Salesprocessdiva

Collaborate Your Way To Success

Today I talked with someone who does sales coaching, does training, and helps clients in many ways like I do. However, I don't see this person as a "competitor" - I see him as a potential collaborator. In order to collaborate, or even consider collaboration, you need to think strategically rather than tactically. One must feel generous - and offer ideas, with the trust that this will make a bigger game - not a small competitive one.

Thinking big is what this is all about. Knowing that you are not the smartest person on Earth - that there are other smart, creative, 'happenin folks out there who could partner with you and the sum of your efforts would be dramatically bigger than anything either of you would do on your own.

Who do you collaborate with? How is it working for you?

Auto Sales

Candace Heckman wrote in the Seattle P-I about Edmonds.com journalist Phillip Reed, who went "undercover" for three months becoming a car salesman. Reed wanted to gain insight into the art of dealmaking and learn more about the behavior of auto salespeople.

Since my better half is a sales professional in the auto industry - and makes his living by helping people get involved and excited about new vehicles - I was most interested in this article. Edmunds has documented the series here

Reed's biggest takeaway from his 90 day stint was:

"I don't think I'll ever be able to make sweeping generalizations as I once did...." "I knew a lot of salesmen whose skills I admired. It's a tough life - you live or die by your ability to sell dreams..."

Writing An Effective Sales Letter

An associate of mine send this link on tips for writing an effective sales letter, courtesy of Microsoft Small Business Center - click here

Especially important, writes Joanna L. Krotz, is building trust and establishing credibility.

Help People Learn Through Teleclasses

CoachVille is a worldwide, virtual community with thousands of great ideas and much free access to knowledge. It was created by an amazing man named Thomas Leonard, who passed away in 2003. His legacy lives on through lots of content he created. Anyone involved in coaching considers him the father of coaching - a true pioneer in helping others to improve.

Thomas was a master of leading teleclasses, and led them for clients and for his thousands of students. I was looking in the new Learning Communities within CoachVille (free to join, by the way) and saw this 100 Point Checklist for Leading Teleclasses. You can access more about leading teleclasses through the Teleclass Leader Community.

Why is this important? As a coach, or speaker, or entrepreneur, you can create passive revenue (money while you sleep, or vacation) by repurposing your content and knowledge through audio lessons and live teleclasses. I love talking to speakers and consultants about this since many have not been exposed to the idea. It is also a great way to hone your communication skills - tone, warmth, vocabulary, authenticity, clarity, and confidence - among other things.

The Road To Presentation Mastery*

Tony Jeary has fantastic tips on presenting. He has trademarked the term, Presentation Mastery - and I recommend his book, "Life Is A Series Of Presentations" - read it and buy it for anyone you know in business. For sales professionals, it is a must.

Check out Tony's PDF on Presentation Mastery from Presentations Magazine. Anyone in selling needs mastery of presenting skills.

Another way I benefitted nearly twenty years ago working on presentation skills, and in the past couple of years as refresher is by attending local Toastmasters meetings. What a fantastic organization - they meet everywhere, at all different times, and each group has its own personality.

Currently I go to clients' sites and videotape their sales reps. We do a group session on tips and strategy, then each rep gets their own time to do a five to seven minute presentation of some type - with on the spot feedback.

Whatever you do - practice. Remember, practice doesn't make perfect --- perfect practice does.

Boston

off to Boston for a few days. This is what I'm wondering while I'm traveling:
Why do some companies wildly succeed with their product or service?
How do sales and marketing really connect?
Who is working a sales process on a regular basis - do you agree that lack of enough activity is the biggest reason sales professionals don't succeed?
your thoughts most appreciated. Back next week.

Business Blogging Case Study

In addition to my fascination with sales process and creativity - high on my list of interests is the implementation and value of business blogs. Marketing Sherpa has a great article with case study about a company president and his blog - benefits, examples, etc. Take a look. What other blogs are helping position people as industry experts, generate excitement for products and services, and basically help to generate increased commerce? Read morehere

Inspiration

I was fortunate to meet and hear author Lance Secretan, who wrote the book, "Inspire - What Great Leaders Do" - last week at the CoachVille International Conference. Wow! If you ever have the chance to hear him, DO. He was amazing. The message is powerful, and so is the presentation. No pretense, no ego - rather a "serving" approach which was very well received.

Here are some inspirational quotes from his book:

“Keep your fears to yourself, but share your inspiration with others.”
- Robert Louis Stevenson

“If you don’t live it, it won’t come out of your horn.”
- Charlie Parker

“You can tell whether a man is clever by his answers. You can tell whether a man is wise by his questions.”
- Naguib Mahfouz

“Most of what we call management consists of making it difficult for people to get their jobs done”
- Peter Drucker

“Obsess about customers, not about competitors”
- Jeff Bezos

“I’ve found that every time I’ve made a radical change, it’s helped me feel buoyant as an artist.”
- David Bowie

“You are searching for the magic key that will unlock the door to the source of power; and yet you have the key in your own hands.”
- Napoleon Hill

“The greatest discovery of my generation is that a human being can alter his life by altering his attitude of mind.”
- William James

Selling and Sales Resources

Here is a start to a list I am compiling on some strong sales resources for those who do business-to-business selling. It will be a large list, and this is just a start. Many resources will also be appropriate for those who are B-to-C sales professionals as well. Please add your favorites as comments.

Get in the habit of finding new ideas or re-visiting old ones through websites, books, teleclasses, e-courses, and in-person training and coaching.

Selling Power - is a magazine, and a website. I recommend both!

Just Sell - a very comprehensive website with many resources and ideas

What resources do YOU like, for motivation and ideas?

Cranium's Richard Tait - Secret Sauce re-posting

A couple of weeks ago, I was fortunate to hear Richard Tait speak again at a luncheon meeting honoring businesses on the Eastside (East of Seattle, for those of you located elsewhere). Richard is an ex-Microsoft guy who co-founded the great game company, Cranium. Richard is an excellent, passion-filled speaker. He appears to be so comfortable with who he is and has a thrilling, entrepreneurial story which he eloquently tells in front of large groups of business people. This presentation was no different - I was amazed as Richard spoke of how he and co-founder Whit Alexander had "laser focus" - then used the analogy of "peeing in a bottle" to graphically illustrate just how focused they were to succeed in a business others told them they were doomed to fail at. The audience roared with laughter at this comment and others. You couldn't be in the room and not come away with something, if nothing but a smile and some laughs. Potentially, newer entrepreneurs came away with much more.
In honor of Richard's fantstic and thought-provoking presentation - I'm linking his Secret Sauce recipe for success in creating a business - courtesy of John Porcaro's blog (nice new pic, John!)