SuccessCo

Sales and the Art of Listening

Hearing and listening are not the same – Hearing means that your ears are functioning. Listening means that you are paying attention. No one ever listened themselves out of a sale.

Check your emotions and personal opinions at the door – Focus on the prospects views and opinions, however disagreeable they may be. Respectfully ask for the reasons behind their statements with questions to clarify such as;

Can you tell me about that in more detail?
How would you describe that to someone outside of your industry?
Would you help me understand that a bit better?
What do you mean?
Why do you fell that way?
Why do you word it that way?
Can you give me an example?
What do you think/feel?
Please help me to better understand?

Only when you know their rationale can you hope to guide them to choosing your product or service.

-Jim

© 2008 SuccessCo.com

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Business Preparation - The Key to a Predictable Outcome

If you believe in the concept of "Every battle is won before it is ever fought" from The Art of War written by Sun Tzu, then you know that what you do in preparation of accomplishment is key to determining the outcome.

Here is a recent Nike commercial that drives the point home from an athletic perspective.

Have a successful day
-Jim

© 2008 SuccessCo

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Success Quote

"The heights by great men reached and kept were not attained by sudden flight,
But they, while their companions slept,
were toiling upward in the night."

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882)

Can You Become a Creature of New Habits?

HABITS are a funny thing. We reach for them mindlessly, setting our brains on auto-pilot and relaxing into the unconscious comfort of familiar routine. “Not choice, but habit rules the unreflecting herd,” William Wordsworth said in the 19th century. In the ever-changing 21st century, even the word “habit” carries a negative connotation.

So it seems antithetical to talk about habits in the same context as creativity and innovation. But brain researchers have discovered that when we consciously develop new habits, we create parallel synaptic paths, and even entirely new brain cells, that can jump our trains of thought onto new, innovative tracks.

Rather than dismissing ourselves as unchangeable creatures of habit, we can instead direct our own change by consciously developing new habits. In fact, the more new things we try — the more we step outside our comfort zone — the more inherently creative we become, both in the workplace and in our personal lives.

Read full story [NY Times]

Managing Your E-mail Inbox - I.e. Taming the Beast

I have a love / hate relationship with email. As the volume increases, so too does the time it takes to manage and process it, making it less of a productivity tool and more of a hungry monster devouring my precious time.

Because organizing and processing email is something most of us have learned on our own as there was no “advanced email” course taught on campus, here a great video (although lengthy at 58.38 min - I might suggest listening to it in the background) on how to tame the growing beast.

About the video:
Google Tech Talks July 23, 2007 - Merlin Mann, a well known productivity guru and creator of the popular 43 folders website will talk about Getting Things Done, the importance of getting your inbox to zero, and strategies for dealing with high volume email.

-Jim
© 2008 SuccessCo

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Success Book ~ Stop Telling – Start Selling

Excerpt from Stop Telling – Start Selling by Linda Richardson

Use Opened Ended Questions
Open-ended questions begin with the words who, when, why, what, to what extent, and give the customer a chance to expand on a point. Closed ended questions begin with such words as do and are and usually result in a yes or no answer. Open-ended questions are more efficient and effective when you need more information or want to avoid a flat no. They can help you avoid forcing the customer to take a defensive position or give an answer that is not only short in content but “short” in tone. The real problem with closed ended questions is that things aren’t usually black and white, and with them you can miss the chance to get more information.

Stop Telling, Start Selling: How to Use Customer-Focused Dialogue to Close Sales

Change – Your Best Friend or Worst Enemy

One thing is certain; the only thing you can count on is change. Therefore you only have two choices when it comes to change, accept it and prosper or resist it and watch the rest of the world pass you and your business by.

I’ll never forget calling a typewriter company with a business proposal in the early eighties, only to hear the owner bitch and complain about how business is at an all time low and getting worse by the month. I recall thinking to myself, “get a clue and start selling word processors or computers you *&%#.”

While my example is and was an obvious one, most change is subtle and creeps up on you over time, blinding you from its positive or adverse potential.

In 1829 Martin Van Buren who was then the Governor of New Your State wrote the following message to the President.

“The canal system of this country is being threatened by the spread of a new form of transportation know as ‘railroads’. . . As you may well know, railroad carriages are pulled at the enormous speed of 15 miles per hour by engines, which in addition to endangering life and limb of passengers, roar and snort their way through the countryside. The almighty certainly never intended that people should travel at such breakneck speed.”

So, like it or not change is occurring at this very moment – go out and welcome it like a friend and lover. It will never let you down.

Have a successful day!

-Jim
© 2008 SuccessCo

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Success Quote

"If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant; if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome."

Anne Bradstreet (1612-1672)