of rapport with your prospects and clients, and once you've removed all doubt about you and your product and service, what then? Are you going to make the sale if there's no sense of urgency on the part of your prospective client? Are you going to get ahead? No, you won't.

Some sales people and commercials create a false sense of urgency-- you know the ones, 'act now, only available to the first 100 callers'. . . We all know as a result of our advanced B.S. detectors that this is simply not true. We know that there are more than 100 Thighmasters or Magic Bullets available for purchase and even if you were caller 100,000, you would still have one in the mail to you before the call was over.

Now if it's true, if you only have 12 seats left in your seminar or 12 condominiums left to sell in a particular building, then by all means, use it. Then it's fantastic. There is actual scarcity involved in that case, but for example if you're selling insurance or if you're in real estate, what are you going to say, 'I've only got 12 houses left' or 'There are only 12 more insurance policies available'? I seriously doubt anyone would bite at that.

It depends on your industry as to how many places are left. If you're selling seminars you could genuinely only have a room that seats 50 or 100 or 10. A good friend of mine ran a seminar a couple of years ago, he sold it for $25,000 or $30,000 a head. They sold out. They had 10 spaces, 10 people, that's it. They put an arbitrary limit on the amount of space available because they did not want to give it to very many people. It was a very, very high end, hush, hush marketing strategy and they did not want the world to know about it because it would blow it, but they also wanted to get paid heavily for being able to give that skill that they had proven results with, so they limited it to ten.

How many of you have been on e-mail lists and you see subject lines that after a while they just look like all the other marketing subject lines? They're like, this is the greatest thing since sliced bread, the best thing since sliced banana bread, the best thing since sliced cream cheese banana bread. It's like they're always one upping. It's the best this or that, or the most powerful this or that. I'm guilty of some of that myself, thought I try my best not to. When people do this they are trying to use urgency, they're trying to develop urgency.

We have to create urgency because without it, there's no movement. In other words, they have to believe that their needs are going to be met, that there's some compelling reason to do it now and that's called 'the offer' in sales or in marketing. You've got to come up, what's the offer that would move people that connects to their dreams and values and that moves them off of center.

Creating Urgency

"Without a sense of urgency, desire loses its value." --Jim Rohn

Let me repeat that because it's a building block of persuasion: without a sense of urgency, desire loses its value. That's an incredibly powerful statement and is absolutely spot on. In persuasion, once you've created trust and a feeling of rapport with your prospects and clients, and once you've removed all doubt about you and your product and service, what then? Are you going to make the sale if there's no sense of urgency on the part of your prospective client? Are you going to get ahead? No, you won't.

Some sales people and commercials create a false sense of urgency-- you know the ones, 'act now, only available to the first 100 callers'. . . We all know as a result of our advanced B.S. detectors that this is simply not true. We know that there are more than 100 Thighmasters or Magic Bullets available for purchase and even if you were caller 100,000, you would still have one in the mail to you before the call was over.

Now if it's true, if you only have 12 seats left in your seminar or 12 condominiums left to sell in a particular building, then by all means, use it. Then it's fantastic. There is actual scarcity involved in that case, but for example if you're selling insurance or if you're in real estate, what are you going to say, 'I've only got 12 houses left' or 'There are only 12 more insurance policies available'? I seriously doubt anyone would bite at that.

It depends on your industry as to how many places are left. If you're selling seminars you could genuinely only have a room that seats 50 or 100 or 10. A good friend of mine ran a seminar a couple of years ago, he sold it for $25,000 or $30,000 a head. They sold out. They had 10 spaces, 10 people, that's it. They put an arbitrary limit on the amount of space available because they did not want to give it to very many people. It was a very, very high end, hush, hush marketing strategy and they did not want the world to know about it because it would blow it, but they also wanted to get paid heavily for being able to give that skill that they had proven results with, so they limited it to ten.

How many of you have been on e-mail lists and you see subject lines that after a while they just look like all the other marketing subject lines? They're like, this is the greatest thing since sliced bread, the best thing since sliced banana bread, the best thing since sliced cream cheese banana bread. It's like they're always one upping. It's the best this or that, or the most powerful this or that. I'm guilty of some of that myself, thought I try my best not to. When people do this they are trying to use urgency, they're trying to develop urgency.

We have to create urgency because without it, there's no movement. In other words, they have to believe that their needs are going to be met, that there's some compelling reason to do it now and that's called 'the offer' in sales or in marketing. You've got to come up, what's the offer that would move people that connects to their dreams and values and that moves them off of center.

Now, if you have trust and you've removed doubt and you've created urgency, we need to continue to build desire.

Painting Business - Why You Should Sell Benefits Instead Of Features

Benefits are what sell.

What is a benefit?

A benefit is what the buyer will gain or expect to realize about the service.

What our clients care about is what the painting job will do for them.

Like the benefit of using this Super-Fantastic Paint is that this paint will last for 75 years without fading, peeling or chipping.

So what is the difference? The benefit of a painting service is what is of interest to a customer.

Selling the feature first, is like telling your customer that Benjamin Franklin Paint is the best paint because of the old world way it is made. Like such and such a super-fantastic paint is the best paint in the whole world. Sort of like the name of the color, or maybe the spreadibility of the paint
Benefits are how this service will make the clients life better. No one cares about features. Customers care about what they will gain by using your service.

Painting your exterior of your house with Benjamin Franklin Paint or that it was made in their own home town, is not as interesting to a home owner as the benefit of not having to paint again for a long time, that the paint is protecting the house from the deterioration of the sun, and not having to paint again for 75 years.

If you want to be successful selling paint jobs, always think of ways that the client will see their gain, or their upside. Benefits.

It used to make me laugh when the kids would come around selling newspapers and they would say that if you bought a subscription from them they would get a new bike. Granted they probably got a sympathy order on that line because they were a kid, but you and I won't get many paint jobs with that feature.

The First Factor of Successful Selling

The first Instant Success Factor of successful selling is BEING AVAILABLE.

It was our Monday afternoon sales meeting and one of our top salesmen commented that he had been making many sales calls by phone without reaching anyone and no one was returning the voice mail messages he had left.

He said that he was very frustrated with each call because all he heard was a voice mail on the other end. The question I asked him was: 'Are you BEING available when you are making the calls?' He considered the question and then said, 'No, I don't believe I am!'

Often, when we are not getting the results that we want, the tendency can be to look outside of ourselves. We may justify the situation by saying that 'it was a bad time of day to call'. We can console ourselves by saying the other person 'does not have the courtesy to return a call.' Or we can state a 'sales rule' that when you make calls you never get more than 30% answering.

However, if you are being radically personally responsible for your own results in life or in business, you know that looking outside of yourself will not change the circumstances.

If you notice that your customers are not returning your calls or you are not connecting with others, where to place your gaze is on yourself...and consider that perhaps you are the one that is NOT being available.

Increase Sales by Taking Advantage of Your Thoughts

During the last week, actually the last 5 days, I have been working on site in a different state. This has mandated me going to dinner at unfamiliar restaurants and not knowing anyone. Yet, I have received 4 leads and one of which wants to start some executive coaching upon my return to my office in the Chicago area.

My first opportunity happened when speaking at a local chamber event. Even though the attendance was under 20 small business owners, I had exceeded the expectations of at least one of them because he wanted to talk more with me.

The second incredible opportunity happened at a local bar and grill. My colleague and I were enjoying some adult beverages along with two delicious dinners when a gentleman sat down next to me as the bar was fairly crowded. Upon sitting down I made a comment about him actually looking old enough given that the previous individual who had occupied the seat had looked so young. This happens when you age, everyone looks way too young.

When he spoke, I noticed an English accent. Being the curious person, I asked where in England he was from. He shared his hometown and we just started talking. Within several minutes, I learned that he was the new operations manager for a large company that my colleague had been trying to meet with without much success. Further conversation revealed some internal challenges and we exchanged cards and I will follow up. Sales Coaching Tip: Most sales professionals fail to follow-up on leads.

My third opportunity to increase sales happened the next night in the same eating establishment as the food was so incredibly good and reasonably priced. I sat one bar stool away from a woman. Something came on the news and she made some remark to me and I responded. Again, we started sharing and I learned that her brother had a significant medical practice within the area and he was facing some human capital and organizational challenges. Securing a large size health care provider was one of my desired prospects.

During the next day during a training and development session (my reason for being in the area), one of the participants came up to me after the training was over and asked if she could speak with me. Over our lunches, she shared that she was looking for an executive coach. We scheduled a free strategy session to better understand each other and if I could truly help her. Sales Coaching Tip: When you are authentic, you will attract potential clients. You do not need to sell yourself or your products and services.

Who would think in a city over 1,500 miles away from where I live, not knowing anyone, that I would find 3 fairly solid leads and one individual who had expressed a bona fide need for executive coaching? Life truly is just opportunity after opportunity waiting for you to unlock them. All you must do is to have those genuine positive thoughts that are aligned to your goals, your sales skills and your sales action plan.

What I believe has created all of these opportunities are my thoughts of wanting to secure at least 5 more clients within this area during the next 3 months. Tonight I am off to meet with another colleague who had provided me with several leads of which two I have appointments before I leave town. With all of these opportunities, I cannot wait to meet with her. As my executive coach tells me: "Life is great!"

Acquiring Business With Persuasion

So, what's the deal with the power of persuasion? Is it just a good business skill or is it manipulation?

Let's talk about manipulation first. A typical sales pitch involves the motive to manipulate. It will look like a set up, and the one being set up will feel like a caged animal. The seller begins zeroing in on the potential customer's pain. It starts as an introduction and a handshake. Then you pick up an on accent as your target begins speaking, or a ring he is sporting on his right pinkie - something that moves the conversation to a more personal nature. This probing leads to what city the target is from, what he likes to do for fun, and what he wishes he had more time to do...until before you know it, the poor slob is bearing his vulnerabilities to the vulture. And then of course, the manipulator goes in for the kill.

The persuader works differently. His appearance is less slick. You feel comfortable in his presence because, even though you are caught off guard by his inherent confidence, there is something familiar about him. Where the manipulator has a desperate quality that seems to motivate him, the persuader has no hidden agenda, so he is relaxed. The persuader does not have a goal to "find your pain." Instead, a professional presentation is made based upon the persuader's ability to exude success. The persuader is always cordial and professional, and if compliments are given they are sincere. Again, no ulterior motives. The persuader's contact is drawn to him because he knows success follows the persuader. Because of this, the contact wants to give him his business without the persuader having to convince him.

Get the difference? If you have leaned toward manipulation to get the client or deal that you were after, seriously consider reevaluating your approach. To be truly powerful and successful you must always be willing to walk away - not because you are playing a game of Chicken, but because you have integrity. No job or client is worth having to trench through muddy waters.

Many successful business people have degrees in Psychology, or at least make it a point to know the field. When you understand what draws people in, and makes them act or behave in a certain way, it is much easier to get what you want from them. The art of practicing this type of persuasion is to do it in an honorable way. A finesse is required which taps into the best part of who you are.

"The most important persuasion tool you have in your entire arsenal is integrity."

Zig Ziglar quotes (American motivational Speaker and Author. )

A large portion of the population want what they can't have. Taking the example in this article about the business person who is willing to walk out the door, the potential customer will feel even more inclined to come after him. If they do succeed in retaining the persuader, and he is as good as he has demonstrated, then that customer will very likely be his for life.

Canadian Psychologists did a study in which they followed people at a race track. The study revealed that the people making bets on their horses were much more confident after they placed their bets then before. The circumstances hadn't changed, and no new information about the horses had been announced, the people involved in the study simply had taken the act of placing their bets.

The conclusions based on this study revealed that humans are inclined to take a stand once they make a decision and carry through with it. Another mitigating condition is that human beings are influenced by social and internal pressures. This condition points to people wanting to be winners, and wanting to be associated with winners.

And, it just so happens, that winners are masters at the art of persuasion. For this reason it is imperative to start each day with the winner's frame of mind. Start your days off with confidence. If you are not feeling it, fake it. Believe you are the best at what you do, and behave accordingly.

There is no substitute for being branded as an executive or as a company with class. Become an expert in your field, and treat everyone you meet with respect. Persuasion will become less something you do to another person, and more of a way of being. From there, everything will fall into place. Easier said than done, I know. But, the journey will be a whole lot more pleasant when you take the high road.

Cost V Value Arguments in Business to Business Sales

The single most common reason sales people give for losing a sale is that they were too expensive compared to the competition. Strangely this is never the reasons customers give for choosing a supplier. In survey after survey customers give as their primary reason for choosing a supplier is that the supplier met their requirements and/or showed them a return on their investment. Customers in B2B sales almost never give price as the main or even secondary factor. Even given that there will be some reticence to say they bought the lowest priced bidder (excluding the public sector), there is still a huge gulf between sales people and their customers as to why a customer didn't buy their solution which was clearly the best, most functional etc..

The reason most customers give for not buying a particular solution as against another is complex but boils down to a couple of major factors. Customers first of all can see little differentiation between competing brands and therefore choose the one they are most familiar and comfortable with, or one they trust the most. Second, if a B2B customer is to choose a particular product or service then they will choose the one that gives them the best return on investment.

For those of us involved in sales for longer than a couple of years, nothing much has changed. Companies have always bought based on criteria of familiarity, trust and payback. What is different nowadays is the formality with which this is measured by the pragmatic buyer. It would be a great service if Marketers therefore turned their attention to Return on Investment (ROI) messages in their marketing strategies.

There is no hiding place for the organisation that proposes products and services based purely on features. Firstly there are too many messages assailing companies, too many competing claims and far too many broken promises, for any customer to make decisions based on claim and counterclaim.

In the most recent example we have some experience of, a company had four bids for a software infrastructure project. The bids were, £400K, £500K, £800K and £1.3M. The company chose the £1.3M bid because the supplier was the only one who provided them with a Return on Investment argument. We could have expected the customer to choose the middle bids, especially since one of those bids was their incumbent supplier!

Marketing strategies need to be developed to take account of value, not simply cost or product features, and marketing programmes need to support this. Sales people need to be furnished with the tools to help them to put forward strong ROI arguments, otherwise suppliers will find their customers moving to the competition who do.

The message is clear and unequivocal. Business to business suppliers must focus on the value their products and services bring. Remember, customers only buy for three reasons to make money, save money or fulfil some intangible need.

One last point - for those of you who base your sales strategy on a compliance argument then beware if customers have to comply with a law or regulations, then they are likely to buy the cheapest option available look no farther than car insurance for proof. Companies who sell on the basis of compliance therefore still need to focus on value rather than price, if they are too avoid the trap of downward spiralling price negotiations.

What Are You Offering?

It's all about the offer. It doesn't matter what kind of advertising you're talking about. If you don't have a good enough offer people aren't going to care about you.

So what are you offering people?

The exact nature of the offer is likely to change quite a bit depending on what type of industry you're in, but it will always depend on the customer base. You're offer needs to be centered completely around what their needs are and what you can do to best provide for them.

The form of color printing you use will also have an impact on your advertising. Take for instance a postcard. By nature a postcard is small and has to have a very short, to the point message. You simply don't have much room to tell people more.

That means your offer is likely going to be a discount of some kind. If you're sending out postcards to generate more sale leads, tell them that they'll get a discount on the first purchase or first service they buy.

For the longer styles of color printing you'll likely go with something a little different. Take a brochure as an example. Often the thing you're offering a person with brochures is information rather than a discount on something.

A good example of this is a tax service. You can give people an offer that is two fold in order to promote your services.

Send a brochure explaining some of the more complicated tax laws to them. Taxes are something that everyone has to deal with, so you'll grab their attention by giving them some simple, easy to understand details about them.

But what this also does is gives them reason why they should use your services. By laying out what all those different tax laws are like, you're informing them while also saying this is why you need to hire an accountant, because this stuff is complicated.

The best offers are going to be the ones that work twofold by providing both you and the customers with something helpful.

Every kind of advertisement you print needs to have a worthwhile offer. And you can be creative with what that offer is. You might give away some free items or if you sell a popular kind of clothing you're offering to give them a great new style that will appeal to them.

Take the time to do the research into your customers to know what kind of offer will resonate the most with them. You need to know plenty about your customers before you'll be able to give them anything they'll need.

If your offer is good enough, people won't be able to help but give you some business. You just need to be sure that the situation is a win for everyone involved.

Kaye Z. Marks is an avid writer and follower of developments in color printing industry and how these improvements can benefit small to medium-scale business.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Kaye_Marks

5 Essential Ingredients That Make Straight Commission Compensation Appealing

In a recent piece I outlined 5 tip-offs that reveal when straight commission jobs are rip-offs, or at least "opportunities" you should decline.

But that article left me feeling I created a vacuum. I didn't disclose the five ingredients we should look for, so here they are:

(1) There needs to be a SUBSTANTIAL payoff for success. You're taking on a lot of risk, and of course the primary one is that you'll invest your time, talent, effort, and ego in an utter loser and emerge with zilch. There is a simple balancing formula that investors use for evaluating an opportunity: Does the reward substantially outweigh the risk? If not, then pass.

(2) The ultimate compensation must be greater than that being offered for a safe, no-risk sales job. Imagine at Company A they're offering a commission-only job that has the potential of yielding $100,000 per year. At Company B, they'll stake you to a guarantee, to a draw or a salary of $100,000. It's a no brainer; you'd have to go with B. The realistic earning potential of A has to add up to, minimally, 150% to 200% of what is being tendered by B.

(3) Management at the commission-only outfit has to be seasoned and trustworthy. Have they met a payroll, before, or are they in a seat-of-the-pants, gee-golly-gosh start-up mode with no financing? Are you working with a Fortune 1000 company, which is image conscious and aspires to earn a berth on one of those "Best Places to Work" lists, or is it a firm run by a lone wolf or by a partnership that couldn't care if it is sued right and left for unpaid wages and for stiffing vendors? The burden of proof is on novices to demonstrate that they are NOT flakes.

(4) There needs to be a short sales cycle, preferably measured in days or a few weeks. If you're self-financing, which is what a straight-commission arrangement requires, you need to see cash flow and fast. You can't go out on a limb and invest months in the hope that you'll make your first sale.

(5) Ideally, others are on board, making a steady, big income doing exactly what you're going to do. I spoke to the head of a company who asserted that he had a USC college student selling deal after deal, making about $4,000 a week. Why did this sales master leave? Where is he now? What were his methods? This sounds a lot like that big fish tale about "the one that got away."

Keep these five criteria in mind as you screen sales jobs or any pay-for-performance situation.

Commission-only deals can be lucrative, but you need to turn the tables and to qualify those that are offering them. You should hitch your wagon to them only if they can pass a stringent test.

Dr. Gary S. Goodman is a portfolio careerist: An attorney, real estate broker, college professor, best-selling author, TV commentator, professional speaker, and management consultant. He can be reached at: gary@customersatisfaction.com and his profile can be read at: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/0/a91/833

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Dr._Gary_S._Goodman

7 Essentials For MASSIVE Success!

Mind: We all know that we produce great results when our thinking is in the right place. It isn't hard to see when things are "headed" south. Flip-it-up and keep your head in the game!

Action: Some people like to "think on things." Mull it over before getting started. It's the top-producers that get moving quickly. Champions master the art of thinking while in motion. Sure... some mistakes will happen in the beginning, but in time, it becomes an inevitable force of forward progress!

Strategy: When our mind is in the right place, and we are moving ahead with positive forward action, we quickly begin to understand what works and what doesn't. Combine the things that work with the right resources and build a plan to keep everyone on track.

Season: Develop a belief that you are always "in season." While others base their success on the time of year, you come up with reasons why you can be successful year round. Use your strategic plan to stay ahead, and find yourself at the top month after month... year over year. Remember, your future success depends on what you are doing right now!

Intentional: Everything you do is for a purpose. As you think through your daily activities, your sales process, your follow-up strategies, recognize reasons for why you do it "that way." You will create principles for success that will shape your behaviors and decisions for life.

Vigorous: So much of our success comes from an ability to remain strong through adversity. Ironically, it is also important to remain strong through our victories. In other words, don't lose focus just because you are winning. Impose your will and achieve your goals.

Endurance: True greatness is the ability to succeed over a long period of time. Durability comes with the strength to overcome pain and fatigue. When other people think that your success is temporary... Show them that your MASSIVE success is permanent!

How do you create MASSIVE success?

Doyle Slayton, Executive Director & Sales Strategist at http://www.SalesBlogcast.com

Join the community where sales professionals network, share best-practices, and just get better! Receive new articles and interviews throughout the week. Participate in sales, leadership, and business discussions. Subscribe today... it's FREE! http://www.SalesBlogcast.com

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The Five Words That Could (and Should!) Kill Your Sales Career

There I was, the proud owner of a beautiful new washer and dryer set. Cherry red, front-loading, state-of-the-art; they were everything my wife and I wanted. There was just one problem: the units were nowhere to be found. I had blocked out a portion of my Saturday to make the 45-minute drive to the Home Depot where we had purchased the set, excited to get them set up and running. To my disappointment the units hadn't been delivered to the store yet; worse, no one from the store had even bothered to call and save me the trip down. In fact, when I had called the store earlier in the day to check whether the units had arrived, I was assured they had. You can imagine my frustration.

Now I'm a pretty reasonable guy: I understand that trucks sometimes get delayed or orders get misplaced or a warehouse is out of stock. No problem. The problem was that everyone I talked to (the customer service clerk, the salesman I had purchased the set from, and even the store manager) responded to my dilemma with what I consider to be the five lamest words in the English language: "There's nothing I can do." A couple of them went so far as to add an "I'm sorry" to the beginning of the statement, but somehow that didn't make me feel any better. I was given a long list of reasons why no one could do anything, but this, too, failed to improve my mood.

My options were to come back in a couple of days to pick the units up or to wait for the store to deliver them the following week for an additional charge. Since my old unit was broken and the laundry was piling up, I opted to make another trip to pick them up myself. I left the store frustrated, annoyed and certain that my next appliance need would be met elsewhere.

I share this story with you because it highlights a growing problem in the fields of sales and customer service: failure to recognize the importance of the customer. I've said before that the customer is the most important person in any transaction, but I'd like to take that a step further and say that the customer is the only important person in a transaction. After all, no customer, no transaction.

You see, I did have a third option: I could have asked Home Depot for a refund and taken my business somewhere else. The only reason I didn't was that it would have created a greater inconvenience for me at the time; however, you can be sure next time I will probably opt for one of their competitors. Remember that your customers have this same option available to them, as well. No matter how good you or your products or services are, your customers can always get similar or better products or services from one of your competitors, and probably for a lower price. If you resort to the use of the five lamest words in the English language, you can be sure they'll exercise this option. So what if there really is little or nothing you can do to resolve a customer's complaint?

First, realize there is always at least one thing you can do and that is to empathize. To empathize means to identify with another person's feelings or difficulties. A simple statement like, "Mr. Kennedy, I understand how you feel, and I can assure you I will do everything in my power to resolve this situation to your satisfaction," would have gone a long way toward making me feel better about my experience. At least I would have known that someone cared. You can always do at least that for your customers: let them know you care and that you will exhaust all your options to rectify the situation.

Of course, you have to follow that up with actually doing everything in your power to resolve the problem. In other words, you should be an advocate for your customer. If he or she has a problem, take ownership of that problem and see it through to resolution. Fight for your customers, argue for them, bend or even break the rules for them, but never, I mean never, be caught telling them "There's nothing I can do!"

The Painting Business - Tough Economy, What Do You Do?

The first thing so many painting businesses do is to run around and low ball every estimate. Why?

Because they firmly believe that painting customers buy exclusively on price. But, studies show that for the most part that is not true. Painting customers want the best value.

Best value and that is? Think about what reasons you buy for. Try to get into the mind of the customer. If you have a really nice home in an upscale community, and you want your home to look good, the finish to last (good paint jobs are not cheap, even the cheap ones are not cheap) and actually sometimes cheap things cost more, the first time that you buy, and you pay the second time to do it the right way first. And they want the painting contractor to start and stay until done, not to take the deposit and leave only to work in dribs and drabs, until the owner finally throws the bum out. They want value, and this means a good job relatively priced, from someone they perceive to be honest, hardworking, going to do a good job and is not going to kick the dog, drink on the job and smoke in their house.

People buy for the most part on their emotions; people buy because they like you. Or they trust you. If you take a $5000 paint job, one guy quotes $5000; the other guy quotes $5050. And the client needs to pick one. The first guy looks sloppy, he was late for the appointment, and when he got out of his truck a beer can fell on the ground. The other guy is clean, came on time, and his truck looks like it was just washed. Which will they pick? The low ball painter only thinks the one who is low bidder will get the job. But if you were buying something this big, and you had doubts, would you buy from the low ball or the painter that you were confident in?

What if the prices were $5000, and $5051? Is that enough of a difference? This is supposed to be a 10 year paint job. Spread $51 over 10 years, does it matter then?

What if the prices were $5000, and $5100, at that point what is another $49? What about $5000 and $5200? $5300? Maybe if they need to buy that job badly enough, and they could not feel good about the low ball painter no matter what the price difference, they might even pay a few thousand more.
I have heard the catcalls, at a PDCA dinner that was for getting new members, from the cash painting contractors were sitting at the table all the way in the back. When the speaker was telling the audience about his hourly rate. It was (4 years ago) $65/hour. The goons in the last table were hooting and laughing, the last thing I heard was them saying he was "full of it", and he would never get that price here. And here was Princeton, NJ. If anyone knows the Ivy League Schools and the towns and communities around them. They know that this area has some of the highest paid people in the states. What was funny to me was that I had been talking to this painting company owner, for a few months prior to this dinner and, I was then charging $65 per hour in that exact area.

It is all in the mind. What do you perceive? What does the client perceive? What is their perception of you? If you want to win more jobs at a higher price than your competitors, then think Value, not low price.

By the way just today, I quoted on a new porch and deck that a decorator referred me to. She also referred 2 other respectable painters. I talked for a while about the benefits of the job, (keeping my estimate hidden), never mentioning price. Talked about the benefits of a quality job, from the primer on the new cedar rail, and what to use on the new mahogany deck, mostly emphasizing quality. I felt that they liked me. Finally they asked me for the price, at which time I told them verbally, without the estimate. I said $2196 for the porch work, and $850 to bleach and rinse the house to clean the mildew off. They said, "how do you explain that Harold quoted $1400 and $450 to bleach the house"? Saying nothing negative about Harold, (actually he is a pretty good guy), I just explained what we would do and how much time it would take. Then they said Steve quoted $1800, after that I just said I don't understand their prices.

Long story short, he said can you do both the porch and the wash job for $3000?

I walked out of there with a $1000 deposit. And this happens a lot to me.

Last year in another part of town, I took a $10,000 exterior paint job, my competition was $6000, but I got the job. And hey, we are good.

Having Trouble Finding Customers For Your Staffing Agency

Your competition has a big affect in your ability to find and secure new accounts with Hospitals or Medical Centers. Each staffing agency spends a lot of time in business development with the purpose of finding business. The problem with new staffing agencies is they often approach a Hospital without really knowing the internal culture or what makes the facility tick.

Lets look at some of the key factors that prevent many staffing agencies from finding new business or the first contract with a Hospital.

1. Are you familiar with the competition and how they are approaching the Hospitals?
2. Are you sure you are approaching the decision makers in the facility?
3. Have you identified your market challenge regionally?
4. Have you identified the accurate pay rates your competition is charging?
5. Have you identified the top accounts in the Hospital?
6. Have you identified the weaknesses your competition is experiencing?

These are just a few of the many variables that new staffing agencies need to identify before they begin walking into a facility and trying to secure accounts.

These variables will help you form a strategy to secure new accounts. Each strategy must be detailed with the goal of entering the marketplace, but not eliminating the competition. Don't approach the marketplace with the idea that you want to eliminate the competition.

Work with the competition and align yourself with the decision maker to enter the staffing arena as a backup. This technique has many opportunities that will be seen as time passes.

This is just one of many techniques you should use to secure clients and begin making money from your staffing agency. Too many staffing agencies make mistakes at the beginning that prevents them from surviving past the first year.

Many staffing agencies never actually make it past the first year, the problem is that they don't know the barriers to finding clients, and given enough time and money you will find the answers. The problem is again: how much time do you have and how much money do you have?

Five Tips For Beginning Sales People

1. Educate Yourself
Don't wait for managers or anyone else to give you the sales education you need. Unfortunately, the automobile industry has been stuck for years in a, "Throw them in and see if they can swim mentality." Some dealerships take new recruits to a meeting room and have them watch training tapes for a day and expect them to be trained. Neither of these options will increase your odds for success.

Begin a massive self-education program that will continue your whole career. Combine visual, auditory and experiential learning. Listen to sales and motivational material every day on the way to and from work. Read, watch DVDs and then put it all together by role-playing with a manager or fellow sales person. Education Creates Motivation - Motivation Breeds Perspiration - Perspiration Creates Elevation.

2. Avoid Cancer
Attitude is everything in sales and life. All companies are full of people with negative attitudes and limiting beliefs. These beliefs and attitudes begin to perpetuate into a culture that is counterproductive to all sales people and potentially deadly to the new sales person. You can insulate yourself from the cancerous attitudes by taking the following steps. 1. Avoid smoke-and-joke circles. There has never been a positive conversation in one of these pity party circles, and there never will. Avoid them like the plaque. 2. Utilize motivational material daily. Nobody can be fully self-motivated all the time. You need tools to assist you. CDs, DVDs, pictures, music, books, quotes, spiritual material, mentors and mastermind circles are all tools that you should use.

3. Utilize a Follow-Up System Religiously
Pick a manual or software system that you will use from day one. Every customer, every prospect, every time. When you start with an organized system, you will be focused on the fundamentals that will make you successful both short- and long-term. Collect as much data as you can on each prospect and customer and organize your follow-up by using post cards, letters, gifts, newsletters, e-mail auto-responders and sequential auto-responders. Persistent = consistent.

In sales and marketing, you must always remember the order of importance of potential sales. Your current customers will always provide you the most return on investment. So often, new sales people are in a constant mad dash for new customers and forget to maximize the potential of the ones they just sold. It's easier to maintain a good system that was created from the beginning than it is to start a new one later on.

4. Take Massive Action
It's all about action management, not time management. You have 1,440 minutes in everyday. Success is determined by the actions you take in those minutes. Avoid the time trap of getting caught up in the stuff. Stuff are the things that are minor in nature that we spend most of our day in that create little results. Don't major in the minor. Continually ask yourself if what you are doing will contribute to a sale either now or in the future. Keep the main thing, the main thing. Each day you must evaluate your actions and create a stop-doing list. After reviewing your day, determine what actions you should lessen or eliminate. Start your day with major actions so it sets a trend for the day. Jump in, don't wade in.

5. Be Your Own Marketing Manager
Don't expect any business or anyone to bring you customers. You must take the mindset from day one that you will provide 100 percent of your own customers and anything your company provides is extra. Start by creating your own brand. What will your slogan be that defines you? Utilize your picture, caricature and slogan on all marketing materials and business cards. Create your own Web site as a benefit to the customer that can be integrated with all marketing material.

Next, determine your ideal customer base that buys your product. You can purchase lists of people who drive your brand of product from one of many different list providers. Begin a multi-step marketing approach to these potential customers. Read as many books on copy writing as possible to learn the secrets of getting people to take action from your words. Educating yourself on marketing and copywriting will pay you more dividends than any other single thing you can do.

Sales people are made, not born. It's the people who do the work, who learn to market themselves, follow-up, handle rejection, persist and maintain a winning attitude that win in the sales profession.

Sales Techniques That Assist in Selling to Generation Y

For many selling professionals and sales managers selling effectively has become a cumbersome task. The proliferation of the electronic media and instant availability of products and services allows more power into the hands of clients. However, there is one area where the selling professional can achieve more effectiveness by trends and social issues. One of the largest yet daunting areas of research today relates to the Millennials or aptly called Generation Y.

To achieve greater selling effectiveness, professionals must realize that we operate in a multi-cultural, multi-gendered and multi-generational workforce. For purposes of this article, our focus relates to generational issues. Many selling professionals, consultants and employers have not taken into consideration that four generations exist in the workforce. There exists:

-Veterans = 20 Million/ages 65 and above

-Baby Boomer = 65 Million /ages 47 - 60

-Generation X = 50 Million /ages 38 - 45

-Generation Y = 78 Million /21 - 40

The manner which each purchases is based on behavior and values. To achieve selling excellence it is imperative to quickly comprehend the value differentiation of each.

Veterans

Veterans have important buying power and been doing so for well over 50 years. These groups because of many socially historical issues usurp brand value. This group tends to remain very loyal to products, services, and do not like change. More importantly, their age creates a need for physical relationship and they find instant communication frustrating.

Boomers

The 78 million Americans who were 50 or older approximately 5 years ago controlled $28 trillion, or 67% of the country's wealth. This group has tremendous buying power. However, this group ages by the moment as many Boomers worry about retirement and savings. This group resists spending during economic uncertainty since they pay with cash not credit. To achieve sales excellence it is imperative for selling professionals to create a bond with Boomers.

Generation X

Generation X makes up about 17% of the U.S. population and range in age from 38 to approximately 45 years of age. This generation is very open to technology yet is also well educated. If they need information they know where to get it so selling professionals need to illustrate differentiation. Generation X wants issues resolved expediently and deplore lengthy "sales pitches" in favor of solutions. Coincidentally, the dearth of email has Generation X desirous of personal interaction and paper correspondence. Selling effectiveness is uncompromised using more traditional marketing means.

Generation Y/Millennials

The largest and clearly the most influential group of purchasers since the Baby Boomers, Generation Y is on the minds of many selling and marketing professionals. With 78 million potential buyers, it is impossible to avoid this large group. They are influential, have the money to spend and there are many of them. Generation Y are very well educated. As a group, they believe in real time connection with the Internet a Must medium. Generation Y is all about instant connectivity and most importantly instant gratification.

Our research in this area finds these influential areas pivotal for effectively selling to Generation Y.

Cool. Online and print medium require change. Generation Y desires importance and self-actualization. They buy the now and the hottest item on the market. Those that follow this trend will thrive. Avatars such as Apple are very proactive in this area. Sales of iPods and iPhones flourish. Generation Y desires to be part of the experience. Selling to them requires a value proposition focused on current trends and social issues.

Brand. Generation Y differs from all prior generations. They are not brand loyal. Due to the increased connectivity, Generation Y follows social trends. Millennials have acute attention spans as they await the next trend. A recent Wall Street Journal article illustrates how Six Flags is aligning with Disney (movies and television shows) simply to capture the attention of the Millennials. Do not build a brand for them; rather, build a brand with them. Apple, Southwest, FedEx, Facebook, Google all build products with advice from this influential group.

Content. Content is king. This is true for Millennials. The proliferation of Internet technology allows Generation Y instant access to information. Sellers must provide uniqueness with content not found through regular Internet channels. Further, since content travels at the speed of light selling effectiveness can increase with viral marketing.

Language. Generation Y uses different lexicon. Whereas the other generations use complete articulate sentences, Millennials speak in a language encrypted with message similar to the DaVinci code. Sellers must speak and connect to Millennials in their language.

Risk. The increase of viral marketing and information enable Millennials to take more risks then preceding generations. In fact, due mostly to youth, Millennials are riskier, they have less to lose. Sellers and marketers must challenge Millennials. Buyers represent three purchase groups' a) early adopters, b) followers c) not a chance. Generation Y devour risk by adopting the "cool" trends. Sellers must understand the trends to advise the consumer to be a recognized leader.

C-Level Selling is the Path to Cross Selling

The biggest handicap to increasing market share is the inordinate amount of time that sales people spend cold calling trying to get into new accounts. This is tough duty. It's tough because there are no relationships to leverage for information and upward introductions. Precious time is wasted calling or pounding doors to leave advertisements to generate interest. Sales people cost too much to do that. They should not be used as an advertising arm of marketing.

Answering RFP's is another time sink and waste of valuable selling time unless you have relationships with people that count for that project. If you haven't been involved in the development of the RFP and you haven't gotten to the P/L leader to understand the business issues, you don't know how to present your solution so that you stand out as more valuable than the rest. Even if you submit the lowest price, you may not win over the ultimate decision maker because price is usually not his issue - even though everyone always says it is.

I'm in sales. I sell my consulting, my books and my training programs. My focus is on my existing customers. 90% of my time is spent with existing customers trying to develop selling relationships - meaning - learning, observing, interviewing, integrating and showing how I can deliver their results. I use and develop my network. As for new accounts, I've hired a marketing company to generate qualified leads. Once they've got a prospect to a point where I can interview an interested leader, I'll invest to see if I can fit into his solution image. I don't chase windmills. Unless I have an opportunity to develop a relationship -- credibility with someone on the inside -- I will let it pass. I invest my valued asset, time, to develop my valued asset: relationships. Relationship selling is how I can make the most sales.

And now I invite you to learn more.

Bonus Tip: FREE E-Book "Getting Past Gatekeepers and Handling Blockers". Just click this C-Level Relationship Selling Link Sam Manfer makes it easy for any sales person to be effective and feel comfortable connecting with and relationship selling C-Level leaders.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Sam_ManferStrategic planning is the exercise that organizations struggle with in defining their sales strategies plans and the future direction of the company. This article addresses a few ideas to assist you in the sales part of the overall sales strategies plan.

A great series of starter questions should be answered right at the start.

What do you want to do?

Run the business
Or

Grow the business

Or

Transform the business

Run the business: Status quoi, business as usual, just like before, keep the lights on. No big
changes.

Grow the business: Increase revenues/sales, grow markets, and add resources, facilities and people, expand.

Transform the business: Big changes, risk, new stuff, different markets, products, channels, skills and resources.

Now keep these three questions in mind through the process, write them out on a flip chart or white board.

1 What is it that we do?
2 Who is our target, who do we do it for?
3 How do we do it better, how do we excel over others that we compete with?

Where to start:

If you have recently had a detailed assessment of the sales group done great if not I suggest you get one done to establish a true baseline for all of your decisions. The sales strategies plan should be done by the senior management team and within reason should be completed without consideration of the ability to execute. (I will explain later) It is important to get buy in with the entire team for all parts of the sales strategies plan. Start by establishing a time frame for the sales strategies plan. There is a ton of information on the web regarding details that will help you through this sales strategies process. Outline the sales strategies plan, establish strategic objectives and goals identify key strategic projects and stack rank them in order of importance to the overall sales strategies plan and then for each ask yourself the following two questions about each.

1 How important is this to the business
2 What is our ability as an organization to execute?

If it's very important to the business and you can execute with ease then it should go to the top of the list. If it is not so important and very difficult to execute on then it should go to the bottom of the list ..

Now what can you expect from the current sales group to do their part. There will probability be a gap between what you need and what they can deliver.

The model is simple and if you spend a few minutes understanding its power it will explain what you have to do. It goes on to explain the steps required to complete a sales strategies plan
Dealing with the gap: You will recall that I asked you to develop the sales strategies plan without constrengths. That is because I believe that you should be able to dream, vision what the future should hold without always being concerned that the sales group may not be capable of delivering. We can fix that; you can fix that...close the gap and manage the business towards those goals without being weighted down by doubt and uncertainty.

Keep it simple; check out Google see strategic planning and good luck!

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Gordon_Petten

The Five Words That Could (and Should!) Kill Your Sales Career

There I was, the proud owner of a beautiful new washer and dryer set. Cherry red, front-loading, state-of-the-art; they were everything my wife and I wanted. There was just one problem: the units were nowhere to be found. I had blocked out a portion of my Saturday to make the 45-minute drive to the Home Depot where we had purchased the set, excited to get them set up and running. To my disappointment the units hadn't been delivered to the store yet; worse, no one from the store had even bothered to call and save me the trip down. In fact, when I had called the store earlier in the day to check whether the units had arrived, I was assured they had. You can imagine my frustration.

Now I'm a pretty reasonable guy: I understand that trucks sometimes get delayed or orders get misplaced or a warehouse is out of stock. No problem. The problem was that everyone I talked to (the customer service clerk, the salesman I had purchased the set from, and even the store manager) responded to my dilemma with what I consider to be the five lamest words in the English language: "There's nothing I can do." A couple of them went so far as to add an "I'm sorry" to the beginning of the statement, but somehow that didn't make me feel any better. I was given a long list of reasons why no one could do anything, but this, too, failed to improve my mood.

My options were to come back in a couple of days to pick the units up or to wait for the store to deliver them the following week for an additional charge. Since my old unit was broken and the laundry was piling up, I opted to make another trip to pick them up myself. I left the store frustrated, annoyed and certain that my next appliance need would be met elsewhere.

I share this story with you because it highlights a growing problem in the fields of sales and customer service: failure to recognize the importance of the customer. I've said before that the customer is the most important person in any transaction, but I'd like to take that a step further and say that the customer is the only important person in a transaction. After all, no customer, no transaction.

You see, I did have a third option: I could have asked Home Depot for a refund and taken my business somewhere else. The only reason I didn't was that it would have created a greater inconvenience for me at the time; however, you can be sure next time I will probably opt for one of their competitors. Remember that your customers have this same option available to them, as well. No matter how good you or your products or services are, your customers can always get similar or better products or services from one of your competitors, and probably for a lower price. If you resort to the use of the five lamest words in the English language, you can be sure they'll exercise this option. So what if there really is little or nothing you can do to resolve a customer's complaint?

First, realize there is always at least one thing you can do and that is to empathize. To empathize means to identify with another person's feelings or difficulties. A simple statement like, "Mr. Kennedy, I understand how you feel, and I can assure you I will do everything in my power to resolve this situation to your satisfaction," would have gone a long way toward making me feel better about my experience. At least I would have known that someone cared. You can always do at least that for your customers: let them know you care and that you will exhaust all your options to rectify the situation.

Of course, you have to follow that up with actually doing everything in your power to resolve the problem. In other words, you should be an advocate for your customer. If he or she has a problem, take ownership of that problem and see it through to resolution. Fight for your customers, argue for them, bend or even break the rules for them, but never, I mean never, be caught telling them "There's nothing I can do!"

Jerry Kennedy is the owner of Inside Out Business Solutions, a sales and customer service training provider based in Northern California. With a lengthy background in petroleum sales, Jerry has been on the front lines and knows the challenges sales people face every day. You can learn more about Jerry and Inside Out Business Solutions by visiting http://www.inside-out-solutions.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jerry_Kennedy

The Painting Business - Tough Economy, What Do You Do?

The first thing so many painting businesses do is to run around and low ball every estimate. Why?

Because they firmly believe that painting customers buy exclusively on price. But, studies show that for the most part that is not true. Painting customers want the best value.

Best value and that is? Think about what reasons you buy for. Try to get into the mind of the customer. If you have a really nice home in an upscale community, and you want your home to look good, the finish to last (good paint jobs are not cheap, even the cheap ones are not cheap) and actually sometimes cheap things cost more, the first time that you buy, and you pay the second time to do it the right way first. And they want the painting contractor to start and stay until done, not to take the deposit and leave only to work in dribs and drabs, until the owner finally throws the bum out. They want value, and this means a good job relatively priced, from someone they perceive to be honest, hardworking, going to do a good job and is not going to kick the dog, drink on the job and smoke in their house.

People buy for the most part on their emotions; people buy because they like you. Or they trust you. If you take a $5000 paint job, one guy quotes $5000; the other guy quotes $5050. And the client needs to pick one. The first guy looks sloppy, he was late for the appointment, and when he got out of his truck a beer can fell on the ground. The other guy is clean, came on time, and his truck looks like it was just washed. Which will they pick? The low ball painter only thinks the one who is low bidder will get the job. But if you were buying something this big, and you had doubts, would you buy from the low ball or the painter that you were confident in?

What if the prices were $5000, and $5051? Is that enough of a difference? This is supposed to be a 10 year paint job. Spread $51 over 10 years, does it matter then?

What if the prices were $5000, and $5100, at that point what is another $49? What about $5000 and $5200? $5300? Maybe if they need to buy that job badly enough, and they could not feel good about the low ball painter no matter what the price difference, they might even pay a few thousand more.
I have heard the catcalls, at a PDCA dinner that was for getting new members, from the cash painting contractors were sitting at the table all the way in the back. When the speaker was telling the audience about his hourly rate. It was (4 years ago) $65/hour. The goons in the last table were hooting and laughing, the last thing I heard was them saying he was "full of it", and he would never get that price here. And here was Princeton, NJ. If anyone knows the Ivy League Schools and the towns and communities around them. They know that this area has some of the highest paid people in the states. What was funny to me was that I had been talking to this painting company owner, for a few months prior to this dinner and, I was then charging $65 per hour in that exact area.

It is all in the mind. What do you perceive? What does the client perceive? What is their perception of you? If you want to win more jobs at a higher price than your competitors, then think Value, not low price.

By the way just today, I quoted on a new porch and deck that a decorator referred me to. She also referred 2 other respectable painters. I talked for a while about the benefits of the job, (keeping my estimate hidden), never mentioning price. Talked about the benefits of a quality job, from the primer on the new cedar rail, and what to use on the new mahogany deck, mostly emphasizing quality. I felt that they liked me. Finally they asked me for the price, at which time I told them verbally, without the estimate. I said $2196 for the porch work, and $850 to bleach and rinse the house to clean the mildew off. They said, "how do you explain that Harold quoted $1400 and $450 to bleach the house"? Saying nothing negative about Harold, (actually he is a pretty good guy), I just explained what we would do and how much time it would take. Then they said Steve quoted $1800, after that I just said I don't understand their prices.

Long story short, he said can you do both the porch and the wash job for $3000?

I walked out of there with a $1000 deposit. And this happens a lot to me.

Last year in another part of town, I took a $10,000 exterior paint job, my competition was $6000, but I got the job. And hey, we are good.

So quit dropping your price because nobody cares.

By the way, I bet Harold is thinking that his price was too high.

Click here to find out more about Getting Higher Prices than your competitors, for your Paint Jobs.

Patrick Cavanaugh has 30 years+ running a successful painting business.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=P_E_Cavanaugh

Periscope Down

Lately I have been working with a number of creative people. When I say creative they range from coaches to salespeople to web designers; from artists to store owners. They are all creative in their own way and they all struggle with the same challenges. Among those challenges is planning. Planning, or lack thereof, can dramatically impact a company or organization.

It isn't enough to be good at what you do; you must be able to clearly define details and plans in order to successfully communicate with, sell to, and maintain a client base. Remember it's that client base that equates to income.

So, we are going to take the periscope down and focus on four areas: defining scope of work, identifying the target market, developing the sales plan, and implementing a client retention program. These are the nuts and bolts of a successful business. They need to be established, monitored, and modified as needed. Without clear planning in these areas you will find yourself floundering instead of sailing.

Scope of Work

This is one of those key areas that many entrepreneurs fail to address effectively. Before you ever make a single sale, you must define what it is you will do for how much money. It may sound obvious but too many people fail to address this topic at the outset. Imagine wanting to contract someone who couldn't tell you exactly what they were going to do, roughly how long it would take, what the process was, and how much it was going to cost you. Would that instill confidence? I don't think so!

In addition, if there is gray space, it's open to interpretation by the client. They may believe that you are going to do more than you intended. Without a clearly defined scope you have no way of combating that belief. You will end up doing more work without receiving more money. Not a great idea.

So take the time to define the work. You can and should have different packages. You can even keep it a la carte if you wish. The point is to make sure you have a clear definition of work you offer along with the corresponding cost to the client. Once defined, put it in writing. You'll be amazed at how much easier it will be to sell your service or product. Moreover, now you and your prospect will know exactly what to expect. No surprises.

Target Market

Do you believe your product or service is good for everyone? Well maybe. I submit to you that this may not be true. And at the same time, it's terribly difficult to sell to everyone. Target marketing keeps things clean and clear. It helps you focus - and that focus will help you market your product or service more effectively.

Whether you sell something that everyone can and should buy is not the issue. The issue is to break down the possibilities into workable pieces. Select a section of the market that you can focus on. It's easier to set up a sales plan when you aren't all over the place.

Focus your time and energy on that one market and go deep. Try to penetrate it as far as you can. Once you've established yourself in that market you can always pick another segment and repeat the process. Now you have a focused, clear road to go down.

You may have noticed that we've been going in order through natural business growth steps. You can't pick a target market until you've clearly defined what it is you offer. Once you have your target market your next step is to structure and implement your sales plan.

Sales Process

You now know what you are offering and who you are offering it to. So, how are you going to sell it? Whatever you decide to do, you have to do it consistently. The worst thing to do in the sales process is to stop contacting people once you've started. Having a plan of action will help you avoid that problem.

There are many ways to develop a sales plan. The most successful will be the one that you'll feel comfortable doing. For example, if you don't like the idea of cold calling (and most people don't), then you have to find other ways of getting your information to your market. It may be an introductory letter; you may decide networking is the way to go; maybe you offer workshops or seminars to share information and become known to your market. Perhaps you hire a telemarketer or try direct mail marketing.

Whatever path you choose, remember that there are always more steps. You can't just send out a direct mail piece and wait for people to knock on your door. You can't send an introductory letter and expect people to call you. You have to craft a plan of action - several steps - that you are going to implement and maintain. Once you've sent out the introductory letter, follow up with a phone call. Create a process for follow up calls. How often, at what time of day, for how long.

Creating a sales plan will help you keep focused on the process. Without a plan, you'll struggle to realize sales and therefore your business will suffer. Keeping your focus on the process and tackling each step will keep the momentum going and the sales coming in.

Client Retention

Now you've acquired clients - congratulations! So, how do you keep them? Too often salespeople and business owners are so focused on the acquisition process that they fail to nurture the clients they already have. Keeping current clients is far less costly than gaining new ones so there is real value in retention.

Having said that, it can be hard to put your energy here when you think you should be working on gaining more clients. That's where planning comes in. Take some time to consider and establish a clear, workable system for nurturing your client relationships. Once that system is in place - stick to it!

When you are clear about where you want to go and how you are going to get there, it becomes much easier to proceed. Planning provides you with the road map and the directions. The most successful businesses are the ones where the people have taken the time to periscope down and think about, investigate, and create the processes necessary to move ahead. Take the time to work with the details at the beginning. It will free you up to be able to effectively head down your road toward success.

Staying Committed

We've all been there. . . that perfect moment in the business life of a sales professional when we've made the sale and turned that prospect into a client. It feels good. We've done our job well. But maybe something seems a little off.

This feeling is something to pay attention to. Commitment is a tricky thing, a loaded word with connotations of "being stuck" and these days it seems many people are terrified of commitment in all arenas.

What should you be watching out for? When a person gives you a commitment the biggest thing to look for is, are they congruent. Is the person hemming and hawing? Do they say things like, "I can probably swing that." The word 'probably' is a dead giveaway. So is the word 'try'. If someone's trying to buy or make a commitment, they're not actually buying or making a commitment.

Were they really congruent when they gave you the 'yes' answer? Or were they less than specific? "Yeah, I reckon so," they might say. Well, 'reckon so' doesn't mean they fully agree to it necessarily.

You might be able to hear it tone of their voice (which is a hard one to describe in writing, but you know . . . they stop and start and um and uh). Does their tone, when they agree, make you feel that they are really not committed?

You need to really evaluate if you've gotten a commitment from somebody, are they congruent? Do they mean it? If you spot any of the things like I just mentioned, the wisest thing to do is to stop and find out what the issue is. It's easier to fix an objection or a problem right then than it will be later on when you gloss over it (and letting the little nagging doubt grow into something larger) and just assuming or trying to convince yourself, well they must have been telling me the truth. After all, all prospects tell the truth, right? Just like all sales people do.

The thing is, we are truth tellers. We tell the truth for all the obvious reasons, not the least of which is, that we want our unconscious mind to believe us.

It's really important if you see any issues of congruency that you stop and say, "Listen, you know, you told me this answer but I'm just wondering if there's anything else going on there that we need to explore." And then at that point, you'll be able to deal with it and it won't become a festering sore that will eventually erupt and lose you the deal.

Baby Steps With Commitment

None of us start out knowing how to crawl, walk, talk, chew, understand language, read or control our bladders. . . but we all learned (hopefully) and we all learned one step at a time. We learned to communicate, we learned to be mobile, we learned to send e-mails, we learned to cook microwave popcorn. . . there's no end to what we've learned in our years on this planet.

And it all started out with baby steps.

The good news is, we continue to learn. We can learn anything that we set our minds to. By parsing anything into small chunks, we can do absolutely anything -- learning a new language (which, incidentally, is something that I'm experiencing at my ripe age and through techniques such as the light and sound machine where I achieve the brainwaves associated with early childhood, I'm excelling in Spanish at an incredible rate), learning a musical instrument, learning a computer program, even learning how to have total congruity and living honestly with ourselves and everyone around us.

Here's what I want you to do. Pick something that you can absolutely be 100 percent in control of and commit to doing it. Let me give you an example. Let's say today, and this is one I like because I can be in control of doing it, I'm going to go out at 3:00 today to the mailbox. So let's say that 3:00 is 10 minutes away from now. I'm going to go check the mailbox and come back. No matter what, I'm going to keep that commitment to myself.

You can do that, can't you?

Here's another one: Tell yourself you're going to go home from work today on a particular route. Let's say it's slightly different than normal, and then force yourself, be vigilant and alert because your normal reflexes will take over and you'll do it the same way you always did unless you pay close attention.
Or maybe you decide you're going to clean up your desk by 5:00 o'clock. Then at 5:00 o'clock, you simply clean your desk. Do it.

I don't care how little it is, but whatever it is, pick something little and do it.

Then when you want to go a little further, extend the time frame. Tell yourself, I'm going to check the mail today at 4:00, so that's three hours from now. The key is that you do not allow anything, no matter what, to get in your way of doing what you committed to do.

The next extension is to enlarge the magnitude of the task. Maybe it is something you don't really want to do -- yard work, exercise, or making an appointment for the dentist -- once you've established within yourself that you can go get the mail, you will be primed to conquer the larger tasks.

What you might find in doing this exercise is that you make all kinds of commitments to yourself and others that you have no intention of keeping. Is it any wonder you're not getting ahead faster than you are right now?

Again, to see how fast you are or are not getting ahead, look into your environment because that will show you really quickly how powerful your will is.

Increase Sales by 25 Percent

All sales people need to have a monthly sales goal for themselves. They also need to know how they arrived at that specific goal. Many times, these goals are based upon their past sales performance, but past results may not be indicative of performance.

You can increase your sales by 25 percent or more. Identify what causes mental barriers that produce limited results and how to overcome them. Many barriers are caused by conditioning, circumstance and emotions. Many people associate money with the following phrases: "Do you think money is grown on trees?" "Do you think we are rich?" "You can't afford that." "Money is the root of all evil." This is why many people have limited and negative beliefs about money.

Examples of the three limiting factors are:

Conditioning.

The US is the richest country in the world. Money is printed every day here. So in reality, what's the difference between it growing on trees or on a printing press?

Circumstance.

All people have negative experiences and setbacks in their lives, these experiences can lead you to let circumstances limit your beliefs about success or money. When you anchor your future to the past, that's exactly what you get. History is meant to be a rudder not an anchor.

Emotions.

Emotions are some of the most powerful sources of energy in nature. Negative emotions are also caused when your conscious mind and subconscious are in conflict with one another. Example: If you set a goal to lose five pounds, it is done in your conscious mind. If later that day, you walk by a bakery and smell cookies and walk in and eat a half-dozen, that action was controlled by your subconscious mind. Can you see the conflict? Your subconscious reacts to information and emotions given to it without regard to your goals. If not properly directed, negative emotions limit actions, habits and results. If rejection dominates your emotions, you have lost the war before the battles began.

What you can do to explode your results. First of all, you must change your questions. Your life and your results are a direct reflection of the questions you ask yourself. Don't ask what you want based upon what you have or what you have done. Ask bigger and better questions. Many trainers who teach goal setting say to make your goals believable. All goals are simply choice. You can make almost any goal believable if you change your questions.

Use this exercise to help you get your conscious and subconscious mind going in the same direction. Write down your goal in a positive present tense paragraph without any limiting beliefs.

Example: I am happily and easily selling 20 cars or more a month without struggle or conflict. My sales and other resources are creating an abundance of money for my family and me.

It's easy to dismiss exercises like this. However, one trait found among massively successful people is their open-mindedness in pursuit of success. Skeptics rarely are successful, let alone happy people. Ask yourself, "What have I got to lose?"

Three things determine your path in life: philosophy, free will and choice. Your own personal philosophy is determined by your questions. Everything is determined by your free will and choice. Ask the right question, and they will lead to the right thoughts. Have the right thoughts, and they will create the right emotions. Feel the right emotions, and they will lead to the right actions. Take the right actions, and they will create the right habits. Having the right habits will create the right results. Your results will form your destiny, and yes, you can increase your sales by 25 percent or more.

You Must Like Your Customer Types If You Are in Sales

If you are in sales, you have to like the types of customers you will be doing business with on a regular basis. This sounds easy enough, but many people who get into sales do not realize the types of customers or prospects they will need to forge relationships with to steady their ship towards a path of success.

I'll explain further. If you enjoy wearing a suit and tie, an industrial sales job will be a poor fit for you (unless you enjoy having to buy suits on a regular basis). If you have a general dislike for doctors and nurses, how in the world will you be able to forge relationships with them? If you don't like dealing with the general public, why in the world would you go into retail sales? If cars don't excite you, how are you going to be able to excite a prospect that shows up on the lot?

Many of your customers should be people that you can be friends with outside of work. Building these types of relationships can take your sales to a whole new level. Friends will always readily help with referrals that turn into new business, and everyone enjoys helping someone they like succeed.

Remember, no amount of money will make you happy if you are continually having to deal with a group of people you don't enjoy being around. Before you accept that next sales position that comes along, think hard about whether or not you will enjoy being around the types of customers for that particular industry.

The Rise of the "Latte" and "Black Coffee" Sales Authors

One thing that I am really concerned about these days is some of the latest sales authors I've seen out there on the net. These authors may write some great material, but come from a position of being out of touch with their audience. They seem to be older or have the slicked back Wall Street hair look, and just present an overall image of someone who has not been in sales for a long time.

I've coined a new term here for these authors - the "Latte" Sales Authors. I'm reminded of someone sipping on a Starbucks's cup looking at his latest art piece. Somebody that turns his head when his hands get dirty or despises having to deal with anyone considered "entry" level (unless a five or six figure contract is attached). Someone who generally looks down on other people, especially the ones who get up every morning to go to work (by the way, these are the people who make America the greatest country in the world!).

It really burns me up at times that the minority of salespeople (the ones that seek out additional education) are handing their money over to these people who are out of touch with the 21st century sales world. Salespeople who seek out continuing education at their own expense have worked really hard for the money that is being wasted. Salespeople simply deserve better than what they are getting, especially at book stores.

On the plus side, the rise of sales authors (both young and old) in blogs gives everyone in the sales community hope. For these straight-shooting authors, I have also coined a new term - the "Black Coffee" Sales Authors. These are the authors that stay in touch with the selling community and have a very engaging personality. This by no means is limited to young or start-up sales authors, as I would include Jeffrey Gitomer (for example) in this group.

I certainly mean no disrespect to anyone who drinks a latte now and then, as you can be a latte drinker and still be a "Black Coffee" Sales Author. Black coffee simply comes to represent someone who pulls no punches, and throws the ball right down the middle of the plate. Whatever you do, think twice about handing your money over to a "Latte" author when a "Black Coffee" author is readily available.

Increase Sales by Staying on the Grid

In light of the current credit crisis and general nervousness about the economy, business owners can't help be concerned about their companies' future. Of course, there are always businesses that do well in do well in down markets, and I know my bankruptcy attorney friends are busier than ever. But most entrepreneurs I speak with have their eyes fixed on the latest economic indicator reports.

And while business may slow for some of us, if you are creative, a down economy creates opportunities for entrepreneurial businesses. For example, down economies create price sensitivity. Prospective clients who have been loyal to their existing service providers may reconsider working with an entrepreneurial company or small firm that has better rates.

It was exactly this type of economy that propelled me into my own law practice six years ago and, like in the last down market, I have recently seen opportunities open up to me that weren't available a year ago.

According to sales expert, Adrian Miller, keeping your name at the top of your new and existing contacts' minds is the best way to make sure you don't miss out on any of these new opportunities. According to Miller, "marketing is all about staying on the grid."

Most rainmakers, and especially professionals, are guilty of making a new contact, either through a networking event, golf or lunch, and then have no follow up system in place to stay in touch. And while it's great that you are "out there" having meetings, without a follow up strategy in place, your return on the time, effort and possibly expense you invested in taking that meeting is limited. The people you meet with may not know of (or need themselves) the services you provide at the time that you meet them. You want to make sure that you stay at the top of their mind so when the need arises, you're the person who wins the referral.

For her own business, Miller says that for her to keep a pipeline of prospective clients large enough to generate the revenues she aspires to achieve, she needs to make a minimum of 50 touches a day, which includes people she meets networking, at speaking events, and communications with clients and prospects.

But according to Adrian, your point of contact should never be a "hey, just touching base" email or call. Miller says that these types of correspondence are self serving, add no value to your clients and you become the annoying guy or gal whose email and calls get ignored. Says Miller, "you win business because you equate to an improvement to a situation the prospective client is dealing with." "To do this your communications must offer value to your prospect or referral source."

Adrian had 8 easy tips to stay in front of your prospects with value-add communications:

1. Be a Connector. You can be valuable to your contacts and business prospects by connecting them to people who can help solve their problems or increase their business. These can be introductions between clients, prospects, vendors and referral sources. Adrian suggests making a commitment to connecting five people a day. Miller uses her subway commutation time to make these connections via her PDA. If you are known for making connections that lead to new business or other opportunities, then you can be sure your emails will get opened.

2. Send an Article. A touch point can be as simple as cutting out or photocopying an article that may be of interest to one or more of your contacts. Adrian says she walks around with a stack of her business envelopes and if she's in a waiting room, she'll take an article out of a magazine and send it to a client or prospect that's of interest.

3. Send a Link. If you've just spoken to a client and found out he or she is going on a vacation to a special destination, or that they have a particular interest, Miller suggests using Google to find an article or something of interest to your contact and sending the link to the article in your follow up message.

4. Newsletters. Not much to say here, most everyone knows the drill. The key is to make the commitment to getting the newsletter out consistently. Miller suggests hiring a freelance writer to write the copy for your newsletter. You can have a sit-down with a freelance writer, give them five bullet points about an article idea, which they will then turn into a 1,500 word article in less than a week. Do this for three topics once per quarter and you have your newsletter copy for a year. I have colleagues who have successfully used Elance (www.elance.com) to find affordable copy writers.

5. Take Them to Lunch. Don't just plan a lunch with one person, schedule a lunch for two or three people (plus you) who have synergies. Same concept as being a connector, except you are sharing a meal together. Miller sets her lunches up a few weeks in advance, and if you're lucky enough to be invited, you don't miss it. This is something you can train your assistant do for you. All you need to do is provide your assistant with names, and she can schedule dates a few weeks in advance. A good time saving tip is to pick steady venues located in different strategic areas.

6. Invite Them to an Event. Like the lunches, invite two or three people who will have synergies. Miller suggests that this is a good opportunity to be creative and connect with your clients on a personal level. Adrian is a member of MoMA and gets invites to exhibit openings. She regularly invites her clients and referrers. Recently, one of my clients invited me and a colleague to go to the pre-opening event at the New York International Car Show. It was an awesome experience that we are still talking about. Also, Miller suggests not being afraid to take your prospects and clients to places where your competition is. According to Miller, your clients will meet your competition anyway; many clients will actually be impressed that you're not afraid of your competition.

7. Get Digital. Yes, websites are important and unless you've been living in a cave, you know this. But web marketing has gone to a new level, and Miller suggests building your online profile through professional social networking sites like Linked-In or Corporate Facebook. I know many professionals who are using these sites to effectively find staff, investors and clients.

8. Keep Clients Happy. Miller suggests that your clients are your biggest (and least expensive) sales force and, in fact, promoted her elder law attorney and IP attorney at our seminar without us even realizing it. Do whatever you can to keep your clients in your fan club.

In Party Plan Selling - How Not to Be Pushy

I was in the market for a new couch and saw one I really liked. The saleswoman came over and told me all the reasons I wanted THIS couch. She went on to tell me why I needed the matching chair. I didn't want the matching chair. I wanted the couch.

She told me how shabby my room would look if I didn't get the end tables, coffee table, and matching lamps. I didn't want them. I wanted the couch.

She assured me I'd be the envy of the neighborhood. All I want is the couch, Lady!

She told me to think about the beautiful new room I'd have and payments would be only -------

I walked out of the store. Instead of selling me the couch I wanted, her pushy style of selling drove me out of the store. Are you getting the drift here?

She wasn't listening to me. She wasn't filling my needs. She was telling me what she wanted me to buy instead of listening to what I wanted and could afford. She had dollar signs in her eyes.

So often I hear consultants say, "But I don't want to appear pushy." So how do we avoid being pushy and still increase our sales, bookings, and recruits? By asking questions and respecting the answers.

At a show I did, a woman purchased a $100 stock item that complemented an expensive set. I pointed out to her that she could get the set by booking a show. She didn't want to have a show and stated, "I don't do these sort of things." So I asked if she thought she'd be purchasing more of these items in the future. She told me if she liked the item she was buying as much as she thought she would, she probably would be calling me. I made sure she had my catalog, business card, and the special flier about those items.

A few weeks later I called to see how she liked her purchase. She loved it. A few weeks after that some of the stock items went on sale. I called and let her know. She ordered those and thanked me for letting her know about the sale. Again I did a customer care call when she got the products and she assured me she'd be calling me to order the rest of the stock items.

A few months later she did call and ordered the rest. She's now purchased well over $300 in products from me. A few weeks later I called again to see if her new items were doing what she wanted and if she had any questions. During that call she said she absolutely loved everything and really wanted the set. She asked if the set ever went on sale. I told her no - because that was the truth - and reminded her that she could get the set for half price if she had a few friends in. "Well, let's do it then!" she replied.

How did that happen? Simple. I listened to her. I respected her "no." I did customer care calls. I let her know when items she liked and wanted went on sale. I wasn't pushing. I was filling her needs. Do you see the difference?

Oh, by the way, I went to a different store and saw the most awesome couch and matching chair. The salesman was so nice and even gave me a discount if I bought both pieces. They look great in my living room. I'm thinking seriously about going back for the lamps I saw there ......