Recent Articles
GuidetoColdCalling.com is Now Live
Sep 2, 2006 All About Selling, Books by Keith Rosen, Cold Calling Tips, How To Sell and Sales Tips, Sales Coaching, Sales Training Leave a comment
While the web site for my next book The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Closing The Sale has already been launched www.guidetoclosingthesale.com), I also want to bring to your attention that the site for my cold calling book has just been launched.
You can find some more great excerpts and tips on cold calling, prospecting and selling here at www.guidetocoldcalling.com.
Enjoy!
The Best Managers Are Fully Accountable For Their Communication
Sep 2, 2006 Business Coaching, Clients are fun. Case Studies in Sales and Leaders..., Communication, Executive Coaching, How to Manage Your Team, Insights in Business, Leadership Academy, Sales Management Leave a comment
Highly Effective Leaders Are Fully Accountable For Their Communication
More than 65% of all problems or breakdowns that exist among people and within businesses occur as a result of faulty communication. The very thing that occupies approximately 70% of our waking hours is the very thing we have difficulty with the most.
Most of us were never taught how to communicate in a way that produces consistent results, so we continue to experience frustration, resistance, conflicts, or breakdowns. Although the style of communication varies from each leader, (high powered, humorous, low- key, etc.) a great leader is fully accountable not only for the message they deliver but for the way they are being heard. Enhancing your communication requires taking full responsibility for the outcome of each conversation; not only for what you are saying but for the message the other person is hearing. (I.e., Speaking in their “language”/communication style.)
Tip From The Coach: To strengthen your communication, ask yourself the following questions:
1. Am I taking full responsibility for the message being heard by the other person? (Remember that it doesn’t matter what you say, it only matters what the other person hears.)
2. Did I respect the other person’s point of view or did I have a reaction (disagreement) to what they were saying that prevented me from listening to their full message?
3. If I was asking someone to take a specific action (delegating), did I make my request clear & check to see if the conversation worked/was successful? (Did I receive feedback to ensure that I was understood?)
4. Did I receive value from the conversation? (Did I allow the other person to contribute to me?)
5. If the outcome of the conversation did not meet my expectations, what did I learn that would enable me to better communicate with that person? (Did I open up a new and greater possibility that I didn’t notice before?)
6. Did I give the person the gift of my listening?
7. When delegating a task or having a conversation, was I cognizant of the common sense trap?
It is not the other person’s responsibility to understand what it is you are saying. It is your job to be understood.
Highly effective leaders are fully accountable not only for the message they deliver but for the message the other person is hearing. Producing greater, long-term results without conflicts or breakdowns requires taking full responsibility for the outcome of each conversation.
Fire Them or Keep Them Around? How Can Management Determine To Let Someone Go?
Sep 2, 2006 Business Coaching, Clients are fun. Case Studies in Sales and Leaders..., Executive Coaching, How to Manage Your Team, Insights in Business, Leadership Academy, Sales Management Leave a comment
One Measurement to Help You Determine Whether or Not To Let Someone Go
During a seminar last week, I was asked by a group of senior managers, “When does it make sense to let someone go or invest the time in developing and retaining that person?”
Quite often managers are either thinking, “What’s best for that person? or “What’s best for me?”
Unfortunately, both of these questions cloud your view of the bigger picture; what is best for the company.
Ask yourself, when taking an action or speaking with someone, “Is what I am doing now helping the business?” It’s not about you and it’s not about them.
It’s about all of us and that means asking this question instead; “What is in the best interest of the company?”
For example, if you know someone may not be working out, how does this affect the overall division or company? What is best for the company? What are the consequences of keeping them or letting them go? At the end of the day, both you and your team have the same goals. Put your differences aside and work together to make this happen as one cohesive cooperative team.
Five Principles to Crafting Better Questions
Aug 18, 2006 All About Selling, Books by Keith Rosen, Business Coaching, Cold Calling Tips, Executive Coaching, How To Close The Sale, How to Manage Your Team, How To Sell and Sales Tips, Insights in Business, Leadership Academy, Prospecting, Cold Calling and Networking, Sales Coaching, Sales Management, Time Management Tips Leave a comment
Excerpt from The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Closing the Sale by Keith Rosen. Reprinted with permission by Alpha Books, a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc. Release Date, January, 2007. Visit www.guidetoclosingthesale.com.
When asking a prospect questions, be sure that your questions succeed in achieving the following objectives.
1. Be direct and candid with your questioning and communication. Do not be vague or tiptoe around the subject or question. Make the question clear, focused, direct and concise.
2. Make sure that your questions open up new possibilities, ideas and opportunities in the mind of the prospect that they never considered. Do they enable the prospect to see a new and better solution and envision more measurable worthwhile results, based on the information that you have provided?
3. Have the prospect draw from previous purchasing experiences to determine their buying habits, wants, priorities, and needs.
4. Learn to question what is said and what is not said. Never prejudge a prospect until you have the evidence to support your assumptions. Utilize questions until you are satisfied with the response.
5. Use questions to achieve mindshare and agreement as well as to gracefully uncover and correct the inaccuracies and misperceptions which they my have about your product or service.
Stop Pre-Judging and Start Pre-Qualifying Your Prospects
Aug 18, 2006 All About Selling, Books by Keith Rosen, Business Coaching, Clients are fun. Case Studies in Sales and Leaders..., Cold Calling Tips, Executive Coaching, Experiences in Marketing, How To Close The Sale, How to Manage Your Team, How To Sell and Sales Tips, Insights in Business, Leadership Academy, Life Coaching and Career Coaching, Live Responsibly: Life Tips, Great Living, Prospecting, Cold Calling and Networking, Sales Coaching, Sales Management, Time Management Tips Leave a comment
Excerpt from The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Closing the Sale by Keith Rosen. Reprinted with permission by Alpha Books, a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc. Release Date, January, 2007. Visit www.guidetoclosingthesale.com.
To permanently eliminate any confusion, lets draw a distinction between what it means to pre-qualify and pre-judge someone such as a prospect. If you read my cold calling book, you know that I’m a strong advocate of pre-qualifying anyone before you invest your very limited and precious time in meeting with or speaking with them. Conversely, pre-judging someone is something you do that shows up in the filter or barrier you have in your listening.
Here’s another way to distinguish between the two. When you are pre-qualifying someone you are arriving at a conclusion that determines whether or not there’s a fit worth pursuing based on a defined set of criteria you uncover through the use of well crafted questions.
Pre-judging said simply, is all about you. Here, you are relying on your faulty and costly assumptions, thoughts and beliefs to determine their needs and whether or not this prospect will potentially buy from you.
When you pre-judge someone you’re making assumptions about them before you ask any questions or uncover any facts.
When you pre-qualify someone, you’re asking questions to uncover their unique and specific needs without making any assumptions so that you can determine very quickly if there is in fact, an authentic fit worth pursuing.
When On A Sales Call – People Do What Makes Them Comfortable
Aug 11, 2006 All About Selling, Books by Keith Rosen, Clients are fun. Case Studies in Sales and Leaders..., Insights in Business, Live Responsibly: Life Tips, Great Living, Prospecting, Cold Calling and Networking Leave a comment
People Do What Makes Them Comfortable
When it comes to making a purchase, people do what makes them comfortable, rather than what makes the salesperson comfortable. Now, that doesn’t mean they are comfortable with the solution or even want to spend the money and make the purchase. (Just ask anyone who had a flood in their basement and needed to spend thousands of dollars investing in a waterproofing system for their home.) However, it does mean they have a level of trust and comfort in the salesperson, the sales process and the solution.
I remember something that my daughter did one day when she was five years old. We were getting ready to leave the playground on a chilly fall afternoon. She stood next to me, as I opened the car door.
Suddenly, she said, “Dad, I don’t feel well. My tummy hurts.” A few seconds later, she put her head in the car and puked all over her car seat and the car floor. Of course, my first reaction was, “Honey, are you okay?” She responded, “Yes, dad, much better. I think it was something I ate.”
Once I knew she was fine, I then had to ask her, curiously, “Baby, why didn’t you just put your head down and puke right in the street outside the car rather than inside it? Her response; “Oh daddy, it’s too cold outside. It’s much warmer in the car.” Starting at a very early age, people do what makes them comfortable.
Site Launched for New Book; Guide to Closing The Sale
Aug 4, 2006 All About Selling, Books by Keith Rosen, Clients are fun. Case Studies in Sales and Leaders..., Experiences in Marketing, Insights in Business, Leadership Academy, Live Responsibly: Life Tips, Great Living, Prospecting, Cold Calling and Networking Leave a comment
Just put the final touches on the site for my next book, The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Closing the Sale.
Talk about taking one subject many people struggle with and levitating it with what always seems to be a controvertial title (the “Idiot’s” portion of the title, at least). Lighten up. Your customers and prospects are.
I hope you enjoy Chapter One as well as the Introduction, which I’ve currently posted on this site and will be available only for a limited time. Wait until you get your hands on some of the techniques in this book. It doesn’t matter if you’re a sales veteran, top producer, new salesperson, manager or business owner, this book is packed with step by step and line by line Permission Based Selling and Presentation Strategies which I guarantee will bring in more sales for you.
So, feel free to visit the site. I’d also love to hear your comments as well! And if you haven’t already make sure you get my monthly ezine which will also keep you posted on other resources available only to those who know.
Creating Your Sandbox
Jul 20, 2006 All About Selling, Clients are fun. Case Studies in Sales and Leaders..., Experiences in Marketing, Insights in Business, Leadership Academy, Live Responsibly: Life Tips, Great Living, Prospecting, Cold Calling and Networking Leave a comment
Be Creative
It is three p.m. in the afternoon on a lovely fall day. You are on your way to work. As you walk by a school, you notice all of the children playing outside. You pause and watch them for a second. A flood of emotions and memories intoxicate your mind, as you remember yourself as a child. You admire their youthful exuberance, their unlimited supply of energy, their fervor for freedom, their passion for knowledge, their desire to learn and their boundless creativity.
Become a create freak rather than a control freak.
You listen to their conversations as they play. Some are talking about the planets they are visiting. Others are envisioning the castle in which they are playing in. They see this vividly, down to every detail, including the moat around the castle. Some pretend to be presidents, firemen, astronauts even doctors.
How creative children are! How powerful their minds are. Full of ideas with no inhibitions or limitations to restrain them. Children have the ability to visualize or imagine their true dreams. They bring their dreams into their reality and making them real.
The most creative time in a person’s life is from birth to the age of around eleven years old. This is the time when they are not constrained by rules or regulations. Children are not concerned with what is supposedly acceptable in thought or behavior and what is not, what is practically right or wrong, proper or improper, fact or fiction.
In a child’s eyes, there exists no boundaries. There is nothing to regulate them or inhibit their level of creativity. Everything that children see is new and exiting. They are constantly absorbing information and expanding on their ideas. The more they learn, the more children want to express themselves. They want to share what they have learned. They have no fear of rejection, of being wrong or of the unknown. Why? Because they have not experienced it yet!
The years begin to pass. The people in a child’s life, such as teachers and parents, begin to instill their values and ideals in the minds of their children.
- “No, that is not appropriate for a child of twelve years old (or fifteen or seventeen, and so on).”
- ”No, you can’t act like that anymore.”
- “No, you can’t spend all of your time playing. It is time to start thinking about your future and get serious.”
- “You can’t do that (wear that, say that).”
- “That is wrong.”
- “Doing that is unacceptable.”
- “No, Santa and the Tooth Fairy really don’t exist.”
As a child gets older, they begin to experience embarrassment, being wrong, having people put down their ideas and dreams and punishment for doing the, “wrong thing.”
The creative boy now becomes a man. His eyes no longer see the dreams and visions he had as a boy. He becomes serious; more focused on the perceived role to play in society and the pressures from his family. He concentrates on what he thinks he wants and needs. His thoughts and desires that he had as a child become clouded with every passing day, only to be replaced with more and more responsibilities. A mortgage, a job, a family.
He begins to lose sight of what was especially important in his life. The simple things. Freedom of expression, having fun, peace of mind, living simply, appreciating his surroundings, treating every day as a new adventure and not getting caught up in the manutia that blinds us from appreciating the beauty around us. All of the visions and dreams are put on a shelf where they begin to collect dust.
The man begins to forget what it was like to be creative, to dream and to imagine. Lack of creativity breeds complacency. He now becomes just like everyone else; another face, another number.
Imagine if we never lost our creative edge. Imagine what would be possible if we didn’t feel compelled to have to change, due to other people’s beliefs, perceptions or rules. Now imagine if you had the ability to share your visions and dreams with those around you.
Before you assist a customer in opening up their mind, you must first open up your own. Know what it is like to sit on a cloud. Can you see yourself sitting way up in the sky? Do you smell the crisp air? As you look down, do you see the whole world? Imagine there is nothing to restrain you. Look at the root of the word creative. Create. Take action to create your own destiny. Now, take the customer with you.
Anyone can study and memorize a presentation. Ask someone why they actually purchased from you. Will they say it was because you had the most beneficial package? They might. However, most of the time they will say it was because of you.
Get Organized NOW! Exclusive Selling Power Live Interivew with Keith Rosen
Jul 17, 2006 All About Selling, Books by Keith Rosen, Insights in Business, Leadership Academy, Live Responsibly: Life Tips, Great Living, Prospecting, Cold Calling and Networking Leave a comment
Tune In To The Most Powerful Time Management Tips
Listen in on Selling Power Live as I’m being interviewed by Jeffrey Gitomer.
This is a solid value rich, 15 minutes of an infusion of the most powerful time management techniques you’ve ever heard.
Be prepared to change the way you think about how you manage your time, and your life, forever. We’re talking breakthrough results here.
Click here to listen now to this interview! Get more tips and master your day. Download my time management book now!
If God Is My Co-Pilot, Then Why Am I Driving?
Jul 1, 2006 Live Responsibly: Life Tips, Great Living Leave a comment
You must be familiar with the bumper sticker I’m referring to.
You know, the one that reads:
God Is My Co-Pilot
Now, there’s certainly nothing wrong with this statement. I can see the value behind the words clearly and it’s all good. Having God as your wingman would be a strong choice as your right hand person.
However….If God is truly your co-pilot, then wouldn’t you rather see him behind the wheel? I mean, we’re talking about God here so, who else better equipped to be driving you around?
Now, here’s the revised bumper sticker:
God is My Pilot
Royalty checks can be sent to…..
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