Charlie lists three simple steps to help create a positive outlook:

1. Learn how to say something positive to everyone you meet. It may not be easy at first, but that’s why you have to learn how to do it. Once you learn, it will become easy.
2. Learn how to see something positive in every situation. Instead of thinking something negative when your boss tells you that they want to talk, think something positive. Maybe they want your thoughts on a project.
3. See it Big and Keep it Simple. Don’t be afraid to dream big and don’t complicate things.

Are You Excited About Your Work?

The other section of the book that really stood out to me was the first of his Seven Principals of Leadership: learning to get excited about your work. I believe that loving your work is one of the keys to finding true happiness in your life.

One of my connections here in Nashville has a tree preservation company. He and his two boys love working with trees. When they post pictures and videos of them from the top of a towering tree, you can see the love in their work. My husband is a singer/ songwriter and when I hear him practicing for hours in his office, I know there’s no place he’d rather be. David is another client of mine and he manages a payroll servicing company. He recently told me he can’t understand how some people shut off when they leave the office. He has no idea how many hours he works, because to him he’s just doing what he loves. And as I write this (on a rainy Sunday afternoon) I have the same thoughts. I’ve found my true calling in life. I’m excited about my work and I can’t imagine doing anything else.

Trees, music, payroll, or sales coaching – it doesn’t matter what your line of work is, what’s important is that you are excited about it. When you love what you do, life really is tremendous.

If you haven’t read it yet, the book is available on Amazon here… (seriously, best $6 you’ll ever spend).

Until next time – go sell some stuff!

Question: Is there a book that you find yourself re-reading for motivation? You can leave a comment by clicking here.

The post Book Recommendation: Life Is Tremendous by Charlie Jones appeared first on Sales Coach Dew.

Connie, hopefully your sales goals are aggressive enough that if you almost hit them, you will still be very productive. But it’s also important to make sure your goals have specific meaning if you want your future goals to have the right motivation attached to them.

Celebrate Your Success

If you have a great month, quarter, or year – then it’s important to celebrate that success. But not to the degree that you would have if you had hit that goal (otherwise, what’s the point of the specific goal?).

That’s why I like to tie specific rewards to goals, even if I am just rewarding myself. So if I miss my sales goal, but still have an overall great month, I’ll take a moment to celebrate my success – but I won’t give myself that reward. That’s how my company and team rewards work, too.

Missed Goals as Motivation

The year before last, one of my coaching clients barely missed her annual $1,000,000 sales goal by less than $7,000. She was practically devastated. I tried to get her to celebrate that she came so close, but for her, close was not good enough.

However, instead of moping, she went into this past year with a new level of determination; she promised herself that she’d never miss her $1,000,000 goal again. She tracked her activity constantly and knew at the end of every month if she was on target. Then she called  me on December 12^th to tell me she had already hit her goal (she was so excited, I could barely understand her). She ended the year at 124% of her goal – and I have no doubt she will crush her goal again this year. The sting of that barely missed sales goal will be her motivation for years to come.

Learn to Celebrate Activity

So when’s the best time to celebrate your success? Every day!

There are two different affirmations that I ask my clients to repeat when they’re not seeing the direct success from their efforts. Both of them are designed to celebrate the activity – not the result.

• I can make 10 sales today or I can make 0. It doesn’t matter. It’s not the results, but my attitude that makes or breaks my career. And at the end of every single day I can look at myself in the mirror and know that I tried my hardest, and I did my very best.

• My job is to make a list and cross the people off the list. It could be a yes or it could be a no, but I need both to have a great day. Some will, some won’t – so what? Who’s next, who’s next, who’s next?

Honor the goals that you set. But if you’ve done your best every single day, then celebrate your success. Activity breeds activity. If you’re doing the activity, then the results will come.

Until next time – go sell some stuff!

Question: Have you ever just barely missed a goal? How did you handle it? You can leave a comment by clicking here.

Got a sales, management or business question? Send it to dew@SalesCoachDew.com or submit it on my Facebook page and I’ll try to answer it in a future article.

The post Ask Dew: Is it OK to Celebrate a Barely Missed Sales Goal? appeared first on Sales Coach Dew.

The main point of Allen’s post is we need to start treating people as people – not potential business transactions. When we meet new people (in any environment), we should think of them as potential friends and partners we can share and build ideas with.

Stop Networking

Traditional networking – just passing out business cards and collecting as many names as possible – needs to go by the wayside. We live in a technology driven, generation Y dominant world where our separation from work and home is becoming smaller and smaller, so why do we need to keep our professional and personal relationships so separate?

Allen writes:

There shouldn’t be barriers between professional and personal relationships

Some of this stems from our general awkwardness around professional relationships. We tend to keep the people who we meet through work in a bucket we call “professional relationships.” We create a false barrier that prevents connecting with them personally, other than idle banter at the start of a conference call.

In fact, the people you meet through work are perhaps your best pool of potential friends. You have a shared interest with them, spending a substantial part of your day working on similar problems. Placing them off limits as friends because they are  “work contacts” is a false and unnecessary restriction.

I agree wholeheartedly. We spend hours on end collaborating with those we work with, people that we typically like very much and share mutual interests with. But at the end of the workday, we say good-bye and go spend time with our personal friends.

Are Your Professional Contacts Your Friends?

If you don’t care for those that you work with, maybe you should be thinking about a job or career change.  Life’s too short to do business with people you don’t like! But if you enjoy your co-workers and business colleagues, I say drop the barriers and make the relationship stronger. Throughout my career, I have met some of my closest friends (and even my husband!) at work and other business networking events.

So stop networking and start looking for opportunities to create new relationships with interesting people. You’ll create a richer personal life – and you’ll get more business, too!

I want to send a special thank you to @spatten (a great friend that I met through work) for showing me this post and for continuing to help me think outside the box.

Read Allen’s entire post here…

Until next time – go sell some stuff!

Question: Do have close friends you met at the office or a work related event? You can leave a comment by clicking here.

The post Dew Recommends: Stop Networking, Start Creating Relationships appeared first on Sales Coach Dew.

• “Send me some information.”
• “I’m happy in my current situation.”
• “I need some time to think about it.”

I lost deal after deal until I finally learned how to keep from being blown off. Just like any objection, the best way to overcome the blow off is to write out a power statement script that is in your own words. I’ve started some sample scripts for you – feel free to take these and make them your own.

1. “Can you just send me some information?”

“Absolutely, what’s your email address? Now [name], I want to be absolutely sure that the information I send you is what you’re looking for. If you were in my situation sending information to you, what would you be sure to include?”

2. “I need to think about it.”

“If you need to think about it, I understand – but that tells me I haven’t answered everything for you. What additional questions can I answer?”

 3. “I’ll pass the information on to my [manager/ owner/ decision maker].”

“I appreciate you offering that, but no one likes being the middleman. Is there any chance that you could give just me their contact information? In fact, if you’d like, I won’t even tell them you gave it to me.”

4. “I’m happy where I’m at / with my current provider.”

“That’s great, [name]. That tells me that you value your relationship and I look for that same thing with my clients. Who are you currently working with? What is it that you like about working with [name]?” (This is where you’ll find their hot buttons!) ”Is there anything you’d change about working with them?” (This is where you’ll find out if they have a need. Find the need and go back to your script.)

5. Any other lame excuses thrown at you

“Other than (insert their objection) is there anything else that is holding you back from moving forward with me today?” (This will usually point to the REAL objection).

Write out your scripts and practice them over and over again. Learn to recognize blow off objections for what they really are, lame excuses to get rid of you. Remember, unless the objection is an unchangeable condition (no money, no credit, no need, or I use the family business), then you need to isolate the true objection and dig further.

Until next time – go sell some stuff!

Question: What are  some of the lame objections you’ve heard when someone is trying to blow you off? You can leave a comment by clicking here.

The post 5 Scripts to Handle Blow Off Objections appeared first on Sales Coach Dew.

The Feel, Felt, Found technique isn’t new; it’s been around forever. But the basic technique is just the beginning. Most salespeople haven’t taken the time to really master it – and the secret to mastering this technique is using real 3^rd party stories.

Here’s the 3 steps process:

Step 1: The Feel, Felt, Found Technique

Create empathy with your client by telling them you understand how they “feel”. It tells them that you’re listening and it creates rapport. Moving on to “felt” tells them they’re not alone. You’ve worked with people who have felt the same way. It moves their focus off the objection and moves them to a place of trust. Finally, the “found” is a way to come to a resolution and show them that there is still a way to work it out.

So the basic Feel, Felt, Found technique works like this:

1. FEEL: I understand how you feel.
2. FELT: In fact, that’s not the first time I heard that – others have felt that way, too.
3. FOUND: And what they found was (explain to them how you resolved the concern).

Step 2: Using 3^rd Party Stories

Here’s where we take it to the next level. When you use the Feel, Felt, Found technique with a specific 3^rd party story, you can truly handle 100% of the objections you hear. Whenever you tie your customer’s concern with an actual true story (a story with a happy ending!), you create instant credibility.

When your prospect’s objection sounds like a past client’s situation, simply use your past client’s story:
Client:   “I just don’t want to go through the hassle of moving my policy.”
You:      “You seem like the type of person who doesn’t make knee jerk decisions and I understand just how you feel. In fact, one of my clients, Christopher Smith, felt the exact same way. Even though all of the numbers lined up, he didn’t want to switch because of the nightmare he went through getting his current policy set up. But I walked him through the entire process, the same way I will with you, and I assured him that my team and I would take all the worry out of his hands. In the end, Christopher did move his policy – and he found that it was as easy as I promised it would be, and now he’s really glad he made the move.”

Here’s the beauty of this technique: You aren’t doing the selling anymore – Christopher Smith is selling for you.

Step 3: Become a Master!

Come up with stories from your existing or past clients that you can use for all of the objections that you hear. You will find that you can often use the same client / story to address more than one objection. You can likely handle all of the objections that come up with 3 to 5 good stories.

If you invest some time writing down your stories and practicing them until they are natural, you’ll find that you start to breeze past those objections without even thinking about it.

Using Feel, Felt, Found with 3^rd party stories really works. My sales coaching clients who have taken the time to master this technique have been able to take their careers to new heights – I’ve seen it over and over again.

Until next time – go sell some stuff!

Question: What objections do find yourself hearing the most? Which objections do you have the most trouble with? You can leave a comment by clicking here.

The post Master “Feel, Felt, Found” with 3rd Party Stories appeared first on Sales Coach Dew.

There are several great books out there on creating your personal brand, but the most practical advice I’ve seen on the topic is the post 125 Tips for Building an Irresistible Brand by Logan Zanelli.

Here’s my advice – don’t read the full article now, do it when you have some time to really think about what you want to create. Treat it a like a workbook you can go back and refer to as you do your research and put your brand together. Logan lays out a step by step process for analyzing your business, analyzing your customers, finding the need, and putting together your brand image.

He says:

In order to build an irresistible brand, you need to take what you learn about yourself, your audience, and your competition and blend that research with your own personality to create a style that attracts your audience.

The first three sections ask you questions that help you pull together the information you need to create your style, while the rest of the list gives you specific steps you can take to turn that style into an irresistible brand.

He breaks his questions and tips down into 5 categories:

1. Know yourself
2. Know your audience
3. Know your competition
4. Building a brand experience
5. Implementation tips

These five categories should immediately jump-start your creative juices. Think about what you could bring to your clients that they’re not getting from anyone else. Where do your clients have gaps that you can fill? Once you have those answers you can truly create a brand called YOU that will serve them and get them to follow you anywhere.

Read the full article here…

Until next time – go sell some stuff!

Question: What makes YOU different than your competition? You can leave a comment by clicking here.

The post Dew Recommends: How To Create The Brand Called YOU appeared first on Sales Coach Dew.

Like a lot of salespeople, I have a competitive spirit. But the craziest competition I ever won had nothing to do with business: it was a “friendly” wager with my husband when he bet me I couldn’t do 1,000 crunches in one day.

It started as a random discussion about the power of routines. He was telling me how the legendary football player Herschel Walker stayed in amazing shape without lifting weights – he just had a crazy routine of something like 1,000 push-ups and sit-ups every day.

In a flash of inexplicable inspiration, I blurted out, “I could do 1,000 crunches a day if I put my mind to it.” My husband’s response was an immediate burst of laughter. He was so sure I couldn’t do it, he actually said, “I’d be able to do 1,000 push-ups a day long before you could do 1,000 crunches a day.”

I suppose his laughter (and his confidence) actually made a lot of sense. Shane was an athlete in high school and at the time of our bet, he could easily do 50 push-ups. I, on the other hand, had never been much into sports or fitness – in fact, I could barely do 50 crunches in a row without taking a break.

The laughter from my husband (and the doubt implied in it) turned out to be exactly what I needed. We mapped out some ground rules and shook on it to make it official.

In the next few months, I learned a lot about myself – and my husband learned a valuable lesson, too:

Never bet against a professional goal setter!

I approached my fitness goal just like I approached my sales and business goals:

1. I broke it down into bite-sized chunks. 1,000 crunches may have seemed insurmountable, so I just started with what I could do – 50 crunches, twice a day. Then I slowly worked may way up.
2. I charted and tracked my daily, weekly, and monthly progress.
3. I told everyone I knew about it our competition and our goal. Friends and family were always asking about our crazy bet and asking about our progress – this made sure there was no backing out.

Although he started out way ahead of me, by the time my husband realized how serious I was, I could do as many as he could and within a couple of months, I had passed him. By the time he got up to 600 push-ups a day, I had hit my goal and was doing 1,000 crunches a day – and no one was more shocked than I was.

In the end, there really was no loser – we both got into great shape, and had a lot of fun pushing each other.

My favorite part of “winning” is the reward – even when its just bragging rights. Now, I’m not one to gloat (OK, that’s a lie – I love gloating!) – but make sure that you celebrate your wins with love. Don’t be a poor loser or even worse – a sorry winner. In the case of me beating my husband in our contest (I did mention that I won, right?), my prize comes anytime I want to remind him of the day he doubted my ability to do 1,000 crunches.

So maybe an informal contest could help you meet that goal you think is out of reach? Find a like-minded co-worker or a friend in the same industry and setup a contest. If you have a competitive spirit, a little good-natured trash talk via email or text could actually be the boost you need to make an extra call or to finish the week strong.

Until next time – go sell some stuff!

Question: What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever done to get motivated? You can leave a comment by clicking here.

The post Using Competition to Meet Your Goals (and The Craziest Bet I Ever Won) appeared first on Sales Coach Dew.

Phil shares my love for networking events and gives some great tips on things to do before, during, and after the event. The piece on followup was my favorite part. To begin the follow-up process, he writes:

Follow-up with a brief e-mail with an insight shared during the event (and confirm or make your appointment) – The next morning (or even the night of the event) follow-up with a brief e-mail of no more than 5 sentences, calling back to something shared during the event, and either confirm the coffee date (30 minute max) or offering 3 dates/times in the next 10 days that work for you to have coffee. The keys here are the timeliness of the message, the 30 minute time frame, and offering several choices of times.

He goes on to say you should connect with your new contact on LinkedIn (and twitter, if they use it), and he has some great tips on what to do at your follow-up meeting.

My Networking Power Tips

With most of my coaching clients, we set a goal for them to attend 1 networking event per week (that’s my personal goal as well). Then I follow these 3 steps to make sure the event was a success and not just a social event.

1. Meet 3 quality people. Don’t be a business card junkie and try to meet everyone in the room. Instead, try to meet 3 people that you think could be a potential customer, referral source, or business partner.
2. Connect with them on LinkedIn within 24 hours. Your LinkedIn profile should be attractive and contain everything they need to know about you professionally (click here for my tips on creating a powerful LinkedIn profile). This is your way to show the people that you meet how amazing you are.
3. Call them within 48 hours. Have a reason for the call, but a live follow-up conversation is usually the thing that will seal the deal and let you know if they are a person you need to know or not.

If you don’t make any productive connections at a specific networking event, just keep reminding yourself that it is essential to seek out new business. Just keep at it, you’ll get better.

One more thing: don’t attend networking events for the free food – if that’s what you’re after, you can go get free samples at Costco!

Read Phil’s full article here...

Until next time – go sell some stuff!

Question: Got any networking power tips? You can leave a comment below by clicking here.

The post Dew Recommends: Networking Power Tips appeared first on Sales Coach Dew.

Stephen Covey first introduced the abundance mentality in The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. If you haven’t read the book (and you really SHOULD read the book), an abundance mentality is one where you truly believe that there are plenty of resources (in this case, sales) for everyone. By contrast, a scarcity mindset is one where you think the pie is only so big – so if someone else succeeds, that means you automatically lose.

In sales, the scarcity mindset causes fear and adds stress. It often results in taking shortcuts, sandbagging deals, or undermining your co-workers. This scarcity mentality is an unhealthy way to live and negatively affects your long-term goals.

Having an abundance mentality creates happiness and removes stress. It brings joy to the workplace. It helps you focus on the bigger picture and helps leadership recognize your long-term vision.

Putting it into place

Here are some specific things you can do to put the abundance mentality into action for you in the workplace:

Do: Forgive | Don’t: Hold a grudge
People are wronged in the workplace all the time, but if you are unable to forgive, then your happiness (and your productivity!) will suffer. Address the situation, work out a way, and move on. You are the only one who can give permission to have someone steal your joy.

Do: Recognize team members for wins | Don’t: Take all the credit
I understand that sales professionals thrive on recognition (myself included), but don’t forget to thank the people on your team who were there to help you land your win.

Do: Accept responsibility | Don’t: Blame others
Mistakes are going to happen. The best way to address them is to take responsibility. If you take responsibility and are careful to never throw anyone under the bus, you’ll look like the bigger person in the end.

Do: Celebrate when others succeed | Don’t: Secretly hope for their failure
Incentives are awesome. Sales professionals are usually competitive and are often driven to win by more than just the title of #1 in the branch; they want that new iPad, too. It’s OK to want to win, but realize that when you truly share in the joy of your teammates’ accomplishments, then your head will be in the right place to make sure you win the big prize next month.

Do: Share leads freely | Don’t: Hoard your territory
Don’t let your lack of quality leads hold you back. Top producers never let themselves be defined by a map or a cold call list that was purchased for them. They network, get referrals, and find “outside the box” ways of getting new business (and they do it without stepping on the toes of rest of their team). If you always have a 100 Strong Prospecting List, then the size of your territory won’t matter. When it comes down to it, the world is your territory, go after it.

Above all – your state of mind is up to you. Living and working with the abundance mentality will bring you happiness, peace of mind, and increased sales. Change your attitude and thrive.

Until next time – go sell some stuff!

Question: In what ways have you seen the scarcity mentality at work in your place of business? Did it hold you back? How did you overcome it? You can leave a comment by clicking here.

The post Abundance Mentality in Sales: 5 Dos and Don’ts appeared first on Sales Coach Dew.

I love this post Jack Canfield wrote about creating a daily ritual of appreciation. In it, Jack lists 5 ways of making appreciation part of your daily routine:

1. Take 7 minutes each morning to write down all you appreciate in life.
2. Appreciate at least 3 people every day.
3. Play the Appreciation Game.
4. Carry a physical token of gratitude in your pocket, such as a stone, crystal or some other small item.
5. Appreciate yourself.

Jack goes on to say:

Giving thanks should be more than an occasional exercise once year. Let it become a daily discipline that allows you to attract more of what you want from life. I invite you to experiment with this discipline over the next 30 days and watch your blessings multiply!

Recently, I was coaching one of my clients and we were talking about the power of our thoughts. Mike decided to take control of his thoughts (and his attitude) by starting each day with a reminder to BE GRATEFUL. He wrote the words on a piece of paper and taped it to the back of his phone. Each morning, after turning off the alarm on his phone, he reads the note and reflects on the things he’s grateful for in his life. According to Mike, this one step has completely changed his attitude throughout the whole day.

Alter your habits and routines so that you take time to appreciate the good things in your life every day. It will take your mind off life’s challenges so you can experience true joy.

Read Jack’s entire article here…

Until next time – go sell some stuff!

Question: What are you grateful for TODAY? You can leave a comment by clicking here.

The post Dew Recommends: Be Grateful (Every Day!) appeared first on Sales Coach Dew.

Dew: Every time I tell my associate to correct an error or tell her to do something she says I’m being bossy or mean. How can I change my approach? -Carl

Carl, it looks like you’ve already taken the first step: realizing you need to change your approach. I’ve found that this kind of misunderstanding generally revolves around two issues:

1. you didn’t set the proper expectations, and/or
2. your heart isn’t in the right place when you make your request or correction.

Setting the Expectations

Sometimes, we hire new employees and assume they can read our minds, or that their background and expectations are the same as ours. Make sure you’ve given your employees specific (preferably written) guidelines that lay out your expectations right up front.

For example: if you catch your employee using Facebook when they should be working, you may be (justifiably) frustrated when you tell them to get off of Facebook. But did you ever tell them that Facebook use was only acceptable at lunch (or not acceptable at all)? If their last employer had no issues with Facebook use, then that could explain the difference between your expectations and theirs.

If you have an expectation issue, it’s not too late to fix the problem. Schedule a one-on-one with your associate and have a respectful conversation where you lay out your guidelines and expectations. Start there and you’ll likely see a difference.

Say it with Love

Secondly, let’s address where your heart is at when you give direction. Most people don’t want to talk about love in the workplace, but I’m going to go there. I’m not saying you have to be tender with your associates or that you should coddle them. But you need to address your heart before speaking to them. And when you say it – say it with love. I mean it.

The tone of voice some professions use with their co-workers disgusts me. I’ve heard yelling and degrading language, I’ve even seen employees driven to tears. That kind of behavior just has no place in the workplace.

If you care about your employees (and you should), then show it. Pay attention to your language and your tone – even on the little requests. It’s been proven that people are more willing to assist others when they think they need help.

For example:

You: “I need some help with this report. Do you have a minute?”
Your Assistant: “Sure, I’ll be right there.”

vs.

You: “Can you come here?”
Your Assistant: “What do you want?” (with a huff while rolling her eyes).

If you still feel uncomfortable using the word “love” when thinking about your employees and team members, just remember: “love” is the word you want them to use when they describe how they feel about working with you. Addressing them with any other intentions just gives them a different word to use. It’s up to you.

Until next time – go sell some stuff!

Question: Have you ever been misunderstood because of your tone? How did you fix it? You can leave a comment by clicking here.

Got a sales, management or business question? Send it to dew@SalesCoachDew.com or submit it on my Facebook page and I’ll try to answer it in a future article.

The post Ask Dew: How can I give direction without sounding bossy or mean? appeared first on Sales Coach Dew.

I call my qualified leads my 100 Strong List because my goal is to always have a list of 100 qualified leads ready to call (having the number right there in the name ensures that I am always mindful of how big it should be). If 100 isn’t your number, that’s OK – decide what your number should be and stick to it.

When you have a plentiful, qualified list, you know you aren’t going to run out of good leads when you sit down to dial. You can concentrate on calling and setting appointments and your results will go through the roof.

Conversely, when your list is too small, you’ll find that your productivity (and your morale) starts going down, because you are trying to reach the same people over and over again.

Building Your 100 Strong List of Qualified Leads

Your leads should be coming from a wide array of sources. At a minimum, you should be getting leads from referrals, networking activities, and past clients. Many of you will also be using cold call lists you’ve purchased, pulled from a book or association, or built from canvassing a neighborhood.

If you have a lead’s contact info and you know they’re the decision maker, then add them to your 100 Strong List. If it’s not the decision maker or you’re not sure (or you don’t have the direct phone number and extension) – then it’s just a new lead, and you need to qualify it first. I have several tricks and tools that I use to get the decision maker’s name and number – here are the 3 methods I use the most:

1. Google. It’s amazing what you learn just by using the Internet. Managers and owners often have their name and number on their website or business registry somewhere online.
2. LinkedIn. You can get an endless amount of information using the advanced search (in the upper right hand corner) if you use it properly.
3. When all else fails – PICK UP THE PHONE! I love the challenge of cold calling a company because I can usually get the receptionist to give me all the information I need. Here are a couple of sample scripts you can use (replace [sales manager] with whatever makes sense in your case):

“Carol, I’m planning an event in the area and I wanted to be sure to send the invitation to the correct person. Who is the [sales manager]?”

“Greg, I believe that the information that I have for the [sales manager] may be out of date. Can you tell me who your current [sales manager] is?”

Once you know you have the decision maker’s name and number, you can consider it a fully qualified lead and add it to your 100 Strong List. 

Deplete and Replenish Your Qualified Leads List

Now that you’ve got a full 100 Strong List – it’s time to dial. These are your most important leads, so block off your most productive dial time and don’t let anything else distract you. But remember, every time you reach someone you have to take them off the list and move them to the proper prospecting category. Each person you reach and move to another category will need to be replaced on your 100 String List.

Make it a priority to always be 100 Strong. Transform the way you think about prospecting and you’ll see a big increase in your sales.

Until next time – go sell some stuff!

Question: Do you mentally separate your qualified leads from your unqualified leads? How do you qualify your leads? You can leave a comment by clicking here.

The post Managing Your Qualified Leads – Are You 100 Strong? appeared first on Sales Coach Dew.

In Brian Tracey’s recent post, he talks about 7 Ways to Increase Your Productivity. They were all great points, but I wanted to expand on one of them:

Work Longer Hours
First, work longer hours. Start a little earlier, work through lunchtime and stay a little later. By starting your day earlier than the average person, you beat the traffic into work. By staying a little later, you leave after the traffic. By doing both, you can add two or three hours to your productive working day without really affecting your lifestyle. These extra hours are all you need to become one of the most productive and highest paid people in your field.

Unfortunately, working longer hours is typically thought of negatively. Now, I’m not trying to condone long hours for extended periods of time, but sometimes long hours are needed. At Southwestern Consulting™, we call these times your harvest period. Just like a farmer, you have to be willing to go above and beyond during your harvest period to make sure your year is a success. Fortunately, if your attitude is in the right place when it matters most, then you’re much more likely to be recognized for your extra efforts. Regardless of the recognition, working longer hours are part of any job and having a positive attitude through it all makes everyone – and I mean everyone - happier.

Personally, I love when extra effort is rewarded with extra income. So if a few extra hours is what it takes to be among the highest paid people in your field – then count me in!

Read Brian’s entire article here…

Until next time – go sell some stuff!

Question: How do you feel about working longer hours? You can leave a comment by clicking here.

The post Dew Recommends: When Working Longer Hours Pays Off appeared first on Sales Coach Dew.

When you don’t have an organized list, you don’t know who to call next. So instead of spending time thinking about who to call, take the time to create an organized list. Once your prospects are broken up into types, build time into your schedule to call each type of prospect.

Here are the prospecting categories I use with most of my coaching clients:

1. New Lead – Someone that you want to call. This could be a business you drove by, a referral, someone you met at a networking event, or a contact you found on Linked In. For many, it may be a lead from a purchased cold call list. Basically, this is your funnel to the promise land.
2. Qualified Lead - Once you have a decision maker’s name and contact information, they become a qualified lead. Qualified leads are your bread and butter. Spend your Golden Hours (the time your prospects are most likely to answer) calling these leads. As soon as this list starts to dwindle, you need to spend some time turning new leads into more qualified leads  (Note: I call this my “100 Strong” list. Click here to see why…).
3. Reach 1 – When you speak to a qualified lead (decision maker), but you are not able to set an appointment, move them to this category. Don’t spend your prime dial time calling the prospects you’ve already talked to – save that precious time for your qualified leads.
4. Reach 2 – Decision makers you have talked to twice (but you still were not able to set an appointment).
5. Wait (Reach 3) - You’ve reached the decision maker 3 times and still haven’t set an appointment. Put them in the Wait category and set a reminder to call them in 3, 6 or 12 months – or whenever you think they may be truly interested. Click here for my post on how long to call your Maybes…
6. Appointment Set – Just like it sounds – you have an appointment set with your prospect.
7. Proposal – This may not apply to everyone, but if you have a proposal between the initial appointment and closing the business, then use this category.
8. Active Client – Your entire book of closed business – you have to follow-up with these clients, too. I recommend spending time once a month on this. I’ve set aside time on the first Friday of every month to call a portion of my active clients (the size of your active client list will dictate how much time you need spend).
9. Past Client- Any previous client of yours. Call your past clients once a year. Stay in touch with them so they think of you when they’re ready to make another move.
10. Not Today – Prospects that were too busy or gave some some other lame excuse why they didn’t want to talk or weren’t interested. You could put them in the Wait category, but I have a separate category for this because I use a different drip marketing campaign for them. They may have said no today, but they are still a lead.

I don’t count dead leads as a prospecting category (they are no longer prospects), but it’s important to track them as well so you don’t waste time calling them again. These are your no’s – they were rude, have no need for your services, or you labeled them Mr. No Joy. Mark them as dead leads, and get them out of your prospect list.

Until next time – go sell some stuff!

Question: What types of prospects do you have the most success with? You can leave a comment by clicking here.

The post 10 Prospecting Categories – How Many Are You Calling? appeared first on Sales Coach Dew.

In a recent article by Rory Vaden, my partner at Southwestern Consulting™, he partnered with Kelton to survey adults on the success of their New Year’s resolutions.

I found the statistics fascinating, especially how closely they coincide with the results I have observed with my coaching clients. You’re chances of success go up to 76% if you just stick to it for longer than 30 days. 30 DAYS! Seriously people – who can’t stick to something for 30 days?

Here’s a summary of Rory’s tips on increasing that success rate even more:

I love number 1. It’s quick, it simple, and it’s true. By picking 1 resolution and focusing on it, you’re actually setting yourself up for success. For most of us, it takes laser focus on a single action to make real psychological change.

The other step I would stress is step number 6, find a friend. And If you REALLY want to get serious, I would take that a step farther – find a professional to serve as an accountability partner and pay them for holding you accountable. Sometimes asking your buddy only works as long as their goal is the same as yours. But if you pay a professional personal trainer, financial planner, dietitian, or a sales coach, you instantly raise your commitment level and make your goal that much more real.

If you didn’t set a New Year’s resolution this year (or you’ve already given up on it), it’s not too late! You can start now – but this time, create a plan and take real steps to make it happen.

Read Rory’s entire article here…

Until next time – go sell some stuff!

Question: What was your last New Year’s resolution? You can leave a comment by clicking here.

The post Dew Recommends: New Year’s Resolutions – Pick 1 or Pick None appeared first on Sales Coach Dew.