Did you know that the concept of brainstorming as we know it today was invented nearly 70 years ago? This was right around the time when Roosevelt was President and gas cost 10-cents a gallon. Interestingly, while technology has advanced dramatically, the brainstorming process hasn’t changed much since then.

Invite most 21st-century professionals to participate in a brainstorming session, and they’re likely to run for the door. And it’s no wonder. The typical brainstorm is long, tedious, poorly facilitated, often intimidating and even contentious. And the results are often disappointing, as well. Even when a few decent ideas are generated, they rarely end up seeing the light of day.

Two marketing communications professionals from New York City are changing all that, with a totally new approach to brainstorming they call SmartStorming: Advanced Training in Innovative Thinking. I’ve had the opportunity to connect with the creators of SmartStorming and talk to them about this cutting edge technology in how we think and create new ideas. They’ve reinvented the concept of brainstorming so that it can be done in a more of a systematic, organized process that yields are measurable R.O.I.

“We all know innovative thinking is critical for success, today more than ever. We call it the ‘Innovation Imperative,’” says Mitchell Rigie, co-creator of SmartStorming. “The difference between surviving and thriving, today and in the foreseeable future, is going to depend on how fresh and unique a company’s thinking will be.”

Traditional brainstorming is still one of the most widely-used tools for generating ideas. Every day tens of thousands of brainstorms are held around the world.

It seems that the technology behind brainstorming has now evolved into something more powerful. “Brainstorming is a fundamentally flawed process,” says Keith Harmeyer, Rigie’s partner and co-creator of SmartStorming. “For years we sat through hundreds, maybe thousands of unproductive brainstorms. And finally we asked ourselves, ‘How can we do this better?’“

Based on their own experience and extensive research, Rigie and Harmeyer developed a turnkey system that addresses each of the key weaknesses of traditional brainstorming. The result is a thorough six-step process that takes users from pre-planning, through the idea-generation phase to follow-through and next steps.

“Consider the cost to an organization of a typical brainstorm session. Six or eight or even more people, sitting in a room for an hour or more. Then multiply that by the number of sessions held over the course of a year. And with what return? It’s staggering. Plus the negative impact on employee morale is enormous. SmartStorming delivers tangible benefits to the organization, managers and participants,” said Harmeyer.

At the core of SmartStorming is 3-D Ideationsm, a proprietary technique that breaks idea-generation into three parts, resulting in a significantly great yield of fresh, innovative ideas.

“3-D Ideation makes it possible for groups to think beyond their limiting assumptions about a challenge; what most people refer to as ‘thinking outside the box.’ They then view the challenge from a number of different viewpoints, to gain a broader perspective. And finally, they free associate, using a variety of ideation techniques we provide,” said Rigie.

Several leading creative services and consumer products companies have already benefitted from SmartStorming and many more are jumping on the bandwagon. To learn more about SmartStorming training, visit SmartStorming.com.

In an effort to combat market conditions, I’ve noticed an increase in cold calling activity within many organizations regardless of industry. Here are some solutions to be mindful of for you to use when you run into the barrier that may prevent you from connecting with your desired prospect. The elusive gatekeeper.

Think about your reaction to the word “gatekeeper.” What thoughts does it conjure up for you?

Now, think about the word “concierge.” What comes to mind? When you go to the mall and you need to find a specific store, who do you ask? The concierge. When you are staying at a hotel on vacation and are looking for directions, the hotel’s amenities, somewhere to eat or need tickets to a show, who do you ask? The concierge.

How good are you at making friends? Instead of “getting through the gatekeeper” how about “making friends with the concierge”? Now, doesn’t that just sound (and feel) better?

Consider this for a moment. The concierge secretly wants to help you. The only caveat is, you have to give them a reason to.

After all, if you try to sneak behind their back and get busted for doing so, you have succeeded in creating an adversary. Not only that but you’ve now fueled their justification as to why they need to screen all incoming calls! Now, when you need them in the future, it’s a safe bet that they probably won’t welcome you with open arms. Instead, focus on making the gatekeeper your concierge and internal advocate. Here’s how.

Strategy #1: Brutal Honesty that Complements
The old adage, “Honesty is the best policy” certainly holds true when trying to befriend the gatekeeper, I mean, the concierge. When calling to speak with your prospect or to find out exactly who the prospect is, try this approach in the following example.

You: “Hi, I can really use your help. I’m calling to speak with the person who is in charge of (software engineering/product development/ programming, etc) would that be you?”

Here’s What You Have Accomplished: Asking the concierge, “Would that be you?” or, “Are you the expert in that area?” comes across as a complement and makes the concierge feel important. As such, they are now more likely to give you the name of the contact you are looking for.

Here’s part 2 of the interview I conducted With Dr. Rick Kirschner
regarding what managers can do to drive greater results, better motivate their salespeople and boost productivity by utilizing these powerful communication strategies.

KR: How can a sales manager leverage the power of persuasion to increase the motivation and performance of her sales people?

DRK: That’s a big question, big enough to write a book, so I did, two books in fact. That’s a key point of my Insider’s Guide and Playbook To The Art of Persuasion! But here’s the quick answer. Persuasion is the deliberate attempt to influence another person’s attitude in order to change their behavior. Once you’ve paid some attention, listened well and learned about what motivates your people, using the Kirschner Motivational Model or McClelland’s Model or Maslow’s Heirarchy of Needs Model, or any other motivation model that appeals to you, it is important that you use what you’ve learned to speak to the motivations of your people in a way that moves them, engages them and connects them to a desirable future while offering them protection from an undesirable one.

This has to do with what you say, and also how you say it. The fact is that most people are listening emotionally most the time, and logically only rarely. So, no matter how logical you are in what you propose they do, you have to send signals that help your people feel that they should let themselves be influenced by you. Otherwise, you may be wasting both their time and yours.

There are known ways to package what you say for maximum impact. I call these packaging tools ‘signals,’ ‘guides’ and ‘themes.’ Signals speak to how you address the emotions. Guides make it easier for others to understand the logic of what you say. Themes are a way of structuring what you say to help you stay on track while saying it.

The more you use this kind of approach, the more successful you will be in getting a sustainable result.

KR: Teamwork is an important part of any successful sales organization. How can sales coaches increase commitment and elevate the motivation among their sales people?

DRK: Almost nobody goes to work wanting to do a bad job. Most people want to do well, and want what they do to matter. So it seems to me that teamwork happens when leadership happens, and leadership begins with you knowing the answers to three very important questions. What are we doing? Why are we doing it? Why does it matter? Once you have the answers to these questions firmly fixed in your mind, you can help your sales people to find their own answers to these questions and then keep those answers in front of them as a reminder of meaning and purpose.

Of course, it’s one thing to have a lofty vision, and something else entirely when it comes to the rubber meeting the road. So to keep your people connected and focused, you simply must treat them with respect, keep them informed along the way, and give recognition whenever it’s due, and not just in the large things but in the small things as well. Thanks for showing up. Thanks for speaking up. Thanks for standing up. Thanks for keeping your promise. Thanks for following through. My mom used to tell me that there is always something to appreciate, you just have to appreciate the value of appreciation to find it.

KR: What are the most successful tactics used by sales managers/coaches when they are faced with bad behavior within a sales team that can negatively impact the entire team’s results?

DRK: Most of us can agree that what’s bad about bad behavior is the bad effect it has on morale, teamwork and getting results. There’s no getting around the fact that pushy, negative, disruptive and unreliable behavior is costly because it has real world consequences.

But I think it’s important to keep in mind that behavior is purposeful, people do what they do for what they consider a good reason, and labeling a particular behavior as good or bad may do little to influence whether you get more or less of it. More important, I think, is to understand what’s behind it for them. Then, using your understanding of their good intent as a reference point, you can help your people understand that the consequences of their behavior are self defeating to their good intentions. Done persuasively, and they’ll be grateful for the insight and opportunity to learn. And you, as a result, will get better results from your people.

So what specifically do you do when there’s a problem with someone’s behavior? First, observe it. Notice what is happening, when it happens, where it happens and how it happens. Then get together with the person or people involved, and learn everything you can about it from them. Set the stage by telling them what you’ve observed, where and when you observed it, and then ask them, “When this happens, what’s going on for you? What is your intention?” Next, tell them the self defeating part. “When you do that, here’s the reaction it gets. Is that what you intended?” And the answer is almost always going to be “No, it’s not!” That’s your learning moment, right there. “What do you think might work better?” Either give your people a chance to come up with a new choice, or, if they’re drawing a blank, either brainstorm with them, or tell them what you know could work better. In any case, you’ll have set the table for learning. A little reinforcement, and it becomes their skill for life.

To read more of Dr. Rick Kirschner’s suggestions for improving your ability to use persuasion to create positive change in your life, relationships, and work, visit Dr. K’s Blog here: www.drkblog.com.

Excerpt from The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Closing the Sale by Keith Rosen. Reprinted with permission by Alpha Books, a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc. Release Date, January, 2007. Visit www.guidetoclosingthesale.com.

To become a great salesperson you need to foster and build strong relationships with you prospects and clients. The stronger the relationships that you build with your customers, the easier it will be to sell them, serve them and support them. While this is certainly true, essential and indisputable in some cases and professions (doctors, coaches, therapists, certain transactions with long selling cycles, to name a few) it is not an absolute principal that I would endorse in every situation and can actually hurt your selling efforts.

Here’s why. Some people are just not interested in a relationship. Some people want to get in, make a purchase and get out, keeping it purely transactional. After all, when was the last time you went out to lunch with the person who fills your gas tank, your pharmacist, your local cable provider or the rep who you speak with when calling your phone company?

There’s a big difference between developing a relationship and being pleasant, friendly and service driven. One requires no extra time on your part, one can potentially become all time consuming. (Research, reports, diligence, follow up and so on.)

Just to be clear, I’m separating sales and marketing (networking) activities as well because when you’re truly looking to build a relationship, then you have a few of your personal needs and agenda wrapped up in the sale. No good.

Look at this from a different angle for a moment. Lets say you sell insurance. Before you sold insurance, did you ever go out to lunch or meet on a social level with your insurance agent? How about the person who sold you your home, copier, or car?

So what is ultimately my point? Rather than you assuming that your prospects want a relationship, ask them.

Ask a question to uncover what their expectations are regarding the type of relationship they want with the salesperson such as, “What are your expectations of the person you are going to buy from?” “If you were in my shoes, what would I want to know about you that would help earn your business?”

These questions assist you in crafting the perfect presentation or relationship, every time.
 

New Book Project!

The Executive Sales Coach

(Working title. Sort of evolved out of two other projects I was working on, One being The Art of Enrollment and the other, The Seduction of Potential.)
Excerpt from: The Executive Sales Coach

(Due out when I’m given my deadline by my publisher. Probably next year.)

But there’s some interesting stuff on this site at www.theexecutivesalescoach.com.

Potential Is the Holy Grail

Are you tripping over your own potential? Or worse, are you relying on other people’s potential to ensure your success?
 

The Seduction of Potential
April 14, 2006
 

After traveling for speaking engagements practically once a week since the beginning of the New Year, I’m happy to report this to be the first of several weeks with no business travel. Having a moment to sit, decompress and process some of the highlights of my travels, I thought I’d share a profound and valuable story that any business owner, manager or sales management team would want to hear about, especially as it relates to hiring, training and building a first class, high performance team.
 

Two areas where managers consistently struggle are in the hiring and firing of their employees. Deciding who to hire, who to let go and when to do it is the daunting task that managers complain about most. When it comes to making the right decision about their employees, the questions I’m asked most are:
 

 ”I’m not getting the production I need from my team, even when I continually push them. How do you turn an underperformer into a top producer or at least into an average, acceptable producer? When does it make sense to invest your time, money and resources into someone who you feel you can turn around? How can I determine, based on a defined set of criteria, benchmarks and measurable steps, when to (with great certainty) cut the proverbial bait and let someone go?”
 

These are the most common questions, challenges and headaches amongst management and business owners that seem to keep them up at night. 
 

Now, back to the event. It happened a few weeks ago, during one of the best weeks I’ve had all year. This week happened to be the perfect balance of positive indulgence; extreme success in every area. I delivered some of the most well received keynotes/workshops in my career (I was even asked back to deliver an encore performance.)
 

The subject matter of my seminars was cold calling, prospecting and leadership. (That is; how to shift from being a manager to a coach so that you can turn an underperformer into a superstar in under 90 days.) Following this four day event in Orlando, Florida, I enjoyed taking my oldest daughter and wife to Disneyworld; a special Birthday present for my 6 year old.
 

It was during the management workshop I was delivering on the first day of this week long conference. Someone asked a question regarding how to handle an underperformer. As this manager was sharing in great detail the challenge she was having with a salesperson she hired several months ago, I noticed an interesting reaction from the audience. I glanced out at a sea of people, their heads nodding up and down in agreement; as if she was sharing not just her story, but everyone’s story.
 

She talked of an experience that practically every manager and business owner in the room was able to relate to; an all too common tale of a new, promising hire with incredible potential. 
 

The story continued about the candidate with a wonderful resume, great background, stellar references and a seemingly positive attitude and disposition. A candidate who was given the opportunity to work with her. A candidate who she felt had the potential to live up to her expectations. A candidate whose experience seemed to be a perfect complement to this new position she was looking to fill.
 

I listened intently to her as she described this experience. Her once positive level of exuberance; her hopes and dreams evaporated, as she painfully explained how this promising young superstar became one of her biggest disappointments, frustrations and overhead. And it wasn’t like she just called it quits after a few weeks and fired this person. She invested her precious time trying to turn them around. The more she invested her time in supporting and training this person, the more her expectations were shattered.
 

This manager was stuck. She didn’t know what to do. At this point, this new hire was now costing her money, time, selling opportunities and resources every day this person stayed on her team. She completed her story, sounding as drained as if she and the rest of the audience were reliving their personal staffing nightmares all over again; touching what seemed to be an eternal wound that simply would not heal. What sounded more like a desperate cry for help, she concluded, “Keith, what should I do?”
 

The room was silent. Every manager and business owner in that room were gripping the edge of their seats, waiting, looking for and anticipating a magnificent solution to this common and painful dilemma. What was this magic formula that Keith Rosen was going to impart which would forever change the landscape of business by ending this ongoing problem and enable every manager to maximize the performance of their team and each player?
 

My response: “Do not be seduced by the ether of potential.”
 
Blank stares.
 
I knew I was on to something. I heard each person in the audience thinking.
 
Yes, we are often seduced by the potential that we believe we see in others. We see potential in the people, as well as in the opportunities all around us. We see the untapped potential in the people we have a vested interest in. Our children, spouse, co-worker, partner, supervisor and of course in our staff. We see potential in new hires as well as the untapped potential in the veterans on your team.
 
We believe that sometimes, if we wait, if we’re patient, if we give them just a little more time, a few more resources, better training, they can finally live up to their potential. We believe our employee when they tell us, “Just give me a few more weeks. I’m about to close in on two big sales. Yes, I know my performance has slipped, but as I told you, those personal problems that have been distracting me are no longer there.”
 We get hung up on potential experiences and past defining moments.
 

We think, “Okay, if they really could turn it around that would make my life so much easier. After all, it sure beats the painful, and time consuming process of having to recruit someone new, let alone having to figure out how to cover a territory with no salesperson!”
 

This belief is counterintuitive. Ironically, it costs you more to keep someone like this on your team. More time, more lost sales, more lost opportunities, more internal problems and less time for you to focus on growing your business and on the people who are performing. The people who make you look great, who are coachable and who want to truly live their potential.
 

And that’s when it happens. The seduction begins. The ether of potential seeps into your veins. We start believing this can truly happen. Its seductive forces blind you to the facts. Now, you begin making decisions based on your emotions and unrealistic scenarios, rather than on the facts and what’s best for you, the company as well as the person in question.
 

The seduction of potential clouds your best judgment. If you’re looking for evidence, then just glance over at the people on your team today. Think about the people who you have hired in the past who did not work out. How many people can you think of who you hired, that, in your heart, you knew there was something telling you that they weren’t the right fit? Call it your gut reaction or intuition.
 

The Hard Cost of Complacency
 
How many times have you been in a situation with an underperforming employee where every week that goes by you tell yourself, “Just one more week. They’ll turn it around. I know they can do it. If they just follow the program. Just let them get through this next project. I hope they bring in some new business soon.” (A.K.A. Mother Teresa Syndrome. “I can save them. And I will sacrifice everything in order to do so!”)
 

“Wait and see” is not a contingency plan. Hope is not a strategy.
 

We often hire people based on their potential rather than on what they have truly and measurably achieved. As such, we try to pull out, exploit and develop the potential we see in them. After all, the goal of management is to make your people more valuable. The key here is making sure you are investing your time in making the right people more valuable. Otherwise, it’s a time consuming and exhausting exercise in futility.
 

I too, fell victim to this philosophy in my younger years as a manager and business owner, thinking we can turn people around and actually ‘change’ people (without their consent.) As I mentioned, there’s a big difference between being a manager and being Mother Teresa.
 

Your internal dialogue then continues as you struggle to come up with the right decision, “If they stay, maybe they will turn it around! If I fire them, then what do I do? I have to start the recruiting and training process all over again. What if I fire them, they go to work for the competition and they become a superstar? Lets just wait and see what happens tomorrow.”
 

When it comes to creating extreme scenarios, relying on costly assumptions and making decisions that are being fueled by fear and consequence, the pendulum swings both ways. Unfortunately, you’re still in the dark either way.
 

 You Can’t Build a Business On Potential
 

Let me bottom line this. There is no potential in the terms of how we define it or embrace it in our lives. The way we use potential is more of a smokescreen, a diversionary tactic, a justification for our behavior, for doing something we want to do or an excuse not to take certain actions.
 

You don’t hire someone based on their potential. Here’s a more vivid and beneficial definition of potential. Potential is based on something that you have not seen yet nor have evidence to support. Potential resides in the future, a possibility. Besides, if you are attempting to make a hiring decision based on someone’s potential, and the candidate hasn’t been living their potential by the time you have met them, then what makes you think they are going to start living it when you hire them?
 

Either people strive to live their potential each day or they’re not. It’s that simple. (You may also want to check on the tools, resources, training and coaching that you have provided them.)
 

Besides, if you don’t know whether or not you have made the right hiring decision within 30-60 days of hiring them, then you are in deep trouble. Thinking that if you give them one more change, more time more training is the answer, it is not. This is a lie that you’re telling yourself, a justification. What will happen is this; eventually the pain of keeping that person around will become so evident that they either quit or get fired. Now, the manager has surrendered all of their power to act by choice and instead, is in a state of reaction and need.
 

If you or your staff are not currently using what you have every day each day, then you are not living your potential. It’s not that you cannot improve. The difference between lifelong improvement and building a high performance collaborative team of self motivated people and working off potential is this. With potential, you’re seeing something that you have not seen yet nor have evidence for. With lifelong improvement, you’re working with something you see with evidence that it can be made better.
 

We wind up collapsing potential with possibility. So what truly seduces us is the potential of possibility.
 

What’s missing for managers is certainty. It’s the uncertainty, the unknown, the fear that paralyzes every manager when having to make a decision whether or not to terminate someone or invest the time in turning them around. Managers rely more on their gut than on the facts.
 

Having the certainty and confidence in their people supported by evidence is a healthier more productive model when creating new possibilities based on authentic, human potential. The certainty comes from having an executive sales coaching program (Like the one I mentioned that we will be reviewing in this book). Once you have a structured, coaching program that holds someone accountable on a daily and weekly basis, you no longer have to make the decision to keep them or terminate them. Now, your underperformer in question will make that decision for you, based on the defined set of criteria and measurable actions steps they need to take to demonstrate their commitment to their position and to dramatically improving their performance.
 

If you are responsible for hiring, developing and managing a team, what process do you have from the time you hire someone through their first 30, 60, 90 even 120 days in their new position? What would having a 90 Day program for every new hire based on measurable productivity steps do for you and for your team? Wouldn’t this simplify your life dramatically? Now that you have a proven process documented, either the new hire is sticking by the program, or they are not. Now, there’s no room for you to be seduced by the potential of possibility. There’s no ‘probation’ or waiting for the year end performance appraisals.
 

No more guesswork. No more ‘what if’s”. No more stressing over what you perceive you can’t control or being frustrated because your process doesn’t work. Remove the doubt and replace it with certainty, peace of mind and the confidence in knowing that the process will produce super-achievers.
 

Now you can run your business or your team with greater efficiency. Once in place, you’ll be able to get back to doing what you were meant to do in the first place; make your people more valuable.
 

If you need some assistance in developing some the programs I’ve described above or would like me to share with you some proven step by step programs I have created that have worked for other companies like yours, feel free to contact me anytime. info(at)profitbuilders.com or 1-888-262- 2450. I’d be happy to discuss how I can act as your Interim Coach and develop an effective internal coaching program for your company.

Excerpt from The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Closing the Sale by Keith Rosen. Reprinted with permission by Alpha Books, a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc. Release Date, January, 2007. Visit www.guidetoclosingthesale.com. 

To permanently eliminate any confusion, lets draw a distinction between what it means to pre-qualify and pre-judge someone such as a prospect. If you read my cold calling book, you know that I’m a strong advocate of pre-qualifying anyone before you invest your very limited and precious time in meeting with or speaking with them. Conversely, pre-judging someone is something you do that shows up in the filter or barrier you have in your listening.

Here’s another way to distinguish between the two. When you are pre-qualifying someone you are arriving at a conclusion that determines whether or not there’s a fit worth pursuing based on a defined set of criteria you uncover through the use of well crafted questions.

Pre-judging said simply, is all about you. Here, you are relying on your faulty and costly assumptions, thoughts and beliefs to determine their needs and whether or not this prospect will potentially buy from you.

When you pre-judge someone you’re making assumptions about them before you ask any questions or uncover any facts.

When you pre-qualify someone, you’re asking questions to uncover their unique and specific needs without making any assumptions so that you can determine very quickly if there is in fact, an authentic fit worth pursuing.

Just put the final touches on the site for my next book, The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Closing the Sale.

www.GuidetoClosingtheSale.com

Talk about taking one subject many people struggle with and levitating it with what always seems to be a controvertial title (the “Idiot’s” portion of the title, at least). Lighten up. Your customers and prospects are.

I hope you enjoy Chapter One as well as the Introduction, which I’ve currently posted on this site  and will be available only for a limited time. Wait until you get your hands on some of the techniques in this book. It doesn’t matter if you’re a sales veteran, top producer, new salesperson, manager or business owner, this book is packed with step by step and line by line Permission Based Selling and Presentation Strategies which I guarantee will bring in more sales for you.

So, feel free to visit the site. I’d also love to hear your comments as well! And if you haven’t already make sure you get my monthly ezine which will also keep you posted on other resources available only to those who know.

Be Creative
    
It is three p.m. in the afternoon on a lovely fall day. You are on your way to work. As you walk by a school, you notice all of the children playing outside. You pause and watch them for a second. A flood of emotions and memories intoxicate your mind, as you  remember yourself as a child. You admire their youthful exuberance, their unlimited supply of energy, their fervor for freedom, their passion for knowledge, their desire to learn and their boundless creativity.
 

Become a create freak rather than a control freak.
 

You listen to their conversations as they play. Some are talking about the planets they are visiting. Others are envisioning the castle in which they are playing in. They see this vividly, down to every detail, including the moat around the castle. Some pretend to be presidents, firemen, astronauts even doctors.
    
How creative children are! How powerful their minds are. Full of ideas with no inhibitions or limitations to restrain them. Children have the ability to visualize or imagine their true dreams. They bring their dreams into their reality and making them real.
 

The most creative time in a person’s life is from birth to the age of around eleven years old. This is the time when they are not constrained by rules or regulations. Children are not concerned with what is supposedly acceptable in thought or behavior and what is not, what is practically right or wrong, proper or improper, fact or fiction.
    
In a child’s eyes, there exists no boundaries. There is nothing to regulate them or inhibit their level of creativity. Everything that children see is new and exiting. They are constantly absorbing information and expanding on their ideas. The more they learn, the more children want to express themselves. They want to share what they have learned. They have no fear of rejection, of being wrong or of the unknown. Why? Because they have not experienced it yet!
    
The years begin to pass. The people in a child’s life, such as teachers and parents, begin to instill their values and ideals in the minds of their children.
 

As a child gets older, they begin to experience embarrassment, being wrong, having people put down their ideas and dreams and punishment for doing the, “wrong thing.”
    
The creative boy now becomes a man. His eyes no longer see the dreams and visions he had as a boy. He becomes serious; more focused on the perceived role to play in society and the pressures from his family. He concentrates on what he thinks he wants and needs. His thoughts and desires that he had as a child become clouded with every passing day, only to be replaced with more and more responsibilities. A mortgage, a job, a family.
    
He begins to lose sight of what was especially important in his life. The simple things. Freedom of expression, having fun, peace of mind, living simply, appreciating his surroundings, treating every day as a new adventure and not getting caught up in the manutia that blinds us from appreciating the beauty around us. All of the visions and dreams are put on a shelf where they begin to collect dust.
 

The man begins to forget what it was like to be creative, to dream and to imagine. Lack of creativity breeds complacency. He now becomes just like everyone else; another face, another number.
    
Imagine if we never lost our creative edge. Imagine what would be possible if we didn’t feel compelled to have to change, due to other people’s beliefs, perceptions or rules.  Now imagine if you had the ability to share your visions and dreams with those around you.
      
Before you assist a customer in opening up their mind, you must first open up your own. Know what it is like to sit on a cloud. Can you see yourself sitting way up in the sky? Do you smell the crisp air?  As you look down, do you see the whole world? Imagine there is nothing to restrain you. Look at the root of the word creative. Create. Take action to create your own destiny. Now, take the customer with you.
    
Anyone can study and memorize a presentation. Ask someone why they actually purchased from you. Will they say it was because you had the most beneficial package? They might. However, most of the time they will say it was because of you.

I was talking to Jan, a client of mine about building her practice through more referral business. We worked on building her referral engine; (you can find out more about my ebook on generating more referrals here) developing an approach that she was comfortable with.

We fine tuned the language she felt confident using when approaching and talking to her clients about building her business through referrals. She then practiced her approach until it felt natural for her.

The day finally came for Jan to use the new skills she’s developed. She felt prepared, actually a bit excited, although naturally nervous to use her new approach when speaking with a client, should the opportunity arise.

During her third appointment of the day, it did. Like a graceful dancer, Jan elegantly asked a few questions that evoked permission from her client to have that conversation with her.

The conversation went wonderfully well. Her client was happy, even eager to help Jan. Before her customer left the office, Jan already considered this a success. Just the mere fact of asking for referrals, something she’s feared for years was an incredible achievement for her. Regardless of the outcome today, Jan knew this would make a huge difference in her practice.

As Jan’s client was leaving her office she turned to Jan and said, “Jan, you know, I was a bit surprised to hear that you were looking for more business and of course, I am happy to help you any way I can. As I’ve always told you, I know lots of people who would love to work with you.

I was just surprised that you even needed referrals, as I thought your practice was entirely full! If only I’d known, I would have sent you all the people I’ve been sending the other person I know who does what you do.”

What dangerous assumptions are your customers making about your business? How much business has Jan lost over the years simply because she didn’t ask a few simple questions? Stop leaving free business on the table that your competition it taking from you.

Generate more referrals without hounding people or sounding pushy. Click here to develop a referral system that you can put on autopilot.

Any self proclaimed guru, if they were being truly honest, would admit that at some point in their career, in the spirit of lifelong development and continued evolution, (as well as walking your talk) they would reach out to someone else, another expert, a colleague in their respected field for assistance in an area of their life or business in which they, themselves, are not. Take selling, for example. As a professional presenter who makes their living delivering keynotes, seminars, and training events; one core competency they need to master is How To Sell and position themselves effectively.

How to market, sell and package themselves, how to get organized, how to utilize technology to stay ahead and streamline their business operations are just some of the areas that any wise and insightful business leader would reach out in search of that guru who could assist them in developing, mastering or delegating these critical components of their business.

For me, 2005 was the year of fine tuning the positioning, technology, structure and future of my business. 2006 is the year of execution and abundance. The year of getting ahead of the future. With my oldest daughter in kindergarten, the twins turning 2 in January and the house completed, it was the first time in 2 years that I managed to position myself ahead of the game; something I’ve always done in the past. With 3 new projects launched online, new programs, new technology, new books, happy clients that are a blast to work with, it made sense to continue this path of refinement, enlightenment and evolution by looking under the hood when it comes to perfecting my public speaking skills so that every person in every audience that I’m speaking in front of has a powerful, enjoyable experience that becomes the foundation for measurable, long lasting results.

After some Googling online, I came across one self-proclaimed expert on public speaking. A “presentation coach or public speaking coach” is what he suggested he was. According to his website, he only works with the top speakers in their profession. His website spoke of a system he developed to make any presentation pop, engaging and entertaining.

It peaked my curiosity. After all, if someone knows more about something than I do, it only makes sense to tap into the wisdom of others.

I see he’s written a few books, so I had my assistant schedule a one to one call with this presentation guru. Now, you would think, anyone who touts themselves as an expert in a specific area or topic, they would be a model of what they preach. That is, walk their talk. I must say, I would expect this person to have a strong presence, even on the phone and be a master of communication. That’s what I’d be paying him to teach me, right? To take me somewhere I have not been myself.

Well, not exactly.

I called him one afternoon for our scheduled appointment. “Hello, Jon?” I asked.

“Yes, how can I help you?” A soft, monotone, lethargic voice responded.

“My name is Keith Rosen. You may have heard of me?” I said jokingly.

Silence…...

I continued. “I’m an executive sales coach, corporate trainer and professional speaker. Since I’m always on the lookout for ways to do things better, I came across your website and was curious to know how you may be able to help me.”

“Sure,” he responded…... Empowering…..

“Let me tell you how this works. Are you going to be in the LA area next month during the week of March 14? I’m conducting my next live workshop that you still have time to register for.”

I paused, taken aback. Was I having a flashback to my first Dead show in the early 80’s and blacked out the last 30 minutes of our conversation? Did I fall through a crack in the space-time continuum and landed at the point in time we refer to as the future where we were wrapping up our conversation? Possibly. Or could it truly be that this artist of the spoken word began the conversation without any regard to the sanctity of the consultative sales process; the very basic foundation upon which any great sale opportunity is built upon.

This master presenter didn’t ask me any questions about who I was. He didn’t ask about what I did or why I was even calling him. (Kind of makes you look at those people who consider themselves “strong closers” in a different light.) Considering that a very large portion of my practice consists of executive coaching and sales training over the phone, you would think it would behoove him to find out at least some basic information about my business. His approach to attracting me to hiring him and the way he demonstrated his illuminating presence and years of refining his skills as a presenter in a way that would connect with your audience, hold their interest and feel empowered at the end of every speaking event was by telling me when he is speaking next and asking me to register. Brilliant.

“No,” I replied almost a bit bewildered and taken back from This Diva of Delivery’s approach. Maybe I’m underestimating his powers of enrollment. Maybe this is a carefully planned and executed approach to blind side any potential client and baffle them into the sale. Maybe.

“Well then,” Diva Dan continued, “We can work together on the phone. I can offer guidance on your approach. You can also send me the manuscripts of your presentations as well as a live demonstration of a presentation you delivered, even an audio presentation would be fine. I would then review them and offer my suggestions. I charge $575.00 per hour. However, you can buy a package of 10 calls for $5500.00.

“Okay,” I said. “Well, would you want to know a little about me and what I’m doing to see if you can even help me and there’s a fit between us in terms of what I’m looking for?” I figured, I would try and salvage his fragile sale.

Silence. Again. Hmmm, an elusive fellow. More Jedi mind tricks?

I threw him another bone. I voluntarily shared with him what I do and what I’ve been doing, writing, creating.

When I concluded, more silence.

“Well, thanks for your time.” I decided to end this unique experience. “Let me consider what you can do for me and I’ll get back to you if I’m ready.”

“You can also attend the next program which we’re now taking reservations for that will take place in August. What part of the country do you live?” Was this his confusion close?

Oy. 20 minutes into the conversation and this is when he is interested in finding out about me and where I live?

If this is the impression he leaves with people and how he performs on the phone, what would he be like in person? I don’t know what I’m more concerned about; him or the companies he claims hire him for corporate work.

I have to say, I was also a little perturbed by this experience. I felt a bit deceived and lied to. So, for those people who are looking to hire a speaker or coach; whether it’s a life coach, sales coach, executive coach or trainer for your sales and management team, remember this. You’ll be able to recognize the really great trainers and coaches by the ones who focus on delivering value to you immediately and are tuned into your objectives, your personal and unique needs and the measurable results you can and want to expect. (“And by the way, here’s a list of all my clients that you can call at any time.”)

The first experience you have with them and the way you feel after talking with them is typically the way they will present, train and coach your staff because they masterfully model what they teach. The other stuff, (the things I’m guilty of as well but recognize them for what they are); the sharp websites, good looking pictures and strong value proposition is still, at the end of the day, fluff.

If this guy with the golden tongue is the guru, then we desperately need to re-evaluate the standards and perceptions which we have of these self proclaimed gurus. Are we buying into them a bit too much? Do we believe their marketing message over the core value they can actually deliver on in a measurably positive way?

Hmmm, note to self: Find out what companies he’s trained and sell your stocks in them-immediately.

My wife and I were finalizing the kitchen design in our new home, when my phone rang. “Keith Rosen?” A strong, resonating voice on the other end of the phone asked.

“Who’s calling?” I responded.

“Joe Connolly withThe Wall Street Journal and WCBS Radio,” he announced. No wonder why he’s on the radio.

“Hi, Joe!” I replied. How can I help you?”

“Keith, I just finished reading an article in the Wall Street Journal about you and your approach to prospecting and cold calling. It seems this article originally ran in Inc. magazine. Is that correct?”

“Yes, Joe, that’s right.”

“Very interesting stuff you’re doing. We’re hosting our next Small Business Breakfast in Connecticut next month and wanted to see if you would be interested in sitting on our panel of experts.”

“Thanks for the invitation, Joe. What are the details?”

“We’d like for you to sit on our panel and answer some questions on the topics of your two books on time management and cold calling. This event would be Wednesday morning, May 18 at the Hyatt Regency in Greenwich, Connecticut. We would need you there at 7:30am. There will be about 600-700 people in attendance, all local professionals as well as our sponsors. One more thing, Keith, would you mind if I asked you a few questions, right now [on the record].”

“Sure. Feel free to ask me anything you’d like.”

After about 20 minutes, we concluded our conversation.

Make time your ally. Eliminate at least 2 hours of your workload each day and do more of the things you want to do. Here’s how you can start taking control of your day, and your life.
Find out more here

“Keith, you’d really be a perfect fit for this event. I hope you can make it.”

“Thanks, Joe. It sounds like it would be fun! I hope I can make it as well.” I told Joe that I would confirm with him within the next day whether or not I would be available.

Step one, good news. The date was opened. After confirming my availability with Joe, we discussed some additional details of this event.

Fortunately, I asked my dad if he was available to come along and he joined me for the ride. Like any other successful business event, the venders were set up outside of the ballroom, doing their best to mine for prospects in this qualified crowd of professionals. People were chatting and networking themselves through the crowd, as they made their way to a seat in the ballroom of the Hyatt Regency.

The next time Joe and I spoke was the day of the event. The panelists took their position and Joe began the job of moderating and facilitating. He introduced the panelists. When it came to me, he added, “After speaking with Keith, I knew he was the real deal, especially when I asked him if he could commit to the date. Instead of saying, “Yes” on the spot which, according to Keith can mean you’re a “Yesaholic” he responded with, “Thanks Joe, let me check my schedule and I’ll call you back.” So, not only did he write the book on time management, here’s a guy who practices what he preaches.”

A question came my way. It was on how to best manage your time. “Hi Keith,” the gentleman in the audience began. “What strategies would you suggest to better manage your time?” Given the reason why I was seated on this panel, an appropriate question.

My first response was to say this, “Stop. Stop trying to manage something that you cannot manage in the first place.”

Blank stares. “Let me explain, I continued.”

“But first, let me tee it up with a question I have for all of you.”

“How many of you are familiar with the expression, time is money?”

About everyone raise their hand.

I then asked, “By a show of hands, how many of you manage your money in some way? Whether you use a stock broker, financial advisor, accountant, bank or just do it yourself, raise your hand if you manage your money ins some way.”

A few seconds later, several hundred people raised their hand; a good 90% of the audience.

Finally the point blank coaching question; “How many of you manage your time as diligently as you manage your money? In other words, raise your hand if you have a consistent, weekly routine that you follow from the time you wake up in the morning up until the time you end your day, [whether that’s when you end your work day or go to sleep] that contains the specific, measurable activities and tasks you engage in that move you closer to your goals, while keeping your life in a happy balance?”

A few seconds later, I thought I might have to repeat the question. Not a hand went up. I’m not surprised. After all, it was my clients who inspired me to write a book on time management in the first place.

In a room filled with highly successful professionals, there wasn’t one person in the room who could confidently raise their hand and say, “Yes! I have that!”

And yet these people are still successful (however you define what “successful” is).

“Is that some irony,” I continued after my question. “Here we are, on the surface believing that time is money, yet when it comes down to it, we’re not managing our time and ourselves the way we manage our money. We don’t give our time the same respect, diligence and planning it deserves the way we do money.”

“And the kicker is, once you invest your time, you don’t get it back. You can’t double it, invest it or save it for a rainy day or slow it down. That’s why it’s important to shift the focus from trying to manage your ‘time’ to managing what you can control, which is yourself and the actions you take each day. You can control where you invest your time, rather than other people or situations doing it for you. That’s why the foundation to living your potential is to first upgrade your relationship with time so that time becomes your ally not your adversary or something you try to beat out each day. Then you can begin the process of developing a routine.”

The universal law certainly applies; we resist what we need to learn the most.

“Cold calling doesn’t work in our business.”
“I’m not good at cold calling.”
“I’ve tried it and it didn’t work for me.”
“I had a horrible experience cold calling.”
“I hate when telemarketers call me.”

Whatever the reason, whatever the story, it’s a common belief amongst business owners and salespeople that prospecting; more specifically, cold calling is not the first thing people happily jump to do when starting their day.

When I interview clients who want to hire me as their sales coach to assist them in developing or refining their prospecting and cold calling strategy to generate more prospects, I ask them to ‘pitch’ me on the spot. Here’s how the conversation typically flows.

“Right now?” they reply surprisingly.

“Sure,” I say. “After all, you have a choice. You can either practice on me or practice on your prospects.”

“Well, okay. But I never really liked to role play.” (A salesperson who doesn’t like to role play? I’m shocked…)

A few minutes later, they give me their cold calling ‘pitch’, a few examples of the types of voice mails they leave and what it sounds like when they introduce themselves at a networking event.

“So, what do you think, Keith?”

“I think I have great news for you.” I reply confidently.

“The good news is, we’re going to change your approach around. We’re going to fine tune some of the things you’re doing and develop more compelling language in your opening statement, which will eliminate the initial objections you’re hearing and get you in front of more qualified prospects faster. Here’s where we create some new possibilities for you. So if you’re ready, I’d be happy to share with you in more detail what I’m hearing and some areas I see that we can work on. Ready?”

“Sure.”

“Great. Now, you said earlier that you feel as if cold calling doesn’t work for you.”

“Yes, that’s right. It doesn’t seem to be effective in my business. I’m certainly not getting any results or should I say, I’m not getting the results I used to get.”

“Oh, so there was a time when you did generate some results from cold calling?”

“Oh, yes.”

“So, what’s changed?”

“I’m not sure. That’s why I’m calling you.”

“Have you ever been trained or coached in how to cold call effectively?”

“No.”

“So, how did you learn?”

“I picked up the phone and started dialing. I’ve seen some other people do it, some co-workers, my manager, but that’s it.”

“Did you ever consider that it’s not the cold calling doesn’t work but the way you’re cold calling that doesn’t work? In other words, consider that it’s more about your approach; what you say and how you say it. Let me explain,” I continued.

“For example, if I asked you to go outside and dig a ten foot deep hole with a spoon, do you learn the lesson, “Well, I guess I can’t dig holes very well” or is the real lesson; “If I had the right tools I would have been able to accomplish this goal faster, with less effort.” You see, it’s all about the tools you’re using when cold calling. Even if you handed Tiger Wood, the greatest golfer in the world a pair of lefty clubs, while he still may outperform most golfers he would not be able to operate at his best, at the pinnacle of his potential, simply because he’s using the wrong tools. The same philosophy applies to your career and to cold calling.”

“Wow, Keith, that makes perfect sense. I really never thought of it that way.”

“Well, as you mentioned, that’s the reason why you called me, right?”

“Absolutely!”

#

When managers call me looking to see how they can boost their sales numbers by getting in front of more qualified prospects, I ask them if they have ever provided their sales team with any specific training and coaching regarding cold calling and prospecting. Most say “No” yet still expect their sales team to continually produce better results in less time. That’s the same thing as expecting to shoot a 75 your first month as a new golfer without any lessons or coaching.

Ask yourself, are you using the right tools or are you still trying to drive your cold calling process or new business development strategy forward using four square wheels?

In other words, there ain’t no cheese down that tunnel.

It’s taken years to master but the formula is actually quite simple. It’s executing and acting on the formula that people struggle with most.

drive/desire + competencies/mastery of skills needed (selling/leadership skills and characteristics, time management, etc.) + positive mindset/attitude/confidence + right product/service/audience + action plan (vision/goals) + resources (people/training) + ability + fearlessness = Extreme Success

If there’s a breakdown in any of these components or if any are missing, it will have a very strong impact on your results and will dramatically slow down your progress.

So, what’s there left to sell? Either you are the type of person who wants more out of your life or career and are willing and ready to do something about it or you’re not. That’s why success really is a choice.

Selling is The Art of Creating Possibility

I came into the office one morning and noticed the light on my telephone flashing. So, like any other day, I retrieved my messages from the day before to find one voice mail from a gentleman looking for a Michael N. Now, there’s no Michael N. working in my office, so I figured it was a wrong number.

Regardless, I wanted to honor the commitment I make to people who call me, which is to return their call within 24 hours, even if it means returning a call to someone letting them know there’s no Michael N. in my company.

So, I called and left a message.

Two days later, I was left another voice mail from the same person. This time, they sounded a bit frustrated, even irate. They said they left several messages for Mike N. (now it’s ‘Mike’) with no return call from him.

So, now I’m getting more curious about who this elusive mystery man is. I called back and nicely left another message, explaining the situation.

The gentleman called me back, this time sounding angrier than before. I was available to answer the phone.

I let him know there was no Michael N.

He started laughing, first realizing that he had obviously had the wrong number and then secondly, after reflecting on his behavior, laughed more, this time more of a nervous laugh you would hear if you were a bit ashamed of your behavior.

Supposedly, one of the 800 numbers I own belonged to another business years ago. That had to be one old business, since I’ve owned this number for over 15 years.

My innate curiously enticed me to ask him who he was, what he was looking for and who is this Michael N. person?

He told me his name was Alan, and he was a financial planner. Mike N. works for a marketing firm and supposedly offers a service that Alan was looking for. It seems, after several more questions, that Alan was struggling generating enough qualified prospects to help grow his business and was looking for a company to provide him with qualified leads.

I asked more questions, this time about what he’s done over the years to generate leads; what’s worked for him, what’ hasn’t and what he has not tried yet. I asked him to pitch me. He did as he mentioned he spends a few hours each day on the phone, attempting to generate business through cold calling.

It seems that Alan has relied heavily on using the phone to generate new business.

He finally stopped and asked, “So, what was your name again? What do you do?”

I then shared with him who I was and what I did. The next thing that happened; we were in a full coaching call, evaluating his business, and him.

Exactly one hour after my phone rang with the wrong number, Alan gave me his credit card number and hired me as his coach.

Those people who you consider a master of networking, selling or at generating referrals, consider one common denominator that makes them so great at what they do.

They have adopted a concept that I illustrated in the story I just shared. That is, they realize that selling is the art of creating possibility; possibilities and opportunities that didn’t exist before.

After all, when you network or ask for a referral, isn’t that what you are doing, creating something out of nothing? A new relationship, a new contact, a new prospect, a new business acquaintance, a new friend.

The greatest salespeople on the planet realize this and as such, do so consistently. What possibilities are you going to create today?

For years, I’ve managed salespeople. And over two decades later, now as an author and Executive Sales Coach, the one constant I still hear when speaking with managers is that the 80 – 20 rule is still alive and well.

For those who may not be aware of what the 80-20 Rule implies, it is this: 20% of your (sales) team will be responsible for roughly 80% of your volume/making quota or achieving productivity goals within a collaborative team environment.

Considering the resources and outsourced professional coaching available to assist in developing a high performance team, this culture seems a bit antiquated in this day and age; one that should have gone by the wayside like pagers did once mobile phones became easily accessible to anyone.

Why does this rule still have to be in existence today? Granted, I know many companies where this doesn’t apply. But what about the population of companies that still breed this culture?

And what does this say about the manager managing the team he or she has? Can we surmise or look past the fact that if the manager is the one responsible for hiring, then the problem at it’s core is that managers are simply making poor hiring decisions.

The 80-20 Rule now takes on a new meaning: 80% of the time, management will make a costly hiring mistake.

Unfortunately, this statistic isn’t far from true. So, it’s not a wonder that managers are only getting it right 20% of the time. If you don’t have an HR department or at least someone strictly dedicated to this function in your organization where it would demand this type of position, then the burden typically falls on management, the same managers who are responsible for other people’s production, and quite often along with their own personal productivity/quota.

If you’re still a victim of this philosophy, lets take a look at your recruiting and retention system. Do you have a step by step recruiting process that you follow which reduces the costly mistake of mishires, while continually offering your people the coaching and training they need on a consistent basis? (That means more than 4 times a year or once at the annual conference.)

A depiction of insanity; managing a team of (sales)people who shouldn’t be there in the first place. Oy. Corporate America still has a ways to go. I certainly have my work cut out for me. In the meantime, I’ll keep hunting for those companies suffering from this philosophy.

A master coach telling you to quit? To give up? Read on…

“The most rain we’ve had in about 80 years!” That’s what the news reported, fully expediting my lesson regarding the downside of having a fully finished basement.

Home after home in the New York area began the arduous task of pumping hundreds, sometimes thousands of gallons of water out of their basements. Streets were like rivers, running with water from all the hoses that were used to drain the basements. And then there was the damage, not only the structural or cosmetic damage to each home but to all the possessions that got destroyed by the flooding; miles of carpeting, furniture and other possessions that once warmed up and made a house a home.

Now, I’m only in my new home for about five months now. (15 month project, but that’s a whole other book.) When we first moved in and the movers arrived with our life that was in storage for over a year, I couldn’t believe how much ‘stuff’ we had accumulated! Stuff that I’ve lived without for 13 months. At one point, I asked Eddie, my mover, to bring it back. He said, “You’ll probably wind up throwing most of this out.”

Well, dozens of boxes later, we found a home for everything that Eddie was kind enough to bring back to me; in the garage, the attic and the basement.

Now here’s some irony. Not five months after moving in, this flood came and forced me to throw out at least 80% of these boxes stored in my basement; the same boxes that I paid to have in storage for 13 months, the same boxes I paid to have moved out of my old house and into my new one; the same boxes that were taking up precious real estate in my new home. The kicker is, for the most part I had no idea what was even in them!

So, after 5 sleepless days of pumping and dumping water, doing demo work, cleaning the damage and hauling mounds of newly generated garbage to the curb, we were close to having a dry and functioning basement again. (BTW, my 6 year old daughter thought having a foot of water in the basement was cool. As she said, “Dad, can we leave it like this down here? I always wanted a pool in my house! Can I go swimming? PLEASE?!”)

Being the eternal optimist, I knew there had to be some jewel, some treasure, some A.F.G.O. (Another Freakin’ Growth Opportunity) that I can walk away with from this experience. It was right around the 25th box of stuff that we had stored in the basement and the 40th construction bag filled with debris ranging from toys, clothes, artwork and the drenched sheetrock from the basement walls when the lesson started becoming evident.

I needed to give up. That’s right, I needed to quit. Without the flood, it would have been safe to say that these boxes would have remained quiet and undisturbed for years, simply taking up space and adding to household clutter. Yet, because of this natural disaster I was forced to clear out this clutter; the things that I did not use or no longer served me anymore.

Master the Art of Abandonment

Doesn’t the same philosophy apply to our business, our career and our life? The fact is, there are things you are doing right now which are creating the very results you want to avoid. The kicker is, you may already know this! Yet we still hold on to things that are not working: the toxic people or relationships that we’re better off without, the strategies we keep thinking will eventually work, the philosophies about selling, serving our customers as well as developing and retaining our staff.

The most productive people on the planet have mastered the art of abandonment. That is, the ability to let go of the stuff that no longer works. This is not only limited to what you do but also how you think; the limiting beliefs that keep you prisoner and stall your progress, preventing you from moving ahead.

Here I am, spending time, money and energy on protecting, saving or holding on to things that simply do not work for me or I no longer use; valuing possessions that have little or no worth. But we still hold on thinking, “Well, maybe one day I’ll use that again.”

We all have a place in our home, whether it’s the garage, a closet or a cabinet that is packed with stuff; so packed in fact, that you can’t fit another item in there. Consider that our lives are often set up this way; overflowing with chaos, to-do lists, appointments, projects, the wrong goals, or trying to keep up with overloaded schedules that keep us buried in trivial tasks.

If our lives are cluttered or packed with these things, then how can we make the room what we want most? You can’t add the things you really want into your business and your life if it’s already cluttered with old baggage that should no longer be there in the first place. There’s no space left to fill our lives with what is most important. As such, the ability to attain what we want is compromised.

We spend so much time identifying what we need to get or bring more of into our lives and our careers; more training, more technology, more planning, more systems that we often forget to identify what we need to let go of and give up that would propel us forward faster than any new technique or strategy would.

So, before you run out in search of the next best thing; the next greatest sales or marketing tool, the newest ‘secret’ to attracting top talent or bringing in more new business, see what you can give up first. Make a list of the things you’ve been holding onto, physically or mentally, that are dragging you down and just not working for you. Determine what you have in storage that needs to be let go. What is it costing you to hold on and not let go; not only in your business or career but in your life and the quality of it? (I spent thousands of dollars and hours of my precious time moving and storing garbage! )

In order to attract new and better people, experiences, results and more of what you want, first let go of the things that are clogging up your life in order to create the space for the better stuff to show up. Space creates choice. Learn to let go. What can you give up on today?

Mental constipation keeps us stuck in the same place. To change how you sell , manage or how you operate your business often means first changing how you think.

Start by opening up to a new possibility called the truth based on facts not perception. Give yourself permission to stop playing the waiting game, embrace what is rather than what was and ask yourself: “What’s the new opportunity here?” The quicker you embrace the truth in every situation, such as what to do after realizing you made a bad hiring decision, the better you’ll be able to respond to it.

Consider what the automotive industry did to respond to these new economic times – 0% financing, employee pricing, employee discounts. An unprecedented move in this industry. The results have been banner years for car sales.

Harsh words I know. But it’s not too late! Hey, I strive to save many of the retailers out there. But c’mon folks, you managers and business owners gotta start looking at what your people on the floor are saying to your prospects.

The very prospects that you may be spending hundreds if not thousands of dollars in advertising every month trying to bring them into your store! The only sales that they are making are the ones that they blindly run into. (So if I need a new mobile number, I’m going to go into the store and tolerate the service and lack of knowledge that comes with this experience. It’s not changing the fact that I still want one and that may still be the easiest route for me to take.) To corporate, they may feel, “Sales are there so why change. Why spend money on developing our people ?” I love the numbers folks.

Let me give you an example.

I recently purchased some advertising space in a national magazine. I have been a subscriber for years and knew everything I needed to know to select them as an advertising vehicle. I called them with one intention, to place an order.

When I called their office, the salesperson began doing what she felt was appropriate; to start selling me. She began with the history of the magazine, then moved into a discussion about her subscriber base, how effective an advertising campaign can be and ended with information about her ad design team. She was unaware that I already knew all the information that she decided to share with me.

She never took the time to ask what my intention was in running the ad or what information I might be interested in hearing more about. While she was speaking at me, I could only think about how many selling opportunities this must have cost her when dealing with prospective clients who didn’t have the time or patience to listen to information that didn’t fit for them.

This is not an unusual problem. Many salespeople spend much of their time during a sales call attempting to educate the prospect about their product, service and industry. They think it will stimulate interest and increase the odds of earning a new client. In many cases, this is the same strategy that compromises their opportunity to create a relationship with that prospect.

Unfortunately, this is the easiest way to lose their attention. Once a person hears something they aren’t interested in or if they feel you are providing information that doesn’t apply to them, their interest is lost and they stop listening.

A sales call is not the time prove how much you know. It’s the time to find out what you don’t know about the prospect and what the prospect doesn’t know about you. It is not your knowledge that sells, but how effectively you customize your knowledge to meet each of your prospects’ specific needs.

Before you can uncover a prospect’s individual needs and educate them on how your product will meet those needs, you must first uncover what your prospect already knows.

Your company’s presentation materials are designed to assist you in educating your prospects. However, it’s your job to determine and provide the appropriate information that will fit their specific situation.

Start your conversation by asking certain questions. Questions will enable you to uncover the relevant information to provide and identify the prospect’s objective and expectation of the meeting. Begin your meeting with the following questions. “What are your expectations of our meeting today?” “What information can I provide that would assist you in making the right decision when choosing a (new vender, service provider, contractor, etc.)? “Just so I don’t sound repetitive, what do you already know about…?” Then, based on the information you receive, you can craft your presentation.

Caution: When listening to what your prospect already knows, some of the information you receive about your product or industry may be inaccurate. Address this carefully. Instead of correcting them, simply add another truth to their statement by asking another question or adding to what they had said. Otherwise, while making yourself look right, you run the risk of making the prospect wrong, thus putting them on the defensive.

Most importantly, learn to put your ego aside and let go of your need to “sell.” The most effective presentation is going to be judged by the outcome that you produce. This begins with finding the right balance of information that your prospects want to hear.

Have you ever done something that you know is not in your best interest? Have you ever avoided doing something that is in your best interest? In either of these scenarios you were probably able to justify your behavior as well as your line of thinking and most of all; avoid being accountable.

While that may sting a little bit, allow me to introduce to you a new definition for this type of behavior. A diversionary tactic is an action, excuse, or belief you hide behind that justifies your behavior and performance, providing you with the out so you do not have to be accountable for your performance, responsibilities, goals or the situations you put yourself in.

Other examples of diversionary tactics are as follows:

• An excuse for the behavior you really don’t want anymore.
• An action, a lack of action or a belief that keeps you from being

Some non-negotiable tasks, activities, and priorities in your life may be obvious, such as your commute, showing up for work, engaging in your favorite hobby or pastime, and spending time with family. However, some may not be so visible, such as prospecting, practicing self-care, one-to-one time with your employees, planning, goal setting, or putting time aside for professional development.

If there are activities you need to engage in that support your lifestyle and will truly determine whether or not you will reach your personal and professional goals, it’s essential that you make these tasks non-negotiable rather than optional. Otherwise, you’ll find that they have tendency to take a back seat to other activities that may need to get done and have some degree of importance.

You know, the activities or tasks that you may be more comfortable doing (such as cleaning your office, doing paperwork, responding to e-mails, helping other people, compiling data, customer service, working on making your marketing material perfect) but don’t significantly move you forward. Instead, they keep you stuck in maintenance mode, allowing you to do just enough to stay afloat.

Then, you may have conversations with yourself that sound like, “That’s okay, I was busy today. I’ll do that tomorrow.” Or, “I just wasn’t able to find the time to get to prospecting today.” And wouldn’t you know it, something else always seems to come up! I don’t suppose this has ever happened to you.

This busy work will disguise the truth, creating the illusion that you’re working hard, simply because you feel busy. These diversionary tactics enable you to do everything else but the activities that would dramatically accelerate your success.

Just ask any salesperson who has to prospect to build their business. They can justify practically any and every activity that will take them away from prospecting, allowing them to major in the minor activities that act as a diversion to doing what’s truly needed to build their business.

If you, “Can’t seem to “find the time,” for these activities, I have yet to stumble across time that I just happen to “find.” It becomes a never-ending search, an exercise in futility. Consider that these non-negotiable activities that you may be avoiding must become as habitual as waking up in the morning, taking a shower, brushing your teeth, and breathing. These are the activities you do, (hopefully) without a second thought.

Uncover your diversionary tactics. Once you do, you’ll then be able to make the choice whether or not to continue to take part in them or the activities that serve you best. To further illustrate the importance of uncovering and eliminating your diversionary tactics, consider the cost you incur by not making certain activities non-negotiable. For example, what does it cost you if you don’t prospect; professional satisfaction, selling opportunities, peace of mind, income, your career?

We’ve all changed our mind at one point or another regarding how we feel about someone, something, or an experience we’ve had. Depending on the complexity of the situation, there’s a good chance that you change your mind on a daily basis regarding certain preferences, (favorite food, color, store, restaurant, leisurely pastime, TV show, hobby, sport), activities, experiences, and even certain people.

You may have changed your mind regarding a certain experience you had. For example, Mary, a client of mine, shared an experience she had regarding a sales call she went on. When Mary left the meeting with a prospect, she called me sounding very upset. After presenting her product to this prospect and following up with them a week later, the prospect decided to use another vender. She felt frustrated, upset, and dejected. She was ready to leave her sales position, feeling as if she failed and this wasn’t the career for her.

After talking with her about this sales call in more detail, it sounded as if there were some holes in Mary’s selling strategy that may have cost her the sale. I suggested that she look at this experience not as a failure but as an opportunity to learn and grow. As such, she changed her outlook. Mary felt better using this experience as an opportunity for continuous improvement. Together, we identified the areas that needed refinement and changed her approach when presenting to a prospect.

As a result of what she had learned, she became the number one salesperson in her company. Now, Mary has adopted a new belief; there is no such thing as failure, only unexpected results that you can then learn from. The only way Mary can fail is if she doesn’t embrace the lesson. I love that!

If you are focused solely on making a pitch or are pushing for the appointment or the sale rather than conducting a process of inquiry, then consider whom you’re making the sales process about. And that would be you!

Create Possibilities, Not Expectations

A possibility that goes unfulfilled is still a possibility. An expectation that goes unfulfilled is a disappointment.

I remember talking with one of my clients. His name was John and he was a great salesperson. After working with John for a few months, I noticed that his mood or state of mind fluctuated during each meeting I had with him.

It seemed that, like many salespeople, John was allowing himself to be a victim of circumstance. He set high goals and expected nothing but exemplary performance from himself. When he experienced success from his prospecting efforts, he was in a great mood. However, on the days that he felt he wasn’t producing up to his expectations, he really took it to heart and it threw him right into a bad mood. Feelings of disappointment, anxiety, and frustration overcame him. This lasted until he had another productive day cold calling. John was allowing external situations, more specifically, his daily productivity to influence or dictate his internal condition or attitude, swinging the “mood” pendulum from one extreme to another.

It’s one thing to experience good days and bad days. We all have them. However, it’s another thing to allow your prospecting efforts to dictate whether or not you’re going to be smiling at the end of the day. After coaching him around this, we soon realized that he had some unrealistic expectations regarding his performance.

I explained to John that it was wonderful to have a very clear vision of what he was looking to achieve. After all, defining your goals is a great exercise, one that I certainly endorse. However, when your goals begin to consume you and diminish the quality of your life, it’s time to re-evaluate your strategy.

I then suggested to him, instead of being hooked on the expectation of having to generate the result he was seeking during every cold call, what if it was only a possibility that he would generate the desired result? I saw the confusion in his face. I then shared with John the distinction between a possibility and an expectation.

A possibility is something that may exist or what could happen, where an expectation is a hope or an attachment to a specific outcome. A subtle, yet powerful distinction. When you are open to possibility, you are inspired to innovate and create something new while being present in a conversation or with the activity you are engaged in. You feel a sense of choice in the pursuit of your goal. In other words, you can either be gripped with a certain expectation about something; in this case having to sell, or you can simply enjoy the possibility of creating a relationship with that prospect, determining whether there’s a fit and providing value to them, without being attached to whether or not you will sell.

Some people have an attachment to certain outcomes during a conversation. They are so focused on having the other person see their point of view or attached to creating a specific result that they miss out on the ability to create a new and better outcome simply by listening openly to what the other person was actually saying.

Sometimes we get so attached to having others see our point of view that we exhaust all our energy just to prove a point. We might do this with our prospects, co-workers, boss, family, or friends. The problem is, if you are so attached to your own agenda inside a conversation then how can a new or better possibility ever surface? How can you listen to your prospect’s wants and needs or create solutions to their initial concerns that might get in the way of the sale? It just can’t happen.

A congested mind does not allow for the space to create the best solutions for your prospects during a cold call. Consider for a moment that the person you are speaking with may have a better solution or voice an initial objection, yet you can’t hear it because of your attachment to the outcome.

Think about the sales you have made in your career. Picture your state of mind at the time. Were you relaxed, centered, and connected with your prospects or were you concerned, anxious, and biting at the bit while calculating how much money you would make if you sold?

Most salespeople are more inclined to generate the desired result they seek during a cold call when they aren’t concerned about whether or not they will sell. And this feeling; according to them, usually surfaces right after they had a successful cold call or reached their monthly sales quota. In other words, these salespeople weren’t attached to the expectation of having to sell the client because it was no longer a “have to” for them. Since they already reached their daily or monthly goal, in their mind the rest was gravy. The pressure to produce was lifted off of their shoulders and they had nothing left to lose.

Many of us suffer from unfulfilled expectations. If you are attached to the expectation of having to generate certain results when cold calling and you don’t produce them, , think about how you feel? Lousy, discouraged, frustrated, dejected, upset, maybe even a bit drained. Not only can this destroy your productivity for the remainder of your day, but you’re also less likely to want to engage in this activity again or call on other people. Setting yourself up to have unfulfilled expectations is a formula that continually reinforces negative feelings, which creates negative experiences.
Now, imagine what would be possible if you believed that every conversation you had with a prospect provided you with the possibility to earn their business? This way, if you don’t generate your desired result, then the possibility is still just a possibility!

When something is possible for you, the process is actually enjoyable. After all, if you’re going to cold call, you might as well enjoy the process. The alternative is being let down or crushed from having unfulfilled expectations.
Consider this truth. What if a surgeon in the ER expected to save every life that he operated on? Chances are, this person wouldn’t be a surgeon for long, even with the best of intentions.

You know it’s a possibility when you’re having fun and you can’t lose. It’s an expectation when you are upset if it doesn’t work out.

Selling is the art of creating possibility. That’s selling at it’s core.

If you were ever in a situation where you’ve walked away from a conversation feeling drained or exhausted, chances are there was something you were attached to in the conversation. Where you attempting to control the outcome?

When cold calling, prospecting, networking or presenting, here are some attachments to be aware of that can grip you and limit your potential.

The need to be right or look good.
The need to make the sale (appointment, demo, proposal)
The need to be understood or prove your point.
The need to have people agree with you.
The avoidance of being wrong, looking bad, and hearing “No.”

If you find that you are repeating yourself, pushing to get someone to see it your way, or creating evidence to strengthen your side, you may be caught up in the ego of the situation. The conversation then turns into a struggle for power and control. When prospecting, who do you think is going to win that battle most of the time? The prospect.

Being attached to the outcome during a prospecting conversation:

Focus on the Present

In order to let go of your expectations or attachments during the cold calling process, focus on the present.

Consider the three points in time; the past, present, and the future. Sure we live in the present, but is that where you are truly living and responding to moment to moment? Consider that almost 85 percent of your time is spent either living in the past or in the future. (For example, reacting from a past experience or an expectation of the future. Remember the conversation on fear in Chapter 1?) Where is the focus of your energy and thoughts?

If you are living in or reacting from the past, that would sound like:

“If only I (woulda, coulda, shoulda)[el] I would be much happier/successful today.”
“I should have done that years ago because I would have reached my financial goal by now ”
“I remember the last time something like this occurred. I’m sure it will happen again.”

These examples illustrate how you are responding to and “living in the past.”
If you are living in or reacting to the expectations of the future, that would sound like:

When I (once I, if only I) buy a house (make more money, find my spouse, lose ten pounds, discover my ideal career, become a master at cold calling) then I will be truly happy and fulfilled.

If you are hooked on the future, then you are attempting to get somewhere other than where you are now. Where you are today and what you’ve achieved thus far doesn’t seem to be enough for you or provide you with a sense of satisfaction or accomplishment. As such, you’re attached to an end result that hasn’t happened yet.

We often live, listen, and react from the past or are pushing for something to happen in the future. Top producers respond to and are fully living in the present. To be fully present means you are able to focus on a single person, idea, or topic. It means not having any preoccupations with the past or future. The past is gone, and unless you have a crystal ball you have no control over the future.

Expectations are based in the point of time we refer to as the future. Possibilities are happening at any moment in the present. Look at a possibility as a choice where an expectation is a rigid need that must be met in order for you to feel fulfilled and complete.

Jim was a client of mine who believed that he did not think well on his feet. Jim felt that he wasn’t able to respond quickly or intelligently to certain objections or concerns that his prospects presented to him. Interestingly, Jim informed me that this only occurred in a selling situation. During other conversations, Jim stated this was never an issue.

What was it that made Jim freeze in a cold calling conversation but was quick witted and engaging during normal conversation? As we explored this phenomenon in more depth, the reason became evident.

I asked him, “When you engage in daily conversation, is there some specific result that you are looking to achieve in each conversation?” “Not really,” Jim replied. He then added, “If anything, I certainly like to help people.”

“How about when you are cold calling?” I then asked. “Most definitely! I need to sell.” Jim declared.

Jim had an attachment to the outcome. His focus and intentions changed depending upon the type of conversation and whom he was speaking with. When cold calling, Jim was attempting to have a conversation with his focus on a future outcome (the sale), while his prospects are speaking to him in the present moment. Jim was unable to create new solutions or respond effectively to his prospects’ concerns because his mind’s eye was focused more on what he wanted to happen rather than what was occurring in the moment.

Being fully present takes practice, effort, focus, and a willingness to exclude all that is not directly relevant to what you are currently engaged in, especially while speaking with someone. Living in, responding to, and thinking in the moment is both healthy and more productive. If you can practice this, the quality of your communication as well as your cold calling efforts will greatly increase.

Here’s a key point.
What was and what will be never takes precedent over what is.

An attachment is never about what is happening in the present. If you’re hooked on a future, anticipated result, you can’t create any new possibilities in the moment, since creation only occurs in the present. Any attachment is based in the future or the past, with the focus on a specific expectation or result that you are looking to achieve.

Ask yourself, “Am I responding to and living in the present?” (During a conversation, am I focused on an anticipated future outcome or stuck in the past with regrets, beliefs, or events that are really not relevant to creating something new in the present?)

Once you open up your thinking and detach yourself from the outcome during your cold calling efforts or a conversation with a prospect:

You will notice your energy level will naturally increase.
You will experience less stress.
You will uncover new and greater possibilities, solutions and selling opportunities naturally that you would otherwise miss without having to push for them.

Detaching from the outcome frees you to embrace the truth in any situation in order to create new opportunities in the moment rather than being hooked on what you really want, what you think you want or need, or what you expect to happen.

My wife and I were about to undertake our last remodeling project. Being a consummate consumer, I wanted several qualified companies to bid on our next project. After calling ten contractors, I scheduled an appointment with the five that called back.

Following our meetings, one gave me a price on the spot and two never responded with an estimate. Two contractors mailed an estimate, and one of them followed up a week later.

Guess who got the job. Just by making a five-minute phone call! What fascinated me most was that only one contractor called back to discuss his proposal and ask for my business.

How can these salespeople afford not to follow up? Conducting my own research, each one said they needed more business, yet didn’t know the status of the majority of proposals they sent. I sensed that following up regarding their proposal was not their typical M.O. Instead, here’s what they said.

• I thought you were using someone else.
• I didn’t think you were ready to buy.
• I thought you felt the price was too high.
• I didn’t want to bother or pressure you.

While these contractors formulated their own conclusion, they never bothered to confirm if their assumptions were, in fact, true! They were operating under the costly assumption, “The prospect will call when they’re ready.”

I asked Bill, one of the contractors, “If you’re sacrificing valuable time to drive to an appointment, deliver a presentation, write a proposal and then don’t follow up and ask for a prospect’s business after taking all of the steps that earned you the opportunity to do so, who are you really helping?” Then it hit him between the eyes. “My competition!”

Bill realized something that only a select few have. While prospects need his remodeling knowledge and skills, they also need his help in making their purchasing decision.

Bill recently called me with some exciting results. After making thirty phone calls to past prospects, he spoke with ten prospects he had met with. Bill sold three more deals ($78,000) in one week that he never would have sold.

In many businesses, especially the ones that sell directly to consumers such as home remodeling, cold calling consumers via the phone is no longer an option to generate new leads. Aside from canvassing door to door, networking, asking for referrals, posting job signs or traditional (and sometimes costly) marketing/advertising campaigns, what else brings in more business? Follow up calls.

How many prospects are waiting for your phone call so they can send you a deposit? How many people are out there waiting to begin working with you?

Bill and I sat down to crunch the numbers. I shared this observation with him. “Consider that you can make about fifteen calls per hour (one hour per week). Assume that out of fifteen contacts, you make one more sale. (Average sale $10,000.) Four hours a month equates to four more sales. Over a year, that’s $480,000 in volume. This exceeds the yearly volume of most contractors just by making one hour of follow up calls each week!”

If you take a moment and look at your call back list, how much business does that equate to? Now ask yourself, “How much of it am I willing to give to my competition?”

Since your competitors aren’t paying you commission, here’s your opportunity to utilize a simple, efficient three-step follow up system that will bring in more (free) sales.

Tip from The Coach: There is an exception to this rule. If part of your selling strategy requires drafting a proposal for a prospect, rather than sending your proposal and then scheduling a time to meet after they’ve received it, if possible, it’s always better to schedule a time to hand deliver your proposal. This way, you can review it face to face (or computer to computer) with the prospect and immediately address any concerns or barriers to the sale. Reviewing the proposal upon delivery provides you with the luxury of handling all possible objections immediately so that you can then ask for the prospect’s business, thus reducing the chance of your proposal becoming another item on the prospect’s lengthy ‘to-do’ list. In many cases, the longer it takes to reconnect with a prospect, the closer your proposal gets to the bottom of their priority list.

Instead of thinking about how many calls you need to make, consider how many sales you’ll be giving to your competition if you don’t. If something as simple as following up provides you with a competitive edge, then your next sale is just a phone call away.

About Keith Rosen, MCC – The Executive Sales Coach™