The Power of Approachability: Book Review
Written by Brandon Hull on September 20, 2006
The Big Idea: Scott Ginsberg’s The Power of Approachability will walk you through how to become a far more engaging, open, memorable communicator.
His aim in this book is to help you “throw yourself out there” so that you can still be you, but more willing to initiate conversations with others and able to keep new conversations going.
Like most books in this category, he addresses things like first impressions, the importance of having something to interesting to say, and so forth; Scott also hits on some new, subtle tactics for engaging others in great conversations.
Customer vs. Client
Written by Brandon Hull on September 16, 2006
If you visit dictionary.com to look “customer” and “client” up, you’ll find these first definitions:
customer
1. a person who purchases goods or services from another…client
1. a person or group that uses the professional advice or services of a lawyer, accountant, advertising agency, architect, etc.”
I’ve shortened them to make a point: You don’t want customers any more after reading those definitions. You want clients. You don’t want people who buy from you once because you simply have the “goods” they need right now. You want ongoing relationships with people who use your professional advice and expertise — who buy from you because of how you help them, not what you hand them.
You may think this is splitting hairs; that it’s semantics. But it’s really a mindset. Cultivate relationships so that you become indispensable for what you know (that you can transfer), how you help, and how you make people feel about the interaction. When you do that, you’re building a client base, not a customer list.
Pipelinedeals Keeps Improving
Written by Brandon Hull on September 15, 2006
“It’s often an adjustment here or there…” I just reported. Well Pipelinedeals.com is the way to go. If you’ve not looked into their system for tracking your deals, now is the time.
They’ve added a new landing page that when you log in summarizes your pipeline, including todos, the status on your top five deals, quick access to your most recently worked-on deals, and more features on the way.
I’ve casually recommended them before, now I’m all over promoting them. Nick and the team “get it.”
A Different Kind of Boiling Point
Written by Brandon Hull on September 15, 2006
Need a pick-me-up? Visit 212, buy the ebook, and own the mindset. The thinking behind it: Just one degree more = exponential results.
Don’t overwhelm yourself with a thousand changes to your routine. It’s often an adjustment here or there that gets you into the top 10%.
How Is Your Ego?
Written by Brandon Hull on September 14, 2006
You ought to subscribe to Shamus Brown’s Egopower sales training newsletter.
This week’s edition is pretty in-your-face. His topic: Top 10 Excuses for NOT Making Quota. Hurry and subscribe, see if you can still get this week’s. If you subscribe and don’t get this one issue, forward it to me and I’ll send this week’s back to you. Good stuff — hard hitting, direct, no holds barred.
How to Measure Your Sales Funnel
Written by Brandon Hull on September 14, 2006
Gill Wagner with Honest Selling has an excellent, four-part series going on right now called Measuring Your Sales Funnel. In the series, he highlights three conditions that must be met for a prospect to be considered a viable prospect:
1. …a firm appointment…
2. …that firm appointment is within the next 21 days…
3. …the prospect knows it’s a sales appointment…”
Read his series to find out why he says this. In fact, study the series. Gill is boldly addressing a subject too few sales trainers want to tackle: the tracking and managing of selling ratios.
And if you’re in a company where this is done to some degree, you’re in the world of High Activity Selling, whether you know it or not. Know this: High Activity Selling requires learning 1) people skills, 2) sales skills and 3) how to manage your prospects — not simply #2.
Blending in Blends You Out
Written by Brandon Hull on September 14, 2006
What a great blog post, visual aid and anecdote on how crucial it is to stand out. Failure to read this article as a sales professional will result in your immediate irrelevance.
It is difficult to appreciate by so many sales professionals, but the reality is: when you do not stand out, when you’re not in the least bit interesting and provocative, you lose
You are competing not just against your “known” competitors, but against so many other distractors and detractors that are going in your buyer’s life. Know that. Respect that. Develop your own personal way around that. Be something more.
The People Principle: Salesteamtools Book Review
Written by Brandon Hull on September 14, 2006
The People Principle is the quiet little people-skills book that no one knows about.
Written in the mid-1990s by Ron Willingham, author and founder of Integrity Selling and other training and development programs, it’s a perfect follow-up to How to Win Friends and Influence People.
The Big Idea(s): Build people. Give them reasons to believe in themselves. This book would fall under the “general business” or “leadership” sections, not sales, but as with the previous two books we’ve covered as part of the Salesteamtools Book Reviews program, we’re working from the inside out.
Ron Willingham does a good job in this book of focusing not simply on your attitude about treating other people. He zeros in on your beliefs about yourself, and how they trigger your attitudes and feelings.
How to Win Friends Closing Thought…
Written by Brandon Hull on September 11, 2006
I’ve pushed into a new week, but I had to post a final quote on How to Win Friends and Influence People.
Appeal to the nobler motives.”
This simple notion by Dale Carnegie puts his classic on an entirely unique level. Lost among the tumult of business books and articles — particularly those on selling — is any notion that you should appeal to the best in other people. Give them the opportunity to rise to the occasion and make a decision or choice that.
Instead, we often appeal to what’s most coarse in them — the lowest common denominator. We appeal to their pride or greed, rather than who they are at their core (or who they want to be).
I’d like to challenge sales professionals to know this book and follow Carnegie’s guidance. You will grow not only in character but in confidence, competency, and results.
How to Win Friends…Part 2, Chapter 4
Written by Brandon Hull on September 10, 2006
A book doesn’t become a classic by age alone. It must stand the test of time, as they say, because it’s principles continue to apply — or become even more true and relevant.
Such it is for How to Win Friends and Influence People. In particular, I encourage Salesteamtools visitors to study Part 2, Chapter 4. Read the full post
