YOUR TEAM FOR ACHIEVEMENT

The poet wrote that "no man is an island" and that is
certainly true for business people. By definition, business
flourishes in the "market-place", with vendors and
suppliers, staff and employees, and customers all around!
It's how business gets done.
At the same time, however, too many business people feel
alone. In some micro-businesses, one person is quite
literally the owner, the manager, the staff, the janitor
and the bookkeeper. That can be lonely and inefficient.
Trying to work from home, or from a one-person office can
be distracting and (at times) depressing.
Even if you work with other people, however, too often the
feeling or sense is still that we are "all alone,"
especially if you are in a position of leadership.
One of the most valuable resources any entrepreneur,
professional or small business leader can have is a Master
Mind team of safe, trusted, colleagues who will listen and
advise you. Having a TEAM of people who will be honest with
you, who understand your challenges and will share their
wisdom can be a HUGE advantage!
If you don't have a "kitchen cabinet" or unofficial "board
of directors," get one! That may sound strong, but the
John Donne was right--none of us functions at our best when
we have to do it all ourselves. Get a team. Get some
advisors you trust, people who know and understand your
situation, people who do not compete with you and who will
not play games. Meet with them about once a week for
breakfast or lunch, and help each other to do and become
your best!

TWO QUESTIONS YOU MUST ANSWER TO WIN THE SALE

Meeting with a prospect seems like a gift when, after a brief discovery phase, they ask you to submit a proposal. From their immediate interest, you are certain you must have the ideal solution for what they say they want.
Not so fast. Things are not always as easy as they seem. Success in competitive, complex selling situations hinges on crucial factor many in sales overlook. Winning an opportunity takes more than having a great product or service. A catalyst has sparked a need at their company – and you must discover it, and tailor your solution to meet their personal and business specifications, in order to be successful.
 You need to ask two very telling questions:

1. What is prompting this interest?
   • There is always a catalyst involving a specific business challenge that they want to fix, accomplish or avoid in order to achieve a specific outcome. You must discover it. If you can’t articulate the issue they have, you’re not ready to close the sale.
2. Why buy from you? This second question gets personal and may be tougher to discern. In complex sales, numerous people influence the buying process. Each Buying Influence weighs two factors:
   • Does the solution solve the company’s challenge
   • How does it impact them – because the chosen solution always has a personal impact. It may make their job easier, impress a boss, secure a raise or have another side benefit.

Building a trusting relationship with a prospect aids in uncovering these often unspoken motivators prompting interest in your product. Discovering the two-fold “why” behind the sale, and tailoring your solution to address both, increases the likelihood you will turn this prospect into your customer and that you will build a meaningful business relationship over time.

COMPLEX SELLING IN TODAY'S MARKET

It’s no secret that the entire process of selling is much more complex today than it has ever been before.

It used to be that we would make a single call on a single buyer who would make a single decision on our product or offering. In this simple form of selling, we used the attention/interest/ desire/action (AIDA) model of sales presentation and focused intensely on numerous different ways of closing the sale. Then, once we had made the sale, in many cases we never saw the customer again.

Today, however, everything is different and everything has changed. Today we must make multiple calls, an average of five or six, in order to make the sale. We deal with multiple decision makers in an organization, each of whom can influence the purchase. Much of the sale takes place when we are not present. Sometimes we never even meet the final decision maker who signs the check. And it is not unusual for a sale to be derailed at the last minute by something completely unexpected.

If that weren’t enough, there is more fierce competition than ever before and it is more determined and resolute than it has ever been in the past. Not only must we compete on the basis of price, quality, services, capabilities, financing and warranties with many other vendors of our product or service, but we must also compete with every other vendor of every other product or service who is striving to get the same customer dollar that we are after. Our competitors are extremely determined, driven the same as we are by tight markets and careful customers. They are committed to starting earlier, working harder, and staying up later thinking of ways to take our customers away from us.

Our prospective customers are beset on all sides by every conceivable sales offering. They are drowning in details, options and choices, and it’s because of this overwhelm that they are in no hurry to make up their minds. With markets changing and contracting, the amount of discretionary funds they have available has shrunken and they are more careful today than they have ever had to be in the past.

The purpose of a business is to create and keep a customer; this is the key to profitability. If a business does this in sufficient quantity and with proper cost controls, it will make a profit. The profit is the result of creating and keeping customers efficiently.

As the president of your own professional sales corporation, your job is to create and keep customers as well. And just as a company must continually restructure and redesign its product and service offerings to satisfy the changing tastes of a demanding and competitive customer marketplace, you as a salesperson must constantly upgrade the quality and sophistication of your sales procedures and approaches if you are going to create customers in sufficient quantity.

Action Exercises

Here are two things you can do immediately to put these ideas into action.

First, be prepared to make multiple calls on a customer to close a large or complex sale. Plan your sales work systematically so you always have a new reason for calling back.

Second, think continually about how you have to change and improve your selling and your offering if you want to succeed in a tough market. Work on yourself every day and never stop getting better.

INCREASE YOUR VALUE AND GET PAID

Your goal is to organize your life in such a way that you enjoy a good income, a high standard of living, and that you are the master of your economic destiny rather than a victim of changing economic times. Does this sound consistent with your goals?

Contribution Is the Key

Your job is an opportunity to contribute a value to your company in excess of your cost. In its simplest terms, your job is as secure as your ability to render value in excess of what it costs to keep you on the payroll. If you want to earn more money at your current job, you have to increase your value, your contribution to the enterprise.

Add Value Every Day

If you want to get a new job, you have to find a way to contribute value to that enterprise. If you want any kind of job security, you must continually work at maintaining and increasing your value in the competitive marketplace.

And here's a key point. Your education, knowledge, skills and experience all are investments in your ability to contribute a value for which you can be paid. But they are like any other investments. They are highly speculative.

And here's a key point. Your education, knowledge, skills and experience all are investments in your ability to contribute a value for which you can be paid. But they are like any other investments. They are highly speculative.

Once you have learned a subject or developed a skill, it is a sunk cost. It is time and money spent that you cannot get back. No employer in the marketplace has any obligation to pay you for it, unless he can use your skill to produce a product or service that people are ready to buy, today.

Prepare For Your Next Job

Whatever job you are doing, you should be preparing for your next job. And the key question is always: Where are the customers? Which businesses and industries are growing in this economy, and which ones are declining?

Where Is The Future?

I continually meet people who ask me how they can increase their income when their entire industry is shrinking. I tell them that there are jobs with futures and there are jobs without futures, and they need to get into a field that is expanding, not contracting.

Never Be Without A Job

There are three forms of unemployment in America: voluntary, involuntary, and frictional. Voluntary employment exists when a person decides not to work for a certain period of time, or not to accept a particular type of job, hoping that something better will come along. Involuntary unemployment exists when a person is willing and able to work but cannot find a job anywhere. Frictional unemployment is the natural level; this includes the approximately 4 or 5 percent of the working population who are between jobs at any given time.

Three Keys to Lifelong Employment

However, there are always jobs for the creative minority. You never have to be unemployed if you will do one of three things: change the work that you are offering to do, change the place where you are offering to work, or change the amount that you are asking for your services. You should consider one or more of these three strategies whenever you are dissatisfied with your current work situation.