We all know people that we consider to be experts. These are the people who we would call if we needed advice or to ask a question about a subject. I know that when I was starting the process of having my knees replaced I called my brother who I think is an expert on the subject of knee replacements.
Now I want you all to think about a person that you consider being an expert. Do you have them pictured in your mind? Now ask yourself this, what did they do to become experts? Some of these people went to school to become experts. Some have worked in a field for a long time and have gained the knowledge through experience. Others may have a combination of both. My brother for instance has both. Not only has he been an Orthopedic Surgeons Assistant for over 40 years and has done more knee replacements then most doctors will do over a career but he has been to dozens of classes that specifically talk about knee replacement and have trained him on the newest methods.
My idea of what it took to become an expert was shattered several years ago with one piece of data;
IF YOU READ ABOUT A SUBJECT FOR JUST 30 MINUTES A DAY FOR A YEAR, YOU WILL BE AN EXPERT.
Now think about this for a moment, in as little as 10,950 minutes, 182.5 hours, you can be considered an expert on any subject. Do you realize that is less than 8 days? That’s crazy. Or is it?
What makes someone an expert? Usually it is having more knowledge of a subject than anyone else you know. My brother would fit this category. So in this case the word expert is a relative term used in connection to others you know. Sometimes being an expert means that the person is the best there is in the area. Now the scope of opinion is broader than just people you know and is a general thought of most people in the area. My orthopedic surgeon falls into this category. Finally an expert can be of national or international acclaim and is considered by everyone to know as much or more than anyone else. Dr’s Gunston and Marmor would fit in this category; they are the pioneers of knee replacement.
Now that we know how to define an expert, and we know what it takes to be considered an expert, we just need to decide what we want to become an expert in. Maybe you want to focus on a certain type of customer so you can become an industry expert and help all your customers in that industry with their problems. Maybe you want to break into a new area and want to become an expert so you can call on these businesses with confidence. Maybe you want to become an expert in the industry you work in so you can supply better solutions and help ALL your customers. It doesn’t matter, especially now that we know how to become experts we can master one subject and then move onto another, constantly building our knowledge and expanding our base of business.
30 minutes a day for a year. Not a lot to ask of someone to allow them to do more for their customers than anyone else does. There are no rules to the 30 minutes either, it may be 15 minutes in the morning and 15 minutes at night. It can be broken up anyway you need it to be so you can fit it in.
Let’s look at another piece of data that I have acquired along the way. It takes 21 days to form a habit. This means that if you start reading 30 minutes a day today, by September 21st you will have formed the habit of reading 30 minutes a day.
Put these two pieces of data together. Starting today you will have the habit of reading 30 minutes a day by September 21st. You will also be considered an expert on the subject you have been reading about by August 31st 2011. On September 1st 2011 you can then start reading about the next subject you want to master and become an expert in. You could be considered an expert in as many subjects as there are years remaining in your career. What do you think that will do for your business?
While we are on the subject, signing up to follow this blog and reading it as part of your 30 minutes of reading a day, will help you become an expert in sales in one year. Don’t your customers deserve to buy from no less than an expert sales rep?
Lorin
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Monday, August 30, 2010
CUSTOMERS ARE FROM VENUS, SALES REPS ARE FROM MARS
How often have you felt like this? How many times have you been talking to a customer, and when the conversation is over neither you nor the customer could tell you what each other said?
Why does this happen? It happens because neither the customer nor the rep has taken the time to learn each other’s language (I am not talking English, although that may be a barrier, I am talking the catch phrases and key words of business).
As professional sales reps working for a company or carrying lines of products, we develop a special language that is unique to our world. Abbreviations, acronyms, terms that no one else says or understands become normal to us and we use them in mixed company. (Those that know and those that don’t know what they mean). At the same time our customers are using the same type phrases that are unique to their business in the same way. The result, WE DON’T UNDERSTAND ONE ANOTHER!
Let’s now factor in PRIDE and EGO. How many times have you been with a customer and they use one of these little phrases that you do not understand and because of pride or ego you don’t ask the customer to back up and explain it? You may have missed a very important fact by not asking and possibly missed an opportunity either now or in the future. The same pride and ego work on the customer side of the coin. They feel reluctant to ask you about something you may have said because they feel maybe they should know it.
So what is the outcome, you are speaking Martian and they are speaking Venetian and possibly a lot of very useful and sometime imperative information may be missed by you both.
How can this common problem be overcome? It is really easy, but it does require you to step out from behind your ego and come down to Earth. ASK the customer questions about things you don’t understand and set things up to make the customer feel at ease to ask you. Say to a customer, “Maybe I should already know this, but what does that mean?” and then follow up with, “If I ever use a term that you don’t understand or doesn’t make perfectly good sense to you, stop me and I will do my best to explain it.”
If we can do our best to understand and be understood, then we will be talking the universal language, SUCCESS!
Lorin
Why does this happen? It happens because neither the customer nor the rep has taken the time to learn each other’s language (I am not talking English, although that may be a barrier, I am talking the catch phrases and key words of business).
As professional sales reps working for a company or carrying lines of products, we develop a special language that is unique to our world. Abbreviations, acronyms, terms that no one else says or understands become normal to us and we use them in mixed company. (Those that know and those that don’t know what they mean). At the same time our customers are using the same type phrases that are unique to their business in the same way. The result, WE DON’T UNDERSTAND ONE ANOTHER!
Let’s now factor in PRIDE and EGO. How many times have you been with a customer and they use one of these little phrases that you do not understand and because of pride or ego you don’t ask the customer to back up and explain it? You may have missed a very important fact by not asking and possibly missed an opportunity either now or in the future. The same pride and ego work on the customer side of the coin. They feel reluctant to ask you about something you may have said because they feel maybe they should know it.
So what is the outcome, you are speaking Martian and they are speaking Venetian and possibly a lot of very useful and sometime imperative information may be missed by you both.
How can this common problem be overcome? It is really easy, but it does require you to step out from behind your ego and come down to Earth. ASK the customer questions about things you don’t understand and set things up to make the customer feel at ease to ask you. Say to a customer, “Maybe I should already know this, but what does that mean?” and then follow up with, “If I ever use a term that you don’t understand or doesn’t make perfectly good sense to you, stop me and I will do my best to explain it.”
If we can do our best to understand and be understood, then we will be talking the universal language, SUCCESS!
Lorin
Friday, August 27, 2010
A SHORT PENCIL IS BETTER THAN A LONG MEMORY
A sales rep is only as good as the commitments they keep. Agree or Disagree? I don’t know why I ask, I can’t tell what your vote is. So I will tell you, TRUE! With that being said, why is it so many reps refuse to take notes while they are making a sales call?
No matter if you make 1 sales call a day or if you make 15 sales calls a day, if they are face to face calls or phone calls. Most successful sales reps I know start their day about 7AM and finish their day about 5PM. I once had a boss that said reps work the “T”s. Tuesday and Thursday from Ten to Two.
No matter which group you fall into, the fact is that a lot goes on between the time you start your day and the time you end it. You have a lot of conversations with a lot of important people, your clients. These clients are giving you the information you will need to help make future sales, can you really afford NOT to remember it? You are telling them what you are going to do for them; can you really afford NOT to remember these things?
Over the years I have seen reps that will work a full day and then come home, eat dinner, have some family time, and then go to their desk and place their orders for the day. I have watched them sit at the desk and think where they were and what was ordered. Some reps wrote down the order after each call when they got back into their car so they could remember it. After writing the orders the reps try and remember what promises and commitments they made during the day. Keep in mind, their day started as many as 15 hours ago and they are trying to reconstruct the details of conversations they had. To some reps credit, they are darn good at it and can recall everything. These reps deliver on every promise they make.
Now let’s talk about the rest of the reps and how you will know which group you fall into. How many times during the day do you find yourself saying something like this to a customer, “OH gezz, I forgot about that, I will bring it next time.” or you make some other excuse for not delivering on a promise. Easy to tell which group you’re in isn’t it? Why didn’t you fulfill your promise? More often than not it is because you totally forgot about it. It was one of the details that got lost between the time you made the promise and the time you sat down to reconstruct your day.
This never has to happen again. If you will just bring a pad and pen into each call with you and use it. There is nothing wrong with writing while talking to a customer. Actually you can turn the pad and pen into a great selling tool. You can use a pocket pad or a full size pad, it doesn’t matter, what does matter is using it. While you are talking to the customer write down the things they say that are important. Write down the little facts that you may be able to use sometime in the future to help close a sale. Imagine if weeks after a customer told you about a job coming up or an inspection, you could show up with a solution they can use to make the job or the inspection results better.
I have asked reps that don’t use a pad and pen why. What is it about using these tools that they don’t like? The usual answer I get is they lose eye contact with the buyer when they look down to write. I understand this. However I often wonder if the rep thinks the buyer will disappear or turn and run during that short moment of no eye contact. I don’t think so, in fact I think the opposite, writing during the conversation will keep the customer in front of you and engaged if done correctly. The customer will become very interested in what you are writing and many times tell you what to write.
The first thing to remember is we are taking notes not writing novels. When you are with the customer and something is said you want to remember jot down a couple of key words. If you make a promise to the customer, again a few words to remind you what it is you told them you would do. When the sales call is coming to an end, you can use your notes to recap what you are supposed to follow up on and what the customer has committed to. By using this tool you appear to be, and actually are, a much more organized rep.
A nice added benefit to this is the fact that after you use this method for awhile, the customer realizes they can no longer tell you they didn’t say something or didn’t “mean it that way” If you recap what was said and what actions are going to be taken (orders, samples, commitments from the customer) you will eliminate the majority of problems created by miscommunications.
Finally, if you take notes correctly you will very quickly have a lot of paper accumulate. You need to have some sort of filing system so it doesn’t become overwhelming or so you don’t lose the note. (This is as bad as never taking the note to start with) I know of a rep that uses pocket pads. He has done so for years. He numbers each pad in order and marks the start and end dates for each pad. When a pad is full he files them in a shoe box. He can look things up that were done years ago. Some reps use 3 ring notebooks the same way, or they have file drawers with folders either by date or customer. It doesn’t matter which method of filing you use, just make sure that you have a method. For the reps that are computer savvy, making notes on paper and transferring them to the computer can be a lot of work, and if the computer is the only place you have the notes filed a crashed hard drive could be disastrous to your business. Sometimes the old outperforms the new.
Lorin
No matter if you make 1 sales call a day or if you make 15 sales calls a day, if they are face to face calls or phone calls. Most successful sales reps I know start their day about 7AM and finish their day about 5PM. I once had a boss that said reps work the “T”s. Tuesday and Thursday from Ten to Two.
No matter which group you fall into, the fact is that a lot goes on between the time you start your day and the time you end it. You have a lot of conversations with a lot of important people, your clients. These clients are giving you the information you will need to help make future sales, can you really afford NOT to remember it? You are telling them what you are going to do for them; can you really afford NOT to remember these things?
Over the years I have seen reps that will work a full day and then come home, eat dinner, have some family time, and then go to their desk and place their orders for the day. I have watched them sit at the desk and think where they were and what was ordered. Some reps wrote down the order after each call when they got back into their car so they could remember it. After writing the orders the reps try and remember what promises and commitments they made during the day. Keep in mind, their day started as many as 15 hours ago and they are trying to reconstruct the details of conversations they had. To some reps credit, they are darn good at it and can recall everything. These reps deliver on every promise they make.
Now let’s talk about the rest of the reps and how you will know which group you fall into. How many times during the day do you find yourself saying something like this to a customer, “OH gezz, I forgot about that, I will bring it next time.” or you make some other excuse for not delivering on a promise. Easy to tell which group you’re in isn’t it? Why didn’t you fulfill your promise? More often than not it is because you totally forgot about it. It was one of the details that got lost between the time you made the promise and the time you sat down to reconstruct your day.
This never has to happen again. If you will just bring a pad and pen into each call with you and use it. There is nothing wrong with writing while talking to a customer. Actually you can turn the pad and pen into a great selling tool. You can use a pocket pad or a full size pad, it doesn’t matter, what does matter is using it. While you are talking to the customer write down the things they say that are important. Write down the little facts that you may be able to use sometime in the future to help close a sale. Imagine if weeks after a customer told you about a job coming up or an inspection, you could show up with a solution they can use to make the job or the inspection results better.
I have asked reps that don’t use a pad and pen why. What is it about using these tools that they don’t like? The usual answer I get is they lose eye contact with the buyer when they look down to write. I understand this. However I often wonder if the rep thinks the buyer will disappear or turn and run during that short moment of no eye contact. I don’t think so, in fact I think the opposite, writing during the conversation will keep the customer in front of you and engaged if done correctly. The customer will become very interested in what you are writing and many times tell you what to write.
The first thing to remember is we are taking notes not writing novels. When you are with the customer and something is said you want to remember jot down a couple of key words. If you make a promise to the customer, again a few words to remind you what it is you told them you would do. When the sales call is coming to an end, you can use your notes to recap what you are supposed to follow up on and what the customer has committed to. By using this tool you appear to be, and actually are, a much more organized rep.
A nice added benefit to this is the fact that after you use this method for awhile, the customer realizes they can no longer tell you they didn’t say something or didn’t “mean it that way” If you recap what was said and what actions are going to be taken (orders, samples, commitments from the customer) you will eliminate the majority of problems created by miscommunications.
Finally, if you take notes correctly you will very quickly have a lot of paper accumulate. You need to have some sort of filing system so it doesn’t become overwhelming or so you don’t lose the note. (This is as bad as never taking the note to start with) I know of a rep that uses pocket pads. He has done so for years. He numbers each pad in order and marks the start and end dates for each pad. When a pad is full he files them in a shoe box. He can look things up that were done years ago. Some reps use 3 ring notebooks the same way, or they have file drawers with folders either by date or customer. It doesn’t matter which method of filing you use, just make sure that you have a method. For the reps that are computer savvy, making notes on paper and transferring them to the computer can be a lot of work, and if the computer is the only place you have the notes filed a crashed hard drive could be disastrous to your business. Sometimes the old outperforms the new.
Lorin
Thursday, August 26, 2010
DON’T BE AFRAID TO GIVE UP ON GOOD TO GO FOR GREAT!
This quote by Kenny Rogers is the complete professional story of so many sales reps. So often a rep is going for a good solution to a customer’s problem. The rep has started to take action and has gotten things going in a certain direction. Then all of a sudden they see a better solution. One that is GREAT. But because they have already invested time and started down the path of good, they don’t want to start over, or change direction to take the path to GREATNESS.
So I guess the question is, should they? If a solution is good should a rep take 2 steps backwards, throw away the time already invested, to move towards GREAT? What’s taking you so long to answer? YES! Without a doubt GREATNESS is better than good and the customer deserves the absolute best you have to offer.
Why didn’t I think of this solution before? Is the question we always ask ourselves in this situation. Easy, sometimes until you get started, until you are working on a solution, you can’t see all the details needed to make the difference between good and great. It is like a car mechanic, how often have you brought your car in for a repair and after the mechanic starts the job they call you with something else that needs to be done. (Let’s assume you are using an honest mechanic) The mechanic tells you that it wasn’t until they got this far into the job that they could find the new problem. The same thing is true with your solutions.
Was the time wasted? Not really, as long as you learned from the experience. Next time you are faced with the same problem, you should know what to look for to offer the customer a GREAT solution the first time.
But isn’t good, good enough? AGAIN what is taking you so long to answer? NO! A good solution is never good enough if a GREAT solution is available. First, as I already said, your customer deserves your absolute best. If this alone isn’t a sufficient answer, then try this one on for size, IF YOU DON’T DELIVER “GREAT “ TO YOUR CUSTOMER, ONE OF YOUR COMPETITORS WILL BE HAPPY TO.
As successful sales reps you sometimes forget what brought you to the party. “Doing more for the customer then your competitors did.” If you stop delivering on that standard now, you open the door for the business to be grabbed back by your competitors. Don’t you think they learned something from losing the customer the first time? Never underestimate how determined and prepared a competitor is to get their business back. Wouldn’t you be?
PLEASE, don’t make it easy for your competitors. If you are going to lose an account, make the competition work HARD for it. If in the final analysis they get the customer, at least you can say you did EVERYTHING in your power to keep the customer and make the competitions job difficult.
Lorin
So I guess the question is, should they? If a solution is good should a rep take 2 steps backwards, throw away the time already invested, to move towards GREAT? What’s taking you so long to answer? YES! Without a doubt GREATNESS is better than good and the customer deserves the absolute best you have to offer.
Why didn’t I think of this solution before? Is the question we always ask ourselves in this situation. Easy, sometimes until you get started, until you are working on a solution, you can’t see all the details needed to make the difference between good and great. It is like a car mechanic, how often have you brought your car in for a repair and after the mechanic starts the job they call you with something else that needs to be done. (Let’s assume you are using an honest mechanic) The mechanic tells you that it wasn’t until they got this far into the job that they could find the new problem. The same thing is true with your solutions.
Was the time wasted? Not really, as long as you learned from the experience. Next time you are faced with the same problem, you should know what to look for to offer the customer a GREAT solution the first time.
But isn’t good, good enough? AGAIN what is taking you so long to answer? NO! A good solution is never good enough if a GREAT solution is available. First, as I already said, your customer deserves your absolute best. If this alone isn’t a sufficient answer, then try this one on for size, IF YOU DON’T DELIVER “GREAT “ TO YOUR CUSTOMER, ONE OF YOUR COMPETITORS WILL BE HAPPY TO.
As successful sales reps you sometimes forget what brought you to the party. “Doing more for the customer then your competitors did.” If you stop delivering on that standard now, you open the door for the business to be grabbed back by your competitors. Don’t you think they learned something from losing the customer the first time? Never underestimate how determined and prepared a competitor is to get their business back. Wouldn’t you be?
PLEASE, don’t make it easy for your competitors. If you are going to lose an account, make the competition work HARD for it. If in the final analysis they get the customer, at least you can say you did EVERYTHING in your power to keep the customer and make the competitions job difficult.
Lorin
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
DID SOMEONE SAY THIS WAS GOING TO BE EASY?
No one ever said sales were easy. But why do so many sales reps make it harder than it really needs to be. How do they make it harder, by doing less!
Don’t blink your eyes thinking you just read something wrong, it is the truth. By doing less reps make their work harder and harder. Ask yourself this question, “Have I ever cut corners to save time?” If you can honestly say no then stop reading today’s blog and go have some fun making money and calling on customers, if however you said yes, (I expect this fits EVERYONE reading this) then read on.
There is another old saying I want to put into play here, “If you haven't got the time to do it right, when will you find the time to do it over?” Are you starting to see where I am going with this? Take a job that we all agree is hard work, and then factor in doing a large part of the business twice, and there you have it, work harder than it needs to be and you did it to yourself.
There are other ways we make our job harder. How many cold calls did you make where you didn’t do any research on the company? You walked in knowing nothing, and had to “DIG” for information. You don’t know what they do, how they do it or what they might need.
By doing a little front work you could make your job a lot easier and increase your sales. If you knew going into a cold call, what they do, how they did it and what product or service you have that the customer can use, all the “DIGGING” isn’t needed.
Does this seem too simple? The solution is to do things right the first time. Well it is simple to talk about, but very hard to do. We all have work to do. We fill our days to the brim and are out in the field all day. So when are we going to find the time to do things right the first time?
Ever hear of a “Catch 22”? A Catch 22 is from the book with the same name. It refers to a circular problem. The solution to one problem, leads to another problem, which leads to the original problem. So there is no solution.
We have a Catch 22 SOLUTION. The solution to one problem leads to the solution of another problem, which solves the first problem (did you get all that? I typed it and I am not sure I did) anyway, by doing things right the first time, or by doing your upfront work what you will find is that you now have extra time to do the front work and to do things right. (I hope you caught that)
So where are we? Simple, if you take time on the front side of a sale, it will save you time on the backside. That saved time will allow you to do the work on the front side. There you have it, the sales Catch 22.
Now you should see that what we have done is make the hardest job easier. YOUR JOB, sales.
Lorin
Don’t blink your eyes thinking you just read something wrong, it is the truth. By doing less reps make their work harder and harder. Ask yourself this question, “Have I ever cut corners to save time?” If you can honestly say no then stop reading today’s blog and go have some fun making money and calling on customers, if however you said yes, (I expect this fits EVERYONE reading this) then read on.
There is another old saying I want to put into play here, “If you haven't got the time to do it right, when will you find the time to do it over?” Are you starting to see where I am going with this? Take a job that we all agree is hard work, and then factor in doing a large part of the business twice, and there you have it, work harder than it needs to be and you did it to yourself.
There are other ways we make our job harder. How many cold calls did you make where you didn’t do any research on the company? You walked in knowing nothing, and had to “DIG” for information. You don’t know what they do, how they do it or what they might need.
By doing a little front work you could make your job a lot easier and increase your sales. If you knew going into a cold call, what they do, how they did it and what product or service you have that the customer can use, all the “DIGGING” isn’t needed.
Does this seem too simple? The solution is to do things right the first time. Well it is simple to talk about, but very hard to do. We all have work to do. We fill our days to the brim and are out in the field all day. So when are we going to find the time to do things right the first time?
Ever hear of a “Catch 22”? A Catch 22 is from the book with the same name. It refers to a circular problem. The solution to one problem, leads to another problem, which leads to the original problem. So there is no solution.
We have a Catch 22 SOLUTION. The solution to one problem leads to the solution of another problem, which solves the first problem (did you get all that? I typed it and I am not sure I did) anyway, by doing things right the first time, or by doing your upfront work what you will find is that you now have extra time to do the front work and to do things right. (I hope you caught that)
So where are we? Simple, if you take time on the front side of a sale, it will save you time on the backside. That saved time will allow you to do the work on the front side. There you have it, the sales Catch 22.
Now you should see that what we have done is make the hardest job easier. YOUR JOB, sales.
Lorin
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
IS IT EVER REALLY TOO LATE?
I work with Sales Reps of all tenures. Whenever I work with a new rep, it seems they always asked me, “Am I Too Late”?
My answer is always, “Too late for what”? The answer as you can probably guess was, “Too late to start with the company”. This would always lead to a conversation about market share, opportunities, company stability and territory.
Then yesterday I was talking to a friend who recently started with a company. The company is a 20+ year old company and he had asked his boss the same question, “Am I too late”? I was very interested in the answer he got so I asked him what it was. Yep, you guessed it, the answer was about market share, opportunities, and company stability.
This bothered me, now I was starting to think that all managers (including myself) were being fed our lines from one big corporate propaganda department without our knowing it. How could the same answer come from 2 different people, in different industries at different times be explained any other way? Then I started to look up some information. What I found was very interesting. All the talk of market share, opportunity company stability and territory was true.
The facts are all of these factors are constantly shifting. A big account today may be a competitor’s account tomorrow. The prospect that would never listen before may be all ears next week. A customer loyal to a brand today may be looking to make changes next year.
It was becoming very apparent to me that it may very well NEVER be too late at any company. As long as there is competition driving the market, someone will always be looking to change for one reason or another.
Now this is all GREAT information for anyone who is starting a new career with a new company, but is this pertinent to someone who has been with a company for many years and has developed their territory? You bet it is. Maybe even more so. With a track record in an industry, and excellent product knowledge, a rep will be better able to make the case for changing suppliers or products and coming over to his or her company. Knowing the area, the local competition and the local pricing makes the job of presenting a value proposition even easier. Also having a good reputation in the territory adds to the total package.
Surely there had to be a time when you are too late. There must be a point where opportunities just end. I needed to know, so I went to the internet to look at what the experts say about it. Every website, every expert I could find all agreed that it is never too late in a market driven by competition.
In my web surfing I did find some experts that said yes there are actually times when it is too late. These are times when technology or laws change making your product or service obsolete. They all contended that it is up to the company, with input from the employees to always stay ahead of these issues. If in fact you have a cutting edge product or an old standby that has been tried and proved, or, if you are offering a service that customer’s value, you can never be too late.
The economy can stress the situation; it can make people think that there is no opportunity because of slowed spending, but this doesn’t mean you are too late. It means that it will take more time in some cases to build a territory. Right now there are a lot of companies that are not making any changes because they don’t want to gamble on the change making things worse instead of better. In the near future, when the economy turns around, there are going to be a tremendous amount of customers who have been enduring less then optimal results and service levels that will be looking to make drastic changes and make them very quickly. The reps that have been there while things were in the holding pattern will be the reps that get the business when the time comes!
WOW, from “AM I TOO LATE” to “THE TIME HAS NEVER BEEN BETTER”. That’s what I am talking about!!!
Lorin
My answer is always, “Too late for what”? The answer as you can probably guess was, “Too late to start with the company”. This would always lead to a conversation about market share, opportunities, company stability and territory.
Then yesterday I was talking to a friend who recently started with a company. The company is a 20+ year old company and he had asked his boss the same question, “Am I too late”? I was very interested in the answer he got so I asked him what it was. Yep, you guessed it, the answer was about market share, opportunities, and company stability.
This bothered me, now I was starting to think that all managers (including myself) were being fed our lines from one big corporate propaganda department without our knowing it. How could the same answer come from 2 different people, in different industries at different times be explained any other way? Then I started to look up some information. What I found was very interesting. All the talk of market share, opportunity company stability and territory was true.
The facts are all of these factors are constantly shifting. A big account today may be a competitor’s account tomorrow. The prospect that would never listen before may be all ears next week. A customer loyal to a brand today may be looking to make changes next year.
It was becoming very apparent to me that it may very well NEVER be too late at any company. As long as there is competition driving the market, someone will always be looking to change for one reason or another.
Now this is all GREAT information for anyone who is starting a new career with a new company, but is this pertinent to someone who has been with a company for many years and has developed their territory? You bet it is. Maybe even more so. With a track record in an industry, and excellent product knowledge, a rep will be better able to make the case for changing suppliers or products and coming over to his or her company. Knowing the area, the local competition and the local pricing makes the job of presenting a value proposition even easier. Also having a good reputation in the territory adds to the total package.
Surely there had to be a time when you are too late. There must be a point where opportunities just end. I needed to know, so I went to the internet to look at what the experts say about it. Every website, every expert I could find all agreed that it is never too late in a market driven by competition.
In my web surfing I did find some experts that said yes there are actually times when it is too late. These are times when technology or laws change making your product or service obsolete. They all contended that it is up to the company, with input from the employees to always stay ahead of these issues. If in fact you have a cutting edge product or an old standby that has been tried and proved, or, if you are offering a service that customer’s value, you can never be too late.
The economy can stress the situation; it can make people think that there is no opportunity because of slowed spending, but this doesn’t mean you are too late. It means that it will take more time in some cases to build a territory. Right now there are a lot of companies that are not making any changes because they don’t want to gamble on the change making things worse instead of better. In the near future, when the economy turns around, there are going to be a tremendous amount of customers who have been enduring less then optimal results and service levels that will be looking to make drastic changes and make them very quickly. The reps that have been there while things were in the holding pattern will be the reps that get the business when the time comes!
WOW, from “AM I TOO LATE” to “THE TIME HAS NEVER BEEN BETTER”. That’s what I am talking about!!!
Lorin
Monday, August 23, 2010
IF IT HAPPENED TO JENNIFER IT COULD HAPPEN TO ANYONE
Friday evening right before bed, Jackie and I were watching television and as I was doing my “MAN THING” surfing channels, I saw a photo of one of my favorite female stars (I am a diehard FRIENDS fan) Jennifer Aniston on a news show. I stopped switching channels long enough to find out what the story was about. I am sure some of you have already heard about this. It seems Jennifer was on the Regis & Kelly show talking about her dressing for photo shoots and she called herself a retard. This use of a word that is demeaning to mentally handicapped people sparked a media blitz that I am sure is still going on today.
Now on the news program I saw, they had 2 people debating about the comment. One was saying how awful it was, the other saying that Jennifer didn’t mean in any way to insult or demean anyone, it was an innocent comment made in a humorous conversation. The proponent of Jennifer went on to talk about all her charitable work, and how much she has given back to the community over her years as a star. The list was impressive.
Let’s think about ourselves now. How many times have we been talking to a customer and used words that could be just as inflammatory or demeaning as the word Jennifer used. Just like her slip up, it could have been done innocently, but that doesn’t matter, the harm was done. Ladies, let’s imagine that you were having the same conversation Jennifer was having with one of your customers and used the same word. What would the customer’s reaction be if they had a son or daughter who was mentally handicapped? I hear you, saying, “I know my customers and I would know that”. OK maybe the handicapped person isn’t one of their children, maybe it is a niece or nephew, and maybe it is a neighbor or friend. The point is YOU DON’T KNOW!
What is the lesson we need to learn? THINK BEFORE YOU TALK AND PICK YOUR WORDS CAREFULLY.
As professionals in sales we use words to make a living. Our mouths have gotten us into and out of more trouble than most people can ever imagine. We all consider ourselves masters of the language and our ability to “word smith” is one of our most valued strengths. However our words, once used, can never be stopped or recalled.
Words are the single most powerful weapon in the world. Wars have been fought, cities and towns destroyed, people have died and more sales and customers lost then can ever be calculated because of words.
The wound our words make may not show up immediately, and they will not heal as quickly as a cut or a bruise. It could take days, weeks or months before what we said comes back around and gets us. We have long forgotten what we said or why we said it, but they have been inside our customer’s head all this time, festering, growing, disturbing them. When the opportunity comes to release all this negative thinking, it could come as lost business.
Going back to Jennifer Aniston, the news anchor said that after she made the statement, Regis and Kelly, along with the audience, laughed WITH her. It wasn’t until an advocate of the mentally handicapped said something that the statement was viewed as negative. This brings up another issue we need to watch out for. Many times we know the person we are talking to very well. We know their tolerances and what is inbounds for a conversation and out of bounds. The question is who else can hear the conversation? How will what you are saying affect other people who may overhear you? These people may not share your contacts sense of humor, or political views. They may not feel the same way about a given group or way of life. They may have a mentally handicapped child!
Finally, think about having your name attached to what you are saying. I will put this idea into play two ways. First, do you really want your contact telling other people, “Listen what Lorin said to me today” (Alright, you know I mean for you to put your name in place of mine). The customer thinks they are giving you credit, but they may be giving you a black eye. Second, put yourself in Jennifer Aniston’s place. Would you want your family reading what you said in the newspaper while eating breakfast?
So what can you do to stop the possibility of becoming a victim of your words? There are a few things that can help. Remove the negative or potentially harmful words from your vocabulary. If you don’t say these things in your usual conversation outside of business, you won’t say them during the course of doing business. Something else you can do is to think about words and phrases you use regularly. Say them out loud and think if they could be misinterpreted in any way by a customer.
I participated in week long Train the Trainer class. One of the exercises we went through was to take a simple sentence and as we said it out loud, we put the emphasis on a different word. The sentence was, “I didn’t say he stole the wallet”. I won’t go over each word but let me go over the first few and give you the interpretations.
Putting the emphasis on “I” – meaning, you didn’t say it but someone else did
Putting the emphasis on “SAY” - meaning, you didn’t say it but you communicated it in another way.
Putting the emphasis on “STOLE” - meaning, you said he borrowed, or took, or in some other way interacted with the wallet.
I think you can get the picture, same words different meanings. Getting back to the phrases and words you use regularly in your sales presentations. What meaning do you want them to have for your customer? You need to practice saying them repeatedly so there is no misunderstanding when you say them.
So now we all know when our parents used to tell us to, “Watch Our Mouths”, they were preparing us for our successful careers in sales.
Oh, and by the way, putting symbols in place of letters in an e mail doesn’t fool anyone anymore!
Hey you #^(*@%$!^& yeah I’m talking to you!
Lorin
Now on the news program I saw, they had 2 people debating about the comment. One was saying how awful it was, the other saying that Jennifer didn’t mean in any way to insult or demean anyone, it was an innocent comment made in a humorous conversation. The proponent of Jennifer went on to talk about all her charitable work, and how much she has given back to the community over her years as a star. The list was impressive.
Let’s think about ourselves now. How many times have we been talking to a customer and used words that could be just as inflammatory or demeaning as the word Jennifer used. Just like her slip up, it could have been done innocently, but that doesn’t matter, the harm was done. Ladies, let’s imagine that you were having the same conversation Jennifer was having with one of your customers and used the same word. What would the customer’s reaction be if they had a son or daughter who was mentally handicapped? I hear you, saying, “I know my customers and I would know that”. OK maybe the handicapped person isn’t one of their children, maybe it is a niece or nephew, and maybe it is a neighbor or friend. The point is YOU DON’T KNOW!
What is the lesson we need to learn? THINK BEFORE YOU TALK AND PICK YOUR WORDS CAREFULLY.
As professionals in sales we use words to make a living. Our mouths have gotten us into and out of more trouble than most people can ever imagine. We all consider ourselves masters of the language and our ability to “word smith” is one of our most valued strengths. However our words, once used, can never be stopped or recalled.
Words are the single most powerful weapon in the world. Wars have been fought, cities and towns destroyed, people have died and more sales and customers lost then can ever be calculated because of words.
The wound our words make may not show up immediately, and they will not heal as quickly as a cut or a bruise. It could take days, weeks or months before what we said comes back around and gets us. We have long forgotten what we said or why we said it, but they have been inside our customer’s head all this time, festering, growing, disturbing them. When the opportunity comes to release all this negative thinking, it could come as lost business.
Going back to Jennifer Aniston, the news anchor said that after she made the statement, Regis and Kelly, along with the audience, laughed WITH her. It wasn’t until an advocate of the mentally handicapped said something that the statement was viewed as negative. This brings up another issue we need to watch out for. Many times we know the person we are talking to very well. We know their tolerances and what is inbounds for a conversation and out of bounds. The question is who else can hear the conversation? How will what you are saying affect other people who may overhear you? These people may not share your contacts sense of humor, or political views. They may not feel the same way about a given group or way of life. They may have a mentally handicapped child!
Finally, think about having your name attached to what you are saying. I will put this idea into play two ways. First, do you really want your contact telling other people, “Listen what Lorin said to me today” (Alright, you know I mean for you to put your name in place of mine). The customer thinks they are giving you credit, but they may be giving you a black eye. Second, put yourself in Jennifer Aniston’s place. Would you want your family reading what you said in the newspaper while eating breakfast?
So what can you do to stop the possibility of becoming a victim of your words? There are a few things that can help. Remove the negative or potentially harmful words from your vocabulary. If you don’t say these things in your usual conversation outside of business, you won’t say them during the course of doing business. Something else you can do is to think about words and phrases you use regularly. Say them out loud and think if they could be misinterpreted in any way by a customer.
I participated in week long Train the Trainer class. One of the exercises we went through was to take a simple sentence and as we said it out loud, we put the emphasis on a different word. The sentence was, “I didn’t say he stole the wallet”. I won’t go over each word but let me go over the first few and give you the interpretations.
Putting the emphasis on “I” – meaning, you didn’t say it but someone else did
Putting the emphasis on “SAY” - meaning, you didn’t say it but you communicated it in another way.
Putting the emphasis on “STOLE” - meaning, you said he borrowed, or took, or in some other way interacted with the wallet.
I think you can get the picture, same words different meanings. Getting back to the phrases and words you use regularly in your sales presentations. What meaning do you want them to have for your customer? You need to practice saying them repeatedly so there is no misunderstanding when you say them.
So now we all know when our parents used to tell us to, “Watch Our Mouths”, they were preparing us for our successful careers in sales.
Oh, and by the way, putting symbols in place of letters in an e mail doesn’t fool anyone anymore!
Hey you #^(*@%$!^& yeah I’m talking to you!
Lorin
Friday, August 20, 2010
Weekends Off
I know that weekends are for families and friends. So my new posts will be Monday - Friday.
I hope everyone has a great weekend and please check back Monday for a new item on the
TRAINING BUFFET, HELP YOURSELF!
I hope everyone has a great weekend and please check back Monday for a new item on the
TRAINING BUFFET, HELP YOURSELF!
IT’S NOT A MATTER OF IF, IT IS JUST A MATTER OF WHEN
How many of you have heard this statement from your boss or sales manager, “It’s not a matter of IF you are going to lose them, it is just a matter of WHEN”. Who is the “THEM” they are usually talking about? You know who it is, YOUR BIGGEST CUSTOMER!
Their thinking is that eventually something will happen that makes the customer make a change.
My thinking is, BOLOGNA! (Oscar Mayer spelling)
Why does this have to happen? I don’t think it does. In my last company, reps sometimes had customers for 10, 20, 30 years or more. I am not talking one here and one there, I am talking most reps that were with the company for awhile, had their group of customers like this.
What is the difference between these reps and this small group of customers and the average rep and the average customer? Let’s try and break it down.
#1 – RELATIONSHIP, to keep a customer over decades you need a better relationship than just seller/buyer.
#2 – PEOPLE, The rep knows all the people in the area of the business they deal with not just the decision maker.
#3 – CHAIN OF COMMAND, The rep knows who needs to be involved in the transactions and makes sure not to leave anyone out.
#4 – KNOW THE BUSINESS, The rep usually knows the business and the applications as well as if not better than the customers.
#5 – INNOVATOR, The rep is consistently bringing the newest ideas and best practices to the customer BEFORE the competition does.
#6 – GO THE EXTRA MILE, The rep does more for the customer than the customer expects.
#7 – SERVICE, The rep doesn’t cut corners or let things slide. The rep is there to make sure everything is running smoothly or the services they are providing are working smoothly.
#8 – DOESN”T MAKE THE CUSTOMER DO THE REPS WORK, The rep does everything. If the customer has a problem the rep handles it and doesn’t have the customer making calls or running errands.
#9 – ALWAYS ACTS PROFESSIONAL, The rep knows that there is a fine line between personal and business relationships and never crosses that line.
#10 - CARES, The rep cares about the business as if they were an employee.
(Each item is a great subject for a future blog; keep your eyes open and check back often to read more about them)
This is quite a list. It is a lot to do and not at all easy. Here is another old saying you have heard before, “I never said it would be easy”
Think about your current customer base. With how many of the customers that you have now are all of the items above in place? WOW, did you just realize you have a lot of work to do, or are you saying to yourself, “Lorin, this is just too easy”. I am going to bet that (I try not to say all, but in this case I really could and be safe) MOST of you are looking at this as a lot of work! Don’t get too depressed, this is a labor of LOVE!
Start by making a list of the first group of customers you know you want to keep for a long time (OK, you want to keep them all, and hopefully will, but you need to start someplace) Next take an honest look at the list and write down the items that you are already doing or you have satisfied with each of the customers on the list. There you have it; you have identified the gap between where you are and where you want to be. Start closing the gap.
When you have filled in all the items on a customer, replace that customer on your list with the next one you want to keep. Over time you will have your group of long term customers.
Lorin
Their thinking is that eventually something will happen that makes the customer make a change.
My thinking is, BOLOGNA! (Oscar Mayer spelling)
Why does this have to happen? I don’t think it does. In my last company, reps sometimes had customers for 10, 20, 30 years or more. I am not talking one here and one there, I am talking most reps that were with the company for awhile, had their group of customers like this.
What is the difference between these reps and this small group of customers and the average rep and the average customer? Let’s try and break it down.
#1 – RELATIONSHIP, to keep a customer over decades you need a better relationship than just seller/buyer.
#2 – PEOPLE, The rep knows all the people in the area of the business they deal with not just the decision maker.
#3 – CHAIN OF COMMAND, The rep knows who needs to be involved in the transactions and makes sure not to leave anyone out.
#4 – KNOW THE BUSINESS, The rep usually knows the business and the applications as well as if not better than the customers.
#5 – INNOVATOR, The rep is consistently bringing the newest ideas and best practices to the customer BEFORE the competition does.
#6 – GO THE EXTRA MILE, The rep does more for the customer than the customer expects.
#7 – SERVICE, The rep doesn’t cut corners or let things slide. The rep is there to make sure everything is running smoothly or the services they are providing are working smoothly.
#8 – DOESN”T MAKE THE CUSTOMER DO THE REPS WORK, The rep does everything. If the customer has a problem the rep handles it and doesn’t have the customer making calls or running errands.
#9 – ALWAYS ACTS PROFESSIONAL, The rep knows that there is a fine line between personal and business relationships and never crosses that line.
#10 - CARES, The rep cares about the business as if they were an employee.
(Each item is a great subject for a future blog; keep your eyes open and check back often to read more about them)
This is quite a list. It is a lot to do and not at all easy. Here is another old saying you have heard before, “I never said it would be easy”
Think about your current customer base. With how many of the customers that you have now are all of the items above in place? WOW, did you just realize you have a lot of work to do, or are you saying to yourself, “Lorin, this is just too easy”. I am going to bet that (I try not to say all, but in this case I really could and be safe) MOST of you are looking at this as a lot of work! Don’t get too depressed, this is a labor of LOVE!
Start by making a list of the first group of customers you know you want to keep for a long time (OK, you want to keep them all, and hopefully will, but you need to start someplace) Next take an honest look at the list and write down the items that you are already doing or you have satisfied with each of the customers on the list. There you have it; you have identified the gap between where you are and where you want to be. Start closing the gap.
When you have filled in all the items on a customer, replace that customer on your list with the next one you want to keep. Over time you will have your group of long term customers.
Lorin
Thursday, August 19, 2010
You Can Get Everything You Want, By Helping Enough Other People Get What They Want
Last week I went to a Networking meeting with a group called Whine and Dine. It is a group focused primarily on individuals in the HR functions of a business. Being a trainer, I am on the fringe of HR so I decided to attend. It was AWESOME! I met a great group of people, made some good contacts, but most of all, I had a great time.
The reason I bring this group up is because a funny thing happened while I was there. The networking leaders were talking and quoted someone who was obviously an HR Guru. Not being a strong follower of HR Guru’s, I didn’t know the person, but I sure knew the quote.
“YOU CAN GET EVERYTHING YOU WANT, IF YOU HELP ENOUGH OTHER PEOPLE GET WHAT THEY WANT!”
I first read this quote in a book by Zig Ziglar over 25 years ago. I used it in hundreds of sales meetings and posted it on many of the sell sheets I have made. It is in the top 5 all time great quotes on the “Lorin” list (OK so I just started the list, but it was right there in the top 5). Over the years I have heard this same quote come from IT people, manufacturing people, distribution people, transportation people, construction people, and in one form or another come from every job category you can think of.
I don’t know if Zig was the originator of this quote, but because he is one of my Hero’s, (and in sales) I will credit him with it and say everyone else copied…I mean borrowed..it from him.
It seems like such a simple concept. Dr. Dennis Waitly calls it the double win, “If I Help You Win, I Win Too”, the old saying “You Scratch My Back, I’ll Scratch Yours”, and almost every religion has a form of the Golden Rule, “Do Not To Others What You Would Not Like Yourself” (Confucianism version).
They all can’t be wrong!
In sales you truly can get EVERYTHING you want by helping enough customers get what they want. The problem is, most salespeople never take the time to find out what the customer REALLY wants.
Recently, I made a sales call with a rep. The rep told me before we got to the prospect what product he had selected to show the prospect. He had done his homework and had all the items needed to do a demo, he had his samples, sell sheets, MSDS, and he knew where this product fit into the prospects business applications. It sounded great. When we got to the plant the buyer was there waiting for us, so the rep had made a solid appointment as well (all of these are subjects for future blogs). We were off to what appeared to be a great start. It didn’t take long for me to see the rep must have missed something BIG. As the demo proceeded it was apparent our product outperformed the product they were presently using but the buyer just didn’t seem to connect with us. I could see the rep was starting to get frustrated, he had done all the upfront work, did a good demo, and yet the buyer wasn’t engaged. At this point, I was mostly watching and trying to stay on the sidelines so the rep could make the sale, but I knew I was about to be put in the game. It took about one minute for me to find what this buyer really WANTED.
The buyer, as it turns out, had been put under the microscope and needed to justify every dollar he spent. (Does this sound familiar?) He loved the product we were showing. The rep had done a great job selling the product. What the rep had not done is give the buyer what he wanted. What the buyer wanted was a way to look good to his boss. He needed to know how to justify this purchase. I then explained to the buyer that our product saved him time, I explained that we can extend the time between applications saving them down time. Finally I showed him that by using our product (which was a “Green” product) he could also meet the requirements of the Environmental Engineer.
THAT IS WHAT HE WANTED! The product, in this case, almost didn’t matter, it was the selling of the expenditure to his boss that mattered most of all.
The bottom line, find out what really matters to your customers and prospects. Don’t assume, ASK. If you can get to the true WANT, and fill the customers NEED with your product, you will close the sale every time.
The reason I bring this group up is because a funny thing happened while I was there. The networking leaders were talking and quoted someone who was obviously an HR Guru. Not being a strong follower of HR Guru’s, I didn’t know the person, but I sure knew the quote.
“YOU CAN GET EVERYTHING YOU WANT, IF YOU HELP ENOUGH OTHER PEOPLE GET WHAT THEY WANT!”
I first read this quote in a book by Zig Ziglar over 25 years ago. I used it in hundreds of sales meetings and posted it on many of the sell sheets I have made. It is in the top 5 all time great quotes on the “Lorin” list (OK so I just started the list, but it was right there in the top 5). Over the years I have heard this same quote come from IT people, manufacturing people, distribution people, transportation people, construction people, and in one form or another come from every job category you can think of.
I don’t know if Zig was the originator of this quote, but because he is one of my Hero’s, (and in sales) I will credit him with it and say everyone else copied…I mean borrowed..it from him.
It seems like such a simple concept. Dr. Dennis Waitly calls it the double win, “If I Help You Win, I Win Too”, the old saying “You Scratch My Back, I’ll Scratch Yours”, and almost every religion has a form of the Golden Rule, “Do Not To Others What You Would Not Like Yourself” (Confucianism version).
They all can’t be wrong!
In sales you truly can get EVERYTHING you want by helping enough customers get what they want. The problem is, most salespeople never take the time to find out what the customer REALLY wants.
Recently, I made a sales call with a rep. The rep told me before we got to the prospect what product he had selected to show the prospect. He had done his homework and had all the items needed to do a demo, he had his samples, sell sheets, MSDS, and he knew where this product fit into the prospects business applications. It sounded great. When we got to the plant the buyer was there waiting for us, so the rep had made a solid appointment as well (all of these are subjects for future blogs). We were off to what appeared to be a great start. It didn’t take long for me to see the rep must have missed something BIG. As the demo proceeded it was apparent our product outperformed the product they were presently using but the buyer just didn’t seem to connect with us. I could see the rep was starting to get frustrated, he had done all the upfront work, did a good demo, and yet the buyer wasn’t engaged. At this point, I was mostly watching and trying to stay on the sidelines so the rep could make the sale, but I knew I was about to be put in the game. It took about one minute for me to find what this buyer really WANTED.
The buyer, as it turns out, had been put under the microscope and needed to justify every dollar he spent. (Does this sound familiar?) He loved the product we were showing. The rep had done a great job selling the product. What the rep had not done is give the buyer what he wanted. What the buyer wanted was a way to look good to his boss. He needed to know how to justify this purchase. I then explained to the buyer that our product saved him time, I explained that we can extend the time between applications saving them down time. Finally I showed him that by using our product (which was a “Green” product) he could also meet the requirements of the Environmental Engineer.
THAT IS WHAT HE WANTED! The product, in this case, almost didn’t matter, it was the selling of the expenditure to his boss that mattered most of all.
The bottom line, find out what really matters to your customers and prospects. Don’t assume, ASK. If you can get to the true WANT, and fill the customers NEED with your product, you will close the sale every time.
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Where am I?
When was the last time you stopped for a minute and asked yourself the question, "Where am I"?
Today more than ever before we are rushed. Moving from place to place at the speed of...traffic... we tend to be doing more as reaction rather than plan.
At some point we all need to stop and ask ourselves these questions;
Is my career on track? Am I growing personally like I want to? What are my goals and where am I in relation to them? Am I happy? If your answers to these questions are all "yes", continue on knowing that all is well in your part of the universe. If by some chance you answered "no" to one or more of these questions then you need to make some changes.
Take note of where you currently are and think about where you want to be. How far apart are you? You may only need to make minor adjustments or it may be a major change of direction. Either way, put pen to paper. Make a list of what you can do immediately to start your changes. Then make a list of all the things you can do in the near future and finally write down the long term changes you need to make.
I often talk about the Titanic in my presentations. We all know the story (the movie and Leonardo DeCaprio gave us the whole story over and over again) but let’s look at the facts. The Titanic hit the iceberg while it was attempting to turn to avoid the collision. This in fact ends up to be the main reason the ship sinks, rather than just crushing the bow of the ship and flooding a few of the floatation chambers, the iceberg rips the side of the ship flooding too many of the chambers to keep the ship afloat. OK, enough background, let's get to my point. How much more did the ship need to turn to miss the iceberg? It didn't need to turn around 180 degrees, and go in the other direction. That would be a major change that would take a long time to accomplish. (In relative terms) Nope, the fact is only 2 more degrees would have saved the ship, the 1100 passengers, and the 2 hours each of us spent watching the movie ("I'll always remember you Jack")
SO, now you are asking "What does all this ship talk have to do with where I am"? Simple.
SMALL CHANGES IN INPUT CAN MAKE BIG DIFFERENCES IN OUTCOME!
Two small degrees made the difference on the Titanic. Think of how some small changes can make a difference in your career. For some it may just be the start of a complete turnaround, for others it may be all that is needed to turn the answer to the above questions from "NO" to "YES". Either way, you have asked the right questions, you have made an action plan, and you have started to make the necessary adjustments.
Next time you ask yourself, “Where am I”? You will have the GPS coordinates.
Today more than ever before we are rushed. Moving from place to place at the speed of...traffic... we tend to be doing more as reaction rather than plan.
At some point we all need to stop and ask ourselves these questions;
Is my career on track? Am I growing personally like I want to? What are my goals and where am I in relation to them? Am I happy? If your answers to these questions are all "yes", continue on knowing that all is well in your part of the universe. If by some chance you answered "no" to one or more of these questions then you need to make some changes.
Take note of where you currently are and think about where you want to be. How far apart are you? You may only need to make minor adjustments or it may be a major change of direction. Either way, put pen to paper. Make a list of what you can do immediately to start your changes. Then make a list of all the things you can do in the near future and finally write down the long term changes you need to make.
I often talk about the Titanic in my presentations. We all know the story (the movie and Leonardo DeCaprio gave us the whole story over and over again) but let’s look at the facts. The Titanic hit the iceberg while it was attempting to turn to avoid the collision. This in fact ends up to be the main reason the ship sinks, rather than just crushing the bow of the ship and flooding a few of the floatation chambers, the iceberg rips the side of the ship flooding too many of the chambers to keep the ship afloat. OK, enough background, let's get to my point. How much more did the ship need to turn to miss the iceberg? It didn't need to turn around 180 degrees, and go in the other direction. That would be a major change that would take a long time to accomplish. (In relative terms) Nope, the fact is only 2 more degrees would have saved the ship, the 1100 passengers, and the 2 hours each of us spent watching the movie ("I'll always remember you Jack")
SO, now you are asking "What does all this ship talk have to do with where I am"? Simple.
SMALL CHANGES IN INPUT CAN MAKE BIG DIFFERENCES IN OUTCOME!
Two small degrees made the difference on the Titanic. Think of how some small changes can make a difference in your career. For some it may just be the start of a complete turnaround, for others it may be all that is needed to turn the answer to the above questions from "NO" to "YES". Either way, you have asked the right questions, you have made an action plan, and you have started to make the necessary adjustments.
Next time you ask yourself, “Where am I”? You will have the GPS coordinates.
Here we go
For those of you that know me, you already know that "Taking People From Where They Are, To Where They Can Be' isn't just a saying for me, it is my passion and the driving force behind what I do everyday.
I am starting this blog because one of my friends who I trained in the past said she would follow it if I started it. Therefore I know I will have at least one reader. :-) I also want to continue to pass along my tidbits of information.
I am calling the blog TRAINING BUFFET, because I want you to think of it like you would if you were going to a buffet for dinner. There may be 100 items on the buffet for you to choose from, but you may only like 20 of them. So what do you do?? Eat the 20 you like and pass by the 80 you don't. Same idea here at the TRAINING BUFFET, I will post my ideas, you may or may not like it or see any value in it, fine pass that idea up and find one you like. There eventually will be something for everybody.
I have created a new e mail address just for this blog. It is soapteach@gmail.com if you want to contact me use this address, I will check it every day.
Lorin
I am starting this blog because one of my friends who I trained in the past said she would follow it if I started it. Therefore I know I will have at least one reader. :-) I also want to continue to pass along my tidbits of information.
I am calling the blog TRAINING BUFFET, because I want you to think of it like you would if you were going to a buffet for dinner. There may be 100 items on the buffet for you to choose from, but you may only like 20 of them. So what do you do?? Eat the 20 you like and pass by the 80 you don't. Same idea here at the TRAINING BUFFET, I will post my ideas, you may or may not like it or see any value in it, fine pass that idea up and find one you like. There eventually will be something for everybody.
I have created a new e mail address just for this blog. It is soapteach@gmail.com if you want to contact me use this address, I will check it every day.
Lorin
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