Not all salespeople

are leaders,

but all leaders

are salespeople!

     Psychologists tell us it’s a pretty safe bet that a sale is made or broken in the first 10 seconds. The first make-or-break second of the first 10 seconds is the impression made by your smile… ü

     So maybe it’s a good time to run to the mirror and evaluate. Is yours: Genuine? Fake? Masking upset? Token? Mocking? Ambivalent? A slight grin? A mouthful of teeth and gums? A lecherous drool?

     You needn’t be a toothpaste commercial, shooting forth little light beams every time you open your mouth anymore than your handshakes need to break bones. Let authenticity be your guide. 

     Do you ever find yourself thinking that you can put one over on someone because you’re on the telephone? After all, the other person can’t see your face so you can scowl all you want, chew gum, eat pretzels, rattle ice cubes, clack your teeth, pick your nose, or tap on your keyboard . . . and “who knew?”

     Ah, but surely you can hear me if I do those things to youon the phone; why would you imagine others can’t pick up dumb and disgusting noises or subconscious vocal (er, ah, uh, um, duh, uh-huh, ahem, awk!) signals from you?

     Can we hear each other smiling?Of course. We can also hear a ton of other emotions when the importance of the call warrants careful attention, and probably half a ton even when the call’s a casual one. How many times have you spoken with a total stranger and known immediately that the person has a cold, or is upset, or preoccupied, or in a hurry? How about when it’s someone you know well?

     We listen with “selective perception.” Like the artist walking into a crowded party focused on where the host hung her artwork, or the alcoholic who nods and smiles his way along the shortest straight line route to the bar, or the recently downsized administrator searching out prospective employer-types to impress. The same selective perception. We perceive what we want to perceive and we pick out or select the words and tone of voice and attitude we want to hear.

     In fact, depending on who’s on the other end, we may “work the room” so to speak in an effort to prompt those desired words and tone and attitude. A little light humor can do the job. Sometimes a sob or two. Can you tell when someone is trying these ploys? Manipulation is not authenticity. 

     Successful leaders use selective perception too, but they don’t limit input when it serves a purpose; in fact, they encourage it. There’s a song from the ’70s by the group, “YES,” that I’ve always liked with the line, “Don’t surround yourself with your self!”

     Unprofessional salespeople who lack vision tend to do this. Being too caught up with or full of themselves loses sales. Weak, dillusional leaders often do it to mask their insecurities until discovery unravels the truth of their missions.

     If you are a good leader, you are selling constantly because it’s your job to motivate others to want to achieve what you need them to do using strategic approaches that they contribute to. If you’re a good salesperson, you recognize the importance of providing effective leadership for your customers and the communities you serve.

     And –VOILA!– it all starts with a real, smile-like-you-mean-it smile… ü    

Hal@BusinessWorks.US 

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

Make today a GREAT day for someone! 

SKIM, MEMORIZE, CHEW,

DIGEST, OR JUST DELETE ~~~ 

Here’s a short list of what I think were some of my best blog blurts for 2008.  If something strikes you and you want the whole story, just go to Archives in far right column and click on the month, scroll (and if the dates not showing, just click on next at bottom of the page)!

Anyway, here’s a compilation of hot headings . . . stuff that makes you think about where you are and where you’re going which, on the cusp of a brand new year, is probably a good thing for all of us.  A few more tomorrow.  But for now: 

1) Think and

2) Laugh and

3) Have a great (and safe!) New Year’s Eve!   halalpiar

“The difference between the almost right word and the right word is really a large matter — ’tis the difference between the lightning-bug and the lightning.”  Mark Twain  5/1/08

“The solution to any group or organization problem lies within the group or organization that has the problem…No one knows you better than you…Knowledge is strength”  5/2/08

“Write a billboard–7 words or less with a beginning, middle and end, and be persuasive–that encapsulates what you want to express before you express it in a letter, business plan, print or broadcast advertisement, sales pitch, speech, short story, editorial, script, sermon, novel, poem, email, chapter…”  5/6/08

“If everyone in your company knew how to deal effectively with customers, you wouldn’t need any customer service reps!”  5/18.08

“A sale is made or broken in the first 10 seconds, and there is no such thing as a second first impression.”  6/1/08

“OPEN MINDS OPEN DOORS!”  6/4/08

“If you think your head is worth $24.95, buy a $24.95 helmet!”  7/8/08

“Life is more like baseball than any other sport!”  7/11/08

“Do you have all your marbles but can’t find the playground?”  8/6/08

“You ARE your attitude!”  8/15/08

“Your every action, your every thought, is your CHOICE!”  8/19/08

“We do best what we most enjoy!”  9/7/08

“Besides that they suck, meetings waste time; hold your next meeting STANDING!” 9/16/08

“Hustle your muscle — SOME action beats no action!”  9/24/08

“People need to be rewarded and motivated at the level of what’s important to them at the time.”  10/5/08

“The sooner you accept the ugly fact that you have to be a salesperson, doctor, the healthier your practice will be!”  10/10/08

“You have a stableful of race horses that act like they came from wagon-train school?”  10/13/08

“I’m tellin’ you, ball, next pitch . . . you gotta be a strike!”  10/20/08

“Just go to the basement and make more money!”  10/24/08

“Change the way you look at things, and the things you look at change.”  Dr. Wayne Dyer 10/29/08

“Take two talkwalks, get a good sleep, and call me in the morning!”  11/8/08

“Where laughter fails to heal, it never fails to ease the pain.”  11/13/08

“Sleeping With The Boss?”  (Family Business Ups & Downs)  11/22/08

“What one thing could you be doing better?”  12/1/08

“I coont efen spel untreeprenewer, an’ now I are one!”  12/6/08

“EVERY purchase decision is emotionally-triggered!”  12/12/08

“Is what you’re doing right this very minute taking you to where you want to go?”  12/27/08 

… and thank you, worldclass #1 novelist Dean Koontz for being such an authentic, inspiring, and upstanding human being! 

# # #

Check out and contribute to the daily growing 7-Word Story started 111 days ago (inside a coffin).  Click on the link to the right, or go to the “BOOKS” tab at the top of this page, then to the top headline link.