LinkedIn Networking Workshop Is Mandatory!

Who Should Attend?

Join a limited-number of professionals who are ready to learn how using LinkedIn properly with the right strategies and tactics can change your business and future to win. This LinkedIn Networking workshop will bring together participants from all levels of professions, so don't worry about being out-paced - the time is now for getting everyone up to speed on this powerful channel. Don't miss this opportunity to prepare yourself and your organization for owning the business niche in your space. Start converting your LinkedIn exclusive process into bottom-line improvements in any industry. This workshop is ideal for business professionals across all industries.

I have always written about small business entrepreneurship and this LinkedIn Networking Workshop should be a Mandatory attendance if you are serious about growing your business and stepping out front of your competition. Here is a workshop I recommend and know the trainer personally being held in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada for July. Register now and get an early bird discount: http://www.eventbrite.ca/event/5905464403/WSI/58856021251  - Ray MacNeil

Ask Yourself When Considering A Franchise Business!

As a follow up to my previous post, here are some questions you can ask yourself to begin your conversations with me so I can help you find your perfect franchise business.

 

1.    How many years am I prepared to work in the franchise earning less than what I earn today in my job before I can see the return on my investment?

2.    Retail franchises such as fast food tend to have lots of staff and a high turn-over of staff; do I have a recruitment and training background? Will I enjoy this as a new full time endeavor?

3.    If my store manager does not show for work or I’m short of staff for a shift, will I enjoy working behind the counter?

4.    Will my inventory have a shelf life and if so for how long, for example perishable food items?

5.    Am I passionate about this business and industry?

6.    I want to be the owner operator of my business; can I see myself in this business every day?

7.    Is this business in a highly competitive industry or location?

8.    Is this business in a high growth market?

9.    Is this a cash business and will I need a big family in the business to reduce theft?

10.Is this business contributing to the health and wellness of people and is this important to me?

11.Is this a business I will be proud to tell my family and friends about?

Email me for a free franchise fit evaluation. I have more than 12 years of international executive franchisor experience and I specialize in finding high profit/high growth franchise businesses. My email is:  rmacneil58@gmail.com

Franchisors Only Want My Money

Why do I feel when I start talking to a franchise representative that their selection process is more about how much money I can spend than if I'm truly the right person to own and operate their franchise business? I worked too hard for my money and I want to make the right choice but there are too many choices. Some great but not in my budget, some in my budget but not so great and the others, well who knows.

The truth from an insider perspective is, your gut feeling is probably true and your search has proven to be fruitless because there really are too many choices; some great, some good and some not so good. There are even resale franchise opportunities. Do I buy and build new or buy an existing franchise?
The fact is there is an abundance of choices and it can be too daunting to even begin in fear of making a mistake. For example, as per a 2007 United States total economic impact of franchises on their economy study which included:

• The number of jobs filled within and because of franchised businesses (17,430,700)
• The number of franchise establishments (over 828,138)
• Direct and indirect economic output of franchised businesses; ($2.1 trillion)
• Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of franchised businesses ($1.2 trillion)

So, here are some tips I know will help:

1. Establish your budget for a franchise license and start-up costs leaving a safety net to cover your household expenses for a minimum of one year.
2. Create a checklist of what is important to you in franchise business ownership e.g.: Will I be an owner/operator or am I looking for an investment opportunity? If I own and operate what business/product/service or industry will get me out of bed every day to enjoy what I do? What are my skills, experience and talents that are transferrable to a franchise? High growth, high demand marketplace? Low investment high profits? Exceptional training and support to the franchisee and staff. etc.
3. An existing franchise versus new? Prepare a SWOT (Strengths/Weaknesses/Opportunities/Threats) analysis for yourself. For example: S = established revenues, W = revenues declining due to poor staff performance, O = new management could renew revenue performance in established location, T = desirable location could be absorbed by another competitor
4. Short list potential franchise systems that catch your interest from your community, word of mouth or media.
5. Reach out to a franchise broker who can then get to know you better and save you time matching you to the right franchise. Item 4 doesn't necessarily mean buying what you saw or heard but rather narrowing down your search to type of franchise. After all, there might be a better burger or donut you are not aware of or, a franchise offering you never thought of such as in home healthcare or automotive services to name a couple.

My most significant point to remember is that you don't have to search or go into a franchise systems selection process alone. Get the expert and free advice. The broker is typically compensated by the franchisor for saving them time in bringing forward a qualified candidate for consideration.
Happy franchise hunting!

MacNeil Sales Consulting and Contracting

Building on my Do's and Don'ts list of business.  For example:  Do what is in your control to prevent potential failure. If all else fails, move on sooner not later. Don't ignore the signs of potential failure. As entrepreneurs we have a tendency (I'm guilty) to hang on to our passion and our dream of grand success with egotistical blinders on. The result may be to go down alone with the ship yelling "But she can be saved!"

Today I continue to build my new business, MacNeil Sales MSCC, leveraging my sales and franchise experience helping others find the right franchise. To help my clients understand a franchise and a franchisors selection process.

I'm also helping a local and established new home builder find investors for his next phase of new home construction in the London and Woodstock, Ontario, Canada area.

As an entrepreneur I'm open to hear how I can help your company as a contractor review your sales system, your franchise system and provide recommendations on building a winning sales team.

If you are interested to learn more about how I can provide insights to your business, or interested in a franchise or a home investment, send me a message.

MacNeil Sales Consulting and Contracting, MSCC

It has been some time now since I last wrote in my blog and I suspect I'm the only reader.  Well I'm back. My last year has been a challenge for my career. I could point fingers but instead I prefer to move forward, rebuild, survive and thrive. I plan to build my new business, MacNeil Sales Consulting and Contracting, MSCC, and take what I learned over my last 20 plus years as an entrepreneur and franchise sales executive to help others find their new franchise business. Or for others who prefer to put their money to work and invest with an establish new home builder who is looking to build another successful phase of new homes in the London, Ontario, Canada area. I can also help existing businesses build a sales team. improve a sales team's performance or assist your HR team with the recruiting of top sales professionals.

I'm open for business and open for discussions. I look forward to getting back to more regular posts in my blog and building a loyal readership and referral base.

Fresh Content Is A Challenge

I have not been active in my blog for a very long time and as a result my page ranking has dropped in Google. If you are running a business it is difficult to keep your blog active daily with fresh content that is relevant and topical. But you must if you want to enjoy success on the search engines. On the internet; text is the 'bomb'. Stale text is the 'bum'. My best advice is to have a dedicated blogger for your organization. This person can solicit content from your relevant departments or look to outside help. For example; WSI Digital Marketing can bring this service to your company. Blogs rule if done right.

Two Cats Flirting

I was having dinner with a friend last night from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and he told me a story of two cats flirting. He had just arrived home late at night and was still in his car when he noticed a Tom Cat following behind a female cat. The Tom Cat would get the female cats attention with a moaning meow and the female cat would continue walking away but clearly puff up and look the other way. This continued until the Tom Cat had enough and turned away. The female cat noticed soon after that the Tom cat’s meows had stopped. What did she do? She turned around and pursued the Tom cat with a similar meow.

Why do I repeat this story to you in my blog? Because we both agreed last night as business owners, our success really began to grow when we least needed the work. When we had the sincere lack of interest in if we got a clients business or not, that is when the client wanted us more and was prepared to pay a premium for our services. The key word here is 'sincere'. We really didn't care because we were very busy. The challenge is how to do this when you are not busy. Instead of creating a fake lack of interest when you are not busy, reconsider not taking on jobs at cost or below cost because you are not busy. Too many times I would be caught in a project losing money and was unable to take on a profitable job. Lesson learned; pursue profit and play hard to get. I would be curious to know if this cat story has any other meanings to my readers. Please comment.

Can Ethics be Bought?

Where do we get ethics? Can you buy them off a shelf? Can you be taught ethics? Do we get them from our genetic makeup or from watching our parents? All great questions.

Let me tell you a story of my early days in Purchasing. I was asked to sell off a large pile of scrap metal at our municipal Works Yard. I asked all the dealers to meet me on site to view the scrap and then to later provide me with a written quote. All arrived on this misty yet warm summer morning in the early 1980's. All but one drove near to the pile and began their inspections. One dealer however drove his dirty old pick up truck over to where I was standing. He got out of his truck beer belly flapping with gravity and his arm stretched out to greet me with a hand shake. I reached out my hand to receive him and stopped when I saw a $50 bill folded up in his creased hand. I asked him "what is that?" He proceeded to tell me it was a token of thanks because we were going to do business. I said, "keep your money, inspect the pile of scrap and present your price. If you are the highest bidder, we will do business". He did as advised. When I told this story to my Senior Buyer back at our office in City Hall he said "good for you. If you accepted the $50 you would have told the world you could be bought for $50." I was stunned by this. It suggests that we all have a price. His by the way is $1 million. I said I can't be bought. He said, sure you can. Someone just needs to find your price.

So what is Ethics? Is it black and white? Is their a grey area? Let me know your thoughts? By the way, I can't be bought for any price.

Your Business Will Fail Within 24 Months

Imagine reading in the papers, hearing on the radio and watching on TV everyday business investment and economy experts claiming that your business will fail within 24 months. What would you do? Would you curl up in the fetal position and wait for doomsday? Or, would the fighter in you do everything and anything to prove them wrong and keep your business alive? I would venture to say that most business owners are fighters. If we were not fighters we probably would have caved in against all the negativity we heard before we got into business.

So, if we are fighters why are we allowing the media to promote negativity? Sure, investment portfolio's have taken a hit and people have lost their home due to mis-guided sub prime lending strategies in the US but can we get through all this? Of course we can. Big business, employees of big business will be impacted by this first. The suppliers of big business will be impacted next. If you are an employee of a big business then you should look at getting into a business. A franchise business is a good decision. If you are a supplier to these big businesses then you need to get all your eggs out of the one basket. You need to fine new clients. The most value for your marketing dollar is Internet Marketing. Ask anyone who has moved part of, or most of, their marketing budget to the Internet why they did this and they will all tell you that it is because the Internet, if done right, will get you better results.

Don't do this yourself. Seek out a professional in Internet Marketing. Internet Marketing is much more affordable than you might have been led to believe given leaders in the industry such as WSI Internet Consulting who leverage their Global Presence to bring the costs down. But it is not about cost. It is about value. What will be the value, impact to your business. The cost is not as important as the value of the new business brought to your business. What is the cost to your business if you don't act now and seriously do something on the Internet? Do you take charge of your life, your business, or do you let life take charge of you? Perhaps the cost of not taking action now, not fighting, and thus curling up in defeat in the fetal position is as significant as; Your Business Will Fail Within 24 Months.

Do Not Think Negative - Why?

To answer this question we first need to understand the context in which it is asked. For example; if I was trying to lose weight/fat I would want to think negative. My starting weight is 200 and I want to lose 40. In this context, losing negative fat measured in numbers creating a loss is actually a positive. Are you still with me? I didn’t lose you, I hope. If I lost you that of course would be a negative. Why? Because my objective is to keep you reading which would be a positive outcome.

I think we can all agree that a negative is the opposing or opposite of positive. But, as demonstrated with my weight loss example, a negative could actually be a positive. I found a very interesting definition from a 1999 Meadows School, Las Vegas, ‘Debate Glossary’ that argued Negative is: “The side that opposes adoption of the resolution.” Wow! I really like that argument. This would suggest that the adoption side could be wrong if for example it had a negative impact on the majority or the masses. Then, if the majority could get the argument changed to their side then a new adoption would be challenged by the minority and the roles of negative versus positive would be switched. This suggest to me that negative (and positive) are in constant battle with each other and in some circumstances negative is positive and positive is negative. Hmmm. No wonder, many people struggle with the idea of positive thinking.

With the many negative thoughts that constantly argue with our internal rational thinking and emotional thinking meters and radars we will in most cases take the path of least resistance. This would explain to me why so few are truly successful in reaching their hearts desires and goals. Saying to someone “Think Positive” is just another opposing view to adoption and therefore makes the command negative in the mind of the receiver.

So, how do the top achievers reach their goals? Through practice and through trial and error. They have mastered their thinking and, to be a master, you have to expect to fail. But, you pick yourself up and you try and try again. You do this when you want to quit smoking. You do this when you want to get your drivers license and failed on your first attempt(s). You do this when you want to win the heart of the person who is your soul mate. You do this in business and you do this in life. If your dream and desire is strong enough as presented in my examples that most of us have experienced in life then you will adopt a positive plan to succeed and accept the negative as part of the ongoing argument that only strengthens your persistence and tenacity to succeed.

Well, if you are still with me and read this far then I congratulate you on your tenacity and you have just proven to yourself that you can be successful and that is positive thinking.

'Inch by Inch Life Is a Cinch...' - Mac Anderson

I love this 'Simple Truth' from Mac Anderson:

When I was a freshman in college I learned an unforgettable lesson.
I was having a rough week when there was a lot to do and very little time to do it. I was overwhelmed. I panicked.
That night a friend stopped by my dorm room. When I told him my problem, he said, ?Mac, I'll share something with you that my grandmother told me a few years ago. She said to always remember: ?Inch by inch, life's a cinch. Yard by yard, life is hard.??
I said, ?Bob, come on. Here I am drowning in work and your lifeline is a quote from your grandmother. Come on!?
After he left, however, those twelve little words kept dancing in my head. I took out a piece of notebook paper and listed all the things I had to do in the next three days. That night I began knocking them off one by one.
Three days later I took out that paper and marked through the last thing on the list. It felt great! And then I took out another piece of paper and wrote down the words: ?Inch by inch, life's a cinch. Yard by yard, life is hard.? I then folded the paper and put it in my wallet. As many of you know, I've been collecting quotes ever since.
You see, success doesn't come cascading like Niagara Falls; it comes one drop at a time through short-term, realistic goals.
Experts on motivation disagree on a lot of things, but one thing they all agree on is that your levels of motivation are directly tied to your expected probabilities of success. In other words, if you believe you can do something (the goals are realistic), you're likely to be highly motivated. If, however, you think you can't (because the goals are unrealistic) your motivation level falls greatly.
The lesson here is to continue to dream big dreams, but realize that the short-term goals that take you to the next plateau are the real keys to success

Are Top Salespeople Champions?

Is there a difference between a Winner and a Champion? Why do some people achieve their goals and others do not? Are the Top Salespeople Champions? Let me answer these questions for you by offering my personal observation.

There is a reality show in the United States titled; 'Dancing with the Stars'. Celebrities learn to dance many ballroom dances in unreasonably short time frames and then perform weekly on stage in front of millions. They are all winners for overcoming their fears and succeeding to complete their dances regardless if the judges gave them high or low marks or the viewing audience voted them back for another week or not. The champion is the one left standing after all the eliminations are completed.

My observation is that each of the celebrities are paired up with a Professional and Champion ballroom dancer who teaches them the dance and performs it with them on stage. From Champion to Champion when they worked with the frustrated celebrity they have all continued to provide words of inspiration with positive motivation. Defeat or not winning is not even considered by the Champion. They focus only on keeping the celebrity focused and remind them that they can and will do it. No matter how difficult the routine or short the availability of time they always get it done. This is the true nature of a Champion.

Top Salespeople I have found will share this in common with the Champion. Defeat is not an option. Optimistic and positive inspiration is their life. Setting goals and then creating a plan for execution is their routine. I believe that Top Salespeople are the Gold Medalists in business. What are you doing to be a Gold Medalist Champion in your career, in your organization and in your personal life?

Be mindful of your attitude. Help are others to succeed with your insights and positive words. Set Goals and then create a plan which you are prepared to follow. Be a Champion.

Cold Calling Tip #4 - Get An Agreement

What is the definition of a good Cold Call? The answer is; 'Agreement'. At the end of each of your calls you should get an agreement to the next step or the next action to be taken by you and your suspect. For example; 'We will speak again on Tuesday at 3:15 to discuss my findings'. Or, 'I will call you in 2 weeks to see if anything has changed in your organization'.

Always leave the door open for a follow up to your call. These suspects then go into your calendar. If you have an agreement to a follow up then you must follow up. Your suspect will respect your professionalism based on the fact that you do what you say you will do. If you promise to send them some industry related information to their business in the next 10 minutes then make sure you send this information in the next 10 minutes. Your actions speaks volumes to your suspect on how you will be professional and responsive to their needs in the event you do conduct business together.

Getting an agreement can also be that there is not a good fit between what you offer and your suspects needs. Eventually you may have to accept that a NO is really a NO. In this situation, respect that decision with acknowledgement of the NO and remind them that if anything changes in the future to please contact you or refer you to any person they know who would benefit from your product or services. Offer them a referral incentive like a dinner for 2 at their favorite resturant. Be creative with your incentives but make sure it is what they would appreciate as a reward.

Too often I have heard from an excited sales person how they had a great call with a suspect where they connected at an emotional level and as a result the sales person didn't follow their agenda for the call and, didn't get the agreement to the next step. If you end a call not clear on what actions are to be taken next by both of you, including when you will speak again, then it was not a good call.

Remember that an agreement is where both parties agree to the next step. When you said you will follow up in 2 weeks on Tuesday at 3:15 did they respond "Yes that works for me"? If not, then you don't have agreement.

Get an Agreement on each Cold Call you make and watch your closing ratios increase. Watch your client list increase. Watch your revenue increase. Watch your life change.

Cold Calling Tip #3 - What Did I Learn

The fear of cold calling, prospecting for leads, can be over come by learning the objections, writing them down, preparing a great response to each objection and then practicing the responses. This sounds like common sense and it is but, like most common sense ideas, they require execution.

There are two great helpful hints to over coming the fear of cold calling in this tip. The first is that you learn the objections from each call you make. This means that you go into every call not with the objective to sell something and deal with the fear of rejection but rather with the objective to learn and improve. This mind set allows you to look at every call in a more positive and rewarding attitude. Therefore every call is now a successful call.

Secondly, if your call ends with no appointment then what did I learn from the call. What objections did the prospect have and how did I respond? How could I have answered the call differently? Write down the objections immediately after the call and then think about a better response you could have given if you had the opportunity to conduct that call again. Do some research if necessary to prepare a better response. The internet, your product marketing material, your existing clients, etc., can all contribute to crafting the perfect response. Once you have crafted the perfect responses then practice out loud.

The use of a digital recording device is great. Replay it, evaluate it, correct it, record it again and again, and again, honing your response until you don't have to think about. When you reach the point where you can respond to each objection automatically without thinking about your response then you are ready. You are now ready to try out your new skill on the next calls. In a week or two you can even try out your objection handling on the prospects you first learned the objections from. Always remember that any prospect worth calling on once is worth calling on again.

Cold Calling Tip #2 - Know Thy Self

Cold calling sales prospects should be part of your prospecting plan. Your plan to generate leads may include networking, trade shows, seminars, referrals, etc. Cold calling is just one method of many lead generation tasks you should employ. Therefore, it should also be part of your weekly/daily plan. Let's say for example you plan to make cold calls for 1 hour per day each morning. This would then be the first task on your daily agenda or calendar. I don't know about you but some days my mood or energy level is higher or lower than others. Know Thy Self.

I may plan for one hour of cold calling each morning but if I'm at a high energy level I may extend this period when I have the time available. Alternatively, if my energy level is low I will only make a few calls. Why? Because my prospects are important to me and I don't want to jeopardize a new relationship because I said all the wrong words or did not express my objectives clearly or passionately enough to generate enough interest from the prospect to learn more.

I also don't want to carry over the negative energy from one bad call to the next call. If I have a bad call I will take a short 15 to 30 minute break from the phone and do something to clear my head and change my mood. For example; I do another task or take a walk. It is important to be in the moment with each and every call. I can't truly listen and engage with someone new if my mood, my energy and my thoughts are somewhere else.

Know Thy Self!

Weekly Cold Calling Tip #1

Every week I will furnish you with a new cold calling tip. Starting today with tip #1; Compliments of the house.

The truth is 'cold calling' has become a nasty phrase because we are thinking sales. We have to sell something on the call and I know I will be rejected. It is this negative mind set that gets us in trouble. Why not call someone just to explore for possible opportunities. Don't call to make a sale. Call to ask questions about their business and their industry. Offer them a complimentary gift for their time with you on the phone.

Let them know that you are exploring a good fit with your product and/or services to their industry and you have identified them as a respected leader in their industry. State the reasons why they are seen as a leader. You can source 2 to 3 reasons for calling them in most cases right from their website. If you have a name to drop even better.

Have your questions prepared in advance and make sure they are powerful thought provoking questions that get the prospect to explore their own business challenges. Perhaps so much so they ask to learn more about your products and/or services.

At the end of the 5 minute call you don't sell them anything. You only confirm their complete contact information so you can send them out the complimentary gift such as a free attendance to a seminar you are conducting in a couple of weeks or an industry white paper that is relevant to their business or even a gift basket which includes one or two items with your company logo and a business card.

Make sure to follow up with them after they receive the gift to make sure they received it and thank them again for their time. In another week follow up with them to offer them a white paper you wrote on your findings. Or a white paper you found that may speak to a challenge your prospect spoke to you about on your first call.

This method of follow up calls with a reason to call starts to build a relationship that brings all your cold calling to a new level. You are now calling people you know and who now know you...warm leads. In time they will get to know what you do better and eventually you will be in the right place at the right time. There is no such think as luck. Luck is made by frequent follow up calls to your targeted prospect.

Always remember the value of a gift by remembering how you felt when the restaurant owner said to you; "...Compliments of the house."

Cold Calling Tips?

I've written on 'cold calling' as part of the sales process or prospecting for leads before and when I published my posts as articles at ezine they became my most read articles. When most people think about sales they think about cold calling. Regardless if they have conducted cold calling or been on the receiving end of a cold call, the topic brings negative emotions. In response to this great interest, I want to collect your cold calling experiences, good and bad. Post your experience as a comment to this post and perhaps we can create together some great cold calling suggestions and tips to make the experience more positive.

Sales Managers Don't Sell?

Too often we promote top sales producers to managers and this fails the individual and the company. To be a top sales manager should mean to be a top people manager. You may hear the argument that sales people are different and only sales people can understand sales people. I argue that people are people and in most cases the manager must determine what motivates the individual and the collective. You may hear the argument that a sales managers' base salary goes right to the bottom line and is difficult to justify. I would argue that without a sales manager who doesn't sell, who manages people, also goes right to your bottom line. That the bottom line is a moving line and without the right person in the right job your sales will stop growing.

I just read this 'rough notes' article on hiring a sales manager with no insurance sales background for an insurance sales company. As in most organizations some people reacted negatively and resigned. In the end the companies sales increased and most individuals earned more income than imagined. One thing sales people are motivated by is money. When they see more, they smile more.

Any company that wants to grow must at some point bring on a professional sales manager. It is not a matter of choice, it is a matter of success!

"Gut Feel" Decision Making Is NOT Cosmic

Here is a follow up to a post I wrote on "What Would You Wear For A Client Presentation":

As a salesperson, have you ever made a "gut feel" decision on a prospect that prevented you from being your best or caused you to act your best? I'm talking about that sales call where within a few moments you are in your mind closing down the meeting as a waste of time and those calls where you are connecting and are in your comfort zone. Even the best sales person has had both experiences. Of course we know that the best sales people will match and mirror verbal and body language, not pre-judge (cherry pick) and ask questions that get the prospect selling them self to you and focused on them. But, I don't care how good you are we all had at least once the gut feeling that sent a sales call into a tail spin.

Have you ever asked yourself where that gut feel comes from? It is NOT from the cosmos. It is not the perfect or not so perfect alignment of the stars or a universal vibration theory. It is a culmination of all the external stimuli entering our subconscious mind.

Let me put it to you this way, if you were meeting with a financial expert for the first time who was going to plan a personal financial freedom portfolio for you and he arrived at your house in a 15 year old car that was falling apart and got out of the car in loose fitting clothes that were wrinkled and his appearance was unkempt your subconscious mind would be sending a message to your gut feel center of your body that maybe this isn't the right person to manage your money.

Or, what about the construction contractor you are meeting that is going to discuss building an addition to your house for a budget of $100k and he shows up in a beat up old rusted van and doesn't take notes and after looking around the house in 5 minutes he is quoting numbers to you on how much it will cost to complete the project. Again, your gut feel is telling you that maybe this isn't the right guy to trust with your home and money.

Both of these examples, if not for our gut feel, could have been the best person for the task at hand but we will never know because we elected not to do business with them. In fact, we probably elected to not listen to what they had to say because we made a snap decision to not use them and now you are focused only on how to get them out of your house sooner as opposed to later.

Now we know our gut feel can be fairly accurate but I'm sure it can be just as often not so accurate. For example; I'm a sales person calling on a General Construction company and the owner is dressed in blue jeans and a t-shirt. His office is decorated in construction industry chic, drafting table and coffee table covered in blueprints, sales samples, business cards, junk, etc. He is hurried and his language is very blunt and to the point. My gut feel might be telling me that this guy is uneducated, blue collar tough with cash flow problems and will never buy my product or service. If that was my feeling my attitude will be to end this call as quickly as I can and move on. Guess what, that person might have been me. I am dressed this way because today I'm on the job site and my guys who I know don't respect the suit. In fact, my clients expect me to be dressed down and when I meet with them I was in jeans and a golf shirt with my company logo. What you never found out is that we are busy because we are good and as a result we have loyal customers with repeat business. In fact our bank account is in 7 figures. You just lost a great account.

When you are in sales you must research your prospect before you meet them and know that prejudging (cherry picking) can cost you business. Be careful of the "Gut Feel". Gut Feel decision making is not cosmic and in reality is a culmination of what we see, hear and feel. Now that you know this, how do you present yourself to your prospect? What subconscious message are you sending to your prospects gut feel center?

Sales Force Retention

I came across this great article written by Jeremy Miller with LeapJob.com which speaks to the Sales Force Retention Myth. This is a great follow up article to my post on the Top 10 Sales Manager Mistakes.



This article is worth the read: click here