Leadership, Communication, Presentation & Sales Development Blog: 2016

Leadership, Communication, Presentation & Sales Development Blog

Wednesday, November 23, 2016

Sales Skills - Do You Have What It Takes To Sell

If every sales professional understood the Principle of the Iceberg there would undoubtedly be less stress, less frustration, less inconsistency, and less dissatisfaction – more motivation, more trust, more money, and more fulfillment. Guaranteed!

In fact, regardless of how long you’ve been in the business, understanding and applying the Principle of the Iceberg in your sales career is fundamental to increasing both your finances and fulfillment.

The Principle of the Iceberg

It’s vital if you’re aspiration is greater than merely making a living – if you’re goal is living your best life. If you’re willing to re-calibrate your thinking and your approach to success according to this Law, you’ll find that your client relationships will stabilize, your earnings will surge, and your free time will swell, all to levels you never thought possible.

Living the Principle of the Iceberg begins by securing your truest measure of success. That’s because in the sales business, motives mean everything.

Motives dictate your mood, mentality, and moves while serving a client. And motives will make or break you when it comes to establishing loyal, lucrative relationships.

The Principle of the Iceberg says that the truest measure of your success is invisible to a client. That’s because the majority of real success occurs on the inside of a salesperson, not on the outside.

Your fulfillment – not your finances – should dictate true success. Starting out to make money is the biggest mistake you can make. And if you’re in the sales business for that reason alone, you’re headed for a lot of heartache. Let me explain.

Think of yourself as an iceberg floating in a body of water. Imagine that the part of the iceberg beneath the surface of the water represents what’s on your inside: your values, your deepest desires, your mission, and your purpose in life; and the part of the iceberg above the surface of the water represents what’s on your outside: your career, your titles, your finances, and your possessions.

Now, if you’ve ever read anything about icebergs, you know that very little of the mass of an iceberg shows above the surface. In fact, experts estimate that on average only 10% of the entire mass of an iceberg appears above the surface. What that means is that 90% of the mass is beneath the surface, invisible to those above the water. Simply put, what you see above the surface is not an accurate representation of an iceberg at all. It’s just the tip. And the same is true of sales success. What’s appears on the outside doesn’t accurately represent whether your successful.

What Lies Beneath

Imagine what would happen if we could saw off the entire foundation of an iceberg beneath the surface. Without it’s foundation below the water, what would happen? If it were a substantial iceberg, it would begin to sink until there was enough of it submerged to regain its balance. It would probably remain standing, but the proverbial tip of the iceberg would be much smaller than it once was (90% smaller to be precise). And the iceberg would certainly become much less stable, and much easier for the changing tide to displace.

If it were a small, thin iceberg that had its underwater base removed, the tip above the surface would most likely fall over. And, without a solid foundation, the iceberg would become slave to the ever-changing ebb and flow of the tide. In fact, without a foundation, a small iceberg may cease to be an iceberg altogether.

In similar fashion, without a solid foundation beneath the surface of your sales career, your outward success as a salesperson will never be stable or consistent. Furthermore, you’ll always have difficulty establishing trust with your clients because you’re not trustworthy. You see, most people can discern the difference between a salesperson who’s out to make a dollar and one who’s out to make a difference. And the longer you continue building your sales career without a proper foundation, the greater the likelihood that your career will come toppling down.

Let’s face it: Many people get into the selling business in the first place because they want the outward success: the big money, the nicer car, the bigger house. That’s how most sales positions are marketed aren’t they? Come work for us and we’ll make you rich is the common recruiting pitch. A nice base salary with great earning potential. You could make a killing! I’m sure you’ve heard that message before.

Superficial Success

Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying that more money and nicer things are wrong for a sales professional to desire. Who doesn’t want those things? As a matter of fact, material increase is a fair reward for being good at what you do. But when you try to build a successful sales business solely on the basis of attaining such above the surface things, your career is likely to share a fate similar to that of the sawed off iceberg. It will bob up and down, teeter, and eventually sink or tip over.

For more than 15 years EffectiveCommunication.com.au has interviewed, trained, and coached sales professionals, and the one factor we have found that prohibits them from succeeding more than any other single factor is this: lack of purpose!

Most haven’t answered the “Why” question for their careers. In other words, the majority of unsatisfied salespeople become that way because their jobs aren’t aligned with a greater sense of purpose. And it shows: in their methods of doing business, in their relationships with clients, and on their faces.

Your Deeper Purpose

The problem is that they’re trying to build their career from the outside in. They’re looking for inner satisfaction from the outward things. But that’s backwards. And while the desire for money and material things (or anything else inferior to purpose) can keep anyone motivated early on, when the time between sales starts to grow, it’s rarely enough to keep one afloat.

Let’s be honest. Salespeople are notoriously 'gung ho' out of the starting gate. We’re self-starters, highly motivated, and highly ambitious. But if time wears on and sales grow harder to come by, it becomes increasingly difficult to remain hopeful and excited about what we’re doing. And eventually, moving on to something new begins to sound much more appealing than sticking it out.

If you’ve been there, or close to it, there’s a way to make sure you don’t go there again. It’s called “pull-power,” and it’s the key to following the Principle of the Iceberg.

If you’ve never taken time to determine deeper purpose beneath your career then your road to following the Principle of the Iceberg must start there, beneath the surface, on the inside, before you will ever be truly satisfied and successful on the outside. But once you identify your higher purpose with regard to success and sales career, and begin to align that purpose with your activities and goals, you create what’s called pull-power, which is the greatest motivating force for the work you perform.

Pull-Power vs. Will-Power

Pull-power is the antithesis of will-power, which is merely self-generated energy that produces short-term accomplishment but rarely sustains long-term achievement. To exploit pull-power in your career you must know why you do what you do.

When you know why you are selling, your answer then becomes the force that literally motivates or pulls you along, in good times and bad, when sales are red hot and when they’re ice cold. Pull-power is your inner accountability, your constant heart-wrought reminder of the deeper reason you are a salesperson. The problem is that most salespeople get ahead of themselves. Most spend the better part of their early days trying to figure out the “Hows” of their jobs. How can I sell more? How can I make more money? How will I meet my quota? How can I motivate my team to produce more?

They’re all questions that have their place. But answering them is not the foundation of a successful sales career. It’s not enough to know how to be a good sales professional. That’s just head knowledge. To become a successful, trustworthy salesperson you must first have heart knowledge. You must know why you want to be a salesperson. You must make sure that answer is clearly written on your heart. And guaranteed that once you make this determination, you’ll find that the "Hows" of successful origination become much clearer and easier to apply – in fact, your daily actions simply become the manifestation of what’s on your heart.

That’s how successful selling should be

All the best with your sales!

Posted in Facilitating meetings Presentation skills training Public speaking Sales presentations, Presentation, presentation coaching, public speaking training by effectivecommunication.com.au

Sales Skills - 3 Questions To Ask Each Lead To Verify If They Are Worth Your Time

Your goal is to not to spend time with leads, but to spend time with great prospects

To do this, you have to qualify your leads faster to give you the time you need to spend with the high-value prospects.

Too many salespeople take a “go slow” approach when it comes to leads

The feeling is they don’t want to do anything to disrupt the lead, but in going so slow, they wind up losing the lead.

We at EC are frequently asked when speaking and teaching on sales prospecting about what is a good approach to use.

The approach we've taught and used for years is what we refer to as the “industry problem” technique.

We like this approach because it’s comprised of 3 questions that can be asked during the first conversation with the lead. It’s a direct approach, yet not threatening. Both the salesperson and lead will feel comfortable.

The “industry problem” technique is built around first asking the lead about a problem the industry in which they operate is facing. An example someone might use if they sell labor services of some type:

“What are the issues your industry is facing with regard to finding enough qualified labor?”

The question is broad and not directed at the company where the lead works. You’re asking it solely to engage the prospect and to begin getting their opinion out on the table.

The second question builds off the first:

“How has your company been dealing with this issue?”

You can alter the question to include some of the comments made by the lead from the first question. Now, here comes the third question which is the one that really opens up the door for you:

“What impact has the shortage of qualified labor had on your business and on your job?”

The answer to this question is really the one you are looking for, because if you provide labor, you want to know if this is an issue and, in particular, how big of an issue it is.

By asking the questions in this order, you’re able to get information you need faster

Some might be saying why not ask the 3rd question first, and the response is you need the first two questions to understand the context of the 3rd.

Even more significant than that is by asking the questions in the above order allows the lead to see you as a bigger thinker than merely a salesperson looking for a quick sale.

All the best with your sales!

Posted in Business presentations Conference Presentation skills training Public, Business presentations Conference presentations Facilitating meetings by effectivecommunication.com.au

Sunday, October 23, 2016

Communication Skills - So What If I Speak Fast

A lot of us speak quickly when we are on the phone with our customers or clients

Sometimes it is because we have so many calls in cue or because we feel pressured to get on to the next call. Whatever the case, it is a habit that can cost us business.

Why?

When we speak too quickly, customers can assume that you are just making a perfunctory call. You really don't care. Someone told you to call and query him or her. They can also feel that you are trying to pull something or that you are giving them the "bum's rush." It can make them angry.

Problems that speaking quickly can cause

When you speak quickly, it affects other vocal issues. For example, speed affects the clarity of your words. Literally, the lips, teeth and tongue can't get into the right position in your mouth.

Customers expect to hear the words as they learned them. If you are slipping over syllables or eliminating them all together, customers start focusing on what you just said, versus what you are currently saying. They feel like they are translating a foreign language. It affects comprehension. Also, if any of your customers are not native born, English-speakers, it may be difficult for them to make any sense out of what you are saying.

Speaking quickly also affects the tone of your voice. It is impossible to sound friendly, sincere or empathetic without pausing. Your voice may even be a monotone. If the voice is a monotone, the customer concludes you are disinterested. Who wants to do business with someone who is disinterested?

Ways to slow down

First, you should get yourself into the mind set that when you are at work; you need to put on you "cash voice," the voice that earns you a living. On-air personalities speak a lot slower on television than they do when they are with friends and family. They know that if they speak quickly, viewers will be complaining, and they will lose their jobs. What on-air personalities learn is the value of pausing. In fact, they pause a lot. They pause not only at the end of sentences and clauses, but whenever they want to emphasize a point or idea. They know that they more they pause, the more their listeners understand.

To get comfortable pausing, use your voice mail system to give you feedback. When you send internal voice mail messages, press "review" before you press "send." If you hear yourself speaking quickly, redo the message until you are satisfied.

Get feedback from family members when you are at home. Ask them to tell you to pause more or to remind you that you are mumbling. Fast talkers also mumble.

If you have a child, read out loud to your child. Children demand that you really get into the story. They will tell you to slow down because they want to enjoy the story. As you drive down the street, use your car as a laboratory. Say out loud what you are seeing and over-enunciate each word. No one will hear you. Over-enunciating will get you used to saying every syllable in the word.

While speaking quickly is a habit, it is not a habit that helps you to develop relationships with your customers. The more you pause, the more they feel you care. The less likely they are to become upset.

A one or two second pause can make a huge difference. Put on your "cash" voice and see what a difference it will make.

All the best with your communications!

Posted in Business presentations Conference Presentation skills training Public, Business presentations Conference presentations Facilitating meetings Presentati by effectivecommunication.com.au

Monday, October 10, 2016

Leadership Skills - Inspire Your Team To Win

The following statement is one of the greatest secrets of effective leadership:

"We shall no longer strive for our own way but commit ourselves, honestly and simply, to inspiring others to develop the power to be their best."

Hardly the stereotypical spirit of the legendary, tough-minded CEO!

But if leadership is a challenge for you, then you must begin to lead by that statement. If you are constantly dealing with others not measuring up to your self-compared expectations, if you are pushing your team members down rather than pulling them up, and if you want overall better performance from your team, now is the time to close the gap.

Are you holding others back, or are you inspiring them to win?

Leadership is all about influence and motivation. Neither happens naturally, but they are both the results of intentional leadership decisions.

As a leader, you must recognize that your role is not a title. Leadership is a position. You must realize that people came to work NOT to make you successful, but to become more successful themselves. You must understand that the team is more important than you are and that the team needs to receive the credit for your success.

How does a leader deploy these truths?

Follow these ideas:

Leadership Is Influence

People always do things for their reasons, not yours. Leaders must develop an environment that helps team members thrive, while still moving them to higher levels of “followership.”

Master Motivation

Recent studies provide several big motivators for higher levels of performance: significant contributions, goals and quota participation, positive dissatisfaction (knowing you can do better), recognition, and clear expectations. The same studies tell us that the big demotivators include belittling, manipulation, discouragement, lack of personal growth, and a condescending leader.

About 50 percent of your leadership challenges will dissipate when you raise the bar and close the gap in the areas of influence and motivation.

All the best with your leadership!

Posted in Business presentations Presentation skills training Sales presentations, Business presentations Conference presentations Facilitating meetings Presentati by effectivecommunication.com.au

Thursday, October 6, 2016

Sales Skills - 10 Best Sales Questions to Use When Talking with a Prospect

One of the best things any salesperson can do is develop a list of 10 questions they feel comfortable asking.

The questions have to fit your personality and your market and allow you to move the process forward.

Below are 10 of the best sales questions you can use. The questions are not direct closing questions, but rather questions that will get the prospect to share more information to help you focus on the solution the prospect desires.

Not each question will be appropriate for every occasion. The critical issue is to be comfortable asking them so when the situation is right, you’re also ready:

1. Why?

2. Can you tell me more about...?

3. How have you made decisions like this in the past?

4. What is the outcome you’re looking for?

5. What is the size of the risk if you don’t make a decision?

6. What are the issues you’re facing today?

7. What happens if you don’t make a decision to invest?

8. Who else is involved in the decision making process?

9. What is it you like best about what we’ve been talking about?

10. What is stopping you from making a decision?

Each of the questions is designed to get the prospect to share more and to allow you to then ask a follow up question on what they just shared with you. Questions one and two are specifically designed to do just that.

The more we engage the prospect with questions in a way that allows us to use our personality, the more comfortable the prospect will be in answering. It’s when we ask questions that come across as scripted or threatening the customer will shut down.

Use these 10 questions as a starter for you, and over the coming weeks modify them to fit your personality and style. You’ll find yourself being far more effective in getting the prospect to open up.

Posted in Business presentations Presentation skills training Sales presentations, Business presentations Conference Presentation skills training Public by effectivecommunication.com.au

Tuesday, September 13, 2016

PRESENTATION SKILLS - SIMPLE NUMBERS TO IMPROVE YOUR MESSAGES

A good way to remember and apply principles of effective presentations is to connect them to numbers.

For example, you should always have 1 major idea that you leave with your audience. A good way to do this while preparing is to ask yourself and then answer this question... “What one action do I want my audience to apply as a result of this presentation?”

You may have other ideas you want the audience to remember, but thinking of one action you want them to take will help you focus on what is really important.

Include 2 appeals in a persuasive presentation: logical and emotional. One without the other will limit your impact on your audience. To appeal to their emotions, tell a story. Make them feel what you are talking about. To appeal to their intellect, include a relevant statistic or testimony of an expert on the topic you are advocating.

In organizing any part of your presentation, think of doing so in 3's. The human mind responds well to the number three. This number is a part of our culture. Three little pigs, Goldilocks and the three bears. Three blind mice. “Ready, aim, fire.” We have morning, noon, and night. There is strike three in baseball, not strike four, etc.

Having three main points is a good idea, and if you have several slides or statistics, think about organizing them in groups of three. Usually three pieces of evidence are enough to make your case.

Practicing your presentation 3 times is comfortable for most people. More than three and you might lose interest and/or memorize parts of the presentation, taking away from the spontaneity you should seek.

If you are creating a list on a slide, the “5 by 5 rule” is a good model to follow–no more than five lines on a slide and 5 words on a line. That helps you choose a font that everyone can see and the slide looks clean and not “busy.” More importantly, each line will act as a prompt to keep you and your audiences on track. This is much better than reading lots of text at the audience (like most presenters do), which detracts from the person presenting. And, typically audiences can read and digest information much better than when a presenter lectures at them. For those who lecture at their audiences, it is far more effective to simply email the presentation slides with too much content to the audience!

Pay attention to your 6th sense as you speak. Intuitively you may think of an example, or a reference to some current event that fits your content. Some people's best ideas come to them as they speak. Don’t fear to include this thought because you did not practice that material. Go with your sixth sense, your intuition, and you may add one of your best ideas in the presentation. This is always worth the risk because a small amount of risk can result in great outcomes!

When answering questions from your audience, keep your answers as concise as possible. You may be able to answer with a “yes” or “no,” but even if it is an open-ended question, practice limiting your answer to 30 seconds. If an answer is longer, the audience members who have no interest in that answer will quickly stop listening. Perhaps volunteer to talk to that person in more detail after the presentation, but remember the number 30 when answering questions - that’s seconds, not minutes!

Patrick Rothfuss said, “I am no poet. I do not love words for the sake of words. I love words for what they can accomplish. Similarly, I am no arithmetician. Numbers that speak only of numbers are of little interest to me.” However, if your number relates to a speaking principle that will make you a more effective speaker, then numbers do matter!

Posted in Business presentations Conference presentations, Business presentations Conference presentations Facilitating meetings Presentation skills training Public by effectivecommunication.com.au

Thursday, September 1, 2016

SALES SKILLS - 5 WAYS TO SPEED UP YOUR SALES PROCESS

Too many times we get bogged down with the prospective client

Sure, the reasons can be many, but it doesn’t matter. Anytime things bog down, it eats into your time and your earnings.

Below are 5 things we can do right now to accelerate the process:

1. Skip the presentation and ask more questions

Don’t focus your time on crafting your PowerPoint and your talking points. Take that time and spend it developing more questions. More importantly, think through how you will follow up each question with another question.

2. Be prepared to ask tough questions early on to verify if there is potential

Consider these three questions: What is your timeline for making a decision? How have you made decisions like this in the past? What is the outcome you’re looking to achieve?

3. Follow up fast

Don’t think for a moment your prospect is thinking about you, because they’re not. During each phase of the selling process, the faster you follow up, the greater your potential for closing the sale.

4. Take the small order if that’s what it takes to move them forward

Sure, we all want to land the big sale, but if the big sale is not there, grab the small one and use it as a springboard to move up to the next sale.

5. Skip the formality of a scheduled meeting and make it happen anytime, anywhere

Don’t allow yourself to believe because you’ve always sold sitting across a desk that you need to continue doing so. Make it happen with a video or audio call instead. Your prospect many times will appreciate this, as they tend to be faster and less intrusive on their schedule.

Bonus Item: Make sure each time you’re talking with a prospect, you have in your mind the expectation of closing a sale. If your attitude is not focused on making a sale, the best you’ll ever get is bread crumbs.

Posted in Business presentations Conference presentations Facilitating meetings, Business presentations Conference presentations Facilitating meetings Presentation skills training Public by effectivecommunication.com.au

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!

Posted in presentations Conference presentations Facilitating meetings Presentation skills training Public speaking Sales presentations 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!

Posted in presentations Conference presentations Facilitating meetings Presentation skills training Public speaking Sales presentations 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!

Posted in presentations Facilitating meetings Presentation skills training Public speaking Sales presentations, public speaking training by effectivecommunication.com.au

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!

Posted in presentations Conference presentations Facilitating meetings Presentation skills training Public speaking Sales presentations by effectivecommunication.com.au

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!

Posted in Business presentations Conference presentations Presentation skills training Sales presentations, Conference presentations Presentation skills training Sales presentations 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!

Posted in Business presentations Presentation skills training Sales presentations, communication coaching, Conference presentations by effectivecommunication.com.au

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!

Posted in Business presentations Conference presentations Facilitating meetings Presentation skills training Public speaking Sales presentations, Presentation by effectivecommunication.com.au

Tuesday, March 15, 2016

COMMUNICATION - HOW TO AVOID YOUR IDEAS BEING TABLED

Most people in business get what they deserve!

If they do a good job of presenting their idea, they get what they deserve. If they do a poor job, they also get what they deserve.

Do you believe you get what you deserve during meetings?

If not, or if during your meetings little post action occurs, then perhaps you are ignoring the the top 5 reasons Executives and Decision Makers table an issue.

1. Poor Preparation

One Exec said, "I can always tell when someone isn't prepared. They stumble when I ask them questions. They also don't seem to anticipate that I will need proof."

Another Exec said, "I loathe when people waste my time and aren't prepared."

Think about the last time you tried to sell an Exec or Decision Maker an idea. How long did you spend preparing? Did you do more than throw a few slides together? Did you sit down ahead of time and try to figure what questions will be asked or what analyses might be requested?

2. Faulty Strategy

A Director of Innovations at a technology company said, "I am all about big ideas, but I have to follow your argument. You can't be jumping all over the place, leaving me to figure it."

When you meet with an Executive or Decision Maker, are they able to easily follow your logic?

Do all of your points lead to the same conclusion?

3. Lack of Clarity

Steve Jobs once said, "Decisions are easy when ideas are simply explained, but you have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple."

Some of us over-talk an issue. We use a lot of acronyms. Our sentences are very complicated with lots of phrases and clauses. We often make up words. Nouns are turned into verbs and vice versa.

Ask yourself, "Is your argument clear and simple?"

4. Dubious Benefits

EC has worked with Executives and Decision Makers who interrupt presenters right up front if the benefits to a proposal aren't apparent nor relevant to their priorities.

One of these Exec's famous line is "Yeah, so what! Why should I care?"

People reporting to this Executive know that they must link ideas to things that are top of mind for the Exec. The presenter cannot speak in generalities.

Do you support any benefits with metrics? Are the metrics tied to what is important to the Executive?

5. Lack of Confidence

"Unconfident people scare me. I wonder why they are in charge." This is a comment we at EC hear frequently from clients who are Executives and Decision Makers.

People who show they are nervous rarely get a positive result.

One Executive said, "Act like you belong." Executives just want to have a CONVERSATION.

Confident speakers look people in the eye. They don't read from their notes or slides. They don't rush.

Having a carefully thought out message is, of course, important, but give the same amount of attention to how you will deliver it.

Getting what you want and deserve from a meeting doesn't happen by accident. It should never be left to chance. Avoid being disappointed by paying attention to what Executives and Decision Makers feel is important in a CONVERSATION!