"You cannot run away from a weakness. You must sometimes fight it out or perish; and if that be so, why not NOW, and where you stand." Robert Louis Stevenson
When you lose a sale, don't blame the prospect; don't blame your sales manager; don't knock your competition; don't complain about your product - but rather take a good look at your mental attitude and your sales technique.
One time we heard Bill Glass say, "I remember my 12 years as a pro. When I would make mistakes in games, I would begin immediately to dread 'film day.' After the game was over Sunday afternoon and until we studied the films on Tuesday, I spent a lot of time wondering how I would look in the films. When I knew I made mistakes, I struggled with what my excuse would be when questioned by the coaches as to why I failed to do my job.
"On film day all the coaches and players would meet in a large room with one end covered by a huge screen. As the game films were run, there you were in living color, life-size and every move you made was clear for everyone to see. Suppose I missed a tackle, the coach would say, 'Bill, was that you that missed that tackle?' Invariably my answer was 'Yes Sir.' I found it always better to make no excuses but to simply admit to my mistake. There it was in living color for everyone to see."
If a player tells himself or the coaches that he is thinking right and preparing right, mentally and physically, for a game, but plays poorly, then it is obvious that he is not spending enough time with the fundamentals. You will play exactly as you think, prepare and practice. The same is true in selling -- your results will reflect your attitude, your preparation and how you practiced.
Just like the films don't lie, neither do your sales results. They record exactly the way you performed for the week, month or year. Over a long period of time your sales results will be in exact proportion to your sales performance.
Football players can't argue with the films. Salespeople can't argue with results!
How are you looking on Film Day?
Thursday, July 3, 2008
The Situation is the Boss
"Selling is a business of dips, dives, diversions, changes, adaptations, and rolling with the punches. If we know that, why not make these detours work for us instead of destroying our energy?" Burt Meisel, CLU
Study the word PLAN. To us, it's always meant: Prepare Logically -- Adapt Needfully. In other words, make thoughtful, definite plans. Then, adapt and modify those plans as the situation might require.
Great salespeople, like effective performers in all walks of life, are those who are organized, flexible, and adaptable. They size up situations and, when the occasion demands, they quickly, effectively and confidently alter their original course and go to "Plan B." In the Navy, this kind of adaptability is referred to as "changing the course." In the Boy Scout training, it's called "improvising." In football, it's "calling an audible." In selling, it's adapting the prepared agenda to meet the need. In other words, the situation is the boss.
In every sales encounter, you must learn to adjust and adapt. When the prospect starts making objections and offering resistance, "call an audible" -- adjust and adapt. Display flexibility. Move ahead to achieve your goal - another satisfied customer.
Remember that in order to be able to adapt needfully, you must be prepared. Ad-libs are for amateurs. Preparation will give you the confidence to adapt, should the situation require it.
Prepare Logically -- Adapt Needfully!
Study the word PLAN. To us, it's always meant: Prepare Logically -- Adapt Needfully. In other words, make thoughtful, definite plans. Then, adapt and modify those plans as the situation might require.
Great salespeople, like effective performers in all walks of life, are those who are organized, flexible, and adaptable. They size up situations and, when the occasion demands, they quickly, effectively and confidently alter their original course and go to "Plan B." In the Navy, this kind of adaptability is referred to as "changing the course." In the Boy Scout training, it's called "improvising." In football, it's "calling an audible." In selling, it's adapting the prepared agenda to meet the need. In other words, the situation is the boss.
In every sales encounter, you must learn to adjust and adapt. When the prospect starts making objections and offering resistance, "call an audible" -- adjust and adapt. Display flexibility. Move ahead to achieve your goal - another satisfied customer.
Remember that in order to be able to adapt needfully, you must be prepared. Ad-libs are for amateurs. Preparation will give you the confidence to adapt, should the situation require it.
Prepare Logically -- Adapt Needfully!
Sell Courageously
"Compared to what we ought to be, we are only half awake. The average individual performs far below potential. We possess power of various sorts that we habitually fail to use." William James
After Dr. David Livingstone had begun his now famous missionary work in Africa, a certain group wrote the great pioneer and asked: "Have you found a good road to where you are? If so, please advise. We'd like to send others to assist you."
Dr. Livingstone sent this reply: "If you have those who will come only if they know there is a good road, I don't want them. I want individuals who are strong and courageous -- those who will come if there is no road at all!"
What a lesson in courage - especially for salespeople!
Courage is performing the task that would be easier not to do. Courage is accepting the responsibilities when it would be more comfortable not to accept. It's moving out on faith, when you know full well the risks and the pitfalls that will challenge you. It's marching ahead, blazing a new trail where there are no roads, and sometimes no maps to guide you.
Remember these truths:
"Courage is knowing what not to fear." Socrates
"One man with courage makes a majority." Andrew Jackson
Sell courageously!
After Dr. David Livingstone had begun his now famous missionary work in Africa, a certain group wrote the great pioneer and asked: "Have you found a good road to where you are? If so, please advise. We'd like to send others to assist you."
Dr. Livingstone sent this reply: "If you have those who will come only if they know there is a good road, I don't want them. I want individuals who are strong and courageous -- those who will come if there is no road at all!"
What a lesson in courage - especially for salespeople!
Courage is performing the task that would be easier not to do. Courage is accepting the responsibilities when it would be more comfortable not to accept. It's moving out on faith, when you know full well the risks and the pitfalls that will challenge you. It's marching ahead, blazing a new trail where there are no roads, and sometimes no maps to guide you.
Remember these truths:
"Courage is knowing what not to fear." Socrates
"One man with courage makes a majority." Andrew Jackson
Sell courageously!
Sunday, June 29, 2008
The Power of Persistence
"You've got life to live. It's short, at best. It's a wonderful privilege and a terrific opportunity - and you've been equipped for it. Use your equipment, give it all you've got, work hard and don't quit." Norman Vincent Peale
Gabriela Andersen-Scheiss, a thirty-nine-year-old runner from Switzerland, demonstrated the meaning of persistence to the entire world in her dramatic finish of the marathon in the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.
She had no hope of earning a medal. Her body's tissues were desiccated from the hours of running under a pitiless sun, and she'd fallen twenty minutes behind the leaders. Thirty runners had already completed the 26-mile, 385-yard event when Gabriela came lurching through the tunnel and into the coliseum.
The seventy thousand spectators went to their feet to cheer her on as she staggered in a weaving half- run around the arena. It took five agonizing minutes for her to complete the final lap.
When she finally crossed the finish line and collapsed into the arms of the doctors, the ovation she received was louder and more sustained than the one that had been given to Joan Benoit, the winner of the gold medal. The spectators recognized that, even though Gabriela came in thirty-seventh, she was a winner.
What relationship does that pain-wracked, dehydrated woman's struggle to finish her race bear to your performance as an agent? Plenty!
You are in a race every bit as demanding as a marathon. The conditions are totally different, of course. The crowd that will cheer you on at the end may be small, or even nonexistent. But you must keep running, day after day, even when there's no hope of getting a medal. Why?
Because, like Gabriela Andersen-Scheiss, you don't have to be among the top three to be a winner. You simply have to do your best every step of the way and finish as well as you can.
Study the history of any agent who achieves consistent, high-level production, and you will find that persistence played a major role in his or her success.
As Calvin Coolidge put it: Nothing else in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.
Persistence is a most valuable asset. Individuals who have and use this quality always get somewhere.
Jack and Garry Kinder
The KBI Group
Gabriela Andersen-Scheiss, a thirty-nine-year-old runner from Switzerland, demonstrated the meaning of persistence to the entire world in her dramatic finish of the marathon in the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.
She had no hope of earning a medal. Her body's tissues were desiccated from the hours of running under a pitiless sun, and she'd fallen twenty minutes behind the leaders. Thirty runners had already completed the 26-mile, 385-yard event when Gabriela came lurching through the tunnel and into the coliseum.
The seventy thousand spectators went to their feet to cheer her on as she staggered in a weaving half- run around the arena. It took five agonizing minutes for her to complete the final lap.
When she finally crossed the finish line and collapsed into the arms of the doctors, the ovation she received was louder and more sustained than the one that had been given to Joan Benoit, the winner of the gold medal. The spectators recognized that, even though Gabriela came in thirty-seventh, she was a winner.
What relationship does that pain-wracked, dehydrated woman's struggle to finish her race bear to your performance as an agent? Plenty!
You are in a race every bit as demanding as a marathon. The conditions are totally different, of course. The crowd that will cheer you on at the end may be small, or even nonexistent. But you must keep running, day after day, even when there's no hope of getting a medal. Why?
Because, like Gabriela Andersen-Scheiss, you don't have to be among the top three to be a winner. You simply have to do your best every step of the way and finish as well as you can.
Study the history of any agent who achieves consistent, high-level production, and you will find that persistence played a major role in his or her success.
As Calvin Coolidge put it: Nothing else in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.
Persistence is a most valuable asset. Individuals who have and use this quality always get somewhere.
Jack and Garry Kinder
The KBI Group
Dedicate Yourself to Selling
"To contrive is nothing! To construct is something! To produce is everything!" Captain Eddie Rickenbacker
We are all salespeople! Every day of our lives, we are selling our ideas, our plans, our products and our enthusiasm to everyone.
Dedicate yourself to excellence in selling! Resolve to be a winner! Declare war on mediocrity, on pessimism!
Dedicate yourself to the ideal that yours is a great profession - one that is filled with endless opportunities for service to your fellow man and with rich rewards for yourself.
Dedicate yourself to your company, your organization, and your associates. Prove your gratitude for the opportunities they have provided by giving them your best.
Dedicate yourself to the daily task of turning problems into challenges, difficulties into opportunities, lethargy into enthusiasm, and procrastination into action!
Be done with excuses! Someone has defined excuses as "the tools with which persons with no purpose in view build for themselves great monuments of nothing."
Every day, affirm to yourself the importance of your profession. Tell yourself a hundred times a day that your work is a potential blessing to many people, essential to the economy of our nation, and vital to the welfare and happiness of you and your family.
The depth of your dedication will determine the altitude of your achievement! Sink the roots of dedication deeply into the bedrock of determined purpose, daily preparation, and detailed planning.
Jack and Garry Kinder
The KBI Group
We are all salespeople! Every day of our lives, we are selling our ideas, our plans, our products and our enthusiasm to everyone.
Dedicate yourself to excellence in selling! Resolve to be a winner! Declare war on mediocrity, on pessimism!
Dedicate yourself to the ideal that yours is a great profession - one that is filled with endless opportunities for service to your fellow man and with rich rewards for yourself.
Dedicate yourself to your company, your organization, and your associates. Prove your gratitude for the opportunities they have provided by giving them your best.
Dedicate yourself to the daily task of turning problems into challenges, difficulties into opportunities, lethargy into enthusiasm, and procrastination into action!
Be done with excuses! Someone has defined excuses as "the tools with which persons with no purpose in view build for themselves great monuments of nothing."
Every day, affirm to yourself the importance of your profession. Tell yourself a hundred times a day that your work is a potential blessing to many people, essential to the economy of our nation, and vital to the welfare and happiness of you and your family.
The depth of your dedication will determine the altitude of your achievement! Sink the roots of dedication deeply into the bedrock of determined purpose, daily preparation, and detailed planning.
Jack and Garry Kinder
The KBI Group
Sunday, June 15, 2008
The Most Successful Summer Ever
"Success is not magical or mysterious. Success is the natural consequence of consistently applying basic fundamentals." Jim Rohn
We want to challenge you to make Summer 2008 the most successful ever! Here are 12 sales ideas to propel your Summer Sales Performance:
1. Remind yourself, selling is a numbers game.
2. Look at clients as if they were prospects.
3. Examine the type of market you've successfully worked.
4. Examine your product mix. You may be discussing "X" when your prospect wants "Y."
5. Show a million dollar proposal to someone each week.
6. Have five client review interviews each week.
7. Contact one "over-sixty" prospect each day.
8. Implement marketing strategies, i.e. seminars, direct mail, joint selling.
9. Use these words with prospects twice each day, "Now, here's what I'd like to recommend ..."
10. Spend time with centers of influence.
11. Look back to sales concepts that worked for you in the past.
12. Spend time with a mentor.
Jack and Garry Kinder
The KBI Group
We want to challenge you to make Summer 2008 the most successful ever! Here are 12 sales ideas to propel your Summer Sales Performance:
1. Remind yourself, selling is a numbers game.
2. Look at clients as if they were prospects.
3. Examine the type of market you've successfully worked.
4. Examine your product mix. You may be discussing "X" when your prospect wants "Y."
5. Show a million dollar proposal to someone each week.
6. Have five client review interviews each week.
7. Contact one "over-sixty" prospect each day.
8. Implement marketing strategies, i.e. seminars, direct mail, joint selling.
9. Use these words with prospects twice each day, "Now, here's what I'd like to recommend ..."
10. Spend time with centers of influence.
11. Look back to sales concepts that worked for you in the past.
12. Spend time with a mentor.
Jack and Garry Kinder
The KBI Group
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Extend Your Stay
"Everyone needs at least three ingredients for a successful life - a self fit to live with, a faith fit to live by, and a work fit to live for." Dr. George Sweeting
According to the experts, there are seven steps to take if you wish to extend your stay and live longer, healthier days on earth.
1. Stay active
Once considered an indulgence for a few, regular exercise is now a must for all. By exercising regularly you can do more gradually, greatly benefiting your cardiovascular system, energy level and mental alertness. But don't just create your own exercise program. Ask your doctor to recommend one that's best suited for you.
2. Be optimistic
Physiologically, happiness is a state of mind that is healthy for the body. An optimistic outlook on things will help you make sales, win customer cooperation, gain support from people closest to you - in short, succeed in life and living.
3. Cope with adversity
Adversity, problems, bad things happening are an integral ongoing part of living. If you see the bad things that happen as totally unexpected occurrences, it's easy to sell yourself into believing you are the victim of bad breaks. It's far better to accept the reality that "into each life some rain will fall." You have little or no control over what happens to you. You have complete control over your reaction. It's all a matter of attitude.
4. Reduce your weight
Many people believe it's normal to gain weight as they grow older. This can be a dangerous misconception.
5. Plan significant events
There's nothing more therapeutic than the pursuit of meaningful goals. Studies made of centenarians, those reaching age 100 and beyond, show they have one theme in common -- they have something significant yet to be done. They have something to look forward to -- a motivation for living.
6. Change the pace
Get away from your demanding sales work routine and do something you enjoy. Relief from the day-to-day strains restores the joy of living.
7. Have periodic check-ups
This is an all important first investment in future good health. This is where preventive action begins.
Robust health and a high level of energy - keys to looking and feeling years younger - require more than following a set of rules. It also involves an optimistic, positive state of mind. Scientists are increasingly proving celebrated pianist Arthur Rubinstein was right when he said, "I have found if you love life, life will love you back." Rubinstein lived to be 95.
Jack and Garry Kinder
The KBI Group
According to the experts, there are seven steps to take if you wish to extend your stay and live longer, healthier days on earth.
1. Stay active
Once considered an indulgence for a few, regular exercise is now a must for all. By exercising regularly you can do more gradually, greatly benefiting your cardiovascular system, energy level and mental alertness. But don't just create your own exercise program. Ask your doctor to recommend one that's best suited for you.
2. Be optimistic
Physiologically, happiness is a state of mind that is healthy for the body. An optimistic outlook on things will help you make sales, win customer cooperation, gain support from people closest to you - in short, succeed in life and living.
3. Cope with adversity
Adversity, problems, bad things happening are an integral ongoing part of living. If you see the bad things that happen as totally unexpected occurrences, it's easy to sell yourself into believing you are the victim of bad breaks. It's far better to accept the reality that "into each life some rain will fall." You have little or no control over what happens to you. You have complete control over your reaction. It's all a matter of attitude.
4. Reduce your weight
Many people believe it's normal to gain weight as they grow older. This can be a dangerous misconception.
5. Plan significant events
There's nothing more therapeutic than the pursuit of meaningful goals. Studies made of centenarians, those reaching age 100 and beyond, show they have one theme in common -- they have something significant yet to be done. They have something to look forward to -- a motivation for living.
6. Change the pace
Get away from your demanding sales work routine and do something you enjoy. Relief from the day-to-day strains restores the joy of living.
7. Have periodic check-ups
This is an all important first investment in future good health. This is where preventive action begins.
Robust health and a high level of energy - keys to looking and feeling years younger - require more than following a set of rules. It also involves an optimistic, positive state of mind. Scientists are increasingly proving celebrated pianist Arthur Rubinstein was right when he said, "I have found if you love life, life will love you back." Rubinstein lived to be 95.
Jack and Garry Kinder
The KBI Group
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