Who hasn’t seen the motivational poster that reads “Attitude is Altitude?” I think I have received it as a gift at least twice. Why is the saying so popular? Because it is absolutely true!
Henry Ford is credited with the quote which says, “Whether you think you can or think you cannot, you are absolutely right.” Colin Powell opined “Perpetual optimism is a force multiplier.” I could go on but you get the point.
But, is keeping your thoughts positive always the best route to success? From Napoleon Hill to Tony Robbins the power of positive self-talk is well documented yet in his book “To Sell Is Human” author Dan Pink offers research to indicate that another route, interrogative self-talk, might be more effective. Anyone who has kids knows the TV character Bob the Builder. Bob’s famous question when presented with a challenging task is “Can we do it?” to which the reply comes from your living room, “Yes we can.” In research by the University of Mississippi it was found that groups who preceded solving puzzles by asking themselves “can we solve this” outperformed the groups that told themselves “I can solve this” by 50%. In another experiment one group of participants were asked to write “I will” 20 times before solving a problem and the second group was asked to write “Will I” 20 times before solving theirs. You guessed it; the “Will I” group solved almost twice as many puzzles. It is great to be positive but the process of asking yourself “Can we do it”, like our friend Bob the Builder, actually causes your problem solving ability to kick into high gear.
If you would like to learn more about the power of a positive attitude on outcomes in life check out the research of Barbara Fredrickson of the University of North Carolina. Her “Positivity Ratio” is fascinating and she identifies the 10 positive emotions as:
1.) Joy
2.) Gratitude
3.) Serenity
4.) Interest
5.) Hope
6.) Pride
7.) Amusement
8.) Inspiration
9.) Awe
10.) Love
If you can focus on a few of these every day and use the Bob the Builder approach when preparing to sell you might find you sell a little more. Either way your day will be a little nicer, I’m positive of that.
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April 24, 2013
Short URL Sales, Sales Skills, Positional Selling, Sales Performance, Sales Training, Selling, Business, Business skills, Sales Prospecting, Sales Management, Customer Relationships, Business Growth, Customer Loyalty, Hiring For Sales, Sales Leadership, Sales Force Management, Sales Team, Sales Professionals, Motivation, Effective Presentations, Sales Presentations, Overcoming Objections, selling skills, sales development, sales effectiveness, improved sales, poor sales, sales advice, sales mentor, close more sales, sales success, sales ideas, better selling, customer service training, better sales, sales help, professional sales training, sales management training, leadership ideas, sales tips, what cause low morale in business Uncategorized, Sales and Leadership Insights, Business, Sales, Sales Management, Business Presentations, Sales Presentations, Power Point, Effective Presentations, positive energy, dps sales training, customers, sales growth, Building Company Morale, building sales force morale, Creating Value through the sales team
For years I have held a strong belief that, in the consulting and training business, the most dangerous foe is not one of our competitors. Instead, our greatest competition comes from inaction; clients deciding to stay with the status quo, not hire anyone, or delay their training initiative altogether. Too often, we lose the business to “doing nothing” rather than our competitive rivals. If the economy worsens, “doing nothing” becomes an even more prolific option.
It is obvious that “doing nothing” has expanded its competitive presence into many other industries as well. Any industry where growth comes from zero sum game competition, (if you win the business another similar company is losing it) is being severely impacted by the specter of “doing nothing.” In a tough or uncertain economy, customers become more risk averse, preferring to ride the status quo. That makes it harder than ever for product/service providers to gain market share unless they are willing to dramatically lower the price point. I call that the “me too for less” pricing strategy and it is NOT a great plan in most cases.
Any industry viewed as dependent upon discretionary or “non-core”spending is being impacted like never before by the competitive rise of “doing nothing” Just look at the travel industry. Even such venerable travel destinations as Hawaii are posting a 16% drop in room occupancy over the same period in 2012. The car industry’s woes have certainly been well documented, as have most industries that depend upon gaining access to disposable income. Right now, “doing nothing” is often the keeper of the disposable income wallet.
So how do we combat the formidable competition of inaction and grow our businesses through lean or uncertain times? As stated above, lowering your price might help… in some cases… for the short term; but it’s a dangerous strategy at best. In many industries the main driver isn’t price anyway; because the customer simply may not have the budget regardless of the “deal” being offered. It can be a formidable challenge to be sure.
I wish I had an easy answer to the threat of “doing nothing” because, in my industry, we’ve been going up against this adversary for years. The only solution I have found is to hone in on the position you desire in your market, and commit
completely to owning that space. Get crystal clear on your organization’s strengths and competitive advantages and make sure everyone in your organization is aligned to your value proposition. As Simon Sinek writes in “Start With Why” you need to get clear and communicate why you are in business ahead of the what and how. Then go out and work your butt off. It isn’t glamorous, but it is effective. I have found that while “doing nothing” is a tough competitor, it is perpetually plagued with low levels of customer loyalty and is easily worn down if you just keep working hard at selling the right way.
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February 21, 2013
Short URL Sales, Sales Skills, Positional Selling, Sales Performance, Sales Training, Selling, Business, Business skills, Sales Prospecting, Sales Leads, Sales Management, Customer Relationships, Business Growth, Customer Loyalty, Hiring For Sales, Sales Assessments, Leadership, Sales Leadership, Sales Force Management, Sales Team, Sales Professionals, Motivation, Effective Presentations, Sales Presentations, Overcoming Objections, selling skills, sales development, sales effectiveness, improved sales, poor sales, sales advice, sales mentor, close more sales, sales success, sales ideas, better selling, customer service training, better sales, sales help, professional sales training, sales management training, professional training, leadership ideas, sales tips, what cause low morale in business Uncategorized, Sales and Leadership Insights, Business, Sales, Sales Management, Business Presentations, Sales Presentations, Power Point, Effective Presentations, positive energy, customers, sales growth, Building Company Morale, building sales force morale, Creating Value through the sales team
As research for his latest book “To Sell Is Human” Best Selling Author Daniel Pink conducted research into how “non-sales” professionals spend their days at work. The survey was executed by the firm Qualtrics and the findings might be a bit surprising to many. The survey concluded that non-sales professionals currently spend over 40% of their day engaged in non sales selling, persuading, influencing, and convincing others in a way that doesn’t involve anyone making a purchase.
In a July Success Magazine article by Joe Polish, Dan Sullivan provided this definition of selling: “Selling is getting someone engaged in a future result that is good for them and getting them to emotionally commit to take action to achieve that result.” When you examine that definition of selling Dan Pink’s findings are not that surprising after all.
In the book “Real Influence” by Mark Goulston the process of “non-sales selling” is positioned as “influencing.” According to Mr. Goulston the real challenge for both selling and non-selling professionals is overcoming their “blind spot” in trying to influence others. The author explains that we need to get out of “Your Here” and get into the other persons perspective or “Their There” in order to influence in a way that is neither manipulative nor predatory. Said another way we need to become more perceptive at understanding how the other party thinks and feels while becoming less preoccupied with our own perspective or “blind spot.”
In “To Sell Is Human” Daniel Pink’s findings concur with that assertion in citing a study by Wharton management professor Adam Grant. In this study Professor Grant looked at the correlation of extroversion and introversion to selling/ influencing success. What were the findings? The difference in sales results between extroverts and introverts were almost non-existent but BOTH categories were significantly outperformed by a third category labeled “Ambiverts.” These types of people are the most common in society and display neither strong extroversion nor introversion characteristics and are therefore more likely to be able to FLEX their communication style. To put this in the context of Goulston’s writing Ambiverts are much more likely to be able to avoid their “blind spot” and understand the other person’s perspective or “Their There.”
The fact that most of us are Ambiverts means that we were, to once again quote Mr. Pink, “born to sell.” If you would like to test yourself on extroversion/introversion/ambiversion you can go to the site www.danpink.com/assessment and complete a free assessment.
At my firm, SalesGrowth MD, Inc. we have long espoused the virtues of selling in a new way. Our “life skill” based approach to selling, powered by Sandler Training, is not only ideally suited to the changing world of professional sales (read Mr. Pink’s book if you don’t believe the world of selling has changed) but also to the emerging world of the “non sales professional” where 20 minutes of every hour are spent on “selling” activity. To learn more please visit us at www.salesgrowthmd.sandler.com .
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January 17, 2013
Short URL Sales, Sales Skills, Sales Performance, Sales Training, Selling, Business, Business skills, Sales Prospecting, Sales Management, Customer Relationships, Business Growth, Customer Loyalty, Hiring For Sales, Sales Assessments, Leadership, Sales Leadership, Sales Force Management, Sales Team, Sales Professionals, Motivation, Effective Presentations, Sales Presentations, Overcoming Objections, selling skills, sales development, sales effectiveness, improved sales, poor sales, sales advice, sales mentor, close more sales, sales success, sales ideas, better selling, customer service training, better sales, sales help, professional sales training, sales management training, professional training, leadership ideas, sales tips Uncategorized, Sales and Leadership Insights, Business, Sales, Sales Management, Business Presentations, Sales Presentations, Power Point, Effective Presentations, positive energy, customers, sales growth, Building Company Morale, building sales force morale, Creating Value through the sales team
