Keep It SIMPLE

“People who consider themselves victims of their circumstances will always remain victims unless they develop a greater vision for their lives.”
--Stedman Graham

“Don’t be disquieted in time of adversity. Be firm with dignity and self-reliant with vigor.” --Chiang Kai-Shek

“The one resolution, which was in my mind long before it took the form of a resolution, is the keynote of my life. It is this, always to regard as mere impertinences of fate the handicaps which were placed upon my life almost at the beginning. I resolved that they should not crush or dwarf my soul, but rather be made to blossom, like Aaron’s rod, with flowers.”
--Helen Keller

“The beauty of the soul shines out when a man bears with composure one heavy mischance after another, not because he does not feel them, but because he is a man of high and heroic temper.” --Aristotle

Lying to yourself is one of the worst lies we can tell. First, when we lie to ourselves it affects our attitude and our ability to communicate with others. Second, acting like ourselves is more powerful than trying to act like someone else. That’s why honesty is more effective than mirroring personality profiling or other strategies that seek to forge a false bond with clients.

The top 10 percent of salespeople know how to steer clear of dangerous assumptions and lies that the mediocre tell themselves in business. 90% of sales people fall prey to dangerous lies that keep them from succeeding. That’s why I’ve itemized the 4 most lethal lies I’ve witnessed salespeople telling themselves. Some items on the list may seem obvious to you. And that makes them worse.

Treating Prospecting as Something You’ll Outgrow Eventually

After hitting their targets again and again, some find it tempting to start looking at prospecting as something they don’t need to do anymore. Incredibly, sales trainers often hear stories about seasoned salespeople who say they’re too experienced to prospect… or that cold calling is beneath them. That’s crazy! Prospecting is the lifeblood of a successful sales strategy. It’s how you constantly cultivate new business opportunities and grow your client base. Without including this as a fundamental component of your regular business habits, you could be putting your career at serious risk. Everyone needs to prospect… no matter how successful they are. To be effective at prospecting, you need to have more than a system for attracting qualified buyers. You also need a sales funnel that’s three times larger than what you need in sales. Stuck for ideas on where to find prospects? Check out Chapter 4: Exhibit 4.1 for 16 ideas that will keep your funnel full all year long from Honesty Sells (Visit www.HonestySells.com to get your copy)

Believing in the Adage “Nothing Personal… It’s Just Business”

Big mistake. Successful sales professionals will tell you that in business, everything is personal and further we believe that if you are serious about your career you should take it personally! People buy from people they like and trust. And that’s personal! It’s true. In essence, when a client chooses one salesperson over another, what they’re really saying is that—other things being equal—they like one better than the other. Great sales records are built on likeability and trust. Likeability is personal. Establishing and maintaining great personal rapport is how you build trust between yourself and your clients.

Treating Any Prospect as if It’s a Sure Thing

Remember Benjamin Franklin’s sage advice—nothing is certain in this world other than death and taxes. In sales, no matter how great a particular prospect may look to you, things can change in a hurry. Even after a contract is signed, a sale can still fall through. I once saw more than $60,000 vanish into thin air in Plano when a tornado blew through the Texas headquarters of my prospect… while the contract was still being finalized by the legal team. In sales, the most volatile time is the time between when you receive a verbal go-ahead from a prospect and when the contract is received. That’s when anything can happen. So count your deals only as 100 percent in your pipeline once you have a signed contract and a purchase order.

As a buyer, my husband Chris and I have had two real estate contracts fall through in the last year after they were signed, but before the closing dates. It’s never over until the money is received.


Believing “My Success Is Unrelated to My Attitude”

Tennis pro Chris Evert was once quoted as saying:

“The thing that separates good players from great players is mental attitude. It might only make a difference of two or three points over an entire match, but how you play those key points often makes the difference between winning and losing. If the mind is strong, you can do anything you want.”
Colleen’s father, Ted Francis (a now retired but career sales professional), is noted as saying:
“Suck it up! It’s all in your head!”
Both are true.

Ensuring an honest relationship with your client means starting with yourself and your own attitude.

All top-ranked salespeople share this point of view. If you ask them—as we have, repeatedly—what they do that makes them so successful, they’ll answer: “It’s my attitude!” Successful salespeople love what they do. They love the companies they work for, the products and services they sell, and the clients they serve. They also take personal responsibility for ensuring that all of these points remain true. By our measure, they live by four simple rules for being honest with themselves:

Nobody Can Choose Your Attitude for You

If you’re waiting for someone else to come along and motivate you, you will wait forever. Never let others take control of your thoughts. Only you can develop a better attitude for yourself. In trying times, the only way to improve your circumstances is by adopting a positive outlook. No matter what extraordinary sales techniques you learn during your career, these will fail you if you don't believe in yourself, your products, and your market.

The People Around You Are a Direct Mirror of Your Attitude

Attitude is contagious. It’s amazing how individuals who consistently display a poor attitude are the same people who expect their family, coworkers, friends, or employees to remain upbeat. Remember: You become who you hang out with. Think of it as the law of human magnetism.

Maintaining a Good Attitude Is Easier than Regaining One that’s Lost

If you already have a good attitude, great! Do everything you can to maintain it. Read positive books and listen to motivational tapes. Stay away from the news first thing in the morning and get rid of people in your life who are bringing you down. Sure, it’s not always easy, but you will thank us for this advice when you are celebrating as the top sales rep in your company next year.

On the other hand, if you have difficulty expecting the best from yourself and others, don’t give up. Remember item number one on this list—only you can choose your attitude, so it’s up to you to change it.

To achieve your maximum potential, you must first be honest with yourself. Prove your integrity with your words and actions. Find time to prospect every day. Remember that all business is personal. Take it personally so you improve faster. Don’t treat any prospect as if it’s a sure thing. Nothing’s certain. And absolutely everyday work on your attitude. It absolutely affects your sales results.

“Many of our fears are tissue-paper thin, and a single courageous step would carry us clear through them.”
--Brendan Francis [Behan]

“We must fight our fear to forge ahead and leave the safety of the ledge.”
--Rick Beneteau

“When boundaries are present, there is fear—when wholeness and unity is recognized, fear cannot exist.”
--James A. Ray

“Never let the fear of striking out get in your way.”
--George Herman “Babe” Ruth

Don’t you just hate it when people make excuses for their failures? So do I. But do you know what I hate even more? Finding myself making excuses for my failures! I have a policy that I try to live by: No excuses.

Here are some thoughts on a “No Excuses” policy.

People will respect you. When you say that there are no excuses, that you blew it, and that you take full responsibility to make the situation right, people will be astounded (since very few people make no excuses) and they will come to a greater respect for you.

You will find yourself taking greater responsibility. When you know that your policy is to have no excuses, there will be less room for error because you will be doing everything that you can to make sure the job gets done!

You will become the go-to person. When someone wants something done, they will turn to you because they know that they can count on you to perform. And they know they won’t get any excuses! This will improve your level of success, and that is exactly what you are aiming for, right?

Practice up: “You’re right. There is no excuse for that. I will fix it immediately.” Refreshing!

--by Chris Widener

It has been estimated that we each have upwards of 50,000 thoughts per day. How many of yours are negative? Sometimes you have to do a mental spring-cleaning to get rid of those negative thoughts that have become ingrained attitudes. Stopping self-destructive thoughts is like stopping any other bad habit—it takes time and effort.

Among the most effective ways to do this are visualization and affirmations. Affirmations are positive statements about yourself that you repeat over and over in your head until they are programmed into your subconscious.

Visualization is mentally picturing yourself the way you want to be. You’ve heard the old saying, “I’ll believe it when I see it.” Well, the reverse is also true: “I’ll see it when I believe it!” Affirmations and visualizations may not feel true at first—they may not even be true! However, they can become so.

Consider what happens when you tell yourself repeatedly, “I’m lousy at remembering names.” There will never be any improvement there. Therefore, if you catch yourself saying it, stop and immediately say, “I’m good at remembering names.”

Consider the effect of telling yourself, “I’m feeling pretty good today.” “I can lose 10 pounds.” Or, “I am good at getting people to see things my way.” Anything you say to yourself repeatedly will actually influence your reality.

Writing down your affirmations and putting them in some handy place—above your desk, on your bathroom mirror, on the dashboard of your car—will help keep them in mind as well as in sight. Use affirmations and visualizations to project what success will feel and look like. Imagine, in as much detail as you possibly can, how you feel as the boss singles you out for exceeding your quota, or how the audience hangs on your every word during your speech, or how your confident presence causes heads to turn everywhere you go.

To enhance your charisma and persuasion (while making others feel good about themselves), you can apply the very same techniques by turning them outward. Begin thinking positive affirmations about people you work and live with.

For example, “Bob seems much calmer and patient of late. I wonder what has changed in him.” During your next interaction with Bob, you will most likely remember your positive thought about him and start your conversation with, “Bob, I’ve noticed a change in you. You seem really kind and patient while counseling your new employees recently and I admire that. How did you acquire this wonderful characteristic?”

Bob would likely respond with a smile and a story about a book he found, a consultant he hired or a seminar he attended. Regardless of his reply, you have sincerely complimented another person, put out a positive thought and begun a new habit of approaching others using “appreciative inquiry”—finding the good in another person or situation first, instead of finding fault or flaws.

Criticizing is easy, and sometimes becomes habit, but retraining your mind to find the positive attributes in yourself and others will win you friends, increase your income and make you feel better about being a better you.

--by Tony Alessandra

Miss a meal if you have to, but don’t miss a book.

Some people claim that it is OK to read trashy novels because sometimes you can find something valuable in them. You can also find a crust of bread in a garbage can if you search long enough, but there is a better way.

Most homes valued at over $250,000 have a library. That should tell us something.

Everything you need for your better future and success has already been written. And guess what? It’s all available—all you have to do is go to the library. And there’s probably a library in every neighborhood.

Some people read so little that they have rickets of the mind.

I now have one of the better libraries. I admit that I haven’t read everything in my library, but I feel smarter just walking in it.

Don’t just read the easy stuff. You may entertained by it, but you will never grow from it.

The book you don’t read won’t help.

Books are easy to find and easy to buy. A paperback these days only costs $6 or $7. You can borrow that from your kids!

It isn’t what the book costs; it’s what it will cost if you don’t read it.

“All adverse and depressing influences can be overcome, not by fighting, but by rising above them.”
—Charles Caleb Colton

“If you wish to travel far and fast, travel light. Take off all your envies, jealousies, unforgiveness, selfishness and fears.”
—Glenn Clark

“If you want to get out of the pit, stop digging.”
—Ernesto Santos-DeJesus

“I have always believed, and I still believe, that whatever good or bad fortune may come our way we can always give it meaning and transform it into something of value.”
—Hermann Hesse

I was sitting in the gate area waiting to board a flight to Chicago, reading a chapter from "127 More Secrets Of Direct Mail."

Then it happened.

I got to number 123.

It grabbed me by the lapels of my sports jacket.

It really throttled me.

It caught me by surprise.

It wasn't an entirely new concept for me.

It was the words. It was the language. It was exceptional because of its brevity.

Simply brilliant!

These words will surely linger for a long time, like a burning ember.

Look, if you're an entrepreneur or a professional sales person you might want to type these words on a 3 x 5 card and get it laminated. You do not want to forget this sales tip or these powerful words.

The plane's pulling back from the gate and we're now headed to Chicago, and I'm writing this feverishly, so I can capture the essence and the power of what I just read.

It's so simple--why didn't I think of stringing these three words together?


Here's the secret # 123.

"Don't sell. SOLVE!"

Let me repeat this for you, "Don't sell. SOLVE.

So you might be wondering what's involved in the SOLVING PROCESS?

Don't talk and tell, ask questions and listen.


It's that simple.

Based on my observations most salespeople do not ask quality sales questions.

It's been said, you can tell the quality of your sales questions by the quality of the responses
you get.

This is the ultimate sales tip and you don't ever want to forget it.

"Don't sell.SOLVE."

--by Jim Meisenheimer

“People who consider themselves victims of their circumstances will always remain victims unless they develop a greater vision for their lives.”
—Stedman Graham

“Don’t be disquieted in time of adversity. Be firm with dignity and self-reliant with vigor.”
—Chiang Kai-Shek

“The one resolution, which was in my mind long before it took the form of a resolution, is the keynote of my life. It is this, always to regard as mere impertinences of fate the handicaps which were placed upon my life almost at the beginning. I resolved that they should not crush or dwarf my soul, but rather be made to blossom, like Aaron’s rod, with flowers.”
—Helen Keller

“The beauty of the soul shines out when a man bears with composure one heavy mischance after another, not because he does not feel them, but because he is a man of high and heroic temper.”
—Aristotle