The Whisper

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October 5, 2009

Behold: The Weak Fold While The Bold Grab Hold of the Gold!

September 28, 2009

How To Keep The Monsters Away

Entrepreneurs realize every day we must run, fast. Somedays as the lion, somedays as the gazelle. But sitting still is not an option. (Read the September 28, 2009 Whisper here.)

September 15, 2009

Being an Entrepreneur Takes Guts

Entrepreneurs realize every day we must run, fast. Somedays as the lion, somedays as the gazelle. But sitting still is not an option. (Read the September 15, 2009 Whisper here.)

August 24, 2009

Deliver a Powerful Message in a Powerful Manner

The four key components to penetrating the electronic shields we all have put up to protect us and to help us escape “reality.” (Read the August 24, 2009 Whisper here.)

August 5, 2009

Social Media Could Drive You Out of Business

Who is actually making money with Social Media and how can the Entrepreneur leverage and harness its power if at all? (Read the August 5, 2009 Whisper here.)

July 29, 2009

What's Your Sales Goal?

What's Your Sales Goal?

You Can’t Climb a Smooth Mountain

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.

July 8, 2009

Celebrities & Sales People Are Walking Around Like Zombies

Celebrities & Sales People Are Walking Around Like Zombies

Why Do Celebrities Do Drugs and why do Rookie Sales People Need Hugs?

Because they have a poor self-image and low self-esteem.

I won’t get into why I think celebrities have such poor self-images (but I do have my opinions I’d be glad to share over an adult beverage if you’re ever in SoCal) but I will share my ideas on why sales people in general, and new sales people in particular, have such low self-esteem.

One word: Confusion.

In 100% of the companies that bring me in to work with them their sales management skills are 180˚ out of whack! The typical yo-yo sales environment suffering from low morale, high turnover, eroding margins, excessive cancellations and change orders and customer complaints are managing RESULTS instead of PERFORMANCE!

What does that mean?

Without a gun you and I cannot control what our prospects do. We cannot MAKE THEM reach for the checkbook and open it up to us. But we can control whether or not we called them and set an appointment with them and asked pertinent, relevant, thought-provoking questions of them that showed our expertise and competence.

But every company I’ve ever worked at as an employee or consulted with manages based on results instead of performance. (In a way I’m glad because this means they need me. If they were doing it right I’d be out of a job!) This leads to “hockey stick” sales that all come at the end of the month or quarter at lower margins and higher stress.

What companies should do is manage performance and pay on results. When that new sales person shows up they should be told something along the lines of:

  • Your monthly sales target is $12,000 or $3,000 per week.
  • The average sale is $1,000 so you need to get three new clients a week.
  • The average closing ratio is 33%, which means you need 3 appointments to make a sale, which means you need to go on 9 appointments a week.
  • One out of every 4 appointments you make will cancel so you need to make 4 appointments to get 3, which means you need to set 12 appointments a week.
  • To get one appointment you must speak to 5 decision makers and follow this exact script, which means you must speak to 60 decision makers a week.
  • To reach 5 decision makers you must speak to 15 gatekeepers and follow this exact script.
  • To reach 15 gatekeepers you must make 35 calls a day and follow this exact script, and/or…
  • Go to three networking events a week and introduce yourself in this exact manner, and/or…
  • Give two talks a week on this topic to this audience with this exact call to action, and/or…
  • Mail 50 pieces of mail a week to these exact businesses with this exact call to action, and/or…

You get the point and you know it doesn’t happen this way.

Most of the time the hiring manager will say something like, “You’re a big boy. You’ve been in this game long enough. You know what to do. Heck, when I started we didn’t even have cell phones or computers. Now go sell something!” and they go back into their office with their “open door policy” because your all “family.”

This is the beginning of the end for that sales rep and they just started! They are thoroughly confused and dejected because they see others making sales at the company but nothing has been codified so they’re not sure how to start, what to say and more importantly, what questions to ask.

Instead, they are given some nice brochures, they are briefed on all of the patents they have and the number of employees and how the founder started the company in her garage and they are told to go make sales. W. Edwards Deming is rolling over in his grave.

How well do you know your own numbers?

What kind of example are you setting for your sales staff?

Are you the bottleneck to your own success?

Can your 5-figure strategies get you to 6 or 7+ figure results?

Would you like a new perspective from someone that has made all of the mistakes and also won all of the awards in retail sales, business to business sales, business to government sales, business to consumer sales and the all important human being to human being sales?

The first call is free and I guarantee you will learn something during our 30 minutes together that can put an extra $1,000 in your pocket within 60 days. But you have to call first.

Good selling.

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

P.S. July 30th the f.r.e.e report “The 7 Deadly Sins of Selling” 32-page report with the f.r.e.e. CD, f.r.e.e. consultation and other bonuses will be removed from my website forever. To get your copy please visit my homepage now and simply enter your first name and email. Starting Friday I’m beginning an in-depth, live review of “The 7 Deadly Sins of Selling” with Q&A during each session. You can participate all 7 hours – July 10th, 14th, 16th, 22nd, 23rd, 28th and 30th for just $7 total. You can register here.

July 1, 2009

Michael LIVES! (Gerber, that is.)

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.

June 24, 2009

Are Your Sales and Marketing Efforts "Normal?" "Average?" "Mediocre?" "Ordinary?"

Are Your Sales and Marketing Efforts "Normal?" "Average?" "Mediocre?" "Ordinary?"

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!

June 18, 2009

Set Yourself Free.

Set Yourself Free.

Superiority.

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 SUPERIOR MARKETERS of 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 MARKETERS. 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.

The Wrong Man For The Job: 4,000 pound walrus trapped by doggie door – third arrest this month!

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!

It's Friendly at The Top.

It's Friendly at The Top.

It’s Friendly At The Top