Fire Tempers Steel

Anyone else finding it tough out there recently? I'm finding it challenging getting people to make decisions around coaching and seminars. It seems like we are in the middle of a huge upheaval in business at the moment - a time of momentous change for all of us and nothing will quite be the same again. R'evolutionary.

A time of fear, nervousness and uncertainty. But also a time when ingenuity, flexbility and innovativeness will be rewarded.

When the news struck last week I was working with a group of bankers on the 7th floor of a hotel. Needless to say I made sure that the doors and windows were immediately locked! These guys did not want to be in my room learning how to coach their teams. My co-facilitator turned to me and said 'so how do we make this r'evolutionary Seán?'. Good questions..wished I'd thought of it.

So we turned the day into a practical exercise on how they were going to coach their reports on how to handle the crisis situation. By role playing they internalised the learnings - and learned from each other. Then we role played using their coaching skills to coach clients on remaining calm - I couldn't have asked for a better example of coaching the 'reluctant client'.

A friend once said to me that 'fire tempers steel' - we are being forged in the fires of chaos now. But the steel will shine through in the end. Innovate, adapt and triumph.

Selling Smarter 3 - Using Leading Edge Prospecting Strategies

Step 3 in the Selling Smarter ideas is to use leading edge prospecting strategies.

Increasingly, high-value selling is moving away from cold-calling and relying more on the effective use of professional networks. From list-building, to attending networking events, to actively seeking referreals , to using social-networks to establishing customer communities on websites - these are the tools of the new sales r'evolutionaries.

Networking at events is a core skill of a r'evolutionary sales person. The ability to attend professional and semi-professional events and use that event as a lever for identifying and engaging with contacts that will be of value (eventually) - either as direct clients or as referral sources for potential clients is an effective use of time and resources in todays' time-starved age.

Not everyone is comfortable with networking however and the stereotype of the 'brash' networker is a real put-off for people. However, we can distance ourselves from that old stereotype by learning the real skills of professional networking. In the new sales DVD/CD programme R'evolutionary Selling coming out in May I reveal all the secrets required to do this effectively and profitably.

Referrals are critical to business success - the power of a referral - where you carry the reputation and 'trust factor' of the person referring, you guarantees you meeting time with a prospect. Such referrals should be treated like gold - as should the referrer.

Using the Net for prospecting and marketing is becoming a simple fact-of-business. 'List-building' - the 'ethical' collection of names and address to build electronic mailing databases is essential. Such names and emails however should be respected and never used for 'spamming' (unsolicitied emails), should always be allowed to 'opt-out' of your mailings and never passed on to third parties.

In addition , businesses (even small ones) can apply the use of social-networks to create customer communities where customers can feedback, interconnect and generally engage in the provision of our solutions for their businesses. To start small on social networking see www.Ning.com and see the how it works on the free social 'opt-in' network www.rebelisland.net

Step 4 on Selling Smarter next time on SeanWeafer.com R'evolutionary.

Selling Smarter 1

I am scheduled to speak at an entrepreneur's conference in Galway next week and the subject is about Selling Smarter - 6 Keys to Maximising Your Sales Results. Over the next few posts I want to briefly cover what each of these keys are.

The first key covers what selling really is and what we actually sell. No matter where I go in the world no matter what kind of sales audience I am working with - when I ask what is it that they sell, the answers vary between 'myself' to 'solutions' to 'benefits' and so forth. Standard enough responses.

However the real key to understanding what we sell is when we realise that before we offer any of the above - we sell 'good feeling'. We sell a positive feeling that reduces the 'threat level' that new prospects might feel when they meet us for the first time and stimulates the emotions of acceptance and trust.

Dale Carnegie, the great sales trainer, always said that 'human beings are creatures of emotion not of logic'. When we reflect on that and understand that most decisions are emotionally-based - including decisions on price - then we realise that by managing the emotional dynamics of the sale we manage the decisions being made in that meeting.

A large part of the ability to manage those emotions comes from the ability to Connect, Involve and Engage. These skills will be covered more in the new audio CD series R'evolutionary Selling which will be released in May.

Partnering

After you've been in this business of serving people in their quest for personal and professional decelopment, you eventually realise that there is only so far that you can go by doing it by yourself.

Many businesses in this field tend to be one-man/woman bands and they get along just fine. However, there comes a time when, if you really care about making a significant difference, you have to synergise your work with those of other firms.

For me that time has come recently and I am currently working on projects with two other firms in order to deliver new and scalable solutions for clients.

In the first I am introducing a new sales due diligence service which offers a comprehensive assessment for the skills of sales people within organisations - and having done this, can provide the exact type of professional development to help them become true 'rainmakers'. I'm quite excited by this one as it provides, for the first time for me, an independent evaluation of selling skills so that we can deliver quantified change. Originally developed for the technology sector it is applicable to all sales professionals in all industries. For more details drop me a line at sean.weafer@firstcoach.com

The second involves a unique arrangement where, despite having the skills required for the firm, I just don't have the scalability to meet their needs. Having come through an exhaustive tendering process a major bank now wants to work with two vendors - myself and one other to deliver the solution. Initially, I had a challenge with this - what with different philosophies of coaching, approaches and so forth - as did the other firm. However, with patience and a willingness to engage we have found a way of moving forward and trust that, together, we can provide the best possible solution for the client.

Synergy, communication, collaboration. Key values for the new age - and one's that will increasingly determine our futures in work and service.