All entrepreneurial roads lead to Infusioncon 2012. On Sunday, April 1, 2012 the wise and the motivated will be heading north, south, east and west to arrive at the Biltmore for 3 days of brainstorming, networking, education and motivation.

Follow this link to register for Infusionscon 2012

Infusioncon 2012. Meet Infusionsoft Services Pros & Grow

Get the most out of Infusioncon 2012

To get the most out of your time there be sure to start things off right by being on time to hear CEO Clate Mask kick things off with his keynote address at 8:30 on Monday April 2nd.

If you want to see what ethical leadership entails in 2012 you’ll see it with Clate Mask.

As a longtime Infusionsoft Certified Consultant I’ve been fortunate enough to get a sneak peek of the Spring 2012 release. You’ll want to remain in your seat after Clate Mask concludes his opening keynote address so you can get a glimpse of the Spring 2012 release by Richard Tripp, VP of Product Management and Strategy.

What should you do next?

Here Is What You Need To Do Next

Education without action is worthless. A good plan executed today beats a perfect plan scheduled to be executed next week. The choice is yours.

If you’re an action taker—and are since you’re reading The Weekly Whisper—here’s what I encourage you to do next:

1. I want you to brainstorm how you can automate your sales and marketing efforts and write them down.
2. Whatever it is you want to automate but don’t know how to yet, commit to getting those questions answered at Infusioncon 2012.
3. Whatever cool thing you currently automate and/or want to learn how to automate at Infusioncon 2012, leave a comment and tell me about it below. I’ll do my best to help you here on the blog and I’ll also help you at no charge if you look me up at Infusioncon 2012.
4. Finally, if you haven’t subscribed to The Weekly Whisper, please do that now. I’ve got a new issue coming soon, and if you’re not subscribed you may miss it. And trust me, you don’t want to miss this one. It may be the best one yet.

Be interesting to keep your prospects from sleeping like babies.

P.P.S. If you’re in a rush and/or don’t like crowds and could benefit from some personal attention to learn how to tell your story and you appreciate consulting that is reassuringly expensive you will enjoy my private consulting services.

Job had it all, lost it all, then found it all in God and his success grew twice as much.

In today’s Sunday readings we read about Job having a tough time, God’s healing promise and an example of how we are to live when we receive God’s healing.

Today Job is lamenting the “drudgery” of man’s life. It is reminiscent of Adam’s misery, which came to him in Genesis 3:17-19 as a result of his original sin.

But in the Psalms today we are reminded that God heals the brokenhearted and we are to praise Him for it.

Finally, in the Gospel of Mark we see an example of the Lord’s healing. Jesus takes the hand of Simon’s mother-in-law, who was afflicted with a fever, he “raised her up” and she immediately showed her appreciation by serving Jesus and all who were present.

Trials and tribulations can hit any of us at any time despite our best laid plans. How you react to them is what defines you and will set the tone for the level of your future successes or lack thereof.

Remember that all things will pass EXCEPT for your soul and the love of God. Those will both live forever.

The late, great Tom Hoobyar encountered challenges in life, which led to his creation of the “12 Laws of Life.” In #2 he reminded us to “Keep your balance. Stay centered. Expect surprises.”

So if you find yourself out of balance or sinking or fallen and unable to get up on your own…

1. Keep the faith.
2. Seek answers and solutions, not blame.
3. Accept a helping hand.
4. Continue to serve.

Once Job saw the error of his ways and accepted the will and the blessings of the Lord he then interceded on behalf of his friends that let him down and he was blessed with double of what he had before.

To grow in your business and personal life seek first to serve. Maybe that means you watch less TV at home and help cook dinner or do a load of laundry despite having a long, hard, grueling day at the office.

In business it means you seek not to merely “satisfy” your clients but actually WOW them to the point of amazement. The days of exchanging a product or service for a buck or two and keeping the client for generations are over.

If you find any aspect of your life out of balance ask yourself who it is you have been seeking to serve. If it is not God, Family, Client, Self in that order you have the answer to your dilemma.

As the wise Zig Ziglar tells us, “You will get all you want in life if you help enough other people get what they want.”

To your success.

Decide then take massive action to reach your goals.

A New Year’s Day Quiz to cut through the New Year’s Eve celebratory fog:

Three frogs were sitting on a stump. One decided to jump off. How many were left?

If you’re an analytical type you say, “Like, duh, 3-1 = 2.”

If you’re a Southerner like me you say, “Well dang. Anybody that’s ever seen frogs in da rivah (translation: “the river”) knows that when one frog jumps off they all jump off. So the answer is zero!”

If you’re wise beyond your years (and you’re a fan of Yoda) you say,

“The answer is three because the first frog has not yet jumped. It only made a decision to jump.”

(Well done, Grasshopper.)

With 2012 here what did you decide to do in 2011 that you did not actually do?

To make that “not-getting-done” list shorter in 2012 decide one thing you want to achieve this year right this very second.
Literally. Right now.

Stop reading this article and go do it this exact moment in time.

Stop reading and write down what it is you are going to do this year.

You can type it and print it, write it in a journal, write it on a sticky note, whatever.

But write it, put a date on it and make it visible and go get started on it right now even if takes you 5 hours, 42 minutes and 17 seconds.

Football games are not that important. (Really. They aren’t.)

Parades are not that important.

Putting away your Christmas decorations are not that important.

Neither is chatting with Facebook friends, updating your Fantasy Football league, washing the cat or reading your horoscope (hint, you’ll experience something wonderful today and someone important will come into your life or leave your life. You’re now up to date for the year.)

After you 1) decide, 2) document and 3) go DO come back and click here for your free gift. (Warning: It requires more effort but a millionaire told me he does this a couple of times a year so I’m giving you the clues to success that I’ve been given.)

2012 is the year of getting really important, meaningful, profitable, impactful things done.

To your success.

~Wes Schaeffer

P.S. My good friend, Roger Bauer, The Search Engine Ninja has a free webinar entitled “5 Alarming Trends That Could Put You Out of Business or Send You Soaring.” You can watch it here now, as long as you did the first two things above first. Then reward yourself with this great webinar.

When you’re in your respective valleys that life seems to throw at you more often than you think it should it’s good to keep in mind what it really takes to reach the pinnacle of success.

If you’d like to get to 29,028 feet you can do one of two things:

Go to the nearest airport and plunk down $99 (some restrictions apply) and in about 90 minutes you’ll be at 29,028 feet…enjoying a book, a movie, a nap, the crossword puzzle, a little sip of your favorite beverage..

… along with 154 other flip-flop-wearing, over-worked, under-focused, non-journey-enjoying travelers who are either temporarily going where they want to go or temporarily escaping where they are tired of being.

OR…

• Go to the nearest gym and get in shape for the next 24-36 months;
  • take mountaineering courses to learn about survival, routes, equipment, diet, and more;
  • practice climbing on smaller mountains for 2-3 years and make sure your practice includes steep faces, high terrain, night climbing, ice and snow and rough rocks;
  • plunck down at least $25,000 and up to $60,000 (for extra goats to keep you warm at night);
  • prepare for sudden extremes, even in the Summer, which means winds stronger than Category 2 hurricanes and temperatures cold enough to make Paris Hilton put on clothes;
  • fast forward to actually arriving in country and you’ll climb to 5 separate camps at subsequently higher levels as you…
    • acclimate yourself,
    • test your equipment and
    • monitor the environmentals to increase your chances of success.
  • The day you decide to go you must leave before sunrise with ample gear, a good guide and a belly full of determination.

(And you thought calling on some grumpy prospects was hard! HRUMPH! What time did you get up today?)

Your climb to the top requires, necessitates and demands “base camps,” ledges, plateaus to help you catch your breath and examine your situation and build strength for the effort you must exert to reach the next level.

If you go too quickly your body will not acclimate and you will pass out or get sick and be forced to go down one or more levels.

If you go too slowly you’ll run out of supplies and/or money.

What’s your base camp today? Do you view it as a setback, as a failure, or a place of peace and planning and preparation and excitement and opportunity?

Any fool that’s collected aluminum cans for a couple of weeks can afford a $99 ticket to get a Coke™ and a smile and some honey roasted peanuts while perusing the “Sky Mall” magazine.

Real adventurers take the “road less travelled,” and see the jagged edges and plateaus as toeholds and places of rejuvenation. But they always have a sherpa to guide them.

How high do you want to go…and do you have a sherpa to assist you?

Remember, Life is good. It’s gooder when you’re selling.

Less than 24 hours after the airwaves lit up our plasmas and our LCDs, our smart phones and our dumbphones, our newspapers and our RSS feeds with the news of Michael Jackson, I was in a room full of business owners and entrepreneurs that not only DIDN’T discuss “the gloved one,” they were all optimistic about their business opportunities, they were sharing ideas that were working with fellow business owners and they were making plans to not only GROW but to handle the growth they were already experiencing!

The AUDACITY!]

Grow?

NOW?

During this time of fiscal and economic and moon-walking-disappearing calamity?

I ran to the Sheraton’s concierge and asked for a TV – two TV’S – so we could see how sad the world was about MJ on one and how California was leading the nation into financial ruin on another but, sadly – rudely, almost – I was denied and was escorted back to my Sheraton-commercially-plaid-ensconsed chair with copious mints, free cold water, cheap pens that run out of ink and silliously small hotel note pads with sunflower yellow branding on the header and footer that, even now, I cannot read. (Dione Moser at Impact Marketing could help with that if they take the time to call. But I digress.)

So sat I did and began sizing up this curiously-nearly-sharp-dressed man with the navy blue suit, matching fedora, cuff links and BROWN shoes in the back of the room!

He seemed to know everyone and everyone he saw seemed happy to meet him but I was too distracted searching for a pen with ink and a notepad that did not have water stains to really pay much attention to this gray-bearded gentlemen whom I thought was simply paying homage to MJ by wearing the fedora and maybe going to juggle with flaming bowling balls at the intermission. But that was not why the man in the fedora and brown shoes was there.

Maybe it’s a “Michael phenomenon” but big things do come in small packages.

You would have never dreamt that such a powerful force of nature could be contained in such a diminutive stature. But Michael E. Gerber of “E-Myth” fame is a powerful force indeed.

During our 155 minutes together we discussed the most important question you and I must answer if we are to not only succeed in our business endeavors but enjoy the journey along the way and that question is, “What is the meaning of my business?”

Can you answer that? Right now? If I woke you from a deep 2 am slumber would it be propelled from your lips?

The meaning of my business is to make your business grow by helping – MAKING – you grow as a person first. Then we focus on the three areas that must be mastered to build and operate a successful business:

1. Entrepreneurship
2. Management
3. Technician

Technicians are usually those that start a business…and crash a business…because they do not understand systems, marketing, relationship, persuasion, call-to-action messaging, processes and how to master business designs.

Entrepreneurs are the big dreamers and inventors of the end product but they need the managers to create and supervise the processes and systems that are run by technicians.

It’s a dance that has been mastered by Ray Kroc that enables billions of harmful products to be delivered on time around the world by a work force that turns over 300% a year.

Ray Kroc never worked in a McDonald’s. He created systems that guaranteed success despite and in spite of the staff.

Would you like to have that kind of freedom and success?

Answer the first question, “What is the meaning of my business?” and then contact me. If you need help answering that question then contact me now.

(Michael’s the one on the left. [My wife says I'm the cutey on the right.]

He wore brown shoes because he forget his black shoes when he packed to come see me and he thought he’d look less conspicuous wearing brown shoes instead of no shoes. It’s good to know he’s human like the rest of us.)

Remember, Life is good. It’s “gooder” when you’re selling.

Are You Satisfied With “Normal”?

“Normal is getting dressed in clothes that you buy for work and driving through traffic in a car that you are still paying for – in order to get to the job you need to pay for the clothes and the car, and the house you leave vacant all day so you can afford to live in it.” ~ Ellen Goodman

Allow me to get all “Scriptural” on you for a moment to let you know that God brought you into this world to live abundantly, to be prosperous, to make a difference.

In Isaiah 48:17 He says, “I am the Lord your God who teaches you to profit.”

Job 36:11 says, “If they obey and serve Him, they shall spend their days in prosperity,…”

Duet 8:18 tells us, “He gives you the ability to produce wealth,…”

So let me ask you something: Are you a Producer of wealth or a Consumer of wealth?

Do you get up 30 minutes before your competition and co-workers with a plan for the day (that includes a list you can’t possibly finish, which is the subject of another Weekly Whisper) and start improving your life and the lives of your family by delivering a product or service of value, that is needed by your community and marketplace?

Or do you hit the snooze 6 times, drag your butt into work tired and late, complaining of traffic, plop down at your desk, check a few emails, roll your eyes at the report you’re behind on, tell your co-worker how stupid your clients and prospects are and how stupid “management” is because you don’t have any good leads and then go home with nothing accomplished and wonder why you’re so tired and disgruntled and in debt?

If the former describes you read on. If the latter describes you slap yourself in the forehead 3 times, do 10 Jumping Jacks, stand at attention with your heels together, feet at a 45 degree angle, shoulders back and down, chin in, thumbs along the seams of your trousers and READ THIS ALOUD 10 TIMES before you add yourself to the double digit unemployment our President said he inherited. (Maybe I should send my letter on “Responsibility = Control = Responsibility” letter to D.C., but I digress.)

I won’t bore you with yet another goal setting email because, frankly (do I ever write any other way), Covey and Tony and Oprah, et al have produced enough of those. But allow me to touch on one specific thing you can work on to grow your business sooner rather than later and that is to STOP BEING NORMAL when it comes to your marketing and advertising, which includes the first words that come out of your mouth when you are networking or prospecting.

You stop being normal and START BECOMING INTERESTING, even INTRIGUING, when you learn to pique the attention of your prospect within the first 3-7 seconds of meeting. (Physiologically you are exciting the area of the brain known as “Broca’s area” but that’s yet another topic for another Weekly Whisper.)

So just how good are your headlines, your opening statements, your elevator pitch, your Unique Selling Proposition (USP), your Unique Value Proposition (UVP)?

Here are some examples of headlines I have read or taught or used over the last several years in my various training programs:

• “This will make you feel like you’re 16 years old again — but with better judgment.” (Health supplement, energy drink, vitamins, gym membership, exercise CD, psychoanalysis)
• “There are two types of people in the world . . . those who get an extra paycheck in their mailbox every week, and those who don’t.” (Investment services, direct marketing business opportunity, sales and marketing consulting [my personal favorite].
• “This will make your skin feel like you’re 16 years old, but without the acne.” (Skin care, health supplement, spa treatment, facial treatment)
• “How would you like to get a check every time your neighbor picks up the phone?” (Cellular plans, text plans, phone service)
• “I show people how to fire their boss.” (Sales training, investment services, direct marketing opportunity)
• “Make your skin younger while you sleep.” (Facial cream, etc)
• “3 secrets your boss doesn’t want you to know.” (Franchise sales, personal development programs)
• “Why your job is making you poor.” (Mix and match any from above.)
• “How to laugh at morning commuters from the comfort of your bed.” (Ditto)

Now be honest: aren’t all of these better than what you’re using on a regular basis? I know you’ve probably come up with some good ones in the past but you either forget or don’t have the guts to use them in print or verbally and then you KICK YOURSELF for not doing so.

Please use this letter as a gentle – or not-so-gentle – boot in the rear to give you the courage and motivation to stop being normal when it comes to selling and marketing. Consumers are clinging to their wallets like my 19-month old Ella was clinging to her Minnie Mouse sippy cup at the “Happiest Place on Earth” last week and if you are to win them over you had best be getting and keeping their attention with your words and your headlines. And you better start now.

Remember, Life is good. It’s gooder when you’re selling.

The Sales Whisperer®

P.S. The July 2nd “Sell More. Work Less. Fix Your Follow Up Workshop” is almost sold out. Look for a webinar version to be scheduled soon so I can accommodate more participants and reach everyone beyond SoCal. If you’d like me to conduct this training or any of my other sessions live at your company drop me a note and we’ll see when we can make it happen.

P.P.S. There is a new, simple “Weekly Whisper” sign up form here on the website. To make sure you continue receiving these Weekly Words of Wisdom please take 15 seconds to enter your first name and email and make sure you are double opted-in and add my email address to your address book so the junk mail filters don’t eat it!

The whirlwind and the mission

The vortex and the goal.

The ringing phone and the bigger picture.

Focusing on the former leads to feeling overwhelmed.

Being overwhelmed leads to feeling inadequate.

Feeling inadequate leads to giving up the dream.

“Overwhelmed and inadequate” is how a manager with whom I met last week described his feelings after typical training programs delivered by well-meaning readers-of-books that demonstrated their prowess at book reading during the previous 48 hours by giving you even more books and binders to read for yourself, that only end up becoming collectors of dust and of guilt because you never touch them again…

…which leads to more feelings of overwhelmness and inadequaintenancies.

All of my clients realize several things about business:

• It’s easy to start a business.
• It’s hard to run a business.
• It’s almost impossible to succeed at business.
• Until you succeed you’re the loneliest person on Earth.
• Even after you succeed only fellow-business owners understand you.
• You can only succeed when you develop systems and processes and surround yourself with excellence because…

• There is a lot to do.
• You cannot do it all.
• Others can do it just as good as you if you train them.
• Your clients are happy with what your staff can do as long as they know it’s done under your watchful eye.
• Your eye remains keen and sharp and fresh and productive when it is not tired and blurred with the tears of exhaustion and frustration that always come when you try to do it all yourself.

“Doing it all” was bad enough before the internet “made our lives simpler.” (Your life and business ARE simpler now, right? Really? Hrumph.)

Now we must wrestle and wrangle with a slew of tools and sites and acronyms that we cannot even define let alone leverage – SaaS, CRM, SMS, MMS, PPC, SEM, SEO, CSS, HTML, PHP, JV, ADD, ADHD, OCD, ED, ROFLMAO, RUOK, BFF, WTF?

And wrangle and grapple and run and hide is what we tend to do because we do not want to appear stupid to our peers or the marketplace and we do not / cannot spend a ton of money on some pointy-headed, fast-talking, highfalutin, self-proclaimed guru to waste our time and money confusing us some more.

What small business owners need is a reliable, effective, measurable, repeatable, affordable way to deliver a powerful message in a powerful manner.

You need access to capable technicians and advisors to assist with the development and dissemination of that message.

And you need a place where you can mingle and brainstorm and “brain-still” with your peers behind closed doors, away from the watchful, prying eyes of “the marketplace” to rejuvenate your spirit and put a spring back in your step.

That is why we are developing two programs for you, the entrepreneurial business owner.

1) An institute of higher business and marketing learning that will convene regularly in the wine country of Southern California. The good weather, great wine and exceptional learning will make the programs worth the walk, drive, flight, boating or hot-air ballooning it will take for you to get here.

2) A limited-membership, online community and package that will provide:

• Up to 10 hours of web and graphics design per month!
• A state-of-the-art CRM package(NO, Outlook is NOT a CRM!).
• Tweaked-out, souped-up, professionally designed social media platforms all fully integrated and synchronized so you do not waste your time monkeying with people telling you they had mac and cheese for lunch.
• DAILY social media marketing assistance.
• Monthly copywriting and content creation assistance.
• Private coaching.
• Superstar salesperson hiring and training assistance every month.
• Group forum.
• Online media and training vault.

And the best part…you get it all for about the cost of a minimum wage employee with benefits.

And the bestest part…your success is guaranteed.

If you would like to be informed of the progress of either of these programs please follow this link and you will be added to a “sneak peek / pre-announcement” list that will enable you to reserve a seat in either program before anyone else and quite possibly with added bonuses.

Merry Christmas,
Wes

P.S. I cannot stress enough the importance – the necessity – of you joining the list to be notified of the launch of #2 above. When it is unveiled in the coming weeks only 15 action-oriented, growth-determined entrepreneurs will be allowed to join and participate and explode their business.

Approximately 60 days later we will re-open the doors to a new round of business leaders but the price will be at least 50% more, which proves the oft-non-completely-quoted adage,

“Good things come to those who wait, but only those things left behind by those who hustle.”

Want an early Christmas present? Follow this link and tell me who said that quote and provide your name and email and get a little something from the Whisperer’s bag of goodies.

Superior Marketing Will Set Your Business Free

In the book of John we are told that the truth will set us free.

Today, the truth is setting many weak businesses run by good people and good businesses run by weak people free…of the burden, the obligation, the opportunity of running their business either poorly…or at all.

The truth behind the truth is that consumers “vote” with their wallets and as consumers are FAST becoming more discerning with their spending those who implement SUPERIOR MARKETING of their goods and services are being rewarded with an increasingly larger share of that vote. As it should be I might add.

Notice that I said superior MARKETING. NOT inventors or manufacturers or distributors but marketers. But to be a superior marketer you must be comfortable thinking of yourself as superior, thinking of your product as superior, thinking of your service as superior, thinking of yourself as worthy of superior pricing and then being comfortable telling the world that you are superior.

But there’s a catch: For well over a generation we have been force fed such drivel and nonsense as “outcome based education” and “non-competitive” sporting leagues where our kids play games but they don’t keep score. (As a matter of fact, in May I attended a soccer game played by the young daughter of a college classmate of mine in Chicago and the parents were not allowed to cheer! I kid you not. They didn’t want to create too much pressure or hostility with exuberant applause and support. You can’t make this stuff up.)

But the marketplace keeps score. Your prospects keep score. Your clients keep score.

So how do you rid yourself of the thinking that it’s rude to toot your own horn? How do you become comfortable developing and sending superior marketing that sets you apart from the competition, that builds value in the minds of your prospects and gives you the right to charge premium pricing while your competition grovels for crumbs and negotiates on such erudite items as free shipping and engraving?

Several ways:

1. Find someone that has superior knowledge or expertise in a particular field in which you need to improve.
2. Be open to review by your peers and ignore the fence-sitters and bystanders and peanut gallery that do nothing but live to critique the PRODUCERS.
3. Find someone that has produced superior results of their own AND ARE STILL DOING IT. I say “still doing it” because our marketplace, nation and world are changing before our very eyes and marketing plans and tools and techniques that made money in early 2008 may be pooh pooh today.
4. Seek out “devil’s advocates.” If your idea or program can’t stand up to a little scrutiny by a fellow expert with a different viewpoint then how tough are you and how good is your plan? Really. Tough times call for tough people taking tough action. Now sit up straight and take it like a professional. Remember, it’s just business.
5. It’s OK to listen to well-meaning friends and family if they have no agenda, no axe to grind and are close to the ideal profile of your prospects.

You can choose to develop yourself. You can choose to make yourself superior to the vast majority of your competitors. You can choose to make more money in a down economy than your competition ever made in a good economy.

But choose you must.

Euvula, CA, January 2, 2007 (Daily Whisper) What would you do if you came home and found a 2 ton walrus caught in your pet door holding valuable electronics?

Sam and Shirley Snopes immediately called Euvula police, who struggled for 29 minutes to handcuff the beached behemoth before finally calling animal control. With the aid of a crane, the hapless criminal was hoisted onto a flat bed, the door still in place around its midsection, and taken to county jail for processing.

Police were at a loss for motive. Police Chief Michael Kenyon suggested a “terribly misguided mastermind” was recruiting the walruses for a burglary ring. “I’ve seen all kinds of criminal organizations, and this one has to be the dumbest.” Though he did admit that a 2 ton perpetrator would have an intimidating physical presence.

In each of the earlier incidents, the walruses entered the house through an unlocked pet door, and were caught when they became trapped on the way out. In all three houses, the aquariums were emptied of fish, and it is suspected the meal made the perpetrators a little too large to escape. Local residents, terrorized by the befuddled bunglers, wonder if they’ll ever feel safe again.

Marine biologist Randy Norfleet was contacted about the ocean invaders. “For years, I have warned about something like this happening. Walruses are easily influenced by others; followers, not leaders. My heart goes out to those who have lost loved things in the past month.”

For now, Chief Kenyon warns people to report any suspicious walrus activity in their neighborhood, and keep the pet doors locked. Citizens are advised against trying to apprehend the thieves, and urged to call law enforcement. If the trend continues, Chief Kenyon promises that a hotline will be established, and a task force assigned to investigate further.

On Walruses and Business Growth

When I read about the trouble in Euvula, CA, my first thought was – who is recruiting walruses? Aren’t these characters usually called ‘cat burglars’, and is there anything less cat-like than a two ton walrus?

Yet, it serves as a pretty decent metaphor for a challenge facing a lot of businesses, namely, getting the right person for the job. If you have someone who is naturally suited, they are much more likely to succeed and help your business while they are at it!

Common sense? Yes.

Common practice?

Look at your sales and service personnel. What are you asking them to do? Are they in roles that best utilize their natural skills and abilities?
For example, does your business call for a “relationship sales person” (RSP)? A person filling this position must possess a core set of skills in order to not only meet sales goals set by themselves and the company but to also be satisfied in their achievement. These attributes include a goal orientation. By that I mean they are disciplined and systematic in their work with a utilitarian attitude (a drive to achieve a higher income).

Because RSPs are goal-oriented they are natural self-starters. This is a wonderful trait for managers that are not “micro-managers” because RSPs need freedom and flexibility when it comes to their work schedule and tactics.

Additionally, RSPs must possess closing skills, which typically call for them to be effective communicators, especially person-to-person, and great at handling objections. Since selling is nothing more than the transference of confidence are the people you have filling the role of RSP confident in their role, confident in your company, confident in themselves. If so, how good are they at making the customer aware of this confidence?

When it comes to objections, I prefer to have my clients remove objections during their initial line of questioning during their prospecting rather than fight and wrangle with clients at the end of a drawn-out presentation. However, objections will arise from time to time so your RSPs must be strong enough to handle them if they are to get the sale.

Great businesses know their numbers and their people. If you need to better understand your people and cannot afford to wait for one tip per month please contact me for my report, the “Ten Most Common Sales Force Hiring Mistakes” and a free assessment of one of your sales staff.

Why?

Because you cannot train your way out of a bad hire!