Selling Solutions in the New Economy

On Monday i had the opportunity to pilot a new program for 70+ people. Selling Solutions in the New Economy.
After i had conducted a survey with the participants it became clear what their challenges were. One of the clear challenges was that after the initial contact with the prospect the project stalled.

I shared with them my thinking about the new economy and how our mindset plays a very important role in how we respond top all the news we are hearing. This news can have a great impact on how we feel and that drives how we think, decide and act.

By using some music, they could feel the pressure.

We then moved on to talk about prospecting and how to do that ongoing, so in business we continuously build pipeline and have the relevant information for our current opportunities. This is where we started to talk about the Customer Assessment. Structuring what we know about our customers in a very specific way, so it helps us to find new opportunities. The information can be in our heads, but a lot of it can also be found online. What it need is some structure, so we can drive insight.

Selling hasn't changed. The environment in which we sell has. Less money available, decisions made at higher levels and sometimes even outside the organization (by the government).

In all of this the Customer Assessment helps to get a very clear understanding of the issues that are driving a customer's business and the pain and possibilities it presents them with.

The world in which we sell has changed...have you?

Change your Questions, Change your Life

An apprentice monk once asked his superior
whether he was allowed to
smoke while praying.

"Of course not!" answered the superior with
indignation: "How dare you ask a question
like that?"

The apprentice thought about
the reprimand and three weeks later he
approached his superior again, and
this time asked
whether he was allowed to
pray while he was smoking.

"Of course, young man. No matter what
you do, you are always allowed to pray!"

"Ask and you shall receive"
was both a promise and a warning.

Words are extremely powerful agents.
Thoughts are nothing but an endless
stream of questions and answers
in your mind.

As long as you ask the
right question you will
prosper and grow. But if you ask
too many wrong questions you will
become impoverished and ill.
Examples of wrong questions:

1. Why do I always have bad luck?
2. Why do I have so many problems?
3. Why am I so overwhelmed and confused?
4. How could I have been so stupid?
5. Why do I always lose my keys?
6. Why can't I remember?
7. How could I have eaten so much?
8. Whose fault was this?
10. How did I get into this mess?

Examples of good questions:

1. Why am I so lucky?
2. How can I use these opportunities?
3. What is the next step?
4. What can I learn from this experience?
5. Where will I leave my keys from now on?
6. How did I remember last time?
7. How can I improve my diet?
8. Who can fix it?
9. Whom can I ask for help?
10. How do I get out of this mess?

All human progress is preceded by a new question.
By improving the quality of your questions you
will ensure your progress and improve
the quality of your life.

(The story was lifted from
Matthias Schmelz's
Millionaire Maker Book)

Do you have the right mind set to be succesful?

Promise Yourself...

In the 1912 book titled, "Your Forces and How to Use Them" author Christian D. Larson wrote the following creed. Larson, a prolific writer and lecturer, believed that people have tremendous latent powers, which can be harnessed for success with the proper attitude.

I'm pleased to share it with you and I hope it will serve as a helpful reminder as you continue on your journey of success and fulfillment.

Promise Yourself...

To be strong so that nothing can disturb your peace of mind.

To talk health, happiness and prosperity to every person you meet.

To make all your friends feel that there is something in them.

To look at the sunny side of everything and make your optimism come true.

To think only of the best, to work only for the best and to expect only the best.

To be just as enthusiastic about the success of others as you are about your own.

To forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater achievements of the future.

To wear a cheerful countenance at all times and give every living creature you meet a smile.

To give so much time to the improvement of yourself that you have no time to criticize others.

To be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear, and too happy to permit the presence of trouble.

Best wishes ... and Book Yourself Solid

First of all I want to wish you all the best for the year 2007, may it be your best year ever.
Personally I am looking forward to a great year where my company will have it's 2.0 release and I will be working more from home by offering my clients telecoaching.
If you consider to renew your company I would like to suggest you take a look at what Michael Port has to offer.
I wanted to make sure you got the word on this teleclass with Michael Port right away... because there are only a few spots available.
Plus, he's offering $500 off the tuition plus over $2000 in bonuses.
Michael is the US national bestselling author of Book Yourself Solid.
Have you read it? I sure hope so. I loved it!
Hop on over to his website and have a look http://tinyurl.com/y2xfmc
If you have all the clients your heart desires you might not need Michael's book or program but if you want more ideal clients, clients that energize and inspire you than run, don't walk on over to... http://tinyurl.com/y2xfmc

Meeting preparation

One way I always prepare for sales meetings is by answering the following 4 questions (I do a mindmap on this):

what would I like them to know (what will I tell)?
what do I want to know (what will I ask)?
how do I want them to feel (set the tone of the meeting)?
what do I want them to do at the end of the meeting (what is their commitment?, I didn’t like being the only one with homework afterwards)

this forces me to make sure i get the most out of the 60-90 minutes you have available in your sales call.

Become aware off and change your beliefs...and change your reality.

As a Sales Trainer and Personal Coach / Executive Coach I meet with a lot of people. After a training or coaching session many of them are very motivated to commit to making a change. If you have ever been in any type of training or coaching yourself you probably have had a similar experience. Only to find out after a while that really nothing has changed. In my view the problem here is that from the outside the motivation was there to make the change, rationally you have committed to the change, but the emotions and feelings weren't aligned. The biggest inspirators for change, emotions, were not in line with what you mentally, consciously wanted to achieve.

For some reason often we feel ready to initiate change and transformation yet time and time again we get distracted, scared, or just don't follow through. We may commit to the change, we may even take the first steps ... and then we stop.

Think about it...how many times have you DECIDED to change in a major way in some important area of your life...to re-design your beliefs, thoughts and behaviors, and then found yourself right back where you started?

Know this, within each of us exists an amazing potential to completely transform our lives.

One of the most important forces to help us drive the change, follow through, is the way we look at life. The way we choose to experience life. And I am not talking about positive thinking here. Because thinking alone doesn't make the change happen, although it is a major starting point.

It all comes down to beliefs. What are the magic rules that you live your life by?

Until we transform our inner world (our beliefs, thoughts, feelings, emotions) we will not be able to change our behavior in a massive way (our actions) and the outer world will stay more or less the same.

Some people can make the change on their own ones they know how to do it.

For most people, it takes some sort of support and accountability that working with a coach brings them.

This is where in my beliefs personal and executive coaching fit in to really get an understanding of your own beliefs and how they might interfere with your behavior..

If you are ready to transform in both your consciousness and your behavior (both of which are necessary ingredients in our transformational processes) I would love for you to have a look at my coaching offerings.

Personal Coaching or Executive Coaching will help you create accountability for the new commitments you will make and give you the time, space, encouragement, and support that will assist you in co-creating a new way of being, seeing and doing.

Telecoaching - Coaching by Phone

As a new offering I have started to offer telecoaching, or coaching by phone. Specifically to support the Quota Achievement Plan I am scheduling the friday as my telecoaching day. In time slots of 30, 45, 60 or 90 minutes I will support my clients on very different topics, both personal coaching and executive coaching.