•1:33 PM
Why are we so hung up about selling?
I once attended a medical conference, sitting with a surgeon who bemoaned the fact that the excellent medical information was sponsored by a company.
It funny really. We feel comfortable going to work comfortable in the security that we will have a pay cheque.
Yet, if it were not for the sales team we would not have a job.
The medical profession itself is highly commercialized. Pharmaceuticals are extremely expensive to produce. Companies need doctors to prefer to prescribe their product over another.
Yet talk of selling and most of us clam up as if it is a dirty word.
Somehow, in this surgeons mind he could not allow sales to his profession.
However, if a private doctor does not get patience he goes broke.
It’s the same in any service industry.
Society is full of stigmas. A cancer survivor is rightly a hero. What about a person who conquers alcoholism on a daily basis?
True, alcoholism can be – but is not always – self induced. Still, why don’t we applaud those who have changed their lives?
It seem that we have a similar stigma with sales.
A few bad eggs and we tar and feather the whole profession.
However our whole civilization depends on marketing.
“Sales equals service” says master Sales trainer Eric Lohholm “when you sell from honesty, integrity and compassion.”
“Selling is leading” he says. “Sales is about leading to action.”
Eric was in no way a natural, who at one point was threatened with dismissal as his companies worst performer. However, he sort out a mentor, Donald Moyne and went on top great success.
He then worked in sales for Anthony Robbins for 6 years.
According to Lofhom it is essential to get to the heart of why you feel uncomfortable about sales.
Then you must develop a propound appreciation of what you are offering. Sales is the exchange of something of value for something else – usually money.
We must be clear about the value of our service, and offer more value than we expect to receive.
Of course, as believers in the law of Attraction remind us, you must also value yourself. This can be achieved with the power of gratitude.
It is achieved with the power of language.
So often we fall into negative self talk.
Life is the biofeedback system of your thinking.
So ask yourself: “What am I telling myself to create my reality”
In sales, the negative thinking clearly manifests when people ask for money.
They can build an immaculate presentation and they limply ask at the end “If every you need just give me a ring”.
Lofholm suggests a process of reverse engineering.
Practice your presentation at the close – see yourself asking that money question.
He believes that visualization has the power to create reality.
His advice reminded me of Matt Furey’s recommendation to practice your affirmations and goals in a mirror. It gives you feed back of what emotional energy you are sending out to a future customer.
Of course, Matt Furey, now owns the Psycho-cybernetic brand, developed by Maxwell Maltz. Maltz was the founder of mental rehearsal.
Work backward and rehearse, see how each idea links to the next building step that builds up to your comfortably g asking for the fee that you know is so reasonable for such a valuable service.
In an economy where people are hurting, money will be made by people who can offer genuine and realistic solutions to peoples pain.
However, it is often necessary to honestly ask yourself “Why am I attracted to negative self talk?”
Part of the problem is our tendency to castigate ourselves when we slip up.
However, does beating yourself up ever get you to work better? Rarely, if it does it is a very short term gain
Tru, we must recognize our errors.
In life we are constantly on target, slipping off and then readjusting back on course.
That principle, called cybernetics, is what keeps a craft on course. Simply recognize your feedback, don’t get emotional over it, and readjust.
To be effective we must also monitor our time.
Imagine if you were on a bus and every few minutes a person threw out a dollar bill out the window. You may think he is charitable.
What if afterwards he then came to you and asked for some money because he didn’t have any?
So many of us throw away our time just a wastefully.
To that end Lofholm recommends planning each day in advance. He also recommends establishing yearly, monthly, weekly and daily goals.
A years plan should be no longer than 3 pages, otherwise it will probably not be regularly reviewed.
Review, adjustment and correction are daily essentials.
If you’re a night person, plan your day the night before – including family time. If you’re a morning person do it first thing.
If you forget and the day is half over, then plan the next few hours.
Don’t castigate yourself. Just get it done.
“Time Management is a process of questions put in writing” said Lofholm.
- Ask yourself: “What do I need to do to achieve……………”
- List out the steps that will get you to your goal.
Don’t drag out the process. Lofholm sets only 14 minutes a day for this process. That’s 1% of your next 24 hours.
The new year is almost upon us, so do it now.
What are your 2010 goals?
What are your goals for January?
Break up those goals into weekly sub-goals, then break then establish daily goals for that entire month.
Whatever your product or service, people need to hear about it.
Value your service, value yourself, and expand your life one day at a time.
Source: Living Beyond Limits
