The Poetry Portal Net

There are several types and sub types of people in the world. Getting to understand the differences will help you connect with other people.
This is taught in sales 101, because the need to connect with the people to make the sale.

However if we realize that we are always selling ourselves to others for cooperation and mutual benefit, it goes a long way to greater understanding and connection.

Dr. Tony Alessandra, noted that we need to take
the golden rule of “Do on to others as you would like to be done onto.” And move that one step further to
the platinum rule “Do on to others as they would like you to do unto them.”

It is important to remember that we all have different likes, dislikes and ways of doing things. Just because we like one way or style of doing something, does not mean that the other person will like or even respond to that style.

This is why it is important to find out what the other person’s interested are. We can ask open-ended questions to discover their likes and dislikes. For example, who, what, when and why are open-ended questions. Did, have and are are closed ended questions that can result in yes / no answers that end the conversation.

One of the fastest ways to really annoy someone is to stereo type or label.
Don’t assume that every man likes sports or that every woman wants to know toilet training techniques. The man many be more interested in geology or fashion design. The woman may be more interested in space travel or quantum physics.

There are also the differences in cultures and societies. How we do things in one country can be very different in another. It is very important to stay away from the dualities of:

Right / Wrong
Good / Bad

They are different and it is the differences that have helped develop and move the world forward. With the technology today, we are interacting at an accelerated rate and the exchange of information and different ways of looking at issues has enabled the world to have some amazing breakthroughs and discoveries.

If we were all the same the world would collapse. Imagine if everyone wanted to be or do the same things. For example if everyone wanted to be a doctor, what would we do for teachers, scientist, engineers, tailors, bakers, bankers, investors, construction workers, farmers, counselors, writers, programmers etc. The list goes on and on.

The point is, the more important it is to get your message across and to have satisfied customers or clients, the more important it is to understand who your audience is and what their likes and dislikes are.

When you take the time to discover the other person, you can open yourself to an amazing world of wonder and delight.

All the Best!
Maria Boomhower
The Master Communicator
To sign up for a free report on “The 7 Secrets to Communication Mastery” go to:
http://www.falconfreedom.com
Master Communicator Blog

P.S. If you like what you’re reading in this
newsletter, you’ll love the book,
“Perceptions, How to discover what you are really seeing and how it affects your belief system.”
It’s an interactive manual that takes you through the steps to help
you overcome
challenges in communicating and connecting with others.

Perceptions-Understanding What you are Really Seeing.

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No sales force can truly be considered a “best practice” unless it meets the test of measurement. If the ‘practice’ works, you should be able to visualize, define, and measure the results. There is no easier way to prove the ‘measurement’ theory than with sales.

In the past 15 years, strategic management has focused more and more on measurement. Strategic management was revolutionized in the early 1990’s by Drs. Robert Kaplan (Harvard Business School) and David Norton when they created their measurement system, the ‘balanced scorecard’. Other approaches adhere to the same rule of accountability by recognizing some of the weaknesses and vagueness of earlier management approaches.

Measurement provides a clear prescription as to what companies in all areas, from sales to marketing should measure in order to reach their financial goal. You often hear the expression in sales, ‘what gets measured gets done’, but in recent years I have expanded this statement to, ‘what gets measured by the individual, creates accountability and therefore gets done’.

For instance, as a sales manager you may give your sales force a specific sales target, a measurement if you will. At the end of the month or quarter if the sales person did not reach that target, you may question them on it. Chances are you have heard every variable and excuse in the book; ‘Our product or service has no name brand recognition’, ‘Our product was too expensive’, ‘I cannot get anyone to meet with me’. Giving the sales force a ‘target’ or a measurement, still leaves a window of accountability. In fact, what gets measured still may not get done.

Measurement alone is not enough to create accountability. You also need a commitment or buy in from the sales person. Commitment is internally motivated while compliance is external. Compliance is following a rule, commitment is something you believe in. If you empower your sales force to create their own set of measurements, they are going to be more motivated to meet them. Often when measurements or targets are instituted and monitored by someone else, the responsibility can easily be diffused to other external forces.

There are various ways to create accountability and commitment in a sales force. For example, in the weekly sales meeting, you can ask your sales person to quantify each and every prospect and opportunity in his or her sales cycle. If they are given a target of X amount, ask them to determine the number of appointments they will need to reach that goal, take it a step further by asking them to determine the amount of calls needed each day and week to make the specified number of appointments. Once they have created their own set of measurements, ask them to rate each prospect. Which ones have a greater chance of closing? Why?

Accountability and ownership is the first step in establishing legitimate return measures. With systematic assessment and ongoing evaluation, an individual can become more and more committed to reaching his or her own personal goals.

Copyright 2005 Thomas Baskind

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If you want to be a great sales person stop trying to sell so hard and start trying to make friends, have fun and build relationships with your prospects. That is not to say that I am somehow advising you to be fake or use trickery to trigger emotional responses in order to close more sales.

Rather I am suggesting that you take a little advice from the book; “What They Don’t Teach You at Harvard Business School” and consider winning friends and influencing people by understanding who they are and where they are coming from. Getting to know them on a personal basis and what they really desire in their companies and lives.

The negative stigma, which goes with the job title of salesman or salesperson now, is incredibly disserving considering the as Zig Ziglar says; Nothing happens until someone sells something.

Without sales people nothing would ever get done and businesses would have a tough time growing indeed. So, often we hear the word sales person and we think of a stockbroker, used car sales person or some other salesman and often we do not have good thoughts that come up; but why?

You see we need sales people and if you will commit yourself to a professional sales career then perhaps you can break the mold and stereotype and become a problem solver and relationship builder? Consider all this in 2006.

“Lance Winslow” - Online Think Tank forum board. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; http://www.WorldThinkTank.net/wttbbs/

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