Preferably Referred

Ah, referrals. I can't think of a more powerful selling tool.

It's a fact: People would rather do business with people they know--or know of--than with strangers. When you're introduced to a prospect through a personal recommendation, that prospect has a vastly higher comfort level than, say, a buyer you find through cold calling. After all, few things are more reassuring than a positive endorsement from someone you know and trust.

So why is it that, while we all covet referrals, we don't pursue them as much as we should? I think it's largely a matter of developing good habits.

Imagine your business as an infinite web of relationships. Every one of your business contacts has the potential to connect you to dozens of other contacts. The relationships are out there, but they'll likely remain out of reach unless you actively pursue them. It may never occur to your current contacts to broker an introduction. It's up to you to put the idea in their heads.

Don't feel sheepish about asking for referrals; there's nothing pushy or smarmy about it. People won't give you referrals unless you deserve them. In fact, getting a referral is the highest compliment you can receive. Let your customers know you prize referrals, which you'll earn by providing excellent quality products and services.

Mistakes Managers Make

Managing can be a little daunting at first since close to 50% of managers received NO training before starting the job – and that’s a scary thought. Having worked with many of them, I’ve decided to compile and share with you the 10 most common mistakes new managers make and tips on how to avoid them.

1. Think you know everything.
Listen to the people around you. Ask for their input when appropriate. Keep an open mind.

2. Show everyone who's in charge.
You don't have to make a big show about being "the boss" but demonstrate that, as the boss, you are making a positive difference.

3. Change everything.
Don't re-invent the wheel. Learn the difference between "different" and "wrong".

4. Be afraid to do anything.
Upper management wouldn't have put you into the job if they didn't have confidence that you could handle it.

5. Don't take time to get to know your people.
Learn what makes them excited, how to motivate them, what they fear or worry about. Your people are what will make or break you in your quest to be a good manager. Give them your attention and time.

6. Don't waste time with your boss.
Since he/she just promoted you, surely he/she understands how busy you are and won't need any of your time, right? Wrong. Your job, just like it was before you became a manager, is to help your boss.

7. Don't worry about problems or problem employees.
You can no longer avoid problems or hope they will work themselves out. When something comes up, it is your job to figure out the best solution and get it done. That doesn't mean you can't ask for other's input or assistance, but it does mean you are the person who has to see it gets taken care of.

8. Don't let yourself be human.
Just because you are the boss doesn't mean you can't be human, that you can't laugh, or show emotion, or make an occasional mistake.

9. Don't protect your people.
The people in your group will be under pressure from every direction. It's your job to stand up for your people and make sure they are treated as fairly as possible. They will return the loyalty.

10. Avoid responsibility for anything.
You have to build the communications so there are no surprises, but also be prepared to shoulder the responsibility. It goes hand-in-hand with the authority.

Selling Yourself

It’s time to forget how to get rich quick. You know that to get ahead in life, you need to be in the business of selling. If this statement makes you cringe, it is probably because the word “sales” evokes images of annoying telemarketers and pushy car dealers. Relax, though, as this article is about a product so wonderful and special you should have no qualms in selling it. The product? You.

Despite the necessity of being able to sell yourself to others, for many people like myself it does not come naturally. Introversion, shyness, and lack of self-worth are just a few of the obstacles that can potentially get in the way. To overcome such obstacles, I suggest focusing on the following:

Be Sold on Yourself

This is the first, and perhaps most important, aspect to successfully selling yourself to others.

Unless it comes naturally, this is probably also the hardest. Being sold on yourself comes down to this: you must be aware of your own self-worth. This means you believe in yourself, have faith in yourself, and have confidence in yourself. If you struggle with your sense of self-worth, here are just three ideas that may help:

• Live in such a way that you would want to be friends with yourself
  Find some time to reflect on what you like about yourself. If this seems hard, start with the smallest of attributes.
  
• Don’t do anything that will give you cause to feel ashamed later.
  
• Have a Saleable Package
  Are you looking after your appearance to the best of your ability? Are your clothes appropriate for the image you wish to project?
  
• Be Positive and Enthusiastic
  Positivity and enthusiasm can both be developed, but once again it takes work. Here are a few tips to help you:

1. Look for the best in people
   
2. Associate with positive people


3. Care deeply about something


4. See life as an adventure


5. Smile
   
6. Be Real and Authentic
   

Rather than being about who you appear to be, selling yourself is about letting others know who you are as a person. Always tell the truth, it will earn you both trust and respect which, in turn, will help you build a great reputation. Not only that, it will make you feel good about yourself.

Perseverance in Sales

THIS IS A QUESTION I GET ALL THE time: Are good salespeople born, or are they made? It's true; some people may have more natural talent than others. But no matter how much talent you were born with, the key to success is making the most of the abilities you have. I believe that anyone can be a successful salesperson, especially if he or she embodies these attributes:

Effort: In the real world there is only one secret to success. There is only one road--one long road--to follow to accomplish our goals. There are no shortcuts. Success comes from hard work. It comes from the extra effort we put in, from the work ethic we foster, and from the values to which we are committed. Only effort, sustained over time, will build the foundation to support success.

Patience and perseverance: In our quest for instant gratification, we often forget about patience and perseverance, two of the most useful sales tools ever. You can't plant a seed and expect a ripened crop the next day; you must give the plant a chance to take root and grow - it takes care and nurturing. Sales are the same way. You must plant seeds every single day, be patient when things do not proceed as quickly as you'd like them to, and be persistent in your efforts to keep that sale alive and flourishing.

Cultivated solutions: Effort, patience and perseverance will not survive unless you believe 100 percent that your product or service has value and benefit for your customers. So talk to potential consumers, and find out what they like or don't like about your product or service. Ask them what they want it to do for them Talk to manufacturers and distributors of similar product lines. Use your research to get new ideas and build on what you already have to often Test out your ideas. Find out what works and what doesn't.

Using your natural-born talents puts you way ahead of the game. But when you also have the attributes mentioned above--effort, patience and perseverance, and cultivated solutions--you have what it takes to make yourself a success as an entrepreneur, a salesperson and a human being.

Finding the Energy in Sales

If you look at the common traits of successful salespeople, the most vital one is energy--the ability to go the extra mile and still have energy in reserve. Sure, some people succeed without tremendous amounts of energy, but countless others achieve sales success because of it. Energy is what gives you the stamina to not give up on a goal you've come so close to reaching.
Being at your best all the time requires constant energy. The following four factors will help you increase your energy level for peak performance and sales success.

1. Mental focus: Focusing on the moment with a clear mind is crucial. Right before you take action, visualize your activities--meetings, presentations and any event where you need to perform at your best. Too often, we think about all the things we have to do instead of focusing on the moment. Another way to focus is to take a deep breath in through your nose and hold for two or three seconds, then breathe out slowly through your mouth. This is the single most powerful way to calm your mind, not to mention increase the oxygen in your blood and boost your energy level.

2. No limits: Think back to a time when you were exhausted but needed to continue. You probably got a second wind and finished the job. But here's what happens most of the time: Energy begets energy, just like success breeds success. It adds fuel to the fire for the next time you need to sprint that extra mile. When you stretch and struggle, you grow. When you push yourself, you build a greater capacity for doing more work the next time.

3. Your attitude toward change: When changes occur, you have a choice about how to react. The true strength of entrepreneurs and great salespeople is the ability to adapt to a changing environment--whether it's a tough economy, the changing needs of buyers or plain old adversity. Life is like a grindstone: It either wears you down or polishes you up. It's all in how you look at a changing situation.

So ask yourself these questions about what's impacting your sales energy: How am I moving, thinking, challenging myself and dealing with change? Mastering these four factors will give you extra energy for stronger efforts and higher income.
Power to the (Sales) People

Hiring Right

Here's a vital fact: Using behavioral interviewing can increase by nearly 60% your chances of hiring the right employee. In fact, extensive research supports behavioral interviewing (i.e. using past performance as a reliable indicator of future performance) as the most effective interviewing technique available to evaluate suitable applicants. In a nutshell:
Behavior-based interviewing is an approach that looks at past behavior as the best predictor of future performance. And it makes common sense!

"Tell me a time when....."

For example, rather than asking, "What would you do if ..." one should ask, 'Tell me about a time when you.....You want to find out how people ACTUALLY behave rather than their promise of how they will behave.

Remember: Just because people can give good answers and sound impressive -- it doesn't mean they can DO what they SAY. Let's take a very simple example. You're interviewing Mary for the position of company receptionist. The interview starts as normal ...and you are using the same old, traditional questions.

What is your experience, Mary?

Why do you want to work here?

What do you know about our company?

Mary, what do you like to do in your spare time?

Good Questions....and bad Questions

These questions aren't bad in themselves. They will definitely help you to find out more about Mary. But they are severely limited, as they can lead to very standard and well-rehearsed responses from your interviewee. So even if Mary answers well - what does it really mean? Is she really good?

Or.... is she just good at answering the same old questions that EVERY interviewer asks? You see, at the end of all these questions, you still have very little REAL information about how Mary would behave in real-life situations. But there is another approach....

Behavioral interviewing

It is behavioral-based interviewing. Instead of the same old traditional questions, well-crafted behavioral-based questions can give you a much more accurate 'printout' of a candidate's true character and ability.

Remember again, behavioral-based interviewing is highly effective because it examines the past behavior of a job candidate, which is considered the most accurate indicator of future behavior.
Here's how it works: Let's say that you want to find out more about, say Mary's skills of diplomacy. How would she deal with people? In the past, you might have asked, 'Would you say you are very diplomatic with people?

“Yes, I am”. Full stop.

Look, you have asked her a close-ended question leading to a similar response. However, a behavioral-based question might be:

“Mary, have you ever felt irritated or frustrated while dealing with a customer? How did you respond when customers became demanding beyond an acceptable level?”

Do you see the difference?

The 'Behavior-based question' questions how she behaved in the past in very specific situations relating to diplomacy.

It allows the candidate to give you a fuller answer - and it gives you a more accurate and truer picture of the candidate. You see how the candidate reacted in the past and that is always the best predictor of future performance.

You should always define the behavioral competencies you are looking for in the right employee to fill your position. This way you will be more focused when recruiting. Once you know the behavioral competencies you want, you can then structure your interview questions to learn more about the interviewee.......and watch how your success rate in picking the right person will improve....and improve.

Do you smell it?” – Identifying Opportunities in any Sale Interaction

You spoke until the veins on your neck stood out. You were a killer and felt certain of securing the sale.

But then nothing.

You ask yourself: “What happened? I didn’t do anything differently from the last customer, but she seemed turned off from the beginning. Why wasn’t she interested?”

Sound familiar? This is a common complaint among sales people. In the midst of all the “can’t miss” sales systems, something is missing. In spite of doing everything “right,” the connection isn’t made, and the sale is lost. Why?

The answer is often tied to the incredible differences that exist between potential clients in their individual Interaction Styles, or the way in which each person interacts with others. An ability to pick up on and address these subtle clues in clients can mean the difference between a connection and a turnoff.

But what if you could begin to identify the style preference of a client? What if you could then (temporarily) tune into that preference and thus begin to solidify the connection with your client? What would it do to your sales if you could understand and match up your own style with that of your client?

You can—beginning now by:

Recognizing clue words during a conversation with a prospect.

Ask the right questions to find out a prospect's specific business needs.

Easily identify sales opportunities by listening for clue words, business needs, etc

Asking open-ended questions is a great way to learn information from prospects.

One of the best questions to ask is, "What do you need to do?"

Get practicing and in time you’ll get to closing a lot more as well.