100% sales. The ‘must read’ for business people who want more money and want it NOW!

by Dr. Jeffrey Lant

Author’s program note. I have the inestimable privilege of training some of the brightest business people on earth… people of wit, intelligence, good humor… and a fierce determination to be successful, climbing the greasy pole, making more money, and living just the way they want. I find this work enthralling, exhilarating… and (I’ll admit it) frequently frustrating… as I watch even the best and the brightest muff it.

And so, today, I am writing about the one essential thing these fine folks — and that now includes YOU — must do every single minute of every single day that you want more money. For, let’s not kid ourselves… if you understand this crucial article and follow its directives… you are going to make more money, lots more, and leave your lackadaisical and languid colleagues in the dust. And won’t that be sweet?

To put you in the mood for my insistent message, I have selected a dance number that once made you gyrate and awe… “I Want Your Love” by a group named Chic. It hit the charts in 1978, and it made its point early and often:

“I want your love. I want your love. I want your love. I want your love.”

In other words, they kept on message, driving home the point of their endeavors until even the most mentally challenged “got it”. As a teacher with a sledgehammer, repetitive delivery, I like that… I like it a lot.

And so to set the stage for what follows, look this tune up in any search engine now and move that overweight, arthritic body; because you’re about to recapture your alluring youth… and be the person who got what you wanted, oh yeah!

Painful, so painful.

It happened again yesterday… and it gets me, right in the solar plexus, each and every time I see this fundamental error. The sales person I was training was operating solo. In other words, they had progressed sufficiently far in their instruction to where they get to fly all alone. I am there, of course; I am always there… but I try to remain as silent as the grave and unobtrusive so that I am seeing the student and just the student. And make no mistake about it… this situation (as every parent knows) can make you as nervous and frustrated as all get out.

Lights, camera… think!

Picture the scene. All parties are on the ‘net. I am present in my video box, the student is in his… and the “real life” prospect enters… like a bull at a corrida. Everything happens in real time…. and has real world implications, for good… or for ill.

Ok… the student (and, remember, my students are established business people, not wet-behind-the-ears kids) goes into closing mode. This starts by greeting each and every prospect by name; then asking each prospect to watch a 20-minute video packed with the vital data that both excites the prospect and instructs her.

These steps are crucial… and the students know I am a stickler for ensuring that they occur. In other words, make SURE the prospect has the critical facts before any further action can occur.

The prospect is prepped… are you?

“As soon as you’ve finished the video, return to me for a spectacular one-time-only offer.”

These words usher in the next phase of the operation. We make it clear what must be done (watch video) and what is coming thereafter (spectacular offer). So far… so good.

Close but no cigar.

The first mistake the students make is to present the offer before the prospect has been adequately prepped. This is a critical error. Prospects must have the necessary facts… or they end up asking a ton of unnecessary questions; questions which have already been answered — and in precise, clear detail, too — in the video.

The video, the whole video, nothing but the video.

As soon as you have confirmed that the prospect has watched the ENTIRE video, proceed to the “Big rock candy mountain,” your scintillating offer. It IS scintillating, isn’t it? For if it doesn’t snap, crackle, and pop you’ve just thrown away a sale. Sales occur because the offer sizzles, excites, is just too thrilling to decline. You ARE making such an offer, I trust. And if you’re not, you’d better make its improvement “Action this day,” which is what Winston Churchill did when as Prime Minister of England he demanded instant attention and RESULTS.

And now… the critical moment that turns you into a master… and puts another sale in your pocket: 100% sales.

To remain an average closer, keep doing what you’re doing.But to fly high as one of the world’s sales masters you must set the desired goal… then do everything possible, everything necessary to achieve it.

That is… 100% sales.

Is this what you do?

Make your objective immediately clear to the prospect: “I want you to get the benefits of this widget… and I’m going to do everything I can to make it happen.” Don’t just say these words… mean them. Because once the prospect knows you’re serious, they can be serious too, working with you for fastest, most complete mutual advantage.

At this moment, the prospect may well start back peddling saying things like this:

“I don’t have any money.”

“I can’t do it today.”

“I need to tell the little woman. We’re a team.”

And so forth. Your job is to thrust these obstacles out of the way and CLOSE THAT DEAL.

To do this, you must remind yourself AT ALL TIMES that you have a 100% closing goal… and that you are going to make this close. If the prospect stalls or blocks you, keep things going by asking for the prospect’s undivided attention and for an all- important OPEN mind. Make sure the prospect understands what the offer is…. and if necessary improve it; always making it clear that this offer expires the second the prospect leaves. In other words, there is a premium for staying, working things out, but irrevocable loss if they won’t.

Now, gun it.

Keep in mind at all times, with the terrific offer you are making, the prospect will be better off… if… and only if… they take immediate action. It is your job to drive this home NOW… making it abundantly clear that action now is the only sensible course.

Do this, and do it with enthusiasm, gusto, and good humor, and you will not only want that sale… you will get it! For as Chic sang, “a better love you won’t find today…” or a better offer either.

*** What do you think? We invite you to post your comments below.

‘Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion…’; the great truth assailed by the little man from Pennsylvania, former U.S. Senator Rick Santorum; John F. Kennedy’s historic address on the matter revisited.

by Dr. Jeffrey Lant

Author’s program note. Religious fervor, religious metaphors, religious language, religious dispute, religious assertiveness, religious iconography, religious music all pulsate through every aspect of the Great Republic, its life and affairs. And that is why the Founding Fathers as their first order of business and to establish the tone and substance for all that followed, wrote the First Amendment to the Constitution. In sparse, incisive, resolute, unequivocal language they rendered their bold and well considered opinion thus:

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.”

These sentiments were the more necessary because of the very vibrancy of religion and all of its manifestations in the Great Republic… for every religion, (because of its adamant belief that its way to God is The way to God), is messianic, exclusive, intolerant, and so potentially divisive, disruptive, even dangerous.

And no one knew this better than the great and thoughtful Founding Fathers who had as their matter of high and abiding significance the preservation of the many great things rendered by religion… whilst avoiding the imperial tendencies of all religions, to uplift themselves, even unto the seizure of the Great Republic, whilst denigrating the rest.

The great problem set, these same Founding Fathers commenced their high business of solving it. For make no mistake about it, the objective of the Founding Fathers was not the crippling control and suppression of religion so much as it was creating an atmosphere and civic establishment in which religions — all religions — might flourish to the glory and benefit of the Great Republic they were crafting and meant to have.

Thus I give you the occasional music for this article, and a better tune one could hardly have for this subject: “Give Me That Old-Time Religion.” It’s a traditional Gospel song dating from 1873. Charles David Tillman took this song, which may have originated as a black folk song, and by his publishing and enthusiasm for its adamant, uplifting message turned it into a staple of white congregations and so it has abided, a joyful manifestation of the Good News.

To get it, go now to any search engine. You’ll find many fine renditions of this song; I prefer the get-up-and-praise Him version belted out by Mahalia Jackson, Hallelujah… for if it was good enough for my father… good enough for my mother… then it’s good enough for me!

The background to the First Amendment.

To a person, the men who constituted the Founding Fathers, were men knowledgeable about religion, its history, uses, practices, and tendencies. As a result, they were haunted, almost to a person, by the damages religion could deliver, as well as its comforts. And they knew, none better, that left to its own devices religion could chill individual inquiry rather than encourage it, could become the harsh means of fettering the human mind, not advancing it. And what they wanted, to the point of obsession, was a land of liberty, not a land where uniformity of view was the order of the day, and was enforced by priests, pastors, and pontiffs; different in their views, the same in their devices for achieving them; working each to control with bell, book, and candle.

They, too, were aware that such a land, so unfettered in its thoughts, a paradise for every believer not just one, had never existed in the history of mankind where uniformity of outlook reigned as the desired objective. As a result the Founding Fathers, here as elsewhere, found themselves on the cutting-edge of this crucial matter of statecraft and belief…. and they gave the matter their utmost consideration… for no question exercised them more that what they could do to place the people of the new republic into a proper, sustained relationship with their common Creator.

They selected a solution Erastian, latitudinarian, tolerant.

Tolerance for all, hegemony and control for none. This became their guiding light , and they found vital sustenance for it amongst the works of Thomas Erastus, (1524-1583), a 16th century German physician and theologian. He held that the punishment of all offenses should be referred to the civil power and that holy communion was open to all. Thus should the church and its ministers be made subservient to the officials of the government, rather than these officials of the government made subservient to the church and its ministers.

They looked, too, to the cool reason of John Locke (1632-1704), who advocated, first and foremost, a tolerance which had, perhaps, never been seen before… a latitudinarian whose profound thoughts once glimpsed became the abiding vision of all sensible people, and the basis for civil peace, not internecine strife.

From such beginnings did the idea of religious tolerance grow, until at last it was written and proclaimed in the First Amendment, as the very essence of what we stood for as a Great Republic and who we wanted to be. Thus as the Founding Fathers surveyed it, they saw their work whole… and knew it to be a great resolution to a great problem, a great policy indeed for the Great Republic.

.. and from the moment of its inception it has done its work…

JFK, admirable in Houston.

Then John Fitzgerald Kennedy ran for president… and many people worried that as a Roman Catholic he would sabotage this verity, pledging instead fealty to the Bishop of Rome, rather than the Great Republic. And so, he went to Houston where before the Greater Houston Ministerial Association he presented himself and his views. The date was September 12, 1960… and it was perhaps his most admirable day on Earth; for on this day he stated with vehemence and resolution these words:

“I believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute.” And if, perhaps, he did not persuade all the reverend doctors present (for some were not to be persuaded) he did persuade the people of the Great Republic, who in their turn elected him…thus proving with their ballots the kind of inclusive, tolerant, pacific society they desired and affirmed.

It is this society, this vision, the most profound ever imagined that one little man has challenged, in a way at once crude, graphic and alarming.

“I don’t believe in an America where the separation of church and state are absolute.” Rick Santorum, (College of Saint Mary Magdalen, Warner, New Hampshire, October 2011 and reaffirmed thereafter).

“The idea that the church can have no influence or no involvement in the operation of the state is absolutely antithetical to the objectives and visions of our country… to say that people of faith have no role in the public square? You bet that makes me want to throw up.”

This is the statement of a zealot, a demagogue, a radical… and thus a danger to the community, the comity, the country… and to the Great Republic itself.

The firewall called Michigan held… but barely.

The results are now counted in Michigan which Tuesday, February 28, 2012 held one of the most important presidential primaries ever, and by just the smallest of margins denied Santorum and his radical views, views that would roil the essential verities of the Great Republic and divide the people.

Is this the end of the war then? Alas, no. For this battle, which sensible citizens thought was settled centuries ago by the expansive vision of the Founding Fathers, is under attack by incendiaries like Santorum who mean to light their way to the God they arrogantly suppose they know with autos-da-fe, a ghastly light unto eternity.

That is why the rest of us must remain vigilant, for a right undefended is a right at risk… and this right has been too hard won to be threatened, much less eviscerated and destroyed, by a man like Santorum, for all that he fancies himself the agent of God and his Holy Will.

** What do you think? We invite your comments below.

Thoughts on assisted living, aging, Dad, and guilt.

by Dr. Jeffrey Lant
Author’s program note. Here is the most important four-letter word in the entire English language: home. It conjures up and is connected to every element of the well-lived life: spouse, family, peace, comfort, security. Nothing can match its importance, nothing can duplicate its significance. Nothing is more powerful than our memories of home and their enduring pull, always tugging at our heart strings. Home and its rhythms, its well remembered aspects, its secrets, its traditions, its confidences, its ways so well known and carefully maintained… these have a power over us that never fails, never pales, never wavers, never diminishes, and are always clear, fresh, joyful, unforgettable, bittersweet, haunting, the sweetest memories of our entire life.
This is an article on the moment that comes to each of us… when this home, our very special, irreplaceable place, must be given up because its proprietors can no longer maintain it, now needing particular care themselves. This is an article about a moment poignant, sad, dreadful, irrevocable. It is about the people who take this step first, our parents… then about their children, us, who will trod the difficult road, too, but not yet… and what they must do today, a day of emotional turmoil, distress, a day for which all preparation is inadequate.
For this article I have selected the song “My Old Kentucky Home” (1852) by America’s first great composer, Stephen Foster. It is one of the most wistful, longing songs of our country… and whenever one hears it one thinks, and tearful too, of one’s own home, now gone, far away, never to be replaced, always to be remembered, the more so as the destination you are now going to can never be a home like the one left behind. Go now to any search engine. Find and play it at once. It is the perfect accompaniment to this article.
The call.
The call we all fear, cannot bear thinking about, but must think about — comes the day our aging parents first consider assisted living, whether outwardly calm and willing, or fighting the hopeless battle to avoid this fate, roiled by turbulent emotions deep within, so clearly visible without.
Assisted living.
The words “assisted living” are two of the most frightening and disturbing in our language. It is easy to see why. Assisted living is mostly the province of the retired, the ill, the aging, geriatric survivors of better times. As such it is a venue to be put off and avoided whenever possible, for as long as possible; as much so as if each assisted living facility had posted at its front door this immemorial admonition from Dante’s “Inferno”: “Abandon all hope ye who enter here.”
Such institutions are perceived as the final way station before cosmic extinction; the place one enters unhappy, angry, misunderstood, and which one leaves dead; the place for the irremediably old, those who are past it, marginal, unconsidered, beyond the care and concern of anyone other than those paid to care and be concerned; lonely people of the Eleanor Rigby variety.
All of life…
Assisted living, with its implied inadequacies and dependence, is always and often indignantly compared to the joy of independent living, where you do what you want, when you want, with whom you want, in just the way you want; in other words the kind of living each of us desires, insists upon, and does everything possible to maintain. Assisted living, of course, is widely perceived as the antithesis of the desired independent living.
But this is wrong.
ALL living is assisted living. For unless you are rabidly antisocial and determined to remain that way, alone, isolated, happy and contented in your aloneness, you are assisted — every single day — by people whose aim is to make you reasonably happy, reasonably content, and reasonably comfortable. Thus, in truth, when one moves from living regarded as independent to living regarded as assisted, one is evolving from one kind of care to another kind of care; one is tweaking circumstances the better to ensure the maximum continuation of your desired life style. One is not undergoing metamorphosis, but comparative and necessary improvement.
Sadly, most people undergoing this process are unable to see this, or at least to state it to guilt-ridden relatives who are thus distressed by the painful thought that Aunt Martha is being cast off rather than moved to an appropriate level of care, concern, and consideration. Most assisted living facilities these days resemble college campuses or resorts; they know the grief, anger, recriminations and distress which new residents bring and work hard to create an atmosphere that is at once attractive, even beautiful; livable, practical, and serene, factors which soothe the guilt of those recommending assisted living to those near and dear but are often dismissed as inadequate or unimportant by those being recommended into the facility.
Receiving the intelligence.
Twice in my life, so far, have I been a participant to greater or lesser degree, in conversations surrounding the movement of one near and beloved to assisted living. The first such conversations involved my mother; the second set involved my father. These conversations could hardly have been less similar — or more instructive about the principals involved and affected.
My mother, student of Dylan Thomas that she was, did not, nor could not, go gentle into this good night. She raged, raged against what she was sure was the dying of the light. Despite weakening health and the myriad of problems stemming therefrom my mother fought hard, strenuously, vociferously, painfully against the notion of “incarceration” in an assisted living facility, thereby branded as penal institution, not comfortable necessity. Her transition from living deemed independent to living deemed assisted was therefore protracted, painful, packed with imprecations, denigrations, accusations, maledictions which made Emile Zola’s famous declaration “J’accuse” look sniveling.
My father handled the matter entirely different… and I suspect this was partly because he will have with him his wife Ellie; to be alone at life’s end is painful; to be partnered with a loved mate lessons the pain while increasing the means to combat and to live with it.
Sad, wistful, practical, accepting.
When my father called yesterday to inform me that he and Ellie had made arrangements to share their dwindling, most precious days together in assisted living, I felt a lump in my throat. He extolled the grounds, their private apartment, the food, the friendly residents… but whether he believed all this as stated or was just trying out what would become the stock reason or their move, I cannot say… for I was reflecting on a few words that he had said.
Entering the dining room where they would find their daily meals, he was surprised to find it peopled with the old, feeble, and infirm. Could this be he at 86, Ellie at 87? Or had some mistake occurred? She, knowing how difficult it had to be for him to transform his independent life to one “assisted”, took his hand and reassured him that no mistake was made; they were in the right place, which he would soon know, if he did not know already. And thus these proud, fiercely independent souls, more used to assisting others than being assisted, move into the next phase of their lives, together, facts faced, practical decisions made, gently, calmly, with love and care. And I admired my father so, not merely as son to father, but as man to man. For he faced the difficult, the fearful, the unpalatable, with grace, quietude, reserve, with good judgement, good humor, and a good wife, well stocked and ready for the journey ahead… which they will travel similarly and with kindness, above all with kindless and the help of those glad to assist them, and with kindness too.
** We invite you to post your comments to this article.

I accuse you of doing everything you can to sabotage your online success…. and what you must do — at once — to change that and profit.

by Dr. Jeffrey Lant
Author’s program note. In 1894 Captain Alfred Dreyfus, artillery captain for the General Staff of France, was charged with treason and espionage… thereby inaugurating one of the most outrageous and ignoble events in the entire history of France.
It was a story of lies… but not by Dreyfus.
It was the story of evidence made up… evidence tampered with… evidence destroyed… but not by Dreyfus.
It was the story of grave injustice… deliberately done and with malice… but not by Dreyfus.
It was the story of a man attacked, mauled, censored, imprisoned, humiliated, villified because of his religion… but not by Dreyfus.
And above all it is the story of how one man with brilliant, slashing language changed the entire debate… securing at long last freedom, restitution and justice for Dreyfus.
This man was celebrated novelist Emile Zola who took just two words and transformed them into the most powerful weapon on earth… two words that galvanized a nation, securing the attention and support of the good people of France who, because of Zola, were outraged by the terrible and enduring blot on the honor of France… and who joined their voices to his in the service of truth.
J’accuse!
These are the words — I accuse — which by making the outrages clear — began the healing process that saved France from ignominy and redeemed her. Now I intend to use the great model created by Zola and to save you from business ignominy… to redeem you… and enable you to profit online… for you have been doing everything possible to fail… and little or nothing to succeed.
To help you on your way I have selected the soaring 1937 score Max Steiner wrote for the Best Picture of the Year; “The Life of Emile Zola” starring Paul Muni. Such grand music must enable success… so go to any search engine now and play it. We are ready to begin the transforming process that starts with “I accuse…” and ends with “I salute…”, wafted on our way by the grandeur of Steiner’s composition.
I accuse you of not understanding what business is… of understanding that business is now and always will be about two things and two things only: the generation of prospect leads… and following up with each and every one of these leads to make offers and close business.
I accuse you of engaging in endless trivia every day, focusing on anything and everything instead of generating prospects… and calling these prospects, to work with them and begin the development of the business relationships necessary to secure success.
I accuse you of trying to run a business solely by email… trying that is to motivate people to buy without doing the most important thing to profit: picking up the phone, calling prospects, engaging prospects, building relations with prospects.
I accuse you of sloth, laziness, of sitting around and waiting for success, instead of doing what is necessary — everything that’s necessary — to build the business you say you want… but for which there is absolutely no evidence that you have ever done on its behalf any meaningful thing at all.
I accuse you of the sin of inertia… of waiting, waiting, waiting, for, what?, a sign from Heaven, an email from God? I accuse you of not knowing what needs to be done, of not educating yourself so that you know how to do it, and not doing the least thing to secure your success.
I accuse you of spending more time gossiping on the phone with people who cannot make you richer (your best friend, your bowling buddies, the chick you met bar hopping last week) instead of using the phone to do what it does so well… connecting with the people who can buy from you, buy now, and make you money every single day.
I accuse you of trying to build your online business alone, all by yourself, when all the evidence says this is not possible, is absolutely impossible, because there is too much to do…too many things to master… and insufficient time to learn them, then do them. You need a team… and you need it at once.
I accuse you of the sin of talking about success far more than doing the necessary deeds and actions that ensure success. You have become, thereby, a specialist in the endless rhetoric and bombastic language of success, while achieving nothing. It is time, therefore, past time, to cease and censure the flatulent babble and get on with the doing.
I accuse you of not staying at your post every day until you have achieved the financial objective you have set for yourself for this day, focusing, persisting until you have achieved this goal… every penny of this goal.
I accuse you of coddling yourself, of a too prompt tendency to forgive your inadequacies, overlook the negatives, whitewash your poor performances, rationalize your failings, pooh pooh each and every peccadillo, extol too greatly minor triumphs instead of pushing on to make the insignificant significant.
The words used by Zola to end his famous declamation to French president Felix Faure, January 13, 1898:
“I have but one passion: to enlighten those who have been kept in the dark, in the name of humanity which has suffered too much and is entitled to happiness. My fiery protest is simply the cry of my very soul.”
I couldn’t say it better myself, so won’t try. Zola’s letter changed the world… my hope is that this changes yours.
** We invite you to post your comments to this article below.

Five Things You Don’t Know About Closing Sales Which Are Eviscerating Your Profits

It isn’t just that most people are lousy at sales…
far more shocking is the fact that most SALES PEOPLE
are lousy at sales.
If you’re one of them, this article is for YOU!
The plain fact of the matter is that the overwhelming
majority of sales people rely on their charm, gift
of gab, and ability to “wing it” to make sales… instead
of being prepared to make sale after sale. STOP IT! Following
these sensible steps means more money:
1)  Closing sales is not a matter of motivation or pressure.
Instead, it’s a question of having the right information readily
at hand, so you can answer customer questions quickly, easily,
thoroughly.
Thus, consider what you have readily available when
you are talking to a customer.
2) Do you have (readily available, mind) a sheet of “you
gets”, that is a list of PRECISELY what your customer
gets when using your product/service?
Dollars to doughnuts, neither you nor any member of
your business has sat down and written out the features
of what you’re selling; then converted each and every
feature into a benefit that the customer gets. Treat each
and every benefit like scoops on an ice-cream cone;
the higher you stack ‘em, the more enticing to the customer!
3)  Do you have a sheet of offers?
Products do not sell themselves; a sales person bragging
“Our product sells itself” is wrong, naive or both. What sells
products is offers; the better the offer the faster the sale.
Thus, have you got a sheet of offers; “add-ons” you can
use to motivate immediate customer action? This list should
make it very clear just what the customer gets for fast action.
AND when the customer must act, for ALL offers must be
limited by time, quantity, etc.
4) Do you have a sheet of results testimonials?
People what to be assured and re-assured about what
they will get when using your product. Here’s where “results”
testimonials come in. These not only provide a happy
customer’s experience in using  your product (“I loved it”),
but the specific results that customer achieved. The greater
the specificity and the benefits, the better and more
effective the testimonial.
Note: whenever possible ALL testimonials must include
full customer and such relevant details as title, location, etc.
In short, testimonials must be detailed and complete to be
completely credible.
5) A page of  objection responses and rebuttals
Face it, not every customer will leap for  joy upon hearing
of what you are selling. That’s why you must be prepared for
the nay-sayers, the procrastinators,  the cautious, and
the merely foolish. For these folks, a list of every possible
objection and your strongest response is required.
Commmon objections include:
“I must ask my spouse.”
“I’m on vacation for the next 2 weeks.”
“I have to check you out.”
“I don’t have the money.”
Now hear this: there isn’t an objection under the sun
which cannot be effectively answered, only not by
“winging it.” EVERY successful sales person knows
that preparation here is mandatory; the rebuttals may
seem spontaneous… but they must ALWAYS  be
rehearsed.  Brainstorm all objections; then work on
the responses. As new objections surface, add them
to your list… and, again, perfect the perfect, objection-
demolishing response.
Last Words
The key to sales success is NEVER a “wing and a prayer.”
It is ALWAYS  a matter of total, complete, deliberate effort.
Such effort can turn a mediocre sales person into a stellar
performer.  That, of course, is precisely what your goal
must be, and now you know how to achieve it!

Sales Tip: Always Be Closing (ABC). The one simple rule that will help increase your sales.

I don’t know who came up with the phrase, “Always Be Closing” but it’s brilliant. In sales circles it’s known more simply as ABC.
If you are in sales, this simple catchy phrase will help keep you on track to making sales.
Here’s some insight into sales and how to increase the number of sales YOU make.
Buyers like to get the sales person off track.
They like to ask questions, lots of questions.
They ask:
Does it come in blue?
What’s the guarantee?
Buyers like to stall, hedge, avoid.
They say:
I have to ask my wife.
I want to look around.
I think I can get a better deal somewhere else.
Buyers like to know that their business matters, that they are getting some personal attention to earn their business.
But sales people, know the ABC’s of sales – Always Be Closing.
Smart, successful sales people know that happy customers and good sales people go hand in hand.
They know that spending a little extra time with a serious buyer, or creating a personalized offer can be exactly what is needed to clinch a sale.
The buyer wants their questions answered so they can make the decision to buy. The smart salesperson wants to answer those questions and move the person ever closer to buying.
My colleague, Dr. Jeffrey Lant talks about the sales dance. He likens the sales process to a type of courtship. The sales person approaches, the buyer is shy, aloof. The sales person comes closer, offers the right words, and assurances. The buyer plays hard to get but shows interest. The sales person is more engaging, tries harder with a better offer, always moving toward the close.
ABC – Always be Closing means this:
Answering relevant questions, eliminating obstacles to the sale being made, helping with payment plans, reassuring the buyer, making special offers, sweetening the deal, whatever it takes to get the sale.
Closing the sale means finding out from the customer, what it will take to get them to buy NOW, not next week, or next month. The best sales people are listeners. They listen to what the buyer wants and they determine a way to get it for them so the sale is made, today. You can HEAR someone who wants to buy, if you stop talking long enough to listen.
ABC means doing your job right so the customer gets a great deal and you make a great sale!
Most of us have been on the receiving end of a poor sales person, and we also remember that warm happy feeling when you’ve made a purchase that you feel good about. We like to feel special, a good sales person can make that happen or alternatively with the wrong approach can make you walk away.
Happy customer’s who feel they got a good deal can be a repeat customer or a customer for life. Unhappy customers help you learn what you could perhaps be doing better. The right approach with an unhappy customer can convert them into a happy one! In fact, they may end up being your best customer because they see you actually cared and tried to make better a problem situation.
Got a sticky note? Write ABC on a sticky note, and post it on your computer. It will help remind you when you are talking to a customer, or answering an email, or sending a quote, or posting an offer, remember to Always Be Closing.
*** We invite your comments below.

Relationship Building is Good Business, here’s why.

If you want to set your business apart from your competitors spend some time creating and fostering relationships with your current and prospective customers.
Strong business relationship lead to long term customers and this is good for your bottom line. If you have been ignoring social media it’s time to recognize that you are turning your back on a vital direct connection to the people who have supported your business and those people who may be your next customers. Your customers are a vital source of information for any company. They can help you understand how to better meet their needs and therefore, retain their business while attracting new business. One of the most powerful ways to tap this valuable resource is by finding more ways to connect with your customers and build lasting relationships.
Relationship building is an ongoing process on and offline. Social media makes it easier to start and build relationships with current and prospective customers all over the world. Your marketing plan should include dedicating resources for building your online presence through posts, blogs, backlinks, bookmarks, commenting and more. Your website is simply not enough any more. If you want to speak to your customers and grow your sales you will need to connect with them using popular social media.
Social media makes it easy to build relationships with your customers, here’s how.
- Instantly create connections
- Expand your reach to new markets
- Ability to jump on customer service issues right away
- Better identify gaps in your service provision
- Know what people are saying about your company
- Increase awareness of what your business offers
- Increase referrals and sales
- Generate new sales with offers
- Post Product or Service Reviews
- Improve customer experiences with your company
- Generate fresh online frequent content that you control
What to do next:
Have a look at some of the popular Social Media sites to see which ones are the best fit for your company, products or services. Don’t limit yourself to just the large sites, if you can find niche sites directly related to your purposes this can be ideal and easily found with a Google search. Here’s just a few of the top ones ranked by Alexa.com
YouTube.com
Facebook.com
Twitter.com
LinkedIn.com
MySpace.com
Yelp.com
StumbleUpon
Tumblr.com
Reddit.com
Flickr.com
Digg.com
Metacafe.com
del.icio.us
segnalo.com
BlogCatalog.com
technorati.com
mixx.com
Rojo.com
Kaboodle.com
gather.com
Folkd.com
KillerStartups.com
Newsvine.com
Faves.com
BlinkList.com
BuddyMarks.com
WireFan.com
Before the Internet, building business relationships meant greeting your customer by name when they came into your store. Today, it means using social media to better connect with your customers and in the process of helping them you help your own company grow stronger. Companies and their customers are connected in a way never seen before and it’s your job as a business owner to facilitate this process.

OMG! You’ve got The Color Green Syndrome… and it’s killing your business, absolutely killing it!

Author’s program note. Are you one of the billion or so people worldwide who’s been blaming the recession for all your woes, including that pimple on your back you popped… but should have left alone? Then this article is for YOU… and not a moment too soon either. In it, we’re going to examine just what you did yesterday to make money and whether you were focused on what you should have been focused on… or whether you had succumbed to one of the greatest of business maladies of all time: the pernicious Color Green Syndrome.
To put you in the mood to deal with this problem and to root it out of your business and life, I’m calling up Stevie Wonder, particularly his 1982 song “Do I Do”. (Go find it in any search engine; use the long — 10 1/2 minute — version that features Dizzy Gillespie.) It’s guaranteed to get you up, breathing deep, gliding across your floor with a practised dexterity you didn’t know was in you. Good! For this article and the resurrection of your business you need all the right moves… and Stevie is going to help you get them… as I am.
Are you suffering from The Color Green Syndrome? I bet you are… and it’s killing you.
What is this condition that’s worse than any plague, that’ll knock you for a loop faster than any flu… yea verily, that will cripple your enterprises more assuredly than the IRS or any other government intervention? Listen, my children, and you shall learn it here, find out how to perceive it, deal with it, eradicate it forever and so soar….
The heart and soul of your business is two things, just two things you must know and do EVERY single day without fail, every day that is when you want to use your business for what your business is for: making money, making money, oh yes, making money. Ou la la!
Okay, let’s dig in, in the spirit of medical research and solution. The two things you must do EVERY day in your business are to 1) generate prospects and 2) close those prospects. Nothing — absolutely NOTHING — is as fundamental to your success as this. So, let’s take a sustained gander at what you did yesterday to grow your business and reap rewards from it… and whether The Color Green Syndrome laid you low.
How the Syndrome got its name.
According to my trusty and much used dictionary, syndrome is defined as an aggregate or set of concurrent symptoms together indicating the presence and nature of a disease. One of the most destructive and insidious of these syndromes is the subject of this article. Here’s how it was discovered and named.
A person not unlike you came to visit me one day, asserting with vehemence and vigor that he wanted to make money online. To do so he knew he needed tools, training, traffic and ongoing help, and he paid me to provide them. I got down to business with a will; I am a man who believes in action, action now… and so in due course I presented him with a website that was 100% focused on stopping prospects in their tracks, motivating them to take notice, leave complete follow-up details (the better to have and develop those essential prospect lists) … and move like greased lightning to get the stupendous offer I had persuaded him to make.
But things, begun so auspiciously, slowed to a snail’s pace — or slower — at this moment. Why? “Because the green you selected for the background color isn’t the green I want. Show me some others.”
And so began the descent into madness and the unraveling of a great enterprise with a killer website standing at the ready to make lucre, and a lot of it.
The client didn’t like the green… but wanted to show his partner… who definitely didn’t like the green…
One requested one green; the other requested another. And while they reviewed, considered and discussed the virtues and winning attributes of greens ranging from apple green… chartreuse… hunter green… Islamic green…. fern green… Paris green… Shamrock green and several dozen other greens, far more greens than either you, me, or the customer even knew existed… their business stopped. So important was getting just the precise shade that all other matters, including the prosaic little matter of generating prospects, closing prospects, making money fell by the wayside… prospects ungenerated, offers unmade, sales non existent… until just the right green surfaced, was seen, discussed, selected, and shown off.
“So sad, but what has this to do with me?”, you ask.
You will recall that a syndrome is an aggregate of symptoms… and so it is here. The Color Green Syndrome can easily morph into any of the following conditions:
“I cannot generate prospects, call prospects, close prospects, until…”
* I have 2 cups of coffee, not a drop more or less;
* I have watched my favorite television program, never missing a minute or an episode:
* My dog is walked, my newspaper read, my toast prepared just so (and oh if my favorite jam is gone).
“I cannot generate prospects, call prospects, close prospects until I’ve….”
* called my children;
* fluffed my pillows;
* considered lunch and dinner menus.
And several million other situations, conditions, “really important things” that (by definition and sanctified usage) are important, way more important than doing what’s necessary to generate prospects… contact prospects… close and make deals with prospects.
Don’t say you aren’t subject to this malady. This is Dr. Lant you’re talking to, your friend, ultimate realist…. and we both know better, don’t we? You’ve got a bad case… and blaming it on the recession just passed — or anything else — just isn’t good enough….
So, unless you’re prepared to let The Color Green Syndrome (in any of its many manifestations) continue to undermine your business, you’ve got to change your ways… today… and I’ve asked Stevie Wonder to assist.
START with the two essential money-making activities — generating leads,calling leads — BEFORE you do ANYTHING else. Treat the prospects you’ll generate like this:
“When I see you on the street My whole body gets weak.”
In short treat that all -important prospect like the lover you cannot wait a single minute to contact… and make this kind of offer:
“Yes I got some honey suckle chocolate dripping kisses full of love for you.”
Go on, try it. It’s the only way to eradicate The Color Green Syndrome and focus on the only green that matters in business… the green backs your new moves and attitude are sure to deliver. Now turn up Stevie Wonder… and dance! After all, as soon as you generate and call all those prospects, you’re going to make a whole lot of money today…. and that calls for boogie!

You SAY you’re in business, but that proposition is dubious, as this article reveals in shocking detail.

Author’s program note. One of Broadway’s happiest and most enduring musicals is “How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying.” Written by Frank Loesser; it was released in October, 1961 to immediate acclaim — and a Pulitzer Prize to boot. Most recently it was revived with Daniel Ratcliffe — famous for his eponymous role in the Harry Potter films — starring in the lead role originally done to mischievous perfection by Robert Morse, simultaneously menace and mastermind.
I have selected one of the lesser tunes from the production for the occasional music to this article. It’s called simply “Coffee Break”, and you should go to any search engine now to listen to it. It’s about how the absence of coffee — and therefore the coffee break — raises more anxiety and lamentation than a plague of locusts and completely stops the whole company, convinced that the end of the world as they know it is at hand. Oh, my! So much grief for one missed cuppa. However, the real shock is not that the coffee was late for the company coffee break, no indeed; the real shock is that more time, trouble, energy, irritation, and anger was expended on this event than on anything else that entire day… including the company’s business they were hired to transact…until the outrage about the coffee break was surpassed by certain stale items on the lunch menu… thereby diverting everyone’s outspoken attention to this even greater snafu.
The sad part is that this kind of ludicrous “crisis” and massive waste of time does not occur solely or exclusively on Madison Avenue or in Broadway shows… it is most likely the way you are running your “business” and why it doesn’t prosper.
That’s why today, I am going to put you and your “business” under the most minute scrutiny, the better to help you understand that your business, as you currently organize and run it — cannot make the desirable profits of your imagination… until such time as you rethink everything — absolutely everything — so that the focus of your energy and action every day is NOT the coffee break… but actually doing BUSINESS. And as this analysis develops right before your very eyes, you are most likely to be chagrined, embarrassed, and horrified – and that’s just for openers.
On the acute need to perceive what you are really doing every single day.
You say you are in business, correct? You say you want substantial, increasing profits, correct? You say you are a hard worker; indeed that the sun never sets on all the work you do, the tasks done, the challenges confronted, correct?
In short you are about as swift, intelligent, able and valuable a business person as business has ever seen and that your DNA should be donated to the nation so that generations yet to come may have the benefit of you and your unmatched business expertise and execution.
You, of course, are even now nodding your head in sage agreement with this flawless description of you and your business acumen. Modest though you are, you cannot but admit that you are the very paragon and model sketched above… just like Kansas City, you’ve gone about as far as you can go.
It is this proposition swallowed hook, line and sinker by the overwhelming majority of business owners of every kind that keeps you trapped in a business that doesn’t grow, expand, prosper and that does not make and will never make the profits you consistently and repeatedly say are the reason you are in business to get and enjoy.
YOU and your business under our microscope.
Now, it’s time to knuckle down to the important, sure-to-be-shocking analysis of what you do during your “business hours”… for you cannot improve your business until you know precisely what you do and precisely when you do it.
Business is about two things and two things only…
Quick! Can you guess what they are? The correct answer is 1) the generation of qualified prospects and 2) contacting these prospects, making them the most lavish, persuasive offer ever, then closing the deal forthwith. This is the two- step dance that keeps you in business, expands your business, and leads to money, money, money… yours, all yours.
Now let’s see just what percentage of your average day focuses on these two key points… and what percentage of your business day goes to anything but these two essential tasks.
You’ll need a pad, a watch, and total honesty.
To make this crucial scrutiny work, you will need to be clear about what you do, when you do it, and how long it takes to do it. In other words, you must start by creating a detailed picture of your average business day… and why it either works to produce the prospect leads and orders you need… or why it doesn’t. Give this essential project which can launch the most profitable epoch for your business your fullest attention. Nothing will come of this project unless you are careful, thorough, and complete.
Your first task is to list all the things you do during your average business day. These will include but will certainly not be limited to
* all breaks, kind and duration;
* non-business related telephone and other communications;
* time spent “surfing” the Web, especially at sites unsuitable for visits during business hours;
* gossip with friends and co-workers;
* writing ad copy;
* creating offers that make sales;
* time on the telephone etc where you connect with prospects, and either upgrade them to be qualified prospects, or close them by making sales.
Get the picture? What you’re trying to do is this: show yourself in unanswerable detail what you do on the average day that has absolutely nothing to do with the identification and closing of prospects… and how much time and effort you expend generating prospects and closing them.
Reforms must follow identification of what you are doing wrong, over and over again.
Chances are, you will be shocked and abashed by what you discover, for instance now seeing that you spend far more time surfing the Web and gossiping on the phone than you do on that same phone contacting prospects and closing deals. Such pernicious reality must be dealt with at once, for it is costing you money every single day.
Start today.
Do you care whether your business succeeds or fails? Do you care whether you make more money than less? Do you care whether the limited time you have on this planet is transformed into the maximum amount of coin of the realm, and so serenity, security, satisfaction?
That is why you must do this necessary exercise, and do it today. For you see, succeeding in business without really trying makes a dandy theme for a witty musical… but can in no way be regarded as a truth to build your ever more prosperous business by. That truth will be vividly apparent to you as you implement the recommendations of this important article.
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