Sales Tips 136, 137, 138, etc. etc.
*Don’t let the urgent outweigh what is really important in life.
*Lack of action implies acceptance.
*Your personal image is your ‘calling card’ to success. You are ‘on’ and in view of potential clients 24/7.
*Honest feedback is a gift. It can reveal a need for improvement that you might not have recognized.
*Know your competition and what makes you unique.
*No matter how high tech you get, nothing will replace your people skills.
And to close, a Havey Mackay’s networking tip of the week: “I don’t know what I’ll be doing a year from now, but what ever it is undoubtedly will be based on the contacts I make (and maintain) today.
Thanks for being here; have a super week and always remember: it’s up to you to build your own self esteem.
Craig McConnell, President, PrintGrowPro/SalesGrowPro
“Great selling is a process artfully done.”
Follow me on Twitter – http://twitter.com/printgrowpro
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I talked last week about Stuart Smalley (aka Senator Al Franken, Minnesota) and how he immortalized his version of ‘self talk’ on Saturday Night Live (see Sales 101: How Good Is Your Self Talk?)
I want continue this discussion today and talk about a natural end result of positive self talk - self confidence. Self confidence is extremely important in all aspects of our lives, but if you’re in sales, it’s a must.
Self confident people inspire confidence in others: their clients, their prospects, their peers, their friends, their family.
Your self confidence (or lack of same) can manifest itself in many ways: how you act, how you speak, your body language, your posture, etc.
We’ll talk about things you can do to learn how to improve your self confidence in some post Thanksgiving posts, but for today, I just want you to answer the following questions just to get an early guage on where your self confidence meter falls.
1) Do you wait for others to congratulate you on your accomplishments? Or are you constantly ‘blowing your own horn’ to as many people as possible as often as you can?
2) Do you admit your mistakes? Or do you prioritize finding ways to cover up and fix a problem before anyone notices?
3) Are you willing to take risks, to push yourself a little harder to achieve better things? Or, do you always stay in your comfort zone and avoid risks at all cost?
4) Do you always try to do what’s right? Or, is your behavior dictated by what others may say or think?
5) Do you accept compliments graciously (“Thanks; I worked hard on that; appreciate you noticing.”)? Or, do you just dismiss any compliment you may receive (“No big deal; anyone could have done it.”)?
Your answers to these questions will say a lot about you and your self confidence. Remember: Low self confidence can be frighteningly destructive, and since we are responsible for building our own self esteem, remind yourself daily: “I”m good enough. I”m smart enough. And gosh darn it, people like me.”
Thanks for being here; have a super weekend!
Craig McConnell, President, PrintGrowPro/SalesGrowPro
“Great selling is a process artfully done.”
Follow me on Twitter – http://twitter.com/printgrowpro
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Thanks for being here and remember: it’s up to us to build our own self esteem; so think positive and act accordingly – even if you have to fake it.
Craig McConnell, President, PrintGrowPro/SalesGrowPro
“Great selling is a process artfully done.”
Follow me on Twitter – http://twitter.com/printgrowpro
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I am not a scientist, but like every other author, self-help guru, motivational speaker, and life coach out there, I too believe that it’s all about attitude and in almost all cases, how we think determines how we act and how we feel.
Unless we learn how to change the way we think, we will never be able to change the way we live (and sell).
Unfortuately, for most of us, once we make up our minds on something, we become blind to other options; we are unable to see other possibilities. Your mind just blocks ‘stuff’ out. We become locked in our ‘comfort zones’ and end up making decisions based upon old ‘tapes’ and past personal histories.
Developing the habit of changing the way you think and learning to function outside of your comfort zones can be critical to your sales success.
How do you even start?
Well, you start by recognizing that it is not somebody else’s job to make us feel good about ourselves; we are responsible for our own self concept.
Take a quick look at this classic clip from SNL.
In the world of psycholinguistics, what Stuart was doing as he stared at himself in the mirror is called self talk.
Self talk is simply “you” evaluating or assessing “you”. It’s how you react to somebody else’s evaluation of your performance. It’s how you react to your own evaluation of your own performance.
Self talk is you building your own self concept; it’s you making a statement of ‘fact’ to yourself. It’s things you tell yourself every day that affirm that you are as cool as you think you are.
*I am always memorable.
*I give, with no expectation of receiving anything in return.
*I always look for the good in other people.
*I’m the friendliest, most helpful, most knowledgable sales person in the room.
*I am a great listener and can make a difference.
*I avoid arguments, don’t use sarcasm and am never mean.
*I am great at remembering peoples’ names.
Self Talk – give it a try; you’ll be pleasantly surprised; here’s one more:
“I am very lucky; I love life; and am confident about the future.”
Thanks for being here and remember: it’s up to us to build our own self esteem; so think positive and act accordingly – even if you have to fake it.
Craig McConnell, President, PrintGrowPro/SalesGrowPro
“Great selling is a process artfully done.”
Follow me on Twitter – http://twitter.com/printgrowpro
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Be memorable, concentrate on becoming a better listener, work harder at remember names and keep in mind: it’s up to each of us to build our own self esteem.
Thanks for being here.
Craig McConnell, President, PrintGrowPro/SalesGrowPro
“Great selling is a process artfully done.”
Follow me on Twitter – http://twitter.com/printgrowpro
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Craig McConnell, President, PrintGrowPro/SalesGrowPro
“Great selling is a process artfully done.”
Follow me on Twitter – http://twitter.com/printgrowpro
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Be memorable, have a great weekend, be truthful about how much time you are REALLY spending in front of prospects, and as we have been saying here in St. Louis since the end of August: never, never never give up!
Thanks for being here.
Craig McConnell, President, PrintGrowPro/SalesGrowPro
“Great selling is a process artfully done.”
Follow me on Twitter – http://twitter.com/printgrowpro
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Be memorable, make it a great week and consider this concept: When something that costs less than $200 breaks and it’s not under warranty and you can’t fix it yourself in half an hour, it’s almost certainly more cost-effective to throw it out.
Thanks for being here.
Craig McConnell, President, PrintGrowPro/SalesGrowPro
“Great selling is a process artfully done.”
Follow me on Twitter – http://twitter.com/printgrowpro
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In the printing business, it’s still pretty much standard operating procedure to show the customer a proof and have them approve it before a job goes to press.
Why?
The customer knows what they want; the customer also knows what will work for them. It would obviously be a huge waste of time and resources to have to reprint a job simply because nobody took the time to look for and find errors ahead of time (ever heard the expression “never enough time to do it right, always time to do it over” in your plant?).
Imagine the time that would be wasted, profits lost, production schedules ‘thrown into chaos’, and customer relationships compromised if “proofing” wasn’t part of how our industry does business. Ink, plates, paper, wages, overtime, potential lost revenue (for the printer and his client), postage, freight, etc., etc., etc.,………….with margins being squeezed daily, not showing a proof is a risk we simply cannot afford to take.
We may not be hiring or promoting a lot of people these days (although I’m hopeful this is beginning to trend in a more positive direction), have you ever stopped to consider the potential cost of ‘spoiled work’ or ‘errors’ in the process?
Most problems that businesses have to deal with today are a direct result of the gaps that exist between the skill sets that jobs require and what the people in those jobs bring to them.
A hiring mistake (or having the right person in wrong seat on Jim Collins’ bus) can adversely affect levels of customer satisfaction, reduce individual productivity and team morale, escalate recruiting and training time and costs, and negatively impact sales.
So here’s a ‘good news/bad news’ scenario for your consideration.
The bad news is that like every print job that runs through your plant, job applicants and members of your current team need “proofing” .
The good news is that by incorporating a pre employment testing/talent inventory system into your hiring and promoting policies, you are able to:
*determine whether or not applicants have “errors” you can’t live with (before you invest the time and resources necessary to train them)
* create a talent inventory of your existing employees (including your sales team) that turns your human resource information into a corporate asset
* evaluate and correct poor relationships that exist between employees and their managers (a folder operator and a bindery manager for example)
*identify specific patterns of skills, attitudes, and values required for success in any job in your plant and allow you to match applicants (or existing team members) to available positions.
The cost of “spoiled work” in the hiring or promoting process can dwarf the costs of rerunning a print job.
A hiring mistake can top 30% of the employee’s first year salary. Pre-employment testing and the creation of a complete inventory of your ‘human capital’ can in most cases be performed for less than the cost of an hour of press time.
“Gut” decisions based on exaggerated resumes, distorted applications, personal references, or an interview where you do most of the talking (sales candidates interview great don’t they?) are usually mistakes.
Why guess when you can have “proof” instead?
Want to learn more? Visit www.thehiringsuite.com
As always, thanks for being here, be memorable, and remember: There are sometimes good reasons to be secretive about your age. People tend to assume things when they know how old you are. “Oh, he’s turning 60,” they might say, for example, “probably full of cranky self-lacerating aphorisms that he thinks qualify as wisdom.”
Have a great day!
Craig McConnell, President, PrintGrowPro/SalesGrowPro
“Great selling is a process artfully done.”
Follow me on Twitter - http://twitter.com/printgrowpro
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Be memorable and remember: Try the ’10-minute jump start’; it’s a good way to get going on a big task you’ve been avoiding. Set a timer and begin, promising yourself that you’ll quit after 10 minutes and do something else. It doesn’t work for everyone, but the momentum could carry your forward.
Thanks for being here.
Craig McConnell, President, PrintGrowPro/SalesGrowPro
“Great selling is a process artfully done.”
Follow me on Twitter - http://twitter.com/printgrowpro
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