NEVER WAIT UNTIL THE END TO CLOSE
January 18, 2011
Closing is a process, not a step. When you meet with a client or prospect, you are continually helping them get more comfortable with you and more excited about the possibilities. Continually asking the right clarifying questions and working toward getting approval helps set the stage for you to ask for the order as the next logical part of the progression. Read more
EDUCATION DEFINED
January 17, 2011
When people hear the word “education,” they tend to think of formal education, as in universities and degree requirements and GPAs and exams and long, pointless lectures about somebody who died 350 years ago. In a country that no longer exists.
But when I say education, what I’m mainly talking about is self-education. Formal education is institutionalized learning where they feed you a certain amount of material from a predetermined menu. There are general education requirements and core classes that may or may not ever pertain to what you’re going to actually DO for the rest of your life.
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GO IN SMILING, NOT SWINGING
January 16, 2011
The critical skills in negotiation are being tenacious and keeping your cool. Always remember that tenacious does NOT have to mean confrontational. Nobody likes to be backed into a corner. Therefore, raising your voice, and being forceful, or making threats may work against you in the business trenches.
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WARM UP THE CROWD
January 15, 2011
No professional speaker starts a speech by launching right into a complex subject. Walking straight into a meeting and starting to make the pitch before anyone even sits down is a classic mistake too many business people make. A business conversation is rarely (if ever!) all business. Small talk is a big deal, because it gives all parties a chance to relax and get a feel for each other as people. And the best way to loosen anybody up is to get them talking about themselves.
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YOUR UNIQUE VALUE PROPOSITION
January 14, 2011
What value do your customers get from your product or service? And why should they buy from you instead of the competition? Answer both of those questions clearly and simply and you’ve got a unique value proposition.
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VALIDATE EVERYTHING—ASSUMPTIONS WILL GET YOU KILLED!
January 13, 2011
Validating is a fancy word that basically means reassurance. It’s simple and it works like this: you say something to me. I believe I know what you mean, but just to be sure, I ask a question to confirm that I’ve heard you correctly.
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WHAT TO KEEP & WHAT TO CUT
January 12, 2011
When there is an economic shift, it’s time to rethink, restructure, refresh, re-energize and reinvent every aspect of your business that is not getting results. Go back through your business plan, your marketing plan, your budget, and your systems to see where and how you could do more with less. You might need to retool and upgrade your systems. Are there fixed costs you could change to performance-based or bonus-based compensation?
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VALUE YOUR PEOPLE
January 11, 2011
It’s mind-blowing to see the results a great leader can get by placing a high value on people and treating them well—and that means treating them with respect! And it also means making the effort to get to know who they are as people and what’s important to them. It means paying attention and learning what they need from you to get their job done and give their best.
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CONFIDENCE BREEDS CONFIDENCE
January 10, 2011
The military approach to business is based solidly on courage and confidence. If you are not completely confident about your product or service or your ability to deliver it—fix that now. And I mean RIGHT NOW. No excuses. Read more
HANGING TOUGH
January 5, 2011
In business, everything starts with a plan. The plan provides a map, a direction, and the basis for well-thought out systems for getting where you’re going. What a plan does best is give you a way to proactively take responsibility for every possible factor within your control. But business is still part of life on Earth, where things don’t always go according to plan. Customer’s needs change. Markets shift. New competitors show up. Shit happens. Read more
HONESTY TRUMPS TRICKERY, ALWAYS
January 4, 2011
It may come as a surprise to learn that there is no substitute for truthfulness and honesty in negotiating a business transaction. Bending the truth, providing inaccurate information or even outright lying to get your way is sure to backfire sooner or later. If the other party loses confidence in your credibility during negotiations, the deal may not occur. Read more
SYSTEMS ARE 100% MANDATORY
January 3, 2011
Think you don’t need systems? Better think again. The business battlefield is one hell of a competitive environment. Winning demands precision. Just winging it DOES NOT CUT IT anymore. With the right systems in place, your business will operate smoothly, with the least possible effort and energy expended. Your business will be more profitable and much easier to run. Systems are the key to delivering a consistent, repeatable, excellent performance.
Establishing systems ensures that every part of your business is being used to its full potential. Read more
OVERCOMING OBJECTIONS
December 30, 2010
The best way to handle objections is to prevent them from coming up in the first place.
For example, if you’ve asked enough questions to establish what they really want, what their price point is, and how important this deal is to them, that makes it tough for them to suddenly insist that the price is too high. It’s too late for that; you’ve already had that discussion. Read more
WHY YOU NEED A BUSINESS BATTLE PLAN
December 17, 2010
If you want to drive from Chicago to Albuquerque, do you just jump in a car, start driving, and see what happens? Drive real fast in no particular direction and hope you get there sooner or later? Not a chance. If you’re a rational person you’ll start with a roadmap or a GPS, and you’ll probably check more than one to compare and consider your options. You’ll ask people who have made the drive before to give you advice. You’ll find out how long it will take, what the landmarks and milestones are, which route suits your purposes best. You’ll make sure your car is in good shape so it won’t die on the way and leave you stuck in the middle of nowhere. Read more
CREATING A BUDGET
December 13, 2010
It’s not complicated to figure out and it doesn’t take a math or accounting degree to understand, create, and follow a budget. And it’s a great idea to do this yourself instead of hiring somebody to take care of it for you when you first start out. Why? Because that gives you a better handle on how the numbers work. You will KNOW what’s going on instead of taking someone else’s word for it. And—you’ll be able to guide them in setting up the kind of reports that will make sense to YOU instead of having to read piles of printouts that confuse the hell out of you. –Click here to continue reading–
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