I realize that my personality and style will not appeal to many. In fact, I know that I will repel at least as many people as I will attract. That is done intentionally by design because I am looking for a certain type of psychographic profile as my audience. So, I don’t normally respond to emails that are whiny or complaining because I see no value in wasting my time with someone who will probably never become a client. Time is precious and must be ruthlessly protected.  

 That being said, I did get an email from a subscriber and thought that all of you would benefit from reading the email and most importantly my response to it.  The name has been changed to protect the misinformed.  

Hi Steve,

Maybe your email newsletters were always the way they are now, but I’m finding it increasingly difficult to find the meaty content instead of the fluff to sell yourself and your products.  If it was truly a great blog I wouldn’t mind paying a small amount to receive it but instead it just seems like ads to sell your other stuff.  If you’re blog’s this focused on selling your other stuff, it is only reasonable to expect that your stuff, such as Prospecting to fill the Pipeline would be just as focused on trying to sell other stuff.  I’m hoping there’s a real person back there who is actually trying to help people become better sales people but I suspect it’s just another creation trying to turn a buck without supplying any real effort. 

So I guess in answer to your question, yes, I will be relevant in the future but I’m not so sure about you.  

XXXXXX

My Response  

Dear XXXX,  

Thanks for taking the time to write and share your thoughts.

Since you have been so blunt in your comments I will do the same. Seems as though I struck a sensitive nerve with you - that’s good - at least I got you think - which is the purpose of my ezine.

As far as free “Prospecting to Fill the Pipeline” CD, I show no evidence of you having ever ordered it. So how can you make a judgment about the contents of a CD you have never listened to? You are guilty of committing Sin # 2 of the 10 Cardinal Sins of Selling - NO ASSUMPTIONS!!

You are right about the change in format of my ezine. It does contain content that is designed to sell my products and services AND at the same time offer my best content in the form of each week’s Featured Article. This is intentional and I make no apologies for it.

As far as my personal motives for conducting business you should refrain from making judgments about mine or anyone else’s values who happen to be different than yours.  

Lastly and most importantly, you and I are in sales and our primary focus and objective should be to maximize profits for our companies. We can only do this by offering quality products and services to as many buyers as we can. Failure to do that in the competitive marketplace makes us irrelevant to our company. That’s just the way it is in a highly competitive global marketplace.

If, as a producer of profits for your company, you are put off by having to perform and justify your employment in sales by relentlessly and aggressively closing more sales perhaps you should seek a job in teaching or counseling or some other similar helping profession.

I have done both and will tell you, that while it may make you feel warm and toasty inside and satisfy your need to feel that you are making the world a better place, you won’t make the kind of money you will make in sales. You have to decide why you are in sales. If it is for any other reason than to make as much money as you can, while honestly and ethically providing products and services that enhance people’s lives, then perhaps you should do yourself, your company and your prospects a favor and go do something else. 

If this sounds harsh that is because it is the reality of the business world. I didn’t create this economic reality and I would be a fool to ignore it or pretend it didn’t exist. We can lament and wring our hands about how horrible these Capitalistic, money grubbing pigs are as we sit around the campfire holding hands and singing Kumbaya like Joan Baez or we can roll up our sleeves and get with the program of closing more sales. The choice is ours and ours alone.

End of my Response

I woke up thinking about what I am doing and why I am doing it. My mind would not let go of the question, “why are some people enormously successful while others seem to struggle to find clients.”  So I sit here at 2:55 am journaling my thoughts and sharing with you.

I don’t understand why selling is so hard for people, because it has never been hard for me. Obtaining clients has always been easy for me when I did the prospecting behavior.

Why is that?

 I think it is because I am so convicted about what I do and why I do it that it is impossible for someone to attend one of my classes, or to spend time with me, without coming away with the impression that I believe in and am passionate about what I am saying and  doing. They may not become a client, but they sure do believe that I believe in what I am doing. I have always believed, even when I struggled financially.

Where does this belief come from?

It comes from the fact that I am I engaged in an affair of the heart, and I that I love what I do. Teaching and training people and watching them grow and develop new skills has been a passion for me since, as a sixteen year old lifeguard, I first experienced the thrill of teaching two year old babies how to swim.

I am doing what God created me to do and it comes easily for me.

What is your primary reason for doing what you are doing?

If it is only to make money, you will never become fabulously successful. You will struggle and never find true happiness and peace of mind.

Why are you here? What is your life purpose? Are you trying to do your will or God’s will?

These are some powerful questions that beg answers. The answers to these and other equally important questions are buried deeply inside of you. If you want to find the answers, you must become deeply introspective and get real with yourself.

Truly, successful and happy people have spent a great deal of time answering these questions. They know who they are and why they are here. They know their strengths and their limitations. They accept both of them for what they are and they don’t wish or try to become someone else. They are content, but not satisfied and they don’t covet others gifts or success. They are very rare individuals indeed.

Are you one of these people or do you find that life is a grind and a daily struggle?

If you are not consumed with passion or have a burning desire to do what you are now doing, quit immediately and go do what you are passionate about. You owe it to yourself, your family and to mankind to pursue what God meant for you to do. Until you do this, you will, in Henry David Thoreau’s words, be among the “mass of men who lead lives of quiet desperation”.

Good Selling

 Steve Clark

PS Want a FREE copy of Prospecting To Fill the Pipeline?

PPS If you know someone who could benefit from this message or the FREE CD please forward this  message to them. It could change their life.
 

In my consulting practice the hardest thing to get clients to do is to change their behavior. While they logically agree —at the intellectual level—that they need to change things they seldom make the significant changes that would propel their business forward.

Before you start thinking you are different you must realize that they are you and you are they.

A Universal Truth

The human organism is resistant to change. The body tries to maintain what physiologists call homeostasis. This is the physical state of equilibrium or status quo. The body is designed to operate in a very narrow range of physiological processes. The brain is no different.

We all refuse to change our ways for reasons that are often hard to articulate.

Until, that is, you begin looking at it from a scientific perspective. In the past few years, improvements in have allowed researchers to track the energy of a thought coursing through the brain in much the same way that they can track blood flowing through the circulatory system. Watching different areas of the brain light up in response to specific thoughts has brought a new understanding to our response to change.

The major neuroimaging techniques used research are positron emission tomography (PET), single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT), and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), along with electro-encephalography (EEG), an earlier technique for monitoring brain activity. Advances in all these techniques are enabling scientists to produce remarkably detailed computer-screen images of brain structures and to observe neurochemical changes that occur in the brain as it processes information or responds to various stimuli.

These brain analysis technologies show that our responses to change are predictable and universal. From a neurological perspective, we all respond to change in the same way: We try to avoid it.

Why Change Is Painful

Change creates psychological stress.

Change engages the prefrontal cortex, the conscious part of the brain that is responsible for judgment, planning and decision making. The prefrontal cortex is like RAM memory in a PC. It is fast and agile, able to hold multiple threads of logic at once to enable quick calculations. But like RAM, the prefrontal cortex’s capacity is finite—it can deal comfortably with only a handful of concepts before becoming overloaded. When it becomes overloaded it generates a palpable sense of discomfort, anxiety, fatigue, and frustration.

Like a computer the brain prefers to run off its hard drive or basal ganglia, which has a much larger storage capacity. This is the part of the brain that stores the hardwired memories and habits that dominate our daily lives.

“Most of the time the basal ganglia are more or less running the show,” says Jeffrey M. Schwartz, research psychiatrist at the School of Medicine at the University of California at Los Angeles. “It controls habit-based behavior that we don’t have to think about doing.”

In a sense, it is the basal ganglia that keeps us in that very narrow range called our comfort zone. If you want to make changes in your life you must realize that every change comes with a certain amount of psychological stress. The bigger the change the bigger the stress. Now you know why so few people are willing to consciously embrace change.

What’s Inside Top Performing Sales People

What is it that motivates humans to take action? What is the source of their desire to become involved in or to avoid certain activities? What motivates humans to do what they do?

The answer to being effective, satisfied and personally fulfilled lies deep within a unique set of personal interests, attitudes and values.

Defining Attitudes

In 1928, Eduard Spranger wrote “Types of Men.” In it he identified six major attitudes or worldviews. These attitudes are windows through which we view the world and seek fulfillment in our lives. If we are participating in a discussion, activity or career that is in alignment with our attitudes, we will value the experience and excel. Conversely, if we are in a conversation, activity or career that is in conflict with our dominant attitudes, we will be indifferent or even negative toward the experience, possibly causing stress.

The Six Attitudes

Theoretical: The primary drive with this value is the discovery of TRUTH. In pursuit of this value, an individual takes a cognitive or intellectual attitude. Since the interests of the theoretical person are empirical, critical and rational, the person appears to be an intellectual. The chief aim of this attitude in life is to order and systematize knowledge for the sake of knowledge.

Utilitarian: The Utilitarian attitude is a characteristic interest in money and what is useful. An individual with a high Utilitarian attitude wants to have the security that money brings not only for themselves, but for their present and future family. This value includes the practical affairs of the business world - the production, marketing and consumption of goods, the use of credit, and the accumulation of tangible wealth. This type of individual is thoroughly practical and conforms well to the stereotype of the average American business person. A person with a high Utilitarian score is likely to have a high need to surpass others in wealth.

Aesthetic: A higher Aesthetic score indicates a relative interest in “form and harmony.” Each experience is judged from the standpoint of grace, symmetry or fitness. Life may be regarded as a procession of events, and each is enjoyed for its own sake. A high score here does not necessarily mean that the individual has talents in creative artistry. It indicates a primary interest in the artistic episodes of life.

Social: Those who score very high in this value have an inherent love of people. The social person prizes other people and is, therefore, kind, sympathetic and unselfish. They are likely to find the Theoretical, Utilitarian and Aesthetic attitudes cold and inhuman. Compared to the Individualistic value, the Social person regards helping others as the only suitable form for human relationships. Research into this value indicates that in its purest form, the Social interest is selfless.

Individualistic: The primary interest for this value is POWER, not necessarily politics. Research studies indicate that leaders in most fields have a high power value. Since competition and struggle play a large part in all areas of life, many philosophers have seen power as the most universal and most fundamental of motives. There are, however, certain personalities in whom the desire for direct expression of this motive is uppermost; who wish, above all, for personal power, influence and renown.

Traditional: The highest interest for this value may be called “unity,” “order,” or “tradition.” Individuals with high scores in this value seek a system for living. This system can be found in such things as religion, conservatism or any authority that has defined rules, regulations and principles for living.

In a ground breaking study Bill Bonnstetter, President of Target Training International, Ltd. in Scottsdale, Arizona and Frank Scheelen of the The Scheelen Institute, Waldshut-Tiengen, Germany confirmed that (1) top performing sales people around the world are similar and (2) that attitudes or motivations are more important than behavioral style or personality.

In this study participants were given two validated psychometric assessments: (1) the DISC - a behavioral style analysis or personality assessment and (2) the PIAV - a Personal Interest, Values and Attitude assessment.

In this study they concluded that most if not all personality types can sell. However, the most remarkable aspect of their study was the fact that seventy-one (71) percent of the top performing salespeople in 492 companies in Germany and 178 companies in the United States had Ultilitarian motivation as their top motivator. The conclusion from this study is that when it comes to top performing sales people motivation is more important than personality hands down.

According to accepted neuroscience, we have three brains: our brain stem, which controls motor function, our limbic or emotional brain and our neo cortex or rational thinking brain.

Our limbic, emotional brain, which is some 400 million years older than our neo cortex is primitive. Its purpose is to ensure survival, and all the complicated emotions and behaviors that survival implies. It is here that our basest of instincts thrive: sex, fury, fight. It is short term oriented, visual, concrete and self centered, and it is not designed to deal with abstract, complex concepts and ideas.

Ruled by the limbic brain, our ancestors were obsessed with consuming vital resources to keep them alive. They were consumption oriented not savings oriented. They were short term, immediate gratification oriented. They never thought about storing and saving because they never knew if they were going to survive from one day to the next. Consequently, they consumed not saved.

According to Robert Trivers, an evolutionary biologist at Rutgers University, “There isn’t necessarily a stop mechanism in us that says, Relax, you’ve got enough. We’ve evolved to be maximizing machines.”

For our ancestors the best way to save for the future was to consume now. Eating as much as they could, whenever they could, they were able to store extra calories in their bodies, in the hopes that this would carry them through any lean times that lay ahead.

This ancestrally dominated mindset has created many modern day problems: the tendency to spend and consume without any regard to the long term consequences, the addiction to instant gratification and the rejection of self denial and sacrifice, lack of patience and civility in society, micro term decision making by business and political leaders and on and on and on.

According to some Evolutionary Psychologists, our thinking, analytical, neo cortex brain has not evolved to keep pace with our complex, break neck speed society. Consequently, we are trying to cope in a complicated, frenetic world by using a brain that was designed to deal with much more basic human needs.

If our rational, analytical, thinking neo-cortex were truly in charge of our behavior we would engage in rational, intelligent, and civilized ways, but one does not have to look far to see the consequences of a society void of rational thought and dominated by the short term, emotionally motivated limbic brain.

Next time you make a decision, any decision, ask yourself is this a thoroughly planned, rationally thought out decision or am I making a decision based on short term, emotional gratification? If you are truly self aware and honest your answer will astound you.

A sales manager can motivate and inspire salespeople in three ways. Proper compensation plans, conducting effective sales and training meetings, and helping salespeople set higher goals and objectives.

Salespeople are motivated by ambition, the need for recognition and of course compensation. To prompt salespeople to higher levels of performance it is necessary to design an effective compensation plan. An effective compensation plan is one that is going to help both the salesperson and the company achieve their goals.

Companies must incentivize the behavior and results they want. The comp plan should emphasize the desired company outcome. Be it new clients, retention of clients, new product sales or gross profits. Whatever the compensation plan is it needs to be easily understood by the salesperson. It should be so easily understood that the salesperson could figure it out in their head.

Sales meetings provide an excellent opportunity for motivating, training and inspiring salespeople. Unfortunately, most sales meetings fall short on this. Many times the sales meeting becomes a forum for the manager to rant and rave about lagging sales, lack of activity or administrative policies and details. Because of the social nature of most salespeople, sales meetings should be fun, educational and inspirational. It is also a place to publicly praise the sales team for anything positive. Salespeople get beat up constantly so use this time to accentuate the positive and minimize the negative. The salespeople should leave the sales meeting high as a kite not as low as a snake’s belly. Most managers fail miserably in this role.

Training prepares the salesperson to maximize every customer encounter. A methodical selling process incorporates specific selling techniques that are custom-tailored for each buyer they interact with.

Through proper training, salespeople better understand their customer’s wants and needs. They’re also better equipped to cope with potential difficulties with the company’s products and services.

Well-trained salespeople recognize genuine selling opportunities more readily than their untrained counterparts.

An effective training program brings new staff up to speed more quickly than when sales reps are forced to learn on their own. As a result, frustrations are minimized and people are less inclined to go elsewhere.

The third part of motivation is goal setting. The manager’s role is to help salespeople become more focused on specific, achievable personal goals that are aligned with the company’s goals. This requires spending time one-on-one with the salespeople to help them enlarge the mental picture they have of themselves and what they can achieve. Some examples of goals might include: sales and gross profits for the year, obtaining more business from existing clients, acquiring new clients, retention of existing clients, etc.

High performance starts with clear unambiguous goals. They must define what success means to the individual and to the company.

A sales manger can motivate and inspire salespeople in three ways. Proper compensation plans, conducting effective sales and training meetings and helping salespeople set higher goals and objectives.

Salespeople are motivated by ambition, the need for recognition and of course compensation. To prompt salespeople to higher levels of performance it is necessary to design an effective compensations plan. An effective compensation plan is one that is going to help both the sales person and the company achieve their goals.

Companies must incentivize the behavior and results they want. The comp plan should emphasize the desired company outcome. Be it new clients, retention of clients, new product sales or gross profits. Whatever the compensation plan is it needs to be easily understood by the sales person. It should be so easily understood that the sales person could figure it out in their head.

Sales meetings provide an excellent opportunity for motivating, training and inspiring salespeople. Unfortunately, most sales meeting fall short on this. Many times the sales meeting becomes a forum for the manager to rant and rave about lagging sales, lack of activity or administrative policies and details.

Because of the social nature of most sales people sales meeting should be fun, educational and inspirational. It is also a place to publicly praise the sales team for anything positive. Sales people get beat up constantly so use this time to accentuate the positive and minimize the negative. The sales people should leave the sales meeting high as a kite not as low as a snake’s belly. Most managers fail miserably in this role.

Training prepares the sales person to maximize every customer encounter. A methodical selling process incorporates specific selling techniques that are custom-tailored for each buyer they interact with.

Through proper training, salespeople better understand their customer’s wants and needs. They’re also better equipped to cope with potential difficulties with the company’ products and services.

Well-trained sales people recognize genuine selling opportunities more readily than their untrained counterparts.

An effective training program brings new staff up to speed more quickly than when sales reps are forced to learn on their own, As a result frustrations are minimized and people are less inclined to go elsewhere.

The third part of motivation is goal setting. The manager’s role is to help sales people become more focused on specific, achievable personal goals that are aligned with the company’s goals. This requires spending time one-on-one with the sales people to help them enlarge the mental picture they have of themselves and what they can achieve. Some examples of goals might include: sales and gross profits for the year, obtaining more business from existing clients, acquiring new clients, retention of existing clients, etc.

High performance starts with clear unambiguous goals. They must define what success means to the individual and to the company.