Success-Multiplying Factors

If you knew five absolutely unstoppable ideas to increase your business, would you do them on a regular basis? How about if these five ideas were guaranteed to increase your bottom and top line, would you acclimate yourself and commit to trying them for 30 days?

A few months ago I finished a marketing seminar titled; “Piranha Marketing.” This self-guided seminar is as genius as it was applicable in today’s market place. The principle fact which the entire seminar is based upon is uncomplicated and focused like a laser beam; is to recognize the undeniable fact that “someone” is having measurable success in the same business you’re in. Look around, stack up your competition, I’m certain you know of at least one that is well ahead of the market in revenue, profits and ideas. Some how they’ve “cracked the code” in dealing with your customers; they’ve figured out how to deal with the ups and downs of the business cycle. It’s time for you to conduct some research, get inside your buyers mind and deliver better, timelier ideas now. “Piranha Marketing” will help unlock your creativity and look at your business through a new prism.

“The important thing is this: to be able at any moment to sacrifice what we are for what we could become.” –Charles DuBos

“The starting point of ALL achievement is desire!” –Napoleon Hill

It’s safe to say; we want to be the best, earn more and have fun doing what we do…sales. I’ve developed a simple reminder for keeping your sales mind uncluttered and focused. Think—Topsales, it’s what we all want. If you’re anything like me, you want to be perceived as the expert in your category, you want to be trusted and respected and it goes without saying, you want to lead in sales output. You want to be Topsales…
T- think
O- optimistic
P- proactive
S- strategic
A- action
L- lead
E- efficient
S- synergy

Piranha Marketing reinforces these points through ELF selling, the Happy Client Experience, the Champion Creator, the Testimonial Tidal Wave and the No-Slow Time System. The writers of Piranha Marketing have developed this seminar with your business in mind; slow growth, down economy, saturated with competition and challenging margins. First and foremost Piranha Marketing is about creating business that is ELF, easy, lucrative and fun. It is always a great time to do business, even in tough times. You need to figure out how you can make doing business with your company easy, lucrative and fun. The people you see having fun, growing their business today have figured it out. They’ve taken the time to learn what needs to be done and have planned accordingly. Regardless of your present situation, regardless of the economy, regardless of who is the leader of the country, regardless of your past, you can be a success. It all starts with planning to succeed, and knowing where you want to go.

Napoleon Hill, an American author who was one of the earliest producers of the modern genre of personal-success literature has written extensively about the power of the mind. His most famous work, “Think and Grow Rich,” is one of the best-selling books of all time. One of Hill’s hallmark expression was, “What the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve.” Napoleon Hill developed the five characteristics of Successful People;
Number One: Burning Desire
The most successful people in the world have a burning desire to succeed. A burning desire is absolutely critical.
Number Two: Specialized Knowledge
Individuals who want to have great success in marketing and in business, need to have specialized knowledge in the area of your business. Take the time to explore, think and know your business better than your competition and buyers.
Number Three: Decisiveness
The most successful people are decisive. It’s very important to make correct decisions. Successful people say, “You know what, I want to do it and I want to do it now.”
Number Four: Goal Oriented
The most successful people in the world are goal oriented. A goal unwritten is only a wish. Write it down.
Number Five: The Mastermind Group
The most successful people have one common characteristic: they belong to a Mastermind Group. A strategic set of high achievers that hold each other accountable to their goals and aspirations.

It’s time to TOPSALES your routine and to measure yourself against Napoleon Hill’s five characteristics of success.

“Great marketing makes selling easy and ideally unnecessary”- Steve Harden

In everything you do: try to inculcate the five characteristics listed above. If you do this for 30 short days, I guarantee you will be a positively changed person. Get out there and turbo-charge your life, make something special happen every day.

Selling In Tough Economic Times...

We hear it every day… “I can’t…the boss won’t let me…we have too much inventory…your stuff didn’t sell through and my favorite, simply NO!”

When most sales people hear these comments; their normal routine calls for them to restate product benefits and features, push for the sell and adopt a take no prisoners mindset. This is old school selling and it doesn’t work today. The opposite is also true; even the best sales talent when faced with obstacles, will often compound the situation by not returning calls and emails.

Today’s buyers are responsible for numerous categories, several which they have little knowledge of. It’s more about meeting dealines, ROI, timing and sell through versus sell in. The buying process is remarkably more nuanced than ever before. Our current economic situation magnifies the negatives and forces buyers to be even more risk adverse than normal.

What is the difference between selling in a robust economy and selling in a failing economy? The easy answer…A LOT. But perhaps not what you might think;
Your product is the same
Your pitch/presentation is the same
The buyer’s need is the same

The difference is the decision-making process the buyers need to go through and the information they need to provide to their supervisors to justify a purchase preference. Knowing that, wouldn’t you agree that it is your job to provide the best answers to everything the buyer needs? Wouldn’t it be smart to know what the supervisor wants? The only way to uncover these needs is to ask questions and facilitate discovery that gets to the heart of why buyers buy. Webster’s defines facilitation as: the act of facilitating, to make easy. I’m not suggesting that selling is easy. However, when you know the answers to a test, it greatly reduces the pre-test angst and significantly improves your results. The same can be said for the selling process.

“Strategic planning is a rational planning process, but has strong psychological effects on an organization and the people involved in the process.” – Dr. Shirley McCune

In a depressed or pressurized climate it is all the more vital to avoid the urge to persuade and influence the other person to do what you want. They simply cannot. So they won’t. Instead, follow a facilitative methodology, and you will rise head and shoulders above all those (your competitors) who are persisting with old-style push and persuade techniques. I suggest creating a paradigm change in your style; enable, rather than persuade. Help, rather than sell. Offer a broad expert overview, rather than narrow self-interest. Until your buyer figures out what immediate needs must be addressed- whatever that means to them- they will take no action. In other words, getting their ‘needs met’ is job one. Regardless if it is a creative or temporary solution rather than a product purchase or help figuring out their immediate needs, will put you in line as the first vendor they connect with once they decide to purchase. Adopting a “trusted business advisor” mentality and providing solutions to problems will assuredly place you inside the buyer’s circle of influence. This could be as simple as providing industry feedback and eyes & ears to what is important to them. If you can augment your job to include being a ‘decision consultant’ or a ‘trusted business advisor’, you can make good use of economic uncertainty. While your competitors continue to push and persuade- which gets nowhere. You can be seen as a helpful advisor and eventually part of the buying process. Make use of difficult economic times to differentiate yourself as a true trusted expert advisor. You’ll not only get more business than you otherwise would, you’ll also gain access to the buying decision team, line up future business that will close once the economy turns around, and be seen as a genuinely helpful external resource. The best book I’ve read on this topic, Mahan Khalsa’s Let’s Get Real or Let’s Not Play, provides an approach that is as eloquent as it is sensible: “The decision to trust doesn’t start inside (your prospect)—it starts inside you. Intent is a choice, and your choice will have consequences. You will communicate intent whether you want to or not…Based on your intent people will decide to trust you or not.”

“A pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees opportunity in every difficulty.” – Winston Churchill

Asking the right questions will provide the road map of discovery and best practices in meeting your buyer’s needs. Always be prepared with thought provoking and strategic questions that you can use in future meetings to always be one-step ahead of your buyer and several ahead of your competition. Over a cup of coffee or lunch outside of the office conversationally ask;
What type of questions does your boss ask when you present your buy plan?
What information do you need to be a rock-star in your boss’s mind?
What can I provide to help this process?
Do you need industry, competitor or product information?
What kind of frustrations and obstacles do you have and how can I help you resolve them?
What keeps you up at night?

You may be thinking how might I improve my discovery skills? Here are a few key habits I’d suggest applying;
Bring an insatiable curiosity to your appointments.
Don’t assume you know the answers to your most important questions.
Endeavor to see the world through your client’s eyes. This empathetic view requires one to ask questions.
Listen for unexpected answers, probe further and have the agility to capitalize on the resulting opportunities.

The best idea I received was this one: “If I am unclear about who, what, when, where and why, I keep asking questions. Uncovering answers to these questions will absolutely improve your selling success. Have fun, ask questions, learn and apply.

“Sharpen the saw…your saw”

Nothing trumps self responsibility. Regardless the field of play; on the pitch, on the court, on the field, on the water or in life! You are 100% responsible for you and you alone. C.S. Lewis said it best, “The future is something which everyone reaches at the rate of sixty minutes per hour, whatever he does, whoever he is.” There are no time advantages. Everyone has the same time constraints. The only difference is how WE chose to invest our time. I’ve got to be honest with you, my #1 (by a long shot) pet-peeve is when people sit on the sidelines of life and chronically complain about their position. Forlornly these complainers are all around us. If we’re not careful it is easy to fall into the victim mindset and expect others to help us and or bring opportunities to us.

Stephen Covey lists it as the culmination of his “7 Habits of Highly Effective People.”
#7- “Sharpen the saw.” I like to add the personal element…”your saw,” because ultimately you are supremely and uniquely responsible for your actions. All too often people are worried about everyone around them and forget to worry about the only thing they have control over—themselves. Aldous Huxley aptly put it, “There is only one corner of the universe you can be certain of improving, and that’s your own self.”

There is no better time to commit to being better than right now. In the course of life we’re dealt a set of cards, how we play them is up to us, not those around us. “Life is not holding a good hand; Life is playing a poor hand well.”- Danish Proverb. How many times have you been confronted with a curve ball, deadline or change of plans at the last minute? How you ultimately deliver results, is highly contingent on the way you receive these curve balls. Are you open to new ideas, new methods, and new theories? It all starts between your ears. I like to think in verbs and particularly enjoy the quote from Schachi & Schachi Advertising, “If you want to study lions, don’t go to the zoo, go to the jungle.” Go to the source, don’t wait for permission, get in front of the curve, anticipate your next move well before it is called for and take action. If you’re sitting on the fence regarding higher learning, applying for business school, law school or getting a higher certificate—DO IT NOW! I guarantee you’ll grow exponentially more than had you not made the commitment. You’ll meet new people, expand your horizons and learn new methods and be richer for it.

Take personal responsibility and challenge yourself to be “one day better.” I’ll commit to you the same. If everyone around you truly committed to being better tomorrow than they are today, I guarantee the recession and uncertainty will dissipate. We are what we make; we become what we focus on. What’s your focus for 2009?

A little opportunism and optimism will go a long way....

While the first impulse during these trying times might be to retire to a dark corner and sulk, the best business approach is to affix a smile of grim determination to your face and go hunting for opportunities.

When the going get’s tough, as we’re all feeling, it’s time to market yourself more so than ever. As long as you market strategically, efficiently and always in a positive manner; it’s one of the smartest things to do during such times.

Obviously, there’s plenty of bad news to go around. Don’t be one of those that add to the pessimistic side of life. On the contrary, be the positive force of change. In the business world, those that can identify and create additional revenue streams and the “better mouse trap” will never fret about what’s next; because you’re always in the process of creating your next opportunity. Lesson learned; always be receptive to new ideas, new methods and know that leaning towards optimism is always your best choice.

Steve’s list of must do’s to insure you are well positioned in your current role and ready for your next opportunity;

Remain positive especially in trying times- people prefer to be around others that are uplifting, positive and make things happen. Your mate and boss are not exempt from this list.
Research without rest- know your options, know your competition, know what you need to do…and do it!
Identify opportunities- open mind, open ears, and shut mouth.
Take action, even without perfect direction- don’t wait for the nudge, get in gear and make something happen EVERY DAY!
Make your boss look good in all you do- when your boss looks good, you look good. I’m not talking about kissing you know what. On the contrary, well intended kissing up will almost always backfire. Do your job and more, ask to help your boss complete a research project and do it perfectly.

Being open to new ideas will create an opportunistic and optimistic mindset. This mindset will help direct your efforts and channel your energy to get things done on time, under budget and drive a positive image of yourself to everyone around. Repeated over time will insure to your boss and those around you, that you are a keeper, especially in these uncertain times.

Now get out there and make something happen today. Don’t wait for the kick in the pants, or the not so subtle suggestion.

"Time To Turn The Heat Up!"

Do you know what happens at 212°?

Think about it…….at 211° water is hot. But it doesn’t do anything. One more degree makes all the difference. At 212° water boils and becomes steam. And steam can power a locomotive. Raising your performance by one extra degree means the difference between something that is good, to something that powers the mind, fuels the motivation and creates positive results.

The 212 mindset is a beautiful and uncomplicated metaphor that should feed our every endeavor- consistently pushing us to make the extra effort in every task we undertake. 212 is a simple idea with singular focus- an actionable focus. These three numbers joined together creates a crystallizing message that absolutely assures life-altering, positive results for those willing to step up and choose to apply it.

There are reams of material written about self-help, motivation and surely more will be written. Some are slogan-driven, some are textbooks and others are re-worked prose. In too many instances people work harder to avoid the extra effort required to create real and sustainable growth. The 212 principal is all about persistence and additional action, the continual application of heat (effort) to whatever task or activity you undertake. Don’t settle for just meeting your target—by consistently doing more than what is asked of you will result in superior results. Beating targets, blowing through deadlines, and earning and doing more are what sets apart the true leaders and the pack.

One degree makes all the difference in the world; ….

“Many of life’s failures are men who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.” – Thomas Edison American Inventor

“To get what we’ve never had, we must do what we’ve never done.” Anonymous

“The drops of rain make a hole in the stone not by violence, but by oft falling.” – Lucretius (Roman Philosopher)

Service is the lifeblood an any organization. Everything flows from and is nourished by it. Customer service is not a department…it’s an attitude. By consistently delivering 1 degree of better service; returning phone calls sooner, taking care of opportunities faster, delivering orders on time and being available, will help your team/organization live the 212 mantra. Doing this as a matter of positive outreach and purpose will provide measurable results to you and the team.

The secret, don’t wait to be told to provide the extra degree, start now, today, immediately. Doing so will set you on a course that brings the positive reinforcement and reminds you that success is assuredly over the next hill. Take it upon yourself to “think globally, and act locally.” In the end it’s all about self responsibility, action and raising the bar. Doing so before you are told, makes all the difference in the world. Time to crank it up a degree!

"Is Your Attitude Contagious?"

How many times have you heard the phrase, “Attitude is contagious”? If you’re part of a sales, marketing, customer service, or for that matter ANY team, there is no truer, more meaningful and impactful phrase. Trust me; nobody (really) wants to hear about your troubles or challenges. They’ll be nice and listen, however as they turn their back to move onto their next assignment; they’ll be thinking and saying to themselves, “hmm, I really am better than so and so, and/or they have so many problems.” In essence you’re giving them ammunition to use against you, if not in a direct frontal assault, they’ll use it against you in measured doses when they talk with your allies, foes and business partners.

Stop for a second; I’m not advocating a Pollyanna existence, or pretending to lead a life without struggles or challenges. On the contrary, you need to anticipate challenges and setbacks in your life, including sporadic disparity with your business partner, wife or friends. In doing so, you will have made the requisite choices to insure proactive and appropriate measures to your expectations before they present themselves. Think of it in terms of positive affirmations with action steps.

I’m reminded of a quote from Mother Teresa, “Let no one EVER come to you without leaving better and happier.” Think of Mother Teresa’s austere existence; (by our standards) living in third world countries, dealing with chronically and the terminally ill. Yet she only provided good news, a positive disposition and an action oriented plan for her life. While we all cannot be Mother Teresa’s; we can choose to have a positive and vital role in how we’re perceived by our co-workers, friends and business partners. Take responsibility for the position you occupy in life. If you don’t like it, or want to change it, then take action. There are two ways of exerting one’s strength and position: one is pushing down, the other is pulling up. Let there be no doubt, both exertions will create an equal reaction. Pulling up has significantly more potential and long term positive effect than pushing down. The attitude and messages you share with those around you, will have a compounding effect on your future. If you want a positive life, a life you can be proud of and grow from, you must first reflect the change you want to see in the world. By doing so, you are well on your way to knowing the fact that the attitude you bring to a situation, will have a dramatic impact on the results. From this point forward, you must know and live with the awareness that a “positive, can do attitude is 100% contagious.”

The next time someone leaves your presence, have them shaking their head, asking themselves, “is he really that much better than me?” Or, “why is she always in-control, so positive...?” When this happens, good results follow and the positive contagious cycle begins. I challenge you to live the next 5 days by ONLY sharing good news, positive results and to phrase potentially negative messages in a positive manner. You’ll be amazed at what happens. “Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do.” Get out there and make it an amazing day, everyday. The attitude you bring to life, is directly and proportionate to the results you achieve.

Stand for something….Or someone else will
“Man is so made, that whenever anything FIRES his soul, impossibilities vanish”- Steve Harden

Being a fence setter and waiting for the majority to catch up with you when you’re not 100% sure of your compass heading or materially in touch with what’s important to you is dangerous territory. I’ve found that when I decide to take a back seat to making decisions, there is never a shortage of naysayers to fill the void… if you know what I mean. Think about the last time you found yourself sitting in a meeting and decided to pass on taking a stand on what you thought was right, and let others take the lead. In of itself; there is nothing wrong with allowing others to step in and voice their opinion. I caution you to listen closely when others speak, take notes and be sure to point out where and what you agree with. In the end, nothing beats a well informed, strategic and actionable point of view. Do your research, get and stay in front of the topics, ask for clarity and ask questions that are S.M.A.R.T. (strategic, meaningful, articulate, reality based, targeted). By doing so you will remain at the front of the discussion and be deemed as a strategic global thinker, which is what we all want.

Standing for something, versus going with the tide, if it’s based in reality is always the best course of action in all situations. Run the risk of being different; and informed. “Fei chang yiyang!” (“Be very, very different”- Ancient Chinese Philosopher Confucius. Take the time to research like no one else. If you take 10 minutes to Google a topic, a business idea or strategic thought, you’ll be better equipped than 90% of the people in your inner circle, including work, friends and relatives. People want to be around well informed, fair-minded, smart and articulate people. Why not let that be you; earn the right to lead by “Standing for Something.”

“Lazy hands make a man poor, but diligent hands bring wealth”- Proverbs 10