Why you don’t want to move away from pain?

Don’t move away from pain?

Many people decide to make a change. Change is good.

The problem I have seen is that they people move away from want they don’t want –pain, not towards what they do want. This approach causes problems with long-term motivation.

For example, if I try on my clothes and notice they are a bit snug, I might decide to drop a few pounds. The desired outcome is for the cloths to fit better.  As a result, I decide to move away from wearing uncomfortable clothes.

As I lose weight and the clothes start feeling comfortable again, the tendency for me is to stray away from what works and start eating the junk that made me fat to start with. This happens because as I move away from pain (tight-fitting clothes,) the motivation is not as strong (because there is not as much pain because the clothes are starting to fit better.)  As I move away from pain of tight-fitting clothes, I think it is ok to stray and again eat food that are not good for me.

If we take that same example and move toward our goals of achieving and maintaining our ideal weight (say 200 lbs.,) as our clothes start fitting better, we are motivated to maintain the changes that helped move us in the right direction, making it easy to stay on the diet and resist temptation to start eating junk. Since we are not moving from pain (though the pain is what started the change), we are moving toward a specific outcome (weighting 200 lbs.) we can continue along the path that is working without worrying about slipping back into the old behavior the caused us to gain weight.

How does this concept apply to sales and business?  

Let’s discuss cold calling as an example. If we focus on the possibility of rejection, it will be difficult to make the call. Let’s shift our focus on why we need to make the call. One of my clients would rather lay off an employee that pick up the phone and solicit new business. Once he got clear on “why” he was picking up the phone (to provide a great living for his family,) He was able to solicit enough business to generate more proposals in 30 days they he did in the prior five years. We needed him to focus on what he wanted, not on what he did not want.

Try it. Pick something that is hard for you and focus on the positive you will experience when you perform the action. Stay focused on the positive. Watch how motivated you become. Watch how much easier it is to stay focused.

I invite you to try out our www.businessgrowthexperience.net/ron  membership site. Our goal with this site is provide actionable contents to help you grow sales, increase revenues and retain happy customers. You get a two-week trial for only $1. If you chose not to continue the free gift is yours as a thank you for trying us out. Why reinvent the wheel. For only $1 you can learn and implement best practices that work. Go to www.businessgrowthexpeience.net/ron to learn more.

Ron Finklestein
www.businessgrowthexperience.com
ron@businessgrowthexpeirence.com
330-990-0788

Our gift to you – our readers

Our gift to you –

 

As a sales trainer and business coach, one of the biggest problem I  see is lack of follow through-not because they can’t follow through – but because they do not remember to follow through. This is because they do not have a process, system or method that works they can use daily. This lack of follow through is most pronounced in the sales area.   

 

Dr. Tony Alessandra created an 60+ page eBook on how to sell collaboratively. The content of this book is extraordinary. It is a complete, proven process on selling that works. As a thank you for being a reader, I am making this eBook available to you.

 

Please read it, use it and implement what is discussed. It will make sales easy.

 

Just click on this link and you will be taken to the page to download the Collaborative eBook:

http://www.businessgrowthexperience.net/ron/

Enjoy!

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

Have a Hero – Be a Hero!

Have a Hero – Be a Hero!

I am planning to do a series of posts on what people to do to make positive change in their life. I asked many people their tips and strategies for making change and have received over 100 good comments. Over the next several months I will be posting these tips and strategies. I am not sure if I will do all 100 but I will share some very good ones going forward.  

Before I post the first tip, let me give you some background. I wanted to help a client make some personal changes and I was getting stuck in helping him through some personal changes so I asked for some help. I sent out an email to several trusted advisors asking them how they introduce change in their lives and the outcome they experienced in introducing change. Their responses were incredible.

The most notable outcome they experienced in creating personal change is the expanding of their three foot circle. They created a more global view of the situation. They saw thing differently and they are better able to choose their response for the situation.

These articles will occur in no particular order. I am writing about them as it makes sense for me. I would encourage you to share with me you particular strategy for dealing with change, creating changes or helping others deal with change.

Here goes. The first one is – Have a hero, be a hero! (Special thanks to Joe Smucny for this one!)  

Can you imagine how you will live your life knowing you are a hero to someone: a child, employee, coworker, wife or husband? What if you knew someone would ask you why you did something. What would you say? How would you say it?

Can you imagine how you would live your life if you had to answer to your hero for every action you took: Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Ben Franklin, Jesus, Buddha, or any of the thousands of people who could qualify as heroes? How would you answer their questions?

This raises the bar. It requires that you think about your actions and the impact they have. It requires that you take action, ownership, and responsibility for all things in your life.

This set the bar high and I like it.

Who is your hero and what action do you take to be like them?

Who do you want to be a hero to and what examples will you set for this person?

Please share your strategy for personal growth and change. You can email it to me or you can post it here. Please know if you send something to me you are giving me permission to use it.

Sincerely,

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

330-990-0788

 

Are you being disrespectful (and losing business) and you don’t know why?

Are you being disrespectful (and losing business) and you don’t know why?

If you wonder why you are losing business, the story below may be useful. I run several groups call the Business Growth Experience (www.businessgrowthexperience.com). During one group I mentioned how frustrated I am with contractor not showing up on time or not showing up at all and not letting me know. My specific comment was “if I am not yet a customer how will they treat me when I am a customer?”

This lead to a discussion of how disrespectful it is to be late. When you are late you are telling me that I am not important, you do not respect my time and effectively you do not respect me. Each member of the Business Growth Experience talked about how difficult it is to be on time and one gentleman stated, “when I am late I am not honoring who I am, I am not in sync with my values of honesty, respect and dignity towards myself. With that said, I am almost always late and people think nothing of it.”

Have we reached a point where we have no respect for our time or the time of others? I realize that people run late, do not returning call (people I know) or respond to emails, are not necessarily the people I want to do business with. I decided I would not do business with any contractor who was late, did not deliver the proposal when they said they would or did not show, even if they had a good reason (without a call).

I do not think I am too different from the average business owner. I do not have time to waste. I want to associate with people who value my time as much as they value their own time.

How much business is this costing you when you are late? What message are you sending your prospect, associate or friend?

To Your Business Growth,

Ron Finklestein

330-990-0788

ron@ businessgrowthexperience.com

 

Why Won’t People Buy From Me??

I wrote this post for a lead generation site I write for and thought you would find it useful.

Please click on the link below and you will be redirected to www.businessgrowthexperience.com. I do that because when you go to www.businessgrowthexperience.com you can opt-in and receive a 40 page report that goes into far great detail about why people don’t buy than I do on the video.

http://businessgrowthexperience.com/2013/05/02/short-video-why-people-wont-buy-from-you/

Enjoy and as always comments are welcome

Ron Finklestein
330-990-0788
ron @ businessgrowthexperience.com

How to Get a Meeting

How to get a meeting!

I was at an event where a business broker was discussing how to prepare your business for sale to get the highest dollar when selling. At the event I met several people.

I received an email a few days later from one people who simple said: “I want to meet with you and learn more about your business to see if I can help. Are you available for a meeting?”

Naturally, I said yes and we had a great meeting. Ironically she bought from me.

Contrast that to the emails I receive (sometimes daily) where some internet company (typically web design) sends me an email that talked about how good they are: we are from India, we have these skills (and proceeds to list them), we have all these employees, we worked with all these great companies, and you should hire us.

They don’t tell me why (what’s in it for me), they don’t tell me why I should care and most importantly they don’t tell me why I they are the best (right and safe choice) for me. This is a problem because I have worked with some Internet marketing companies and they don’t response after they take your money. It is frustrating because it is impossible to stop these types of emails other than make them as junk.

If you want a meeting, tell me what’s in it for me. It could be as simple as I want to get to know you better. Someone recently did that and I spent 30 minutes on the phone with him and we agreed to have a follow-up meeting.

When requesting a meeting there are three things to keep in mind:

  1. Tell the person the purpose of the meeting – be clear.
  2. Tell them what you want to cover – have an agenda – they can’t read minds.
  3. Tell them why they should meet with you (answer that lifelong question of what’s in it for me?) Put yourself in my shoes and ask yourself is this a good reason. Be brief.
  4. Suggest a date/time so we can eliminate phone tags – in the event the other person accepts the request.

Have a great meeting.

Good Selling

Ron Finklestein
330-990-0788

Ron @ businessgrowthexperience.com
www.businessgrowthexperience.com

p.s. Download your free report: Six Questions Prospects Want Answered Before They Buy at www.businessgrowthexperience.com

 

 

Food Almost Killed Me and my Business

This is a true story and I struggled with sharing it. It is confession time. For years I was sick: migraines, fatigue, joint pain, gas, bloating and the list goes one. I knew I would die (I am totally serious here) if I did not get this under control.  Running my business (and my life) was a desperate act of pure will power. For over two years everything hurt. I did not have the energy to try to grow my business. It took all my energy to get out of bed in the morning; it was all I could do was maintain some semblance of a normal life. I just could not understand what was going on.

This is not an exaggeration.

Let me give you the short version of the story. I tell you this not for sympathy but to help you understand the value of good health in growing a healthy business, enjoying life and making the most of every situation.

I took three naps a day.

I eliminated all activities except the bare necessaries of meeting only with customers.

I woke in the morning with so much pain I dreaded getting out of bed.

I had two spiritual visions in six month that I was dead and my wife was in mourning.

I was forty pounds overweight.

I experience four migraines a week.

The muscle and joint pain was so bad I did not want to move.  

I was not absorbing the medicine I was on and needed larger and larger doses. Nothing helped!

Emotionally, I was tired, depressed, frustrated and angry about the situation.

Fortunately, I found a doctor who helped me understand I was allergic to gluten in wheat. As I got better and tested other foods, I found I also had a negative reaction to soy, corn, dairy, eggs, and rice products. In the last 12 months my diet has changed to mostly meat and vegetables.

Because of the way I eat and how careful I am about what I eat and potential of cross contamination, I have been laughed at, ridiculed, and made fun of. Most waiters and waitresses are not familiar with people who deal with this problem and they think I am being ridicule. As a result, I tend to avoid most social occasion where food is the reason for people to get together: chamber lunches, business lunches, breakfast lunches, etc. I am tired of explaining. I am tired of being the only one at the table of eight paying for food but not eating and having people wonder why.

As a result of this dietary change, my life has changed for the best. I am happy again. I have energy. All my physical problems are gone. My relationship with my wife is great and I now can smile again. My hair is gradually changing color (from gray to brown) and I dropped 40 pounds.  I actually started exercising again after 15 years.  

I enjoy meeting people again. I am actively prospecting for new client and I am enjoying my work as a sales coach and trainer again.

I did not write this post to complain but to ask you to think about the food you eat. Is it helping you? Is it sapping your energy? Does it give you gas? Is it making you miserable? What impact is the food you are eating having on your energy and relationships? It is hard to have a good life and a strong business when you don’t feel well. For the first time in my life I finally understand the value of a proper diet and power of eating the right food.  

Because it can take from a few minutes to a few days to understand if food you eat is giving you problems, it is hard to make the connection. Keep a food diary is a great place to start.

I always sign of my blog post with, “to your success.” Today, I will sign off with to your health.

Ron Finklestein

www.businessgrowthexperience.com

ron @ businessgrowthexperience.com       

Ways to Increase Sales and Grow Revenues

Marketing Outcomes / How to Grow Sales and Increase Revenues

Every prospect wants to know why they should buy from you. They want to know the outcome they will experience before they want to know how you will create those outcomes. Let’s start with four basic facts …

1.    Every prospect has a problem. This problem creates some negative emotions.

2.    Every product has features: Features are merely objective facts about a product (or the company behind it). In three-dimensional products, features include size, shape, weight, construction, color options and more. You need to be able to tell your prospect the feature of your product or service that will solve the problem. In information products, features include number of pages, size, frequency of publication (for periodicals) and the types of information that are presented.

3.    Fortunately, most features are there for a darned good reason: Prospects don’t want features. They want you to change their lives for the better. Product features are merely the means to that end. That means features can have a place in ad copy – like telling prospects how many issues they’ll get per year … how many big pages are in your book … or that your widget is made from carbon steel for strength or carbon fiber for lightness.

Beyond that, features are a yawn because they’re about the product; not about the prospect. Or, as in the examples above, they can help demonstrate how your product delivers a benefit. The good news is, just about every product fact – every feature – is there to provide a benefit that your prospect IS willing to pay for. Tell your prospect in no uncertain terms the benefits of a particular feature. But we do not want to stop there.

4.    Each benefit has a positive emotional outcome for the buyer. Many time there are more benefits associated with each product feature than are obvious to the average buyer. Each benefit or combination of benefits producing one, two, three or more new benefits you never thought about before. The secret to selling and marketing and most any other revenue generating activity is to identify each and every benefit a product provides – and the emotional outcome your buyer will experience.

5.    Your prospect is buying emotionally first, then they intellectualize & justify the purchase. Connecting the feature, benefits and outcomes makes it very easy for the buying to understand why you are the right and safe choice.

Outcome that sing and soar – in five simple steps

Here’s a little exercise to help you drill down to the outcomes prospects are willing to pay for and then connect those benefits with powerful response-boosting emotions that your prospect already has about those benefits (or the lack of them) in his life.

By the time you’re through, you will have a complete list of company and product features … you will have squeezed every possible benefit out of those features … you will have fully defined the outcomes of those benefits and you will have connected each one to a powerful emotion your prospect has about each one of them.

In short, you’ll have a comprehensive “features/benefits/emotional outcome” inventory you can refer to as you create your marketing message, write your copy, build your sales presentation or create contents for your website.

Going through this exercise can go a long way towards finding new themes and adding power to your sales and marketing.

To begin, create a spreadsheet with these headings:

Problem

Negative Emotional Outcomes of Problem

Feature that Solves the Problem

Tangible Benefits of that Feature

Positive Emotional Outcome Prospect with Experience

Rank

 

Write until all know problems are identified and documented. Document how they feel when they experience this problem. Next write the feature of your product or service that solves the problem and document the benefit of that feature. Finally, describe the positive emotional outcome the buyer will experience.

When complete, rank them in order of importance.

He is an example of what your table should look like.

Problem: Sales have plateaued

Emotional Impact of Problem: So frustrated because no matter what I do, I just can’t figure out how to take the sales to the next level. And I’m always the one having to do the sales

Feature: Learn how to build a sales and marketing system

Benefit of Feature: You can stop being the only “sales guy” and start leveraging your marketing and sales processes so that customers come to you to purchase, instead of you chasing them. You will grow sales!

Emotional Outcome: You’ll feel a great sense of relief … no more anxiety about “where is the next sale going to come from?” and you won’t have to be chasing prospective customers all the time … prospects who are hiding from you.

When you complete this process you will have all the material you need to write a great sales letter, create compelling web copy, and build a powerful sales presentation and some much more.

This process is where increase profits and grow sales begins. You need to understand your prospects better than they understand themselves. When completed, you can tell them exactly what they can expect when they work with you.

If you want a more detailed, step by step process, go to www.businessgrowthexperience.com and download our free report: Six Questions Your Prospects Want Answered before They Buy.

To Your Success,

Ron Finklestein www.businessgrowthexperience.com

Ron@businessgrowthexperience.com 330-990-0788

p.s. Go to www.businessgrowthexperience.net and supply your email address. We will notify you when we launch our membership site that will take you step by step through our sales and marketing system to help you grow sales and increase revenues.

50% of the People Will Hate You!

50% of the People Will Hate You!

I am reading John Smoltz’s autobiography. If you are not familiar with Smoltz, he played professional baseball for over 20 years. The book focuses on the last year he played.

Smoltz is a very competitive individual. He did not like to lose, He loved playing for Atlanta and he would do what was necessary to help his team win (as long as it was legal, moral and ethical.)

What is compelling about his story is that he was not afraid to fail.

When he failed in a game (gave up 8 runs in 2/3rd of an inning) he would go back to the bullpen and make the necessary adjustment. He would take the changes he tested in the bullpen and implement them in the game. Many players would make the adjustments in the bullpen and never implement them in a game situation. His point is that these changes must be implemented or why do them.

The book is about his ability to fail forward to achieve success.

I see the same thing with my sales coaching. Many people learn the material but they never apply it. They are afraid to fail.

I remember when I wrote my first book. I waited for six months after it was ready before I released it. I was afraid of what others would think. I finally released it. That started a creative streak that lasted five years. I wrote four books in five years: Two of them went international. That would not have happened if I let my fear of failure control my behavior.

As a result of that work, I team up with TruNorth and Dr. Tony Alessandra to create a sales training web site that will be available in late January 2013. That would not have happened if I did not get over my fear of failure. Here is the press release!

Fear of failure is simply a belief. It is a belief that you can release if you choose to. It simply means you acknowledge the fear and do it anyway. As Dan Kennedy once said, “50% of the people will love you, 50% of the people will hate you. Ignore people who hate you and focus on the people who love you.”

To Your Success,

Ron Finklestein

330-990-0788

Go to www.businessgrowthexperience.com and download your free report. “Six Questions Your Prospects Want Answered Before They Buy”

 

You Just Made me Wrong

You Just Made me Wrong

I was in a meeting a few weeks ago with a business associate and we were talking about what it means to collaborate.

When he finished his long definition, I made the statement that what he said sounds like adaptability and not collaboration.

Here looked at me as said, “You just made me wrong.”

I have been thinking about this meeting and his statement for a while and I asked myself this question: By suggesting a different definition of what he was saying, did I make him wrong? Or did he decide, that by not agreeing with him, he was wrong.

What I realized is this form of miscommunication is what causes problems in all relationships: family, business, friends, etc.

Recently, I wanted to attend an event and I could not make it because of a schedule conflict. I called the creator of the event and express a desire to attend and I was unable because of a schedule conflict. His comment was, “we can’t please everyone.”

What he was really saying is when you do an event it is hard to accommodate all schedules. What I heard was, “you are not that important.” I know this individual and we discussed the implications of that discussion and we both realized we did not communicate effectively.

Do we make others feel wrong, unimportant or insignificant?   Is it our beliefs that make us feel wrong, unimportant or insignificant?

Did the transmitter communicate wrongness or did the receiver translate what was said into wrongness?

This is where the sales process breaks down. We use words and communicate that meaning that both the transmitter and the receiver do not understand to have the same meeting.

I was in a meeting and the individual used the words, “I want to create a community of…”

When I heard the words “community” I think Facebook, LinkedIn, Monster, etc. I then asked what the word community meant and she gave me an entirely different definition. If I did not ask that question I would have taken her down a marketing path that was not what she wanted to achieve.

The real lesson here is ask, don’t assume. Clarify your words and don’t expect the receiver to understand your meaning. If you are the receiver it is ok to ask for clarification.

To Your Personal & Business Growth (because there is not difference)

Ron Finklestein 330-990-0788 ron@akris.net

p.s. Please download the free report, The Six Questions Your Prospects Want Answered Before They Buy at Http://www.businessgrowthexperience.com to prefect the message you communicate with prospects, customers, and business associates as a thank you for reading this blog post.

 

Influence vs. Manipulation

I recently wrote an article on the difference between influence vs. manipulation.  I posted it on  http://www.businessgrowthexperience.com 

Here is the link: http://businessgrowthexperience.com/?p=829

At the end of the article is a link to a PDF entitled, How to Build Rapport with Anyone in 90 Seconds or Less. Consider it a gift to you, my readers. You will not have to provide any information. You can just download it.

To your success

Ron Finklestein

ron@akris.net

330-990-0788

Basics of Healthy Sales Relationships

Basics of Healthy Sales Relationships

Nothing can bring more satisfaction to a business owner than knowing they have a healthy relationship with their customer and vendors.

And, of course, as many people find out, nothing can bring so much pain as a broken relationship.

Yes, relationships make the world go ‘round. For better or for worse. There are basics that govern most human relationships, and these basics are what I want to cover below. So here is my list of the three essentials that I believe make up the basics of healthy business relationships.

1.      Honesty. Honesty is the backbone of a great business relationship. If you do not trust your customers how can you expect them to trust you? I recently had an experience where the vendor really messed up and instead of telling me the truth and letting me decide how to respond, he kept the issues from me. Things got progressive worst until we split on less than friendly terms. I would have preferred to salvage the relationship if possible.

Communication is so important because it is the vehicle that allows us to verbalize what is inside us and enables it to connect with another person. Isn’t communication amazing? One person is feeling one thing, and through communication, another person can find that out and feel it, too—amazing. And this is a vital goal in good relationships—to communicate, to tell each other what we are thinking and what we are feeling. It enables us to make a connection. Sometimes we are the one speaking, and other times we are listening. Either way, the central tenet is communication for the sake of building the relationship and making it stronger. And here’s what’s exciting: If we just communicate, we can get by. But if we communicate skillfully, we can work miracles!

It helps if we can communication our message in a way our customers understand. There are six questions our prospects wants answered before they buy from us. Go to the Business Growth Experience web site  and download this report. This report documents the basic communications our prospects and customers want from us.

2.      Integrity. Do what you say you will do, when you say you will do it. Nothing is more frustrating than making a plan based on the action of someone else and then at the last-minute finding out they did not do it. Be respectful of your customers and business partners and expect the same in return. People make decisions on what you say and do; sometimes very important decisions. We need to respect that.

I once had a vendor who never returned calls. I could not make any plans and any decisions that were made always changed because of his lack of follow through. Needless to say that relationship did not last long. If he had only responded and followed through things would have been great.

3.      Common Sense. Every relationship must have a win-win component. If either person in the relationship feels taken advantage of, feelings are hurt and rash decisions are made.  Jim Rohn calls this common purpose. Think about how many friends you have met through the years while working on a common purpose. With common purpose there is something in it for everyone. You had that strong common bond of purpose that brought you together and held you together. Working together, building together, failing and succeeding together—all while pursuing a common purpose—that is what relationships are made of. Find people with whom you have common purposes and sow the seeds of great relationships, and then reap the long-lasting benefits.

To Your Success,

Ron Finklestein
www.businessgrowthexperience.com
330-990-0788

 

Why People do not Trust You!

Why People do not Trust You!

People do not trust you!

Why should they?

There is so much information available and much of it is junk.

How do we get through the unsolicited info?

How to we manage the onslaught of information and determine what is real?

How do we know the info is the most current?

How do we deal with the contradiction?

Unless you can help your prospects and clients answer he above questions they will never trust you.

There are six questions your prospects want answered before they buy from you.

Go here www.businessgrowthexperience.com and download my free report that not only helps you define those six questions, it will help you answer them.

Ron Finklestein

330-990-0788 ron@ businessgrowthexperience.com

Want to learn more call for your free assessment!

Sales Success is an Inside Job

Do you wonder about the how successful sales person becomes successful?

Tim Connor, in his book Soft Selling, discussed how average sales people spent 2% of their time in self-improvement and successful sale reps spent an average of 10% of their time in personal development.

In this post, Selling is an Inside job, the author suggest lack of time spent in personal development is communicated to the prospects in whys we do not really understand but we all have experience.

What message are you sending to you prospect without realizing it and how is impacting your sales?

 

Ron Finklestein
www.businessgrowthexperience.com
330-990-0788
ron@akris.net

Who Should be Your New Best Friend?

You New Best Friend.

Most people are not excited to see a sales rep walk into their office. Defenses go up almost immediately.

This is strange to me because I get more new ideas, market intelligence and industry news from the sales reps who visit my office than from other places.

They see so many more people than I do.

They visit so many more companies that I do.

They see what others are doing that works.

They see what others do that doesn’t work.

Being a good sales rep is not just about selling your product or service. It is about helping the people you meet be more successful.

On a side note, there was a study done on what customers want from their sales rep. This study indicated that the customer wants accountability from the sales rep. In different words, they want the rep to be accountable for the success the customer will achieve when they buy the product or service.

Next time a sales rep comes into you office ask them how they are accountable for the overall success of the product or service. In our sales training we offer a 100% return on investment guarantee. We want to be held accountable. Want to learn more? Call me, Ron Finklestein, at 330-990-0788 or email me at ron@businessgrowthexperience.com

 

Grow, prosper, and get results with,

Ron Finklestein
www.businessgrowthexperience.com
330-990-0788

Business Growth Experience Update

This is different from my normal blog post.

Frankly, I just wanted to share some good news. Today we want to bring you up to speed on all the changes and good things that have happened and how they affect you and your business.

Our newest Product: Business Growth Experience Sales Rainmaker Program

We have spent the last 10 years helping some businesses grow sales and solve a variety of business problems. We still do that and we added a new product to help you. In addition to Business Growth Experience memberships site, marketing programs, workshops, seminars and group coaching, we added the Business Growth Experience Sales Rainmaker training program. This program is designed to make you more successful by helping you to grow sales, increase revenues and shorten your sales cycle. We are so confident this program will work for you we offer a 100% Return on Investment guarantee. To learn more call Ron Finklestein at 330-990-0788 / ron@businessgrowthexperience.com or attend one of our executive briefings.

What Others Say Who Have Been Involved in The Business Growth Experience

“Before the Business Growth Experience we were averaging 2.7 new clients per month. After working with the Business Growth Experience we are averaging 7 new clients a month. In one month we paid for your service.” Ron Conte, Akron Payroll & Tax

Executive Briefings – Business Growth Experience Sales Rainmaker Program

To roll out the Business Growth Experience Sales Rainmaker Program, we are conducting several executive briefings. Here is what you can expect to learn:

  • Three ways to increase sales in any business
  • The six reasons your prospects do not buy from you
  • The seven expectations your customers have of you
  • The single biggest sales issues we must address and why it is important
  • Learn how to use social media as one tool to generate leads and grow sales
  • What you can do to grow sales now
  • Why marketing is the critical and usually missing first step in a sales process for small business owners
  • How to make your customer feel you are the right and safe choice
  • And so much more…

If you are in Summit County, go here to see our schedule: http://becomeasalesrainmaker.eventbrite.com.

If you live in Cuyahoga County (East Side) go here http://solonbge.eventbrite.com.

More Good News

Tom Schroth has joined the Business Growth Experience as a trainer specifically for the Business Growth Experience Sales Rainmaker Program. Tom’s background encompasses a broad range of experience including franchising, small business start-ups and work in corporate America. Holding a degree in Marketing and Business Administration with 20+ years of Entrepreneurship, Tom is often described as a Teacher / Trainer with the soul of a Sales Person and the heart of an Entrepreneur. As a coach and consultant he brings the Best Practices of corporations, personal experience and “outside the box” creative thinking to come up with effective unique solutions. Tom will be facilitating the Sales Rainmaker Program and the Business Growth Experience throughout Cleveland and Northeast Ohio. Tom can be contacted at tom@wboardgroup.com and 440-836-4211.

Next month we will be announcing a new training for Stark County. Stay tuned.

49 Marketing Secrets (THAT WORK)

Ron Finklestein’s book 49 Marketing Secrets (THAT WORK) to Grow Sales continues to sell internationally. We recently receive a contract from a publishing house in mainland China to sell the Chinese translation of the book. It is exciting to have the book exposed to over one billion people.

49 Marketing Secrets is currently sold in Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, India, The Czech Republic, The United States and now China. To order the book from Amazon just click here

Small Business Talk Radio

Ron Finklestein has been asked by long time small business talk radio host Dale Stefancic to co-host Small Business Talk Radio.  We are on every Wednesday from 4:30- 5:30 PM on 1330 on the AM dial or through the Internet at WELW.com (press the listen now button.) We work hard at showcasing local business owners and dealing with important business topics in the small business market. Please join us and let us know what topics you are interested in hearing about. Email me at ron@businessgrowthexperience.com with your suggestions. During the month of August we are going to talk about finding the money. We will have a banker, third party financing representative and a chief financial officer talk about how to find money in your business.

Are you Proud to be in Sales?

It took me many years to fully appreciate the power of being in sales. When I am selling, I am proud of what I do because selling is a profession where I can change the life of people I work with, feel good about it and get paid for it. I hope you feel the way. If not call me and let’s talk because anyone who is not proud of their product or service will struggle.   See more in our latest blog post.

Our Latest Blog Post (Why is Sales So Hard?)

Selected Business of the Month! How to Save Money!

I just meet Joe Campbell. Joe runs a business call the Buckeye Xchange. The Buckeye Xchange does business through barter. He has a good story and you will learn how to grow your business and save money at the same time. Check it out: http://www.buckeyebarterexchange.com . Tell him Ron sent you. If you prefer a person to talk to you can reach Joe at 330-659-0225. There are over 200 businesses already participating.

 

Regards,
Ron Finklestein
ron@businessgrowthexperience.com
www.businessgrowthexperience.com (download your fr.e.e. report Six Questions Your Prospects Want Answered BEFORE They Buy From You)

Can being in sales be a true spiritual approach to business and life? Ron Finklestein

Can being in sales be a true spiritual approach to business and life?

Jim Cartcart was recently on our radio program (WELW.com every Wednesday from 4:30 to 5:30 PM EST) and he gave a definition of selling that transformed my view on sales, how I sell and the contribution I make on the lives of others.

Jim Carthcart’s definition of sales is “Changing the lives of others – profitably.”

When I sell the Business Growth Experience Sales Rainmaker program I no longer feel as if I am selling. I know the material I teach will change their lives of people who participate and I am proud to call myself a sales professional. I feel good asking to be paid because of the value I am providing.

But is sales a spiritual approach to life?

Why would I say that?

Most people don’t get into sales because they want to be in sales. They get into sales to help solve a problem and being in sales is a byproduct of accomplishing a larger goal, a higher purpose.

I started looking at doctors, teachers, priests, and other helping professions and I realized I am doing the same things they do: solving a problem to make a persons’ life better.

I like to think of what we teach as using sales skills that you will use in every area of your life. These skills will work with friends, family, children and significant others and you will be a better person for it as I feel I am a better person for teaching it.

If you are a small business owner who is struggling with sales, give me a call. The first thing we will do is help you understand how you can use your product or service to change someone’s life for the better. This is a great first step in realizing the meaning and purpose in what you do.

When I wake up in the morning and I know I am having a positive impact on the lives of others, I am inspired, motivated and compelled to work harder because I know I am making life better for others.

In the business growth experience here is what we do: We tell people to stop selling and teach others to buy. We do that by combining sales and marketing so that our clients know more about their customer then the customers know about themselves. Then we teach them to sell the way the customer wants to buy. That way the product sells itself. When you master this process life gets easier, sales is fun and life is more rewarding.

To a more spiritual approach to selling!

Thanks Jim Cathcart. You changed another life!

Ron Finklestein

330-990-0788

ron@businessgrowthexperience.com

www.businessgrowthexperience.com

Evaluating Your Associations by Jim Rohn

Evaluating Your Associations by Jim Rohn

I’d like for us to take a look at the power of influence in our lives and how it is possible to be nudged off course a little at a time until finally, we find ourselves asking, “How did I get here?”

We should ask ourselves three key questions:

1) “Who am I around?” You’ve got to evaluate everybody who is able to influence you in any way.

2) “What are these associations doing to me?” That’s a major question to ask. “What have they got me doing, listening to, reading, thinking and feeling?” You’ve got to make a serious study of how others are influencing you, both negatively and positively.

3) “Is that okay?” Maybe everyone you associate with has been a positive, energizing influence. Then again, maybe there are some bad apples in the bunch. All I’m suggesting here is that you take a close and objective look. Everything is worth a second look, especially the power of influence. Both will take you somewhere, but only one will take you in the direction you need to go.

Only then can we discuss three ways to handle associations or relationships that are holding you back.

1) Disassociate. This is not an easy decision, nor something you should take lightly, but in some cases it may be essential. You may just have to make the hard choice not to let certain negative influences affect you anymore. It could be a choice that preserves the quality of your life.

2) Limited association. Spend major time with major influences and minor time with minor influences. It is easy to do just the opposite, but don’t fall into that trap. Take a look at your priorities and your values. We have so little time at our disposal. Wouldn’t it make sense to invest it wisely?

3) Expanding your associations. This is the one I suggest you focus on the most. Find other successful people that you can spend more time with. Invite them to lunch (pick up the tab) and ask them how they have achieved so much or what makes them successful. Now, this is not just about financial success; it can be someone who you want to learn from about having a better marriage, being a better parent, having better health or a stronger spiritual life.

It is called association on purpose—getting around the right people by expanding your circle of influence. And when you do that, you will naturally limit the relationships that are holding you back. Give it a try and see for yourself.

To your success,

 

Ron Finklestein
Business Growth Experience Sales Rainmaker Program

www.businessgrowthexperience.com
ron@businessgrowthexperience.com
330-990-0788

Shut the Front Door

 

I received this email form a friend and I thought it was very good advice. I am posting it here just as it was written – without edits. To provide some context, the author is an emergency room doctor who deals with the trauma of our humanity daily. Frank is a good person who asks the hard questions.  This advice is advice to live by, both in your professional and business life.

April 19th, 2012

 Shut the Front Door

“When you’re the victim of the behavior, it’s black and white; when you’re the perpetrator, there are a million shades of gray.”

-Laura Schlessinger

 

Ever ask yourself, “How do I get out of here?”  It seems like everyone in the Emergency Department is constantly complaining about someone or something!  Arrrgh!  Somedays it’s hard to even walk in the front door.  But the reality is we actually have great jobs.  The hospital is an amazing place to work where we get to do incredible things everyday.

When we really feel the need to get out of Dodge, all we need to do is shut the front door!  We, just like our patients, almost always create our own problems.  My hero Albert Einstein taught us, “We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.”

If things are bad for us now and we want to make them good, we only need to think and act differently!

Just like there is black and white, there is wisdom and stupidity.  These opposites exist so we can see the difference.  In a place where there is no wisdom, exists stupidity.  Speech, the words we say, can be of only two types:  we can either speak wisdom, or stupidity.  If it does not help, it hurts.  It really is that black and white.

“Badmouthing Others”, “Gossip”, and “Trash Talking” can seem to bring instant relief when we are in discomfort, but this type of speech is nothing but stupidity.  This behavior of ours—and we all do it—actually creates the heaviness and toxicity we experience with each other at work.

But we always have a choice.  We can speak words of sharing, support, and positivity.  Or we can speak words of negativity and stupidity.   There is nothing neutral.  You either want to help or you actually intend hurt. It all comes down to “we” or “me.”  We is positive.  Me is negative.  We is unifying.  Me is separating.  Whatever is not “we,” must be “me.”

We need to remember that if we, in everything we do, would include the “we”, “the other guy,” then everything would work out great for everyone.  Win-Win solutions would be the norm rather than the exception.  Whenever we are thinking only of me, there is going to be trouble.  We will create chaos, we will create bad feelings, we will hold grudges and we will never be happy or satisfied.  We will be hurt, angry, sad, and disconnected.

Any interpersonal difficulty or chaos we have at work usually comes from our need to be right!  When we say something less than kind in order to prove a point or to look good, does it help or does it hurt?  Is it about “me,” or is it about “we?”

There are really only two options.  If it’s not good, it’s bad.  If it is not wise, it’s just plain stupid.  If it doesn’t help, it hurts.  If it does not unify, it separates.  So how do we speak in a balanced way?  How do we give to others and invest in ourselves at the same time?

Balance comes from setting priorities.  So make your number one priority reconnecting with your pure and altruistic desire to care, to make things better.  And when you want to say “me,” instead of “we,” simply shut the front door!

Action:  Think before you speak!  I once worked with a nurse named Wendy.  Nurse Wendy was seasoned, experienced, good with people and levelheaded.  She was a great person and such an amazing nurse.  She did not often join in the department banter or offer up unsolicited opinions.  However, when she did speak, her comments were insightful and exceptionally helpful.

One day, when I was complaining, she took me aside to offer this piece of real, sound wisdom. She told me when we are tempted to talk about someone to someone else, we should first ask ourselves three things:

  1. Do I know this story to be true, or is it something I was just told?
  2. Is it necessary for me to repeat the story?
  3. Is telling this story positive and loving, or is it destructive?

Sometimes, the easiest way out of a negative place is to just shut the front door, unless you have something really wise to inject into (y)our situation!

Give us your best!

Care, make a difference and change (y)our world!

 

Frank Pinchas Gabrin, D.O.

Thanks Frank for your wise advice. 

Ron Finklestein
Business Growth Experience
330-990-0788
ron @ businessgrowthexperience.com

www.businessgrowthexperience.com

Customers Lie

Customers Lie!

We, as sales professionals, are constantly told that customers lie. They never address the reason customers lie nor do they tell what you can do about it.

Customers lie because they do not want to hear how stupid they are if they do not understand how your product or service will help them.

Customers lie because they feel you will take advantage of them if you learn some sensitive piece of knowledge.

Customer lie because they fear you will charge a higher price if you knew how painful the situation really is.

Ok, customers lie because they need to protect themselves. They lie because we, as sales professionals, have lied to them. I cannot tell you how much sales training I have received where the instructor would say something like, “tell them what they want to hear, even if it not true, to get the appointment. You can always fix it later.” We wonder why customers feel the need to protect themselves. I refuse to be party to this kind of mind-set.

As a sales professional, we need to change that. We need to act with the best intentions and the highest effort to do what is in the best interest of our customers. We need to understand their problems and help them solve it.

As a sales professional, we have to assume they are lying to protect themselves and it is our job to act with honesty, integrity, and while having the best interest of our customer in mind at all times so they do not have to (or feel the need to) protect themselves. They understand we are on the same team.

As a sales professional, we must understand how to build rapport quickly and effectively because building rapport is the first step in building trust.

As a sales professional, we must always treat the customers the way they want to be treated so they understand why your product or service is the right and safe choice for them.

If our customers are lying to us we need to stop blaming them and implement actions that allow them to trust us.

If our customers are lying to us we must look inside and see what we are doing they makes them want to lie to us. Then we need to fix it.

To learn more check out www.akris.net

Call me if you are not getting the desired results.

 

Ron Finklestein
330-990-0788
ron@businessgrowthexperience.com

www.businessgrowthexperience.com

 

 

Eleven Cardinal Sins of a Sales Representative.

Eleven Cardinal Sins of a Sales Representative.

If you are in sales or wonder why your sales are suffering, ask yourself if you are hurting yourself by:

  1. Being desperate. If you are desperate, do not let the prospect see it. It will chase them away faster that junk yard dog.
  2. Being artificial. People are looking for authenticity in their relationships, especially a sales relationship. People want to know you can be trusted.  You do not want your prospects thinking of you as Jerry Springer.
  3. Being unprepared. There is no excuse for not being prepared. With the internet you can find most everything you need to know before the sales call. You can bet the prospect did his homework on you. You are not John Wayne. Don’t try to wing it.
  4. Not planning your sales call. Walking into meeting without an agenda is inexcusable. I was in a meeting where the sales rep did not have an agenda and he did not confirm what he thought was the agenda, and the prospect was not happy.
  5. Being late. Most prospects take being last as a sign of disrespect: of his time. This is a great way to start off on the wrong foot.
  6. Taking longer than you said. If you asked for 30 minutes don’t take a minute longer. Ask for permission to continue if you must or schedule a second meeting.
  7. Not focusing on solving the problem. Most business owners are busy and they do not care to create a relationship with you unless they have a reason. Talking about your hunting trip may be fun for you but your prospect is not particularly interested. Focus on him and his problem.
  8. Talking too much. If you are talking you cannot be listening to the prospect and his problems. A great sales rep is an excellent listener. They listen with purpose: to understand.   Watch Dr. Phil if you want to see how it is done.
  9. Being a liar. Be honest. If you cannot help them tell them. They will respect that and listen the next time you request a meeting. Jim Carey you’re not (I hope)!
  10. Being a liar again. Don’t lie and tell them your product does something it can’t. It takes a short time to destroy your reputation you took a life time to build.
  11. Not be respectful. Do what you say you will do when you say you will do it. Many times a prospect needs something from you to do his work. Deliver what you said you would when you said you would do it.

 

Need help with growing sales, increasing revenues and shortening the sales process? Give me a call for a free not obligation discussion of your most pressing sales issues.

 

Ron Finklestein
Business Growth Experience
www.aboutbusinesssuccess.com

330-990-0788 / ron@businessgrowthexperience.com

 

I AM NOT DONE!

What is holding you back?

I recently went on a weekend retreat with several members of a group I started many years ago. The agenda was simple. All each participant had to do was answer one question: What holds you back? You could discuss personal, business, relationship issues or anything important to you.

Without a doubt the most common answer was – ME! I hold myself back. As we probed deeper we heard such things as:

“I am afraid of failure/success.”

“I fear rejection.”

“I need to forgive.”

“I know what I need to do but I am not doing it because it is not fun.”

“I need to be liked.”

“I am not a salesman.”

I could go on but you get my drift.

My experience is that business skills are easy to teach but the beliefs we have about ourselves are the deciding factors.

Can you put your biggest fears out for all to see? If you say “no,” you will have serious problems overcoming them. They lose much of their power once they are shared with others.

Each of us had a chance to put our issues on the table for the world to see. It took courage, intestinal fortitude and a willingness to risk it all. What I found was the group was supportive, nonjudgmental, accepting and each and everyone expressed a sincere effort to understand and help me go deeper.

My awaking was that we all suffer from the flaws of being human. Though I was in the room with people I consider to be successful, I realized we are all human, we all have our fears and doubt AND we are all capable of more.

Share your fears and risk being human. You will find another human will respond. It is liberating to feel heard and understood.

I now know what “I am not done” means to me.

Thanks to all who shared a powerful weekend with me. You know who you are.

 

Ron Finklestein
330-990-0788
ron@businessgrowthexperience.com
www.aboutbusinesssuccess.com

What Can You Learn from Business Failures? What Can You Learn from Business Failures?

What Can You Learn from Business Failures?

It’s a well known saying that you can learn from your failures and this is supposed to apply to business as well, but is it true? Do failures really teach anything that doesn’t lead people into another failure later in life or do people who have failed magically become model businessmen and women?

Business failures are often blamed on some specific occurrence or on somebody else. Perhaps only those who can accept responsibility can move on to be better business people rather than hoping for the perfect balance transfers to get them out of their one way ticket to bankruptcy.

What failure means

One of life’s most stressful times is when a business fails. It is like a death in the family and there is a grieving period to mourn through. Failure brings up thoughts of negativity. Most business people want to just get up and move on to their next venture but the personal and financial problems may not disappear as soon as another business begins.

People close to the entrepreneur will feel the sadness in losing their baby – their business. Some of those close enough to the events may never want to go near a business again if they have to be involved in its formation and then production. For some, it can be even more serious and the loss of their business can lead to more serious personal problems, some which even lead to the need for alcohol or drug abuse treatment.

Unfortunately, even in those trying times you need to turn around and be positive. It is part of a life journey and with those experiences you may recognize the problem if it occurs again. You will be able to see the situation and react differently and much quicker to solve the issues that caused your business to fail.

There will need to be an evaluation of why you failed. These results should set you on the right path so you will be confident you won’t fail again.

The choice is yours

Whatever happened and whatever will occur in the future, you bear the responsibility to make a successful business. How you present yourself is the first choice you make which will affect how you recover from an initial failure.

You need to be able to take the positives from your failures and build on them. You learnt how to get past failure in school. You didn’t know the alphabet to begin with, but after many failures you knew it off by heart quite soon. Business is much the same, except there is always a bigger financial and personal risk.

Failing is succeeding

Failing is a tough pill to swallow and no one wants to give up, but seeing the positive side of one’s circumstances positions you for greater chances to find success in the future.

You will need to see failure as a building block for success. Only quality entrepreneurs can see the opportunity when failure is all round. The growth of your new business will be based on the positives from your previous business coupled with the lessons you have learned. Failure is only a state of mind after your business has closed. The business is gone and it is up to you to ensure the future holds a better run business.

Time management

You will need to assess your time management and decide if this had anything to do with your business failure. Being in control of your time is a major step in moving a business forward. Too many people concentrate on the wrong priorities in business and often fail to see the bigger picture. You should excel where you have the skills to succeed and employ others to control the aspects of your business that are not your best areas. When you are not a master accountant, have someone else manage your accounts and learn how to check them carefully. If you spend too long on the wrong side of your business you can’t be expected to see the problems as they happen.

Moving with technology

You can’t expect to run your business with technology that is years out of date. Computers, software and business machinery have developed so far in the last few years that you must move with the times if you are to keep abreast of the best aids to help your business. If your web presence is lacking, your competitors will sleep easy at night.

Learn from your mistakes and plan properly to maximize the education you gain through your failure. Success might be just around the corner.

To Your Success

Ron Finklestein

330-990-0788

www.aboutbusinesssuccess.com

ron@ronfinklestein.com

Using LinkedIn as a Prospecting Tool to Turn Cold Calls into Warn Calls

Using LinkedIn as a Prospecting Tool to Turn Cold Calls into Warn Calls

Jacci Adams of 3X4 Consulting, a social media consulting company, did a presentation on how to use LinkedIn as a prospecting tool. I was impressed with the simplicity of her approach that I asked her if I could share it. She agreed. Please give Jacci’s website a visit to see more details on what she does.

A special thanks to Jacci for allowing me to share one of her “trade secrets.” In being transparent, Jacci is a client of mine. Because I know her so well, I am confident she can help if you are confused about how to use social media to grow sales through social media lead generation.

I cannot give you LinkedIn training here so I am assuming you are a member of LinkedIn and know how to use the search tool.

  1. Click on the advance search icon in the top right of the LinkedIn home page.
  2. Type in the industry keyword/title for the people you are trying to reach (i.e., Chiropractor, Manufacturer, Realtor, etc.)
  3. Enter the zip code of where you want the search to target and the mileage radius of how far you are willing to go.
  4. You can find any connections you have that meet the search criteria.
  5. For the 3rd connections and beyond LinkedIn provides only the first name and last initial. If you click to see the full name, LinkedIn will ask you to upgrade. Here is where you get creative
  6. Click on the company’s website link (in the search results.) Go to the About Us tab and see if the information you are looking for is there. Many times it is. You can get all the background you need.
  7. Do a Google search on the person’s name
  8. This search will tell you things like where they went to school, businesses they are associated with and how long they have been in business.
  9. Using LinkedIn you can do a search to see if anyone in your network knows them. If so either request an introduction of call them directly and introduce yourself. You already have enough information about the individual to know what you have in common.

If you do not have time or do not what to do this research yourself, you can hire someone through:

www.odesk.com

www.fiverr.com

www.99percent.com

If you know how to use the tools above and you are uncertain about making the call, consider improving your people skills so you are more comfortable. You can learn more www.akris.net.

Happy Prospecting

Ron Finklestein
ron@businessgrowthexperience.com

ww.businessgrowthexperience.com

You can subscribe to my blog at www.ronfinklestein.com

Free Marketing Tip to Bring Hundreds of People into Your Business Each Month

Free Marketing Tip to Bring People into Your Business

I am a member of AmSpirit, a networking and business referral group. We meet at creative source. Creative source does great work and I suggest you check out their website.

My reason for this post is to document Creative Source and how they bring in hundreds of business owner and sales reps into their office each month at no cost to them. Creative Source has a big conference room they allow others to use at no charge. They do not provide coffee or tea. Several networking groups meet there, Toastmasters meets there. I held some sales presentations there before I knew Mike. Mike, one of the owners, feels this is a good way to give back to the community.

By giving back to the community, he has hundreds of business people come to his place of business each month. Each business owner who walks through the doors each week sees his work, reinforcing his brand. He provides a table for others to place their brochures. He is not afraid of competition and some competitor belongs to the groups who meet there. He does all this and it cost him nothing. I am so impressed with his tactics that I writing a blog about his approach.

He is not a client. I am not his client. I just see his approach as a risk free way to attract hundreds of people to his business each  month. I do not know how much business he gets, nor does it matter to him. His primary reason is to give back to the community. The visibility and support he gives the community is amazing.

If you can, try this. It cost nothing. I taught this tactic to a restaurant client of mine and he has groups meeting at his restaurant regularly. He visits various groups and invites them to use his spare room at no charge. They pay for coffee, breakfast or lunch, and his repeat business has sky rocketed.

To Your Business Success,

Ron Finklestein
330-990-0788
ron@businessgrowthexperience.com
www.businessgrowthexperience.com
Improve your people skills and grow sales: www.akris.net