Coaching

Plan for the best and prepare for the best.

A few days ago I saw a meme on Facebook that was attributed to Zig Ziglar. I love Ziglar and I think I know what he was trying to say; however, on this point, he couldn’t be more wrong. 

Here it is:

Plan for the best, prepare for the worst, capitalize on what comes.

As I said, I understand what he’s trying to say but it misses something critical.

You get what you prepare for.

Your subconscious mind might be the most powerful force in the universe as it pertains to you. You don’t have to know how, you just have to know what and why. When you are crystal clear on the what and why your subconscious mind goes to work making it happen.

Also your subconscious mind is built for your protection not for your growth. When you hope for the best and prepare for the worst your mind is incongruous and since it is hard wired to protect you, what do you think it will work to bring about?

So plan for the best, prepare for the best, capitalize on what comes.

I love Ziglar but I disagree with him on this point.

What are your thoughts?

Posted by Gary in Coaching, Mindset

What is Relational Selling?

Let’s start with what it’s not. 

Relational selling is not being so nice to your prospect that they fall at your feet and beg you to buy your product.

There are very few things in life that are all “this” and none of “that”. Relational selling, from my perspective, is not all “How to Win Friends and Influence People“, and the salespeople with the best results are not all “The Challenger Sale“. The very best, those with sustained, consistent results, are both and. 

Relational selling means you work through the sales cycle while focusing on the needs of the person in front of the sale. 

When I first started in insurance sales in the early 90’s one of the other newbies in our group would always have more appointments than anyone else, by far. But over the following weeks he had no sales. What we found was that he was building lots of relationships but never adding value or asking for the sale. He didn’t last 90 days. 

The other extreme is the person who has several trial closes, asks for the sale 7 times, and won’t leave without a yes. He puts up great numbers early but those purchasers never answer his calls again. Congratulations you completed a transaction but you didn’t gain a client, or an advocate. Your number one source of new business is referrals from existing clients. If your focused on a transaction you are sacrificing a career for a sale and limiting the big picture. 

The best salespeople I have been around are very relational. They also believe strongly in their solution, care deeply about people, and are intentional about helping connect people with solutions. 

The Rain Group has studied over 700 B2B purchases from the buyers perspective and this is what they found:
Sales Winners:

  1. Connect
    • Sellers connect the dots between buyers’ needs and solutions they offer.
    • Sellers connect with people by listening to buyers and connecting with them personally.
  2. Convince
    • Sellers persuade buyers they will achieve worthwhile results.
    • Sellers minimize the perception of risk by demonstrating experience, building trust, and inspiring confidence.
    • Sellers persuade buyers they are the best choice.
  3. Collaborate
    • Sellers collaborate with buyers by being proactive and responsive.
    • Sellers educate buyers with new ideas and perspectives.

Sounds like relational selling to me.
Run the play (the sales cycle) and care about the person in front of the sale.

Posted by Gary in Coaching, Practical

Action Cures Fear

In my last post I mentioned a sign my first sales manager had in his office. It’s a quote from David J. Schwartz. 

“Action Cures Fear”

It’s from the  book “The Magic of Thinking Big“. When David sets up the quote he acknowledges that fear is real. Telling yourself it’s only in your mind doesn’t help. Rationalizing and trying to talk yourself into action doesn’t help. The hesitation only “fertilizes your fear” and makes it grow. 

He then goes on to tell the story of sailers during WW II. Non swimming sailors were required to jump off of a 6 ft diving board into 8 feet of water. Once they hit the water the fear was cured. 

If you’ve not read Mel Robbins excellent book “The 5 Second Rule” you should pick it up. It’s a life changing idea. Profound in its brilliance and simplicity. When special ops soldiers are getting ready to do something crazy they start counting down from 5 and when they reach 1 they take action. This interrupts your subconscious mind, which is designed to keep you safe not to help you grow, and allows you to do something that will stretch you and in the process begin to re-wire your brain. 

There was another sign in my managers office that read:

“If you don’t have anything to do,
don’t do it here!”.

It took me awhile to really understand this one. I, at first, thought it meant don’t stand in my office and waste my time. But what it really meant was get out of the office and go, as he would say “get in amongst em”. Go get coffee and talk to people, go to the mall and shop and introduce yourself to people. No agenda just be friendly, look for ways to help people, ways to connect people with solutions.

Make sure you are focused on Income Producing Activities. Know what your avoidance activities are, acknowledge them, and re-focus. Make your calendar your boss. Schedule administrative activities and schedule Income Producing Activities. Do you know what yours are? What are the top 3 activities that get you paid? I guarantee it’s not organizing your filing system. What is your Prolific Quality Output? 

If you don’t know the answers to these questions and you would like help. Reach out to me. I’d love to help. I get it, I’ve been there. Let me know in the comments what your Avoidance Activities are and how you will take action this week to re-focus. 

Posted by Gary in Coaching, Personal Development, Practical

How The Person I Want To Be Handles This?

When you find yourself in a tough situation, ask yourself the question.

“how would the person I want to be handle this?”

Several months ago my coach asked me to get clear on two things:
What do I want?
Who do I want to be?

He said “get crystal clear on these two things, and then live into them.”

At the time I thought I knew what he meant but later I realized I only partially understood what he meant. One of the ways to “live into” who you want to be is to ask yourself that question every time you find yourself in a place of decision. Whether it’s a tough spot or just decision time.

Ask yourself “how would the person I want to be handle this.”

Try it out, let me know how it works.

Posted by Gary in Coaching, Personal Development, Practical