Most of us text while driving and I’m sure we all talk on a phone while we drive. For me it gives me a sense of being productive and staying in touch with my world while doing something that is a necessary evil – DRIVING! The statistics from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration – NHTSA reveal information that is difficult to ignore. Over 20% of all crashed involve some level of distraction. And for the “hands free” safe drivers; they are in the category of “delayed reaction” equal to someone at .08 blood alcohol. That’s small but can be a significant impact when every split second can save a live.
With all the forms of communication there are a plethora of avenues for our time, concentration and effort to be thwarted by distractions and interruptions. I recently heard someone speak to this at a conference and I thought about all the ways we get distracted and maybe distract others in things outside what is relevant at the moment. For example, when I am in the middle of making calls, or preparing for a presentation, I get very focused on the flow, the order of the presentation, the points I am going to make, how they are relevant, and then I view this from the clients perspective and try to anticipate how they will receive it and what possible thoughts they might have around what I am saying – AND THEN – my cell phone rings, it’s a friend who wants to discuss the activities on the stock market. I have to stop thinking about what I was doing, refocus on the conversation, get wrapped up into it, then we have a lively dialogue for 10 minutes and wrap up and I say, “I have to get back to something, hey thanks for calling.” In retrospect I should be saying, “By the way, I am going to send you a bill for the time you have stolen from me”. I may have a lot less friends if I really did that, but we are too reachable today and we feel obligated to react when these forms of communication which pull us away from the task at hand and into another direction.
Someone interviewing Bear Bryant, the legendary coach at ‘Bama, toward the end of his career asked him how the players were different today as opposed to when he began coaching. As he thought for a minute, the people in the room pondered what the answer was going to be. Many thought he would respond with, “the players were faster”, “the players were bigger”, “offences were more complex”, or something along those lines. To the surprise of everyone he said, “a number of years ago I had to start teaching mental discipline.” Although every was shocked when he said that, it makes a lot of sense. When Bear Bryant first became a head coach in 1945, hardly anyone had a television. But as years went on, the TV and other devices came along and have gradually distracted us and continue to invade our space.
Today our minds are bombarded. It is imperative that we fight for our time and keep our goals, tasks and vision clear on what we want to achieve. We must cherish our time. Time is the one thing we all have that is equal. Ben Franklin said, “Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that’s the stuff life is made of.”
Learn to be more passionate for your time and mental space and refuse to get ripped off. The highest achievers in any field know this and apply it every day. If you are to be among them, it takes resolve, discipline, and the courage to not give in to distractions even when we would rather do so. Get the most out of every day, by managing the pieces of time that make it up.
Ingite your passion!
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Sunday, July 18, 2010
4 steps to more appointments
Some say that activity fixes all problems in sales, and I’m not sure that it fixes everything, but I am sure that the more quality activity you have, the better chances you will have for success. If your activity is down for whatever reason, you have less opportunity to close a deal.
The telephone is how most of us make contact and fill our calendar (I have a whole training seminar centered around making appointments and telemarketing). If you’ve got a hang-up about cold calling, setting appointments, or anything related, you are missing out. In the age of emails, voice mail, texting, the personal contact is important and you can communicate so much more over the phone than you can convey electronically.
In most cases, when you are calling a decision maker, you have only seconds to get their interest and attention. And some of the best sales people I have seen are sorely lacking in this skill. Many focus on other areas, like closing, the details of the process, identifying customer needs. If you hone this skill, you will be able to get into more clients, with less effort.
1. Before you pick up the phone: Ever had a bad solicitation? I have and it is painful. Prepare what you are going to say before you pick up the phone. I normally write out a few bullet points relevant to the prospect or client I am calling on.
Another thing; what is your attitude? Do you complain about having to sit down and make calls? Or do you mentally dread the idea of calling someone and then getting hung up on or rejected. Well that’s part of the business. When I have received bad solicitation the thing I remember the most is that the person on the other end of the phone sounded like they were not into what they were doing and they were being forced to make this call to me. Maybe you sound that way at times. You should be excited to get your target prospects on the phone and be lively and excited about what you can do for them. Believe me, they can tell if you are excited about what you do (a few C-level executives have told me after I sold them). Most football games are decided before the players take the field because of the practice, discipline and mental belief system of the players.
2. Introduce yourself: This may sound basic, but you should clearly, and enthusiastically say your name and the company you represent. If you are not proud of who you work for, maybe it’s time to move on. They should be thanking you for calling them.
3. Grab their attention: This is where you review your bullet points, state them (Do not ramble) and move on to the next step. Give 3 or 4 reasons he should listen. If you are feeling really confident, you can do what I do and use a little humor relevant to them, usually something about the weather, or how busy they are, etc. Make them laugh if you can.
4. Ask for the appointment: After all of this, ask for the appointment and shut up.
How it all works. Let me give you and example of how this works together:
Mr. CFO, I’m ________ with ABC company, Are you staying cool in this heat? … Seriously, the purpose for my call today, is that I am working with 2 other companies just like yours and we have been able to affect their bottom line by a significant amount by implementing a few simple systems we offer. I am not sure if it would be a fit for you, but I would like a few minutes next Tuesday to tell you how we helped them. Would that work for you? (Shut up)
You will want to tailor to your business and style, but once you have a framework you can adapt and you will gain confidence and make more appointments.
To your success
Respect the Torch!
The telephone is how most of us make contact and fill our calendar (I have a whole training seminar centered around making appointments and telemarketing). If you’ve got a hang-up about cold calling, setting appointments, or anything related, you are missing out. In the age of emails, voice mail, texting, the personal contact is important and you can communicate so much more over the phone than you can convey electronically.
In most cases, when you are calling a decision maker, you have only seconds to get their interest and attention. And some of the best sales people I have seen are sorely lacking in this skill. Many focus on other areas, like closing, the details of the process, identifying customer needs. If you hone this skill, you will be able to get into more clients, with less effort.
1. Before you pick up the phone: Ever had a bad solicitation? I have and it is painful. Prepare what you are going to say before you pick up the phone. I normally write out a few bullet points relevant to the prospect or client I am calling on.
Another thing; what is your attitude? Do you complain about having to sit down and make calls? Or do you mentally dread the idea of calling someone and then getting hung up on or rejected. Well that’s part of the business. When I have received bad solicitation the thing I remember the most is that the person on the other end of the phone sounded like they were not into what they were doing and they were being forced to make this call to me. Maybe you sound that way at times. You should be excited to get your target prospects on the phone and be lively and excited about what you can do for them. Believe me, they can tell if you are excited about what you do (a few C-level executives have told me after I sold them). Most football games are decided before the players take the field because of the practice, discipline and mental belief system of the players.
2. Introduce yourself: This may sound basic, but you should clearly, and enthusiastically say your name and the company you represent. If you are not proud of who you work for, maybe it’s time to move on. They should be thanking you for calling them.
3. Grab their attention: This is where you review your bullet points, state them (Do not ramble) and move on to the next step. Give 3 or 4 reasons he should listen. If you are feeling really confident, you can do what I do and use a little humor relevant to them, usually something about the weather, or how busy they are, etc. Make them laugh if you can.
4. Ask for the appointment: After all of this, ask for the appointment and shut up.
How it all works. Let me give you and example of how this works together:
Mr. CFO, I’m ________ with ABC company, Are you staying cool in this heat? … Seriously, the purpose for my call today, is that I am working with 2 other companies just like yours and we have been able to affect their bottom line by a significant amount by implementing a few simple systems we offer. I am not sure if it would be a fit for you, but I would like a few minutes next Tuesday to tell you how we helped them. Would that work for you? (Shut up)
You will want to tailor to your business and style, but once you have a framework you can adapt and you will gain confidence and make more appointments.
To your success
Respect the Torch!
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
The Law of Scarcity
I caught myself, I have to admit it. I caught myself doing something I dread, despise and dislike. What did I catch myself doing? Good question. I found myself hounding a prospect, with less than optimal interest and spending time nurturing the relationship, trying to rebuild value, stating my case, restating the way things will look with this new solution. Ever found yourself doing this? Be honest.
If you have, then you are like many who don’t follow the 80/20 rule closely – which is to spend 80% of your time on the 20% who are most likely to buy from you. But in chasing the business that is less likely you may find that you spin your wheels more and are less consultative.
The Law of Scarcity: The law of scarcity is simply that when someone perceives something that they desire to be in limited quantity, the perceived value of that thing or person becomes much greater than if were widely available.
What about your time and talent? Do you waste it on those who are less interested because it is more difficult business to win?
Don’t put yourself in that position. If you have a product or service that is valuable, then your time, your intellect, your resources, your product, and your effort should be in short supply (of not then a career change may be in order). Make sure you recognize a few things:
• What their genuine need is
• What their timeline is
• Why they would not buy from you
If you cannot get clarity on all three criteria, then you may want to consider moving on. And that may be tough because we have deals in the pipeline and it may look great, but provide a false sense of security about where your business is coming from.
Play hard to get, at least a little. Not advocating playing games, but, respect your time and talent and share it more fully with those who are seeking what you have. And occasionally blow out your sales funnel and rethink your deals. This will prevent you from stagnating and getting too comfortable. We should never get too comfortable in any sales role. This is the path to the dark side.
To your Success,
The power of the torch !
If you have, then you are like many who don’t follow the 80/20 rule closely – which is to spend 80% of your time on the 20% who are most likely to buy from you. But in chasing the business that is less likely you may find that you spin your wheels more and are less consultative.
The Law of Scarcity: The law of scarcity is simply that when someone perceives something that they desire to be in limited quantity, the perceived value of that thing or person becomes much greater than if were widely available.
What about your time and talent? Do you waste it on those who are less interested because it is more difficult business to win?
Don’t put yourself in that position. If you have a product or service that is valuable, then your time, your intellect, your resources, your product, and your effort should be in short supply (of not then a career change may be in order). Make sure you recognize a few things:
• What their genuine need is
• What their timeline is
• Why they would not buy from you
If you cannot get clarity on all three criteria, then you may want to consider moving on. And that may be tough because we have deals in the pipeline and it may look great, but provide a false sense of security about where your business is coming from.
Play hard to get, at least a little. Not advocating playing games, but, respect your time and talent and share it more fully with those who are seeking what you have. And occasionally blow out your sales funnel and rethink your deals. This will prevent you from stagnating and getting too comfortable. We should never get too comfortable in any sales role. This is the path to the dark side.
To your Success,
The power of the torch !
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)