It’s A New Year!
January 2, 2013 by 2 Comments
Here are a couple things you should resolve to do in the coming year that will allow you (and me) to over succeed and over achieve:
1. Allocate your time in 30-minute segments. This gives you a full understanding of whether your time is being “spent” or “invested.
2. Take at least two of your allocated segments (one hour) and dedicate them to writing each day. Writing will clarify your thoughts, and help you find and solidify a clear (or clearer) direction.
3. Learn to use business social media by becoming actively involved. Build your reputation AND your personal brand.
4. Visit your top 10 customers before the month of January is over, and talk to them about why they do business with you, and what they’re looking to achieve in the coming year. Ask for (earn) business in January.
5. Make a secret list of the big things you are looking to accomplish over the next few years, not necessarily just this year. Maybe it’s to write a book, maybe travel to certain places, or maybe to get a bigger house. Whatever it is, write it down. Somehow written things become more solid in your mind that just thoughts.
5.5 Make plans to celebrate, not just achieve. I have found that celebrating an achievement confirms and affirms the reward in your mind. Not just “I did it,” but also, “I’m proud that I did it.” That celebration will lead you to the next.
So here we are, the day after New Years, and you are thinking, “Why is Gitomer giving me a cold slap in the face my first day back on the job?”
ANSWER: Someone has to…otherwise you may wait until February or March. (Further (gentle) slaps in the face will be available weekly in this publication or my weekly email magazine, Sales Caffeine.)
But between now, and then, and every day, I thank you for being my customer, and for your continued loyalty. Happy, healthy, wealthy New Year!
Here are the elements, totally based on authority, that give real leaders the ability to influence:
December 20, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Respect. If respect for the leader is lost, the power of influence AND authority are weak at the foundation of any mission. Leaders make the mistake of commanding respect when, in fact, respect is earned.
Clarity of message. If leaders are to be followed, it starts with clarity of message.
Positive attitude that sets an example for others to adopt. Attitude is THE fundamental element that creates a path for all leaders to succeed, not just influence.
Ability to motivate. Creating the desire of the team to perform at top level. Real leaders create that drive for the person first, the mission second, and the leader last.
Ability to inspire. The difference between motivation and inspiration is that motivation must constantly be injected. Inspiration lasts a lifetime. Great leaders can instill both.
Ability to strategize. Well-founded strategies are eagerly accepted by your team. They make sense and they seem doable.
Ability to plan, and plan B. After strategy is decided, plans (and alternate plans) are drawn to achieve the strategy. Plan B is also created to assure no loss of forward momentum in case there’s an unexpected shift or change.
Reputation. Not just a “great guy” or a “take charge” person, rather someone “known” as a great leader and has earned the respect of his people and his community (also could be her).
Resilience. One of the least understood, and possibly the element that carries the most “success weight” is resilience. A leaders ability to take it, and give it back, or bounce back from whatever situation arises. An influential leader with low or no resilience, will not be in that position very long.
Past experience. A history of both success and failure that has provided the knowledge and wisdom to lead in the present.
Persuasion. A higher form of influence. Persuasion occurs when trust and confidence meet belief, risk tolerance, and safety.
Stature. Leaders must stand tall and be recognized for their posture, confidence and poise.
Character. The elements that build the profile. Character is possessed (or lost) by consistently “doing the right and the best thing.” Character plays a major role in a leader’s ability to influence. Great character is molded over time.
Image. Actions, results, and reputation combine to form image.
Ethics. This element of leadership determines reputation. Great leaders operate at and with the highest ethical standards.
By example. As a business leader, business person, and entrepreneur myself for more than 40 years, I have ALWAYS set the example by “doing” rather than “telling” or “demanding.” Don’t tell me what to do, show me how it’s done.
Tolerance of risk. Great leaders have a high risk tolerance, and a sense to know when to take a calculated one.
Ability to get along with others. I believe that “likeability” plays a major role in a leader’s ability to create productivity and achievement.
Courage. The intestinal fortitude to withstand all adversity, and the resilience to react, respond, and recover on the way to accomplishment, achievement, and victory.
Ability to achieve. Great leaders are not just respected; they’re also measured. They have the responsibility to achieve, and their effectiveness is measured against their charged tasks and goals.
Ability to withstand failure. A major part of resilience, failure must serve as a lesson, and an opportunity to grow. Sure there is disappointment, sometimes anger – but leadership does not rest on a single event. All great leaders have encountered, withstood, endured, and recovered from defeat – much wiser, and much more steadfast of purpose.
Ability to celebrate victory. Everyone wants to celebrate a victory. Real leaders know how to create genuine celebration AND recognition of all those who participated. They also know how to temper it, and use it as a springboard for the next task at hand.
Reputation. Everything discussed above creates and forms a leader’s reputation. Reputation creates the ability to attract and the desire for others to follow. And reputation often arrives on the scene way before the leader does.
Including authority and the ability to influence, I have just given you 25 vital characteristics of leadership and the ability to lead. No single characteristic holds the magic. But together they are the keys to become a dominant leader when each of them is mastered.
CLICK HERE to your copy of The Little Book of Leadership!
Writing is not a mystery. It’s your best chance to achieve mastery.
December 19, 2012 by Leave a Comment
My secret to writing is not complex: I write like I talk.
Writing in “speak” makes several things easy:
1. As long as you can think, or have an idea, or want to expand a thought, you will never be at a loss for words. Think about it. When you’re on the phone you never say to a friend, “Hold on, I’m trying to think of something to say.” You just say it! When you write like you speak words just flow.
2. Reading what you write in “speak” is much more conversational. Writing in “speak” makes your words easy to read, easy to understand, and, in my case, easy to implement.
3. Editing the next day. Give yourself a fresh look at what you were thinking, and allow yourself to give clarity to your writing.
3.5 Reading aloud as you edit. This one secret will give you more writing power than you can imagine. It exposes every flaw and ensures flow of words and thought.
A sales principle that leads to wealth: It’s all about them.
December 17, 2012 by Leave a Comment
The key to mastering any kind of sales is switching statements about you, how great you are, and what you do, to statements about them, and how great they are, and how they will produce more and profit more from ownership of your product or service.
HERE’S THE SECRET: Take the word “we” and delete it. Delete it from your slides, your literature, and ESPECIALLY from your sales presentation. You can use “I” but you can’t use “we.”
HERE’S THE POWER: When you stop using “we,” you have to substitute it for the word “you” or “they” and say things in terms of the customer. How they win, how they benefit, how they produce, how they profit, how they will be served, and how they have piece of mind.
“We” is for selling. “You” is for buying.
MANDATE FOR UNDERSTANDING: Go through your entire presentation and record it. Listen to it actively — which means take notes. Count the amount of times you use the word “we.” Take out the “we,” and begin to make value statements instead of selling statements.
Here’s the reality in plain English:
1. The buyer, the prospect, and the customer expects you to have knowledge of their stuff, not just your stuff. To transfer that knowledge, the prospect needs to understand and agree with your ideas, feel your passion, feel your belief, and feel your sincerity beyond the hype of your sales pitch.
2. You have to know their industry, not just your product.
3. You have to know their business, not just your product.
4. You have to know what’s new and what’s next, not just your product.
5. You have to know the current trends, not just your product.
6. You have to know their marketing, not just your product.
7. You have to know their productivity, not just your product.
7.5 You have to know their profit, not just your product.
Subscribe Now to Sales Caffeine… What are you waiting for?
Are you using the WOW! factor?
September 28, 2012 by Leave a Comment
One of the most powerful aspects of sales is being different.
What is WOW!? WOW! is sales.
WOW! separates the strong from the weak.
WOW! separates the sincere from the insincere.
WOW! separates the sales pros from the cons.
WOW! separates YES from NO.
WOW! is the full measure of your sales power and the way you use it.
Are you WOW!? Is WOW! a factor in your selling process?
How do you WOW! the customer?
You can measure how much WOW! is in your sales effort by evaluating yourself against the following 8.5 guidelines of how to be WOW!:
1. Be persistent. To reach the prospect, to get the prospect your information, to get information about the prospect, to appoint the prospect.
2. Be knowledgeable about the prospect. Your knowledge of the prospect and his or her business is often critical to completing the sale. Use the famous “Mackay 66” questionnaire as a guideline for how much information is needed. Go to www.gitomer.com, register if you are first-time visitor, and enter the word MACKAY66 in the GitBit box.
3. Be prepared. Have a perfect presentation that you’ve rehearsed. Have a written proposal for what you want to accomplish or sell. Develop support tools and support documentation. Identify all possible objections, and prescript, test, and rehearse responses for each of them.
4. Be ten minutes early. It’s best to arrive a little early. It’s always a disaster to arrive late. Carry a light load (only what you need for the show).
5. Be professional. Great clothing, professional accessories; briefcase, business cards. Have everything crisp and clean.
6. Get to the point quickly. Then question, listen, and question. Talk straight to the point. Get your meat out in five minutes or less. Write down your thoughts when the prospect is talking. Don’t interrupt.
7. Separate yourself from your competition and everyone else. Have creative, new ideas. Have the sale in finished form (design done, preliminary layout, sample). Have a WOW! presentation. Have a comparison chart of key areas where you beat the competition. Do things no one else would do.
8. Be confident in what you say and the way you act. Build rapport first and keep building it during the presentation. Use humor, use humor, use humor. Act and speak as though the deal were done. Use your manners. Think back to your mother screaming at you about how to act civilized and do it. Don’t confuse confidence with cockiness. One works; the other fails.
8.5 Be WOW! yourself. You must be positive, enthusiastic, focused, polished, and convinced. You must be outstanding enough to be memorable.
*Excerpted from Jeffrey Gitomer’s Sales Bible: The Ultimate Sales Resource
Upcoming Webinar, PROVE IT: Testimonials that Sell
September 27, 2012 by Leave a Comment
When you say something about yourself, it’s bragging. When other people say it about you, it’s proof. That is the essence of the testimonial.
In this brand new webinar you’ll learn:
- How to create powerful testimonials
- Why video is the new testimonial format
- Overcoming your hesitation to ask for testimonials
- Where and how to promote testimonials
When: Wednesday, October 3rd
Spaces Limited to 1,000 – Don’t Wait!
Here’s where I practice what I preach:
“The webinar on breaking down barriers was the best one yet! We make excuses everyday for not accomplishing what we need to do and this really puts the burden of responsibility on us as sales people. Time to “Put the big girl panties on and deal with it!” Thanks!” – Nancy
“I’m finding the webinars very informative. This is not just a new era of marketing and sales but a golden era for advertising.” – Scott
“I truly enjoyed the webinar yesterday! This was my first one and I love the frankness and down to earth way that Jeffrey Gitomer speaks to the audience – no punches – just straight talk! The hour and the screens flew by fairly quickly and per Jeffrey’s recommendation I do want to watch this several more times.” – Nancy
“So glad I invested $199 in me! I was a speaker today at my local leads group and yes, I mentioned the webinar from yesterday and encouraged others to jump in head first and invest in themselves too. I thought I was a positive person, however, the man in the mirror spoke loud and clear and challenged me to be more, do more, and give more. Looking forward to session 3 next time!” – David
“The webinar was awesome and timely. Although I have had the YES attitude book for several years, I have not been a disciple of it , to my own detriment. As a result I have become a little jaded, sarcastic and cynical. Not only has it affected my business, it has also affected my marriage. After watching the webinar, I am committing myself to the YES ! Attitude.
Once again, thank-you for the “kick in the butt”.” – Ken
(click to view the registration page)
20.5 Attitude Gems For You To Read And Study
August 30, 2012 by 3 Comments
Here are 20.5 attitude gems (mental snacks to chew on and digest) I’ve picked up along the way that I recommend you read, copy, share with others, post on your wall, and study in a way that you can implement then into your “thought and expression” process:
1. Change your input to change your attitude. If you seek a positive mind and a positive attitude, you MUST expose yourself to positive information and hang around positive people. If you want to achieve positive, you have to surround yourself with it and live with it.
2. You were born to win. But, “You must plan to win, prepare to win, and expect to win.” (A famous Zig Ziglar quote.)
3. “The will to win is nothing without the will to prepare to win.” (A [famous coach] Vince Lombardi quote.)
4. You will get whatever you want if you help enough people get whatever they want. A quote that many claim to have said. It doesn’t matter who said it – just live it.
5. Make every day as productive as the day before you go on vacation. That’s a day that EVERYTHING gets done.
6. Ignore people who tell you, “You can’t.” (Except your boss.) People will try to discourage you for feae that you will pass them. Don’t let it happen.
7. “If you have nothing nice to say, say nothing.” (A famous quote said by your mother.)
8. Don’t dwell on (whine about) the problem; concentrate on the solution. Resolve how you can; don’t lament why you can’t.
9. Forgive and go forward. Grudge blocks positive. Until you clear the past, you are destined to repeat it.
10. Self-talk equals self-performance. Look at any athlete. Self-talk is a crucial part of expected positive performance.
11. What is the picture you have of yourself? That is what you will become. Spend 15 minutes a day focusing on a positive picture.
12. You will hear the word “No” 116,000 times in your lifetime. (Maybe more.) Try converting to just 1,000 of them to “Yes!” and the world is your oyster.
13. What you do off the job determines what you are likely to do on the job. Uh oh.
14. Strengthen your weaknesses and strengthen your strengths at the same time. Combine positive with negative for better personal development results.
15. Failure is an event, not a person. Think of failure as “it,” not “me.”
16. It’s not what happens to you; it’s what you do with what happens to you. Sound familiar? Attitude manifests itself in your RESPONSE to events.
17. Every obstacle presents an opportunity, if you’re looking for it. “Revel” and “lament” are choices. Your choices.
18. Hard work makes luck. Nothing affects positive circumstance and results more than hard work.
19. How many of your problems are cured with ten grand? (A question a famous father [my dad] once asked me as I lamented my problems.) If money makes your problems go away, attitude can make them go away as well.
20. It’s not what you say, it’s how you say it. The tone of your verbiage determines the atmosphere of your environment.
20.5 Resign your position as general manager of the universe. Don’t try to solve (butt into) other people’s problems until YOU are problem free.
Attitude gems lead to attitude AHA!s – those single moments in time where something happens, or someone says something, and suddenly you get it – suddenly you scream AHA!
