Effective Opening Sales Conversations - Episode 2

Review of Action Items from Episode 1

Your assignment two weeks ago was to think about what you are saying in your opening sales statement or conversation now. Do your words/tone/body language/delivery/sincerity help people, and remember-they are people, to think

1. He/She is telling me the truth? 2. He/She cares about me? 3. He/She can and will help me?

How did you do?

In this episode you will learn additional steps in perfecting an effective opening sales conversation.

Remember back when you were in English class? You wrote a short story and were told in no uncertain terms "Show don't tell!" In your opening sales conversations are you telling people that you are telling the truth as in:

"...our corporate mission statement is based on trust and integrity..." "...we pride ourselves on open communication with our customers..." or do you show you are telling the truth like Tom did when he said: "Hello, my name Tom Smith and I would love to sell you our product!"

Your next mission, after having shown that you are telling the truth, like Tom did, is to show you care. In Episode one of Effective Opening Sales Conversations we ended by saying that you would be able to use this: "Thank you for calling XYZ investment corporation, where your financial future is our life. This is Mary. How may I direct your call?"

to help you show that you care.

Before we say

"Hello, my name Tom Smith and I would love to sell you our product!

We might want to say,

"Well thanks for answering Mary of XYZ Investment Corporation, where my financial future is your life" (pause here for amused chuckle, we hope!) and I don't know if you need to direct my call or to who. You see, my name Tom Smith and I would love to sell you our product!"

How do you demonstrate that you care about someone? You use the other person's name. You actively listen to what the other person has to say well enough to paraphrase it back to them. And maybe, if you are good at it, you use a little Dorky humor.

How many of you have been the screener or gatekeeper? In days of yore, a huge brokerage firm that shall remain nameless, and has as its symbol a male bovine, used to have its rookie brokers, before they were licensed, cover the switchboard. This was a wonderful practice cutting a few huge egos down to size and it very quickly taught the rookies how the place worked.

What have you demonstrated to your sales coach (the receptionist/gatekeeper) who knows more about your possible future customer than the CFO? That you care about her, somewhat, and she (usually a her) That you are listening You are telling the truth You don't take yourself too seriously. You did all of this by showing, not telling, and you did it in about sixteen seconds.

Now "My name Tom Smith and I would love to sell you our product!" probably won't end up being what we say-it's a little raw. What about something like.

"My name is Tom Smith, from Super Genius Computers, and I am calling to sell you our wonderful computer system designed especially for retail brokerage companies, So your computer never crashes again, and I become so rich I actually need your services."

A word of caution. You might actually make calls for a business, a good business or you wouldn't be calling for them, that has a bad rap. Or your business type might be bombarding your market with calls. In that case your opening statement would be

"My name is Tom Smith and I am calling to sell you our wonderful computer system designed especially for retail brokerage companies, So your computer never crashes again, and I become so rich I actually need your services."

We coach a lot of people who sell financial services and insurance products as part of helping their customers. Sometimes their potential customers are so inundated with calls that if they hear the word "financial" or the word "insurance" they hang up mentally and many times physically.

Would we always identify ourselves? Yes. If you are not on the do not call list, think about the calls you get at home from dodgy businesses.

Don't they all start something like. "I'd like to speak to Mr. Smith." Why? Because if they said "This is Joe the bad sales person from cdf sleazy marketing company," you would immediately say no thanks "adios!"

If you are not so proud of yourself and your company that you won't shout who you are and why you are calling from the rooftops, you should change who you are and get a different line of work.

Next episode will cover a few more openings-those parts of the opening sales conversation that gain interest, especially a few in heavily regulated industries like stocks and bonds. Why? Because in those industries you want to make sure you are not trying to sell anything on your initial call, or even give the appearance of selling something.

And we will teach you how to show that you can and will help your future customer.

Action Items: Perfecting an effective opening sales conversation

1. Prove to yourself that you show your customers you tell the truth in your first few words. 2. Prove to yourself that you show your customers you care about them through your first few words-hint: Have you said something to them or responded to them in a way that told them that you were paying attention to what they said either on the phone or over the desk or on their website, advertising, or collateral material?

Until next time, thanks for reading and happy selling!

Smart Leaders Encourage And Thank

No leader is a world unto himself. In order to be successful, he needs to get others involved, by motivating them, making them feel comfortable, encouraging them in a positive proactive manner, and overtly showing his appreciation for whatever assistance or involvements others partake in. Great leaders realize that they can't do everything themselves, and that only through a concerted effort to get others involved, can they get their desired results. Andrew Carnegie put this phenomenon this way, "No person will make a great business who wants to do it all himself or get all the credit."

1. True leaders must be superb trainers and teachers, and patiently take others by the hand, and show them how to lead, why to lead, and what the commitment of leadership is really all about. While this may sound like a humanitarian and caring gesture by the leader, which it most assuredly generally is, leaders must perform these functions for fulfillment of their personal goals for their organization, and to assure a continuum for a prolonged period of able leadership, that is capable of guiding an organization into the future. After more than thirty years of involvement in nearly all aspects of leadership, leadership training, and leadership consulting, to well over a thousand leaders and potential leaders, I have witnessed most of the pitfalls leaders stumble upon, and derived methods to overcome these obstacles, and achieve leadership greatness. There is nothing as essential than for a leader to utilize the assistance of others, and to make sure these people are trained, able, skilled, proficient, and comfortable with authority. It is equally important that a leader differentiate the difference between counting someone who merely says he is ready, as opposed to someone who is actually both ready and willing to act and perform productively and efficiently.

2. Far too many people who ascend to leadership positions do so for the wrong reasons. Perhaps the most damaging trait for someone in leadership is to permit himself to be ego- driven, and require constant appreciating and compliments. Great leaders must never prioritize or consider their need to be given credit, but rather are the first ones to always share the credit, by thanking others for their participation and assistance. Great leaders invariable refer to their supporting cast as their team, and always accept compliments and credit for their team's efforts, rather than trying to make it appear like it was only them.

Leaders must always emphasize gratitude to others, and overtly show thanks and appreciation. Grateful leaders are always the greatest ones.

Selecting the Right Hedge Trimmer

If homeowners want their yards to look very professional, only a single option comes to mind. The yard must be very trimmed and primped. Mowing the yard is an obvious task to complete, but there is a lesser known trick that also works beautifully. If the bushes in a yard have leaves going out in all directions, in no way is that a professional, clean-looking yard. A person would need to get out their hedge trimmer and groom the bushes.

There are three main types of hedge trimmers, human-powered, electric, and tractor mounted. A human-powered hedge trimmer is the most primitive form of this tool The user must use all their strength to move this giant pair of scissors. It is very difficult to do fine-tuning with these shears.

The next kind is the electric version, which is the most popular by far. They can be powered either by electricity or gasoline. They are less environmentally-friendly, but they require a lot less work than the manual types. They are also a lot more powerful.

The third kind of hedge trimmer is the tractor mounted. The tractor mounted hedge trimmers are used more on large-scale agriculture. A common application of tractor mounted trimmers are in the wine making business. These are used on small tractors that cut down the grape vines. The grapes can then be harvested for wine.

The use of hedge trimmers is not very difficult; however, there are tips that can make using them a lot easier. With manual ones, the user cannot try to cut a branch too large for the shears. If the branch is too big, the shears will just dig into the branch and get stuck. This may cause frustration on the user's part.

With electric trimmers, safety is a concern. These trimmers are very strong and could easily rip through a limb. Also, with leaves and branches being cut off, appropriate eye protection is required. The last thing the user needs is to get parts of a hedge in their eyes. The user should check the cord before operating the trimmer to make sure it is not frayed or damaged. A frayed cord could lead to electric shock.

The tractor mounted trimmers are the most complicated to use of the types of hedge trimmers. A user should be certified before using a tractor mounted trimmer.

Amaryllis of Hawaii Loves To Cook "Recipes for Life"

Amaryllis of Hawaii loves to cook and prepare parties and entertain for others. It can be dinner for two or a party for fifty. She can handle. Her adventures in the kitchen began at about age twelve. She was asked to peel an onion once at a friend's house. She didn't know how, but she learned fast.

Over the years she has been very receptive to learning about the culinary arts. She loves the joy of cooking and the beautiful presentation of food. Amaryllis enjoys reading cookbooks & browsing through magazines for recipes & ideas. She saves them in her dream books of future possibilities. It's so important to visualize and believe in the possibilities. If you can imagine and believe something possible, you can achieve it.

So dream it up, whatever you wish, and find images or recipes to make it happen. Look at them often to surround yourself with stimulating ideas and beauty in your subconscious mind. When people tell Amaryllis they don't know how to cook, she thinks, my God, all you have to know is the basics of cooking to make wonderful meals creatively and easily. What we eat defines so much about us. Our culture and lifestyle are expressed by the way we prepare our food. People are so busy taking care of business that many seem to lose the joy of cooking, opting for fast foods when homemade is so much better. There are so many ways to learn, we can all become chefs at home.

http://www.amaryllisofhawaii.com

The Yellow Footed Rock Wallaby

The Yellow Footed Rock Wallaby, Petrogale xanthopus, is probably the prettiest of all the Wallabies. It has a coat of yellow, brown, white and black. This animal's colouring is good camouflage when it is at home on its rocks in the arid interior of Australia. Unfortunately, it was also in demand for fur coats, and many of these inoffensive animals were killed.

Size

Wallabies are smaller than Kangaroos. (This is leaving out such animals as the Tree Kangaroos and the Rat Kangaroos). The Yellow Footed Rock Wallaby is generally between 6 and 12 Kilograms (13 - 26 pounds) in weight. It can be about 60 centimetres (2 feet) high.

Diet

The Yellow Footed Rock Wallaby eats grasses and other plants. It will also eat some tree and shrub leaves. The feet have excellent grip on the rocks and the animal can even climb trees with sloping trunks. This allows it to get some of the higher branches. It will also eat bark if nothing better is available.

Water

This Wallaby needs to drink, but its water requirements are fairly low. Generally, a colony needs to be within about 5 Kilometres of a water source.

Heat Tolerant

The areas it comes from are hot in the daytime, especially in the summer. At the hottest time of the year. This Wallaby becomes nocturnal. It spends the day in shade on its rocky outcrop and goes onto the plain to eat during the day. When the weather is cooler, it will eat at the going down of the sun and in the morning, and only avoid the hottest part of the day.

Predators

The main native predator of the Yellow Footed Rock Wallaby was the Wedge Tailed Eagle, but evidence seems to suggest that Wallabies have never been an important part of their diet. Goannas may also eat the occasional Wallaby. The other predators are introduced animals. The first one was the Dingo. This was introduced as a domestic Dog several thousand years ago; it became feral. More recently, the Europeans have introduced Foxes for recreational hunting. Cats are also a problem.

The Biggest Threat

The Biggest threat to this animal is the feral Goats. These eat the food of the Wallabies. In areas where the Goats are controlled the Wallabies are doing reasonable well.

Vulnerable

Although this animal is only listed as vulnerable, in fact the numbers in the wild are declining. Without the active intervention of Humans, this species would probably become extinct quite soon. Before we came, it was a very successful animal in its own habitat.

Crater Lake National Park - The Gem Of The Pacific Northwest

Crater Lake National Park is a gem of the Pacific Northwest. It is located in south central Oregon in a sparsely populated area and it truly is in the middle of nowhere.

That's what makes visiting Crater Lake all the more an adventure. You are not going to get to Crater Lake unless you make it your purpose to get here. The closest airports are in Klamath Falls (60 miles from the park) and Medford (80 miles from the park).

But getting there is well worth your effort!

Few places on earth create such an overwhelming awe from observers, however Crater Lake National Park certainly does. Even in a region that boasts many natural and volcanic vistas, the only description for Crater Lake is incredible.

You may have heard about the deep blue color of the lake, but words can never prepare you for the first breathtaking look from the edge of this 6 mile wide crater or caldera which was caused by the eruption and subsequent cave in of Mt. Mazama a few thousand years ago.

My most vivid memory of Crater Lake is finding various overlooks along Rim Road that encircles the park. One spot in particular has an incredible overlook that you can walk out on that isn't much wider than 3 or 4 feet. The thing that makes this spot so awesome is that the 3 foot wide path out to the overlook drops off steeply more than 1,200' in some places.

Sorry I won't tell you where this secret spot is, I'm going to let you find it all on your own. However, you will certainly know it when you get there!

Much of the year Crater Lake is snowed in. The area around Crater Lake receives some of the heaviest snowfall in the country, averaging an astonishing 533 inches per year.

For a brief time each year, Crater Lake National Park emerges from this winter freeze to bask in the summertime sun. If you visit early in the season you may be surprised by the amount of snow which remains long into months which are considered early to mid-summer in most parts of the nation. Because of these harsh and often unpredictable weather patterns, most park roads are closed even through the late spring.

Crater Lake is host to a vast array of activities. While enjoying the natural scenic wonders, park visitors may hike in old growth forests, participate in a variety of interpretive activities, camp out or stay in an historic hotel, or even cross-country ski during the very long eight month winters which are experienced here in the Cascade mountains.

If you are planning to visit Crater Lake there are only two campgrounds in the park that have a total of 216 tent sites. Spaces are available on a first come first serve basis as reservations are not taken in the park.

If you love the outdoors and are especially fond of our nation's National Parks, you don't want to miss the incredible beauty that awaits you in Crater Lake National Park.