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How important are your dreams? How real can they become? I'm not talking about the dreams you have in the middle of the night, either. Some of those are nightmares! I'm talking about the dreams you have with regard to achievement, success, happiness, security, positive life choices and all the rest. Years ago, when I lived in a harsh, cold climate my private dream was to live in a lush, green, warm and attractive place. My wife, Nancy, and I found that place right here in the Triad. And you can reach your dreams, too. But you need to know how to do it. And it's easier than you might think. First, let's talk about what not to do. You will never achieve your dreams by being the classic dreamer who can't put legs under his wishes. You can't do it simply by wishing it to be true. You also don't do it simply by working hard. Working hard only guarantees that you will get tired. Remember, life is a game to be enjoyed - not a battleground! The first step is to identify precisely what it is that you want to achieve. Fuzzy targets mean fuzzy results. What do you want to achieve relative to financial...family... professional and...personal goals? And how deeply do you really want to achieve them? Once you identify, qualify and emotionally capture your target you now need to implement the real secrets. An here they are - you need to learn how to visualize your success, expand your belief system to emotionally believe you can reach them (and deserve to do so) and then get down to the business of planning, scheduling and implementing the precise strategy to make your success happen. How does this relate to sales? It's really pretty simple. If you know why you are doing something it becomes relatively easy to learn how to do it. Without a true, heartfelt commitment to the end result you're working for, the hard work required to implement success will never be made. Some examples? Why would you be willing to face the agony of rejection, the perils of travel, the endless hours of paperwork, the tedium of report writing or the anguish of awaiting a purchase decision? The truth is that sales is not easy work. And it is especially tough work if you really don't know why you're doing it in the first place! What all of this really boils down to is the simple truth that says: "No rules of success will work unless you do. But if you don't know what success is to you, Even if you work hard, You'll still get nowhere." Sounds like a classic "Catch 22" doesn't it? Well, it doesn't have to be that way if you become more global and strategic in your thinking. There's an old time management principle that goes like this - "If you don't know where you're going, you'll probably wind up somewhere else." Again - "why to" always precedes "how to." Master an understanding of why you're doing what you're doing and the how to of achieving it become easy. Without that, you will continue to struggle daily. And you will end up with a life and career filled with frustration and disappointment. I don't know about you - but I truly believe that without a clear cut vision of where I want to be in life, it's especially difficult to:
And here's the payoff. Savor the joys of the journey. The small successes along the way that say, "Hey, you're making progress. Keep working. You're one step closer to your dreams." Yes, dreams are the stuff of which life - and hope - are made. Dreams are the fuel of life. Stop dreaming and you will stop living. And I mean living in the truest sense of the word. You will cease being fueled with enthusiasm, energy, positive energy, excitement, child-like wonderment and positive expectation. Without dreams you become a robot who simply goes through life without a firm belief in anything other than the tedium of day-to-day life. You deserve better than that. But remember, you are the only one who can fuel your life with dreams. You are also the only one who can put those legs under your dreams. Life is all too short for all of us. Don't shortchange yourself. You deserve the best. Go for it! Define your life by aiming toward where you want to be. Not where you are. Define your future in terms of thinking big and sincerely believing you deserve it. Live you life through actions that take you closer to where you want to be. Every day...every minute. Make it all count. Master your time and you will master your life. Master the skills that take you closer to your dreams. Learn to prioritize, learn to say no when you have to, learn how to delegate, master the art of effectiveness. Define effectiveness by only working on those things that take you to your dreams. Sound harsh? Not really - not if you really become totally 100% focused on results rather than activities. Measure your success by those results - not by being busy or aimlessly undertaking tasks. Try it, you'll like it. Your future deserves it. So do your loved ones.
How To Present Your Product With No Resistance How well do you tell your sales story with power, believability and behavior? How effective are you at virtually guaranteeing that your prospect will become a customer? In order to do this successfully there are two simple principles to keep in mind, no matter what you are selling. Here they are:
Once you understand and accept these two realities what can you do about them? The first principle can be dealt with very easily and systematically by remembering two things:
The second principle, though, creates a little larger obstacle. Most salespeople are accustomed to "telling and selling" instead of "involving and asking." It is true that people learn a lot more from what they experience and actually do than from what they simply hear, isn't it? The same is true about your product or service presentation. In fact, I prefer to use the term "application" rather than "demonstration" or "presentation." The former means a mutual discovery or learning experience as your product or service is unfolded to your prospect while the latter terms refer to a standard, sterile and boring monologue related to your product or service's features or, perhaps, even irrelevant benefits. It has often been said that features "tell" and benefits "sell." Unfortunately, it is far deeper than that! You need to determine which benefits actually do sell! You also need to discover the role that active participation, involvement and education play in the effective presentation of your product or service. Always remember that people are far more likely to believe what they experience, do, feel, touch, smell, think or immerse themselves in than from what they simply hear from you! Our son, Will, a college student, recently experienced a wonderful, 21 day tour of Europe. He and his friends traveled from Rome to Paris and from Paris to London. Then they went to Munich, Austria and back to Rome. What did Will learn?
What does this mean to you as a sales professional? Simply this – never underestimate the importance of allowing your prospect to learn all they can about your product or service. Your job? To serve as the tour guide, interpreter or facilitator. To allow them to reach their own conclusions, draw their own comparisons and discover precisely how your product will address their concerns, enhance their profits, solve a problem or meet a need. Some tips? Let me give you six very specific things you can do today. Here they are:
Always remember that people don't want to be sold. Instead, they really do want to buy. Ask the right questions (What do you want to buy? When do you want to buy it? How will you buy? What do you need?) and then present only the right solutions - and allow them to experience your product or service. Then, they will buy! And you won't have to sell them anything. |
