Tuesday, January 31, 2006
How To Put Yourself In Charge Of Changing Yourself
No-Brainer Selling Tips Letter #228
January 31, 2006
For salespeople, sales executives, and entrepreneurs who want sales tips, sales techniques, and small business help
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Hello
I need to get this off my chest - so bear with me for a minute. I just got an e-mail from an angry subscriber to my No-Brainer Selling Tips Newsletter and he's not even paying for it. He tells me I should quit telling stories and spend more time giving sales tips. This newsletter is sent to approximately 14,932 salespeople and entrepreneurs.
I'm focused and dedicated to helping you grow your respective businesses. I just invested $800 in Michael Masterson's copywriting course - so I can continue to improve my writing.
One of the keys, I've learned at great expense, to get people to open and read your newsletter is to make it interesting. You may not realize this, especially if you're a new subscriber, that it takes me between 2-3 hours to prepare, edit, and send every issue.
On the other hand most readers zip through these letters in less than 2-3 minutes and oftentimes miss the sales tip.
Rest assured each letter has a tip in it for you. If you don't see it after reading it once - try reading it again. You won't be disappointed.
I am a big fan of Dan Kennedy. He's an extraordinary marketing person. I invest about $80 a month to get two of his newsletters. I got an e-mail from him yesterday which had a big impact on me. Because it was a great reminder.
Here's a brief excerpt from Dan's letter:
"One day on the Dr. Phil show, there was a young couple fighting; she, grossly overspending, an out of control shopaholic badly in need of help. But the gripe she had about hubby was 100% legit: he had a mechanic's job, brought home a small paycheck, and was blatantly unconcerned, unembarrassed, unashamed about its size, uninterested in doing anything to replace it with a bigger one."
What Dan said next was powerful. He added, "Nothing shameful about being poor. Shameful to stay poor, in America."
Okay, if the angry subscriber is still reading, the sales tip is coming. But first a very short story to help illustrate the sales tip and hopefully to make it more interesting for you.
I'm not a great golfer, but I do have visions of becoming one. Bernadette, my wife, says I should give it up.
Giving up is not in my DNA. It never has been and it never will be. In the past most of my time has been devoted to growing my sales training and coaching business. Now I'm redesigning my business around the lifestyle I want to have. That's a big change for me.
One element of this lifestyle change is to play and enjoy more golf.
Over this past weekend I had 14 really good holes out of the 18 that I played. Too bad the game isn't just 14 holes. Without going into all the details I had the same problem in the four holes that I had the most trouble with.
When I need help fixing something I call someone. My time is worth too much money to try to fix stuff. So I called Eddie, our new assistant golf pro. In 45 minutes of pitching and chipping around the green, Eddie was able to show me exactly what I should and shouldn't do.
We then spent 15 minutes on the practice range with a seven iron. He made two suggestions and then we both watched me hit the ball like I have never hit it before.
Now, I want to improve my golf game. Is there something you want and maybe need to improve? Here's the tip. If you're in sales I'll say it twice. Here's the tip.
Establish goals. For example, at the end of the lesson, I asked Eddie how many strokes he felt I could take off my handicap within 60 days. He said between three and four.
So the goal is to reduce my golf handicap by three strokes by April 1, 2006. The goal represents "What" I want to achieve. One of the reasons this is so important is that it becomes a trigger for "How" I will do it.
We discussed the "Hows" and agreed that in order to reach my goal I would need to spend two hours every week practicing, play two rounds of golf every week - remember I live in Florida - and take another lesson after every four rounds of golf.
That's the story and here's the point. If there's anything in your life you're not happy with - change it. If there's a particular aspect of selling your not especially good at - fix it.
You can fix it yourself or call for help like I did.
This article, in case you missed the point is about achieving goals and self-improvement. It's not about "Woe is me." If that's how you feel I'll give you a link to the next "Pity Party" I hear about. You can achieve anything you want if you do these three things.
1. Determine what you want. (Establish your goals)
2. Determine what you'll sacrifice to get it.
3. Just do it!
You can change almost anything about your personal and professional situation as soon as you put yourself in charge of changing it.
Whiners belong in the wine cellar and winners belong up on stage taking their bows to a standing ovation.
Come December 2006 where will you be?
Let's go sell something . . .
Jim Meisenheimer
PS - What is it you want to change? A good sales coach can make a difference in your life - when you're ready. There are (6) openings in February for my one hour (one-on-one) telephone coaching program. See details here:
http://www.meisenheimer.com/sales_coaching/oneonone.htm
PPS - "The Ultimate No-Brainer Selling Skills Manual - Vol I" including three f*ree Bonuses is just about sold out.
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