If you’re a business leader, entrepreneur or business builder you need to read this book. It’s packed with usable real-world advice and success strategies.

Here are the slides to go with the presentation:

Shane Gibson (@ShaneGibson) is a sales and social media speaker who has addressed over 100,000 people on stages on three continents over the past 15 years. He is also co-author of Guerrilla Social Media Marketing and Sociable! How Social Media is Turning Sales and Marketing Upside-down. When he’s not speaking or Tweeting he is in the social media trenches working with his clients as Chief Social Officer for Socialized! Ltd. a social media agency and training organization.

I asked Stephen to come on the show to discuss best practices in the area of outsourcing and the technology needed to lead virtual teams.

5 reasons why you should not let your sales team publish content using social media:

1. You have hired idiots – even if you trained them they would just be motivated idiots.
2. You have so much profitable business that you couldn’t handle any more
3. Your product really sucks
4. Your company and culture really suck
5. You haven’t or will not equip them with
   – The rules of engagement and a social media policy
   – Training in the tools of engagement
   – Accountability in place – once engaged it’s game on – have a framework support and accountability.

10 reasons why you should let your sales team publish content using social media:

1. “It’s not marketing it’s talking to customers” – Scott Stratten of UnMarketing
2. It adds to value added frequency
3. It opens up new channels
4. It can save time
5. Load balance your branding
6. Social CRM is the next big thing – are you cruising or are you road kill (Social CRM Podcast)
7. Immediate data instead of compiled and stale data
8. It makes them almost as smart as your customer
9. You can see the activity
10. It builds a passive pipeline and makes projections easier “If you’re talking to unqualified prospects it’s not a sales problem, it’s a marketing problem” – Zero Rejection Prospecting (Michael J Durkin and Norbert Orlewicz)
11. It builds a fence around the customer
12. It creates joy
13. It elevates sales people above pitch artist to trusted advisor

I posed this same question to Jeff Booth CEO of Builddirect.com and here was the answer he gave me:

“Social media is not really about B2C or B2B it’s about P2P or person-to-person communications and adding value.”  – Jeff Booth CEO Builddirect.com (the worlds largest online wholesaler of building supplies.)

The reality is that the majority of decision makers or their direct influencers use the web to find information on a vendor and the individual employees they are dealing with. I have compiled a short list of resources and blogs that you may find useful in deciding is social media marketing will work for your organization.

Here are some statistics and quotes regarding social media in the commercial space:

…69% of B2B buyers use social networks “primarily for business networking and development.” (About.com)

…Stereotypes may have C-level executives delegating research to others, but the study reveals that 53% prefer to search the Web and locate information themselves. – Google and Forbes Insights Study (2009)

Social media is not a separate silo or discipline, in fact, companies in the Business-to-Business space like Builddirect.com, Oracle, SAP, Intel, Accenture, GE, and Siemens have found that is most effective when integrated with existing sales and marketing processes. They also have found it has given them a significant advantage over their less socially engaged competitors. (An entire engagement study can be found at http://engagementdb.com )

B2B Social Media Reading and Resources:

1. Video: “Vital Statistics for B2B Marketers”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXQdy-22TXM“
2. 20 Support Cases for Using Social Media in B2B Marketing” http://www.savvyb2bmarketing.com/blog/entry/122161/20-support-cases-for-using-social-media-in-b2b-marketing
3. “A fascinating B2B Social Media Success Story” http://businessesgrow.com/2010/06/20/a-fascinating-hardcore-b2b-social-media-success
4. “5 B2B Social Media Success Stories” http://blog.marketo.com/blog/2010/05/b2b-social-media-success.html
5. “30 B2B Social Media Resources” http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/6379/30-Awesome-B2B-Social-Media-Resources.aspx
6. “The Definitive Case for B2B Social Media Marketing” – Fast Company http://www.fastcompany.com/1665075/the-definitive-case-for-b2b-social-media-marketing
7. “7 Reasons Why Social Media is for Sales” – http://bettercloser.com/7-reasons-social-media-sales/

1. You need buy-in
2. It’s really about creating an opportunity culture
3. You need to reward people, that means everyone
4. “What gets inspected gets respected” – Trevor Greene
5. Move poor fits out quick, and hire the right people
6. Feed the monster – train and develop continually
7. Fix operations if they don’t support sales
8. Fix products and services that don’t meet needs or fulfill promises
9. It takes time, up to 18 months or longer before true leadership evolves

Bill Gibson Free Goal Setting Guide

More information on the seminars here:

Seminar Details

“Leading and collaborating with stakeholders and employees in a hyper connected marketplace.”

With employees, customers and stakeholders equipped with technology that allows for mass collaboration and rapid communication we as leaders need to understand how to harness this technology and the crowds we are connected to.

Today’s workplace is not a homogeneous one. As leaders we have to lead teams that are made up of Baby Boomers, Generation X and Generation Y.  This coupled with diverse cultures and values in the workplace make leading both exciting and challenging.

In this session Shane Gibson will cover core trends, leadership tools and opportunities that are associated with today’s digitally connected and diverse marketplace.

Key topics include:

• New rules for engagement in a digitally transparent era.
• Web 2.0 collaboration and learning tools.
• Creating an environment that is productive and engaging for the millennial / Gen Y.
• Tips and approaches for recruiting staff using tools like Facebook, Linkedin and Twitter.
• Using technology to break down silos and create collaboration within your organization.
• How to apply timeless leadership principles to this new work and business climate

CMA Testimonial

“I found the seminar (Partnering & Stakeholder Relationships, November 2009) very beneficial. Shane did a great job on the presentation and communicating the message. I would highly recommend his sessions to my fellow CMAs.”

Sanjeev Lal, CMA, Abbotsford

Register for Victoria, December 2nd 2009 Seminar

Register for Vancouver, December 3rd 2009 Seminar

Here’s how 28 Days to Better Selling Works:

1)    A daily task that you can easily implement to improve your sales and business
2)    A succinct daily lesson to help you make the improvement

By the end of the 28 days you will have looked at 28 ways to fine tune and improve your sales process and business.  The daily lessons will be in written, video or audio format and will take less than 10 minutes each to review.

Day1  The ABC’s of Targeting

Day 2 Targeting the Right Referral Sources

Day 3 Prospecting in Person

Day 4 Networking Strategy

Day 5 LinkedIn Prospecting

Day 6 Investigative Prospecting

Day 7 Lead Nurturing

Day 8 Don’t Be A Boring Salesperson

Day 9 Listening in Sales

Day 10 Needs Analysis in Sales Part 1

Day 11 Needs Analysis In Sales Part 2

Day 12 Twitter for Sales Part 1

Day 13 Twitter for Sales Part 2

Day 14 Keeping Commitments

Day 15 Selling Benefits and Results

Day 16 Preemptive Objection Handling

Day 17 Sell the Price Different Not The Total Cost

Day 18 Vital Signs

Day 19 Preparing For a Sales Call

Day 20 Team Selling

Day 21 Just Thinking About You

Day 22 Team Players Make Efficient Sellers

Day 23 Day of Rest, Chill Out and Reflect

Day 24 Influencing Top Level Decision Makers

Day 25 Key Skills and Strengths for Selling Intangibles

Day 26 Reducing Anxiety and Worry

Day 27 15 Ways to Close A Sale

Day 28 Operationalizing Your Sales Process

Want to Close Bigger Deals? Buy the Book:

#1) They need to master the art of Rapport Building

#2) They need to get good at Needs Analysis Selling

#3) They need to understand how to sell what people buy, and it’s not features, price or technology

To Donate the the Vancouver Food Bank Click here or the image below. Every bit helps!

Blogathon 2009 for Vancouver Food Bank

Sales Best Practices: Asking questions as a means of facilitating every step in the sales process.

The single most powerful tool that a salesperson has is a well-phrased, appropriately asked question. Nothing else compares to the impact that a good question can have on the customer and the sales process.

That’s because a good question directs and influences the customer’s thinking. When you ask a question, they think of the answer. That simple statement neatly packages the latent power of a good question.

Yet, few salespeople understand that, and fewer still implement it.

A number of years ago, a study was done on this very issue. Here are the results:

“Out of 300 salespeople studied, 87 percent realize the importance of asking questions. However, only 27 percent displayed the ability to ask a well thought out, stimulating series of questions.”

In other words, thirteen percent of the salespeople in the world don’t even recognize the power of asking a good question. And only about 1 out of 4 could actually do it. That means that 3 out of every 4 salespeople, or 75 percent, don’t ask good questions.

There are two issues here: First, realizing the importance of using good questions effectively, and second, actually doing so.

This is such a big issue that my book, Question Your Way to Sales Success, is devoted entirely to this.

Everyone can ask a question. I have a three year old grandson. He can do it. This issue isn’t asking questions; the issue is asking better sales questions. While I can’t condense the book to a few hundred words here, I can point out a couple of things that the best do with this most powerful tool.

1. They prepare their major questions before the sales call. This gives them the time to select the best language and sequence.

2. They are mindful, at every stage of the sales process, of using better sales questions. They understand that there are questions, there are good questions, and there are better sales questions. So, they constantly focus on creating and using better sales questions. Whether it’s a cold call on a prospect, or following up after the sale, at every stage of the sales process, a more effective use of questions will produce dramatically better results. And they know that.

3. They collect good questions over time, and use them over and over again.

A master salesperson is a master at the use of better sales questions. That’s why it is a best practice of the best.

About the author: Dave Kahle is one of the world’s leading sales training educators. Since 1988, Dave has worked with over 400 companies, helping them to increase their sales and develop their sales people. He’s been published over 1,000 times, writes a weekly Ezine (subscribe for free at http://www.davekahle.com/mailinglist.htm), and has authored seven books.  Dave’s website is available at http://www.davekahle.com, and you can follow his sales blog at http://www.davekahle.com/salesblog.

To Donate the the Vancouver Food Bank Click here or the image below. Every bit helps!

Blogathon 2009 for Vancouver Food Bank

If you want to improve your sales and have been too busy to put a plan into place you’re not alone.

I have had many people in the sales community including sales professionals, senior executives and high tech entrepreneurs and bloggers who are all looking for ways to convert connections into long-term clients and relationships.

Their challenge is that most resources available are either one time training opportunities, or extensive and over whelming programs that are tough to implement. This program takes care of all of this.

The 28 Days to Better Selling program is completely free and is 100% content and 0% advertising or promotions. All content focused on helping you.

This concept was inspired by a 31 Days to Build a Better Blog program that Problogger.com put on for 12,000 other bloggers. As a participant it was very helpful for me. The concept is simple:

Here’s how 28 Days to Better Selling Works:

1) A daily task that you can easily implement to improve your sales and business
2) A succinct daily lesson to help you make the improvement

By the end of the 28 days you will have looked at 28 ways to fine tune and improve your sales process and business. The daily lessons will be in written, video or audio format and will take less than 10 minutes each to review.

To Register for the program please enter your e-mail address below:

Jay Levinson has sold over 20 million books on Guerrilla Marketing making him one of the top selling marketing authors in history. Following is a brief video interview I did with Jay on Guerrilla Marketing.

Trucker Network. We are firm believers in the power of business cards, and the following story reaffirms why everyone in your company needs cards. Last week Darcy heard this story about a guy who owns a trucking company who decided to give all his truckers business cards. Soon, his company’s business cards were posted on truck stop cafes and gas stations across the continent. The result? A 20% increase in business! And there was another interesting thing that happened–the drivers started dressing better, looking sharper. Why would that be? These guy and gals had never been given business cards before, and if we think back to the time when we received that very first box of business cards, there was a certain feeling of pride, status and belonging. There were two wins for this owner because of his simple investment in business cards.

– Darcy, Gayle and Judy

To read a story from Work the Pond! about giving cards to everyone in your company go to: www.tiny.cc/shepa

#1) This is actually a live feed of multiple sales bloggers from around the globle. The World’s Top Sales Bloggers List is a great place to discover new sales bloggers and podcast producers.

#2) Dave Kurlan put together a great sales management checklist of must have attibutes for sales leaders and managers.

#3) Kevin Eikenberry posted a good list of 5 ways to do some spring cleaning to your life.  Good tips for those needing to refocus.

#4) Paul Espinosa talked about how critical it is for organizations to get good ar hiring good sales managers in his post on “Sales Managers – The Real Role.”

#5) The guys at the Sales Roundup Sales Podcast put together a great show on “How to price what you sell.”

#6) George Petri from Symvolli posted a sales podcast on “B2B Relationships Don’t Have To Be Lost – Continuous Contact Doesn’t Mean Customer Stalking.” Great stuff on creative follow-up.

#7) Bill Caskey and Bryan Neale put together a podcast on getting to and dealing with decision makers.

#8) Rick Cooper: The Fortune Is In the Follow Up was another podcast that I enjoyed.

Number one Sociable! and it’s principles are needed right now by most of our collective clients.  If we waited a year to release it, and went the traditional book publisher route we would be hypocrites for saying “the rules of business have changed but we are going to write, distribute, market and roll-out our book basically the same it has been done for years.”  So we broke a bunch of rules, and we also set some big aggressive goals that are going to create some real momentum.

Here’s what Mack had to say:

Undoubtebdly you guys are both experts, but a book in 90 days? As a consumer I am a lot less interested in the book as it seems like something rushed. For you to write three books in a year is a great achievement but as a reader I would prefer one Excellent book in a year instead of three that were quickly banged out.  Maybe my assessment is wrong, I’d love to hear why. (Original comment here)

I would side with Seth Godin on this when he said:

Blogs have eliminated the reason for most business books to exist. If you can say it in three blog posts and reach more people, then waiting a year and putting in all that effort seems sort of pointless. The chances that your effort will be rewarded with income in proportion to the time you put in are pretty low. (See the full post at Seth Godin’s Blog)

In order to create ROI for the writer and be relevant to the reader the way books are written, marketed and revised must change. Here’s my full response via video (please weigh in and add comments, I really want to know what my readers feel about this subject):

What I am talking about is real time, permission based data on clients that will have the potential to tell us everything from what time of day they are most likely to answer a twitter comment from us to what events they are attending and what brand of TV they prefer or “favorite.”

This data is available on most contacts you have if you are connected to them on Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedin but the challenge is managing the noise and the chaos to hone in on the events, preferences, and people that matter most to your sales, networking and community building efforts.

A comment made to me on Twitter just moments after recording this podcast was:

From: @Raize604 @shanegibson it’s also more high maintenance CRM which makes me wonder if its worth it” (He was referring to all the trouble with watching clients and prospects on multiple networks)

A properly engineered and formatted Social CRM can pull all of this data for you, filter it, help you focus on a target group and tell you when specific people or groups are most responsive to what messages in what mediums.  Here’s today’s sales podcast on Social CRM:

Mike Desjardins (http://twitter.com/mikedesjardins) interviewed Shane Gibson on Mike’s Video Podcast on how CEO’s can effectively use Twitter.

Chris Maurer did a great blog post on Social Media for B2B Sales, he talked about the importance of laying out a strong strategy for your sales team to use the tools effectively.

Jonathan Farrington said it well when he said “Successful ‘closers’ know that there is no need to use magic phrases or techniques because if they’ve effectively followed the sales process, closing the sale is the next step in a logical sequence.” in his great blog post on “Closing. It’s easy if…”

Neil Godin did a great blog entry in his Marketing Dangerously blog on “May I help you?” and how he was able to help a company double their customer conversion levels by shifting the way they great customers.

Wendy Weiss did a podcast that really talked about the difference between Amateurs versus Professionals in the art of cold calling.  “Fix Your Saggy Butt!”  (I’m glad I never have been a dancer or a model, sales sounds easy after her story).

Colleen Francis blogged about the importance of CRM for sales teams of any size.  The blog was answer to a blog reader’s question. I liked Colleen’s practical logical arguement for those that may still be sitting on the CRM fence.

Stephen Jagger founder of Reachd and Ubertor posted a great video of Vic Jang speaking on the Future of Real Estate Sales.

Skip Anderson posted some straightforward but often missed sales management tips for ramping up your effectiveness in “Sales Manager, How Are You Going to Spend Your Time Today?”

Ian Watt did a video blog titled “Don’t Become a Realtor for the Money, it Will Eat You Alive” (you can see all of his video blogs here). It’s great insight on loving what you do.

Another great resource for sales blogs and podcasts is the sales channel of Alltop.com

If you have any favorite posts or authors you like please share them in the comments section.

Yesterday was the first day Stephen Jagger and I officially announced our new book Sociable! A book on how social media is turning sales and marketing up-side down.  We did a 30 minute presentation and 25 minute Q&A at the Massive Technology Show in Vancouver. (We will be in Toronto on May7th as well)  The feedback from the seminar was positive and the big question has been when is the book being released?

Based upon feedback from the publisher / printer we’re looking at early June as the soft launch of the book.  We will be announcing a series of events around the book in the coming weeks and how you can get advance copies for review.

If you want to be kept up to date on this you can get on our list here:

I have been working with the Academy of Learning for over a year to launch this program and it is now available through their network of 145 locations across Canada.

New Program Trains Sales Professionals Who Meet the Demands of Today’s Business World

Academy of Learning is pleased to announce the new Sales Professional Diploma program“ said Derek Hamill, President of LaunchLife International Inc., the franchisor of Academy of Learning. “Without sales there is no business. Academy of Learning wanted to deliver a first rate diploma program to guide and prepare graduates for top notch sales opportunities, and that’s what we did.

Academy of Learning, along with speaker, author and global entrepreneur, Shane Gibson, President of Knowledge Brokers International (KBI), designed the Sales Professional Diploma program with the goal to ensure that every student has the necessary sales knowledge and practical tools to succeed in a sales career.

This program is based upon KBI’s methodologies that have been implemented and used by leading business organizations such as SIEMENS, Old Mutual, The Certified Management Accountants of Canada, the Vancouver Board of Trade and dozens of manufacturers and leading financial services companies. Over 100,000 people in the last 10 years have attended KBI’s programs in Canada, USA, Southern Africa, South East Asia, the Middle East and South America.

This program will prepare graduates with the right skills to excel as a sales professional.

Some of the key courses and areas of focus in the program include: Principles of Selling, Business Presentations, Professional Selling, Business Negotiations & Contracts, and Business Law and Ethics. Graduates will be prepared with the right tools for lucrative sales careers in disciplines such as inside sales, outside sales, key account management, retail and large business to business sales careers. This program is ideal for individuals entering the workplace for the first time, re-entering the workplace, or current jobholders who want to upgrade or get formal recognition as a sales professional.

Labour conditions for the sales profession have remained consistent. Jobfutures.ca indicates that there is a broad variety of career opportunities in sales in fields such as advertising, wholesale, publications, hospitality, entertainment, travel, as well as in the telecommunication industry. Companies need to be competitive and that means having the right sales person who knows how to win accounts and maintain business relationships.

A labour analysis conducted by Academy of Learning shows sales positions are still key requirements in the workforce. Additional research relating specifically to the sales profession research found that:

• Graduates of sales related programs can expect a salary at a mid to slightly higher than average annual salary.
• The employment outlook in sales is at a good level for the coming year.
• The Globe and Mail newspaper stated that employers are having difficulty filling Sales Representatives positions.
• 72% of those with previous work experience found a job within one month of graduation.
• 45% of respondents in the Canadian Professional Sales Association study on “The State of the Sales Nation” stated that finding good sales people was very challenging.

According to Rob Simas, Director, Academic Division at LaunchLife International, “the labour market findings allowed us to develop a comprehensive and focused Sales Professional Diploma program, designed to meet the outcomes and objectives of program standards used by many of the community colleges, without sacrificing vocation and integrity.”

Mr. Simas concluded by saying, “We are pleased to provide a program to individuals looking for a well-rounded introduction to sales. We are confident that this program will open the door to entry-level positions within the exciting and rewarding field of sales.”

Contact the Academy of Learning ]]> http://www.closingbigger.net/2009/03/professional-sales-diploma-program-launched-in-partnership-with-the-academy-of-learning/feed/ 6 http://www.closingbigger.net/2009/03/sales-training-vs-sales-coaching-or-cut-them-both/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=sales-training-vs-sales-coaching-or-cut-them-both http://www.closingbigger.net/2009/03/sales-training-vs-sales-coaching-or-cut-them-both/#comments Mon, 16 Mar 2009 22:43:49 +0000 Shane Gibson http://www.closingbigger.net/?p=304 I read a blog entry posted by @salesbloggers via Twitter the other day and it inspired this podcast. The entry by Steven Rosen claims that sales training is a non-revenue generating activity. Great sales training is just that, it gives sales professionals more efficient approaches and processes to close deals.

If you could pull together your sales team for three hours, give them just three things to implement that would increase their efficiency by even 5% your Return on Investment over the next 90 days would be worth much more than the 3 hours they spent out of the field. In addition to this, I found the blog entry to be another one of many coaching versus training blog entries. Why can’t we all just get along?

Organizations that really have their sales performance strategy together will be driving forward with both training and coaching working synergistically. Each plays and important role in maintaining competitiveness, motivation and retaining star players. Have a listen to my rant on this topic:

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Networking Interruptus. Here is a very typical networking situation: Sam and Salima are talking and someone comes over, interrupts, and proceeds to talk only to Sam. You can picture Salima’s expression! What should have happened? Let’s start by saying that sometimes you do have to squeeze into the conversation. But barging in and completely ignoring the other person is not how to do it. Instead, the person should have entered the conversation by saying “Sorry to interrupt, but do you mind if I just have a quick word with Sam?” The interrupter should then remember to keep the circle open so Salima is not left hovering. Most conversations aren’t ‘spy-worthy’ so everyone can be included. Besides, if it is highly personal it really shouldn’t be discussed at a networking event.

– Darcy, Gayle and Judy

Got a great networking tip? Share it with us at: info@workthepond.com We are giving away a copy of the audio version of Work The Pond! for the best one!

This podcast talks about the difference between certification and qualification. It also talks about how we may want to select and mentor or coach in the future. If you like what I have to say or you disagree please comment, I would like your feedback.

[quiz=1]

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Thank-you to Split Mango (Ubertor and WordPress Specialists) for editing the CSS and PHP for this quiz to make it legible and functioning!

Careers in High-Tech and Web-Based Industries

For every successful technology company there are dozens that fail and leave behind an array of lost promises, disappointed investors, and stressed former employees.  This sector offers a highly engaging, and potentially lucrative career in sales. With that in mind, we must be willing to ask some hard questions about the company we are going to potentially work with.
The following are examples of questions and topics we need to address when seeking out potential employers:

1.    What is the basis for their technology? Do they have something proprietary or innovative that will allow me to build up a client base? Will this technology give us a sustained competitive advantage?  Or are we just another “me too” technology that can eventually be built better and cheaper by some other company?

2.    Is this technology proven, scalable, and have a track record? Many organizations make grand claims about their latest invention but cannot back it up. Remember, when you are out prospecting, presenting, and visiting potential clients, you are going to get some hard questions. Make sure there is something of substance that you can sell.

3.    Does the company have a solid infrastructure, quality control, technical standards, and sufficient resources for customer support? Too many start-ups lack this infrastructure and back-office support. What occurs is as we land larger clients and sell multiple instances of our software or solution, and the production side of the company fails to keep up. This results in delayed projects, poor customer service, and loss of clients, market share, and opportunity.  Make sure the company you work for has those key systems in place.

4.    Does the company have a proven executive team? Leadership and the personal motivation and drive of key executives are very important, especially in the initial stages of business growth. Has the CEO surrounded themselves with intelligent, competent division heads, or have they surrounded themselves with an entourage of “yes” people?

5.    One of the most important questions is: “Is this solution a cure to a pain or a problem?” If it is, creating a business case for people to buy it will be achievable. If it is one of the many technologies with no real market demand (i.e. just another interesting technology tool) it is not going to be a priority purchase for anyone.

6.    Does the company and solution have a defined, accessible market? If the target market is difficult to reach or is ambiguous, much of our initial tenure at the company will not be spent selling, it will be spent trying to define the market and through trial and error, learning how to access it. This is not a formula for large commissions.

7.    Does the company equip the sales staff with the right marketing and collateral materials as well as tools necessary to sell the solution? In addition to this, do they have a well-defined and potentially lucrative compensation plan that will reward me for my efforts?

If you find it hard to answer positively about one or more of these questions the reality is you’re probably not being offered a sales job of real substance in web or high tech based industries.

I know of several sales people who’s resume’s are full of 3 or 6 month stints at half a dozen of these companies. The time frame makes them look like flakey employees who can’t commit or be loyal. The reality is they were great sales people who worked for companies of no substance.

- Shane Gibson

Following are the five key elements of Operationalizing sales:

1.    Tools

In order to operationalize our sales process and achieve our goals we will need the right tools to get the job done.  These tools include everything from electronic devices, research tools, business cards, marketing materials, software, and accounting and billing tools to name a few.  It is important to be aware of the core tools needed to effectively execute the plan.

2.    Measurement

What gets measured gets improved.  Without measurement there is no feedback, positive or negative, regarding our progress.  A goal helps us push ourselves in positive ways and fuels improvement, motivation, self-esteem and team spirit.

What gets measured gets improved.  Without measurement there is no feedback, positive or negative, regarding our progress.  A goal helps us push ourselves in positive ways and fuels improvement, motivation, self-esteem and team spirit.

3.    Processes and Knowledge

Once you have a goal, a measurement process, and the right tools needed to identify the process to follow, you can identify any knowledge or skill gaps that may affect progress.  Being a master at sales is a process of constant improvement, self awareness and personal growth.

4.    Maximize Selling Time

Your end goal is to build solid client relationships that result in sizeable amounts of revenue.  Using this as a core goal, we can  maximize the time spent doing the things that move us toward that goal.  Many sales people have failed because they became experts at paperwork, staff meetings, research, and a myriad of other activities that have very little to do with closing the deal or building relationships with the right clients.

Sales professionals need to have a process that supports the core goal and the courage to fight for the time needed to do these things.  This process is about delegating, automating or deleting these activities from our life that are not harmonious with our goals.

5.    Support and Accountability Structure

“One is too few a number to achieve greatness” – John Maxwell.

John Maxwell, leadership expert says it well in this quote.  We need a team to help us reach our goals; many of us will do more for other people than we would do for ourselves.  Having a set of checks and balances and a manager, coach, mentor or peer that holds us accountable is a key ingredient in driving sales results.

- Shane Gibson

Enjoy:

People and companies do not generally seek out technology; they seek out solutions to their pains or positive emotional states. Technology for the sake of technology is not a great marketing strategy. When our clients purchase from us, they are really buying outcomes, feelings, results, and solutions.

Too often those involved in the high-tech sector bury their prospects in endless streams of jargon, highly technical diagrams, and gratuitous numbers of acronyms. These terms and over-complicated descriptions often confuse the client, clouding the core benefits and failing to answer the basic questions: “What’s in it for me?” and “What’s unique about this solution?”

Some of the most effective sales professionals who sell these types of solutions are good at taking complex solutions and communicating their benefits in very powerful but non-technical terms.
The following example is a technically filled pitch for web development and marketing that contains a lot of unnecessary jargon:

Example #1: Technical Jargon

I would suggest that when we build your site that we use an open source CMS that has a WYSIWYJG editor built in. Drupal would suffice, in fact it is also very SEO friendly and can be formatted to have an RSS feed for each page. This will be important when we’re trying build you back links, as back links are an important part of the Google page rank algorithm.

This description really misses any opportunity to talk about value. It simply rattles off multiple technical terms. In this example, the salesperson most likely thinks they sound like an authority when what they are really doing is potentially excluding the prospect in the process.

The following example is a benefit-oriented pitch for web development and marketing:

Example #2: Benefit-Oriented

You said that you would be frequently updating your website and that you wanted to save as much money on doing the updates as possible by reducing the need for a web developer in the future. My suggestion is that we us a CMS called Drupal with a WYSIWYG editor.  The site will be constructed in a way that search engines like Google will give it a higher ranking on search results than some of your competitor’s sites. This will of course result in more traffic and business for you.

Drupal is free software that requires no on-going fees to be paid. A CMS is a Content Management System which basically allows you to make changes to the look and feel of your website, and even where information appears on your site without having to do a lot of expensive redesign.  A WYSIWG editor stands for “What You See Is What You Get” and what it allows you to do, without any additional software or understanding of programming, is to log into your site and access a page that looks much like a Microsoft Word document. From there you can create new pages and edit existing ones without the assistance of a technical guru.

This example takes and expands the technical terms, educating the client in an inclusive manner, and focusing on the core outcomes, results, and benefits of using the technology.  The bottom-line is when we talk over people’s heads, use jargon and lack empathy we don’t get the deal.  Keep it simple, include the client in the process, and position yourself as a resource and a coach.

One sector that often comprises both intangible and complex sales is the high-tech sector. Many of the solutions are literally invisible—they run in the background and the majority of people are oblivious that they even exist.

Saying that someone is in the high-tech sector or industry is somewhat ambiguous in this era, as most organizations harness technology to make their businesses run. Everything from engineering solutions, to cars, cell phones, and legal services use technology as part of their offerings to the marketplace. So even if you do not consider yourself to be “in technology,” you will most likely be selling solutions that involve technology now or in the future.

Communicating the Benefits of Technology to Different Types of Buyers

We have to realize that there are often many types of people that are involved in the procurement of high tech solutions. For instance, if you were selling Customer Relations Management software implementation to a client, the following buyers may be involved in the decision making and evaluation process:

•    The CEO
•    Finance/Accounting
•    The sales staff who will use the software
•    The VP of Sales
•    The training department that will insure use and implementation
•    The IT department or team who will have integrate and support it once it is installed

Each of the buyers or contributors will need to have the solution communicated differently:

•    The CEO will most likely want to know the big picture, the bottom-line and how the  return on investment will be measured. They will not want to get bogged down in details and specifics and should not be asked questions related to those specifics.
•    Finance and accounting will be concerned about capital costs, warrantees, process management, risk and on-going fees.
•    The sales staff will want to know how to use it, how it will impact their ability to do their job, and the amount of  control others will have over them.
•    The VP of Sales and the training department will want to know about measurement, implementation, tracking tools, and how it will impact their ability to support the sales team.
•    The IT department will want to know specifics on programming, quality assurance issues, debugging, scalability, programming language security, and a myriad of other technical issues.

Most people are comfortable communicating with one or two of these types of stakeholder groups. Great salespeople in this sector have a strategy to address the needs of each of these groups, and they communicate the benefits in a way that is unique and applicable to each buyer type.

In addition to this, there are several other important attributes relating to great high-tech sales professionals as follows:

Knowing the Market

Understanding our target market and niche is critical. We need to understand the unique circumstances, competitive environment, and business processes of our target market.  In doing this research and preparation, we are better equipped to address the needs of our target market and identify what core business challenges our technology can address.

Knowing the Client

We need to go beyond the market and spend time getting to understand each individual corporation’s situation and circumstance. Each client will have unique business challenges and processes that need the support of technology in a customized way.

Factors that will affect the type of solution needed will vary depending on their stage of business growth, existing business processes, corporate goals, immediate and long term challenges, as well as management and operations philosophy.

Know All Applications and Limitations of Your Solution

In order to fully service the client and become a true resource and problem solver, we must understand all the applications of our products and services. In addition to this, it is imperative that we also understand our weaknesses and limitations.

At times clients have un-reasonable or un-defined expectations—by understanding our limitations and communicating them effectively we can dispel any misconceptions.
Why this is important is that a small misunderstanding early on could result in a largely off-target project or solution. On the positive side of course, by knowing all of the applications of our solution we make sure that we truly maximize revenues and client satisfaction.

Be a Problem Solver

This is an integral part of selling technology. Most new technologies evolve out of a client problem for which there is no solution.

Have Great Consulting Skills

Elevating ourselves from the status of order taker to trusted advisor can give us a real advantage in the marketplace. To be seen as a consultant, we need to have a thorough needs analysis approach, build our profile as a subject matter expert, have a high level of rapport with the potential clients, and look for ideal solutions—not just “our solution” to client problems.

Great Project Planning and Management Skills

Many large high-tech sales deals will require numerous people on our team to help us close the sale. There most likely will be a need to engage technical and support staff and then coordinate their interaction with key staff in our client company. Once we have the deal, there will be a need to continue to monitor these interactions to ensure that the promises we made to the client are in fact fulfilled.

Risks:

Not Targeting
If we do not have a clear idea of who our ideal clients are (referred to as A’s or the 20 percent that bring us 80 percent of our revenues) then we can be spending a lot time prospecting the wrong companies and opportunities. It is often a large effort just to get in the door and if we are knocking on the wrong doors, it can be costly.

Not Managing Pipeline
Being organized with a clear game plan is imperative as there are so many details and variables in a complex sale the deal can easily get side-tracked. By being organized in our sales process and managing our pipeline, we can reduce the chance of losing the deal due to apathy or distraction.

Not Knowing the Buying Process
We need to really understand how the client assesses potential suppliers and what process they use to do so. Too often we push our own agenda at our own demise.  Spending time probing, asking questions, and researching is critical in helping us understand the likelihood of landing a deal. It also ensures that we do not miss critical pieces of information and steps that are important to the prospect.

Taking the Wrong Advice

We need to gather information from multiple sources to make sure that our approach is in line with the values of the key decision makers. If someone is blocking your access to the internal network of your client company, and all the information comes from that source, there is a good chance that your proposal will miss the mark.  Take advice and gather information from people without personal agendas.

Not Having a Bid Qualification Process
Just because a big company sends you a Request for Proposal (RFP) it does not mean you should apply. Many companies have failed because they won the wrong contract and went bankrupt trying to service a large client and/or one with unique and expensive specifications.

As big complex deal hunters, we need to know what a profitable deal looks like. More importantly, we need to know how we could lose money or burn up time on deals that are a misfit.

Guest Blog By Bill Gibson bill@kbitraining.com

Top level decision makers are results-orientated. Both tangible results and intangible results appeal to them.  When we talk about results we can talk about both tangible and intangible results.

Tangible Results

The kind of tangible results that appeal to them are:

Raising Revenues:
Show them how their overall volume can be increased; in other words, an increase in sales. They know that an increase in sales means more profit if the expenses are well managed.

Increase Efficiency:
They want a sizable return on their monetary investment. If they see that their employees, or their equipment, or other capital will be more efficient, then the chance of their buy-in is higher.

Keeping Shareholders Happy:
Top-level decision makers are the ones who have to answer to the Board of Directors and to the Shareholders in a large corporation. Keeping the Board or shareholders happy is their main priority. This means that you are showing them ways to improve the value of the company, in turn improving the value of the shares paid out, or returning a bigger profit so that larger dividends are declared and paid to the shareholders.

Lowering Cost of Production:
Again, more logical, linear, left brain appeal to the top level decision makers. Lower costs equal better margins and bigger profits.

Increasing Market Share:
They are interested in advertising, marketing and business development strategies, tactics and methods to increase market share. Taking market share from the competition is something that inspires them. Also, gaining a bigger share of the average client’s   buying power  also means increasing market share to top level decision makers.

Higher Return On Investment:
Can you show them how they will get a bigger return on their investment for the money they invest with your services, products, ideas and concepts? If you can, they will want to know you and they will also open to investing time with you.

Dealing With Market Changes:
A sudden down swing in the economy, a new big competitor grabbing market share, a sudden market switch to a new technology, a new way of doing business, new government regulations that affect them adversely, a major change in consumer behavior are all examples of market changes that corporations have to adjust to and capitalize on. If you come with solutions for market changes that affect them, then they will  take the time to explore the possibilities with you.

Intangible Results:

The types of intangible results that appeal to top-level decision makers are:

Lower the Risk And Worry:
Anything that you can do to lower or eliminate the risk makes them feel better. Showing them how you will finish a project on time, protect their investment, handle unexpected situations, save them personal stress or personal hassle are all examples of what they consider to be valuable as an intangible. It makes them feel better and reduces their worries.

Personal and Corporate Pride:
Senior executives and top-level decision makers are at the top because they have personal pride and are proud of the business results that they achieve. Whatever you can do to make them feel even more proud of themselves and their company, will usually provide positive results.  One particular business journalist who works for the Globe and Mail uses this as her primary strategy to get senior executives to call her back for interviews.  She will leave a message or send an e-mail genuinely complementing them on their achievements and track record and citing why she thinks they are an industry authority.  Her callback rate is almost 100 percent.

Image – Personally And Corporately:
Yes the car they drive reflects their success level. The suits, the shoes they wear, the house they live in, the office address, and the image their marketing material portrays are all examples of personal and/or corporate image. Not all top level decision makers hold image as a top motive for buying, although most do, whether they admit it or not.

Retaining And Attracting Good Employees Who Work Beyond The Norm:
The top level decision maker knows that you win when you have exceptional people working with you. Show them how to attract and keep really good people who work beyond what normal people do, and they will be open to listen. When they see these types of people around them they are impressed and it gives them that intangible result of a sense of pride and comfort.

Symvolli has done a great podcast on this topic as well (I listened to it and thought I’d post a response via podcast). The key here is it’s better to “get real” about what we truly have for opportunities and then build a solid plan to help us get to where we want to go.  The alternative, pushing unqualified leads through the pipeline is exhausting and will have us show up short of quota at the end of the year.

RSVP Like You Mean It. We recently attended an event–a very popular wine tasting hosted by a large firm. At the end of the evening, we noticed the registration table still had about 15 guest name tags! These were the folks who hadn’t bothered to show up. It was a shame because this event had a waiting list. In this day of instant communication, sending a quick email, text message or making a cell phone call would have been an easy way for those no-show folks to inform the organizers that, unfortunately, they had to withdraw their RSVP. Being a no-show simply looks bad. It’s your reputation, protect it.

–Darcy, Gayle and Judy

Got a great networking tip for 2009? Share it with us at: info@workthepond.com We are giving away a copy of the audio version of Work The Pond! for the best tip!

Here’s how I use the tool for recruitment and even succession planning:

Step 1 The JSI or Job Style Indicator

I have several senior sales leaders, along with existing sales executives fill out the JSI or Job Style Indicator.  (view a sample report) This will give me a 360-degree view of what the characteristics, attitudes, behaviors and competencies of the ideal sales candidate for that particular organization will most likely be.

It’s important to note that based upon organizational culture, geography and the leadership style of the organization that two companies or even divisions will often have varied Job Style Profiles.  Just because you do well selling for BMW doesn’t necessarily mean you will fit in at Ford.  In other words successful Ford sales people may have a different profile than successful BMW sales people because of the varying corporate cultures and client demographics.

Step 2 The SSI or Sales Style Indicator (view sample report)

I don’t do this profile with every candidate but if I have a position to fill it is one of the last tools I use to find who comes closest to the profile I am looking for.  The Sales Style Profile is one of the most comprehensive and consistent tools I have used for profiling and selection.  Unlike a temperament based tools like DISC or Myers Briggs type tests I find it much more accurate (personal opinion and experience) and it’s also less than $50 per assessment.

It is important to note employment law in your region as with some Canadian provinces and some states in America disqualifying a candidate because of personality style can be deemed a violation of the law.  A better way to frame the tool is that you want to understand how they will need to be managed and motivated if they in fact do get the job, the profile itself is not a determinant but a “get to know you tool.”

With that said each short-listed candidate fills out a profile online (it only takes 12 minutes ) and then we can compare and contrast how well they are aligned with the JSI, we can also determine based upon style their orientation to team work and how well they will relate to the style of their future sales manager.

From a leadership perspective when I am coaching or managing a sales team by understanding their Sales Style Profile I can save days or even weeks of effort that it would traditionally take to understand what really motivates individual sales people.

My suggestion is even if you’re a one-person show, this tool can help you improve your sales process and your approach to relating to clients and prospects.

IMPORTANT NOTE: If you manage a sales team of 20+ sales professionals or are a recruiter, I have access to  a limited number of demo or free assessments  that CRG has made available to me for those that want to test them out and compare them to what they’re using now. E-mail me at shane@kbitraining.com to see if you qualify.

I have been on Twitter for a year but actually didn’t start experimenting with it’s reach and impact until September 2008.  Twitter is populated with every kind of thought leader imaginable, it’s also full of a lot of chatter, but most just learn to glaze over that and pick out the good stuff.

I follow on Twitter everyone from Richard Branson to a Buddhist monk and everyone in between.  For the sake of my readers and in the interest of brevity I’m focusing today’s blog entry on my PERSONAL Top 10 Sales and Business Gurus to follow on Twitter and 10 Tips fro Sales Professionals on Using Twitter.

Lets start with who to follow (in no particular order):

Jerimiah Owyang – Forrester Research
Twitter.com/jowyang
Why? – He’s an incredible source of advice on great and not so great social networking behavior, tools, and strategies.

SalesBlogCast
Twitter.com/salesblogcast
Why? – One of the few http://sales.alltop.com guys on twitter they really contribute and carry a good conversation about sales.

Skip Anderson
Twitter.com/skipanderson
Why? – Great updates and information on B to C selling. Skip gets it!

Dave Saunders
Twitter.com/davesaunders
Why? – Easy to use strategies on attracting clients using social media

Jim  Connolly
Twitter.com/Jimconnolly
Why? – He does a lot of good blogging and Twittering about how to use social media and networking to enhance client relationships and networks

Nancy Sutherland
Twitter.com/nancymk
Why? – She updates a lot on what is happening and what is being written about sales and personal development in general.  She’s always uncovering gems on the web.

Peggy McKee
Twitter.com/salesrecruiter
Why? – If you’re looking for sales jobs or a recruiter for medical sales Peggy seems to have a steady stream of opportunities she Tweets about. Also she’s a good source of information and events in the sales vertical.

Steve Jagger
Twitter.com/sjagger
Why? – Steve is a sales professional and successful entrepreneur that got me on twitter and he’s a wealth of knowledge in both sales and social media

Danny Brown
Twitter.com/PressReleasePR
Why? – Danny is great at what he does, using social media to drive grass roots PR for his clients. Watch and learn.

Ian Watt
Twitter.com/Ianwatt
Why? – Ian doesn’t give a lot of advice regarding sales and marketing on Twitter but he’s a great example of a sales person that uses it effectively to drive business.

10 Tips for Sales Professionals on Twitter:

#1) Start by customizing and completing your profile.  It is your digital business card.  People are less likely to follow or communicate with people who use alias’ or who don’t answer the basic questions “What do you do?” and “What do you believe in?”

#2) Just like in offline networking, we need to have the same positive networking ethos and ask the question “How can I help?” when we make a new connection online

#3) Twitter is not a tool for mass marketing, spam, or generic corporate jargon and ad slogans.  You must write like you’re talking to a bunch of friends.  Add value by sharing great ideas, linking to valuable blog posts, and positively encouraging those that you are following or that are following you.

#4) Mix it up.  Your comments should be both person and professional letting people see what you have to offer professionally but also giving them and opportunity to get to really know you personally.  If it’s all business you will likely begin to lose followers or connections quickly.

#5) Bring it offline.  Once you have made the online connection plan a #tweetup or invite them to a Meetup or VIP function.  We get permission to begin the relationship online and the in person meeting helps us take it to the next level. ( You can do this via long distance using Webinars or Ustream as well )

#6) Always say thank-you and give credit where credit is due.

#7) Realize that anything you post can literally be shared in seconds with thousands of people.  Think before you tweet!

#8) Think long term about building a network, and becoming a trusted source of information on your industry, resist tweets about today’s “blue light special” this appeals to very few people.

#9) Encourage people to connect with you via Linkedin and FaceBook, this enables you to expand the context of your relationship and learn more about who is a qualified business prospect.

#10) Social media and networking is about positive conversations, your Twitter Stream should be reflect that through replies to comments and getting involved in dialogue outside of your industry or what you sell.

Remember “Sales is about creating an environment where an act of faith can take place.” This tool isn’t transactional, it’s a trust and brand building tool to help you create that positive environment.

Follow Shane Gibson in Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/shanegibson

You may be a business leader that’s transforming an industry, a teacher who does things differently in the classroom, or a blogger that pours your heart out for the world to see.

Today’s podcast is about you, and how you can tackle this challenge.

- Namaste

Direct File Link to Listen

As most of my stories start, it began with Guinness and good times.  I tipped several pints over several nights with Trevor and Robyn and we formed a friendship.  Eventually I asked Trevor to help me as a Ghost Writer for my book ( later named “Closing Bigger the Field Guide to Closing Bigger Deals”) yet after a few weeks of working with him his in depth of experience as a real crime reporter, Bloomberg business writer, and all around brilliant guy, I asked Trevor if he would be co-author with me instead of just a writer in the background.  At that time I had the first glimpse of this gentle warrior genius and I knew that I wanted to share more adventures, successes and creative moments with him.

It soon came to pass after many months and some great mentoring by people like Dr. Denis Cauvier and my father Bill Gibson that the book was ready for market. Trevor and I liked to celebrate a good day of writing with a a few pints after work.  We calculated that “Closing Bigger” took 386 pints to write. Not bad. We should have had more Guinness and written the sequel too.  All joking aside, in the year we worked together sided by side we forged a great relationship, and for the first time in a very long time I had found a business partner that I could completely trust, COMPLETELY.

So it was with great sorrow and angst ( I hope I hid it well ) that I bid Trevor farewell from the Yaletown brewing company in Vancouver, gave him a big hug (wasn’t something we did normally) and watched him walk out the door.  It’s the last time I witnessed him walk.  He as a reservist turned full time military officer he was heading to Afghanistan to emancipate those without a voice. Trevor dreamed of fresh water, young girls with access to education, and renewing hope for those who had lived under tyranny, ignorance, and war for decades.

Three months later; just before 7:00 am in early March 2006 my phone rang.  The call displayed “Gregory Kirkpatrick” a mutual friend and rugby buddy of Trevor’s and mine from the Vancouver Rowing Club.  I knew it could only be one thing. Trevor Greene.

“Trevor’s been hit in the head, he might not make it, he was ambushed”

I originally thought he had been shot in the head. I later learned that while meeting with some village elders in a small town attempting to find out what rebuilding they needed (schools, infrastructure etc.) he was “Brained, LITERALLY” (as Trevor describes it) with an axe to the head by a deranged young man.  The axe literally chopped part of his skull and brain in half, leaving bone, blood and gray matter on the ground.  They all thought he was dead. The young man that hit him was riddled with bullets and died before he hit the ground. ( You can read more about the incident here )

That morning was for me the lowest emotional point of my life. We had built a friendship, a brotherhood, and a dream together and now it was taken away from me, from him, from Debbie and little Grace.  I woke my wife up sobbing, wailing actually.  I had held people while they died, I even while living in Africa witnessed up close an execution/gun fight in front of the Hard Rock Café in Johannesburg of all places, but nothing in my past compared to this.

I was angry, I should have done more to make him stay.  I should have made him quit.  This angst spread into a low level numbness that lasted months.

Back to Trevor: First he had to stabilize, then they would fly him to a US Military hospital in Germany where they would operate on him.  While I was full of sorrow and a healthy dose of self pity Debbie Lepore, Trevor’s Fiancée was arriving in Germany and about to begin an incredible journey with Trevor.

They told her that he might not live, and if he did, he probably wouldn’t wake up.  If he did wake up, he would be a vegetable.  Debbie simply replied “You don’t know Trevor.”  This would become her mantra. Their mantra.  No one had ever come back from this, there is no medical case history. Once a Doctor told her to put him in long term care and get one with her life. “You don’t know Trevor” she replied

Experts defined: Ex= “a has been” Spirt= “a drip under pressure.” The problem with these people is they attempt to measure the infinite with finite tools.  As much as Trevor’s story is about a hero and a warrior it is one about infinite love and faith.  That cannot be measured by indoctrinated “group thinkers.”

“He will not wake up”
He woke up.
“He will be a vegetable”
He responded and was aware
“He will not talk”
He talked
“He will not survive several bouts of pneumonia”
He healed, he survived
“He will not have use of his limbs, he will not be able to move on his own”
He now can feed himself, he can now push his own wheelchair and sometimes if he’s really motivated he can tip his own beer.
“But he will not walk again.”
YOU DON’T KNOW TREVOR

I visited Trevor and Debbie in the hospital several times when he was in Alberta.  One trip I visited and he according to others was just coming out of a depression of sorts. (I worked with him, and we’re both moody at the best of times!)  I asked him why the positive change? What happened? Why had his progress rapidly increased all of a sudden?

In his own words to me:

I forgave my attacker, you can’t hate and heal at the same time.

Love heals. Love creates abundance. Give what you most want. If you want love, give it. If you want respect, give it. If you want peace, give peace.

In the documentary about Trevor Greene and Debbie Lepore that airs today at 7pm PST on CTV here in Canada (done by an amazing woman Sue Ridout) Trevor answers a question and his answer is something that stuck to me, permeated my being.

The question was “Trevor do you have dreams about what happened?”  Trevor answers “Yes.  I’m in Afghanistan, I’m sitting in the village where I was attacked, I am talking to the boy that attacked me, and I tell him, I’m sorry, I’m sorry that my friend killed you, I was there in uniform in your home, with a weapon.”

Many people think it’s too late to change, to change their lifestyle, to change their habits, to learn new things.   At 41/42 years old Trevor has been able to rewire his brain, retrain his Nero system, and rewire the brains of anyone who is influenced by Trevor and Debbie.

Trevor and Debbie, their story, and their friendship has changed me forever.  I feel blessed to know these two heroes, these two healers.  Some of the lessons that I have been blessed with as a result are:

• Trust your heart not the experts
• One person is a majority not a statistic
• You can’t hate and heal at the same time, so make up your mind
• Love and faith are really great medicine
• See the miracle in every moment you spend with those you love
• Tell them how much they mean to you sooner than later
• With faith, focus, and follow-through anyone can create massive positive change in their life, in their body, and in their community.

==========================================

December 14th Update:

Summary in Macleans Magazine of the Documentary on CTV ( W five )

Video Trevor Greene “Peace Warrior” You can now watch parts of the documentary on CTV.ca

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Managers’ Toolbox

Speaker:	Shane Gibson, President (North America), Knowledge Brokers International Systems Ltd.
Topic:	SELLING AND SUCCEEDING IN TURBULENT ECONOMIC TIMES
	Many sales professionals and entrepreneurs are concerned about how they are going to weather today’s global financial storm. The rules of the game have changed with the meltdown in the banking sector, along with globalization and the introduction of disruptive technologies to almost every industry. Succeeding in turbulent economic times is about proactively taking control of our own personal economy. Shane Gibson, president of Knowledge Brokers International, will share with you strategies to succeed in any economic condition. Fortunes have been made during times of change and economic downturn; sales people and entrepreneurs must develop a tool kit to help us adapt to and succeed in this ever-changing environment. It’s not what happens that defines an event; it’s how we respond to it that matters. This fast-paced session will give attendees the tools, insight and strategies needed to respond to today’s marketplace conditions. You will also learn: How to develop and fine-tune your sales process for any environment; Why the best time to gain market share is in turbulent times; The power of community and connecting; How to use technology to reduce your marketing and sales costs; How and why to swim against economic tides and trends; Tips and steps to maintaining sanity and focus in tough times. About the speaker Shane Gibson is a Vancouver-based international speaker, author of Closing Bigger: The Field Guide to Closing Bigger Deals, and a global entrepreneur who has addressed several thousand people over the past thirteen years. As a trainer, coach and motivational speaker he combines a diverse background in sales force leadership, new entrepreneur development and extensive sales and leadership coaching. Who should attend Business owners, executives in the areas of sales, marketing, business development, sales staff, entrepreneurs and anyone responsible for or part of a team that needs to generate revenues. Presented by The Board’s Small Business Council MAKE IT COUNT The Vancouver Board of Trade’s 2008 Managers’ Toolbox Series qualifies for The Company of Young Professionals Engaged Leadership Certificate Credits. One session = 2 credits. Please refer to http://www.tcyp.ca for further details.
Event#	090722
Date:	Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Time:	Registration: 7:30 a.m. Program: 7:45 – 9:45 a.m.
Location:	The Coast Plaza Hotel & Suites, Stanley Park – Comox Ballroom 1763 Comox Street
Sponsors:	Certified Management Accountants Presented in co-operation with: Small Business BC
Tickets:	Members Individuals $64.00 + GST Register Online Table of 6 $462.00 + GST Register Online Members save at least 30% ! Future Members Individuals $96.00 + GST Register Online Table of 6 $750.00 + GST Register Online Not a member yet? Click here for Membership Benefits!

Don’t Abandon Your Friends. In these crazy economic times, money is on everybody’s minds. While the temptation is to drastically cut back, local businesses can suffer. We’re talking about the nearby restaurant where everyone knows your name, the ‘mom and pop’ coffee bar where you buy your morning paper and coffee, or the little flower shop that makes those great bouquets you love. Remember, just as you don’t want your customers to abandon you, the same holds true for those who rely on your business. These are stressful times and everyone can use the support. Order a less expensive bottle of wine, coffee instead of latte, but show up. We are all connected.

- Darcy, Gayle and Judy

Team Building Made Easy

Do you have new people starting at your organization after Labor Day? Instead of having your new employee introduce him or herself at the next department meeting, have an existing team member do the honors. Connect them up before the meeting. Have your new recruit share enough background info to allow that person to do a Glowing Introduction an interesting and flattering way to sing someone’s praises. It’s a great way to create a bonding experience in your firm.

- Darcy, Gayle and Judy

As a sales person and a motivational speaker I like to move around a lot, and it was to my surprise that I was able to sit and focus for that entire 24 hours.  My goal was $2500 but i think it looks like we raised $1700.00 (unofficial number).

And by the way I mean “we,” kind messages and encouragement from my virtual running mates really helped keep me going.  (Thanks Duane Storey, Rebecca Bollwitt,  Karen Hamilton, Ayeza Garcia, Isabella Mori, Danny Dang, Mehnaz Thawer, INVOKE, Barbara Doduk, TAGGA, Raul and Colleen Vince. you were all awesome)  Then of course the RedBull ( 2 cans…. no Vodka) came out in full force around 4:30 pm today, I was pretty sure if I closed my eyes for a nap I’d be gone.  Gregory Pinch who introduced me to the MSMF and Yam De La Pena who provided comedic relief played a big part too.

What I liked about this event was that it really proves that there can be a real connection socially (for good) online.  I used my e-mail list, facebook connections, meetup friends, and even did a skype podcast with Fred Shadian today while he was on the island.

Keep Blogging!

Become a CMA in British Columbia

Learn about the CMA Designation across Canada

Book Shane Gibson for your next conference

Title: The Career Maker – Relationship Development Skills

This is blogathon entry number 38 for the MSMF Blogathon. Visit this page to learn how you can support this cause.

Many years ago I was a top producing local radio advertising salesperson in the Twin Cities market of Halifax and Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada.

On the East Coast of Canada the harsh winters literally crippled automobile sales. In December, January and February it is not uncommon to have sub-zero temperatures and three snow storms in a month that range from a half metre to a metre and a half of snow. One early November day I called on John Gwynne-Timothy, the new owner of a small car dealership called Twin Cities Plymouth Chrysler. He told me that it did not make good sense to advertise in November, December or January because of the ferocious winters. Chrysler Canada had instructed him to put aside C$100 000 for each of the three winter months, strictly for losses. He was also told to cut back on advertising and save the money for peak season. I could understand their thinking – first you have to find the car under the snow before you can show it that time of year.

“The best time to gain market share is in a down economy” – Bill Gibson

My response to John was that with every adversity there is an opportunity and the best time to gain market share is in a down economy. I added that most of the competitive dealerships would also be cutting back on advertising and the buying of inventory during that period. The advertising noise level in the market place was far less in the winter months. This would make it easier to dominate the market with less spending. The other dealers also were not buying cars at the auctions and it would be the best time to buy.
Here was the strategy:

* He went to the automobile auctions and bought at low, low prices. (If you buy right, you can sell right).
* On Friday afternoons at 4 pm we cleaned out his huge service department and decorated it with colourful streamers, balloons and so on.
* We then brought into the service department many of the especially low-price used cars and new ones.
* On the Friday morning we hit with newspaper and radio advertising – all day Friday and all day Saturday. In the weekly and monthly magazines we advertised the Winter Sale Bonanza Friday and Saturday at Twin Cities Plymouth Chrysler.
* We had live onsite radio announcers and upbeat music playing in the service depart-ment on the weekends and we sold cars until 9 pm on Friday and Saturday.

The final result was that Gwynne-Timothy profited C$100 000 per month in December, January and February. He budgeted for a C$300 000 loss and instead made C$300 000. In actuality, he was C$600 000 ahead.

“You can gain market share in a tough economy if you take control of your own economy”

In February, the competition eventually tried to counter attack – after laughing at him for what they thought was a waste of advertising money in December and January – but it was too late. He already had momentum. This momentum carried over to peak months from March to October with astronomical sales. He had gained huge market share in the down months that positively impacted the best months.

Within a year Gwynne-Timothy sold his small dealership for a huge profit and bought the largest Ford dealership in Atlantic Canada. Today he is a multimillionaire, simply by being innovative and proactive in a down economy – in Canada during the winter months. The following graph shows that 20% of a smaller market can be larger than 10% of a big market. It is easier to gain market share in a down economy.

A few years later, as a consultant in Canada, I had another client named Terry Straker. At the top of the economy he was grossing C$200 000 a month with his bedding and bedroom furniture stores in Calgary, Alberta. The country went into a recession and competition got stiffer. Eighteen months later, at the bottom of the economy, Terry grossed over C$1 million in one month – a 400% increase.

How did he do it? He got innovative and aggressive. He knew cash was king so he negotiated hard when buying. He then increased his advertising in the right mediums that targeted his market. Through research he knew the best days and best weeks to advertise. He increased sales training to twice a week. He tied in with charities and ran innovative promotions.

Straker once ran a promotion called Mr Money, where he dressed his brother up in a Mr Money outfit, and on Friday he announced to the media that Mr Money was dropping C$5 000 from the roof of his biggest store on Saturday. The plan was to drop C$500 an hour in small bills for 10 hours. Ten thousand people showed up and he got massive publicity. He had the biggest day ever. The reason is that in a down economy people want money.

He used endless creative traffic building ideas. Among them was a promotion with Salvatore (Sal) Stallone, Sylvester Stallone’s brother. Rocky II had just opened in the theatres.

“At the bottom of the economy, Terry grossed over C$1 million in one month – a 400% increase”

Even though the economy was down, Terry increased his sales by 400%. I acknowledge that, yes, with the new credit act, increased interest rates, hikes in petrol and electricity prices and the power crisis there could be tighter times ahead for many businesses in South Africa.

The solution is to believe you can gain market share in a tough economy if you take control of your own economy and get creative, innovative and pro-active. Do not wait for others or external factors to do it for you. Take control.

About Bill Gibson

Bill Gibson lives in South Africa and is the chairperson of Knowledge Brokers International SA (Pty) Ltd. He is the author of the book Boost your business in any economy, and the writer and developer of several sales, marketing and entrepreneurial training systems.  Bill Gibson can be reached at +27 11 784 1720 or info@kbitraining.com

This is blogathon entry number 36 for the MSMF Blogathon. Visit this page to learn how you can support this cause.

How has HR changed over the past 10 years?

HR has changed dramatically over the past decade. Some of the more significant changes are: demographics changes including the aging workforce and declining birth rates in most developed nations and at the same time exploding birth rates in most developing nations; the emergence of four distinctly different age groups working at the same time; the global nature of business with massive mergers and acquisitions as well as outsourcing of labour; plus technological advances affecting the need for skills and knowledge upgrading; the proliferation of internet recruiting, flexible HR policies, employment branding; plus an unprecedented talent and skills shortage that will continue in many countries for the next two decades.

What is the key to pre-screening and selecting the right people for a team?

The quick answer is to “pre-screen for competency and select for character”. What this means is that the entire pre-screening process should focus on answering the fundamental question, “does the person possess the necessary skills, knowledge and experience to do the job?” In other words, are they competent (able) to do the job? Once you are satisfied that the applicant possesses the requisite abilities then the selection process begins. It is here that you need to “select” the best candidate in terms of best fit with the company. To do this you must focus your energies on examining the person’s character which is made up of their attitude, and personality. The most insightful part of the selection process is the face-to-face interview.

What are some of the main reasons that some sales people are successful and others are not?

Contemporary wisdom suggests that the key to successful selling lies within the sales person’s skills, knowledge and selling techniques. Although I agree that these issues are all important, I believe that the single biggest contributor to selling success is the person’s attitude. Their attitude entails many elements, such as their attitudes: towards themselves in the role of professional selling, their attitude as it relates towards the selling process; their attitude towards the company they represent, the products and services they offer their attitudes toward their customers, and their team-mates. These attitudes will ultimately determine their level of selling success.

As a respected authority on customer retainment as well, how is it possible to turn a one-time buyer into a life-time customer?

People the world over complain to me that there is no customer loyalty and that a client will change suppliers to save even a tiny bit of money. I feel this is an over-simplification of the issue. Yes, people are always seeking bargains, but at the end of the day it’s value for money that will win out. I don’t believe that a company has to be the lowest priced provider; rather they need to fully understand the needs of their clients and then exceed the customer’s expectations. This is done by investing in client relationship building, having highly skilled and knowledgeable, sales, and customer service professionals, and constantly seeking ways to improve the life and or business of your clients. By adopting this “imbedded partnership mindset” you will become the supplier of choice for your key accounts.

In your best-selling book “the ABCs of Making Money”, what are some of the strategies that ordinary people can implement to create extraordinary wealth?

Actually, the answer to this question lies within the title of my book; it’s what I refer to as the “ABCs” approach and is doable by anyone who has the desire to succeed and is prepared to put the effort in. It all starts with adopting the right attitudes. By understanding the attitudes of successful, wealthy people, and then engaging in highly effective day to day behaviours (such as living within your means, investing your money at an early age, develop critical skills in the areas of selling, communicating, negotiating and priority management; and finally applying the principles of creating money by owning your business and developing numerous sources of passive income… the idea of earning money even while I sleep is very appealing to me!

This is blogathon entry number 33 for the MSMF Blogathon. Visit this page to learn how you can support this cause.

The Board has helped me grow my personal network, increase my personal leadership capacity and even after several years as a  member I now see an endless flow of new business coming in from referrals and opportunities at the Board.

Fiona’s question is: “What qualities of a successful leader are also shared by successful sales people?”

Answer: Due to 18 hours of typing (my hands are a bit stiff) I will be answering this in audio or podcasting format! But here’s the coles notes version:

1. Vision
2. Influence
3. Networking Skills
4. Coaching and Mentoring Skills
5. Teaching and Training Skills

This is blogathon entry number 31 for the MSMF Blogathon. Visit this page to learn how you can support this cause.

This podcast is on how to run effective sales meetings.

This is blogathon entry number 30 for the MSMF Blogathon. Visit this page to learn how you can support this cause.

Dear Shane,

What advice could you give to employers that are seeking to hire top sales performers in what is still an employees’ job market (especially when we refer to top sales producers)?

Dear Minto: There are several factors that we need to look at when recruiting top performing sales people.  The first step in my opinion is to:

Write up a complete description of the type of sales job it is, including the following:

1. Amount of phone selling, cold calling, proposal writing, group presentations.
2. Geographical area
3. Amount of travel
4. Amount of time away from home
5. Level of independence
6. Hours expected to work
7. Work culture of the company
8. Reporting and paper work expected
9. Client entertainment factor
10. Type of customers or potential customers
11. Level of acceptance by the customer in reference to
    • the company
    • the products and service
    • the industry
12. Level of selling
    • Product/service focused
    • Relationship marketing focused
    • Customer and solution focused.
13. Size of average sale
14. Length of the selling cycle and any other important factors you can think of.
15. Trade show selling and seminar selling etc.

With the above job description in mind, carefully describe the characteristics, behaviors, values, skills, experience and abilities you require in this person.

Secondly realize that top producers are rarely ever unemployed.  Being in the recruiting business you know that top producers are constantly being courted for other job positions.  My suggestion is hire in advance, network where these producers work and play, and even offer finders fees to your own internal sales team if they find you a winner.

My last thought is winners like to win, and they like to win quick.  If you’re recruiting top performers you better have a sales opportunity and a process that enables them to hit home runs early.  Showing up to a disorganized sales environment with no sales process or culture is something that will quickly repel most top producers.

Thanks again Minto for your contribution to the MSMF Blogathon!

This is blogathon entry number 28 for the MSMF Blogathon. Visit this page to learn how you can support this cause.

This is blogathon entry number 21 for the MSMF Blogathon. Visit this page to learn how you can support this cause.

In helping people set effective goals we need to be to answer yes to the following questions:
• Is the goal S.M.A.R.T?
• Does the goal inspire them?
• Have you connected or aligned it with their values?

S.M.A.R.T Goals

The S.M.A.R.T acronym for goal setting has been used for decades and it’s still one of the best formulas I have seen. S.M.A.R.T goals are as follows:

Specific – the goal is focused
Measurable – there are benchmarks and metrics in place to measure progress and confirm success
Achievable – based upon the individual’s assets, skills, attitudes and behviours the goal is achievable
Realistic – Considering all of the factors influencing the goal is it plausible it will be achieved or are we setting this person up for failure?
Timely – set a specific time for completion (there are no unrealistic goals only unrealistictimelines)

Inspiring
“Have a goal so big that it scares your neighbours”

When helping people set goals try not to make them too safe. We don’t want goals that far outpace someones self-concept but we also want goals that make them stretch and keep them up at night (or more importantly out of bed early and excited).

The word inspiring actually comes from the Latin word Inspiro which means to breath upon. to breath into… to put the spirit within. As mentors if we are to inspire others and pit the spirit within them we must first be inspired ourselves. Be passionate and excited when helping people set goals.

Values Alignment

When developing goals it is important to put them through the “values test” to make sure that the goals were are helping them set will help them feel on purpose while striving toward them.

One approach to doing this is to simply list all of the core activities, people, and daily disciplines associated with the goal and then compare them with the mentee’s values. If 70% or more of the activities and disciplines fulfill their core values then chances are the goal will be an energizing, pleasurable thing for them to work toward. If it is less than 70% it is suggested you help them build a new path to the goal or find a new goal that satiate their core values and drivers.

This is blogathon entry number 20 for the MSMF Blogathon. Visit this page to learn how you can support this cause. Also if you live in Vancouver please check out the Vancouver Board of Trade’s Leaders of Tomorrow Mentorship Program.

Too many organizations invest heavily in recruitment yet fail to retain star performers because they lack a thorough plan and process for starting their people right and continuing to develop them. Winners want to win quickly; hire a winner and you have to have the tools and mentorship program in place to help them win.

Furthermore winners leave when there’s no more challenge or personal or professional growth opportunities. When recruiting University Graduates one interesting statistic to note is that “More than 60% of college and graduate students listed mentoring as a criterion for selecting an employer after graduation” (MMHA)

In a recent study of 3000 companies done by Accenture Analytics and 18 other organizations globally found that the top 25% of companies in multiple industries as compared to the bottom 25% were those organizations that had significantly more mature and effective human resource development plans with strong leadership and mentorship development components in those plans. The bottom-line is mentorship and people development makes a difference to your bottom line.

The need for mentorship is particularily true for the millenial generation or generation Y.  This demographic tends not be of the live to work mentality.  They don’t just talk about “balanced lifestyle” like their boomer parents did, they put lifestlye first and see work as a tool to support that lifestyle.  Recent studies also show that without mentorship Generation Y is not equipped with the contrast between their sheltered (and good for them by the way!) upbringing and the realities of the work-force and the demand of society financially, socially, and otherwise.

Having a solid mentoring process along with training, personal development and a good dose of entertainment can help retain the up and coming star players of tomorrow.

This is blogathon entry number 19 for the MSMF Blogathon. Visit this page to learn how you can support this cause. Also if you live in Vancouver please check out the Vancouver Board of Trade’s Leaders of Tomorrow Mentorship Program.

This may not seem like a big deal but what we’re losing is the tradition of connection between our elders or mentors and the next generation. What’s lost here are the high impact tidbits of tacit knowledge, the street smart lessons, insights learned in the school of life, values, access to the mentors resources and networks, and opportunity to learn the often untold principles of success that aren’t taught in University or found online. In all of it’s glory it’s too easy to hop onto the web and get an answer (who writes that stuff anyway?). But it’s about using the information and sifting through what is relevant and what is not. The very personal exchange that occurs through mentorship and even connecting with our peers is lost. The information age has spawned the disinformation age. Try weeding through and verifying the facts you find on one of the 9 billion WebPages indexed by Google and MSN.

As mentors and leaders this knowledge and ability we have comes with a responsibility. We believe strongly that if members of our community can share the roadmaps they have discovered and experienced, along with their insights from these journeys be it for business, personal, marital or spiritual success and through sharing this insight by investing as little as a couple hours a month the difference that can be made in many lives will be massive. Doing this within our community, including the chance to increase our shared prosperity will build the kind of high impact legacy we can all be proud of.

This is blogathon entry number 18 for the MSMF Blogathon. Visit this page to learn how you can support this cause.  Also if you live in Vancouver please check out the Vancouver Board of Trade’s Leaders of Tomorrow Mentorship Program.

The Role of Mentorship provides an important role in the development of global socio-economic infrastructures. It provides critical capacity building support and opportunity for entrepreneurs, corporate executives and government officials and leaders in creating long term stability and competitiveness for nations and their economies. Mentorship in the areas such as fine arts, sciences, and the not for profit sector is paramount to improving and sustaining the quality of our lives as a whole. Building capacity is means strengthening and increasing insight, ability and talents, as well as visioning and implementation and execution skills in a specific discipline or disciplines. For instance Vancouver’s economy boasts a strong, growing high tech sector but still has only begun to tap its global potential.

This is largely attributed to capacity gaps in marketing technologies and distributing them on a broader platform. In order to increase the capacity to grow and export Vancouver’s technology base and applications, building the sector’s mentorship capacity and resources can help the key entrepreneurs, executives and innovators within the local technology sectors meet their full global market potential. Mentorship can provide a prospective road map from someone else who has walked the path before – like an entrepreneur who taken a tech company from 12 employees in a basement apartment to 500 employees and a listing on the TSE with global distribution.

Typically, however, the steps, pitfalls, and challenges aren’t well documented traditionally; they’re taught, and modeled by mentors and leaders and passed on to their protégées and partners. Its a proven fact that the higher mentorship capacity levels you have and the higher the quality of mentorship in your community the higher capacity economically, environmentally, and socially you will have. Unlike traditional education environments, corporate training programs and courses, mentorship is a very personalized form of support and transferring knowledge. It is primarily based on a specific relationship between two people and at times between an individual or group of individuals or advisors. [This is the first post of a two post series on this topic Click Here to Read Part 2]

This is blogathon entry number 17 for the MSMF Blogathon. Visit this page to learn how you can support this cause.

Over the past couple of years I have found that there is another way one could look at our definition.  “Sales is about creating an environment where an act of faith can take place .”  The first enviroment we need to create so an act of faith can take place is within us.

Faith is a belief, and intense belief.  We first must be able to truly visualize ourself succeeding and wholly believe in that picture.  World class athletes from skiers, to ice skaters to rowers at the Olympic level use visualization as a tool for mentally preparing themselves to win.  The difference between Gold and Bronze in giant slalom is usually less than .5 seconds.  With all of these skiers basically around the same weight, level of fitness and level of training it eventually boils down to a mental game.

There are many factors that effect our ability to intensely believe that we can win (some of them we will discuss in future blog entries and podcasts) but here’s the shortlist

Self-Esteem and Self-Worth: A sense of our own value and ability based upon mutliple belief structures

Training: Repeated feedback and on-going progress offers proof of success and mental conditioning

Self-talk: The constant dialogue we have with ourselves, the questions we ask, and we respond mentally to what happens to us impacts this as well.

External Models of Possibility: Mentors, Leaders, and other performers that we can model our strategy after assists us in seeing what is possible.

Association: Once again, who we associate with on a regular basis will impact our standards and our concept of what is possible (Olympians tend to train with Olympians).

So before we put our “out-side world” plan together for success we need to make sure that we have put together a solid internal plan for mental and emotional fortitude.  The bottom-line is that our business development plans must have a personal development plan connected to them if we’re going to perform at our best.

This is blogathon entry number 16 for the MSMF Blogathon. Visit this page to learn how you can support this cause.

We were talking about heros, warriors and winners.  Fred Shared this with me:

When a hero plateaus it’s usually because they have not accepted their calling

This is such a powerful quote.  When we plateau, greatness is before us but we’re at that place (the rut as some refer to it) and it’s because we haven’t fully embraced our mission.

ANSWER YOUR CALLING

Here’s come of what Steve had to say:

Vendors: How to Lose the Business
Sep 6th, 2007 by impactiviti

If you’re a vendor, there are lots of ways to lose business opportunities. Here, some free advice on how to make sure your proposal remains at the bottom of the stack at decision time:

1. Don’t ask questions to try to clarify, and draw out, what the client really wants and needs. Just slam out that proposal and cross your fingers that you hit the mark.

2. When you cut-and-paste from prior proposals that you’ve submitted to other companies, be sure that you leave the wrong company name in once or twice. Also, bad grammar and misspellings are recommended to help assure the client that you are, indeed, detail-oriented.

Read the rest of the article at Impactiviti:

Shane Gibson.

Shane Gibson is the author of Closing Bigger the Field Guide to Closing Bigger Deals and President of Knowledge Brokers International Systems Ltd. a leading sales performance and leadership development organization. Shane divides his time between his entrepreneurial projects, speaking at major conferences and mentoring salespeople and entrepreneurs.

Quick Links:

Sales Training Canada
Sales
Training South Africa
Sales Training Boot Camps Vancouver
Complete Sales Action System
Managing Complex Business
Relationships System

I often work with clients, coaching and mentoring them through a large deal. At the end of the sales cycle; and I mean the “bitter end.” I sometimes get the question “What happened?”

“My price was right, we’re superior to the other guys in deployment and technology…why did he stop returning my calls? Why did they go with someone else?”

In several cases recently the answer to “why?” was the would be big deal closer didn’t get it. They got the features, advantages and benefits of their solution. They even identified client needs, pains and specific outcomes desired. What they didn’t get…which was the deal killer…was the person and what approach, type of communication, and behavior was appropriate with the prospect or prospects.

It boils down to “Emotional Intelligence” and presence. Sometimes it’s the little things and sometimes it’s one big mistake. It can be an off color joke, aggressive hand shaking that physically shocks the prospect, excessively loud talking, or crossing boundaries (often not even knowing they were there).

People can get the buying language and think they’re “in”. Their prospect Robert is positive, his head is nodding, he’s asking questions about payment terms. Then the sales person moves into his personal space, puts their hand on his shoulder and calls the prospect Bob. Sounds minor I know, but Bob may feel that the sales person is getting too personal and assuming that the relationship is somewhere it isn’t, he may even feel that he is being closed. Bob then pulls back physically, brings up some great objections to slow the sales person down and then taps on his watch… “Send me a revised quote”, he says…and that was the last of Bob.

Deals crumble when we’re unaware of personality styles, values, and cultural nuances. Be just as detailed with the relationship as you are with the mechanics and details of the deal. The relationship is the deal.

Shane Gibson is President of Knowledge Brokers International Systems Ltd. and author of Closing Bigger the Field Guide to Closing Bigger Deals and High Impact Mentorship – The Transformational Mentor’s Field Guide. e-mail shane@kbitraining.com or call 604-331-4471

In our business Trevor Greene and I use what he calls
“battle procedure” for planning and goal setting.  The core success factor in
effective battle procedure planning is a goal or vision that is sharpened to a
fine point.

Just before the launch of our book we determined what the
vision for Closing Bigger was in 18 months from now.  Once that vision was
crystallized we began to plan backwards toward today.

For us crystallized means a goal that is S.M.A.R.T.  Most
people reading this will know what that is but as a point of reference SMART
goals are as follows:

• Specific
• Measurable
• Attainable
• Realistic
• Timely

This SMART Vision enabled us to track back to 12 months, 6
months, 3 months and eventually tomorrow, creating a sense of urgency and
importance.  By setting the SMART Vision and working back to the key benchmarks
we added urgency, and meaning to everyday on the way including today.

Too often people set “nice” easily achievable goals for
this month that are loosely connected to where they want to go in 18 months or
10 years from now.  Then they wonder why they aren’t inspired to do it.

Do it with the whole team, be accountable to each other,
and do it in the “battle procedure format.”  It will help you keep a sense of
urgency and it will help you know when you have to charge the hill.

Shane Gibson

http://www.closingbigger.com

shane@closingbigger.com