Anyone can be successful at sales provided you have the right behaviors and mind-set.

In 2003, Tim Connor published a book called Soft Selling.   In it, he compared how poor salespeople and successful salespeople managed their selling time differently.   He allocated the salesperson’s time into six major categories:

·   Prospecting

·   Sales Presentation

·   Service

·   Administration

·   Travel

·   Self-Improvement

He found that when it came to time management, poor salespeople allocated their time as follows:

·   10% on prospecting,

·   23% on sales presentation,

·   15% on service to others,

·   30% on administration,

·   20% on travel,

·   and a meager 2% on self-improvement.

These numbers are stunning at first glance if you believe and take Connor’s numbers seriously.

Note that only 10% of a salesperson’s time was being spent on prospecting and a whopping 30% of their time was being spent on administrative duties.    In other words, the salespeople who failed were spending more time managing their paperwork and administrative duties than managing or growing their sales pipeline.

10% of a poor salesperson’s time was being spent on prospecting.  It’s no wonder their sales were falling short of their expectations and their sales pipeline remained empty. They were spending more time on paperwork and presentations when they should have been out looking for new suspects to qualify. Contrast these numbers with how well successful people managed their time when it came to selling.  Connor found that good salespeople spent their time as follows:

·   45% on prospecting for new business,

·   10% on their sales presentation,

·   20% on service to others,

·   5% on administration,

·   10% on travel,

·   And 10% on self-improvement.

If you want to learn how to get better at sales and be seen as a partner to your customers check out Collaborative Selling. To learn more go to www.akris.net 

Sincerely,

Ron Finklestein
Business Growth Facilitator
www.businessgrowthexperience.com  

Akita Mani Yo.

Robert Schepens, is part Native American and he often reminds me of the Native American saying “Akita Mani Yo.” This saying means “Observe everything as you walk your path (in life).”

Observing everything as we walk our path is hard to do. It requires both internal and external awareness.

Internal is defined a our reactions, feeling and emotions and external our environment, others and our ecology (relationships.) It requires seeing things we often pay no attention to.

It requires us to understand our life and the meaning of our life as defined by the contrast between ourselves and others. This contrast is what is observed. In this contrast lie the secrets we miss, the lost loves, the beautiful flowers that we ignore, the pain we inadvertently inflicted and the joy others experience. This observing shows us the pains of others that we missed, the opportunities lost, that opportunities missed, the opportunities we gained. It shows the joys that passed us by.

In NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming) this is referred to as “Our perception is our reflection.” Stated another way, what we see and perceive is what we notice and what we reflected back to others.

If things are not what you want, shift your attention to notice the things you do want. What more customers? Shift your attention to being grateful for your existing customers. Want more love in your life, be a more loving person. Want more friends, be a better friend. Remember to Akita Mani Yo.

Ron Finklestein
Someone who is learning to be a better student.

ron@akris.net

330-990-0788

Why Relationship Skills Matter.

We all belong to the human race. It is a simple sentence and a statement of fact. There are many assumptions made in that statement. One of the primary assumptions is we belong to the human race. Because of our membership in this august society, we know how to build safe, effective, successful and lasting personal and business relationships that allow all parties involved to grow, prosper and get results.

I am not sure this is a valid assumption.

Why? Though we have much in common, many of us have not been taught know how to build rapport, connect with others, understand the best way to support others and know how to ask them to support us. This is evident by the divorce rate; as many as 50% of marriages end in a divorce (Source divorcerate.org.) What is interesting to me is that the divorce rate drops the older we get. For example the divorce rate is 38.8% for American males age 20-24 versus 6.5% for American males age 35-39. It would seem the old men get the more they understand relationship strategies.

The question is how can we shorten that learning curve?

In business, according to Grant Thornton, 97% of all business owners want to strengthen the customer relationship.

SCORE suggests that 64% of all small businesses fail because they do not know how nor do they understand the value of marketing. Marketing is nothing more than a process through which companies build strong customer relationships. Can you imagine how simple life can become when you understand this and implement relationship strategies in your business?

I could go on but you get my drift.

To address this problem, I teamed up with Dr. Tony Alessandra, one of the world’s foremost relationships strategies experts, to create a web site that teaches you how to build safe, effective, successful and lasting personal and business relationships. The web site is called People Smarts. In this site we address relationship strategy issues, presentations skills, collaborative selling skills, marketing, personal growth and development, how to treat people the way they want to be treated and a host of other important and powerful topics that, when applied, will help you create more effective relationships to get the results you want and need. The site contains a full array of videos, eBooks, PDFs and MP3 to support you in your personal, sales, business and leadership development needs.

We invite you to explore and try out this site. In lesson one (which you have access) you will learn the different between the Golden Rule vs. Platinum Rule and experience the overview of all functions of relationship strategies. In addition, you will receive an introduction of the two dimensions of behavior. In this lesson, you will be presented with a very simple model that has been validated with hundreds of thousands of people.  It is a powerful guide you can use to improve communication and morale, build better work groups, and develop better relationships with co-workers, supervisors, customers, vendors and others.

I invite you to give People Smarts a try. To learn more go to www.akris.net. If you have questions please feel free to call Ron Finklestein at 330-990-0788 or email him at ron@akris.net. This powerful tool can also be used in you place of business for all your employees. If you would like more details about this opportunity ask Ron and he will provide the details.

Ron Finklestein

www.peoplesmarts.ws
admin@peoplesmarts.ws

330-990-0788

Do you take Ownership for Your Situation?

In a Business Growth Experience meeting we discussed how to identify high potential individuals. One trait that surface over and over was ownership – specifically taking ownership of a given situation.

It was suggested people who lack ownership used words like: I should, I must, I had no choice, I had to, and other made me do it. The stories they tell are other focused: they did this, you should hear what happened to me, etc. Excuses are a big part of their lives. It is always someone else’s fault.

People who embraced ownership used words like: I choose, it was my responsibility, I decided, and the stories they tell are focused on “I.” They ask questions like “why am I…?”, “in what ways can I…? ,“ why did I fail to communicate effectively with…?”, “how can I do things better?”, and “how can I change this situation?

Which side of the equation do you live on? Do you take ownership for your life, business, results, and relationships?

If you do not own your situation how can you change it? What kind of person do you want to become? What kind of person do you want to hang out with? Remember, there is no partial ownership. It is not like owning a time share. You either own  it or you don’t.

Ron Finklestein

ron@ronfinklestein.com
330-990-0788

www.ronfinklestein.com

To receive these posts directly please go to www.businessgrowthexperience.com and sign up for the free eBook, “Six Questions Your Prospects want Answered before the Buy.” You will then be added to the email list.

To receive great business training at an even better price please check out www.aboutbusinesssuccess.com

Personal Development vs. Internal Development.

What is the difference between personal development and internal development?

Personal development is intended for use by one person. Personal development is usually skills based, the learning of new skills for example.

Internal Development exists in the interior of something. Internal Development is creating change from the inside out and focuses on changing beliefs and behaviors.

In my mastermind group, the people who have been in this group for 10 years have one thing in common: the desire for internal growth. The people who do not stay with the group leave quickly if they do not share this value.

Internal development (growth) is more difficult and longer lasting, if you can be open to new things, new ways of thinking and implement what you learned.

In personal development, after a new skill is learned the purpose of participating ceases to exist.

Which is more important to you?

Ron Finklestein

ron@ronfinklestein.com
330-990-0788

www.ronfinklestein.com

To receive these posts directly please go to www.businessgrowthexperience.com and sign up for the free eBook, “Six Questions Your Prospects want Answered before the Buy.” You will then be added to the email list.

To receive great business training at an even better price please check out www.aboutbusinesssuccess.com

Making the Most of Your Networking Time.

I was facilitating a Business Growth Experience group today and we were discussing the value (or lack of) different networking events.

Assuming the networking event is the right networking event for you, here is how you can make the most of any networking event you attend:

1. Treat it as a job. Be serious. You are not there to eat or drink, you are there to meet people.
2. Set a goal for the event. How many A contacts do you want to meet?
3. When you receive someone’s business card determine if and when a follow-up is required. I do this by writing a A, B, or C on the back of the card. A means immediate follow-up for immediate opportunity, B means follow in the next few days, possible opportunity, and C means I send them a “nice to meet you” email and file the card.
4. After you meet your goal, eat, drink and be merry.
5. Next day do your follow-up.

Ron Finklestein
Business Growth Facilitator
Need high quality, low-cost business training? If so check out http://www.aboutbusinesssuccess.com.

The New Marketing Strategy Guaranteed to Work

Marketing is the process used to determine what products or services may be of interest to customers, and the strategy to use in sales, communications and business development.

Marketing is designed to persuade you to take a specific action (call now, space is limited), or not do something (don’t throw that away, recycle it).

People have become cynical. Marketing has become so sophisticated that people feel tricked into doing something only to find the product or service did not perform as stated or expected. We are inundated with thousands of marketing message daily from people trying to part us from our time, energy and money.

What’s a marketer (business owner) to do? I have new and powerful marketing technique that is guaranteed to work. What is it you ask?

It is quite powerful. You simply market your products and services with Integrity. Integrity is defined as adherence to moral and ethical principles; soundness of moral character; honesty.”

Wouldn’t it be great when we encountered someone selling a product or service that interested us that we felt we could trust the person or company? That we could have an open dialog; that the message was to be consistent and had integrity. The honesty was there.

There are six questions your prospects wants answered before they buy. You can download the report at http://www.aboutbusinesssuccess.com. This report will help you communicate your message with honesty and integrity.

This message was prompted by a bad experience I had will my bank. I should say my old bank – I just left them. Here is what happened. I received my home equity line statement from my bank and the bank demanded the loan be paid in full. We are not talking about a small about of money. I called customer service to see what was going on. I was told my house was in the collections and foreclosure process, I could do nothing to stop it, and no one I could call. The process must run its course. They told me I was late 30 times (BTW, I was never late.) When I suggested they made an error, I was told I was lying.

I spent hundreds of hours trying to solve this (as a small business owner this time away from my business was quite painful) finding the right people to talk too, feeling really stressed out and helpless because of the stress it put on my family, only to find out they made a mistake. My house was not in foreclosure, it was not in collections, and all was fine.  I did not get so much as a letter of apology. I think they were afraid I would sue. Don’t worry, I am not that kind of person. The letter I did get, saying my credit was not damaged,  did not have a signature. The collection letters I received that had a phone number would not return my calls. I was even told they called me and I know they did not because I have just one phone I use for all call and the call log does not lie.

While I am going through all this I see the banks’ commercials on TV about how easy this bank is to work with, how much they care about their customers and how responsive they are to their customers’ needs. I was quite angry that there was a total and complete disconnect between their message and their actions. At this time, I should point out that I had been with this bank over 30 years. I am in process of changing banks. I paid off the loan in questions, and I am creating an arm’s length relationship with my new bank.

Contrast that with the city where I now live. They put in a new sanitation line on my property that caused all kinds of water  problems in my yard. It has been a slow process but they are taking ownership and fixing the problem at their expense and the investment they are making is not insignificant.

Problems will happen. It is how you handle the problem that is important. Which organization was more in integrity with their customers? Is your message congruent with your organization’s action?  Do you deliver what you say you will deliver? Is your marketing message consistent with your company’s actions? All people want is to be treated fairly and honestly. Do you allow people in your organization to do that?

Do you handle your customer problem with integrity? Do you handle your sales with integrity? Do you live your life with integrity? Do you market with Integrity? Are you seeing a theme here? Being in Integrity is all that you do and be? The true disconnect is when your actions are not consistent with your words.

Ron Finklestein

Http://www.businessgrowthexperience.com
ron@akris.net
330-990-0788

One of the biggest problems I see with small business owners is that they chase the money. When you chase the money, you lose focus, and people do not know what you stand for.

Focus is principle number 6 of my Nine Principles for Inspired Action.

After working with a client in the Business Growth Experience and suggesting she gets focused, I received the following email less tha a week later.

“I also want to give you some feedback on a suggestion you made for me in the last Business Growth Experience meeting. We discussed just focusing on 3 types of businesses. Well I’m getting more referrals for those types of businesses. I’m truly amazed. I’ve received about 10 referrals between cleaning, insurance, and real estate in the last week. Thank you.”

Stop chasing the money. Get focused on your customer. The money will come.

Ron Finklestein
www.businessgrowthexperience.com
ron@businessgrowthexperience.com

Ten Time Wasting, Productivity Stealing, Resulting Robbing Excuses that Make Life Hard.

As a business coach I work with people who could improve their results and productivity by making simple yet powerful changes in their approach to decision making. If you are not achieving your desired results, here are ten possible reasons why.   As you read, think about what you are doing and why you are doing it. The biggest reason productivity suffers is because of poor decision making. This wastes time and valuable resources. Time is wasted when we confuse activity with accomplishment. Activity is purposeless action. Accomplishment is purposeful action that leads to the results you want.

Getting clear on what is important and focusing on those activities will increase your productivity, save you time, and simplify your life. Take a look at these 10 time wasting, productivity robbing, and frustrating actions people take. How many of these apply to you?

1. Not staying focused. Stay focused on what is important and ignoring any other opportunity that comes along will increase productivity. Jumping from activity to activity will ruin your productivity!
2. Stop Multi-Tasking. You cannot focus and do multiple things well. Your productivity suffers. You think you got a lot done but none are done well and you would have completed more had you stayed focused. Studies show that focused activities allows you accomplish more.
3. If you are a business owner do not discount your product. You are not the Banker. On more than one occasion I wanted to help someone so I gave them some help by discounting my product. The ones that I offered this help to were the ones who valued it the least, who took the most time and accomplished the least.
4. You do not need to be an expert. People will be confused if you explain every detail. They really want to know why it works not how it works. It helps with your confidence level to know this info but you do not have to tell everyone unless they ask. Do not spend time trying to figure out every nuance of your product. Just go do what you have to do. If someone asks you a question you cannot answer, tell them you will find out and set a date and time when you will get back with them.
5. Stop waiting for your family’s approval. They want you safe and many time what you want, they see as risky. It is your life. Live it by your rules not theirs! Decide. Take action.
6. Stop going to networking events. Spend your time where your prospects are, not where it is safe. Most people you meet at networking events want to sell you their product. That is why they are there. I cut way back on my networking because the same people show up. They were becoming more like reunions.
7. Avoid the tire kicker. They want to tell the world they tried everything when in reality they will suck you dry and never take action. Do not waste your energy on tire kickers. On the flip side, work with people who are where you want to be. Be open and coachable. This will shorten your time to success.
8. Why do you do what you do? To be truly successful, spend as much time working on you as you do on your business. Results happen when you change what you do. The best way to change what you do is to change how you think. This could be learning new things, taking different actions, and being exposed to people who think differently than you do.
9. Stop believing the wrong thing. It is not skills that hold us back but our beliefs. Anyone can learn anything, assuming they have the desire and interest. I cannot tell you how many audio programs I listened to and did not implement what I learned. I would then listen to the same program 10 years later and wonder why I did not trust (believe, implement, execute, etc) what I first learned. I think of all the time I wasted.
10. Do not believe your limitations. Those limitations are things you learned as a child and you do not have to have the same beliefs now. It is not your fault if you are not happy with your life as it exists today but you are responsible and you can change it. As Michelangelo once said, “The greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short, but in setting our aim too low and achieving our mark.” Aim High  and take purposeful action

Call today for a free consultation. I can be reached at 330-990-0788

Ron Finklestein

Business Coach

ron@businessgrowthexperience.com

http://www.aboutbusinesssuccess.com