Top Secrets of Marketing & Sales

Many people don't think it's possible to dominate their market, because they've never clearly identified exactly which market, businesses or individuals they need to reach. In our last episode we explained the importance of mindset when it comes to market domination, and how if you don't think it's possible, you'll never even attempt it. And it's that failure to attempt it which ensures that the doubters will never achieve it. But what about those who DO think it's possible to dominate, but just don't know how to do it? For Those Who DO Believe it's Possible to Dominate, It Starts with Targeting What types of customers do you like interacting with? Those who are smart, focused, affluent and pleasant to deal with? Or those who are dull, scattered, broke and obnoxious? OK, it's a rhetorical question. But it's designed to demonstrate that while many business owners and salespeople THINK they want to sell to everyone, the truth of the matter is quite different. And the only time we'll even consider selling to someone we don't like, don't trust, don't respect or can't stand is when we are truly desperate. And that's never a good position in which to find ourselves. So if you want to dominate your market in a way that's congruent with how you'd like to live your ideal life, then it's best to choose your initial target markets based on your best fit -- meaning the people and businesses you actually want to interact with. So who do you like interacting with? What types of people or businesses? If you're selling B2B, would you prefer selling to bankers or plumbers? Lawyers or electricians? Business owners or purchasing agents? What's you gut feel? Or better yet, what does your own experience tell you? Whenever we set out to dominate a market, it's a test. And the purpose of the test is to find out if we've chosen well. If we did, great, we can continue. And if we've chosen poorly, we can find that out quickly enough to change course and target a different market that might work out better, before it's too late. This is a far better approach than the one taken by those who find themselves living for years, or even decades, in a market they hate, or can barely tolerate, because they mistakenly think they have no other options. Which Market or Markets are Even Worthy of Your Time? In our Total Market Domination course, we directly address the topic of worthy markets and sub-markets. Because if the market you're targeting is not worthy of your time, meaning they don't have the need, desire, budget, money or the willingness to spend it with you, then you are wasting your time and you need to change your approach! Is your market large enough? Do they have a demonstrated need for the products and services you offer? Does it provide a minimum 7 figure potential for you? And even if the answer is yes, how will you manage all that? What's the best approach to take to create awareness and dominate your market? If you don't know the answers to these questions, then how will you ever succeed in making it happen? If you want some help in this area, be sure to check out my web presentation entitled Programming Clients to Choose You. You can access it now at topsecrets.com/choose. If you're already a Total Market Domination client, then be sure to review our Module 2 lessons on Targeting and Selecting TMD-Worthy prospects. If you're not, then why not join us? To schedule a time to talk, visit topsecrets.com/call. That's topsecrets.com/call. If you're tired of flat or declining sales and losing business to your competitors, be sure to check out my latest web presentation entitle...

I'm not a huge fan of the "woo-woo" or "rah-rah" aspects of mindset that are preached by other people. But, if you plan to dominate your market, you need to have a few solid, concrete aspects of mindset in place. Henry Ford said, "Whether you think you can, or you think you can't -- you're right." I think that's a reasonable statement related to mindset. Because if you think you can do something, you're a lot more likely to try it, and if you think you can't do something, then you're not very likely to try it at all. If you don't try, then it's impossible to succeed, so it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. William Shakespeare stated it far more eloquently, when he said "Our doubts are traitors and make us lose the good we oft might win, by fearing to attempt." A solid rule of mindset is that if you don't have it right, you are very unlikely to take the steps necessary to achieve success. But what about the law of attraction stuff -- the law of attraction mindset -- which tells people that our thoughts alone will attract into our lives the people and circumstances we need to accomplish our goals? While I like the idea of that, at best, I believe it is incomplete and at worst, misleading. Some people take it to a "woo-woo" extreme by implying that it works all by itself. But I've never known anyone who has accomplished anything significant, just by wishing it into existence or attracting it with the mind. But having said that, it's certainly true that when we're crystal clear about what we want, then we're far more likely to notice the people, circumstances and opportunities that will allow us to get it. So my take is that while a law of attraction mindset may be a decent start, it's no substitute for being consciously aware of opportunities and taking action on them. So what does mindset have to do creating top of mind awareness and dominating your market? Well, it all starts with believing that it's possible. Many people don't. They can't imagine a scenario in which the very best prospects for the products and services they offer, know who they are, know what they do and have the ability to choose them over every other option. Since they don't believe it's possible, they never take the very specific actions that would allow them to make it happen. Essentially then, their lack of belief kills their opportunity before it ever has a chance to be born. But here's the truth. Every market has leaders and followers. And leaders dominate, while followers are often left fighting for the scraps. The leaders have the advantage of not just believing that it's possible to dominate. They know it's possible, because they have already done it. All you really have to do is look at your market and ask yourself: Who do you think is perceived as the leader for the products and services you offer? Is it you? Or is it someone else? Either way, it proves that leadership, and ultimately market domination, are possible. If there is currently no one in your market who is seen as the leader, then shouldn't that make it relatively easy for you to stake your claim to the title? Market domination is happening all the time, in every different field and in every different market. But it doesn't happen by accident. If you want to know more, check out my web presentation entitled Programming Clients to Choose You. You can access it now at topsecrets.com/choose. If you're already a Total Market Domination client, then review our Module 1 lessons on the Mindset of Market Domination. If you're not, then join us! To schedule a time to talk, visit topsecrets.com/call. That's topsecrets.com/call.

Sales follow-up is essential. How often should I follow up with prospects and clients? It's a question I get a lot, and as attention spans have shortened over the years, my thoughts on this subject have changed... but not in the way you might expect. I am very often asked how often we should follow up with prospects and clients. And while there is no "one size fits all" answer, there are a few guidelines I've found helpful over the years. Sales Follow-Up Tip #1 First off, I believe it is usually better to err on the side of too much contact, rather than too little. Most people do exactly the opposite, and find out it's a problem when they go back and discover that the prospect they've been targeting has purchased from someone else. There are many reasons people give for not wanting to follow up too aggressively, but the most often cited is that they don't want to be a _________. Can you fill in the blank? The don't want to be a pest. Maybe you've said this to yourself on occasion, or maybe you've even said it to a prospect. "I don't want to be a pest." The sentiment is good. We shouldn't want to be a pest. However, being a pest is more often about the quality of communication than just the quantity. If I keep calling someone and asking, "Do you want to buy?" "Are you ready to place an order?" "Are you ready to pull the trigger?" "Can we get going today?" That can certainly come across like a pest. But if we're adding value in the communication instead, reaching out to them in an effort to help them identify and overcome obstacles, that can be seen as very helpful. When you're taking a helpful approach, then it's very unlikely you'll be seen as a pest and you'll be able to contact them more often. Sales Follow-Up Tip #2 When you have established rapport or a working relationship with a good prospect or client, ask how often they would like you to be in touch. If they give you a rough guideline for contact (for example "every 90 days or so"), abide by their wishes, while keeping in mind the idea of #1, that it's better to err on the side of too much contact rather than too little. So if they say every 90 days or so, maybe schedule it for 80, or 75, or even 70. Most people won't be paying attention to their calendar that closely. If something interesting is happening, use it as an excuse to contact them even earlier. For most businesses, I recommend at least a monthly newsletter or bulletin you can put out. If you can get your prospects interested in receiving that, then you'll be reaching them at least once a month, and it won't count toward the 90 days or whatever your prospect determined would be the optimal amount of contact. Sales Follow-Up Tip #3 Attention spans have shortened over the years. For that reason, putting out shorter, punchier content more frequently might work better. However, there are exceptions to this. People WILL pay attention to longer communications, whether it's video, audio or text, as long as it remains interesting and engaging. You can engage people for more than an hour, or you can bore them in less than five minutes. It all depends on what you're saying and how it directly benefits them. Important: Don't Base the Frequency of Your Marketing on the Preferences of Non-Buyers I was once told by someone who was not a client of mine, that my marketing was too aggressive. I thanked him for his opinion and I removed him from my follow up, so we wouldn't contact him again. But I didn't change the frequency or the aggressiveness of my marketing, because I track my leads and I know that my methods work extremely well with those who actually have an interest in my products and services and the ability to buy. This experience caused me to adopt a policy that has served me well for many, many years.

When visiting London, many years ago, I noticed signs throughout their subway system -- what they call the underground. The signs said "Mind the Gap," referring to the gap between the train and the station platform. It stuck me as a unusual combination of words, and since then, I've always used it as an analogy for the gaps we encounter in business, and how important it is for all of us to Mind the Gaps every day. The gap they refer to in the London underground is the physical gap or space between the train and the station platform. In some cases, the gap is just a few inches wide... enough to lose a shoe, if you're not careful. In other areas, the gap could be nearly a foot wide... enough to lose a small child if you're not careful! But today, I'd like to encourage you to examine and "Mind the Gaps" in your own life and business. There are actually two definitions of mind that come into play here. The first is to be mindful or aware. Are you mindful of the gaps in your business? Are you aware of them? Do you know what they are and recognize that they're there? The second definition means being concerned or disturbed about the gaps. Do you mind the gaps? Do the gaps bother you? Do they annoy you? If not, maybe they should... The Gaps in Your Business: There are Many Many of these gaps can be measured in terms of the difference between desire and reality... between what we want and what we have. For example, the gap between our desired sales volume and our actual sales volume. The gap between the type of clients we want and the type of clients we actually have. The gap between our desired profit and our actual profit. The gap between what we would love to accomplish in our businesses and what we're currently accomplishing. The gap between what we want to provide for our families and what we're actually providing. The gaps between desire and reality are practically limitless. It doesn't take a lot of looking to find them. But in my experience, there are two primary gaps we need to fill if we want to address all the other ones. The Two Primary Gaps in Business First are the gaps in what we know. Particularly the gaps related to the actions we should be taking. For salespeople and business owners it could be gaps in their knowledge of who to approach or how to approach them, what they should say or how they should say it. Gaps in what we know are deadly, because if we don't know what to do, or how to do it, then we have very little likelihood of succeeding. Second are the gaps in what we do. There are many people who know exactly what they need to do to succeed, but for some reason, they consistently fail to do it. In sales, it's one thing to know that we need to be prospecting daily, but it's entirely another thing to actually do it as consistently as we know we should. Knowing and Doing are Two Different Things Beyond the gaps in what we know and what we do, are the things that Mark Twain referred to as "Things we know that just ain't so." Whenever we have preconceived, but incorrect notions about things, we create even more unnecessary gaps in our lives that need to be bridged. So what are the biggest gaps that are currently holding you back? Are they primarily gaps in knowledge? Do you just need to know more? Or are they gaps in doing? Do you just need to take more consistent action on things you already know? In our Total Market Domination course, we work with our clients to first eliminate the gaps in what they know, to give them the ideas, direction and step-by-step processes to follow to dominate their markets. But we also address the gaps in what they do, encouraging them to take the necessary actions each day in their businesses. If you're already a Total Market Domination client, I encourage you to log in and start bridging wha...

I started a new challenge this month for my Total Market Domination clients. It's about how to grow your sales and start dominating your market in just 22 minutes a day. Sound crazy? Not when you consider the fact that many people, in fact most people, blow a lot more time than that on activities that are completely counterproductive or even harmful, while spending little to no time at all on the very specific activities that will grow your sales and allow you to dominate your market. For a long time, news radio stations like 1010 WINS in New York and KYW in Philadelphia have promoted a tagline that says "You give us 22 minutes, we'll give you the world." The idea is that if you listen to them for 22 minutes straight, you'll hear a combination of local, regional and national news, sports, weather and of course, a bunch of commercials, so you'll know what's going on in the world and also, who you need to buy stuff from. And it occurred to me that millions of business owners do exactly this each day. Not just with news, but with anything. It's easy to spend lots more than 22 minutes a day filling our brains with, whatever... news, sports, music or talk shows, watching TV or YouTube videos, surfing the web and distracting us from our own lives and our own responsibilities. What does that do for focus and productivity? In most cases, it drives it right into the toilet. I know people who will tune into political shows for hours each week -- in some cases, hours each day -- making themselves furious, driving up their blood pressure, getting themselves angry and frustrated about the fact that not everyone sees world issues the same way they do. They obsess about how other people are thinking, what other people should be doing and how other people should be behaving, completely oblivious to the fact that when they're so wrapped up in other people's lives and actions, they're completely missing out on their own lives and failing to take the actions they should be taking to move things forward. So where's the market domination magic in 22 minutes? Well, my theory is that if you start each day, or at least each work day focused for a minimum of just 22 minutes on the specific activities that will allow you to grow your sales and dominate your market, a bunch of good things will happen. First of all, you're setting your own agenda. You're not allowing yourself to be distracted or sucked into other people's drama. You're starting the work day with the activities you decided are most important to you. That means you're acting on your own priorities, instead of reacting to the priorities of others. Second, you're setting a direction for yourself for the day. Henry Ward Beecher said, "The first hour is the rudder of the day." This implies that the first hour of each day controls your direction, and that is very often true. Stub your toe getting out of bed and if you focus on that, you can use it as an excuse to be miserable all day. But if you take hold of the first 22 minutes or so of your business day and focus it on the activities that will allow you to grow your sales and dominate your market, you'll adjust the rudder and change your direction to create a much better day. Third, activities stretch and hours expand. 22 minutes on social media can turn into hours. 22 minutes on other people's priorities can turn into days. But when you start your work day with 22 minutes of your own priorities, it's likely you'll find an excuse to keep going. Just as the news stations want you to start with 22 minutes and then keep it on all day, this same logic applies to positive habits like sales growth and market domination. You commit to 22 minutes in the morning, but you might end up doing 30 or 45 or an hour. But now, the hours that are stretching out are the ones related to your priorities,

Uh oh. Sales have dropped off a bit. Not a huge decline, just a few percent. Well maybe, four, six, eight, something like that. No big deal, right? Well, it could be no big deal, or it could be one of the Five Early Symptoms of a Seriously Struggling Business. I have conversations all the time with salespeople and business owners who are dealing with various issues in their businesses. Maybe it seems like a small issue. Maybe it's a few small issues. Or maybe it's one BIG issue that indicates there might be trouble ahead. So today, I'd like to outline Five Early Symptoms of a Seriously Struggling Business. 1. Undiagnosed Sales Decreases. Maybe it's just a percentage point or two. Maybe it's more like eight to ten percent or even more. Regardless of the numbers, if your sales are declining you need to know why. Sometimes, a decrease in sales means nothing. But if you don't know WHY your sales are going down... If you don't have the knowledge or experience you need to fix it... If you don't know what's causing the decline, or more importantly, if you're not completely clear on the specific actions you need to take to turn it around, then it could be an indication of a serious problem. In some cases, an experienced salesperson may see a drop in sales because they lost a single account. That's not catastrophic, unless they were entirely dependent upon that one account for the bulk of their sales OR if they don't have a tested, proven system in place for replacing that account. If your sales are dropping, there's one or more reasons for that. You need to identify those reasons and address them as quickly as possible. 2. An Unpaid or Underpaid Owner. In the early stages, many business owners either can't or don't take a pay check. If that's you, don't be okay with that! Yes, it may be necessary for a short period of time, but if it starts to stretch out at all, that's a serious indication that you are doing things wrong. In business and sales, excellent performance is its own reward. When you're doing it right, it pays. When you're doing it wrong, it doesn't pay. So if you're not getting paid, it means you're not yet doing it right. 3. A lack of urgency in addressing issues. Complacency is a killer. Waiting to see what will happen is a death sentence. Imagine you have nothing but a big plot of dirt for your front lawn. Someone comes by an offers to plant some grass for you. You say, "no thanks, I'm going to wait to see what will happen." Is it likely you'll end up with a beautiful, manicured lawn? Probably not. Inaction almost always leads to a decline into chaos and disorder. Waiting for your problems to go away on their own is often the worst possible course of action. 4. Counting on others to fix it. I've talked with countless business owners who think they can hire the "magic salesperson or employee" who can turn it all around for them. But here's the problem. Let's say such a person exists, and let's say you happen to find that person. And let's say you even have the money to pay them. How can you possibly help or assist that person, let alone manage them, if you don't understand the problems your business is facing yourself? In our work with clients, we help them understand the issues they're facing so they can address those issues head on and provide intelligent, thoughtful guidance for all those they employ. 5. Failing to learn what actions to take. Trial and error in business is inevitable. But there's no need to make it your business model. Monthly overhead costs are incessant. They eat away at businesses a little at a time. It's death by a thousand paper cuts. So while many people think they're saving money by not investing in the solutions that would actually help them to grow their sales and profits, they are actually hemorrhaging money every month on rent, mortgage, payroll,

Where do you go to get clients? Do you get them online? Do you rely on your local BNI group? Do you prospect through your local Chamber of Commerce? Do you get most of your leads via referrals? Regardless of where you go to get clients, the real question becomes "how's that working for you?" Are you able to generate adequate lead flow to produce the level of sales you need? And if not, what are you going to do today to fix it? "I still don't know where to go to get clients." After a seminar I conducted for a large group at a trade show, a business owner approached me and said, "I really liked what you said about bringing new clients through the door like clockwork, but I've never been able to do that. I've been in business for a long time but believe it or not, I still don't know where to go to get clients." That Statement Floored Me! When someone opens up like that, I try to be empathetic, because I understand how incredibly frustrating it is for anyone who lacks the ability to bring new clients through the door consistently -- like clockwork. Every day becomes a challenge and every night a struggle wondering, "what can I do tomorrow to get business?" But this was different. Here's someone who had been in business for years, who had a very specific problem, recognized he had the problem, but failed to take the necessary actions to fix it. So I said, "Let me ask you a question. What would you do if you didn't know where to go to get groceries?" He looked at me blankly. I continued, "What would you do if you didn't know where to go to get shelter for your family?" He continued staring at me. "Seriously," I said, my voice growing louder, "what if your kids were hungry and you didn't know where to go to get food? What would you DO?" I nearly shouted that last part, and he looked a bit concerned. "What would you DO to get clients?" I smiled a bit to break the tension and said "You'd figure it out, wouldn't you? If you couldn't afford to wait years for a meal, you'd figure it out right now, wouldn't you? If you had no place for your kids to stay? You'd figure it out. Well it's the same with getting clients! You can't just wait around hoping that some day, some how, something will magically change." "You need to create a solution and you need to do that right now! If you don't know where to go to get clients, you don't know how to find or attract them to get their attention, then you need a system for making that happen..." Here's a person who had been in business for more than five years, able to bring in clients here and there, just enough to stay in business, but nothing consistent... and never took action to fix it! I wish I could tell you that this person is the exception, rather than the rule, but he's not! In fact, most of the people struggling in business today, do so because they don't have a system or process in place for creating the awareness they need to bring in new customers like clockwork. This would be like McDonald's not having a process in place to make hamburgers, or Domino's not having a process in place to make pizza. So Make No Mistake: Clients are the Most Essential Ingredient in Your Business and if You Don't Know How to Get Clients, You are Failing in Your Most Important Function! Getting customers begins with knowing you have to do it, knowing it's a priority. It continues with targeting... identifying the primary markets, sub-markets and people who need to know you're alive. It's about creating communication and initiating contact in a way that attracts instead of repels. It's about follow-up that's smart and strategic, instead of random, haphazard and annoying. And ultimately, it's about programming clients to choose you. Programming Clients to Choose You

Many salespeople just "wing it" when talking to clients. They think a little product knowledge and a decent personality are all it takes to win clients and close sales. And while those traits can help, primarily with those who were already predisposed to buy from you, they certainly won't close everyone. Nor will they take the place of extreme competence -- being exceptionally good at what you do and how you do it. You know it often looks like those who are extremely successful at selling are able to just walk into a situation, say whatever comes into their minds and close sales. But that is very rarely, if ever, what's actually happening. In most cases, those experienced sales pros are using very specific and strategic communication -- they're saying things in a certain way and in a certain order that is likely to get people to say yes. Some have been doing the right things for so long, they might not even realize what they're doing any more. It becomes second nature. It's a state that some refer to as unconscious competence. But before we get to that, let's talk about the previous stages that most people have to move through to get there. First is... Unconscious Incompetence This is the stage where people don't even realize they're doing things wrong, let alone WHAT they're doing wrong. They either don't think about their actions at all, or they think the actions they're taking are probably fine, but outside circumstances are blocking their success. The unconsciously incompetent are easy to spot, because they're often blaming others for their poor results. They'll blame the market they're in, the quality of the leads they got, the unreceptiveness of their prospects, an uncooperative economy, too much competition, too little time, their boss (if they're an employee,) their employees (if they're the boss,) or any other uncontrollable factor outside themselves. The unconsciously incompetent are simply not yet conscious of the fact that they can and should be doing things differently. So if they never make it out of that stage, they either quit, fail or get fired. But those who eventually admit to themselves that there are things they need to learn, can pass into the next stage, which is... Conscious Incompetence ...meaning they now recognize that there are things they need to learn, things they haven't yet mastered. Things, that, once mastered, will make all the difference in their business or sales careers. Now you would think that when someone reaches this state, they would be excited to do everything possible to quickly identify the specific areas that need to be fixed and address them right away. But in many cases, that doesn't happen. Instead, they might just continue to muddle around, trying this or that, experimenting with any shiny new object, while frustrating themselves, their prospects, their coworkers and everyone else around them. You can spot those in a state of conscious incompetence, because they're often distracted, frustrated, angry, exhausted, exasperated or all of the above. Those who never make it past this stage will also quit, fail or get fired. Which is why the rate of small business and sales failure is so high. But those who do make it past this stage, either by blind luck or by actually seeking out the people, strategies and systems that can help them, will then move on to the next stage, which is... Conscious Competence This is the stage where people can start to see positive results regularly. They're consciously taking action, gauging their results, identifying what works well and what works poorly and adapting their actions along the way. The consciously competent have much better attitudes than either the unconsciously incompetent or the consciously incompetent, because they now know that they're on to something.

Show me a business that has no secrets and I'll show you a business that has no value. Over the years, I've taken some heat for our brand Topsecrets.com and for my belief that it's our business secrets that create the most value in our organizations. Still, there are people who say, "there are no secrets in business." Some just state it as fact with no attempt to explain or justify it. Others claim the only secret to business success is "hard work." Wow. I really hate that one! Still others say there are no secrets because everything you need to know is already out there. Fair enough. But even if all the secrets to business success are really "out there" -- and I don't believe for a moment they are -- if you don't know them, they're still a secret... at least from you. Business Secrets I think it's ridiculous to believe there are no secrets in business. Some of the most obvious examples of secrets that create value would be Google's search algorithm, the formula for Coca-Cola or the recipe for Kentucky Fried Chicken. In each of these cases, the secret itself is responsible for much of the value of the business. Lots of restaurants offer fried chicken, but only KFC can offer the Colonel's famous recipe. The most important business secrets are often protected legally as "intellectual property." This means that even if the secrets themselves were divulged, they would still be protected legally from unauthorized use by others. So what do business secrets have to do with selling or small business ownership? I think it has everything to do with that. What's the secret sauce behind your business? What's the thing or two that sets you apart and allows you to achieve results your competitors could never achieve? Do you have a proven system in place for creating awareness of yourself, your brand and your business among the very best prospects in your market for the products and services you offer? Are you able to consistently create sequences of clear, compelling communication that make prospective clients actually want to initiate contact with you, interact with you, and do business with you? Do you have a process in place that allows you to disqualify poor quality prospects quickly, so you're not wasting time on those with no need, no desire, no money, no budget, no willingness to spend with you? Do you have a tested, proven procedure in place for bringing new customers through the door like clockwork? If not, how much do you think secrets like that could be worth to the success of your business? Some people squander months or years trying to figure it all out for themselves. They hemorrhage tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands or even more in wasted time and botched opportunity cost. And since they're not even aware of the clients and sales they're missing out on, they have absolutely no idea what operating without these secrets is really costing them! Can you do business without learning these secrets and putting them into practice in your organization? Sure you can. It's likely you've done so to date. But are you leaving enormous amounts of sales, profits and good old fashioned cashola on the table, if you keep doing business without these things? I'm going to say "yes." Big time. But of course, that's just my opinion. If you'd like to have a candid, one-on-one conversation about if or how any of this applies directly to your business, give us a call, toll-free, at 1-800-494-2721. I've set aside some time in the next 48 hours to speak with you personally, to help you get really clear on the realistic growth potential of your current business over the next twelve months,

What are you currently telling the market about what you do and how you do it? Do you talk about service? Do you talk about professionalism? Do you talk about speed of service or competitive pricing? Whatever it is you're saying, be careful. Because the things you tell the market about yourself can be deadly. David: Hi and welcome to the podcast. Today cohost Chris Templeton and I will be talking about the things we say to the market about ourselves, and how they impact our business. Welcome Chris. Chris: Hi David. You know, in business we have to tell the market about ourselves so that they'll know what to expect. What do you mean when you say that can be deadly? They are likely to believe you. David: Well, whenever we're going to the market with a message, particularly if the market is not familiar with us, when we go out there with any sort of marketing message, I generally go in with the idea that, for the most part, they're going to be inclined to believe what you say. So if I go to the market with a message that says "I'm the fastest at what I do, I provide lightning fast service, I'm very responsive." Then people are going to, even if they don't initially believe it, they're going to expect it of you simply because you said it. If I go to the market and I say "I provide the most cost effective service, I can provide the cheapest price," then for whatever it's worth, they're going to accept that and say, “okay, this company says they provide a low price. I'm going to go in with the idea that they probably have low prices.” Can you deliver on your promise consistently? It may or may not be the case, but that's likely how I'm going to go in. In the early stages of relationship, whatever we tell the market about us, they're likely to believe. So we want to make sure that we're saying things that we can deliver on consistently. Sometimes our temptation to try to give people what we think they want, leads us to make claims or statements about our businesses that may not be in our best interest. Chris: So give everybody some ideas of the types of claims that you think are going to create the biggest problems. Need Help with This? Schedule a Call David: Well, I think in a lot of cases it's like the examples that I gave. If you say that you're fast, what type of clients are you going to attract? People who do things at the last minute. You're going to attract procrastinators, because they're going to expect you to get it done quickly. If you go to the market and say you're the cheapest, then they're going to expect you to be able to come in with the lowest price every time, which would directly impact your margins. What are you geared to deliver? So very often the type of things that we think a client might want, like speed and price are the things that are toughest, particularly if we're not geared to deliver that. Now in different professions it's different. I mean obviously in a medical profession you're not going to go in talking about price or speed. You're going to be talking about your ability to create a positive outcome for a patient, right? That's the type of thing that you're going to want to be focused on. In other industries and other businesses, the sales approach is often geared toward things like creativity. We come up with creative solutions. If you're in some sort of advertising space, then it might all be about creativity. And very often the idea of creativity and low price don't always go together. Because in order to have the creativity, you might have to have employees who cost a little more to be able to generate those ideas. And sometimes these ideas are incompatible.

Rejection in sales comes with the territory. When you're trying to sell something, people will often say no. They'll tell you they don't need it, don't want it, can't use it. And by the way, "why are you bothering me about this?" While rejection in sales is a given, we don't have to take it personally. Hi, and welcome to the podcast today, cohost Chris Templeton and I will be talking about rejection -- why it's inevitable in sales, but why we also don't need to take it personally. Welcome Chris. Chris: Hi David. You know, in sales we've all been rejected at some point. Unless we're brand new, then rejection just hasn't happened yet. But rejection hurts, you know, it feels so personal. Need Help with This? Schedule a Call So how do you recommend that we don't take it personally? David: It can be hard because very often we do. And you'd mentioned new sales people, those who haven't been rejected yet. The first time it happens, it's like what? What do you mean? No? It's hard to understand. And it is easy to take personally. But if the prospect really doesn't need what it is that we have to offer, then there's nothing personal about that. It's simply a matter of we're saying, Hey, we have this thing. I have this thing. I think this could really help you. They look at it, they say, no, I don't think it can help me. There's nothing personal in that. It's essentially at that point, transactional. You're looking at something that you think has tremendous value. They're looking at it. They don't see the value yet. Now, in a sales conversation, sometimes you can flip that around and they'll begin to see the value and they may end up thinking, "okay, yeah, I do want to do this," and that's really where a lot of sales comes in. Sales, in quotes, the thing that we define as sales, which is helping people to see the advantages and see the benefits and want to take action on it. But ultimately, whether they decide to do it or whether they decide not to do it, it's not personal. It's not about you're a bad person because they didn't want to buy it or they didn't see the value. It's merely a matter of not having a great fit. Some prospects make it personal Chris: But David, some prospects make it personal. They can be rude. They can be apathetic, obnoxious, insulting. How is that... I mean, I'm getting a little bummed out just thinking about it. How is that not personal? David: Yeah, you can really get worked up with this stuff. Well, it's true and there are people who are like that. If somebody is rude or what'd you say? Obnoxious? Apathetic? If they're insulting you, yeah, that's a totally different thing. But really that's about them, right? If they're coming to you with an attitude like that or if you're going to them, and this has happened so many times, throughout my sales career, where you meet somebody, you think there should be a good fit, you start talking to them and then they just come back at you with this horrible personality or this horrible set of character traits and in the beginning you're like, "Oh my gosh, it's just something I did wrong. Did I say something incorrectly? Am I messing this up?" And ultimately after you've been doing this for a while, you realize that no, it's really about them. Rude, obnoxious and insulting should be instant disqualifiers David: People who are that obnoxious and so rude, belligerent and all that sort of thing. That is a personality trait in them. That's something that is endemic to them. It doesn't reflect on you at all. And the way that they feel about us, their approach, if they can't stand me or whatever, that's their issue. That's not my issue.

If you were to examine the best sales presentations you’ve ever done, (that is, the ones that created the best results for both you and your client), it is very likely that there were five elements present. In this episode, we'll examine them.

When I'm consulting clients, I frequently quote the line "failure is not an option" from the movie Apollo 13. It's a mindset worth adopting. In this podcast we'll discuss the importance of procedures in sales and how they lead from failure to success.

Some people have trouble achieving because they've never really outlined their goals and when you fail to define what you want, it's nearly impossible to get it. But maybe you have outlined your goals, you know exactly what you want, you've written it down like a good goal setter and you review it regularly. If you're still not achieving, then it's likely you've fallen into the gap between goal setting and goal achievement. David:                   Hi and welcome to the podcast. Today, co-host Chris Templeton and I will discuss how to make the pivot from goal setting to goal achievement. Welcome Chris! Chris:                     Hi David. You seem to be approaching this topic as if it's a given, but some people, I'm sure there's a lot of them get through life without setting any formal goals. What makes you think this is important? David:                   Well, that's a valid question. Not everyone does set goals, but I would venture to say that if you're a business owner or a sales person, the type of person likely to listen to this podcast, then you're probably setting some goals. And some people, even if they don't realize they're setting goals are actually setting goals, so you might not formally say, “I am setting a goal to accomplish this by this date”, but you may think, "Hmm, I'd really love to have a car like that, or I'd really love to earn X amount of dollars per year, or I'd really love to have a house like that, or I'd really love to be able to pay my bills." Things like that where essentially they may just form a thought or an idea, but they actually are goals. It's things that we want and what is a goal other than something we want? Chris:                     It seems like what you're talking about is traditional goal setting. It's the Field of Dreams approach. Boy, that'd be nice to have and then maybe that'll come as a result of that thought. It works out in the movies, but how do you see that playing out in real life? David:                   Yeah, it does work in the movies. In real life, I think it's rarely a good idea - I mean, if it's something that you really want.  There are aspects of life that we can just allow to unfold, things are going to happen and we're going to take advantage of them or we're not going to take advantage of them. Whatever's going to happen is going to happen. A lot of life is simply living it and seeing what happens and making decisions in the moment, and I'm not saying that all of life is going to be about setting and achieving goals, but when we think in terms of the things that we really want in the six areas that we had talked about in our podcast; I don't know, months ago, mental and physical and spiritual and social and financial and family. If we want to make things happen in those areas, then it really does boil down to deciding - what do we want to have happen and then what are we going to do to make it happen? When you think in terms of that field of dreams approach, you know "if you build it, they will come," it really is sort of wishful thinking. And so if you want those types of things to happen, you're far better off making them happen instead of just waiting for things to happen. And I would point out that the guy in the movie, he actually built that ball field, so he did do something to make it happen. It wasn't like he just waited for the universe to take care of it for him. Chris:                     There a whole lot of effort there wasn't there?  Whether it was convincing the poet Laureate to go with him. Ah, such a great movie! But a lot of what we're seeing in the last, I don't know, five or 10 years, is things like The Secret and Law of Attraction. Is that approach realistic when it comes to goal achievement? David:                   Well, that's a good question. I mean, some people love The Secret and if you're not familiar with what...

Happy St.Patrick’s Day! This morning, I woke up, jumped on the treadmill and thought about the story of St. Patrick driving the snakes out of Ireland. And it made me think, “what are the snakes in your life?” What are the snakes in your business? What are the mental snakes? The physical snakes and the emotional snakes? And what can we do to drive them out as quickly as possible? So our topic today is dealing with snakes! Let's start with the mental snakes. Anxiety, fear, doubt, concerns over things over which we have no control. Worrying about people. Worrying about things. Worrying about circumstances, finances, health, family. Worrying about things that could go wrong in our businesses. Worrying about how to keep things going right. Worrying about our own happiness, and other people's happiness. Fighting feelings that we can't keep all the balls in the air. Ever been there? We can't keep everyone happy. We can't even keep the train of our own lives on track and moving in the right direction most of the time. It's a lot of stuff to be concerned about. But we have to realize that all that anxiety, all that fear, all that worry... it's all internal. It’s not actually about what's going on in the outside world. It's about how we're processing it internally. That’s not to say we don’t have to deal with real issues. We do. Every single day. But, if you want to start driving out snakes, it’s often a good idea to start with the snakes in your own mind. Recognize that our fears don't make things better. Our worries don't make things better. Our anxieties certainly don't make things better. In fact, they almost inevitably makes things a lot worse. And not just for ourselves, but often for those around us. So step one is to identify the snakes that need to be purged from our brains. Write them down and put together a plan for addressing that. So we started with the mental snakes within us. Now let's talk about the snakes on the outside. If I were to say to you, “what are the most obvious snakes?” What are the things around you that help to trigger or cause the fears, anxieties, worries or the stresses you feel -- what are they? Who are they? And are they really on the outside? Or is it an internal snake that I've failed to fully process? What I mean is, is it the person, the place, or the circumstance? Or is it the way we think about and respond to those people, places, and circumstances? Really think that through. Many people complain a lot about all the external circumstances that are making their lives frustrating, bad, miserable, or even intolerable. But is it really those outside factors? Or is it the way we internalize and process our thoughts about them? I don't know the answer to that question, and I am in no way qualified to answer it for you, which is why I'm asking YOU the question. Because I think that this is something ONLY you can determine for yourself. Is this one of those snakes that can be driven out by simply driving out the way you process it in your own brain? Or is this actually an external snake that needs to be physically driven out of your life? That's a big decision. Because sometimes those snakes, whether they're mental or physical, can take the form of friends, family, bosses, coworkers, or loved ones. And if the relationship is important or necessary to you, then the focus has to be driving out the snakes, instead of driving out the people, changing the places or altering the circumstances. And the reality of the situation is that it might require quite a bit of each. So take out a sheet of paper,