Sales Coaching

Let go of the attachment to making the sale.

Stop putting pressure on yourself to “close” the deal.
Be okay with a “No.” In fact, tell your prospective clients it is okay to say “No.”
Remember, they view you as a sales person who has something to gain if you make a sale.
The more attached you are to the sale happening, the more pressure they will feel.
The more pressure they feel, the less open and more defensive they will be.

Focus on finding a great mutual partnership, versus trying to make the sale.

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The beginner asks more questions, is more curious, more open, more raw, more authentic, and more genuine.

The beginner might not have all the answers, but will often ask more powerful questions to understand the needs of their prospective clients.

Ditch the mindset that you are an expert and embrace the “beginner’s mind.”

Your clients will thank you.

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“This time, like all times, is a very good one, if we but know what to do with it.” ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

“My father said: You must never try to make all the money that’s in a deal. Let the other fellow make some money too, because if you have a reputation for always making all the money, you won’t have many deals.” ~Getty, J. Paul

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1. Create An Agreed Upon Agenda. Determine the following: What needs to be resolved? Who is involved? What are the major issues? What are the time frames?

2. Resist Committing Too Early. Do not lock in your pricing or commit to other items until everything is on the table and negotiated.

3. Resolve Any Major Issues Early. If the prospect has some major concern about your organization, it is best to uncover this early, so that it is not brought up at the end of the negotiation which will weaken your position and you’ll be tempted to give in to more concessions.

4. Determine What Can Be Shared. Determine the information you will disclose or not disclose with the prospect. Also, consider what types of information they are open to sharing and the information they are keeping from you. Read the rest of this entry »

“Deep listening is miraculous for both listener and speaker. When someone receives us with open-hearted, non-judging, intensely interested listening, our spirits expand.” ~Sue Patton Thoele

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1. Be Present & Stay Focused. Stop thinking about what you are going to say next and focus on what the speaker is telling you. Be curious and ask follow up questions to learn more about what they are telling you.

2. Pause Before You Respond. Take 2 full breaths before responding. It will ensure the speaker is finished and give them space to share more. It will also help you control the amount of talking you are doing.

3. Refocus If Your Mind Wanders. If you start thinking about your next meeting, travel plans, or what you have planned for the evening, bring yourself back to the moment. Read the rest of this entry »

“If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.” – Dr Wayne Dyer

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It is easy to get down on yourself in the world of sales if you have had a bad month, quarter, or even a down year. But if you hold onto those negative thoughts about your sales performance, it will not help you to achieve your sales goals.

As simplistic as this may sound, if you are a negative person, sales will always feel like a struggle. As a positive person, sales becomes much more enjoyable and can be very fulfilling. You will also produce far greater results with a positive mind-set in sales.

Being a positive person has been a significant part of my own success and below are some of the key practices I have followed to be a positive person in the world of sales: Read the rest of this entry »

“My father said: You must never try to make all the money that’s in a deal. Let the other fellow make some money too, because if you have a reputation for always making all the money, you won’t have many deals.” ~Getty, J. Paul

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1. Create An Agreed Upon Agenda. Determine the following: What needs to be resolved? Who is involved? What are the major issues? What are the time frames?

2. Resist Committing Too Early. Do not lock in your pricing or commit to other items until everything is on the table and negotiated.

3. Resolve Any Major Issues Early. If the prospect has some major concern about your organization, it is best to uncover this early, so that it is not brought up at the end of the negotiation which will weaken your position and you’ll be tempted to give in to more concessions. Read the rest of this entry »

“It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are.” ~e.e. cummings

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1. Say “Thank You.” Thank one of your clients, team members, or peers daily.

2. Smile. Having a rough day at work? Just experienced a heavy dose of sales rejection? Don’t forget to smile, it will make you feel better and you might be the only smile someone else sees all day. Try it right now, and you will feel better.

3. View The World Of Sales As The Ultimate Test. View challenges with a customer, problems with your boss, and mistakes that you make during the sales process as “sales training” and valuable sales lessons. Learn to look at difficult experiences as lessons versus failures or mistakes. Read the rest of this entry »

“Absorb what is useful, reject what is useless, add what is specifically your own.“ –Bruce Lee

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Here are 20 quick tips to help you increase your sales productivity. Keep in mind, not every tip will be useful for every person. Just pick the tips that are helpful for you and integrate them into your routine.

Here are a few suggestions when reading through all of these tips:

-Don’t do them all at once. Focus on one at a time.

-Experiment with different tips.

-These are not in any particular order, so browse through them all.

So, here they are, 20 tips to increase your sales productivity:

1. Less is more. Focus on your most essential tasks each day. Eliminate or delegate as much as you can.

2. Exercise. Make this a habit if it is not already. For me, exercising is the key to my energy, health, and productivity. It also greatly reduces stress and can be a form of meditation. Read the rest of this entry »

Are you looking to hire a sales coach to improve your career, leadership, life, business and sales results?

Well, I’m going to tell you right now that there are many sales coaches in the field and it is hard to know where to start, or what to look for when hiring a coach. There are highly qualified sales coaches like myself – and then there are others who just jumped on the sales coaching bandwagon so they can profit from you even though they have not proven themselves to be worthy of getting you as a client.

Knowing this, how can you find the best sales coach for you and your organization? Simply ask the 10 questions below….

Here Are My Top 10 Questions to Ask Before You Hire a Sales Coach So You Can Achieve Breakthrough Results: Read the rest of this entry »

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“Nothing contributes so much to tranquilize the mind as a steady purpose–a point on which the soul may fix its intellectual eye.” -Mary Shelley

1. Get Inspired Everyday. Inspiration is one of the best motivators, and it can be found everywhere. Sources of inspiration can include, but are certainly not limited to: sales blogs, sales articles, sales online success stories, sales forums, peers, friends, sales books, and motivational quotes.

2. Hire A Sales Coach. Working one on one with a sales coach has proven to be one of the most effective methods to truly achieve breakthrough sales results. However, be sure to ask these questions of any sales coach you interview before hiring a sales coach.

3. Have Compelling Reasons For Your Actions. Write them down and know your reasons for wanting to achieve your goals and stay motivated. When you clarify why you want to accomplish certain goals, and what it will mean to you to accomplish them, it will help increase your motivation and keep you on track.

4. Be Ready For Negative Self Talk. Become very aware of that inner voice that says you should just quit and give up. One of the most powerful things you can do is to simply raise your awareness and recognize when it is happening. Just by naming the negative self talk alone, it will help you consciously decide what you need to do. Read the rest of this entry »

“Some cause happiness wherever they go; others, whenever they go.” ~Oscar Wilde

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The majority of us have at some time in our career worked for a manager who we did not connect with, or who should really not be managing or leading sales people. However, we can’t always control who our bosses are, so here are 4 tips to survive working for a difficult sales manager.

Tip 1: Appreciate What They Do Well
Even if you detest your boss, you’re going to have to find a way to deal with the situation if you want to remain on the sales team. One of the best ways to do this is to tolerate his or her weaknesses and focus on the good qualities they possess, even if there are very few. Focus on how they can help you. Read the rest of this entry »

“Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that is the stuff life is made of.” ~ Benjamin Franklin

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1. Shower, get dressed, and eat breakfast.

2. Set your work hours. If you don’t set hours, you will risk sacrificing the balance between work and life.

3. Create a room that is dedicated for work only. It is essential you separate your work from your home life so that when you enter your home office, you know what you are there to do, work. It will help you change your mindset from, “I’m working at home” to “I’m at work.”

Tell your friends and family exactly what the room is for, and that even though you are in the house/apartment/condo, you are at work when in that office.

4. Close your office door. This will help remind you, and anyone else who may be at your home, that you are at work.

5. Clear your desk. Only keep what you need on your desk. The less distractions, the better.

6. Disconnect. Turn off your phones, IM, and email alerts when you need to focus on a task. This will not always apply, but try it out for certain tasks and see how it works for you. Read the rest of this entry »

“Any fool can criticize, condemn and complain and most fools do.” -Benjamin Franklin

“He has a right to criticize, who has a heart to help.” – Abraham Lincoln

“One mustn’t criticize other people on grounds where he can’t stand perpendicular himself” -Mark Twain

Post written by Jeremy Ulmer. Follow me on or .

Criticism from your sales manager (or from anyone) is not easy to handle, however, learning to deal with it can be a valuable skill. Here are some ideas to practice and keep in mind next time you receive criticism.

Take A Deep Breath & Pause Before You React

If your first reaction is to lash back at your sales manager or to become defensive, take a moment before speaking. It is natural to feel a little angry or to be on-guard. However, if you can teach yourself to take a moment before simply reacting, it will give a chance for logic to sink in and not just raw emotions. There is certainly nothing wrong with emotions, but when people are upset, they are more likely to say things they will regret later on. Read the rest of this entry »

The sun has not caught me in bed in fifty years. ~Thomas Jefferson

The time just before dawn contains the most energy of all hours of the day. This has helped me become an early riser and an early doer….

When I wake to see that it’s light out already, I feel like the world has started without me. ~Terri Guillemets

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For sales professionals and sales leaders, getting an early start on the day can lead to more sales and increased productivity over the course of a month, quarter, and year.

Here are 7 tips on how to wake up earlier and get more done before 12noon:

1. Make small changes. Start the process waking up 15 minutes earlier than normal for 1 full work week. Then cut back another 15 minutes the next week until you have reached the ideal time you wish to wake.

2. Go to sleep earlier. Follow the same process as in #1. Plan to go to bed just 15 minutes earlier than your normal time for one full week and then cut another 15 minutes the following week. Read the rest of this entry »

“To be successful, you must dedicate yourself 100% to your training, diet and mental approach.” -Arnold Schwarzenegger

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Without the right amount of energy and the ability to manage stress, sales results will suffer. There is nothing better to increase energy and manage stress than exercise. Within our sales coaching programs, we are often asked for support outside of just sales to achieve incredible results. Often, fitness and working out, is a topic that pops up.

In my own experience, I have found working out consistently to be one of the most essential ingredients to great success in sales. Read the rest of this entry »

“One does not accumulate but eliminate. It is not daily increase but daily decrease. The height of cultivation always runs to simplicity.” – Bruce Lee

Post written by Jeremy J. Ulmer. Connect with me on or .

1. Cut Back Your Hours. Schedule how long you will work each day and in a given week. You will be forced to get things done faster and will notice an increase in sales productivity. To help ensure you leave at 5:00 pm, if that is your cut off time, is to make sure you have commitments after 5:00 pm. Have a recurring event to be working out at 5:30 pm each day with your workout partner, or to be home for dinner by a certain time, whatever it is, stick with it.

2. Work From A Virtual Office. The key here is to set rigid boundaries and to minimize distractions while working at home. You will save on commute time and save your company money, however, you will actually be tempted to work even more hours being at home, so you must stick with #1 above or this will not work.

3. Schedule Times To Check Your Emails & Voicemails. This will help you to increase your sales productivity because you will have less distractions and be able to focus more. Remember, you don’t have to be available every minute and second of the day…In fact, that just will slow you down. Read the rest of this entry »

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” -Mark Twain

Post written by Jeremy J. Ulmer. Connect with me on .

1. Track Your Sales Progress. Decide what you want to specifically track and then create a printed chart for your desk, track information on-line, or write it down in a training log.

It is difficult to see how you are progressing if you have no data on where you have been. By witnessing your own progress, it will give you a nice little boost of motivation.

2. Don’t Try To Crush Your Sales Goal Right Away. Have you ever started a new workout and been totally pumped up for the first few days, only to loose momentum?

Well, instead of using 100% of your energy in such a short period of time, take some positive steps and give 75% effort, but don’t push so hard that you loose the energy and passion for the goals.

Retain some of that energy by pacing yourself effectively and slowly increase the amount of effort from there. This will help you ease into what is often a totally new positive habit you are forming, and it will keep you engaged and looking forward to getting more done the next day. Read the rest of this entry »

Stress is the trash of modern life – we all generate it but if you don’t dispose of it properly, it will pile up and overtake your life. ~Terri Guillemets

Post written by Jeremy J. Ulmer. Follow me on or .

Identify Your Work Stress. Before you can eliminate or reduce stress, you must know what you are dealing with. Write down all the stresses that you deal with on a daily and weekly basis. Then create a top 10 list of all the things that cause you stress and determine which items you can eliminate from your list.

Shorten Your Scheduled Meetings. Consider cutting many of your 60 minute meetings to 30 minutes and your 30 minute meetings to 15. With a shorter time frame to work in, you will be forced to be more productive.

Stop Procrastinating. Allowing work to pile up will stress you out. Plan time to get things done and off your desk.

Get Organized. Disorganization can cause a significant amount of workplace stress. Block time to get things organized. Read the rest of this entry »

“Productivity is never an accident. It is always the result of a commitment to excellence, intelligent planning, and focused effort.” – Paul Meyer

Post written by Jeremy J. Ulmer. Connect with me on .

In the world of sales, finding ways to increase productivity and get more done in less time is essential to achieving great sales results, making more commissions, working less, and having more personal free time.

Here are 10 sales coaching tips to boost your productivity to new levels:

1. Most Important Things First. The most important task you need to get done each day should take priority over all other tasks. However, we all know that interruptions can pop up and the important task often gets put off.

If you put the most import thing off until later in the day, they often don’t happen. Your goal should be to get your most important things done first thing in the morning before doing anything else.

2. Wake Up Earlier. Get up just 30 minutes earlier and you can get a jump start on some of your most important tasks for the day. Decide what you’d like to accomplish each morning, and design your routine around your most important tasks. Read the rest of this entry »

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1. Get Started! There will be some days you just don’t feel motivated to complete your sales activities and everything you do will feel like an uphill battle.

Instead of focusing on how hard the task is, or how long it will take you to complete it, tell yourself you just have to get started. Many times, getting started is the hardest part. Once you actually start, it is generally not as hard as you thought it would be. Read the rest of this entry »

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Many sales professionals and sales leaders are so busy handling day to day challenges that they forget to formalize their sales career aspirations and goals. Make the time to do this today. Spending just 10 to 20 minutes on this 5-step process could make all the difference in the world.

You might already have some ideas floating around in your mind, and now it is time to get them written down. Or maybe you have even completed something like this before in the past, but you have not looked at your notes or updated your sales career goals in years. Read the rest of this entry »

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Excuse #1: “I Don’t Have Enough Time To Prospect or Focus on Sales Related / Dollar Productive Activities.”

Solution: Create Time.

Sales professionals of all levels and business owners who achieve extraordinary levels of success have days just as hectic as everyone else, right? Yet somehow they make prospecting a part of their daily or weekly activities.

So how do they do it? They create the time. You can instantly create time if you begin to plan ahead and stay committed. This means planning your days and weeks. One of the best time-creating techniques is to schedule prospecting or selling time on your calendar and delete unimportant activities. Read the rest of this entry »

Post written by Jeremy J. Ulmer

In a 2009 International Vacation Deprivation Survey from expedia.com:

One in three employees do not use their allotted vacation days each year, even though they said they are more productive after returning from vacation.

In the sometimes grueling world of sales, the negative impact of not taking vacations could be even greater.

Sales professionals are becoming less and less productive as they push on without vacations. They often feel compelled to keep working without vacations, to be available for every client call, and for every lead that may come their way. They don’t want to miss a beat. They end up “over working” and hurting their progress.

Here are 5 reasons why sales professionals should take all of their vacations days each year: Read the rest of this entry »

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I have worked successfully from a home office in various sales roles in the past, and there are many benefits from working at home; however, there are also many dangers.

Sales managers and sales professionals need to be aware of potential pitfalls.

Avoid the following dangers and you will be able to create a highly productive home office environment.

Never Shutting Off The Work
One of the main problems with working from home for sales people is that you are technically always at work. It becomes very hard for your mind to separate your free time and your work time. This can result in an unbalanced life-style and addictive work behaviors. Some common negative habits that are formed consist of constantly checking emails, always taking calls even during non-working ours, and working well into the night. Read the rest of this entry »

Post written by Jeremy J. Ulmer

As I was doing research on the sales coaching industry, I discovered there is a great deal of garbage about sales coaching on the internet. People who are posing as sales experts are infiltrating minds with myths that are absolutely false!

And, that’s exactly why I’ve written this article… To make some waves in my industry by debunking 10 of these myths right now.

Sales Coaching Myth #1: “Successful sales professionals and sales leaders do not need coaches.”
Sales Coaching Fact: Professionals have coaches and amateurs do not. Sales coaching helps the best get better, the good to become great, and the struggling to breakthrough. Read the rest of this entry »

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1. Decide To Be Successful: Make the conscious choice to be successful. Own it now! Deciding to do something is the first step towards success. This is a critical step which is often overlooked.

2. Focus Your Mind: Get clear on what you desire. Ask yourself: What do I truly want? What does success look like to me? How will this achievement change my life, business or career? How can I use this success to make a difference for others? Understand what you want, why you want it, and what it will do for you. Read the rest of this entry »

As a sales professional, sales leader or business owner, distractions can often be the main obstacle for achieving great success.

If you have too many distractions, you will never achieve your full potential.

It is important to continue to evaluate what sales activities will be most important to reach your goals. Then, you must focus on those activities first, and make a commitment to complete them each and every day without failure.

You must remove and minimize your distractions. You will then have the time to focus on what you have determined is most important. Read the rest of this entry »

All too often, I see emails from sales professionals and business leaders that are 10x’s longer than they need to be.

They loose the attention of the recipient and the purpose is not always clear right away.

By learning to write brief emails you will save yourself time and save the time of the recipient. Read the rest of this entry »

Shorten Your Sales Cycle So You Can Win More Clients, Faster!

By Coach Jeremy J. Ulmer

As a sales professional, entrepreneur or business owner, being able to effectively establish new client partnerships and increase sales results quickly is vitally important. When sales are going great it can be very exciting! When you have a great month you are filled with sales motivation!

But, after a while, things slow down and you hit a wall. You find yourself chasing after prospects and wondering why it is taking so long to convert prospects into clients. Read the rest of this entry »

What if you could create all the positive habits you wanted in your life, business or career, right now, to make an immediate impact?

Well, you can, and below are 4 tips to get you started on creating new positive habits.

1. Identify What You Want To Change: Find the areas in your life, business or career that you want to change. Make a list of all the changes you want to make. Next to each item, write down the new habit or habits that would need to be formed to make the necessary changes. At this stage, do not worry about how you are going to form all of these new habits. Read the rest of this entry »

1. Decide To Be Successful: Make the conscious choice to be successful. Own it now! Deciding to do something is the first step towards success. This is a critical step which is often overlooked.

2. Focus Your Mind: Get clear on what you desire. Ask yourself: What do I truly want? What does success look like to me? How will this achievement change my life, business or career? How can I use this success to make a difference for others? Understand what you want, why you want it, and what it will do for you. Read the rest of this entry »

Why I Take The Stairs Everywhere I Go

After reading that Bruce Lee, one of my youth idols, always took the stairs instead of the elevator or escalator, I started doing the same. When an opportunity to get a workout presents itself, no matter how small, I take it. For example, a 10 minute walk 3 times per day is equal to one 30 minute walk. Read the rest of this entry »

How To Motivate Your Sales Team

Have your tried everything possible to motivate your sales team but still are not seeing the results you crave? Have you tried everything listed below?

Common Tips to Motivate A Sales Team:

• Create a clear sales plan
• Provide ample sales training (learn why sales training alone fails)
• Set achievable goals
• Empower your sales team Read the rest of this entry »

Article Source: Red Eye Chicago, A Chicago Tribune publication, redeyechicago.com, By Alexia Elejalde-Ruiz

They’re young, powerful and successful-you may be surprised how they reached the top of the career ladder so fast. Read the rest of this entry »

How To Stay Motivated – 45 Tips To Help Stay Motivated

I posted the following question on LinkedIn.com: “What is your best single tip to help an individual stay motivated?” Below are some of the perspectives, ideas, and tips. Do you have other ideas or suggestions on how to stay motivated? Please add them within the comments section.

1. Do what you are passionate about! The rest comes naturally. -Kimberly Yow

2. “The will to win is not nearly as important as the will to prepare to win.” Quote by Bobby Knight -Kevin Maloney Read the rest of this entry »

What Does It Take To Be Successful In Business?

This list is an attempt to shine a spotlight on what it takes to achieve great success in business. Please add your ideas in the comment section below. Which of these would make your list and what should be added?

(These are listed in no particular order)

• Follow Your Passion and Dreams
• Be Genuine and Authentic
• Practice A Great Work Ethic
• Surround Yourself With Successful People Read the rest of this entry »

This is Dale Carnegie’s summary of his book:  

Fundamental Techniques in Handling People

• Don’t criticize, condemn or complain.
• Give honest and sincere appreciation.
• Arouse in the other person an eager want. Read the rest of this entry »

Many studies, such as Amen Clinics Research, illustrate the importance of a positive mind for physical health, mental health, creativity, productivity, focus, discipline, fulfillment, imagination, and dedication. All of these benefits have a direct impact on living more fulfilling lives and experiencing better results in business.

Brain scans show that a positive mind is much more active than a negative mind, and active in the areas critical for many of the benefits above. My focus here is on how to be more positive and if you are already in a positive state, how to enhance it further.

Read the rest of this entry »

Picture: Make sure you add one if you don’t have one on your profile yet. Headshot is best.

Personal Tagline: Write one, and update it. Click on the blue text, “What are you working on”  Maybe place your elevator pitch here?

Don’t Cut and Paste Your Resume: Describe experience/abilities.

Elevator Pitch: Make sure it is within your introduction section. You have 5 seconds to grab attention.

Read the rest of this entry »

“I absolutely believe that people, unless coached, never reach their full potential.” - Bob Nardelli, CEO, Home Depot

“Many of the world’s most admired corporations, from GE to Goldman Sachs, invest in coaching. Annual spending on coaching in the U.S. Is estimated at roughly $1 billion”. - Harvard Business Review

“Recent studies show business coaching and executive coaching to be the most effective means for achieving sustainable growth, change and development in the individual, group and organization.” – HR Monthly

“A major benefit of coaching is having someone who helps you see your strengths and weaknesses and uses them to accomplish your goals.” – Minneapolis Star-Tribune Read the rest of this entry »

Sales Interview Questions

I have posted sales interview questions for various sales positions below. These questions will be helpful when interviewing a sales professional or leader of any level.

(If you are a sales professional or sales leader looking for how to answer any question an interviewer could ever throw at you, please visit here!)

Sales Representative, Sales Executive, Account Manager, Account Executive, Sales Manager, District Sales Manager, Regional Sales Manager, Director of Sales, VP of Sales, Executive Vice President of Sales, Chief Sales Officer. Read the rest of this entry »

“When prospecting via phone and the contact picks up, do you ask for their time? Or do you go into your spiel?”

This question was asked on and below is my public answer:

This is a great question and there are many ways to approach this. Assuming this is a pure cold call and they are not expecting your call, the first thing I would recommend doing is put yourself in their shoes. What would you want to hear? How would you want to be treated? Start there and you might find your own answer…

Here are just some of the ways to approach it below, and the key is finding what works for you! Read the rest of this entry »

1. Most people do not enjoy cold calling, but they need to realize it has to be done. It really is a mind-set. You have to set time daily to call, and make it part of your daily behavior/activities.

2. Not everyone will be a fit and that is ok! If they say “No” or “No Thanks!” that is totally fine. You are simply finding out who might be a fit or not. There will be less pressure on you if you keep that mind-set.

Read the rest of this entry »

It is essential that when setting up accountability you cover these 3 simple, yet powerful questions:

1. What are you going to accomplish?
Make sure to get very specific. Read the rest of this entry »

Public Speaking Tips

This is Dorothy Carnegie’s summary of her book, , from 1962, which is based on Dale Carnegie’s Public Speaking and Influencing Men in Business, from 1931.

There are some great public speaking tips here:

Fundamentals of Effective Speaking (Public Speaking Tips)
1. Acquiring the Basic Skills
Take heart from the experience of others
Keep your goal before you
Predetermine your mind to success
Seize every opportunity to practice Read the rest of this entry »

As people get busier and busier with their lives, career and work, often the things most important to them, get neglected. The path to a more fulfilling life is to honor your values on a daily basis. But how can you honor your values if they are not crystal clear to you, or if you have not even thought about them in a long time?

Here are a few ways to help clarify your values so you can raise your awareness and start to honor them more in your life, career or business. The faster you start to honor these values more, the more fulfillment you will experience. Read the rest of this entry »

“strong consideration needs to be given to using external coaching programs to enhance internal results.”

“The study also indicates that using internal coaches to coach managers or executives is not correlated with coaching success. It appears that using external coaches for those groups is more effective and perhaps confirms that the higher cost of using an external coach may be well worth it.” Read the rest of this entry »

Many people new to professional coaching wonder how the great majority of it is done on the phone.
In coaching the focus is all on you and here are some reasons why coaching on the telephone is so effective.

1. It helps you really focus hearing yourself.

2. Less distractions, no visual distractions, total concentration.

3. Telephone coaching is much more efficient. You and your coach will get into coaching right away.

Read the rest of this entry »

The following question was posted on linkedin.com: “Work-Life Balance…Any suggestion on how to find symmetry?”  Below is my public answer.

Hi, these are very important questions.  As a professional coach, both for business, sales and life, I find that these areas area critical for success.  I started a linkedin.com group that is fully dedicated to “Balance & Fulfillment for Business Leaders” that you might want to join.  We are sharing and helping each other with these exact types of questions.

Read the rest of this entry »

There was a great question posted on yesterday.  “What things do you refrain from saying to avoid sounding “salesy”?”  Below is my answer.  I will use the term “sales person” to describe anyone involved in using sales skills, i.e.-business owner, business leaders, sales reps, sales directors, etc.

I believe if you are your most authentic, natural, and genuine self, nothing “salesy” will come from your mouth.  The challenge is that many people think they need to be different, or act different, or say something different, than their natural self would say, to be a great sales person. Read the rest of this entry »

Source: The Coaches Training Institute website (articles)

Coach Training Impact on the Organization

Coach training impacts not only the person being trained, but also the employees in the company receiving coaching from that individual. While no study has measured the impact of internal coaching, the impact of external executive coaching would provide some directional evidence.

Read the rest of this entry »

This question was asked on linkedin.com. “At what point is it a good idea to stop attempted contact with someone who showed mild to moderate interest from your initial sales pitch? If they aren’t returning calls or emails, do you continue to attempt contact or is it best to let it go?” Below is my public answer.

It depends on each individual situation.  In some cases it will be best to let it go immediately and in others it will be best to have a clear follow up process.

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The question of whether a high level of empathy for a sales professional was an advantage or a disadvantage was asked on linkedin.com.  Below is my public answer to this question.

This is a great and interesting question! It looks like most people so far are saying that empathy is essential for sales people, and I agree!  I will expand on the concept and how to develop it a little further as it may be of help for those who want to enhance it. Read the rest of this entry »

1. Be open minded and ready to move forward.

2. Think about your goals, get clear on them.

3. Be open to maximizing your potential, both in sales, business, and personally, to be the best you can be.

4. Be willing and ready to make commitments to yourself.

5. Come to the coaching session with an agenda/topic in mind that would be most important and most helpful for you to cover. Read the rest of this entry »

SPIN Selling By Neil Rackham, Huthwaite, Inc. McGraw-Hill © 1988, 197 pages.

This book is a classic sales book and I have provided my own summary below.

Below are the key points from this book – SPIN Selling Summary

“There’s no doubt about it, questions persuade more powerfully than any other form of verbal behavior. And this is not just in selling.”

(I would agree that powerful questions are key, but note that “persuasion” in the traditional sense is out-dated when it comes to selling effectively. Persuasion can put the prospect on the defensive and can make the sales person uncomfortable as well. Learn more about my Sales Coaching Programs) Read the rest of this entry »

In a study conducted by MetrixGlobal, LLC, the Return on Investment of coaching was calculated to exceed 500%.

A summary of that study can be seen below. Read the rest of this entry »

The Emotional Intelligence model introduced by Daniel Goleman focuses on EI/EQ from a wide range of competencies and skills.  Below is an outline of the 4 key areas:

1. Self-awareness — the ability to read one’s emotions and recognize their impact while using gut feelings to guide decisions.
2. Self-management — involves controlling one’s emotions and impulses and adapting to changing circumstances.
3. Social awareness — the ability to sense, understand, and react to others’ emotions while comprehending social networks. Read the rest of this entry »

Jacksonville, Fla.–(Business Wire)–Jan. 4, 2001–Manchester Inc., a supplier of customized executive coaching programs, has released the results of a study that quantifies the business impact of executive coaching. The study includes data on executive behavior change, organizational improvements achieved, and the return on investment (ROI) from customized, comprehensive executive coaching programs. Read the rest of this entry »

How do you hold yourself accountable in your life or in your business?  What is accountability to you?  Where is it present and where does it not exist?  What is the impact in your life or your business if there is no accountability?

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Differences

(The follow information is from The Coaches Training Institute manual)

Coaching: Views both parties as naturally creative, resourceful and whole. Does not diagnose or treat.
Therapy: More apt to view the clients from a medical model. Diagnoses and treats.

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Research by the Chartered Management Institute and Campaign for Learning – “Coaching at Work”. Results issued in a press release dated 16th May 2002:

Top 4 words associated with Coaching (from a given list) were:

Supportive (98%), Empowering (82%), Holistic (80%), Inspirational (77%)

Top 3 words associated with Training (from the same given list) were:

Prescriptive (71%), Rigid (70%), Intimidating (50%) Read the rest of this entry »