How to Persuade the Reluctant Buyer
By Faith Hope Consolo | June 23, 2010
Known as the "Queen of Retail," broker FaithHope Consolo discovered a niche — finding the perfect store locationsfor national and international luxury retailers — and built it toregal proportions. In 2005, Prudential Douglas Elliman Real Estate established its retail leasing and salesdivision exclusively for her. She has been the company’s top brokerfor the past two years in a row, despite precipitous declines of 50 percent ormore in the commercial and retail leasing and sales industry.
Name: Faith Hope Consolo
Location: Based in New York
What I sell: Commercial real estate space to luxury retailers
2009 sales: $222 million (aggregate)
Prudential broker Faith Hope Consolo
I am not driven by the dollar. It’s the deal for me — making the transactions and bringing the right retailer to the right street, whether that is New York or Chicago, San Francisco or Los Angeles or Palm Beach. It’s like putting the right piece into a puzzle.
When I was first starting out in the late 80s, my mentor Lloyd Putter taught me how to canvass in the streets and how to look at space. He said, “You will call all the stores you have ever shopped in and ask them about expanding,” and that is exactly what I did — no computer, no research. My first client was Godiva. I called the chairman and said, “Don’t you think you should expand in New York?” He said, “That’s ironic. We are just thinking of this now.” Three months later I found a 1,000 square foot space across the street from the Waldorf Astoria. Godiva is still there today.
Keeping the Pulse
One advantage I have is that I have been through three downturns before. With each one, it is all about knowing the trends. You have to figure out which retailers are pulling back and which ones are expanding.
When we had a dip in the late 1990s, there was a real focus on affordable fashion. So we had to go to Europe to look for clients, and we brought Benetton to Manhattan and then came H&M and Zara. During the recent downturn, we aggressively went out and put smaller retailers, like Variazione, and local mom and pops in spaces that made sense, for example on Madison Avenue, where they had been shut out before by the nationals and internationals, who are being very cautious now.
Last year, I did double the transactions of the year before to keep up with the dollar volume. It is work, work, and hard work. I am constantly looking for changes. Especially in New York, you have to go to a neighborhood every week, to keep the pulse, or you can’t do this job. I’m looking for street life, for new people moving in, and the types of people that make up a neighborhood — young families, young singles, established families, etc. That way I’ll know what they need. We’ve all seen how demographics can change rapidly.
“No” Is Never Really “No”
Listening is one of those key things that brokers don’t do enough of in sales: They don’t listen to their customers and they don’t listen to the market, and that is frightening. You have to be able to identify everybody’s interests. I have very good listening skills, which helps me tremendously — that, and I don’t believe in “no.” There’s always a way to change a “no” into a “yes.”
You get past the biggest objections with persistence. In 1996, I received a call from the chairman of Cartier, who said he had a very confidential assignment for me: Contrary to what most people thought, the company didn’t own the Cartier Mansion on 52nd and Fifth — it leased the building. The problem was, the lease was expiring in three years and Cartier had an adversarial relationship with the owner, the Onassis Foundation.
After several spirited meetings at the Foundation’s office (one of the principals even jumped up on a table to scream at me), I went back to Cartier and told them the deal wouldn’t get done in New York. We had to go to Greece and meet with the board of the Onassis Foundation personally. When we got there, we spent only about two hours a day on business and the rest on social breakfasts, lunches, and dinners. After two days of this, I took one of the foundation heads aside and said, “This is a long-term relationship; it’s not just about money. Let’s make this work, Cartier is a good fit for you.” It was a huge deal, not only because I kept Cartier’s image intact, but then the Onassis Foundation retained me to be their adviser for all of its lease renewals on rest of the block.
I am very lucky to love what I do. This is my passion.
-As told to Jeremy Quittner
More Gods of Sales:
The King of Referrals
The Trusted Adviser
The Rapport Builder
The Patient Pitchman
The Master Storyteller
http://www.bnet.com/article/how-to-persuade-the-reluctant-buyer/438002?tag=content;drawer-container
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Sunday, June 26, 2011
Keeping Your New Year’s Resolutions: 5 Tips for Improving Your Money Resolutions by THURSDAY BRAM ·
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The new year is getting close. In the next month or so, many of us are going to be considering a resolution or two to start off 2011 a little better than we’re ending 2010. Most resolutions revolve around three topics: improving your health, improving your happiness and improving your finances. It’s very easy to make resolutions about money, but keeping those resolutions can be just as difficult as trying out a new diet. There are some ways to make the process a little easier.
1. Make Your Resolution As Automatic As Possible
The more you have to think about keeping your resolutions, the more opportunities there are to trip up. If you can make them automatic, it’s much easier to keep up with those resolutions. Luckily, with many financial resolutions there are tools that make automation a simple matter. For example, you can create an automatic transfer from your checking account to your savings account if you want to save money over the course of the year for a certain goal. All you have to do then is check in with your bank account regularly to make sure that you won’t overdraft.
Take a look at your goals before you jump into the new year and see where you can make the process automatic and painless. Whether you can make the whole thing automatic will depend on your resolution (and possibly on your financial habits), but if you can only make part of caring out your resolution automatic, it will still help you keep to your goals.
2. Double Check for Realistic Goals
A common issue with resolutions is that it’s easy to set a big goal — but much harder to actually reach those goals. Run the numbers on what you want to do. It’s okay if you will have to stretch — a resolution that’s easy to keep isn’t much of a resolution — but you should be able to actually meet your goal. If even stretching isn’t going to even get you within reaching distance of your goal, scaling down a little makes sense.
You may have goals that you can reach in a couple of ways. If you’re setting aside money, for instance, you can reduce your spending or earn more money. Take those alternative options into account when checking if your resolutions will be attainable. After all, your impossible resolution may be very doable once you combine all the options available to you.
3. Break Down Daily Expectations
Especially if your resolution is going to require a stretch, breaking down exactly what you need to do every day can be a big help. What’s the minimum you need to do daily to reach your goal? Is there a certain amount of money you have to save every 24 hours in order to meet the final total? Writing that down and putting it somewhere you’ll see every day can help keep you on track.
Most big resolutions fail because it’s not just enough to say ‘I’m going to build up an emergency fund of $5,000.’ You have to have a path to get to that end result — and for something that big, that means chipping away at it a little each day.
4. Have an End Point, If You Can
Open-ended resolutions are tough to fulfill. Telling yourself you’re going to cut your spending to a certain point indefinitely means that there’s no relief in sight. It’s much easier to hold out and complete a project when you can see the end — telling yourself that success is only a tiny bit farther away is a great motivator. There’s a similar concern with diets. Many people make resolutions regarding their diets but don’t offer themselves an end point or a relief valve. After doing something unenjoyable, like sticking to a diet, for weeks at a time, you may need a break, even if it’s just a little one.
Give yourself something to look forward to, and it doesn’t even have to be a direct reward. Your feelings of accomplishment may be enough, but if you don’t have a way of knowing that you’ve reached your goal, it can be tough to feel like you accomplished anything. You need an end point to your resolution to be able to know if you stuck to it.
5. Start Your Resolution Today
When you think about it, the first of January is an arbitrary date to make a change in your life. If you’re thinking about your resolutions for the new year now, you might as well start them immediately. At the very least, you’ll have some time to figure out what’s working and what’s not with the strategies you use to transform that resolution to reality. At the best, you can avoid one of the biggest problems with the entire concept of a new year’s resolution. Think about how a resolution for a new diet works: the resolution gets made at the end of a month filled with parties, eating poorly and generally bad habits. Breaking out of those bad habits after spending a month reinforcing them is incredibly difficult, setting many people up for failure.
Many of us face similar problems with financial resolutions. If you give gifts in December, the odds are good that you’ve screwed up your budget a bit at some point or otherwise engaged in some poor financial behavior. That makes starting a new resolution that much harder in January. If you can get your resolution started now and keep it through December, your resolution might become a habit and the beginning of the new year hasn’t even arrived yet.
Tagged as: Better Yourself
Related Posts
How to Set Financial Goals for the New Year
5 Financial Resolutions You Can Actually Keep
Drop Pounds, Not Dollars with Your Gym Memberships
Getting to Know Kevin at No Debt Plan
Act on the Personal Finance Advice You Get: Make Reading Worthwhile
Subscribe! (and Get a Mini-Course Too!)
Please consider following me on twitter here! In addition, subscribe to grab free amazing content or take advantage of the newsletter to have content delivered to you. For starters, a 7-part mini course to help you spend less and be happy will be delivered to you when you subscribe!
(Don't worry about spam, because we hate it as much as you do!)
The new year is getting close. In the next month or so, many of us are going to be considering a resolution or two to start off 2011 a little better than we’re ending 2010. Most resolutions revolve around three topics: improving your health, improving your happiness and improving your finances. It’s very easy to make resolutions about money, but keeping those resolutions can be just as difficult as trying out a new diet. There are some ways to make the process a little easier.
1. Make Your Resolution As Automatic As Possible
The more you have to think about keeping your resolutions, the more opportunities there are to trip up. If you can make them automatic, it’s much easier to keep up with those resolutions. Luckily, with many financial resolutions there are tools that make automation a simple matter. For example, you can create an automatic transfer from your checking account to your savings account if you want to save money over the course of the year for a certain goal. All you have to do then is check in with your bank account regularly to make sure that you won’t overdraft.
Take a look at your goals before you jump into the new year and see where you can make the process automatic and painless. Whether you can make the whole thing automatic will depend on your resolution (and possibly on your financial habits), but if you can only make part of caring out your resolution automatic, it will still help you keep to your goals.
2. Double Check for Realistic Goals
A common issue with resolutions is that it’s easy to set a big goal — but much harder to actually reach those goals. Run the numbers on what you want to do. It’s okay if you will have to stretch — a resolution that’s easy to keep isn’t much of a resolution — but you should be able to actually meet your goal. If even stretching isn’t going to even get you within reaching distance of your goal, scaling down a little makes sense.
You may have goals that you can reach in a couple of ways. If you’re setting aside money, for instance, you can reduce your spending or earn more money. Take those alternative options into account when checking if your resolutions will be attainable. After all, your impossible resolution may be very doable once you combine all the options available to you.
3. Break Down Daily Expectations
Especially if your resolution is going to require a stretch, breaking down exactly what you need to do every day can be a big help. What’s the minimum you need to do daily to reach your goal? Is there a certain amount of money you have to save every 24 hours in order to meet the final total? Writing that down and putting it somewhere you’ll see every day can help keep you on track.
Most big resolutions fail because it’s not just enough to say ‘I’m going to build up an emergency fund of $5,000.’ You have to have a path to get to that end result — and for something that big, that means chipping away at it a little each day.
4. Have an End Point, If You Can
Open-ended resolutions are tough to fulfill. Telling yourself you’re going to cut your spending to a certain point indefinitely means that there’s no relief in sight. It’s much easier to hold out and complete a project when you can see the end — telling yourself that success is only a tiny bit farther away is a great motivator. There’s a similar concern with diets. Many people make resolutions regarding their diets but don’t offer themselves an end point or a relief valve. After doing something unenjoyable, like sticking to a diet, for weeks at a time, you may need a break, even if it’s just a little one.
Give yourself something to look forward to, and it doesn’t even have to be a direct reward. Your feelings of accomplishment may be enough, but if you don’t have a way of knowing that you’ve reached your goal, it can be tough to feel like you accomplished anything. You need an end point to your resolution to be able to know if you stuck to it.
5. Start Your Resolution Today
When you think about it, the first of January is an arbitrary date to make a change in your life. If you’re thinking about your resolutions for the new year now, you might as well start them immediately. At the very least, you’ll have some time to figure out what’s working and what’s not with the strategies you use to transform that resolution to reality. At the best, you can avoid one of the biggest problems with the entire concept of a new year’s resolution. Think about how a resolution for a new diet works: the resolution gets made at the end of a month filled with parties, eating poorly and generally bad habits. Breaking out of those bad habits after spending a month reinforcing them is incredibly difficult, setting many people up for failure.
Many of us face similar problems with financial resolutions. If you give gifts in December, the odds are good that you’ve screwed up your budget a bit at some point or otherwise engaged in some poor financial behavior. That makes starting a new resolution that much harder in January. If you can get your resolution started now and keep it through December, your resolution might become a habit and the beginning of the new year hasn’t even arrived yet.
Tagged as: Better Yourself
Related Posts
How to Set Financial Goals for the New Year
5 Financial Resolutions You Can Actually Keep
Drop Pounds, Not Dollars with Your Gym Memberships
Getting to Know Kevin at No Debt Plan
Act on the Personal Finance Advice You Get: Make Reading Worthwhile
Subscribe! (and Get a Mini-Course Too!)
Please consider following me on twitter here! In addition, subscribe to grab free amazing content or take advantage of the newsletter to have content delivered to you. For starters, a 7-part mini course to help you spend less and be happy will be delivered to you when you subscribe!
(Don't worry about spam, because we hate it as much as you do!)
How to Break Bad Habits
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Our habits may be based on our core principles, but the surrounding elements will often change them on a daily basis. Be it frugality, way of life or our morals, people around us slowly change our behaviors in a big way.
When we were young, our parents help shape our values by setting examples. Once school started, we start learning from our friends and classmates. Then as we grow older, the sum of our experiences act as the ultimate trial and error experiment that forms our habits.
Do you have spending problems that cannot seem to be controlled?
Are you always in a rut and can’t seem to be able to get out?
Do you want to increase your motivation to do better?
If you want to break your bad habits, you should surround yourself with people who don’t have that habit in question.
My Spending Buddy
One of our friends came to visit us for a few days and let me tell you why he’s special. Every time he comes over, both of us end up buying something we otherwise wouldn’t have bought. There’s a tiny portion of peer pressure involved, but it’s mostly because we fuel each other’s enthusiasm when we talk about our shopping wish list. We seem to like the same stuff, and we get excited every time we discuss why we should make another purchase. We laugh about it, because the stuff we buy are affordable but you can see how it could potentially get out of control.
Mentoring without Knowledge
There are a few people I always have lunch with. I cherish their friendship, but more importantly, they unknowingly helped build the foundation that shaped the success I’ve accomplished to date. There’s no specific examples, but the questions they ask, the way they act and the attitude they portray all stimulate my mind and improve me in every way.
The Frugality in Me
If my parents never cared about money, it would be very difficult for me to develop my frugal habits. If Emma thinks of nothing but the next hand bag she wants to buy, it will tempt me to buy everything I ever wanted without regard to finances as well.
What I’m Trying to Say
The people closest to you will always affect how you think and act. If you want to save money, hanging around the wealthy won’t help. If you want to climb up the corporate ladder, start communicating with upper management more often. If you want to have a better relationship, make friends with people who seem to be loved by everyone around them.
Our behaviors are shaped by people we are closed to. The good news is that there’s always ways to improve. Evaluate, come up with a plan and take action. It works every time.
Tagged as: Better Yourself
Related Posts
MoneyNing is on Break Today
Keeping Your New Year’s Resolutions: 5 Tips for Improving Your Money Resolutions
5 Tax Breaks for Year End Tax Planning in 2010
Motivation Monday – Everyone Slacks Off
Places to Think About Money
Subscribe! (and Get a Mini-Course Too!)
Please consider following me on twitter here! In addition, subscribe to grab free amazing content or take advantage of the newsletter to have content delivered to you. For starters, a 7-part mini course to help you spend less and be happy will be delivered to you when you subscribe!
(Don't worry about spam, because we hate it as much as you do!)
Share
Our habits may be based on our core principles, but the surrounding elements will often change them on a daily basis. Be it frugality, way of life or our morals, people around us slowly change our behaviors in a big way.
When we were young, our parents help shape our values by setting examples. Once school started, we start learning from our friends and classmates. Then as we grow older, the sum of our experiences act as the ultimate trial and error experiment that forms our habits.
Do you have spending problems that cannot seem to be controlled?
Are you always in a rut and can’t seem to be able to get out?
Do you want to increase your motivation to do better?
If you want to break your bad habits, you should surround yourself with people who don’t have that habit in question.
My Spending Buddy
One of our friends came to visit us for a few days and let me tell you why he’s special. Every time he comes over, both of us end up buying something we otherwise wouldn’t have bought. There’s a tiny portion of peer pressure involved, but it’s mostly because we fuel each other’s enthusiasm when we talk about our shopping wish list. We seem to like the same stuff, and we get excited every time we discuss why we should make another purchase. We laugh about it, because the stuff we buy are affordable but you can see how it could potentially get out of control.
Mentoring without Knowledge
There are a few people I always have lunch with. I cherish their friendship, but more importantly, they unknowingly helped build the foundation that shaped the success I’ve accomplished to date. There’s no specific examples, but the questions they ask, the way they act and the attitude they portray all stimulate my mind and improve me in every way.
The Frugality in Me
If my parents never cared about money, it would be very difficult for me to develop my frugal habits. If Emma thinks of nothing but the next hand bag she wants to buy, it will tempt me to buy everything I ever wanted without regard to finances as well.
What I’m Trying to Say
The people closest to you will always affect how you think and act. If you want to save money, hanging around the wealthy won’t help. If you want to climb up the corporate ladder, start communicating with upper management more often. If you want to have a better relationship, make friends with people who seem to be loved by everyone around them.
Our behaviors are shaped by people we are closed to. The good news is that there’s always ways to improve. Evaluate, come up with a plan and take action. It works every time.
Tagged as: Better Yourself
Related Posts
MoneyNing is on Break Today
Keeping Your New Year’s Resolutions: 5 Tips for Improving Your Money Resolutions
5 Tax Breaks for Year End Tax Planning in 2010
Motivation Monday – Everyone Slacks Off
Places to Think About Money
Subscribe! (and Get a Mini-Course Too!)
Please consider following me on twitter here! In addition, subscribe to grab free amazing content or take advantage of the newsletter to have content delivered to you. For starters, a 7-part mini course to help you spend less and be happy will be delivered to you when you subscribe!
(Don't worry about spam, because we hate it as much as you do!)
7 Habits of Frugality
7 Habits of Highly Frugal People
by GUEST CONTRIBUTOR · 332 COMMENTS
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The book 7 Habits of Highly Effective People has sold over 15 million copies since it was first published in 1989, teaching people all over the world how to live a happier, more successful and more satisfying life. One of the prevailing themes of the book is the fact that to change your life you need to change your attitude because no one else is responsible for what happens to you but you, so you can either complain about the things you don’t like in your life or you can set about changing them. Not surprisingly, this directly relates to the state of your finances.
If you are tired of living week to week, of having your phone regularly cut off or having to make excuses to skip dinners with your friends if the money has run out before the end of the month then you can use the seven habits of highly effective people to take control of your money situation and live a more frugal lifestyle, and a happier one.
Habit One: Be Proactive
The first habits of highly effective people is to take responsibility for your life, there is no one else to blame but yourself. Regardless of how you were raised or how you were treated at school you are able to choose your behavior now. Being proactive means understanding that you are in control of the direction your life takes and in control of your day to day interactions. Whereas a reactive person is often affected by their environment and will find external sources to blame for their behavior, for example if the weather is good they are in a good mood but if the weather is bad it affects their attitude and so the weather is to blame for their bad mood.
However what most people forget is that between the stimulus and your response is your freedom to choose your response, and one of the most important things you choose are your words. The language you use is an effective indication of how you see yourself and if you use proactive language such as ‘I can’ or ‘I will’ you are starting with a more positive attitude than a reactive person who uses language like ‘I can’t’ or ‘I have to’ or ‘if only…’
How to be proactive for effective frugality:
Take the first step. You cannot take control of your finances until you make the commitment to do so because the more you ignore the situation the worse it will get. Instead take a long hard look at your finances and your budget, your debts, income and expenses and understand where your money is going and where you can budget better.
Tell people. Using proactive language to vocalize your goal of being more frugal and more financially responsible not only helps you crystallize your goal but can also help you avoid the peer pressure which can make budgeting and frugality hard. If you explain to your friends and family how you are trying to live a more frugal lifestyle then they are less likely to pressure you into one more round of drinks at the pub or dinner out, again.
Listen. Listen to yourself and listen to the reasons you give each time you make a purchase outside of your budget or decide not to put those spare funds into your savings account. Taking the time to stop and listen to the reasons you give yourself for spending more than you earn will give you the opportunity to hear just how shallow many of those reasons are, and can stop you from making purchases which can impede your goal of effective frugality.
Habit Two: Begin with the End in Mind
Those who are effective in achieving their goals are able to envisage their end result despite the obstacles. Highly effective people adhere to this habit based on the principle that all things are created twice, there is the first mental creation and then the second physical creation, and the physical creation follows the mental creation in the same way as the building follows its blueprints.
If you don’t visualize what you want out of life then you are at risk of other people and external circumstances influencing your life because you are not influencing it yourself. Instead begin every day and every task with a clear vision of where you want to go and how you’re going to get there and make that vision a reality with your proactive skills from habit one.
How to visualize effective frugality:
Define your goal. There are many ways to live a frugal lifestyle and you need to decide on how frugal you want to be. Do you want to be debt free, do you want to build a savings account balance of a certain value or do you want to be able to live on one income in a two income household?
Decide how you’re going to get there. This will again draw on your budget, but you also need to be aware of the obstacles which are standing in your way. These may be literal obstacles such as credit card debts, or they may be obstacles you have identified in your behavior; for example are you spending $10 every day on junk food on your way home from work because you’re starving when you could be packing a two dollar muesli bar or a low GI lunch to keep you going until dinner. Or do you find that when you go shopping with your sister she always helps you justify a frivolous purchase when you could leave your credit card at home.
Habit Three: Put First Things First
Knowing why you are doing something is an effective motivator in helping you take the mental creation and transform that into an actual physical creation of your goal. Therefore ask yourself which are the things you find most valuable and worthy to you. When you put these things first you will be organizing and managing your time around your personal priorities to make them a reality.
However for many people it is hard to say no but this is exactly the skill you have to learn to be able to keep your goals as your first priority. While we have all of these time-saving devices and we are told we can have it all if we just achieve that elusive work-life balance in reality having it all is really about prioritizing which it is most important to you to have, and then doing that properly.
How to put effective frugality first:
Recognize the effects of your finances. You may not dedicate as much time as you should to managing your finances and practicing frugal principles because you feel there is always something more important to be doing, whether it is work, taking the kids to soccer practice or getting ready for dinner with the girls. However if your finances are not under control and you are regularly spending more than you earn then this is having a negative impact on every other aspect of your life from your work to your family to your friends. Therefore you need to recognize that being frugal is your first priority.
Just say no. It is easy to spend more than your budgeted amount each month when you are worried about missing out on a dinner with friends, feel as though you have to cater a birthday party for your son and 50 of his closest friends or you can’t possibly wear the same suit you wore last year to a work conference. However if you recognize that you don’t have to take on everything and that it is all right to say no then you will find you are more in control of your spending and your budget.
Habit Four: Think Win-Win
Growing up most of us are taught to base our self-worth on comparisons to others and competition against our peers. We think we can only succeed if someone else has failed and if you win then that must mean I lose, and that there is only so much pie to go around and if you get a big piece then I’m going to be missing out. When you think like this you are always going to feel like you’re missing out on something and that’s not fair is it? As a result many of us retaliate and take the pie before someone else can take it from us.
Thinking in a win-win mindset allows you to see mutual benefits from all of your interactions and as a result you will see that when you share the pie it tastes even better. If you are able to approach conflicts and problems with a win-win attitude then by showing integrity and standing up for your true feelings and values allows you to express your ideas and feelings with courage while having consideration for the feelings and ideas of others. When you focus on an abundance mentality you are able to see that there is enough for everyone and you can see that balancing your confidence with empathy you can achieve your goals while helping others achieve theirs.
How to create frugal win-win situations:
Recognize that you don’t always know the full story. As you aim to implement frugal principles and stick to a budget you may often find yourself thinking ‘it’s not fair’. It’s not fair that they get to go out to dinner it’s not fair that they get a new car it’s not fair that they get to go on holiday and I don’t. However take the time to realize that you are only seeing a small part of the finances of your friends and family who seem to ‘have it all’ and that even though your best friend is taking the European holiday which was your dream or your brother is buying a sports car before you are, if you manage your finances frugally you will get there too and there will still be plenty of holiday destinations and plenty of fast cars when you do.
Understand the difference between possessions and net worth. While your friends and family may seem to have a fuller lifestyle because their house is bigger or their car is newer you need to consider how much debt they are hiding behind those possessions. True wealth is not measured in possessions but in assets and when the value of your assets is greater than the amount you owe in mortgages, car loans and credit card debts then you have a strong net worth and are truly wealthy and in aiming to live a more effectively frugal lifestyle you will be able to achieve true wealth rather than just a life full of stuff.
Habit Five: Communication
Communication is often the desire to be heard and understood and most people will listen with the intention to reply to what you’re saying rather than to understand what you have said. However to effectively communicate you need to first understand and then be understood because if you communicate with the sole intention of being understood you can find that you ignore what others are saying and miss their meaning entirely.
How listening can help you be effectively frugal:
You are not the only person in your life. Chances are you are married, in a relationship, have children or all of the above. As a result you are not the only person being affected by your decision to live a more frugal lifestyle and to be effective in your goal of frugality you need to be able to listen to and understand the goals and behaviors of the other people in your life. For example consider how effective your frugality would be if you were taking packed lunches to work and avoiding the afternoon coffee run but your partner was still going shopping in their lunch break; instead of living a more frugal lifestyle you are just ending up with more stuff.
Understand the goals and needs of others. While it is important to explain your desire to live more frugal lifestyle, it is also important that you understand the goals and needs of your family so that you can find a way to be more frugal without them having to give up all of the things which are most important to them and you can’t know what those things are unless you listen.
Habit Six: Synergize
Interactions and teamwork are some of the most important ways you can learn new skills and more effective behaviors. To synergize is the habit of creative cooperation where you work as a team to find new solutions to existing problems. Synergy is not something which just happens but is a process where you need to bring all of your personal experiences and expertise to the table to enable more effective results than you would have been able to achieve individually – the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
When you have genuine interactions with people you are able to gain new insights and see new approaches to your problems which you would not have otherwise thought of.
How to synergize for effective frugality:
Look for new ways. In a society which has become so good at consumerism you have probably already realized that you need to find new ways of doing just about everything to be frugal. It is easy to buy your lunch every day but it is more frugal to take a packed lunch. It is easy to drive to work but it is more frugal to catch the train. It is easy to buy a new cocktail dress but it is more frugal to make one.
Surround yourself with other frugal people. To be successful surround yourself with people who are where you want to be and whether you join online forums on frugal living websites or strike up a friendship with the woman who runs your local op shop you will be able to share ideas and learn from others to be successful.
Habit Seven: Sharpen the Saw
You are the greatest asset you have on your journey to achieving the lifestyle you want and so you need to look after yourself physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually. When you take time to renew yourself in all four areas of your life you are creating growth and change which allow you to continue with the previous six habits you have mastered, which still need to be maintained to achieve success.
How to frugally renew yourself:
Physically. By eating better you will feel better and if you start your own vegetable patch for example you will be able to save at the supermarket and will be eating better at the same time. Exercising keeps you fit and healthy and it doesn’t cost you anything to go for a walk or bike ride or even skip rope in the backyard. To rest your body you don’t need to go to a day spa you can simply slide into the tub at home and relax.
Emotionally. Interacting socially with others allows you to make meaningful connections and this can come back to a conversation with the woman at the op shop or even scheduling in coffee and a chat with your mum once a week.
Mentally. Exercising and expanding your mind through learning, reading, writing and teaching can be done frugally at your local library or even by volunteering at a school or retirement home to teach others a skill you may be taking for granted.
Spiritually. Spending time close to nature to expand your spiritual self through meditation, music, art or prayer can be done frugally by taking a quiet moment to center yourself and empty your mind before you go to bed or going for a bush walk and being grateful for the beauty of nature surrounding you.
Frugality does not mean having to give up all the luxuries and things which make you happy because if you go through developing habits 1 to 6 without spending the time to renew yourself this is how you burn out, and frugality is something you want to develop and maintain for the long-term and with these seven habits you can be a highly frugal person.
Alban is a personal finance writer. He offer money savings tips and helps people to compare home loans online.
Tagged as: Frugality, Money Beliefs
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The book 7 Habits of Highly Effective People has sold over 15 million copies since it was first published in 1989, teaching people all over the world how to live a happier, more successful and more satisfying life. One of the prevailing themes of the book is the fact that to change your life you need to change your attitude because no one else is responsible for what happens to you but you, so you can either complain about the things you don’t like in your life or you can set about changing them. Not surprisingly, this directly relates to the state of your finances.
If you are tired of living week to week, of having your phone regularly cut off or having to make excuses to skip dinners with your friends if the money has run out before the end of the month then you can use the seven habits of highly effective people to take control of your money situation and live a more frugal lifestyle, and a happier one.
Habit One: Be Proactive
The first habits of highly effective people is to take responsibility for your life, there is no one else to blame but yourself. Regardless of how you were raised or how you were treated at school you are able to choose your behavior now. Being proactive means understanding that you are in control of the direction your life takes and in control of your day to day interactions. Whereas a reactive person is often affected by their environment and will find external sources to blame for their behavior, for example if the weather is good they are in a good mood but if the weather is bad it affects their attitude and so the weather is to blame for their bad mood.
However what most people forget is that between the stimulus and your response is your freedom to choose your response, and one of the most important things you choose are your words. The language you use is an effective indication of how you see yourself and if you use proactive language such as ‘I can’ or ‘I will’ you are starting with a more positive attitude than a reactive person who uses language like ‘I can’t’ or ‘I have to’ or ‘if only…’
How to be proactive for effective frugality:
Take the first step. You cannot take control of your finances until you make the commitment to do so because the more you ignore the situation the worse it will get. Instead take a long hard look at your finances and your budget, your debts, income and expenses and understand where your money is going and where you can budget better.
Tell people. Using proactive language to vocalize your goal of being more frugal and more financially responsible not only helps you crystallize your goal but can also help you avoid the peer pressure which can make budgeting and frugality hard. If you explain to your friends and family how you are trying to live a more frugal lifestyle then they are less likely to pressure you into one more round of drinks at the pub or dinner out, again.
Listen. Listen to yourself and listen to the reasons you give each time you make a purchase outside of your budget or decide not to put those spare funds into your savings account. Taking the time to stop and listen to the reasons you give yourself for spending more than you earn will give you the opportunity to hear just how shallow many of those reasons are, and can stop you from making purchases which can impede your goal of effective frugality.
Habit Two: Begin with the End in Mind
Those who are effective in achieving their goals are able to envisage their end result despite the obstacles. Highly effective people adhere to this habit based on the principle that all things are created twice, there is the first mental creation and then the second physical creation, and the physical creation follows the mental creation in the same way as the building follows its blueprints.
If you don’t visualize what you want out of life then you are at risk of other people and external circumstances influencing your life because you are not influencing it yourself. Instead begin every day and every task with a clear vision of where you want to go and how you’re going to get there and make that vision a reality with your proactive skills from habit one.
How to visualize effective frugality:
Define your goal. There are many ways to live a frugal lifestyle and you need to decide on how frugal you want to be. Do you want to be debt free, do you want to build a savings account balance of a certain value or do you want to be able to live on one income in a two income household?
Decide how you’re going to get there. This will again draw on your budget, but you also need to be aware of the obstacles which are standing in your way. These may be literal obstacles such as credit card debts, or they may be obstacles you have identified in your behavior; for example are you spending $10 every day on junk food on your way home from work because you’re starving when you could be packing a two dollar muesli bar or a low GI lunch to keep you going until dinner. Or do you find that when you go shopping with your sister she always helps you justify a frivolous purchase when you could leave your credit card at home.
Habit Three: Put First Things First
Knowing why you are doing something is an effective motivator in helping you take the mental creation and transform that into an actual physical creation of your goal. Therefore ask yourself which are the things you find most valuable and worthy to you. When you put these things first you will be organizing and managing your time around your personal priorities to make them a reality.
However for many people it is hard to say no but this is exactly the skill you have to learn to be able to keep your goals as your first priority. While we have all of these time-saving devices and we are told we can have it all if we just achieve that elusive work-life balance in reality having it all is really about prioritizing which it is most important to you to have, and then doing that properly.
How to put effective frugality first:
Recognize the effects of your finances. You may not dedicate as much time as you should to managing your finances and practicing frugal principles because you feel there is always something more important to be doing, whether it is work, taking the kids to soccer practice or getting ready for dinner with the girls. However if your finances are not under control and you are regularly spending more than you earn then this is having a negative impact on every other aspect of your life from your work to your family to your friends. Therefore you need to recognize that being frugal is your first priority.
Just say no. It is easy to spend more than your budgeted amount each month when you are worried about missing out on a dinner with friends, feel as though you have to cater a birthday party for your son and 50 of his closest friends or you can’t possibly wear the same suit you wore last year to a work conference. However if you recognize that you don’t have to take on everything and that it is all right to say no then you will find you are more in control of your spending and your budget.
Habit Four: Think Win-Win
Growing up most of us are taught to base our self-worth on comparisons to others and competition against our peers. We think we can only succeed if someone else has failed and if you win then that must mean I lose, and that there is only so much pie to go around and if you get a big piece then I’m going to be missing out. When you think like this you are always going to feel like you’re missing out on something and that’s not fair is it? As a result many of us retaliate and take the pie before someone else can take it from us.
Thinking in a win-win mindset allows you to see mutual benefits from all of your interactions and as a result you will see that when you share the pie it tastes even better. If you are able to approach conflicts and problems with a win-win attitude then by showing integrity and standing up for your true feelings and values allows you to express your ideas and feelings with courage while having consideration for the feelings and ideas of others. When you focus on an abundance mentality you are able to see that there is enough for everyone and you can see that balancing your confidence with empathy you can achieve your goals while helping others achieve theirs.
How to create frugal win-win situations:
Recognize that you don’t always know the full story. As you aim to implement frugal principles and stick to a budget you may often find yourself thinking ‘it’s not fair’. It’s not fair that they get to go out to dinner it’s not fair that they get a new car it’s not fair that they get to go on holiday and I don’t. However take the time to realize that you are only seeing a small part of the finances of your friends and family who seem to ‘have it all’ and that even though your best friend is taking the European holiday which was your dream or your brother is buying a sports car before you are, if you manage your finances frugally you will get there too and there will still be plenty of holiday destinations and plenty of fast cars when you do.
Understand the difference between possessions and net worth. While your friends and family may seem to have a fuller lifestyle because their house is bigger or their car is newer you need to consider how much debt they are hiding behind those possessions. True wealth is not measured in possessions but in assets and when the value of your assets is greater than the amount you owe in mortgages, car loans and credit card debts then you have a strong net worth and are truly wealthy and in aiming to live a more effectively frugal lifestyle you will be able to achieve true wealth rather than just a life full of stuff.
Habit Five: Communication
Communication is often the desire to be heard and understood and most people will listen with the intention to reply to what you’re saying rather than to understand what you have said. However to effectively communicate you need to first understand and then be understood because if you communicate with the sole intention of being understood you can find that you ignore what others are saying and miss their meaning entirely.
How listening can help you be effectively frugal:
You are not the only person in your life. Chances are you are married, in a relationship, have children or all of the above. As a result you are not the only person being affected by your decision to live a more frugal lifestyle and to be effective in your goal of frugality you need to be able to listen to and understand the goals and behaviors of the other people in your life. For example consider how effective your frugality would be if you were taking packed lunches to work and avoiding the afternoon coffee run but your partner was still going shopping in their lunch break; instead of living a more frugal lifestyle you are just ending up with more stuff.
Understand the goals and needs of others. While it is important to explain your desire to live more frugal lifestyle, it is also important that you understand the goals and needs of your family so that you can find a way to be more frugal without them having to give up all of the things which are most important to them and you can’t know what those things are unless you listen.
Habit Six: Synergize
Interactions and teamwork are some of the most important ways you can learn new skills and more effective behaviors. To synergize is the habit of creative cooperation where you work as a team to find new solutions to existing problems. Synergy is not something which just happens but is a process where you need to bring all of your personal experiences and expertise to the table to enable more effective results than you would have been able to achieve individually – the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
When you have genuine interactions with people you are able to gain new insights and see new approaches to your problems which you would not have otherwise thought of.
How to synergize for effective frugality:
Look for new ways. In a society which has become so good at consumerism you have probably already realized that you need to find new ways of doing just about everything to be frugal. It is easy to buy your lunch every day but it is more frugal to take a packed lunch. It is easy to drive to work but it is more frugal to catch the train. It is easy to buy a new cocktail dress but it is more frugal to make one.
Surround yourself with other frugal people. To be successful surround yourself with people who are where you want to be and whether you join online forums on frugal living websites or strike up a friendship with the woman who runs your local op shop you will be able to share ideas and learn from others to be successful.
Habit Seven: Sharpen the Saw
You are the greatest asset you have on your journey to achieving the lifestyle you want and so you need to look after yourself physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually. When you take time to renew yourself in all four areas of your life you are creating growth and change which allow you to continue with the previous six habits you have mastered, which still need to be maintained to achieve success.
How to frugally renew yourself:
Physically. By eating better you will feel better and if you start your own vegetable patch for example you will be able to save at the supermarket and will be eating better at the same time. Exercising keeps you fit and healthy and it doesn’t cost you anything to go for a walk or bike ride or even skip rope in the backyard. To rest your body you don’t need to go to a day spa you can simply slide into the tub at home and relax.
Emotionally. Interacting socially with others allows you to make meaningful connections and this can come back to a conversation with the woman at the op shop or even scheduling in coffee and a chat with your mum once a week.
Mentally. Exercising and expanding your mind through learning, reading, writing and teaching can be done frugally at your local library or even by volunteering at a school or retirement home to teach others a skill you may be taking for granted.
Spiritually. Spending time close to nature to expand your spiritual self through meditation, music, art or prayer can be done frugally by taking a quiet moment to center yourself and empty your mind before you go to bed or going for a bush walk and being grateful for the beauty of nature surrounding you.
Frugality does not mean having to give up all the luxuries and things which make you happy because if you go through developing habits 1 to 6 without spending the time to renew yourself this is how you burn out, and frugality is something you want to develop and maintain for the long-term and with these seven habits you can be a highly frugal person.
Alban is a personal finance writer. He offer money savings tips and helps people to compare home loans online.
Tagged as: Frugality, Money Beliefs
Related Posts
How to Break Bad Habits
Frugal Living
Do You Switch “Frugal Mode” On When You Come Back from Vacation?
Good Health Can Save You Money
What Drives You to Be Frugal
Subscribe! (and Get a Mini-Course Too!)
Please consider following me on twitter here! In addition, subscribe to grab free amazing content or take advantage of the newsletter to have content delivered to you. For starters, a 7-part mini course to help you spend less and be happy will be delivered to you when you subscribe!
(Don't worry about spam, because we hate it as much as you do!)
Thursday, March 10, 2011
The 7 Deadly Sins of Successful Sales Teams
The 7 Deadly Sins of Successful Sales Teams
By Geoffrey James | December 22, 2010
Selling is hard work, but it’s even harder when sales teams fall into bad habits. When these deadly sins take hold, the team can end up alienating customers, peers, and co-workers alike.
If your team remains unrepentant and refuses to change, the end result can easily be the failure of your current sales campaign and even the collapse of your entire company’s sales.
Be forewarned. You must, must, must take these 7 deadly sins seriously, and make sure that they don’t take hold, either on you, or on your team-members.
DEADLY SIN #1: STUFFING
Definition: Pushing more products on the customer or the channel than they want or need.
Why It Happens: This is often done with the best of intentions, under the “customer is always right” maxim. Customers and channels are not always on top of their needs and requirements, and thus order (or agree to buy) too much product.
What Results: When the customer or channel figures out that they’ve been “stuffed” with product, they assume (probably rightly) that you were more interested in making your numbers than in making them successful.
How to Prevent It: Before closing, always make certain that the customer really needs your offering and that it will assist them in building their own business. If not, volunteer an adjustment that will put the order in line with their real needs.
DEADLY SIN #2: GRANDIOSITY
Definition: You’ve got a product that’s so wonderful that you’re convinced that it’s the solution to every customer’s problem.
Why It Happens: Most of the time, this happens because you’ve let the marketing group convince you that you’ve got a product that can “change the world.” However, no matter how fabulous you offering might be, it’s not a panacea and there are going to be customers for whom a competitor’s product is a better fit.
What Results: Grandiosity results in customers who aren’t well served. They end up with features and functions that they don’t use, can’t use, and don’t want. Worst case, they begin to see you, the sales rep, as something of a religious fanatic rather than a trusted adviser.
How to Prevent it: Remember that the point of selling is to help the customer become more successful. Rather than trying to converting them to your “product” religion, dedicate yourself to making sure that your offering gets into the hands of the people who need it most.
DEADLY SIN #3: NOSTALGIA
Definition: Sales teams often look back to the glory days, when their product was selling like hotcakes.
Why It Happens: Sales professionals always know what worked in the past, but the memory of past success blind the team to changing customer requirements and major shifts in the marketplace.
What Results: Gradually, your firm becomes unable to develop new accounts, or take advantage of existing ones. Revenue from your cash-cows take over and you find yourself consistently being outbid and outsold by the competition.
How to Prevent It: Whenever you lose a deal (or don’t get included in an opportunity), take the time to find out exactly why. As the market changes, adjust your sales approach so that it better fits the way that the customer wants to buy.
DEADLY SIN #4: OVERWHELM
Definition: Sales teams keep taking on more work, insisting that they can close more business than the last quarter, quarter after quarter.
Why It Happens: Sales teams enjoy being successful and so they’re sure that they’ve got the ability to be even more successful in the future. As such, they commit to more growth without having a strategy to accomplish it.
What Results: It works for a brief period of time, but then productivity begins to quickly decline. Top performers become frustrated and leave the team. The company begins to lose business, creating even more pressure to perform.
How to Prevent It: Come up with plans that are achievable given your current resources. Then figure out how make the team gradually more productive.
DEADLY SIN #5: FECKLESSNESS
Definition: When results are good, many sales teams start to relax and celebrate their wins, rather than develop new business.
Why It Happens: Let’s face it: selling is hard work. It’s natural to want to take a bit of a rest on your laurels, especially after a big sales campaign has paid off big.
What Results: This is the great disaster of many successful sales teams. Their pipeline dries up and the numbers start to decline. This is then followed by frantic effort to build to another peak and lo! the cycle repeats.
How to Prevent it: During the good times, make the effort to continue doing all the things that caused the good times: relentless prospecting, cold calls, building out your network. Make the pipeline a constant priority.
DEADLY SIN #6: OVERCONFIDENCE
Definition: Sales teams assume that the buying process is moving forward because they’ve presented the deal to all the key decision makers.
Why It Happens: When you’ve put a lot of work into building up an opportunity, you can enjoy the fruits of your labor (without getting the sale) by simply assuming that it will take place.
What Results: While you’ll sometimes get the sale, it’s also more than possible that something will go awry and the buying process will stall. You lose momentum and, eventually, the sale.
How to Prevent It: Assume nothing. Stay on top of each major deal. Continue to ask questions, listen carefully, and make sure all the bases are covered.
DEADLY SIN #7: SANDBAGGING
Definition: The sales team becomes (or pretends to become) overoptimistic about sales that will take place in a quarter.
Why It Happens: Sometimes it’s because they’re upbeat and optimistic people and sometimes it’s because they’re telling management what they want to hear.
What Results: When the sales don’t take place, everyone ends up looking stupid. Or worse, you end up antagonizing customers trying to get them to buy, simply because you need to make the numbers that you foolishly promised.
How to Prevent It: Stay focussed on reality and make sure that you are putting effort into maintaining a realistic pipeline. Tell management what they need to know, not what you think they want to hear.
http://www.bnet.com/blog/salesmachine/the-7-deadly-sins-of-successful-sales-teams/13569?pg=8
Ten Commandments for Con Men
Ten Commandments for Con Men
By Geoffrey James | March 7, 2011
While I was doing research for the gallery “The Top 14 Financial Frauds of All Time“, I came across a set of instructions, attributed to Victor Lustig, known as the “Ten Commandments for Con Men”. What’s interesting about them is that they’re actually good advice for anybody who’s in sales. Here they are:
Be a patient listener (it is this, not fast talking, that gets a con man his coups).
Never look bored.
Wait for the other person to reveal any political opinions, then agree with them.
Let the other person reveal religious views, then have the same ones.
Hint at sex talk, but don’t follow it up unless the other person shows a strong interest.
Never discuss illness, unless some special concern is shown.
Never pry into a person’s personal circumstances (they’ll tell you all eventually).
Never boast - just let your importance be quietly obvious.
Never be untidy.
Never get drunk.
Good advice, eh? What’s particularly interesting about this is that Lustig died in 1947, long before the advent of “consultative selling.” Apparently, in addition to being one of the world’s most successful con men, he was a visionary of sales technique as well.
http://www.bnet.com/blog/salesmachine/ten-commandments-for-con-men/14732?promo=808&tag=nl.e808
20 Things NOT to do on a Sales Call
20 Things NOT to do on a Sales Call
By Geoffrey James | March 9, 2011
12 Comments
I recently stumbled across an article “10 Things Not To Do on the First Date.” It included mostly common sense stuff like “don’t get drunk.” It was a pretty good article, even though it missed this important tip: Do not pull your T-shirt up around the top of your head so you look like a demented monk, and say: “Can we please now have the oral sex?”
Anyway, here’s a list of 20 common-sense things NOT to do on a sales call:
#1. Flirt with the admin. It may seem tempting, but unless you’ve got soap-opera-quality looks, chances are you’re only going to annoy (or even alarm) the admin, who will tell the boss. Instead: Stay polite, friendly and respectful.
#2. Talk more than you listen. Initial sales calls are all about relationship building and gathering information, which you can’t do if your mouth is moving. Instead: Get curious about the customer and ask questions.
#3. Comment on the memento. The last 372 people who came into that office remarked about the signed baseball on the desk. Ho-hum… Instead: Research the prospect and ask about the prospect’s job.
#4. Pretend to drop by. Who are you kidding? Do you think that it’s going to cushion the rejection if you pretend that it’s not a sales call? Instead: Have something important to say or sell that justifies your presence.
#5. Answer your cell phone. Ouch! Ouch! What were you thinking? How could any telephone call be more important than a real live prospect? Instead: Turn it off and leave it in your briefcase.
#6. Overstay your welcome. Your prospect has hundreds of other things that he or she could be doing, rather than spending time with you. Instead: Set a time limit for the call.
#7. Let the meeting meander. This isn’t the time for a wandering conversation that slowly gets to the point or a long series of complicated questions. Instead: Provide brief agenda of how you expect the call to proceed.
#8. Argue with the customer. If the customer doesn’t agree with an important point, arguing is only going to set that opinion in stone. Instead: ask the customer why he holds that opinion; then listen.
#9: Discuss politics or religion. Such subjects are almost always a trap into opinionated quicksand that’s hard or impossible to get out of. Instead: keep the discussion on business or neutral ground.
#10: Dive into your product pitch. Sure you’ve got something to sell, but if you pitch too soon, you’ll get pitched out the door. Instead: Ask questions to understand needs, before you pitch.
#11: Arrive late to the call. If you don’t arrive on time it tell the customer clearly that you don’t give a damn about them or their time. Instead: Always arrive 15 minutes ahead of time. If you drive to calls, get a GPS.
#12: Appear flippant or sarcastic. A good-natured laugh at a joke might be taken personally by someone watching out the window, without hearing the context. Instead: Watch your demeanor at all times.
#13: Lack requisite product knowledge. The prospect doesn’t want to hear “I need to get back to you about that”…over and over. Instead: make sure you’re trained on your current products and policies…before the call.
#14: Fail to plan the call. Sounds simple, but trying to close when should be qualifying (for example) is a lost sale. Instead: Never enter a door without first thinking about what you plan to accomplish.
#15: Be too business-like at first. Remember you’re building bridges with another human being, not just a notch in your sales gun. Instead: Smile and be friendly… but don’t get too gushy.
#16: Show up with a crowd. If you bring too many people, it will draw customer’s comments about why your costs so high Instead: Use webconferencing when you need to include additional resources.
#17: Fail to check your appearance. Don’t show up with something amiss that a quick stop in the client’s bathroom could head off. Instead: Make a quick pit stop - with a look-over - before the call.
#18: Forget the customers’ names. What could be more embarrassing than actually forgetting whom you’re talking with? Instead: Write down the names down of everyone in the room with a small table diagram.
#19: Be rude to the admin. No flirting, of course, but if you act all arrogant and superior, you’ll just antagonize the help. Instead: Be friendly and respectful of the staff - admin and otherwise.
#20: Ask personal questions. You may think that the customer is your friend, but you can easily screw up if it gets too personal. Instead: Keep the conversation focused on business issues, especially the customer’s needs.
By Geoffrey James | March 9, 2011
12 Comments
I recently stumbled across an article “10 Things Not To Do on the First Date.” It included mostly common sense stuff like “don’t get drunk.” It was a pretty good article, even though it missed this important tip: Do not pull your T-shirt up around the top of your head so you look like a demented monk, and say: “Can we please now have the oral sex?”
Anyway, here’s a list of 20 common-sense things NOT to do on a sales call:
#1. Flirt with the admin. It may seem tempting, but unless you’ve got soap-opera-quality looks, chances are you’re only going to annoy (or even alarm) the admin, who will tell the boss. Instead: Stay polite, friendly and respectful.
#2. Talk more than you listen. Initial sales calls are all about relationship building and gathering information, which you can’t do if your mouth is moving. Instead: Get curious about the customer and ask questions.
#3. Comment on the memento. The last 372 people who came into that office remarked about the signed baseball on the desk. Ho-hum… Instead: Research the prospect and ask about the prospect’s job.
#4. Pretend to drop by. Who are you kidding? Do you think that it’s going to cushion the rejection if you pretend that it’s not a sales call? Instead: Have something important to say or sell that justifies your presence.
#5. Answer your cell phone. Ouch! Ouch! What were you thinking? How could any telephone call be more important than a real live prospect? Instead: Turn it off and leave it in your briefcase.
#6. Overstay your welcome. Your prospect has hundreds of other things that he or she could be doing, rather than spending time with you. Instead: Set a time limit for the call.
#7. Let the meeting meander. This isn’t the time for a wandering conversation that slowly gets to the point or a long series of complicated questions. Instead: Provide brief agenda of how you expect the call to proceed.
#8. Argue with the customer. If the customer doesn’t agree with an important point, arguing is only going to set that opinion in stone. Instead: ask the customer why he holds that opinion; then listen.
#9: Discuss politics or religion. Such subjects are almost always a trap into opinionated quicksand that’s hard or impossible to get out of. Instead: keep the discussion on business or neutral ground.
#10: Dive into your product pitch. Sure you’ve got something to sell, but if you pitch too soon, you’ll get pitched out the door. Instead: Ask questions to understand needs, before you pitch.
#11: Arrive late to the call. If you don’t arrive on time it tell the customer clearly that you don’t give a damn about them or their time. Instead: Always arrive 15 minutes ahead of time. If you drive to calls, get a GPS.
#12: Appear flippant or sarcastic. A good-natured laugh at a joke might be taken personally by someone watching out the window, without hearing the context. Instead: Watch your demeanor at all times.
#13: Lack requisite product knowledge. The prospect doesn’t want to hear “I need to get back to you about that”…over and over. Instead: make sure you’re trained on your current products and policies…before the call.
#14: Fail to plan the call. Sounds simple, but trying to close when should be qualifying (for example) is a lost sale. Instead: Never enter a door without first thinking about what you plan to accomplish.
#15: Be too business-like at first. Remember you’re building bridges with another human being, not just a notch in your sales gun. Instead: Smile and be friendly… but don’t get too gushy.
#16: Show up with a crowd. If you bring too many people, it will draw customer’s comments about why your costs so high Instead: Use webconferencing when you need to include additional resources.
#17: Fail to check your appearance. Don’t show up with something amiss that a quick stop in the client’s bathroom could head off. Instead: Make a quick pit stop - with a look-over - before the call.
#18: Forget the customers’ names. What could be more embarrassing than actually forgetting whom you’re talking with? Instead: Write down the names down of everyone in the room with a small table diagram.
#19: Be rude to the admin. No flirting, of course, but if you act all arrogant and superior, you’ll just antagonize the help. Instead: Be friendly and respectful of the staff - admin and otherwise.
#20: Ask personal questions. You may think that the customer is your friend, but you can easily screw up if it gets too personal. Instead: Keep the conversation focused on business issues, especially the customer’s needs.
READERS: Any that I missed?
http://www.bnet.com/blog/salesmachine/20-things-not-to-do-on-a-sales-call/14671?promo=808&tag=nl.e808
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