I have news for ya, salespeople. Manipulation is bullying!
Bully - Merriam-Webster - a : a blustering browbeating person; especially : one habitually cruel to others who are weaker
If you have knowledge of how to manipulate someone, you have power. Power makes you stronger and makes prospects weaker.
When you use that power to manipulate prospects into doing what’s best for you — buying from you — instead of helping them to do what’s best for them — making smart choices even if it’s not to buy from you — then you are a bully.
And if you refuse to admit it, you’re a coward as well.
]]>Today we’re going to talk about business cards — not yours, but that pile sitting on your desk.
The bottom line is this. Shaking hands and trading cards is only step one. If you don’t consistently take the next step of following up, you’re just wasting your time and everyone else’s.
If you have a smart phone, here’s a minor tweak you can use to make sure step two occurs.
1. Download and install the LinkedIn application CardMunch.
2. When someone hands you a card, the first chance you get use CardMunch to capture the card and submit it.
3. LinkedIn will send back the formatted contact record — they do an incredible job of being accurate.
4. Click the [Connect To] button. This will send a request to connect through LinkedIn. (You are on LinkedIn … right?)
5. Choose the option to add the contact to your phone’s database.
6. Sync your phone with your computer or whatever device has your entire contact database.
7. When the new contact accepts your LinkedIn request, message him or her with a thank you for connecting and an offer such as “If there’s anyone in my LinkedIn contact list you want to meet, ping me with an introduction request and I’ll be happy to pass it on. But please explain why so he or she knows the purpose of the connection and has enough information to respond intelligently.”
CardMunch is a GREAT tool for low-volume business-card updates, because you carry it everywhere and it has the easy LinkedIn connection option.
For that massive stack of business cards, consider sending them to one of the “scan my cards for me” services. Then stay current using CardMunch.
Gill
]]>Hi International,
I want to extend to you an exclusive invitation to join Chamber.com.Chamber.com is an invitation-only community connecting leaders worldwide.
+ Connect with Members in 1000+ Chambers Worldwide (like Atlanta, London, Hong Kong, etc…)
+ Market Yourself or Your Products / Services in Your Local Community
+ Attend Webinars led by NY Times Best-Selling Authors and Successful Entrepreneurs
Join now to connect, learn and grow your business or career! Click the link below. All it takes is 30 seconds!
If exclusive is clearly NOT exclusive, then don’t say it’s exclusive.
Why?
Because you’re lying to me and you clearly believe I’m too stupid to notice.
Geeze, people. Grow a brain will ya?
]]>Honest Selling is founded on the relationship sales model. In everything we do, we focus on building long-lasting relationships with high-level decision-makers based not on us closing deals, but on us helping our prospects to make incredibly smart choices.
But what happens when the smart choice is to say “No” to your product or service in favor of something else?
Most people see “No” as the last step in a process. You prospected and marketed your way into a sales appointment. You met with the prospect, interviewed him or her to determine goals, needs, etc. And you pointed the prospect to an alternative that fits his or her needs better than what you sell.
While this seems logical, it is totally counter productive, because sales is a never-ending process where every decision, even the ones that close doors on existing opportunities, is simply a step in the circle of selling.
I have a list of 17 specific actions you could take after a prospect says “No” — each of which could lead to another sales opportunity.
I’ll share my list at our July 17 meeting.
]]>However his book launches today (he’s already at #3 on the Amazon best-sellers list) and he has a very special, VERY time-sensitive deal that I’d like to share with you now. Here’s what I received from Tracy about his special deal.
To receive your free gifts, email a copy of your receipt with the date of April 27th, 2011 clearly showing to: Tracy@TracyMyers.com before Saturday May 7th, 2011. All receipts that do not have the date of April 27th clearly marked and do not show the purchase of Uncle Frank Sez will be disqualified. Receipts will be taken in the order they are received.
This is THE promotion for this book, and it won’t be repeated! Valid only on April 27th, 2011!
IMPORTANT: ABOUT UNCLE FRANK SEZ AND THE BEST-SELLER LIST. For the bestseller list, only hardcover books shipped to U.S. addresses qualify. So that means this contest applies only to those sales. For the great bonus prizes, you can only make your purchase from Amazon.com on Wednesday April 27th, 2011 until midnight. Beginning April 28th, you can purchase your copy at any participating Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million, and independent bookstores, either online or in person at your local store.
NOTE: Amazon sometimes limits the number of books you can purchase from them, so if you have any trouble, create another account or use someone else’s (unless that’s illegal. If so, you did NOT hear this from Uncle Frank!)
If you don’t need all the books you buy, consider donating them to a worthwhile organization (library, school, company, charity, race or other event). We can help you figure out where to donate if you’re purchasing 25 or more copies.
This giveaway begins at 12:01 a.m. EST on 4/27 and lasts exactly 24 hours and ends at 12:01 a.m. on Thursday, April 28th. It’s strictly first come, first served, and “limited to 3” means the fourth person doesn’t get it.
Buy 1, 3, 25 or 100 copies today, and every gift package is worth at least twice the cost of the books. (Some up to 10 times!) More than $12,000 worth of great experiences and grub up for grabs.
Thank you for your support and spread the word.
Tracy E. Myers, CMD
Read this book: Be informed.
Listen to this webinar: Be knowledgeable.
Attend this seminar: Be smarter.
Whoever you are.
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That’s a great quote when it comes to investing, but it also applies to business as well. Keep this quote in mind as you begin your journey with social media. With everyone jumping on the social media bandwagon, don’t forget things like letters and the telephone.
Ironically, in this age of social media and texting, one of our strongest sales tool is the hand-written letter. Yes, a scribbled, personal hand-written letter. Not one we ordered through a website, but a letter we actually wrote (with an ink pen and our own hands). Think about it. Who gets hand-written letters these days? It is a great way to stand out. For our company, the sales letter has played a large role in our acquisition of new business in the last year. Our letters stand out. Why? Not because of our great writing or offerings (although we are writers). They stand out because they are the only letters prospects get. We have no competition. And people still read their mail. Our message gets heard. That’s the ultimate key to successful marketing and sales.
I’m not saying social media isn’t a great way to go, or it doesn’t have a future (It is a part of our overall strategy). Remember, EVERYONE is jumping into social media. You are competing with many, many other individuals to get your ideas, thoughts across.
I’m simply saying, Don’t turn your back on the tools that helped you become successful in the first place. They still work. We’re great examples of how these tools can work.
—Ron Ameln, SBM
Thinking back on my experience with Mr. X, I was an Internet manager for a local automobile dealership, and I intercepted his online inquiry to order a new vehicle. Maybe I didn’t get it at the time; I mean, I was simply conducting the transaction naturally, in my opinion. But clearly this guy was accustomed to the traditional tactics synonymous with sales (especially within the auto industry), and my approach caught him off guard. On numerous occasions during our discussions, I suggested our company might not be the best fit to accommodate everything he needed in the purchase (i.e., time line, price point). I laid out every possible glitch in the ordering process, and made sure the cliché “overpromise and under-deliver” never entered the equation. But he kept coming back.
As we built rapport, he told me of his nightmare “sales” stories, and I assured him that regardless of whether we came to terms, my goal was to earn his business and gain a friendship along the way. To me, this concept just makes sense.
Despite the expectations of salespeople to close every deal, reality suggests this illusion is impossible, so why fight it? For those of you unfamiliar with the book “The Go-Giver,” read it now. I mention this because my new conversation with Mr. X related directly to a concept in the book. When Mr. X started rattling off familiar names from my years in the auto industry – “So how did things go with Mr. So-and-So?” and “Did you have any luck with Dr. Y?” – I realized that Mr. X had been sending clients my way and specifically requesting that they not mention his name.
I left the auto industry after a few years, and unfortunately wasn’t available to assist Mr. X when he returned for another vehicle. He mentioned that his next purchase did not originate from my former employer, because my replacement didn’t share my perspective on honesty, integrity and ethics. Too bad for him!
]]>Back in the late ’90s I learned and perfected a selling system called High Probability Selling, and used that system to build cold-calling campaigns for my sales consulting clients.
In February of 2006 I wrote a lengthy review of the book and the system. In that review I discussed the Trust and Respect Inquiry — an interview process Jacques Werth created to both establish yourself as trustworthy and learn whether the prospect was worthy of trust. In that review I described the TRI as follows:
The foundation of this interview technique is the belief that people who hold lifetime grudges are basically not trustworthy. So the purpose of the interview is to determine whether a prospect holds lifetime grudges by:
- Searching his past until you uncover childhood trauma.
- Finding out who he (the child) blamed for the trauma.
- Finding out whether the prospect ever made up with the person that caused the trauma, and, if not, finding out whether he still holds a grudge today.
And later I added: “I challenge the fundamental belief upon which this process is based – that people who hold lifetime grudges are not trustworthy.”
I still know of no psychological research that proves the theories of HPS as it relates to the trustworthiness of people who have suffered childhood traumas and then failed to resolve the relationships that were damaged due to those traumas.
But life experience has taught me something that I’d like to share, because it speaks directly to the issue of trust as it relates to long-term relationships with clients.
Throughout my life I’ve built dozens of incredibly strong business relationships with clients and colleagues. And in some of those cases, I’ve learned that the person suffered a childhood trauma and failed to save the associated relationship (as Jacques Werth describes in his HPS training.)
I’m talking everything from being raped by a father to less physical abuse like abandonment. And throughout these examples, a detectible pattern has emerged:
I remember back when Jacques was explaining this stuff he mentioned that people who hold lifetime grudges will eventually attribute every negative trait they experienced during childhood to others around them, and the relationships will explode into a mass of turmoil.
I now understand that it’s not that people with this problem can’t be trusted, it’s that they can’t help but eventually see in you the things they loathe in others — that their trust can’t help but eventually go away. It’s because they have an emotional need to resolve the childhood relationship so they try to recreate it in others and resolve their internal issues there.
But what does this have to do with sales?
When someone hires you or buys what you sell, a trust-based relationship is formed. And your ability to manage that relationship over time is key to your ongoing success as a salesperson. To keep your client relationships in check and avoid the pattern above, look for the following:
Sales is just the first step in your profession. Managing the relationship, getting paid and keeping the client happy over time is the true challenge.
So pay attention early and you may just avoid a the black and white cycle of human frailty in the end.
]]>Being a go-giver means you add value to others in a way that helps them significantly while at the same time increases your own sense of joy and improves your bottom line, both in your business and your personal life. After much thought and experience this seems to me the best way to
explain why honest selling is so important.
There are actually several very practical reasons why go-givers are the most successful people. One is that being “other-focused” instead of “me-focused” makes other people feel good about you and makes them recognize the value you bring to their lives. When that happens, they are much more excited about adding value to your life, just as you have for them. Everyone wins.
While there are good and bad people of all types in the world, when one truly makes a study of people who are successful in the long term, both financially and in their personal lives, you find that by and large these people live lives and conduct their businesses based on character traits and values such as honesty, integrity, humility, and encouragement-and that they go out of their way to add significant value to every relationship in which they are involved.
So, why all the definitions and explanations around this concept you might ask? It is the most direct way I could conjure to help you understand the depth of the impact honest selling has had on my life.
What is a Go-Giver, it’s the key to sales success.
WHAT SUCCESSFUL SELLERS KNOW – and how they do it
1. Be Honest
2. Quickly Build Rapport
3. Qualify/Disqualify Early
4. Offer referrals and ask for referrals
5. Establish a process and follow it without exception
6. Set specific goals with specific time frames
7. Identify your strengths and magnify them, outsource your weaknesses
8. Educate yourself on your field, your industry, and your target clients
9. Be positive
If you want to learn the specifics on how to execute these points, and hear an open discussion from a panel of experts who have built successful careers doing just that, please attend our next event on October 15th, 2010.
]]>There is a theme that overlaps this collection of firsts in my world – clear communication.
Those of us on the International Board of the Honest Selling Professionals Association know why we are involved and why this group is worth our time and energy. We are clear in our intent and aligned in this purpose.
Marketing the first St. Louis event was done through multiple online platforms as well as face-to-face with a clear call to action and a reason for people to engage.
My company also needed to have clarity of purpose and a reason to exist beyond being one more strategic communications company. I had to know why I was building it and I also had to know why clients might choose me so that I can clearly communicate that reason externally.
I’m sure there will be many more firsts to face in the months and years ahead…and I want to learn from all of them. What are some of the more memorable “firsts” in your world that created the most learning for you? Was clear communication involved as a cause or a result?
]]>“Go-Givers Sell More” is the sequel. Like it says on the back cover, “If the first book changed your thinking, this one will change your actions.”
The author just posted a short video that conveys the main concept of both books as they relate to sales.
Succinct. Thoughtful. Accurate. Honest. See: http://www.theartofsellingmovie.com/
Gill
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Can I get a Hip, Hip, Hooray!?
We are seeking chapter founders in every metro area big enough to support a chapter. A great founder will be someone who:
The only financial investment you’ll make is your membership fee.
Contact the international board of directors if you want to help us change the way the world sells.
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