Are You Continuing To Grow?

Last week I was in Tampa doing a seminar for a very successful company. In fact, the company is so successful and so are the sales staff that I was nervous about speaking to them. After all, what could I tell them that they don't already know? Some of the sales staff have been there 20 years and all make far more than the industry average. The company is a great organization that is generous with its staff, customers and with me.

As I started to speak, they lit up with enthusiasm. They took piles of notes and participated much more than average. It struck me that at many seminars, it is the people who are the most successful that want to learn any new thing that can add to their success. The ones who are uninterested and who feel they have seen it all never seem to be the top earners.

It struck me that I too have not ended my education. I continue to read many books each month on new technology, business, the web, sales, management and many other topics.

I ask you...if you were going in for a major operation today, would you choose a doctor who stopped reading when he got out of med school, or one who constantly continued to grow? I'll bet you would want the one who kept up on new developments. That is why I urge you to keep developing. What is a challenge you face or opportunity you see coming? Go to a book site like www.amazon.com and look for books on management, or sales or other topics. You will be amazed at what is there. I think you will also find that just thinking about business gets the ideas flowing.

I hope you and your entire staff will keep educating yourself. May I suggest you pay each memeber of your staff $25.00 for reading a book and doing a repoort for your staff meetings. I think it wiull get your entiure team stimulated. They may even talk about business at the water cooler instead of sports and celebrities gone wild.

Killing The Sale By Talking

As you know from my seminars, I recommend that everyone have a pocket PC or smart phone to keep track of business and ideas. Following my own advice, I went out this week to AT&T and bought the new and advanced AT&T Slider smart phone. It's great. It is a 3 megapixel camera, navigational device, phone, pocket PC, Ipod and more all in one handy package. It's kind of expensive at about $400.00. I was presold when I go there, so all the salesperson had to do was write me up to get a good sale. As he is writing, he tells me that he doesn't like this model and he things the iphone by Apple is superior. YIKES in one sentence he would have killed the sale if I was not so presold on the model. He would have created a "have to think it over" situation. He would have snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.

The lesson here is that we have to be ever vigilant of what we say and do when selling. Watch the customers eyes and stick to the plan. If a customer says he'll take it, it is time to write and take the money. If you have to say anything, complement the decision. Never ever say you wouldn't buy it. I know that sounds rudimentary but the salesman who did it makes a living selling very day. Take a look at sales you have lost in the final minute and ask yourself if it was something you said or did.

Will Social Networking Work For You?

One way to sell on line that many "legitimate "businesses overlook is social networking. This entails postings on discussion boards, groups, blogs etc. Here is a personal example that shows how well it does work.

My wife has had a lot of foot problems. She belongs to a discussion board for people who go on cruise vacations. She noticed a post there that raved about a brand of shoes called MTB. They are very expensive but seem to help. She bought a pair for $250.00 and they helped so much, she bought another. I saw how great they made her feel, so I bought a pair for myself.

For the company, that is $750.00 in sales from a couple who would never have founds them. Their cost to advertise is zero. How many more will they sell from people reading this blog?

You might consider spending a few minutes each week using social networking to boost your business.