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Closing Thoughts - Always Strive to Improve

We must make a conscious choice to grow in ability and wisdom. Making a conscious decision to grow means taking advantage of every opportunity we are given to learn more about ourselves and the changing world. Making such a choice is a must for a leader, someone who is seen as a model for influencing others to be open to new directions, and someone who wants to continue to be effective at influencing others.

Challenges

Everyone has problems. They may not have them to the same degree or at the same time, but everyone certainly does have them. It can be easy to think that we have problems and others don't. Of course, we don't see what goes on behind the scenes. At a holiday get-together, I glanced around at the people there; some I knew and some I had just met. Some of the people I knew were facing personal challenges. And I knew I had faced my own as well. It made me realize that I was seeing only what people were willing to let others see.

It's up to us to find a way to make the best of situations that we can't rationalize or understand. Adversity can build character.

Mistakes

Everyone makes mistakes - the trick is to avoid making the same ones repeatedly. Learn from yours, and from others' mistakes as well. Make "original" mistakes if you are going to make any. When others make mistakes, your reaction will factor into whether they will take another risk when they do something for you. Most of us know when we have made a mistake. We like to be supported when it happens. We don't like to have it pointed out. If it is pointed out, how it is pointed out becomes critical.

" The key thing is, if you make a mistake, have the courage to fix it quickly. I do think the price of inaction is far higher than the cost of making a mistake."

- Meg Whitman, former CEO, eBay

Perfectionism

There's a big difference between perfectionism and striving for perfection. Striving for perfection means continuing to eliminate the little problems that keep a process, product, or service from surpassing the expectations of the customer. Perfectionism is compulsively trying to do something perfectly, even when it doesn't matter. Perfectionists drive themselves and others crazy. They waste time.

Humor

Humor relaxes people. It helps people relate. If you have a gift for using it in the right way, that's great. If not, it's something you can develop. Humor isn't about jokes; it is about looking at the absurdity in a situation. In tense situations, when someone comments on the obvious, people relax and move past the sticking point.

Procrastination

When people don't reach their goals, procrastination is often the culprit. It robs energy, wastes time, and increases stress. Sometimes people procrastinate because they'd rather be doing something more enjoyable. Sometimes it's because they think they are not going to like what happens if they take action.

Salespeople often naturally procrastinate when it comes to such things as paperwork. One salesperson never submitted expense vouchers because he couldn't be bothered filling out the reports - he preferred to just pay the expenses out of his own pocket. Actually, depending on the expenses involved, he might have been better off not spending the time to submit the report, but I suspect that over time these expenses added up to thousands of dollars in travel-related and client-related expenses. A better alternative could have been to have someone else do them.

While not submitting expense reports can affect the salesperson's bottom line from the expense side, not doing a good job at market development will affect the revenue side. This can spell the difference between success and failure.

Prospecting and cold calling are two activities that can be put off for a variety of reasons:

It seems easier and more productive to develop more work with existing customers than spend time developing new customers, but the problem is that you will experience customer turnover. Customers move to different jobs, retire, or decide to use different suppliers. Companies are bought out, and new management often has preferred suppliers.

Keeping new customers in the pipeline is the only way to ensure viability. Besides keeping your pipeline full, prospecting and cold calling allow you to shape your business by targeting your efforts at those customers who best fit your customer profile.

True procrastinators can always find a reason to put off what they are supposed to do. When people procrastinate, they are not putting off low-value projects. That is good time management. Rather, they are putting off things they know they should or must do: things that will add value to their work or personal lives or things that will diminish worry.

What are the consequences of procrastination?

When you tackle the things you fear the most, you grow personally and enhance self-esteem. When you procrastinate, you are still doing the thing you are putting off. How? You are doing it over and over in your mind. I can attest to this with a personal example. One time my electric garage door opener broke. I went out right away to replace it with a new one. I brought it home and opened up the boxes. The installation instructions were on a multipanel foldout with diagrams, arrows, letters, and numbers. I looked at it and said, "I don't want to read this right now. I'll do it later." Three months later, I still hadn't installed it. But winter was approaching, and I knew if I didn't get it done now I would soon have to get into a cold car each day. When I opened the boxes and placed the parts on the floor, I had a great sense of relief.

Every day during those three months I had been thinking about installing the garage door opener. Every time I walked by the garage, every time I went into the garage, every time I had to open the garage door by hand, it was on my mind. When I finally began the job of installation, I felt relieved. It took less than two hours to complete, but I had spent even more time thinking and worrying about doing it.

Market Development

Whether you call it prospecting or business development or market development, to be successful as a sales professional, we know we must develop a constant supply of new customers. Why? Even if you have a base of repeat customers you can rely on for steady business, customers move on. People change jobs, companies have budget cutbacks or go out of business. What is the turnover in your customer base from year to year? Would it be safe to assume 10 to 20 percent? If so, you need to add one to two new customers for every ten existing customers just to stay even.

Developing your potential market is a lot like developing muscles: it takes effort, it takes stretching, and it doesn't happen by sitting on the sidelines and waiting for the phone to ring.

Here's something I hate to admit: by nature, I'm a procrastinator. I have to be extra disciplined in certain areas to avoid procrastinating. One activity I have a tendency to put off, and it is a critical one, is prospecting and cold calling. Not that I can't do these things and not that I don't enjoy doing them when I do them. I prefer working with clients as opposed to finding them. I like the conceptual challenge of designing a training, speaking, or organizational solution for a client, and this is where my expertise is greatest. But I know enough to supplement my own efforts at finding clients with those of others. I also reach out to prospective new clients by such vehicles as writing articles and referrals. If you are like me at all, you'll need to be extra disciplined in certain activities that you know you need to do to be successful but don't find as enjoyable as certain other activities.

I've found it easy to invent ways to avoid prospecting and cold calling. For me the most common technique is to stay busy with other relevant business activities, such as taking care of existing business. This offers the convenient excuse to avoid picking up the phone. To stop procrastinating, schedule a set time or times to get on the phone.

Back up your phone time with advanced marketing strategies. Decide whom your best customer prospects are, describe what you have to offer them that is unique and gives them results they want, and then look for creative ways to grab their attention and stand out from the crowd to get noticed, such as creating engaging social media content. One lesson which cannot be ignored in recent years is how dynamic the communications ecosystem has become when trying to reach existing and potentially new customers. The use of Facebook, Google, and Twitter among many other digital avenues offer a continually evolving landscape full of opportunities for those enterprising enough to take advantage of them.

How do you expand your customer base? Prospecting, cold calling, referrals, physical mailings, and broadcast email are all common ways that sales professionals reach out to new customers. Support your efforts with other techniques, such as advertising or publicity, news releases, articles, and seminars, whether using conventional or digital mediums.

Create Momentum

Steven Spielberg once remarked, "The faster I work, the better I work." He said that when he is making a movie, the quicker he can get it done, the easier it is for him to see how it is coming together. When he can start to see several scenes at one time and they are fresh in his mind, he has a better idea of where he needs to go. When I said this to a group of salespeople as part of a presentation on value, a number of them shook their heads in agreement.

When it comes to cold calling, it also pays to work quicker and to create momentum. It's not likely you're going to get much in the way of results from making an isolated call. But when you make calls consistently, over time you will start to see results. As you see those results, they reinforce the importance of making more calls. Success builds on itself.

The more people you are in front of, the more opportunities you'll have. Keep getting in front of people and you will find those who need and want what you have to offer. Your marketing efforts to make yourself known will pay off. It's a matter of finding the right customers, and the more customers you are in front of, the greater the chance you have of finding the right ones.

Three Steps to Overcoming Procrastination

Choices

Our lives are the sum of the choices we make. When you are presented with the opportunity to choose, choose thoughtfully.

The Power of Control

It's not what happens to us. It's how we react to it.

One of the most powerful theories of human performance is a model developed by Albert Ellis, founder of the Albert Ellis Institute. He proposed, based on the observations of such influential thinkers as the philosopher Epictetus (who said, "Men are not influenced by things, but by their thoughts about things"), that our emotional state isn't determined as much by what happens to us as it is by how we react to what happens to us. He also proposed that there are more constructive and less constructive reactions. To "awfulize" things, or say they shouldn't be the way they are and become anxious or depressed as a result of those events, is ineffectual and unnecessary. There are alternatives and we have the ability to choose them.

For example, suppose you lose a big sale. You could become distressed and let that distract you from your future actions. Or you could be disappointed but relatively quickly move beyond that disappointment and even learn from what happened. You have the choice; people who move ahead move beyond disappointment. What usually holds people back in this type of situation is not competence, but attitude. The wrong attitude can keep you from getting the sale.

Here is one of the great lessons I've learned. We always have a choice about how to react to a situation. When I look back at the people I worked for, I remember some managers who knew how to manage and some who didn't. When I worked for the people who managed well, people who explained what they wanted and gave autonomy and trusted me to do my job, I responded with my best work. When I worked for managers who criticized, played games, or played favorites, I found it hard to maintain that same level of commitment or performance. Why would the same person respond so differently in these two situations? Part of it was that so much of how I viewed myself was tied up in who I was on the job.

What I've learned by reflecting on those types of situations is that there are ways to make the best of a bad situation. Here are my suggestions for doing that.

The danger in circumstances such as these is fear rooted in past experiences. If you can keep yourself from activating those fears in the first place, you can have better control over your perception of the situation. One of the things you can do when you find yourself in situations that remind you of times when you weren't at your best is to think about times when you were. Instead of dwelling on how you ran into problems, recall those times when you overcame problems. You have a choice about what to think, so why not think about something positive?

Make a Choice: Better or Bitter

I heard a woman say one time after she had lived through a terrible experience that she knew that she could get either better or bitter from it. When you are faced with a similar situation, try to remember that the choice is yours. Holding on to bitterness doesn't change the situation for the better. Getting better does. Taking positive action does.

Don't Hold Grudges

Grudges take a tremendous amount of energy. They take your focus off more constructive efforts. In a business setting, they will diminish or destroy your ability to function effectively and will close off future opportunities. Why? Grudges are infectious to you and the people around you, so people try to avoid the combatants. Instead of holding on to a grudge, let go. Move on. There are many ways you can choose to let go. However you decide to do it, you will be a better person for it. You will be looking toward the future, not living in the past. You will find your energy level restored. And you will feel excited about your renewed outlook.

Choose Your Boss Wisely

Think twice about the person you choose to work for, if you are given a choice in the matter. No one in the workplace will ever have as much influence over your success as does the person you work for.

I wish I had known a long time ago what I know now about how important it is to think about the person you work for. I have worked for a dozen or so different people. Of those dozen, about three quarters of them were good to work for. Several were really good to work for. And then there were three people I should have known more about before I went to work for them. The jobs I went into were good, but in these cases I wasn't well matched with the person I worked for.

You are the person responsible for your career. The person you work for is going to be instrumental in helping you to achieve your career goals. Not that you can't achieve those goals in spite of that person, or that you can't learn lessons from that person. But if you have a choice, choose a boss who is capable, honest, supportive, and respected by colleagues, bosses, or customers. Consider the person you work for just as you consider the job itself. It will make your life easier and may help keep your career on a fast track.

State of Mind

Think of a business situation you've been in that was unpleasant or unsuccessful. Now think about a business situation you've been in that was pleasant and led to success. Think about how that situation felt.

Did you notice your jaw clench up a bit when you recalled the unpleasant situation? Did you start to stare at an object? Did you feel a sense of letdown? Did you notice yourself relaxing a bit when recalling the pleasant experience, perhaps smile just a little and feel a sense of a well-being?

All of us have had both unpleasant and pleasant experiences. Recognizing what could be done better the next time we find ourselves in those types of situations and then moving on is the lesson to take away. Facing a challenging situation by thinking about a successful past situation predisposes us to more success.

A Cure for Worry

Worrying is a waste of energy. When we worry, we get distracted. We can even lose sleep. The problem is, nothing changes when we worry.

The cure for worrying is to start planning and take action. Analyze the situation - identify your alternatives and the pros and cons of each - and develop a plan of action. Realize that no plan is perfect, so build in contingencies: What if A, B, or C happens? What will you do? Plan for that contingency now.

When you have a plan in place and have taken decisive action, stop worrying. Either what you feared will not come to pass because of the actions you have taken, or it will, and you will be as prepared as you can be for that possibility. In the meantime, you will have gained peace of mind. You will have more energy. You will have been able to focus on other important priorities. And you will have less to worry about!

Change

Our ability to change is limited only by our willingness to do so and by our discomfort with not doing so.

Unconscious Competence

Have you ever taught someone how to drive? Was it someone close to you? How easy was it? It is often difficult and frustrating. The primary reason it is difficult is that as an experienced driver, you do so many things automatically when you drive that you expect the person you are teaching to do the same. Of course, when you give control of the steering, braking, and acceleration to the other person, you feel more uncomfortable.

One day I was in the car with one of my daughters, who was practicing after she got her learner's permit. As she made a U-turn too quickly for my comfort, I reacted instinctively, moving my hand up as I motioned to her to make sure she was going to stop. Of course, she knew enough to stop and felt as if I didn't trust her. What was second nature to me was a challenge for her. For new drivers, there is so much to concentrate on that it is hard for them to keep track of everything that experienced drivers take for granted.

When we perform and execute without thinking about it, we're operating on a level called unconscious competence. Most times that doesn't present a problem. When things such as technology change, we may try doing things the way we've always done them and find it doesn't work. If we want to learn, we need to drop into conscious competence, a state in which we think about what we're doing. In that state of competence, we are alert and less prone to making mistakes. Just like the new driver who is careful to come to a complete stop at a stop sign (instead of a rolling stop), we sometimes need to get back to the fine points that made us successful in the first place.

All of us have blind spots, things we are unaware of about ourselves that other people are aware of. Typically, blind spots refer to problem areas, but they may also refer to strengths.

A client asked me to work with him on project management. I've worked on many projects and thought that project management was not that hard. Then I realized I was quite competent about project management given the experience I've logged. The process now came naturally and it was easy to forget what was really involved. I had to step back into a conscious competence pattern and think about what makes a successful project.

Intellectual Depreciation

I was stopped one day at a stoplight and happened to look over at the outside of a restaurant. The paint was peeling and the building was in need of general maintenance. Buildings deteriorate. As a matter of fact, the tax codes allow businesses to deduct an expense called depreciation. It recognizes that buildings and other capital goods lose value.

It occurred to me that knowledge operates by the same principle. All knowledge has a limited "shelf life." Knowledge deteriorates. It must be maintained.

Intellectual capital describes what is in the mind of a person. The most valuable assets an organization or an individual can have are knowledge and the will to succeed. Protecting intellectual capital means continually striving to learn and update knowledge.

There is tacit knowledge and explicit knowledge. Tacit knowledge is what resides in our minds. Explicit knowledge is what has been written down or formalized in some way so that others have convenient access to it. Find the tacit knowledge by talking with others. Develop a process for passing along knowledge that you or your sales colleagues develop. Take advantage of what people learn to let it benefit others.

To be an exceptional sales leader, you'll want to constantly scan available sources of information for new ideas, trends, problems, and opportunities. Continually look for ways to update your knowledge and skills to be current with the latest technology. Success hinges on your ability to access information and put it to productive use. It also depends on your ability to stay ahead of your competition when it comes to taking advantage of new knowledge, technology, or customer needs. Don't get caught in the trap of thinking that you have all the answers. The smarter you are, the more questions you have and the more you know you need to learn.

La Trobe University has a French motto, Qui cherche trouve, which means, "Whoever seeks shall find." When we're confronted with evidence that there are things we could or should do differently, our natural defensive reaction is to believe that we don't need to change. Yet, if we look for ways to improve, we'll find them. The exceptional leader is open to change. Sometimes my own defensive reaction when presented with something different is to say, "I know that." Then I remember that I don't know everything. No one does.

One time I was in a taxi coming home from the airport. Many times I need to give drivers more information than just the address for them to find my home. On this trip, the driver took a route that was different from the one that most drivers take. When he got to a certain point, I suggested he turn on 162nd Street, thinking that he wasn't familiar with the area. He said he was going to turn on 158th Street. He asked me if I knew that this street had only one light, while 162nd Street had several. It was quicker, he said. As soon as he said he was turning on 158th, I thought, "I've lived here for many years and I know this area." But I realized that even though I had lived in the area for many years, there was still something I could learn about it. I didn't know every street. He traveled these streets every day, all day. More than what I learned about a particular street that day, I understood better than before that no one can know everything.

In workshops one of our objectives is to have participants learn from each other because everyone has lived unique experiences. So the next time you find yourself reactively thinking, "I don't need to know that," ask yourself if it's really true.

We have found that sales leaders are receptive to learning. You would think it would be just the opposite. You would think that it would be the new salespeople who would soak up information. But sales leaders are sales leaders because they never cease to look for ways to do things better. They have a large experience base and know what works and what doesn't. It's refreshing to work with individuals who approach learning in this way.

Learn Something New with Every Sale

No matter what happens with every sale you are involved with, take the opportunity to learn something new. Gain some new industry knowledge, ask a new question, or discover a new way of presenting the high-value benefits your services and products deliver to customers. Learn why the customer didn't buy. Improve your questioning skills, your presentation skills, or your understanding of the customer's buying style. On a larger sale, it could be how the bid was developed or how it was presented. There is always something to learn when it comes to skills.

Let's return for a moment to attitude. If you can live through a difficult situation, you can almost always learn from it. This is true even if what you had to live through was embarrassing, degrading, or life threatening, and it is true regardless of whether what happened was caused by someone else or by you. The fact that you endured is a tribute to your courage. If you can step away from what happened and find the lessons that it presents to you, that is also a tribute to your courage. It takes courage to survive. It's easier to grab on to bitterness, resentment, or fear - after all, doing this gives us someone or something else to blame. But the decision to hold on to that resentment is yours, and so is the decision to let it go. Your freedom to make that decision is one of the greatest freedoms you possess. Never let someone take it from you. Never surrender it.

Habits Are Hard to Change

Have you ever moved a piece of furniture to a different location, only to continue going to the old spot, expecting it to be there? Even though you know consciously that the furniture is in the new location, your habit of going to the old location is still operational. Habits save us time. We don't need to think about things that don't have much consequence. From that viewpoint, habits are helpful. On the other hand, unproductive habits keep us stuck. Once habits are formed, they are hard to break.

When you want to change a habit, you must first make a conscious decision to do so. Then you need to follow through on that decision. The following three suggestions come from well-known psychologist William James, who stated that following through on a decision required self-discipline and believed that three steps were essential to making the change endure once you decide to do it.

Act at the first opportunity once you have made a decision to do something - that is when your motivation is the greatest it is ever going to be. The more you delay, the less likely it is that you are going to do what you planned.

In our self-devised half-life theory of motivation: A day after you have made a decision to do something, your motivation will be half of what it was when you made the decision. The next day it will be half again. So in a matter of a couple of days, if you haven't done what you decided to do, you won't do it. That's why you'll want to act at the first opportunity once you've made a decision.

Starting out strong means overcompensating. You need to aim to do more than you would like to so that if you don't quite get to the level you were working for, you will still make your goal.

Don't let an exception occur, because if you do it is easy to fall back into the old habit. If an exception does occur, it doesn't mean you should abandon your original goal. Instead, recognize the progress you have made and recommit to your goal.

" To thrive on change, you must understand how to give in to it, flow with it, and derive strength from it."

- Michael Dell, CEO, Dell Computer

When we have positive habits, we sometimes drift away from them. For example, you may have attended seminars or conferences periodically to keep up to date in your field, but may now find yourself attending fewer events like these. Many people resolutely start an exercise program or diet, only to find their determination diminishing slowly over time.

When you find your resolve flagging, recommit to your original goals. Recall the positive benefits you originally felt and the resolve you once had. It is natural to require reinforcement to maintain your motivation.

What Works at Work Won't Necessarily Work at Home

A majority of salespeople are to the point, fast paced, and results oriented. Those qualities tend to serve them well in the work environment. However, at home it may be a different story. Imagine that one spouse is trying to describe to the other some events that took place that day. The results-oriented spouse says, "Is there a point to this?" Of course, the spouse who was relating the events wasn't exactly looking for that type of response.

I find the issues that I face at work are easier to manage than the issues I face at home, even considering the complicated dynamics that take place in the typical work organization. The challenge at home would seem to arise from the intensity of feelings we have with people we live with and our expectations of them.

A big part of the challenge we face is that when we are at work we have to be "on" all the time. That takes energy. So when we get home, we want to unwind and relax. While we may be constrained in how we handle ourselves at work, we may feel we have more freedom at home to say what's on our mind or do what we really feel like doing. We expect others to understand.

Of course, the people you live with deserve to be treated as tactfully as the people you work with. The reality is that they are more important to you than your work colleagues, even though they willingly accept the sacrifices you make at work. Unfortunately, you can't behave exactly the same way at work and at home. The expectations aren't the same, and neither are the expected outcomes.

So what is the answer? If we can't simply use the same behaviors at work that make us successful there and can't just unwind and be ourselves at home, what should we do? The answer lies in understanding human behavior. To be successful, stop focusing solely on what you want and how you feel and instead factor in a response to the other person. In other words, give that person what he or she needs or wants in the way he or she prefers it. If this sounds familiar, it is. It is exactly what the most successful salespeople do for their customers.

The most successful salespeople reach out to customers and extend themselves to make sure customers get what they want in the way they want it. The salesperson who discounts what customers value, doesn't listen, or even argues with customers isn't going to get the sale or keep the relationship for long. Even if the salesperson is right, it won't matter.

So why should the situation be any different at home? Why shouldn't you treat the people who mean the most to you at least as respectfully as you treat your customers? Why not consider your family to be another group of customers, just under a different set of circumstances? Do you think that might change the dynamics in the relationship? This might involve going outside of your preferred mode of behaviors, but it will likely result in your preferred outcomes.

Why is it easier to see the mistakes that other people make and the problems that other people have than it is to see our own? The answer is not simple. Being too close to a problem emotionally, or too afraid to admit a mistake, may make it impossible to see your situation in the same way that others do. Once I was listening to some people talk about problems they were facing, and it seemed so obvious to me what they should do to resolve the problems. I thought, "Why don't they just do it?" But when I happened to describe a problem I was having, even though it was almost the same as the ones that I had heard other people describe, the answer didn't seem so obvious.

A good friend with a lot of wisdom about people, gave me an idea about how to handle these personal situations one time when I was perplexed about what I should do. He said, "If one of your clients approached you with the same problem, what would you tell them to do? Do whatever you would have told them to do."

Warren Bennis, a professor and author, told a story at a conference about how he had difficulty deciding whether to accept an offer to teach at another university. He went to a colleague and explained the situation. The colleague said, "Warren, you're the expert on decision making. Why don't you follow your own model?" Warren said he told him, "This is too important. This is about me!"

Always Go Forward

It is often tempting to return to the familiar and the comfortable. We reminisce about how good something was or how we would like to find that special time again. In business, we sometimes would like things to be the way they were in earlier times, when they were less complicated. Sometimes we like to revisit a past problem we already solved. (It's like seeing a movie for a second time. You know the outcome.) This may be gratifying, but if we have moved beyond the level where we were, we may regress to a level we no longer want to be at. Instead, look for new challenges that will stretch you beyond your present level of performance.

Career Advice

A veteran salesperson once told me that when he started his career, his sales manager gave him advice that he has lived by:

These are simple truths that make sense. No matter what stage you are at in your career, whether you are just beginning or are a veteran, it pays to think about your career direction and goals. If you don't do it, who will? If you don't do it, how will you know what you want and get it?

In an interview on "Inside the Actors Studio," Stockard Channing said that on five occasions she had accepted movies solely for the money, and they turned out to be bad movies. She quoted someone who said there are three reasons to take a job: to make money, to advance your career, or to learn something. "Go for at least two" was the advice she said was worth following.

Joan Sumners is vice president of sales at a hotel property management company located in Los Angeles. She has five strategies for success that she shared:

Salespeople can't afford to be busy but not productive. Joan notes, "It's easy to get caught up in the wrong things." Many salespeople say that theirs is a relationship business. The earlier you develop those relationships and the more you nurture them, the stronger the relationships will be, and the more they will result in business. Positive relationships can lead to impressive results.

Become an Expert

Become an expert in your field of business. Take it beyond being an expert about your industry. Become an expert about a certain type of problem. Talk to people who have experience in the area. Read everything you can on the subject. Develop a theory about the problem: When is it most likely to happen? What causes it? What can be done about it? Become an expert in the subtle differences between it and similar problems. Become an expert on trends in your industry and profession. Learn about technology that is changing business processes.

We are not suggesting that you become an expert in every facet of the sales process. Make the customer the focus. Start by looking at what you do almost effortlessly, well enough to take it for granted. You are probably unconsciously competent about it. Maybe it is how to influence others. Step back and look at what you do that allows you to be so effective. Ask others for their opinions about it. Build on that skill.

When you become an expert, write articles that can be published in industry publications. You can provide examples of what you have done (keep the company names anonymous unless you get the company's written permission). The article should provide helpful advice and shouldn't come across as a sales promotion.

Write about the symptoms of a common sales problem, how people can assess whether they have this problem, and the consequences of not fixing it. Describe in general terms what it takes to fix the problem.

In most cases, you should check with your manager to be sure your company supports the article. At the very least, try to get the article published in your company's in-house publication or on it's internal web site. Be sure that you don't reveal confidential or proprietary information. Check with your legal department if you have a concern in that area.

Being published in this way allows you to be recognized as a leader in your field.

Do you have aspirations to move up into management? If so, what are your motives for doing so? Recognize that the responsibilities of a sales manager require a different set of skills than those of a salesperson. Moving into management means that you will work primarily through your salespeople and that your success depends on their success. Typically, your responsibilities for direct selling will be limited. Communication, coaching, and leadership are some of the skills you will need to rely on as a sales manager. You will build on some of the skills you used as a salesperson, such as your ability to plan and organize, but those play a secondary role.

If you aspire to become a manager, first examine whether it is something you will enjoy doing. Second, determine the extent to which you have demonstrated the skills needed to succeed as a manager. Third, when you are promoted into management, develop a plan for improving the skills you need to be successful at that level. Finally, be cautious of gravitating into those areas in which you are most familiar and most comfortable: selling. If you go on a sales call with a salesperson, be there to coach, not to sell.

It is much better to move into a higher-level position aware of what the requirements are than to discover them when you get there. Do what you enjoy and learn to do it well.

"Don't Take This Personally"

What do you do when someone says "Don't take this personally" to you? Most likely, you take it personally. Apply this quick test to tell whether the statement is actually personal: ask yourself, Would this be happening to just about anyone else in this situation? If the answer is yes, it isn't personal. For example, if a customer is screaming at you about a product that isn't working properly, that isn't personal. He or she would more than likely scream at any company representative. On the other hand, if the product wasn't the right one for the job and you sold it, it more than likely is personal.

What difference does it make whether it is personal? If you know the customer's displeasure isn't with you, it allows you to be more objective. You can handle the problem without being a part of the problem. As a result, you can usually help the customer better.

What do you do if it is personal, if there is some criticism of you in the customer's or colleague's complaint? Listen, understand, and consider whether you need to do something differently in the future. The information you are receiving may be valuable if you can act on it.

Sales leaders don't take rejection personally. They may not accept it, but they are resilient enough to use it to their advantage and learn from it.

" You've got to make your own life. You can't be swayed by people telling you no."

- Danny DeVito, actor

Communication

Your technical skills and product knowledge may play a crucial role in your ability to be successful as a salesperson. Really good communication skills are essential for every salesperson. Communication is the lifeline of success.

Communication involves both giving information and listening. It is both speaking and writing. It is both a skill and an attitude. It affects both business and personal success. Everyone can improve communication skills, even people who are already skilled communicators. Everyone can find ways to listen better. Everyone can find ways to present information better. Everyone can find ways to use words that convey meaning more effectively, words that awaken senses or evoke emotions. Everyone can find ways to inspire others through their words. Everyone can find ways to improve tone of voice and diction. (Think of actors whose trademark voices make them immediately recognizable.) Everyone can improve written communications by making them more succinct, less confusing, or more motivational.

Communication is a skill that we rarely learn in formal education to the extent we need it. Most of us will learn the most about writing, followed by speaking, with listening a distant third. I've asked thousands of people whether they have ever taken a listening course, and I would say less than a dozen people have ever answered affirmatively. Yet that is probably the most critical of the three. So the one we need to rely on the most and the one that is critical to our success is often the one we are the least prepared for.

Take the Lead

Continually look for ways to improve the way you communicate. Ask for feedback from people you work with every day and from those you come into contact with occasionally or even once. Ask someone whose judgment and honesty you can trust to help you gain an objective view of your strengths and where you need to improve. Have this person listen to one of your presentations. Ask him or her for feedback in specific areas. Don't react defensively if he or she tells you something you weren't prepared to hear. Evaluate whether it is valid and then act on any valid points.

On a personal level, relationships succeed when people can communicate. Being able to do that when faced with all of the emotions and history inherent in relationships is an enormous challenge. It's important to always practice tact, honesty, and sincerity.

Resolve to Become a Better Listener

The most effective salespeople listen really well. In the selling process, listening helps you gather information, build trust, and confirm the customer's expectations. If you restate, summarize, and empathize with what the customer has told you, you will move toward closure. It becomes a part of the decision-making process.

Do you know something you could be doing to be more effective? Why would you say you aren't doing it? Probably habits are to blame. Listening is a skill that can always be improved, and it is critically important for sales leaders.

The Most Successful Salespeople

The most successful salespeople get in step with the customer. If the customer wants to move at a quicker pace (which is the pace that most salespeople would prefer), they move at a quicker pace. If the customer wants to move at a more deliberate pace, the salesperson also moves at a more deliberate pace, even if this is not what the salesperson would prefer to do. If the customer wants to get right down to business, the salesperson does too, instead of commenting on what's in the person's office, for example. If the customer wants to chat for a bit, the salesperson chats for a bit (but not indefinitely).

Go with the flow. If you try to rush customers who want to analyze the data, they'll go even slower because they will feel compelled to tell you why they need more time to analyze the information or make a decision. If you continue to press them for a decision, they will avoid making any decision or will simply tell you no. The more impatient you get, the longer the sale will take or the less likely it is that you will even get it. Unless customers are willing to adapt, they won't go at your pace. You need to adapt to theirs. If you want to get along with the variety of customers you meet, be open to working in the way they prefer to work. You will find that they will be more receptive to your recommendations.

Don't Jump to a Conclusion

It is easy to judge people by misinterpreting their behavior. When a customer doesn't return a call, you might think that it is for a variety of plausible reasons: he or she is busy, preoccupied, working on a new project, or out of the office unexpectedly. You might wonder whether he or she is reluctant to talk with you, doesn't want to be bothered, or didn't like what you had to say before. Any of those explanations may be right, or they may be wrong. You don't know for sure unless the customer tells you. They only thing you know for sure is that the customer didn't return the call.

When you misinterpret someone's behavior, you can unwittingly set the stage for an unfortunate sequence of events. You can think negatively and undermine your ability to be successful. Or you can communicate something that is wrong to the customer because of your misinterpretation.

Understanding the difference between behavior and how we judge that behavior is one of the most enlightening things that one can learn. Why? Because failing to discern the difference is the root of so much ill will. It's common for people to observe someone's behavior and assume the person's motivation for the behavior. The motivation however may be entirely different from what an observer would assume. If the observer were to communicate with that person based on his or her assumptions, the person might well react negatively to the presumption, which then leads to further negative reactions from both parties.

It is so easy to misinterpret people's behavior. One day, I had just pulled out of a service station after getting gas. I was waiting at the light and noticed the man in the car behind me when I looked in my rear-view mirror. When the light turned green, he pulled out quickly from behind me to the right side and I thought he was accelerating to cut in front of me, so I accelerated. He accelerated more and so did I, until we got to the light at the next intersection, whereupon he rolled down his window and told me that the gas cap was on the car. "Thank you," I replied.

The reason that people misjudge others' behaviors is those behaviors trigger emotions based on our experiences in similar situations. If you had a negative experience in a past similar situation, you might expect to have a negative experience in this circumstance as well and react accordingly. Of course, while the behavior may be similar, the reason behind it can be very different.

Behavior is what someone says or does. We observe behavior through our eyes or ears, but we judge behavior in our minds. That is where we decide whether we like it or don't like it. That is where we decide whether we need to be careful. That is where we react emotionally - and if that reaction is negative, it can cloud our thinking and our response. No one wins in this situation.

During a listening exercise in a self development program, one of the participants was supposed to just listen to his partner tell him about a little problem he was having at work. The person who was listening asked the speaker whether what he did was his responsibility. The speaker reacted negatively to the question. I believe he reacted negatively because he may have interpreted the question as a challenge. It was a simple question, but the fact that it was asked, or perhaps how it was asked, led to a negative interaction between these two people.

What would have been better? Perhaps the listener should not have asked the question, or explained that he simply wanted to understand this person's responsibilities better. Perhaps the speaker could simply have answered the question, or, if he didn't want to get sidetracked in the discussion, asked the person to hold the question.

It isn't that we should not have reactions to what people say or do. We merely need to be clear about the difference between what we see and hear and our interpretations of what we see and hear. If we communicate with people more about their behavior, they will have a less defensive response. As a result, our communication will lead to the results we want more often.

Aaron Coffey is a twenty-five-year veteran who's handled a variety of complex sales in international situations. Based on his experience, he has evolved five principles for creating winning sales.

Make the Most of Your Achievements

"You Can't Buy Happiness"

New research by Dr. Richard Ryan, professor of psychology at the University of Rochester, and Dr. Tim Kasser is showing that people whose primary focus is on money, fame, or beauty tend to be more depressed and have more "behavioral" problems and physical discomfort. People who primarily want to develop close relationships, become more self-aware, or contribute to the community tend to be happier. The key words are primary focus.

They also found that extrinsic satisfactions such as wealth, beauty, and fame don't have to result in dissatisfaction. But it appears that if we achieve those without a meaningful balance in our relationships, growth, or contribution to others, we tend to feel unfulfilled.

Is it because wealth, beauty, and fame are a bit like cotton candy - sweet and fluffy but lacking substance? Is it because they don't relate to our humanness? What does your experience tell you?

"Happiness is having the freedom to be yourself."

- Hilary Swank, actor

Have You Achieved the Level of Success You Believe You're Capable Of?

There are few limits to what we can do. I read an interesting story about an eighty-five-year-old woman who was a member of a reading group and was also writing a novel. After being turned down by a number of publishers, she found one who was willing to publish her book, which turned into a bestseller. She went on to write two others.

Age can work against us, but it can also work for us. If you are young, you bring fresh ideas. If you are older, you bring wisdom. In the same way, education might or might not help. Being perceptive, effective, or intelligent doesn't require education. What it does require is an understanding of human nature, an open mind, and, often, a sense of humor or an ability to not take ourselves too seriously regardless of how seriously we take our work. There is little that really stands in our way - only that which we allow. Everyone has challenges. It could be time constraints due to family commitments. It could be financial constraints. Those challenges may mean it will take you longer to do what you want to do, but they don't have to mean that you won't do it.

" Achievement seemed to be a double-edged sword for me. I had a subconscious feeling that triumph would always bring a loss. I realized that what was limiting me was the residual pain associated with accomplishment."

- Sela Ward, actor

Greatness Lies Within Each of Us

I don't believe that achieving greatness is about money or position, or even about fame or recognition for accomplishments. I believe that we have the opportunity to achieve greatness when we touch the lives of others. We can do that through our actions and words. We can do it at work and at home. People who accumulate great wealth are remembered for their wealth. But what makes them special is the good they choose to do with their money.

Most people who reach the end of their lives don't think, "I wish I could make one more sale" - or work on one more project or make more money. Most of us would think more about the people we love than the work we didn't get done. Yet it is easy to lose track of what is really important. If someone were to ask you to rank, in order of priority, yourself, your career, and your family, in what order would you place them?

Most people tend to put career first, followed by family, followed by self. Yet if we don't take care of ourselves first, how can we take care of our families, our careers, or anything else? There is no right or wrong when you think about these priorities. It is more a matter of balance. We start to run into difficulties when we get out of balance.

Salespeople can be highly dedicated to their work and their clients. Their work may entail being on call, traveling, or extended hours. Families are often asked to understand and sacrifice, and most times they will - as long as there is a balance. Salespeople have asked me about that balance. They want to know how to better manage their time so they can satisfy not only their clients but their loved ones as well. The bottom line is that if we make all the sacrifices for the job but don't keep the balance with our families, what is the point of the sacrifice? When the job is done, what will you have left? Effective leaders know that they need to plan out their schedules, set boundaries around their availability, and plan time with the people they love.

In one session I facilitated, I had two successful salespeople. One planned vacations for his family. The other never found the time, and his wife wasn't happy about it. As we talked about it, he realized it was time for him to adjust the way he planned his work schedule and family time. His family was always coming in second.

During another sales workshop, one of the people said that as a result of the time he spent on the job he rarely saw his children. On the other hand, I read a story about a fellow who planned his schedule around his children's. He said that when their school calendars came out he would write their events in his calendar and, to the extent that he could, work around them. He said that if something was scheduled on one of those days, he might be late to a meeting or to a business dinner that conflicted with their performances. He said he tries "like crazy" to be home for dinner by being in the car when six o'clock rolls around. He leaves early in the morning. He said if people ask him to dinner, he says he can do breakfast or lunch. He said he had "only a few years to be part of their lives."

I try to take whatever opportunities I have to spend time with my daughters - even if it's just something like driving them to school or taking them to an appointment. I could feel guilty about not doing work during that time, but these occasions don't happen that often, and I don't know how long I will have these opportunities.

Success is achieving goals. Greatness is more than fame. Greatness is touching the essence of the human spirit in meaningful and lasting ways. Every day we have the opportunity to pass along good things or bad things. Whatever we pass along is going to be given by that person to someone else. Which do you prefer to choose?

Have No Regrets

During a commercial for an auto manufacturer, the announcers interviewed two people about regrets. They say they don't have any until he reveals a secret one has kept from the other. It's funny. But the reality is that it's difficult when a good relationship ends in a bad way.

Don't let a relationship end on a note of regret. Every day we are given the opportunity to change course. Do what you need to today, because you don't know whether you will be given the opportunity tomorrow.

" I sacrificed everything and was left with nothing. I realized that no amount of success could offset losing your life to your business."

- Jeff Soderberg, founder, STG

A Legacy

I have a personal goal of making a difference with others. In doing this, I have challenges to meet and contributions to make. The following are not all of my lifetime goals, but reflect more of the personal qualities that will make a difference to other people.

I would like to:

Congratulations on Your Continuing Learning and Development

In today's competitive workplace, everyone should continue to learn. You are the person who is most responsible for your future, and your decision to expand your knowledge base is a positive one that will pay well-deserved dividends.

Westside Toastmasters on Meetup

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