Dec 03 2012

Two “Takes” On Life for Entrepreneurs . . .

AS ZIG AND ZIGGY SAID . . .

“We should enjoy life while we’re here

’cause there’s no here, there!”

(Worldclass cartoon character Ziggy)

“You can have everything in life you want,

if you will just help other people

get what they want”

(Worldclass motivational sales guru Zig Ziglar who left us this past week,
to hopefully join Ziggy for some fun and enjoyment “there”!)

What’s the point? Entrepreneurs have a way of becoming so driven and preoccupied by the race to achieve their ideas, they rarely take enough time out to enjoy what they already have, like family and friends, and life itself. They can also become so readily entrenched in “doing” for themselves and the growth of their ideas, they can often forget about helping others.

If, like many entrepreneurs, you think you have been put on earth to better mankind by pursuing your great ideas to the exclusion of taking time outs for your self and your family and friends, or to the exclusion of taking time to help others in their moments of need, you might want to revisit your sense of reality and the purpose of your life and business leadership.

My recommendation for how to proceed with this thought for the next minute is to simply take one more step and have a little fun by entering “Ziggy” in the search window to the right, then scan the three blog posts that surface, then enter “Zig Ziglar” in the search window and scan the fifteen or so blog posts that mention or quote him.

I promise –that between the two quick searches– you’ll be amused or prompted to action, if not both. Most assuredly, you will be as I have been by re-skimming these posts, enlightened. I stand humbled by the inspiration I draw from each. You?

 # # #

Hal@Businessworks.US    931.854.0474

Open Minds Open Doors

Make today a GREAT day for someone!

God Bless You and Thank You for Your Visit! 

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Jan 05 2011

Self-Motivation (Part 1 of 2)

Giddy-up Gone?

                                                

Talking to yourself

                        

too little too late?

 

 

Have you been secretly worried about talking to (and even with) yourself? Has it crossed your mind that you were becoming one of those “men-with-the-white-jacket-are-coming” basket cases? Take heart! Yes-sir-reebob!

You are, instead, probably (notice I leave a little squeeze room for those of you on the cusp) about as normal as blueberry pie. Actually, the worrying part is what hangs your mind in the balance. In other words, if you have to worry, worry about your worrying!

Bottom line is that all of us talk to and with ourselves (no,I am not referring to those who spend hours a day at it). We do this because verbal expression (like a pilot reciting her or his checklist out loud before taxiing onto the runway) serves to clarify and enhance, and prompt focus. I never knew a good writer who didn’t speak out loud what she or he had written before calling it “a wrap.”

“So, self, here we go. It’s time to share one of life’s great secrets.”

“Okay, I’m game. Let’s hear what your J.K.Rawling/Dan Brown tangled web of mysticism can reveal for all us normal folk who chatter away at ourselves in cars, closets, beds, and walking down the street.”

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

Hey, I don’t know much about

Harry Potter’s chambers or DiVinci’s codes,

but I discovered 35 years ago that “self-talk

motivates, heals, humors, and strengthens.

Not sure? I’ll give you a quickie to try –improvise as you see fit to adapt it for yourself. I’ll also offer you a pack-on promise that if you say and repeat what’s below (or your own version) out loud, to yourself, like you truly mean it (even when you don’t feel up to it) three times a day, every day, for 21 days, you will be happier, healthier and more productive.

You will feel better!

( . . .and it’s free; in fact, you’ve nothing to lose but stress and upsets; how hard is that to argue with?)

Recite/Chant it exercising, or laying down, or standing on your head while spitting wooden nickles. Do it any time or place (except driving or operating heavy equipment, or with drugs or alcohol in your system). Concentrate on each word as you say it. It works. Period. Free. No charge. Me to you. Make it happen:

Healing energy into my body.

Healing energy into my body.

Stress and pain and tension out of my body.

Stress and pain and tension out of my body.

I am my body — left, right, center. (and think it!)

I am my body — left, right, center. (and think it!)

I am relaxed, happy, alert, and weigh the weight I want to weigh.

I am healthy, wealthy, painfree, safe and sound, and physically fit.

Today (“Tomorrow” when reciting at night) is the first day of my new life and I’m going to make (“am making” when reciting midday) it count.

I will make today (tomorrow) special for someone!   

All the great motivational and self-development gurus who ever lived share and practice similar methods. . . from Brian Tracy to Napoleon Hill and Wayne Dyer.

Try Zig Ziglar’s prescribed daily morning ritual recitation which starts with two hand claps as soon as you open your eyes in the morning:

(Clap, Clap) “Oh, boy, what a GREAT day to wake up and get going! I believe something wonderful is going to happen to me today!” 

Saying it like you mean it, from your heart, and concentrating on each word is –again– the key to success. Doing it consistently even when you would rather sleep or eat or play games on your computer, is your insurance policy that it will indeed produce results.

I am assuming of course that you ARE interested in producing results?

TOMORROW: Self-Motivation (Part 2 of 2)

– Same time, same channel.

# # # 

931.854.0474 or Hal@BusinessWorks.US

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless You.

“The price of freedom is eternal vigilance!” [Thomas Jefferson]

Make today a GREAT day for someone! 

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Dec 07 2010

LOSING YOUR MIND?

A Wandering Mind

                         

Gathers Much Loss

 

Every minute of every hour of every day, conscious and unconscious negative influences are fighting for your attention.

 

You own, run, manage, just bought, started, are planning to buy or start, or inherited a business. The last thing on your mind is your mind. You cast away all those inspirational quotes on Twitter and in church, and those gems of wisdom from your six-year-old.

You have no time for the You become what you think aboutwritings and teachings of Napoleon Hill, Brian Tracy, Wayne Dyer, Zig Ziglar, Deepak Chopra, or the hundreds of other thought leaders. Yeah, you’ve heard the “As you sow, so shall you reap” line from the Bible. In fact, you have your own been-there-done-that style version: “What goes around comes around.”

But without being consistently grounded in this thinking, you run the risk each day of your thought-stream leading you down an unhealthy path. In fact, you can be obsessed with negative thoughts that create business loss and not even be aware of it.

Taking inventory might be a good suggestion. How can you find out if your mind has slipped over the top without you knowing about it? Try this illuminating exercise:

Ask some friends, associates and family members whose opinions you value to tell you what animal, what musical instrument and what song they most closely identify you with, and why.

They’ll probably laugh. Simply say you are doing a study and explain no further.

  • Be clear that you’re looking for their straight-out opinions.

  • Do not interrupt except to ask for clarification.

  • Do not refute, rebuttal or defend. Just listen, and take notes.

  • If you’re not sure you understand, ask for examples.

  • Whatever you get back, take it on the chin.

 

When you have the input of five or six people, decide if there’s any pattern or overlap. For example, do four of them think you most remind them of a snake (or wild boar?), and a kazoo, and a song like “Angry Eyes”? Well. Organize the input you get to see if it makes any sense. Prioritize. Evaluate. Decide how to get more positive stuff and less negative stuff.

Feeding on daily TV show lineups can produce a steady stream of negative-related people and situations which can take a toll on  behavior and prompt offerings of defensive reasons and excuses for every action. Dr. Andrew Weil has been known to prescribe “No News” for a week to some distressed patients.

If all your mind does is think about cancer, or your weight, or your age, or your bank account or bills, you are going to (like rolling a snowball) generate more of that kind of thinking.

When some one’s thoughts are preoccupied with having an affair, it will be hard to pay attention to their spouse. A new baby or puppy in the house can drain your ability to stay focused.

 

Behaviors. Behavior is a choice. A negative mindset is something we bring on ourselves. Directly or indirectly (and often obscurely), we make lousy behavior choices. Regardless of the who, how, why, when, and where, if you’re feeling misery, failure, or frustration, accept that you are choosing it.

Take some deep breaths and choose instead to change the channel in your brain. Self-control leads to leadership control. The world’s greatest leaders are masters of self-control. Self-control means exercising compassion as well as passion, and being focused on the journey –not the destination– as the source of achievement.

When your mind is healthy and you’re concentrating on something, it –like a spotlight illuminating the outer edges– will be fully aware of what’s going on around you as well as what you’re targeting in front of you. You can do it. Choose it. Practice it. Keep choosing it! (Yes, you can call me for a little coaching!)

If you work at it sincerely and haven’t experienced remarkable change in three weeks, I’ll be astounded. Yes, after thousands of success stories with zero failures, I will be astounded!

~~~~~~~~

931.854.0474   Hal@BusinessWorks.US

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless You.

 “The price of freedom is eternal vigilance!” [Thomas Jefferson] 

Make today a GREAT day for someone!

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Sep 05 2010

LABOR DAY

Not all work is labor.

                                  

Not all labor is work.

                                           

(A short post for bosses to copy and leave

 anonymously at certain workstations)

                                               

Is it true that some of us are lucky enough to be working for pleasure as well as pay, and that some of us labor for love alone?

If you fit either of these categories, like keeping your eye on the ball when you’ve got a beer in one hand and popcorn in the other, or finding out that your closest relatives are all in jail, it’s sometimes hard to realize that the vast majority of workers reportedly hate their jobs. 

Certainly more people could be happy at work, don’t you think? It doesn’t take a teenage Blackberry txtmsg scientist to recognize that those who are miserable with their jobs need only make the choice to click the channel in their brains to another station, and refuse to choose to get themselves “downed-out” about the tasks at hand. Check your misery level.

Motivational guru Zig Ziglar always used to point out that when you have a job –any job– odds are pretty good that you also are getting paid for your time and effort, that you likely have some kind of benefits, that you can usually count on heat or air conditioning and a roof over your head, that you get lunch time off and possibly a coffee break or two, that you can usually socialize a bit with others, and that you get some kind of recognition for exceptional performance. Well?

                                                                                                                     

So, what’s the bottom line?

                                                   

If you think your job is strictly labor, think again. Could it be that you are perhaps choosing to see it that way? If you’re bored or fed up with work that is no longer challenging, have you brought that to any one’s attention?

Does your boss know that you are on cruise control? Does you boss know that you are capable of more responsibility? Speak up woman! (or man!) Take the risk to say how you feel. 

What’s the worst that can happen? Do you think any boss in the world would fire you for asking for more responsibility or a more challenging workload? It’s not going to happen. Get the thought out of your head.

Choose instead to see that a request like this will light a fire of awareness under your boss and prompt you to earn the consideration you deserve. Don’t package your request with a pricetag!

As much as business owners love hearing employee requests for added responsibility, they hate hearing requests for more money. Let the compensation issue go with the flow.

Present your ideas for how and why you can and should be allowed to do a better, more productive job . . . and leave the salary/benefit issues up to the boss. Your performance will get you recognition and added pay. In case it doesn’t, consider connecting with my friend Angela Current, professional resume writer and career and interview coach at www.classicresumes.com for help!

                                                                                               

Performance goes MUCH further than bitching.

Choose to perform. Watch what happens!   

                  

# # #  

302.933.0116 or Hal@BusinessWorks.US  

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless You.
 “The price of freedom is eternal vigilance!” [Thomas Jefferson] 

Make today a GREAT day for someone!

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Apr 10 2010

Are YOU really worth “an arm and a leg”?

“Start savin’ your

                         

toenails, kid!”

                                                                       

     Growing up, my father always told me things were too expensive by saying “they cost an arm and a leg.”

     Heaven forbid, I used to think, that we should ever willfully exchange body parts for materialistic possessions! Unless of course hair, and toe and fingernails suddenly blast the roof off the commodities market, and can be traded in collector jars or Ziploc bags for cars, flat screen TVs, Wii programs, iTunes, and sushi hand-rolls.

     But remembering the exaggerated childhood lesson in economics, I am prompted to raise the question: Am I really worth what I charge? I look around me and see a zillion other businesspeople, who haven’t a fraction of my hard-earned experience, charging outrageous fees for services they clearly haven’t a clue about, like strategic marketing and leadership development (or HRD, or CRM, or SEO, whatever those are).

     I see even more zillions of people who are self-proclaimed writers (minus of course the ability to communicate) or “social media experts” (can you believe even: “Twitter Coaches”?), yet when I weigh my worth, I rationalize that I write as well if not better than many of those over-the-top-paid authors out there. And only God knows about the rah-rah Twitter Coaches? (And the crowd roared: “FF, RT, Give ’em a Tweet and break their feet!”).

     It gets tiring to be so overloaded with pinkie finger talent and only be getting 35-cents an hour. So what’s the answer? Wayne Dyer? Zig Ziglar? How many dollars have you spent buying quick-fix books, tapes, pyramid marketing schemes, CDs, instant cash programs, seminars, webinars . . . huh? And who’s making money on whom? 

     Oh, and a great interview the other night on Delaware TV with a man (who looked like he was wearing Salvation Army clothes) captioned “Avid Gambling Fan.” The slot machine puller noted how wonderful more casinos would be because “it’s a great way to be able to donate to charity and not pay taxes.” 

     The point is that you’re worth to others whatever you think you’re worth to yourself, and if your life is all about thinking you’re worth 35-cents an hour, you are! If you are so blind as to see slot machines and casinos as your savior, you are surely headed back to the Salvation Army for a full wardrobe. Wayne and Zig? They have plenty of right answers, but your brain has to be open and receptive enough to gain their value.

     Twitter Coaches? Pfffffft! Good luck! The answer about what you’re really worth is in your spirit. It’s in your attitude. It’s what you believe about you. And all of that is a choice. So stop sitting around choosing to drag yourself down when you can just as easily choose to pull yourself up? Hmmmmm? That’s maybe a better question. 

 

               Comment below or Hal@BusinessWorks.US Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless You! Make it a GREAT Day! 

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Nov 12 2009

GET YOUR BUSINESS SELF TOGETHER!

Listen To Yo Mama!

                                                                                                             

     Remember those stern warnings  you used to get, but don’t anymore because now you’re a hot-shot business owner or manager and you don’t need anybody telling you what to do anymore?

     Remember being told  to “Listen To Yo Mama!” and you would study your feet and mumble some feeble “Yes’am” or “Yessir” then back out the kitchen door with your tail between your legs because you knew in your heart that Mama was right? Remember?

     And nobody dares tell you that stuff now, now  that you’re the boss? Ah, but bear with me here. Just read a little more. Why? Because you don’t sign my paycheck, so I can tell you what I think straightout! Here it is. Ready?

     If you don’t take care of you,  you can’t be any good to anyone else . . . and you certainly aren’t going to make your business work from a hospital bed! (Sound like Mama?) Well, my dear blog visiting business-minded muckity-muck, just because nobody is on your case about if and when and how you take care of your SELF, doesn’t excuse you from stepping up to the plate!

     Yeah, yeah, yeah,  you say. But you know what? If you don’t eat right, nobody else will do it for you. If you don’t sleep right, nobody else will do it for you. If you don’t exercise enough, nobody else will do it for you. If you don’t quit smoking and drink in moderation, nobody else will do it for you. If you don’t switch from drugs to vitamins, nobody else will do it for you.

     Oh, and of course, if you don’t take enough deep breaths: http://bit.ly/Bb1Tw . . . well, there are machines that can help. The bottom line is that when you are not taking care of you, you are not taking care of your business, and the whole enchilada is YOUR CHOICE!

     We CHOOSE our behavior.  Okay, so why on Earth would you choose to want to continue with self-destruct behaviors that will kill you AND your business (as MY mother used to put it) in two shakes of a lamb’s tail (and THAT’s pretty quick!) when you have SO much opportunity ahead of you?

     Do us a favor, okay?  When you wake up tomorrow morning, clap your hands together twice as Zig Ziglar suggests, and say (with as much enthusiasm as you can):

OH BOY! WHAT A GREAT DAY TO GET UP AND GET TO IT. I BELIEVE SOMETHING WONDERFUL IS GOING TO HAPPEN TO ME TODAY!”

     Then keep choosing  to take care of your SELF all day because you’ll be choosing to get both your business self and your business together like you’ve never been together before. Go on, do it! Just do it for three days in a row. You might surprise yourself . . . and maybe even jumpstart your sales! (and this advice is not only proven; it’s cheaper than a lottery ticket!)     

# # #               

Input always welcome Hal@TheWriterWorks.com “Blog” in subject line or comment below. Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless You! Make it a GREAT Day! Hal

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Oct 08 2009

“STORYSELLING”©

Shoppers Abandon Recitations,

                                                 

Prefer A Good “Benefits” Story!                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     

      If you “Tweet” on Twitter,  you’re already an expert at headlines and titles. If you’ve read my recent blog post on “I” “Me” “My”  then you’re well on your way to mastering the structure of storytelling for sales (or as I call it, “Storyselling”).

     Actually,  a good storyseller© can sell virtually anything at anytime to anybody under almost any circumstances. You’ve heard about being able to sell ice cubes to Eskimos and being able to sell the stuff that bears do in the woods, on a shingle? Well there you are! Storyselling.     

     The ancient song  from my parents’ days, “Accentuate the positive; eliminate the negative” gives us a key corner-piece of the jigsaw puzzle. Focus your storyselling on the benefits to be derived (instead of the features, which serve only to justify the purchase that is based on benefits and triggered by an emotion).

     Tell a story  that engages the imagination and triggers a dominant emotion. That’s it! Bingo! S~A~L~E~! It doesn’t matter if what you’re selling is alive or dead, big or small, hot or cold, heavy or light, costs ten cents or ten million dollars. The purchase decision will be made emotionally and justified rationally.

     That means sell the benefits,  not the features.

                                                              

That means your story needs to zero in on answering the customer’s question: “What’s in it for me?” That means your story needs to entertain and educate/ inform… but be brief and to the point (like the 140-character Tweets). 

     Your story needs to paint a picture!  Listen to your kids; they know how to do it. Why? Because they’re uninhibited. You can be too, you know. It just takes a little practice. Tell stories. Tell stories. Tell stories. SHORT stories. (Save the full-length novels for your friends!)

     Still doubtful, eh?  Well, just ask yourself when was the last time YOU purchased ANYthing because someone pushed the features at you? When was the last time you bought ANYthing that didn’t come with SOME kind of story attached? Be honest here, and think hard.

     So, you want to pump up  your sales skills, practice writing 140-character Twitter “Tweets” and practice telling stories. Yes, good-taste jokes are a fine example of a great way to practice STORYSELLING. Name one great salesperson — from Paul Harvey to Zig Ziglar — who ever lived, who couldn’t make you crack a smile. There are none.

     Oh, and Storysellers  who smile while they storysell, sell more. So ;<)’s aren’t a bad idea either! 

# # # 

Hal@TheWriterWorks.com  or comment below.

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless You!

Make today a GREAT Day for someone!

 

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Mar 12 2009

OPEN FOR LUNCHTIME VISITORS!

Not much between SOME ears!

                                                                                          

     Motivational guru Zig Ziglar says business problems are not “out there” but that they are only between your two ears! Trouble is SOME folks don’t have enough going on at that second location to even know when they are creating their own problems.

     I saw four (4!!!!) “OUT TO LUNCH” signs this past week, and two (2!!) “OFFICE CLOSED FOR LUNCH. RETURN AT 1PM” signs. I really hope someone is driving around ahead of me and quickly putting these signs up just before I get there as a joke, because if not, I’m troubled by what they represent.

     First of all, if you have one of these signs (or anything that even remotely resembles the messages noted), THROW THEM AWAY. NOW! They are costing you business!

     We are in a tough economic period and that requires — more than ever– to be catering to customers, clients and patients (2 of the 6 signs mentioned above were seen at doctors’ offices; 1 was at a veterInarian hospital if you can believe it). What makes me so crazy about this?

     OUT TO LUNCH signs are advertisements that the business or professional practice displaying them simply doesn’t care about their customers or clients or patients. Signs like this say to someone who may only be able to get to your store, office, or worksite at lunchtime, that you have no regard for that person’s time, and that you really don’t care if that person hops on down the road to see your competitor!

     A bit over the top? Nope! In the past three years, and without making any effort because the field of vision was aligned with my windows, I watched a minimum of a hundred people drive up to a CLOSED FOR LUNCH signed sales office, run by a nationally prominent neighboring real estate developer, and drive away shaking their heads.

     The company just went bankrupt. Was this the only reason? No, but the attitude it represented was!

     If you’re a one-man or one-woman band business and you need to be away from your business or practice location for lunch or meetings or whatever, AT LEAST post a phone number where you can be reached in emergency or where someone can schedule an appointment. And AT LEAST make the sign a little friendlier looking and sounding than NO TRESPASSING and KEEP OFF THE GRASS.

[The bankrupted developer, by the way, had a phone message machine answer saying that the sales office was closed for lunch, with no accommodation for messages. And of course, adding insult to injury, the “take-one” information box was always empty!]

     How about:WE’RE OPEN FOR LUNCHTIME VISITORS” as a radical departure that might actually help increase business at a time when customers, clients, and patients are being much more selective with both their available time and the user-friendliness of businesses and professional practices they choose?                

God Bless You and Good Night!  halalpiar     

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Mar 10 2009

COST-CUTTING DOESN”T MAKE SALES

Specialists in the men’s room

                                        

at the wedding . . .

                                                                        

Sorry to bother you here, like this, Doc, you know, in this men’s room at a wedding reception, but, you know, I’ve got like this terrible pain in my right heel whenever I’ve been running around, and earlier today I . . .”

     “Ah, yes, well you DO know that I’m a doctor of psychology?, so I’m afraid there’s not much I could help you out with about your foot . . .”

     “My heel.”

     “Yes, of course, your heel. The point is you should probably see a podiatrist or orthopedic surgeon or physical therapist or chiropractor or acupuncturist or something. I’m not your man.”

     “But you’re a doctor so you know somethin’ about it, right? I mean you know more than my plumber, right?”

     “Actually? Your plumber probably knows more. I assume you’re talking about Joe, over by the corner of the bar? He offered to give me a discount RotoRooter job, and I heard him recommending duct tape to someone at the champagne toast.”

     “Really! Maybe it was my cousin for her husband’s mouth . . . er, the duct tape, not the champagne, HA, HA!”

     “Say, aren’t you the electrician in the family?”

     “Yeah, Doc, why?”

     “Well, I have this wiring problem with my electromyography unit that maybe you . . .”

     “Whoa, Doc. Wait a minute. I’m an electrician, not some rocket scientist. You need a specialist for working on equipment like that.”

     “Uhuh.”

     Are you using a moonlighting English teacher to write your business blog because she only charges you $25 per posting? Did you put a down and out recycled real estate salesman into a sales manager position because he came cheap and was willing to accept minimal commission splits?

     How many people have you hired during this economic downturn because the main asset they brought to the job was one of minimal impact on your wallet? Guess what? If you’re even thinking about the answer to this question for more than 1/100 of a second, you are in big trouble!

     Bad economic times, says motivational guru Zig Ziglar, take place not out there, but between your own ears!

YOU CANNOT MAKE MONEY BY CUTTING CORNERS! 

THE ONLY THING THAT MAKES MONEY IS SALES.

     Cut all the expenses you can and you won’t have earned a single dollar. In fact, you will have lost even more money because your mindset will have turned negative by focusing on saving instead of selling.

     When you’re worried about turning off the store lights at night, you are missing the opportunities to make sales impressions on those who pass, even though you may not be open.

     Stop thinking the solution to poor sales is to hire inadequate or incompetent people just because they’re cheap. They will cost you more in the end. What is it your granddaddy used to say about work smarter, not harder?  halalpiar  

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Mar 05 2009

From “being in sales” to being GREAT in sales!

“Sales is a game of confidence,

                                                    

skill, and will. The best sales

                                                                                                                 

people I know have a huge ego. 

                                                                                                                          

Those who are great, have

                                              

learned to control it.”

— DOYLE SLAYTON

            When you hear an industry leader speak, you listen because that person already got to where you want to go and there’s a chance you’ll learn something, right?

  SO PAY ATTENTION HERE . . .

“If you,” says Sales Industry Leader Doyle Slayton (originator of the headline for this post), “can control your ego, you are on your way to greatness in sales!”

Great! says you, so how do I do that?

     First, you accept the truth. You look in the mirror and acknowledge that your head is bigger than it looks! Next you take some deep breaths [Click “ARE YOU BREATHING? to check out your breathing. This 60-second 4-step technique has been called “the most important link in my life” by thousands of the world’s top salespeople!]

     Now, if you really did what the last paragraph suggested, and you actually “get it” and put it into daily practice, you probably don’t need to go any further because it can solve your big head problem all by itself! On the other hand, you might find that your big head is creating resistance. I mean we all like to grow, but who likes to shrink, right? So a couple more points may be in order . . .

     First and foremost, you may have heard others suggest politely to you what I am about to toss on your table: SHUT YOUR MOUTH! Not only do you not know it all, but, guess what? Your prospect doesn’t care. If you are not listening 80% of the time and talking 20%, you are not making the sales you deserve to make, and you’ll never be a sales professional.

     World renown sales guru Zig Ziglar www.ziglar.com tells us to “sell solutions” not products and services. How can you know what constitutes a “solution” to a prospect if you don’t shut up long enough to hear what the prospect thinks the problem is in the first place? Zig always said: “We’re not selling if we’re not talking (when we finally do talk after listening 80% of the time) with a major focus on value, advantages and benefits.”

     Well, that makes sense, doesn’t it? All customers (including each of us) are tuned to the WIIFM radio station: What’s In It For Me?

     If you’re not spending your energy to uncover what the prospect wants (instead of trying to impress the individual or group with how great you are) and to help the prospect understand clearly what the value, advantages and benefits are (instead of what you think he or she or they should think), you’re wasting your time.

     Every time a customer or prospect tells you a story doesn’t mean she/he wants to hear another story that you are reminded of. It means that the individual has started to relate to you as a person enough to share some incident.

     Take it as a compliment, listen even more attentively, keep your mouth shut about your great related experience, and instead shift the focus back to values, advantages and benefits. Don’t fast-talk and don’t wing it. Keep the size of your head in mind. Keep your mind here and now. Breathe. Sell.

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Make today a GREAT day for someone!

“The price of freedom is eternal vigilance!”    [Thomas Jefferson]

Hal@Businessworks.US         931.854.0474

Guidance to 500+ Successful Business Startups

Creating Record-Sales for Clients Since 1981!

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Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals and God bless you!

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