“Momentary Lapses of Reasoning”
“A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity, but the optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.”
“Sometimes we have far greater faith in our problems than we have in our unique ability to no longer have our problems.”
“There are salespersons who believe they can overcome versus the salespersons who believe they can’t: Which one of these people is correct in their thinking?”
“The greatest detriment to tomorrow’s success is today’s success, and the greatest bar against our permanent best is our current good enough.”
“No excuses; no explanations. Either do or do not. There is no try. (“YODA”)
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Food For Thought--By: Tommy Foster
“Tommy’s Food For Thought”
NO ONE on this planet knows enough to EVER be a pessimist!
Sell your cleverness, but then purchase some bewilderment!!!!
“A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity, but the optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.”
“Sometimes we have far greater faith in our problems than we have in our ability to no longer have our problems.”
“There are salespersons who believe they CAN overcome, & salespersons who believe they CAN NOT. Who is it that’s correct?” Why, both of them of course!
“Remember that our most unhappy customers & our most negative experiences in life are most often our absolute greatest sources of our growth & learning.”
“Stop hoping that things will just change for the better. Generally they will, but who knows when? Waiting it out is only a plan for much greater pain………Yours, by the way!”
“Make sure to stay away from anyone who is only willing to tell you that which is what you want to hear.” Keep an open mind with NO attachments!
“Lots of salespeople believe in luck; so do I. It’s strange how it just so happens that the harder I work, and the more prepared I am, the luckier I always seem to be.”
“Pain” is nothing more than the difference between the way things are, and the way we’d like them to be.
Pessimistic people see obstacles & objections as stumbling blocks, but optimistic others see them as simply stepping stones!
NO ONE on this planet knows enough to EVER be a pessimist!
Sell your cleverness, but then purchase some bewilderment!!!!
“A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity, but the optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.”
“Sometimes we have far greater faith in our problems than we have in our ability to no longer have our problems.”
“There are salespersons who believe they CAN overcome, & salespersons who believe they CAN NOT. Who is it that’s correct?” Why, both of them of course!
“Remember that our most unhappy customers & our most negative experiences in life are most often our absolute greatest sources of our growth & learning.”
“Stop hoping that things will just change for the better. Generally they will, but who knows when? Waiting it out is only a plan for much greater pain………Yours, by the way!”
“Make sure to stay away from anyone who is only willing to tell you that which is what you want to hear.” Keep an open mind with NO attachments!
“Lots of salespeople believe in luck; so do I. It’s strange how it just so happens that the harder I work, and the more prepared I am, the luckier I always seem to be.”
“Pain” is nothing more than the difference between the way things are, and the way we’d like them to be.
Pessimistic people see obstacles & objections as stumbling blocks, but optimistic others see them as simply stepping stones!
AHA! By: Tommy Foster
Tommy’s Tutorial: AHA! (Attitude—Humor—Action)
The following ideals are a combination of necessary elements that I’ve found to be very effective for success in daily sales. On the surface, they are very simple, and as applied in practice, even simpler. Each single element contributes to the greater whole, and is vitally linked to the other two. Applied by themselves, they’re very useful, but together they make sales a magical experience, and brighten our every moment.
The first ideal is a positive ATTITUDE. Your positive mental attitude is your driving force to any success you enjoy in every part of your life. Keep in mind this attitude IS NOT just a thought process; it’s a discipline and a commitment to live without attachment to negativity. Remember, you can’t give away what you don’t have. Each day you should wake to a rededication of being positive, simply by thinking and speaking positive thoughts. Remember EVERY action is preceded by a thought, so if you think negative, you speak and act negative, and you transmit what you have; negativity. NO ONE knows enough to be a pessimist! Our positive mental attitude is not something that comes and goes; it’s all consuming. It will make you feel good on the inside, even in spite of what may be happening on the outside. So “do what you ought, and trust what may be.”
The second ideal is HUMOR. By this, I don’t mean just being funny either. It’s how you see things, because humor is a perspective for effective living, and a successful sales career. Humor is your ability to make others laugh and feel good in your presence, and make people smile. Just to hear people tell you “I enjoy talking to you,” or “you make me laugh a lot,” or “you just made my day better,” inspires all of us. It makes others look forward to talking to you instead of ducking your call. It is medicine; sales medicine. Give away humor & kind thoughts & they’re what you get back.
The third ideal is ACTION. I like to think of action as “walking your talk.” When you wake each day to a clearly defined set of goals, you tend to act on the goals more often than not. Have a daily agenda for yourself and prioritize the agenda. Make that last call you’ve procrastinated on from time to time. Follow you own game plan for success, and do more than anyone else you know, so that you do enough to make you inspired to step higher each day. “Plan the work; then WORK THE PLAN!!” Keep in mind that when you talk prudence plus practice evasion, the sum is always ZERO. Remember always that TRUE NOBILITY is NOT being better than anyone else TODAY; it’s being better than YOU were yesterday!
The following ideals are a combination of necessary elements that I’ve found to be very effective for success in daily sales. On the surface, they are very simple, and as applied in practice, even simpler. Each single element contributes to the greater whole, and is vitally linked to the other two. Applied by themselves, they’re very useful, but together they make sales a magical experience, and brighten our every moment.
The first ideal is a positive ATTITUDE. Your positive mental attitude is your driving force to any success you enjoy in every part of your life. Keep in mind this attitude IS NOT just a thought process; it’s a discipline and a commitment to live without attachment to negativity. Remember, you can’t give away what you don’t have. Each day you should wake to a rededication of being positive, simply by thinking and speaking positive thoughts. Remember EVERY action is preceded by a thought, so if you think negative, you speak and act negative, and you transmit what you have; negativity. NO ONE knows enough to be a pessimist! Our positive mental attitude is not something that comes and goes; it’s all consuming. It will make you feel good on the inside, even in spite of what may be happening on the outside. So “do what you ought, and trust what may be.”
The second ideal is HUMOR. By this, I don’t mean just being funny either. It’s how you see things, because humor is a perspective for effective living, and a successful sales career. Humor is your ability to make others laugh and feel good in your presence, and make people smile. Just to hear people tell you “I enjoy talking to you,” or “you make me laugh a lot,” or “you just made my day better,” inspires all of us. It makes others look forward to talking to you instead of ducking your call. It is medicine; sales medicine. Give away humor & kind thoughts & they’re what you get back.
The third ideal is ACTION. I like to think of action as “walking your talk.” When you wake each day to a clearly defined set of goals, you tend to act on the goals more often than not. Have a daily agenda for yourself and prioritize the agenda. Make that last call you’ve procrastinated on from time to time. Follow you own game plan for success, and do more than anyone else you know, so that you do enough to make you inspired to step higher each day. “Plan the work; then WORK THE PLAN!!” Keep in mind that when you talk prudence plus practice evasion, the sum is always ZERO. Remember always that TRUE NOBILITY is NOT being better than anyone else TODAY; it’s being better than YOU were yesterday!
Act Your Way There
Act your way there
+++++++++++++++++++
How do you want to feel today? You can create whatever
feeling you choose, with your actions.
Your feelings are not imposed on you from the outside. They
occur because you exercise strategies to make them occur.
Yes, some of those strategies may include the way you choose
to respond to events beyond your control. Yet it is the
response, the chosen response within you, that creates the
feeling, not the outside situation.
So how exactly do you wish to feel today? Then act like it.
The actions you take will create the feelings you seek. If
you want to feel happy, and empowered, and fulfilled, then
go through the physical motions of being happy, empowered
and fulfilled.
It really is as simple as that. When you act like it, you
are.
+++++++++++++++++++
How do you want to feel today? You can create whatever
feeling you choose, with your actions.
Your feelings are not imposed on you from the outside. They
occur because you exercise strategies to make them occur.
Yes, some of those strategies may include the way you choose
to respond to events beyond your control. Yet it is the
response, the chosen response within you, that creates the
feeling, not the outside situation.
So how exactly do you wish to feel today? Then act like it.
The actions you take will create the feelings you seek. If
you want to feel happy, and empowered, and fulfilled, then
go through the physical motions of being happy, empowered
and fulfilled.
It really is as simple as that. When you act like it, you
are.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Top 10 Mistakes on Cold Calling
Top Ten Biggest Mistakes Cold Callers Make on the Phone And How to Avoid Them By Barry Caponi & Bob Howard We at ColdCalling101 eat, sleep and drink the topic of appointment making. As a matter of fact, our approach to the „Art‟ of appointment making, The Appointment Making Formula™ (or The Formula, for short) has become one of the most successful methodologies in the industry because it takes a holistic view of the entire process – e.g. it includes more than just converting more conversations into appointments. Over the years we‟ve seen lots of different approaches and talked to lots of people who make their living setting appointments over the phone or by canvassing. Therefore we‟ve been able to craft a methodology with techniques that truly work. We‟ve also seen many techniques that don‟t. This article covers the top mistakes that we see being made while attempting to set appointments. These mistakes are doubly painful as they not only drain away those precious few hours we‟ve got to make appointment making calls, but crush the spirit as well. Top Ten Mistakes Cold Callers Make
1. Believing the first (negative) response we hear is true and attempt to counter it with logic – suspects play by two ground rules that we must acknowledge or perish:
a. The rule of the „Status Quo‟ – our research indicates that less than five percent of our universe of suspects is currently in the market for what we sell when we call them… so they don‟t think they need to talk to us
b. The rule of „Workus Interruptus‟ – no matter when we call, we are interrupting that person from doing something…so they don‟t want to talk to us
Ergo, until we get them beyond the initial „conditioned knee jerk‟ reaction of saying anything (including lying) to get us off the phone, logic doesn‟t work as well as we think it should.
2. Tell the suspect all about what we can do for them – remember, they don‟t think they need what we‟re selling, so why do we think this approach will work? Instead we should tell them about the results someone else got from using what we sell. (All of us – ok, maybe just most of us - think that there are others who know some little secret we don‟t.)
ColdCalling101 is jointly owned by Contact Science and Caponi Performance Group, Inc.
1930 E. Rosemeade Parkway, Suite 206, Carrollton, TX 75007
214 483-5800p
3. Assuming we can help them do what they‟re doing better than they‟re currently doing it – “I can save you money over what you‟re paying today.” “I can make you more productive.” How do we know what they‟re paying or how well they‟re doing? For that matter, how do we even know they use what we‟re selling in many cases?
4. Not „owning‟ or internalizing our message so instead of sounding conversational, we sound like the proverbial telemarketer reading a script or delivering it in a monotone voice – only 7% of effective communications is derived through the words we use. The biggest percentage of effective communications on a phone call comes from tonality (38%). Therefore we must not only „own‟ our message, but we must deliver it with passion. You do believe in what you sell, don‟t you?
5. Winging it on each call so that our message is different each time – if we deliver a different message each time, we can‟t predict and control the responses we‟ll get, making the task of handling those negative responses even more difficult.
6. Asking leading questions – “You would like to save money wouldn‟t you?” If they don‟t think they need us and don‟t want to talk to us, this kind of question is offensive and does nothing but tick them off even more at the interruption.
7. Not leaving voicemails, or leaving long winded ones – the advertising industry says that it takes seven touches for someone to even remember our name, so why waste the effort involved in making the call and not leave a message? Leave well thought out, concise voicemails.
8. When leaving voicemails, not saying our phone number s-l-o-w-l-y and repeating it.
9. Not letting the suspect know when we‟re calling for the last time (in this cycle) – users of The Formula get more returned phone calls from a „Move On‟ message than any other. But in order to do that, we have to have a plan as to how many times we‟ll call, how often we‟ll call, and leave messages when we call.
10. Calling the same day and/or time of day over and over again, or calling the same person over and over again the same day – it just might be that we‟re calling at a time when they‟re never there! And with the advent of caller ID, do you really think they don‟t see that the same person has called multiple times today?
If you make any of these mistakes and / or would like to learn more about how we help companies and independent professionals address the entire spectrum of challenges of getting in front of more prospects effectively and efficiently, give us a call at 214 483-5800 or log back on to www.coldcalling101.com for more information. © ColdCalling101.com CC101 Top Mistakes Made by Cold Callers.doc
1. Believing the first (negative) response we hear is true and attempt to counter it with logic – suspects play by two ground rules that we must acknowledge or perish:
a. The rule of the „Status Quo‟ – our research indicates that less than five percent of our universe of suspects is currently in the market for what we sell when we call them… so they don‟t think they need to talk to us
b. The rule of „Workus Interruptus‟ – no matter when we call, we are interrupting that person from doing something…so they don‟t want to talk to us
Ergo, until we get them beyond the initial „conditioned knee jerk‟ reaction of saying anything (including lying) to get us off the phone, logic doesn‟t work as well as we think it should.
2. Tell the suspect all about what we can do for them – remember, they don‟t think they need what we‟re selling, so why do we think this approach will work? Instead we should tell them about the results someone else got from using what we sell. (All of us – ok, maybe just most of us - think that there are others who know some little secret we don‟t.)
ColdCalling101 is jointly owned by Contact Science and Caponi Performance Group, Inc.
1930 E. Rosemeade Parkway, Suite 206, Carrollton, TX 75007
214 483-5800p
3. Assuming we can help them do what they‟re doing better than they‟re currently doing it – “I can save you money over what you‟re paying today.” “I can make you more productive.” How do we know what they‟re paying or how well they‟re doing? For that matter, how do we even know they use what we‟re selling in many cases?
4. Not „owning‟ or internalizing our message so instead of sounding conversational, we sound like the proverbial telemarketer reading a script or delivering it in a monotone voice – only 7% of effective communications is derived through the words we use. The biggest percentage of effective communications on a phone call comes from tonality (38%). Therefore we must not only „own‟ our message, but we must deliver it with passion. You do believe in what you sell, don‟t you?
5. Winging it on each call so that our message is different each time – if we deliver a different message each time, we can‟t predict and control the responses we‟ll get, making the task of handling those negative responses even more difficult.
6. Asking leading questions – “You would like to save money wouldn‟t you?” If they don‟t think they need us and don‟t want to talk to us, this kind of question is offensive and does nothing but tick them off even more at the interruption.
7. Not leaving voicemails, or leaving long winded ones – the advertising industry says that it takes seven touches for someone to even remember our name, so why waste the effort involved in making the call and not leave a message? Leave well thought out, concise voicemails.
8. When leaving voicemails, not saying our phone number s-l-o-w-l-y and repeating it.
9. Not letting the suspect know when we‟re calling for the last time (in this cycle) – users of The Formula get more returned phone calls from a „Move On‟ message than any other. But in order to do that, we have to have a plan as to how many times we‟ll call, how often we‟ll call, and leave messages when we call.
10. Calling the same day and/or time of day over and over again, or calling the same person over and over again the same day – it just might be that we‟re calling at a time when they‟re never there! And with the advent of caller ID, do you really think they don‟t see that the same person has called multiple times today?
If you make any of these mistakes and / or would like to learn more about how we help companies and independent professionals address the entire spectrum of challenges of getting in front of more prospects effectively and efficiently, give us a call at 214 483-5800 or log back on to www.coldcalling101.com for more information. © ColdCalling101.com CC101 Top Mistakes Made by Cold Callers.doc
Top Ten Reasons
The Top Ten Reasons to buy toner from Cartridge on Wheels!
(1) We represent ALL brands of supplies, not just a select few
(2) We offer “Managed Route Services” from the first price quote.
(3) We have factory-trained service technicians
(4) Our Service Department is HP-Authorized
(5) We offer comprehensive solutions for equipment & supplies
(6) We carry both OEM & DI-Brand Cartridges
(7) All our products & services are 100% guaranteed
(8) We are locally-owned & operated Franchise Locations
(9) We offer free delivery for a 30 mile radius from the local location
(10) We participate in & encourage “GREEN” Recycling Programs
Call us today and arrange for a Franchise Owner to show you how we can save your business money and keep your output looking great!
(1) We represent ALL brands of supplies, not just a select few
(2) We offer “Managed Route Services” from the first price quote.
(3) We have factory-trained service technicians
(4) Our Service Department is HP-Authorized
(5) We offer comprehensive solutions for equipment & supplies
(6) We carry both OEM & DI-Brand Cartridges
(7) All our products & services are 100% guaranteed
(8) We are locally-owned & operated Franchise Locations
(9) We offer free delivery for a 30 mile radius from the local location
(10) We participate in & encourage “GREEN” Recycling Programs
Call us today and arrange for a Franchise Owner to show you how we can save your business money and keep your output looking great!
Be Careful With The Red Matter
Just Be Careful With the “Red Matter”
In the month of June, a new (and totally awesome) Star Trek movie came out, & in it the evil Romulan Nero decided to neutralize Spock’s home planet, basically due to a working relationship gone bad. Nero was bitter, & with good reason, but spent lots of time growling around in the time-space continuum, seeking vengeance through dispensing a red matter substance, which was cute & bouncy to look at, but one drop was apocalytically devastating. We have a similar substance floating around these days here on planet Earth.
The red matter in our industry (and life in general) always comes when all of the gloom-&- doom types see challenges as roadblocks and simply give up. Or even worse, when the alarmists of the world try & suck other companies into their own “black whole of doom and drama” with negative outlooks on anything and everything from industry collapse to civil war. The aftermarket recently witnessed a huge victory in the prebate decision for “Static Control” (HP) and against Lexmark. This decade long battle has surely changed the landscape of the aftermarket, but admittedly, for awhile it did look gloomy. Thank God WE NEVER bought into any of the drama, the negativity, or the doomsday prophets lies! Now, as evidenced by a million dollar month last month, it’s clear to see that our industry indeed does have a very bright future ahead.
Make no mistake about it, our economy’s still faced with high unemployment rates, & balance sheet numbers that still look like they did get hit with a Romulan onslaught. Yet despite all present circumstances we must press on toward continuing our daily business, and keep the faith that alls well that ends well. This daily business includes an ongoing choice of seeing these challenges in the MOST positive light. Companies can be encouraged by the prebate case, and can look at growth in the MFP and color segments as indicators things are still going to be okay. The evil Romulan Nero dies badly (as tends to happen to bitter, evil Romulans) & the red matter took hold as Nero could not find a bright side to his situation. Aftermarket folks don’t have to focus on naysayers out there. A dark outlook is the red matter we will get if we’re not making the best use of positive marketing practices every day. My red matter says “Live long & PROSPER”……………Tommy
In the month of June, a new (and totally awesome) Star Trek movie came out, & in it the evil Romulan Nero decided to neutralize Spock’s home planet, basically due to a working relationship gone bad. Nero was bitter, & with good reason, but spent lots of time growling around in the time-space continuum, seeking vengeance through dispensing a red matter substance, which was cute & bouncy to look at, but one drop was apocalytically devastating. We have a similar substance floating around these days here on planet Earth.
The red matter in our industry (and life in general) always comes when all of the gloom-&- doom types see challenges as roadblocks and simply give up. Or even worse, when the alarmists of the world try & suck other companies into their own “black whole of doom and drama” with negative outlooks on anything and everything from industry collapse to civil war. The aftermarket recently witnessed a huge victory in the prebate decision for “Static Control” (HP) and against Lexmark. This decade long battle has surely changed the landscape of the aftermarket, but admittedly, for awhile it did look gloomy. Thank God WE NEVER bought into any of the drama, the negativity, or the doomsday prophets lies! Now, as evidenced by a million dollar month last month, it’s clear to see that our industry indeed does have a very bright future ahead.
Make no mistake about it, our economy’s still faced with high unemployment rates, & balance sheet numbers that still look like they did get hit with a Romulan onslaught. Yet despite all present circumstances we must press on toward continuing our daily business, and keep the faith that alls well that ends well. This daily business includes an ongoing choice of seeing these challenges in the MOST positive light. Companies can be encouraged by the prebate case, and can look at growth in the MFP and color segments as indicators things are still going to be okay. The evil Romulan Nero dies badly (as tends to happen to bitter, evil Romulans) & the red matter took hold as Nero could not find a bright side to his situation. Aftermarket folks don’t have to focus on naysayers out there. A dark outlook is the red matter we will get if we’re not making the best use of positive marketing practices every day. My red matter says “Live long & PROSPER”……………Tommy
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