The elderly gentleman in the rusted, old truck next to my car had thick eyeglasses and a frown decorating his face.  He glanced at me as I left the veterinarian clinic.  Our vehicles were parked next to each other in the shopping center lot.  I put my cat, Spike, in the passenger seat of my car, and as I walked around to get in the driver seat, I heard the old
man’s engine make some noise but fail to start.

I had started my car and was ready to pull away but decided to see if I could help.  After all, it was a blistering hot day.  I couldn’t imagine leaving him stranded in an old truck with no AC.

I got out of my car, walked over to him and knocked on his window.  He didn’t respond right away, so I knocked again thinking maybe he didn’t hear me the first time.  He turned and looked at me, then opened his door. 

“Do you need a jump?” I asked.

“Yes.  I think I do,” he said.  “That...

More tips to making the prospect feel good while you present your product or service.  By making them feel good and feeling good yourself, your closing ratio will be higher.

 Find the deal for them

· When showing them their options (different products or various packages), ask a lot of questions so you know exactly how they are feeling and what they are thinking.   Know your various offers so well that you can find one that fits their needs perfectly rather than trying to persuade them to get what you’d like them to get or what a lot of other people get.  Don’t be a one-size-fits-all sales person.  Be the person who will help them get exactly what works best for them

Some example questions to personalize it, not waste their time, and close more effectively are:

• If you don’t mind me asking… (fill in the information you seek to better serve them).  For example:  “If you don’t mind me asking, what...

I worked in direct sales for over ten years.  My sales ratio was above 70%, and here is what I believe.  The better job you do leading up to closing, the less effort you have to put in to the actual close.   That means the more the prospect wants what you are selling, the easier it is to write up an order.  Makes sense, right?

Feel good closing is about just that - feeling good.

• The better you feel, the better, more confident closer you’ll be. 
• The better your customers feel, the better closer you’ll be.
• People may not always remember what you say, but they’ll remember how you make them feel.

When you make people feel good, everything goes better.  This applies to sales and to interaction with people in general.

• You feel more confident.
• Often, they offer helpful information without even having to ask for it.
• The energy in the room is better.
• It is healthier... laughing is good for the body and spirit.
• You are more likely...

Whether it is you who schedules your appointments with your prospects or an assistant of yours who makes the calls, it is important you know how to be effective on the phone.  Who is better to teach your assistant how to be an effective phone communicator than you?   After all, if you have a level of customer service you want to uphold, a type of experience you want your prospects to have when communicating with your company, or a conversion ratio you will use as a measurement of success, then it’s a good idea to be able to set the example.

Keys to success while phoning your prospects

Always share your golden points

There are things that make you unique or different than your competitors, and those are your golden points.  Make sure you are mentioning them to your prospects.  If your sales call is quicker than most, share that.  If your appointment will be personalized and fun, it’s good to let them know.  If your prospect was referred...

Using the phone for appointment scheduling used to be a skill that nearly anyone could
learn easily, because people were normally using the phone for all communication that
wasn’t face-to-face.  Now, with the popularity of emails, texting, and social media as means
of communication, an individual with elevated phone skills is becoming a sought after asset.
To be marketable and successful in business, it’s advantageous to develop good phone
communication skills. 

I propose that there will never be a time when phone communication will not exist in business.  No matter how technologically advanced we become as a society, many professionals will always do a portion of their conversing via telephone or video chat, and their voices will come into play.  The cell phones of the world will always be used to convert voices to binary information and send them across a frequency from one person to another; they will not solely be used for typed responses. Phone...

Of the three areas that make up our communication (words, vocal qualities, and physiology), many believe the last is the most important.  They say your body language, facial expressions and gestures express more meaning than your words. 

Professionals who read nonverbal communication regularly to enhance their understanding of people include law enforcement agents, counselors, jury selection consultants and speech analysis technicians.  However, you don’t have to be in one of those careers to have a grasp on the basics of body language.  Recognizing a few fundamentals will help you in reading people as well as effectively projecting your desired message to others.

Confidence:

Standing or sitting with shoulders back and chin up is the most confident posture.  Slouching, tucking your fists into crossed arms, or fidgeting are signs of unease.  While standing, keep your hands out of your pockets and your legs apart a bit.  It is good to steeple...

While reading Lend Me your Ears by William Safire – a book of great speeches, I’m reminded of a lesson I learned years ago that still rings true today.  Preparing for multiple future outcomes can provide many benefits in both the present and the future– when you’ll experience the not-yet-known result.

The future benefits include:

• Appearing clever when reacting to whichever result occurs
• Less emotion attached to the outcome
• Strategies already in place or quickly implementable

The present benefits include:

• Decreasing fear or anxiety
• Ample time for strategic thinking

The reason Mr. Safire’s book reminded me of this topic is because within the great passages of his script, he shares the speech he wrote for President Nixon to use in the event that Apollo XI was an unsuccessful mission.  When the astronauts landed on the moon, two types of speeches were written – one for celebrating the...

The communication we have with others is made of three components:  word choice, vocal qualities, and physiology.  The order of importance has been debated throughout the years, but one thing is agreed upon – each of the three plays a role.

Word choice: 

• Be concise.
• Be clear by articulating.
• Choose words your audience will understand.

Physiology:

• Be mindful of your facial expressions, gesture, and body language.
• Minimize nervous ticks or distracting physical habits.
• Remember the saying, “Actions speak louder than words.”  If you are using happy words, but your face looks angry or your posture looks sad, your joyful verbiage is likely to be dismissed.

Vocal qualities include: tone, word emphasis, speed and volume. 

You’ve heard people use tone to help make their point. Think of any time your parent, significant other, or teacher said your name – probably your full name, and said it with a strong, loud tone.  How did you...

If you chose to train as a basketball player, and you could choose anyone in the world to be your personal basketball coach, whom would you choose?

You’d most likely choose someone like Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, or Tim Duncan.

If you wanted to be successful as a musical artist, and you could choose anyone in the world to be your personal music mentor, whom would you choose?

That answer would probably be someone like Justin Timberlake, Madonna, Diddy, Jennifer Lopez, Toby Keith, Steven Tyler, or (insert your favorite artist here).

What if you wanted to be a successful investor?

What if you wanted to be successful in relationships?

If you are going to learn from someone, why not learn from the best?  Someone that has done successfully what you want to do and knows how to do it and how not to do it.  They’ve already been through the trial and error portion of their path to success and have learned invaluable information along the way.  You can benefit...

Deliberate Acts of Kindness

It’s no surprise that when one person does something nice for another, the recipient is more likely to do something nice for a third person, and so on.   Research has shown that just as acts of aggression toward others can lead to a chain reaction of aggressive behavior in others, so too do acts of generosity lead to more generous behavior in the recipients.  If you want to help mold your college campus, work environment or community into a kinder place, it starts with being the altruistic example.

Will you commit to doing at least one of these acts every day?  If you do, you'll see the impact it has on you and those around you.

Acts of kindness:

• Say "please" and "thank you" and really mean it.
• Say "Good morning" to people you cross paths with in the morning.
• Put a shopping cart back in its holder – even if it wasn’t one you used.
• Take off your shoes when you enter someone’s home, without being...