Friday, August 19, 2016
LEADERSHIP - CHANGE IS THE ONLY CONSTANT
You can always rely on change
Evolving technology and our need for speed and convenience have always motivated entrepreneurs, scientists, inventors, and large companies to scramble to develop the next big gadget.
To capture the opportunities that an ever-changing marketplace offers, leaders need to think in new ways.
In his book, Third Thoughts, professional speaker and author Jim Cathcart asserts that your thinking expands your ability to capture the power of change. In a nutshell, tomorrow is created by today’s thoughts and belief systems.
Similarly, in his book, If It Ain’t Broke, Break It, Robert Kriegel calls for a complete overhaul of our traditional thought processes. He advocates that you fix things before the environment mandates that they be fixed.
LIFE IS A PROCESS
Change is a constant in life; therefore, there are no destinations, only journeys. You cannot stand still. Life itself is motion; you are either moving forward and growing or you are falling behind. To fully grasp the concepts in this article, it is important that you recognize and accept this. In fact, welcome change with open arms.
The world is changing rapidly. As Kriegel points out, “ The rules are no sooner established than they become obsolete.”
In this rapidly changing world, there is not a lot of time to figure out the new rules every time they change. That is where innovation and creativity come into play. Change and growth can either be designed by you or thrust upon you.
The time to change is when there is little pressure to do so. That is how you make change proactive rather than reactive. That is how you stay ahead of the competition.
SELF-DIRECTED CHANGE
Imagine a curve indicating growth. The upward sweep of the curve depicts a time when you are learning and improving your skills. At some point your growth peaks and you reach a plateau. If you were to remain stagnant in your professional development, you would follow the downward trend of the growth curve, going into a decline. The decline might represent decreased market share, income, enthusiasm, and momentum. If however, you anticipate change and implement it early, the plateau is brief and followed by another upward swing of the growth curve.
This is self-directed change. The growth continues until you reach the next plateau. After some time on that plateau, you improve your skills or change your techniques and grow more until the next plateau. One growth curve leads to the next. The lags in growth or plateaus are periods of investment of time and energy before the effort pays off.
There is nothing wrong with plateaus; everyone has them. It is virtually impossible to be growing constantly. The important feature of the self-directed growth curve is that, on average, it continues up over time.
On the other hand, environmentally-directed change is change that is imposed by external factors rather than being initiated by the individual. A person who operates with this M.O. will grow and reach a plateau, but instead of a short lag before further growth, there will be a fear of change. This fear will prevent the investment of time and energy and will prolong the plateau.
The plateau would become a downward trend until the person recognized the need for change. When you change too late, you lose market share and forward momentum. By playing catch-up, you will create a new growth curve, but rarely will you make up what you have lost by not changing early in the game. Your “ lag” is much larger, and costly.
YOU ACHIEVE WHAT YOU BELIEVE
Beliefs play a major role in your ability and willingness to change and achieve. Beliefs are the foundations for possibilities; possibilities lead to actions and actions create results, which foster new beliefs. All success has its roots in change and, as such, is a significant self-esteem booster.
FUEL YOUR PASSION
To capitalize on change you must have a fire in your heart and a sense of passion that propels you forward when others freeze. Selling skills, product knowledge, persistence, drive, education, and goals are some of the many sources of fuel for your fire. You must also be flexible.
Change will be thrust upon you regardless of your acceptance of it, so you might as well accept it and capitalize on it. If you are not adaptable, you will soon lose the race.
The drive for success does not happen by spontaneous combustion. You must spark the fire within you.
There is a need for leaders to adopt new thinking. While everyone else is swimming with the current, the leader of the 21st century swims against it. You have to blaze your own trail. That means initiating new ideas, devising new strategies and casting a creative eye toward everything you do. You will make great strides by developing an enlightened, independent attitude.
When you are on a roll, conventional wisdom dictates that you “ leave well enough alone.” “ If it ain’t broke,” the wise conformists would advise, “ don’t fix it.” Be a nonconformist because when “ it” breaks, it will be too late to fix it.
YOU MUST MESS WITH SUCCESS
The message is clear. You must continually plan ahead and position yourself for the future. Just as products have life cycles — including maturation and extinction — so do services.
Leaders become expendable commodities unless they continually find new ways to differentiate themselves from other people vying for leadership positions.
All the best with your business leadership!
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by effectivecommunication.com.au
SALES SKILLS... DO YOU HAVE A CEO MINDSET?
It makes no difference where you are in your sales career, whether you’re a sales manager, a sales broker, or a sales rep. The million-dollar question applies to everyone in the sales profession.
The fact is, you will not reach your potential as a sales professional until you answer the question, and answer it correctly.
"Am I a salesperson in business, or am I a business owner in sales?"
Having coached thousands of sales professionals to greater levels of success, we at EC have witnessed that in almost every circumstance, the first business breakthrough occurred when the salesperson adopted something called a “CEO mind-set,”.
This is the point at which one begins to see herself or himself as a business owner rather than a mere salesperson in business. It’s that simple change in thinking that becomes the catalyst for each salesperson’s climb toward greater success. And that simple change in thinking can jump-start your sales career as well.
Adopting a CEO mind-set begins when you stop thinking of yourself as an employee with a job and start thinking of yourself as an owner of a business with a compelling vision to help people. Consider how your thinking has affected your investments in your sales career to this point. When it comes to your sales job…
Do you only spend money on the things that your employer will allow you to expense? A business owner would invest whatever is necessary to allow the business to thrive, even if that means using his or her own cash.
Do you simply stay busy so the time passes more quickly each day? A business owner utilizes every minute of the workday because wasted time equals wasted money and wasted opportunities.
Are you more concerned with your effort or your effectiveness? A business owner measures effectiveness first — sprinting on a treadmill gets one nowhere.
Are you more concerned with the quantity or the quality of your sales? A business owner focuses on quality, knowing that trust established with clients multiplies quantity of sales.
Are you more concerned with your activity or your results? A business owner measures results on a regular basis to determine what activities are and are not working.
Are you more concerned with earning a potential client’s cash or confidence?
A business owner knows that without trust she will never realize the full monetary value of a client, and therefore is willing to trade commission for constancy if necessary.
Would you say you’ve been thinking more like an employee or a CEO?
The defining characteristic of a CEO mind-set is thinking like an owner. It is taking responsibility for your own growth and the growth of your business. It’s understanding that what you do as a salesperson is operate a business that provides products and services, and to do that well and with integrity increases the likelihood of your success and stability. It’s knowing that you must have a business plan to succeed. It’s knowing that you must have accountability, a “board of directors,” to help you consistently make wise decisions that will grow your business.
Simply put, it’s acknowledging that you alone are the largest shareholder in your business, then beginning to act like it’s so.
Thomas Dreier once said, “The life each of us lives is the life within the limits of our own thinking.” And that is certainly true in your sales career. In fact, the successful salesperson knows that to elevate his career, to establish the lasting trust of his clients, he must first expand the limits of his thinking.
A Contrast in Thinking
There’s an obvious disparity between salespeople who’ve adopted a CEO mind-set and those who assume the mind-set of the majority. Here are several examples of how this contrast in thinking plays out every day in the world of sales:
Salesperson Thinking
- Pays only for what can be reimbursed
- Calls on anybody
- Reacts to interruptions
- Keeps safe clients
- Is busy and action oriented
- Puts quantity before quality
- Puts profits before people
- Puts revenue before reputation
- Builds business ahead of capacity
- Prioritizes schedules
- Is short-term oriented
- Relies on quick turnaround
- Succeeds by accident
CEO Thinking
- Invests money to make money
- Calls on the right body
- Makes sure interruptions don’t occur
- Terminates unprofitable relationships
- Is productive and results focused
- Knows quality creates more quantity
- Puts people before profits
- Puts reputation before revenue
- Builds capacity ahead of business
- Schedules priorities
- Is long-term oriented
- Relies on clients’ trust
- Succeeds by design
Thinking like a CEO is the first key to becoming a highly successful salesperson. You see, the future of your sales career begins not in your hands or your feet, but in your mind.
In other words, how you think as a sales professional will determine how you act as a sales professional. Successful thinking precedes successful selling. And until you begin to think like a successful business owner you won’t consistently make decisions or take actions that maximize your sales business.
Look at it this way: Until you can think for yourself, customers won’t trust what you’re thinking. And in sales, trust is everything.
All the best when selling!
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by effectivecommunication.com.au
PRESENTATION SKILLS... DO NOT SAY TOO MUCH
One of the keys to effective public speaking is knowing when to stop. And, this does not only mean at the end of your presentation.
Stopping within your presentation is also important. Your story can be too long or contain too much unnecessary information. You may take too long to answer a question; you may spend too much time explaining a visual aid.
The general principle for all of these speaking elements is to stop when audience interest is at its peak.
When telling a story, you must have a sense of direction. Never take too long to describe a scene and don’t take too long to get to the point of the story. The story has to be exceptional to take more than two minutes of speaking time. When you get to the point of the story—stop! Don’t explain and review the story after the punch line; this is the time to move on. Let the point of the story be what you leave the audience to think about. If you feel a need to explain the story, you probably have not done a good job of telling the story in the first place.
If you are telling a funny story, and the audience does not respond as you expected, do not explain what you think they may have missed. Just move on to your next point.
Answer a question as concisely as possible. Your goal should be thirty seconds or less. The only person really interested in knowing the answer is probably the person who asked the question; the rest of the audience might get bored quickly with information that is unimportant to them.
In addition, if you take too long to give your answer the audience will lose interest. If you start summarizing and repeating parts of your answer, you have gone too long. If you can answer a question in one sentence or with one word, do so. That will insure that you have finished at the height of audience interest.
In providing statistical evidence, stop with the most significant statistic and divide statistics into threes if you have several to give. That is all the audience can assimilate at one time. Providing information in threes is a pattern that audiences respond to with good attention.
There certainly is a point about knowing when to stop at the end of the presentation as well. Know before you begin how much time you have to speak and then plan to stop a couple of minutes before time is up.
Our culture is very time-conscious and a speaker will be perceived as more effective if he or she does not exceed the time limit.
The point of speaking is not just to share information with an audience; it is also to know when to stop sharing.
Leave the audience wanting to hear more.
You know you have succeeded when you hear departing audience members saying, “Time went so fast; I could have listened for another hour!”
All the best with your business communications!
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10 DAILY HABITS OF LEADERS
A leader is one who helps others see and achieve outcomes others didn’t think were possible.
In order for a leader to do that, they have to be at the top of their game each day.
Below are 10 daily habits leaders must demonstrate to be successful:
1. Learn something new each day, whether it be from another leader, a client, a peer, a downline, a provider or from life in general.
2. Know your time is your most valuable asset, so value it by not wasting it.
3. Build up other people with whom you come in contact, regardless of who they are or where they’re at.
Know the best way to become more successful is to help others become more successful.
4. Remain focused and disciplined on your objectives, all in an effort to achieve outcomes, not just complete tasks.
5. Take care of yourself including body and mind. Never forget the value of good health.
6. View everyone you meet as an opportunity to help open the door to a new opportunity.
Leaders view developing new business not as an after thought, but as the main thought.
7. Maintain the same demeanour, even when nobody is watching. What you do is not something you turn on and turn off; it’s the consistency in how you act that allows you to be so successful.
8. Do everything with integrity, never forgetting how much character counts. This is the biggest thing that separates a real leader from everyone else.
9. Help others be more successful. In the end, if others you lead aren’t more successful, there is no way you will be more successful.
10. View every challenge or problem as an opportunity, which drives your motivation and passion for success.
All the best with your leadership!
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IDEAS EVERY SALES PERSON SHOULD KNOW
Having trained tens of thousands of people in business during the past fifteen years across different nations and cultures, our goal at EffectiveCommunication.com.au (EC) is to help accelerate people's sales traction from where they are, to where they want to be!
Too many people learn sales lessons the hard way therefore, EC helps people circumnavigate the “hard way” learning curve.
The following offers some ideas that every sales professional should know, understand and apply:
1. You can learn sales
Primarily many people learn sales by observing what the best performers in their office do. Yet, typically positive sales performers constantly learn by reading books, going to training seminars and investing in their professional education.
Agreed, the best sales people have a natural pre-disposition (including the enthusiasm to learn) but any person can learn to better inform, influence and persuade others.
2. People make decisions for their reasons not yours
If you think people buy because of your sales presentation, you are on another planet
People buy because of their own selfish, personal reasons and motivations not yours. The day you work this out, you become a much better sales person immediately.
3. Talking someone into doing something that they don’t want to do is a bad idea
People that say, “I can talk anyone into buying anything” are fooling themselves and doing the world a disservice.
The main reason for this is there are some clients that you simply don’t want. Knowing when to back off and say no to clients will save your sanity and save you much frustration and grief with clients that didn't want to be there in the first place.
4. You need to natural and relaxed
You need to be cool
Having worked across dozens of industries, it's clear that those who are natural, relaxed and non-intimidating seem to sell more. When a sales person is too over the top or pushy or un-cool, clients simply will typically not buy from them.
No one talks about the "cool factor" in selling and they need to because it’s important. If you are cool and you treat people well, they will buy more from you and more often.
5. Humans have a highly tuned detector therefore, hyped up sales tactics just don't work
If you try to use hyper, cliche’d, verbatim, swag type sales tactics and language with potential clients, they will not think highly of you. And, will rarely buy from you - full stop!
In fact, If you are using a sales framework that does not sound like you because you sound and act more like the another hyper sales personality clone, people will see straight through it. You need to be congruent, genuine and sincere with what ever approach you use or you are going to struggle.
Potential clients will always detect the fake verses genuine you!
6. Momentum begets momentum
The more correct sales skills you apply, the more you will want to do so. And, the more you sell, the more you will be more likely to sell.
The secret is to get going on the correct path and do not stop
7. How to get yourself out of a rut
Call five past clients who think the sun shines out of your butt. Don't try to sell anything, simply call to catch up and ask about their worlds.
After the 5th call you will be ready for action again
8. There is a massive dichotomy when it comes to “closing"
Businesses often think their sales teams have a problem with closing. The dichotomy with closing is that it is important, but it won’t happen if you aren’t good at 'Opening'.
'Opening' means you qualified by uncovering opportunity to begin with. This starts from the very microsecond you meet a prospective client.
9. Some people don’t make decisions
They just won’t. Don’t let it drive you insane because it’s not about you it’s about them
10. People won’t move from where they are until they are uncomfortable to do so
Doesn’t matter what you sell, unless you can create a conversational environment where you expose the commercial discomfort or pain of what they already have, they simply won’t move towards buying from you, or anyone else.
11. Never think you know it all
Sales realities are constantly changing. Yesterday’s "super script" is today’s cliche - people are learning sales both buyer and seller.
You need to stay unique to survive. Get caught using the "Benjamin Franklin” close in today’s sales world and you can kiss that sale and that customer goodbye.
12. Mindset is everything
However you get mindset nailed, you can’t ignore it. It leeks out of you in everything you say, everything you write and in every neutron of your energy. You need certainty about what you sell, your company and most importantly you!
13. Technology is great but don’t become too reliant on it
As soon as you hang your hat entirely on one lead generation source you become vulnerable to it’s possible demise. Using a diverse rage of lead generation will make you and your sales efforts way less vulnerable to the bell curve of popular media.
All the best when selling!
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by effectivecommunication.com.au
DO YOU HAVE EXECUTIVE PRESENCE
Many people in business need to work on Executive Presence. However, they are swamped, doing the job of two or three people plus attend one meeting after another etc.
In theory, most people agree it would be great to develop Executive Presence, but yet, they don't really know what they should do differently.
The reality is, if people don't develop strong Executive Presence, their business will suffer both now and in the future!
Why does Executive Presence matter?
How you deliver your message affects whether or not people listen and take you seriously. It impacts people's perception of you, your company and its products or services.
Amy Cuddy, in her book, 'Presence' notes, "When you have presence, it signals authenticity, believability, genuineness, and trustworthiness, all critical elements for a leader, for anyone hoping to rise up the corporate ladder".
The question you must ask yourself is... "Can I afford not to address how I convey my message including my Executive Presence?"
What Presence is
Amy Cuddy notes, "Presence is hard to define. People can describe the lack of it but can't easily put words to what it is".
Amy describes presence in a number of ways:
- Believing and revealing the abilities you truly have
- Confidence without arrogance
- Passion without being over-the-top
- Ability to relate on a personal level
- It's not about trying to impress
The more you are yourself, the more your ideas will be heard
Executive Presence behaviours
- Stand or sit up straight. Don't rock or shift from one foot to the other
- Look people directly in the eye with sustained eye contact
- Complete thoughts or sentences with each person
- Don't scan the room and assume audiences are connecting
- Show how you feel
- Speak with a strong voice, not one that is a monotone
- Do not rush through arguments. Instead, allow time for ideas to sink in
- Gesture and move to make a point
- Don't curtail energy. Instead, work at letting it out purposefully
How you improve presence
Most of us in business have important messages to deliver to important people. This can cause anyone to feel anxious. It is easy for people to feel they aren't confident enough. As a result, they just try to get through it.
Many people present by talking quickly and reading from slides or notes. Their nervousness shows through strange mannerisms or tics.
Amy Cuddy notes, "You can trick your body into feeling confident by doing certain actions. You can fake it until you make it. In essence, your body can influence your brain and behaviour".
To get to the point where you aren't faking, you have to practice until Executive Presence delivery skills are part of your muscle memory. By isolating the skills of eye contact, posture, gestures, movement, vocal and facial animation and practicing them one at a time, they will begin to feel natural. Your body will automatically do them. You will let out energy appropriately.
Sometimes, we only get one chance to make a positive impression. Obviously, we want Decision Makers to feel we are the right one to handle the job, the perfect person to put in charge. Displaying confidence, showing conviction and connecting on a personal note will make others conclude we deserve the right to be there. Others will see us as having Executive Presence!
All the best with your business communications!
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ONE YEAR SALARY EARNED IN JUST ONE MONTH
How long have you been waiting for sales results?
A month? A year? Three years? More?
If your sales are stuck, there is a fundamental idea you should grasp. Your sales are not in a rut. You are in a rut. Therefore, you need a paradigm shift.
Matthew was new to the mortgage sales business after working many years in hospitality. He was trying to help real estate agents get their buyers financing for homes. Matthew was stuck in a rut.
When Matthew was pushed to “get naked,” to be vulnerable and authentic he shared what he thought was keeping him stuck.
“I’m afraid to call on really big clients because I don’t have a nice suit,” he said. “I want to get a custom suit made, but I need to lose 15 pounds first. I don’t want to order my suit until I slim down.”
What was so important about a custom made suit? “I would feel better about myself,” Matthew said. “I’d make sales calls with more confidence and call on bigger and better prospects.”
When asked how long he had been waiting to lose just 15 pounds plus buy the new suit, Matthew said, “Two years.”
For two years, Matthew had been trying hard to sell yet experienced minimal results. He had been delaying his own success.
Matthew's fundamental belief that a suit would make all the difference—and that the suit was impossible without the weight loss—was keeping him stuck.
Matthew had it backwards. Imagine that he’d bought that custom made suit two years earlier. What would have happened? He would have felt better about himself and, with that increased confidence, made better sales calls on bigger prospects. His improved self-image would have led to weight loss, and he could have bought a second or third suit!
When this thinking was laid out for Matthew, a switch flipped inside him that changed his life forever. He experienced a paradigm shift!!!
On Monday morning, Matthew immediately began calling on big prospects. He then called a tailor and ordered a custom suit. Matthew lost 15 pounds, and by the time the custom suit arrived he had increased his income to $20,000 a month, an increase of 400% in 120 days.
Matthew thought the suit would have some magical power that would help him close more sales, but like Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, he really had the power all along.
The fear that he wasn’t enough all by himself vanished, and he decided to stop waiting for his results.
How many times in life are we our own worst enemies? We give our power away to a certain object we don’t know if we’ll ever obtain or to some future event beyond our control. Within each of us is a Matthew. We all have a gear we haven’t activated that has the ability to propel our success to a different galaxy!!!
Whatever your business and whatever you sell, whatever opportunities exist in your genre, if you make three decisions, you will get the same kind of results that Matthew did.
Decision # 1: Define Your Belief
Most salespeople need a shift in their belief paradigm. Don’t be afraid of the gap between your goals and your reality. You do, however, need to define that gap. Here are the two questions that Matthew was asked that really got him thinking about what he believed:
“What are you doing with your one and only life?”
Nothing changes until you do something differently. Where do you need a small or large victory that will help you achieve a paradigm shift?
For Matthew, it was calling on the bigger prospects without his new suit. Once you identify your difference maker, commit to preparing and executing on that goal as soon as possible.
Ask yourself, “By when?”
When you pick a date, you will have the discipline to drive to your destiny. After his initial success, Matthew assigned a “by when” to each of his goals. Then he developed daily non-negotiable actions that brought him closer to that goal. If you orient your actions around your “Goal Dates,” you will have real power.
Decision # 2: Focus on What’s Important
Accelerating your sales success isn’t about doing more of a lot of things. Rather, it’s about focusing on a few of the right things. Focus is the gateway to productivity. It always precedes success.
Matthew focused in on several key changes:
He cut his primary client base by 75 percent and tripled his time and focus on the remaining 25 percent. This increased his volume by 75 percent.
He cut his regular tasks by 60 percent and delegated them to a new assistant. As a result he had 60 percent more time to sell.
He got out of bed an hour early five days a week. Over a period of four months, he immersed himself in learning his trade. Those 60 hours of focused learning have helped him quadruple his income.
Decision # 3: Follow Up
This is one of the most important decisions you must make if you want to accelerate your sales success.
A key thought is if you don’t follow up with them, they won’t follow through with you.
Most loan officers stink at following up, and that included Matthew. Now he devotes two hours a day to following up with new leads, contacting existing leads that haven’t converted to sales, and corresponding with existing clients to get more orders and referrals.
The fortune really is in the follow up
Bottom line result... During the financial year 2014-2015 Matthew earned AUS$55,000 whilst in hospitality. and, during March 2015, Matthew made $56,000
Boom! The affects of a paradigm switch flipped!
All the best with your sales!
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