AuthorJohn Patrick has worked with one-person startups, Fortune 50 companies and everything in between. He has launched several successful companies utilizing his business strategy knowledge. Archives |
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Rules To Live & Work By5/25/2017 ![]() RULE # 1: DEVELOP A GREAT ATTITUDE AND DO MORE THAN YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO. We are all faced with moments of truth ... intersections of Success Drive and Losing Lane. The best way to handle them is to go against the grain ... to challenge yourself. Be known for making one more call, staying five minutes over, bringing in one more sale, stopping by one more business, sending one more card. That small degree of separation will be what catapults your results. RULE # 2: GOALS SHOULD BE IN WRITING. There should be specific, practical, achievable and measurable goals. Then there should be some "blow- it-off-the-hinges goals" to stretch yourself beyond today's reality. Before reading further, take out a sheet of paper and jot down the first twenty five goals that you can think of. No cheating. This exercise is critical. Okay, now that you've listed twenty five goals, no matter how far out they may be, categorize them by financial, spiritual, personal, relational, and so on. How many were financial versus spiritual? Financial versus personal? Financial versus relational. If financial trumped everything else, that says something. If it's spiritual, that says something. Relational, that says something, too. Don't miss the underlying message there. RULE # 3: SEE YOURSELF AS SUCCESSFUL. Have your goals in front of you, then visualize yourself achieving them. Maybe it's a personal achievement (the best husband, wife, parent, child you can be - and what that would look like). Maybe it's spiritual (the person you'd become if you were where you should/could be spiritually). Maybe it's financial (the house, the car, the college, the savings account(s), the investment(s), the contribution you're able to make back to community. Playing the part mentally in vivid detail can have amazing results. When visualizing, think of what "successful" people do in that area. Do that. RULE # 4: DON'T ASSUME. Don't limit or minimize yourself, your prospects or your clients. I'm amazed at the missed opportunities, lost relationships and minimized successes caused by assumptions that were actually hallucinations! RULE #5: BE SELF-MOTIVATED. No one else can really do it. They might be able to manage behavior, but it's up to you to motivate yourself long term. As a result of having goals, it gets easier (or at least seems to) as successes and time passes. You have to get through the stuff to earn the right to be there. RULE #6: STAY IN CONTROL. People judge you based on THEIR principles and philosophy. Don't take it personal. More importantly, don't be delusional. If you lose control, get it back or else just stop. You won't make the sale or reach the goal anyway ... better to save it for another time. RULE #7: CONSTANTLY PRACTICE AND PREPARE. It would be difficult to find a professional in any sport that doesn't practice for hours on end - despite being elite in their sport. It would be difficult to find a professional band, speaker, dancer, etc. who doesn't constantly hone their craft, even though they are already world class. Yet too many sales people blow the cob webs off their beat up presentation and wing it when they are making a presentation to a prospect. RULE #8: SEE AND TALK TO MORE PEOPLE THAN ANYONE ELSE. It IS a numbers game, but not for the sake of quantity over quality. As my good friend Chris Rollins says - you can try to make up for it in numbers, but if you can't sell, is that really going to matter? Where the numbers do come into play are that they can be predictable (i.e. ”If my numbers say that for every XXX calls I make I will ultimately make XXX sales, and I want to double my sales ... then logic says if I double my calls, I will double my sales”). You have to earn that right, though. But, as important, numbers are also a factor in that more numbers equal more "No's," which represent more opportunity to get better. That, in turn, leads to less "No's" over time! Excerpt from John Patrick’s eBook entitled Sales Tips & Tools, which can be found on Amazon.
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Talk To The Hand5/22/2017 ![]() Everything about you feels that the prospect has a need for your product or service, and you are convinced it truly is the best thing for them. You're feeling confident and you begin to think of them in terms of being a customer, client or patient. Then, out of nowhere, they tell you that they don't have a need for your product or service. What just happened? It could be: 1. YOU'VE BEEN TALKING TO THE WRONG PERSON. Up to now, you may have been talking to a See-more. They may have had genuine interest or they may have been lonely and just needed to talk to someone, but eventually (when it came time to begin the decision process), they had to back away. 2. THEY HAVE A NEGATIVE IMAGE OF YOU, YOUR COMPANY OR YOUR PRODUCT/SERVICE. It could be a vicious rumor, it could be someone who has an ax to find, it could be misinformation or it could be your competition throwing you under the bus. If you don't get to the root cause, you're toast. You'd better be ready with real-life examples and testimonials of satisfied customers, clients or patients, or you may not be able to recover. 3. THEY FEEL YOUR PRICE IS TOO HIGH OR THEY DON'T HAVE THE BUDGET. Human nature, even when playing with someone else's money, is to divert the truth away from not having the money. You either have to create such value and emotion that they find a way to get the money, or you need to draw it out when handling the objection, then dealing with it. 4. IT'S A KNEE-JERK REACTION. People are predisposed to say "No." When you walk into a retail store and you're approached by a sales person, who asks if they can help you, what do most people say? "No, thank you ... I'm just looking." Really? I find it a rare breed to fight the traffic and the crowd (at certain times of the year) to just look. If we were truthful, we'd say "I may or may not need your help, but for now I don't need you to sell me or pressure me, so get out of my face!" 5. THEY HAVE PRIDE IN THEIR OWN EFFORTS. Sometimes your product or service points out a weakness in what they are doing. Self-preservation then leads them to become defensive, as they try to protect their turf. You need to compliment them on what they have accomplished and offer to help them do it even better if you stand a chance to win them over. Here's to your walking through the land mine of "no need" to arrive safely on the other side! Excerpt from John Patrick’s eBook entitled Sales Tips & Tools, which can be found on Amazon
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Up To Your Neck?5/18/2017 ![]() Do you ever feel like you're up to your neck as a sales professional, business owner or business executive? Consumers demand more, suppliers demand more, employees and colleagues demand more. So does the spouse, the kids, the dog, the cat and the gerbil. Taken from "Don't Sweat The Small Stuff ... and it's all Small Stuff," by Richard Carlson, Ph.D., here are just a few things to help you gain perspective: 1. Tell at least one person, every day, that you like, admire or appreciate them. You'll soon find that making their day will make yours, too, and that you will begin looking for the good in people (rather than the bad ... as society teaches). 2. Remember that you become what you practice most. By changing your habits, and what you focus on, things will change around you. 3. Resist the urge to criticize. If more people lived by the "if you don't have anything good to say, don't say anything," think how much quieter it would be. Even peaceful. 4. Imagine yourself at your own funeral. What would the people there be saying about you? I bet it wouldn't be "I wished he or she would have worked harder (and longer) hours." By living each day as though what we accomplished would be the exclamation point on our life's story, I bet we'd all act and react differently. 5. Surrender to the fact that life isn't fair. It's not. But at least we're on the top of the food chain, and not the bottom! From the desk of John Patrick, end the day on a positive. Turn off the news and read something positive. Then jot three things down in your journal (you DO keep one, right?) that you are thankful for. And finally, give those you love (assuming they're with you) a goodnight kiss. Excerpt from John Patrick’s eBook entitled Sales Tips & Tools, which can be found on Amazon.
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Removing Barriers to Your Success5/15/2017 ![]() Experts say that unless you do something dramatic, your mental gauge will allow your behavior to keep you at what it determines is a comfortable level. We see that acted out every day. Why do two sales people appear to be doing the same thing - with similar skills, opportunity and work ethic - yet one appears to be successful (don't get me started on that subject), while the other struggles to survive? Most of the time, the second one's internal gauge keeps them where they are. It may come in various forms, but it usually smells like fear. When they are just about to break through (it's evident to those around them), their behavior causes them to go backward and they slide back into comfortable. Sure, they may be uncomfortable in terms of income, position, etc. - but their mental gauge says "See? That's where you belong. You won't do better than this." Now here's where management makes the big mistake. You can't scare a person into changing their behavior. You can't shame them into it. You can't threaten them into it. You can't lecture them into it. The fact is they're just being human. That super star sales rep of yours isn't really that different ... they've just adjusted their gauge. Another way of saying it is that they've adapted the barrier removal system. If this second type of sales person sounds like you, congratulations for having the courage and integrity to acknowledge that. I encourage you to try the barrier removal system. If this person sounds like one of your sales team, I encourage you to share the barrier removal system. It's really as simple as this: Commit to specific behaviors … for a specific period of time … for a specific goal. For instance: "John The Rep" never seems to get beyond five sales per month, despite a lot of internal and outside pressure to do more. All agree that he is capable of it. One day "John The Rep" decides that he wants to go on an exotic vacation. So he decides to spend one extra hour per day focusing on achieving this goal. For one designated hour per day he makes phone calls and sends mailers with the promise that whatever comes from this extra effort will go straight into a "John The Rep's Vacation Fund," and that when he gets to a certain point he'll book his trip. How likely do you think "John The Rep" will exceed his typical five sales? I've seen it time and again, and it works. So what is your barrier? We all have one. What specific behaviors, over a specific period of time, for a specific goal, are you willing to commit to? You can do it! Excerpt from John Patrick’s eBook entitled Sales Tips & Tools, which can be found on Amazon.
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Snake Oil, Anyone?5/11/2017 ![]() Like it or not , many people still conjure up negative thoughts when they hear "Sales Person." Why is that? Folklore and poor sales people. The folklore part stems from a time where sales people traveled from town to town in rural areas "peddling" their wares to consumers who would not have been able to buy the products otherwise. Not a bad thing, really. But with opportunity and good ideas comes those with agendas and a way to make a fast buck - without a conscience. So as door-to-door and route selling began to take form, along came the Snidely Whiplashes who sold worthless potions, lotions and oils - claiming that they had miraculous healing powers. Many of the people who bought them had little education, no ability to do research and had to rely on the words of the salesperson. After the snake oil salesman was long gone, they realized they were duped, but not having a Chamber of Commerce, Attorney General or Angie's List to complain to, they were left with a worthless product. Thus the legend of the snake oil salesman, or shyster, began. Poor salespeople help keep the profession tarnished due to one overwhelmingly-common trait. It's about them, and not the customer, client or patient. Had they put the needs of the buyer first, they would have taken the proper amount of time to learn their craft, learn their product or service and they would have learned how to listen to, communicate to and identify with the buyer . The internet and Google continue to require that the sales person hone their skills and that they truly make it about the buyer. And in the end, we all win. Excerpt from John Patrick’s eBook entitled Sales Tips & Tools, which can be found on Amazon.
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Top 20%5/8/2017 ![]() Most people know about the 80/20 rule. Eighty percent of anything gets done by twenty percent of the people. 20 of 100 workers accomplish 80% of the work. 20 of 100 volunteers get 80% of the job done. 80% of Girl Scout Cookies get sold by 20% of those selling them. And so on ... In addition to knowing that the top 20% earn 46% more money than the other 80% combined, here are ten other interesting facts about the 20% in the sales profession: 1. They remain assumptive throughout the sales process, regardless of the immediate outcome. Even if they don't make the sale now, the assume they will in time. 2. They talk in terms of relationships built, not Yes or No decisions. 3. They use words like "feel" versus "know" on their conversations. They understand people don't care about what you know ... until they know that you care. 4. They recognize objections twice as fast as the other 80%, because they listen. And because they listen, trust is gained much faster. 5. They want objections, as they know that they are really just a request for more information. 6. They aren't afraid to compliment the prospect's previous buying decision with the competition. They quickly determine what they prospect liked and disliked about prior products, services or decisions - then they adjust their conversation accordingly. 7. They take notes during a conversation. They've learned that it shows the other(s) that they are listening and that they are engaged. 8. They physically move to a position of power without making the prospect or client feel intimidated or threatened. This should not be confused with manipulation. It's not about misusing power, but rather understanding the dynamics behind putting themselves on equal footing with the decision maker. 9. They ask 50% more questions than the other eighty percent. 10. They are more likely to stay on point with their recommendation, based on conviction and belief. The other eighty percent compromise twice as often (the bottom twenty percent compromise three times as often) as they are focused on making a sale versus meeting the needs of the prospect or client. May you find your way to the top twenty percent as you focus on your prospects, customers, clients or patients. Excerpt from John Patrick’s eBook entitled Sales Tips & Tools, which can be found on Amazon.
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![]() 1. ROLE PLAY. Even the best in any sport or discipline maintain that level by constant training and repetition. In order to have the highest level of confidence possible, and in order to be able to focus on the prospect, you have to internalize the process. 2. OPEN AN OUTSIDE MARKET. Become an expert in an industry or discipline that no one in your office serves. By doing so, you will develop new market share and you may become the go-to person in that new industry. 3. ATTEND A.U. (AUTO UNIVERSITY). Listen to audio cd’s as you go from place to place. Focus on motivational material, success stories and on material that teaches. 4. START AND FINISH YOUR DAY IN AN OFFICE OR LOCATION AWAY FROM HOME. This one's for those who work out of your home. Avoid getting up late and calling it a day early by removing yourself from that environment. The best way to do that is to schedule yourself with early- morning and end-of-day appointments by presenting to prospects or servicing existing customers. 5. WRITE AND SEND THANK YOU NOTES. Doing that after setting an appointment, after making a presentation and (if not immediately) after making a sale sets you apart as a consummate professional. I can't count the number of times I've arrived for a presentation or a service call and saw my handwritten notes adorning their desk, computer or bulletin board. 6. FOCUS ON GIVING. When forming a new relationship, presenting to a prospect or speaking with a client, understand you have to address the W.I.I.F.M. Factor (what's in it for me?). Remove the thought of making the sales or what it will mean to you in the form of income/commissions and focus on becoming a partner. By doing so, you will earn the right to get their business. 7. KEEP MOVING FORWARD. Forget the last call that didn't go so well. Forget about yesterday. Forget about your failures. They only pull you down ... and really have nothing to do with the new opportunity ahead of you. If you find yourself mired in follow ups, stop. Focus in fresh leads and opportunities. When you end the day, clean the slate and plan for the new day. 8. ASK ANOTHER QUESTION. Top sales people ask questions. Much like a 911 operator, stay calm when confronted. Asking questions allows you to re-gain control and gives you time to think strategically. 9. UTILIZE MARKETING CONSISTENTLY. Keep your name out there on an ongoing basis. Over time you will build momentum. I've had situations where people pulled out materials I sent or dropped off years earlier, as they were now in a position to act. 10. MAINTAIN A PROPER MIND SET. Don't assume a sale ... be prepared for anything. Think of yourself as being in demand. By raising your own value, you will exude confidence and more value. Understand the gatekeeper's role (see my recent post on this). And, finally, do what you need to do ... whether you feel like it or not. There you have it. Simple? You bet! Easy? No. No one ever said it would be easy ... by most agree it will be worth it. Happy selling! Excerpt from John Patrick’s eBook entitled Sales Tips & Tools, which can be found on Amazon.
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Leadership5/1/2017 ![]() My favorite magazine is Entrepreneur and I have been a subscriber for years. I must admit my heart skips a beat when it arrives in my mailbox. One particular time was certainly no exception, especially when I saw the featured article was on one of my favorite subjects … Leadership. So I opened the March 2016 edition and flipped ahead to the article, anxious to see what new words of wisdom awaited me. There were 22 “Must-Have Leadership Qualities” laid out before me. Good stuff – like focus, passion, decisiveness and empowerment. But sadly I saw what I believe to be two of the most important qualities missing. Integrity was the first missing. #4 on the list was Integrity, but from the right/wrong, moral/immoral use of the word. Missing was integrity from it’s original meaning … being whole and undivided (complete). A bridge has integrity when it is whole and complete. Structurally sound. A bridge is neither right nor wrong. It is neither moral nor immoral. It is just a bridge … being a bridge. But if it is not whole and complete, it is destined to collapse. A leader’s measure as to having integrity can be answered with one question. Do the people I interact have it that I do what I say I am going to do, when I say I am going to do it? If the answer to that question is “Yes,” and they believe what you say you are going to do is worthy of admiration, people will follow you to the ends of the earth. Literally. The second missing was Creating a Brand. A strategic partner, Crystal Smith of Shine Consulting, said it best when she said “One’s brand is measured by what people say about your company when you’re not listening.” Think about that for a moment. That embodies not only your marketing, but your principles, values and culture as well. The strength of your brand can be measured by a question as well. "Does the conversations that go on between your employees, your colleagues, your peers, your customers, your vendors and your competitors mirror the values and mission you have set out for your company?" If they do, then you have built a strong brand. Perhaps this insight will trigger something in you that will transform you, your company, your family and/or your world. I am anxious to hear about your journey. |