Catherine and I arrive in Boras for the Championships

In the past 24 hours since we got back from Europe people are kindly asking me ‘How did you go Leigh (in the World Masters Water Polo Competition)?

I can give them the long answer and I can give them the short answer..

In short..

We finished 10^th best in the World… the highest place Australian team there in our age group….

And we played a brilliant game against Calgary to finish the tournament with a 12-6 win..

I scored a couple of goals… helped several others score… and generally, everything we planned… happened.. It really was one of those magical games..

Or I can say….

‘The Russians finished first.. the Americans from Santa Barbara second.. the Spanish came third..

We played both the Russians and the Americans in the rounds.. and were beaten… But we did hold the Yanks close for a while..

The Bench of the Winning Russian Team

Here is a photo of the Russian team..

As you can see.. they were very big.. and most of them were ex-Olympians..

The great news is that we all learnt absolutely HEAPS about playing high standard, intensive water polo.. and we had a great time seeing and experiencing Sweden, Copenhagen, Finland and London ..

(I can’t believe how many blonde people there are in that part of the world..)

I also recorded on video a couple of Sales Champions in various retail and selling scenarios we came across on the way through too..

Will post the video online with lessons for you in the next week or so..

Now to get back into it and work with our clients plus get ready for the New Sales Science Seminar next Monday night in Perth..

Hope to see you there..

Register at www.bluerocketlive.com if you haven’t already..

Otherwise we will be doing a webinar version in the next month or so… plus get ready for us to run one on the East coast early next year.

PS: The next World Championships are in Italy in two years time.. So we all keep in shape for those games now..

Hope this answers the question for you..

For more information just write a comment and I’ll try and answer the question..

Ebony Snoozing on a Sunday

Sitting here at 7.14 on a Sunday morning…

The dog is snoozing on the other couch in the loungeroom… all is quiet….

Reflecting on the sales lessons of last week I can share with you..

I flew to Sydney last week to work with a team of 25 franchisees for a hygiene, equipment cleaning company.

These guys are on the up and up… but they had some goals, some areas they wanted to take to the next level…

1. LEAD GENERATION

2. SALES CONVERSION

Their story is not so dissimilar to many prospects and clients we come across.

Great product…

Great track record..

Not telling their story using SALES SCIENCE.. Sales Process way too loose..

Not converting interested prospects with SALES SCIENCE.. Sales process in need to capturing and drilling..

Little or no training of the team in SALES SCIENCE strategy and techniques…. New team members in particular need SALES PROCESS Masterminding and drilling..

By the end of the day, they had at least 15 powerful new strategies and techniques to GENERATE MORE HIGH QUALITY LEADS… and CONVERT MORE SALES AT HIGHER AVERAGE DOLLAR TRANSACTIONS AND HIGHER MARGINS… as well as be doing their clients a better, more high value service..

It trully was another SALES BREAKTHROUGH day..

So what’s this got to do with you?

As the great Scott Peck wrote in his best seller ‘The Road Less Travelled”.. (and I will add to and paraphrase..)

“The Truth will set you free… but first it might annoy you..(and make your undies go tighter…challenge your comfort zones… upset your status quo…. ask you to do something different so you get a different result…)

So let’s do a mini audit to see what you might need to do different if you want a different result in your LEAD GENERATION or SALES CONVERSION…

Let’s put your SALES PROCESS under the microscope..

A QUICK SALES BREAKTHROUGH AUDIT

1. How good are you and your people at telling your story? Your companies story? In such a way that it demonstrates the power and value of what you do for clients?

2. How well trained are your people in SALES SCIENCE? Have you trained them in how to develop rapport? Have you trained them in the top 10 questions they should be asking EVERY time they meet with a prospect? Have you trained them in how to handle the top 5 objections people have to investing in your product or service?

3. How well trained are your people in how to actually ASK FOR THE BUSINESS? How good are your people in CLOSING THE SALE?

4. Do you have a documented SALES SYSTEM? Have you actually mapped out the steps your people (and you) should be following to make a sale?

5. Have you trained your people in what to do when someone asks for a DISCOUNT?

6. How often do you get your team together to share best practices and MASTERMIND new strategies to generate more leads and close more sales?

7. Is your quoting/ proposal system following NEW SALES SCIENCE principles or is it more like a Plumber or Carpenters quote?

I won’t go on with more questions…

If you answered any of these questions and your undies went a bit tight..

If you answered them and you realised you have a gap between what you have and what you should have..

IT’S COSTING YOU BIG….. LARGE….. HUGE…. MORE THAN YOU REALISE… AMOUNTS OF MONEY..

That’s money you could be using on more marketing… new products.. more staff…. new office furniture… school fees.. taking your family on a holiday….etc….etc…

Get onto it NOW..

If you have a sales team of 5 or more (and you’re not already a client of Blue Rocket) FreeSalesBreakthroughPack.com and fill out the details to get $637 of FREE Sales Breakthrough Information and Coaching that will get you moving in the right direction.

If you have a boss or business owner or Sales Manager who might have answered the above questions poorly… send them this link or get the pack and give it to them..

Anyway.. the dog is still snoozing..

And I’ve got to keep moving..

PS: Off to Sweden this week to play in the World Masters Water Polo Champs… Over 50′s..

John will do the next few posts…. I’ll stay in touch via Facebook and John… See you when I get back on Aug 16th..

We have another of our New Sales Science Seminars on August 23 in Perth… Make sure you register to come at www.bluerocketlive.com

Leigh farewells eldest daughter Grace about to Fly off to Europe

We had my wife’s sister and her partner over for dinner last night.

My daughter Caitlin and I cooked up the old reliable – spag boll… It was a hit..

As the night went on (besides me and her boyfriend playing guitar and singing to the girls) we put on some old family DVD’s.. photos and videos of our kids and our families over the past 5 or so years..

It was a look back in time..

How the kids had grown up so fast. The holidays we had gone on together. The shopping expeditions the girls had gone on in Melbourne and Sydney.

But I woke up this morning with this thought for both you and me..

THEY WERE ALL MILESTONE MOMENTS..

Moments in time that were all magical moments that have gone.. never to come again… Milestones in our lives..

The time Caitlin and Grace and I swam out to the rock at Twilight Beach at Esperance.

The girls are now 19 and 21… they were probably 12 and 14 at that moment..

The time we all swam at North Sydney pool, just under the Harbour Bridge then went to Luna Park afterwards… magical..

And this week was full of magical, milestone moments..

Blakey Has Baby Boy… Now That’s a Milestone Moment..

Blue Rocket Partner John Blake and wife Shannon had a baby boy – Lachlan.. (see the photos on Facebook)

Went to the footy yesterday to watch our good friends Chris and Sharon Smailes son Luke kick his 100th goal for the season… The whole family were there. Grandparents, nephew, nieces, girlfriends.. the works.. A magical, milestone moment to celebrate and treasure.

There was Friday night when we took our beautiful eldest daughter Grace to the airport as she was flying off on her big trip to Europe. Seeing our two daughters hug each other and cry as they say farewell ‘I’ll miss you sis…’ to each other..

There was Tuesday morning when my water polo team had to hit freezing cold water in 2 degree outside temperature.. We all said ‘we’re going to remember this day for sure…’

And so it goes on…

Life is full of milestone moments. Moments that shape us, define us, build us..

In business, there are milestone moments every day too..

Business Milestones to Celebrate and Learn From

Moments we can both celebrate and learn from to keep increasing sales (even if the market is down…)

In one of our Sales Breakthrough workshops this week, we were drilling the WSIBFU (Why Should I Buy from YOU?) exercise. The lady doing the selling (lets call her Mary) had been in sales for years. She was a long term employee of the business. She was in the process of trial closing then closing the prospect and  said in the real play-role play ‘you don’t have to make a decision today….’ to the prospect.

Her observer-coach in the exercise is a high achieving sales person in the team. She couldnt help herself and jumped in ‘MARY… DON’T SAY THAT…’

Mary said, ‘say what?” (she wasn’t even concious of what she had said)

‘Don’t say ‘you don’t have to make a decision today…’

Mary was puzzled ‘why not?’

‘Because you’ve just spent 20 minutes presenting and closing then you let them off the hook… It means you’ll have to drive all the way back to their office again to get the business…and have to go through the whole process again…’

We explained to Mary the process of Perturbation and how it relates to the process of closing.

Mary and the whole group saw the Science behind the Closing/Making a Decision to Buy process and how the subtle application of ‘heat’ is very important in the closing process.

This was a magic, milestone moment.

Super Closer Milestone to Look Forward to..

We are presently recording and packaging our ‘Super Closer Sales Science Secrets’ programme.

It’s still a few weeks away but if you want to go onto the Early Bird Pre registration list, click here and write ‘Super Closer’ in the subject line and we’ll give you the Early Bird Special offer when its ready.

Mary had never thought about Closing as a Science before. She had a milestone moment that day last week. A moment she will never forget.

What about YOUR Milestone Moments?

But what about other milestone moments in your company you should look back on and learn from or celebrate?

The time you shipped out that record amount of product?

The time you sold the biggest contract you had ever sold?

The time you broke the July sales record?

The time the new sales person shot to the top of the Sales Leader board?

The time you took the whole company to Bali because they broke the Stretch target you had set two years before? (We did this with an insurance broker client EBM – twice…The power of Stretch Targets combined with a team prize/experience. That is the subject of another blog..)

Make a list of the milestone moments in your company sales history… then learn from them.. Celebrate them..

When you celebrate them, you put those positive vibes out into the Universe..

If you believe in Karma.. If you believe in Universal Energy Flow… If you believe that ‘Thougths are Real Forces’ as Napoleon Hill wrote, then Celebration of Milestone Moments means you’ll manifest MORE MILESTONE MOMENTS..

Affirm your milestone moments… and create more of them..

Anyway.. time for me to go..

Let me know what you think..

What milestone moments have you had in your business lately?

Actually.. here is one that came in last week from a client….

Subject line –JUST A HEADS UP

Hi John & Leigh,

I just got your newsletter in the mail today, which prompted me to contact you.

I haven’t run all the figures for all my different supplies yet, but with my main supplier Goliath I have.

At the sales conference at the Menzies last year, you asked us to set a goal, mine was to be up 20%.

Despite all the doom and gloom in the retail world at the moment, my sales were up exactly 20%.

Maybe I should have set a higher figure? Thanks for all your advice, emails and newsletters, will keep pushing for another 20% this year.

All the Best

Andrew Alcorn

NSW Sales Rep.

C  FOUR  INTERNATIONAL

SKATEBOARD & FOOTWEAR SPECIALIST

PO BOX 470, ROZELLE,

NSW 2039

AUSTRALIA

PHONE: 0418 491 045

EMAIL: aha72@bigpond.com.au

That was just another magic, milestone moment..

Aren’t they great?

PS: Remember  if you want to go onto the Super Closer Early Bird Pre registration list, click here and write ‘Super Closer’ in the subject line and we’ll give you the Early Bird Special offer when it’s ready.

MEDIA ADVERTISING SALES

B2B SALES

FINANCIAL SERVICES

Want to take action and get your FREE Blue Rocket Sales Breakthrough Guaranteed! Information Pack valued at $597? Click Here NOW..

RETAIL SALES MANAGEMENT

RETAIL SALES

RETAIL SALES

COACHING, CONSULTING AND B2B SALES

Want to take action and get your FREE Blue Rocket Sales Breakthrough Guaranteed! Information Pack valued at $597? Click Here NOW..

REAL ESTATE

TRADING/ B2B/ BUSINESS SERVICES

EDUCATION/ UNIVERSITIES/ COLLEGES

HOSPITALITY

MANUFACTURING/ AUTOMOTIVE SERVICES

Want to take action and get your FREE Blue Rocket Sales Breakthrough Guaranteed! Information Pack valued at $597? Click Here NOW..

Baby Steps Need a Helping Hand

In sales training, sales coaching and sales consulting people are always asking us the ‘what is your number one secret to increasing sales?’ question.

Of course, there is no NUMBER ONE SECRET (except in writing marketing materials… because everyone is always looking for THE SILVER BULLET…) but, this secret is a beauty that I was reminded of again last week.

So often, we want to make the BIG SALE.. THE BIG ONE that will break the budget.

Maybe we need to get out of the hole we might be in at that moment or just make THE BIG ONE so we can go back and tell the Boss we’ve done it..

That we are the Sales Legend for that week or month..

The fact is, in most cases, there IS NO BIG ONE…

Get ready for this.. don’t fall off your chairs when you read this next line…

The Big Sale usually comes after a series of smaller sales..

That’s right..

People need to know you can deliver first.

They need to know you can be trusted FIRST.

They want to dip their toe in the water FIRST.

You need an INTRODUCTORY OFFER first..

Why do you think all those skin creams on TV have an INTRODUCTORY OFFER..

Or when a new food product is released in the supermarket they give you FREE OFFERS or TRY BEFORE YOU BUY or TASTE TESTS??

You want to feel safe in the knowledge that when you do make THE BIG PURCHASE you have made the right decision.

Lesson for YOU..

What are you doing to Baby Step people towards buying your product?

How can prospects dip their toe in the water for you?

One of the ways we do this at Blue Rocket is our Introductory FREE Seminar – The New Sales Science Seminar.

We had 70 people attend last Monday night..

12 of those 70 qualified as potential clients and wanted to dip their toes in the Blue Rocket Sales Breakthrough waters..

Another Baby step we use is our Diagnostic-Engagement-Breakthrough Sales Design Project where we work with Management Teams and Key Stakeholders of a company for ONE day… on a money back guarantee – full re-imbursement basis.

If the company don’t get at least $50,000 in ideas, strategies to improve business, they don’t pay us.

If they decide to go ahead and work with us on an ongoing basis, they also don’t pay us..

So we’re offering what we belive is a NO BRAINER-NO RISK BABY STEP to companies who are serious about improving their sales and marketing.

What are you doing to offer NO BRAINER-NO RISK BABY STEPS?

By the way, if you want to find out more about our Diagnostic-Engagement-Breakthrough Sales Design Project and how it can be used in your company, click here and write DEBSDP in the Subject line.

In the meantime, make the Baby Step a NO BRAINER….

It’s how we all learned to walk after all..

See you next week.

Asking Great Questions Gets You Great Sales Results

Wayne and Mary recently went to a Financial Planner.

They had some Superannuation, some Life Insurance and a few other bits and pieces, but basically, their finances were all over the shop..

To Wayne’s pleasant surprise, the Financial Planner asked if he could ask a few questions, some of which might be a bit personal, (but then again, if you’re talking finances, it probably needed to get personal).

Barry (the Financial Planner) took out a document that looked about 10 or more pages and began working his way through.

He’d ask a question, get an answer, share a bit about himself or other clients in similar positions, then he’d ask another question.

The interesting thing about it from Mary and Wayne’s point of view was that Barry was helping them get insights into their finances they hadn’t had for years.

Barry had at last got them working ON their finances rather than being at the EFFECT OF their finances.

Barry was leading them to the inevitable conclusion that they had to take some serious action… and NOW..

So what is the sales training lesson in this for you in your business?

1. Do you have a structured, scripted sales system that inevitably draws your prospect to the conclusion they need to do business with you.. TODAY?

If you don’t have such a system you can be sure you are faking it.. making it.. flying by the seat of your pants and in most cases probably either not closing as many sales as you should be, or you’re leaving money on the table because you haven’t asked enough of the right questions.

You need to ask questions to get people to work ON their problems rather than be at the EFFECT OF their problems..

Here is a simple affirmation to help you

“I am an expert at getting people to work ON their ______________ problems (insert the name or product of your industry eg Health, Finance, Home Furnishings, Car, Relationships, Recruiting, Marketing, IT)  rather than being at the EFFECT OF their _______________________ problems(insert the name or product of your industry eg Health, Finance, Home Furnishings, Car, Relationships, Recruiting, Marketing, IT) .”

2. Are your questions designed to bring up emotions? Emotions like fear, pride, guilt, love, security, confidence, hope or anxiety are all weapons of persuasion you as a sales professional should be comfortable and confident using at the right time of the sales process.

If you’re not using those emotions in a strategic way, you are missing out on business and you seriously should be looking at yourself in the mirror.

A sales professional who doesn’t practice engaging those emotions is like an actor who has only one facial expression.. a brain surgeon who can only use a chisel… a musician who can only play one note..

3. If you don’t have a structured NEEDS DISCOVERY SYSTEM you are leaving your living to chance..

What do I mean by that?

The Needs Discovery Process needs to occur in a certain pre-determined order.

If you ask the wrong questions at the wrong time, you are setting yourself up for failure and may not even know it.

Barry the Planner asked broader, dream, retirement questions first, before he went into the ‘how much money will you need to make those dreams happen?’ questions.

Once he had the ‘how much money answers?’ he could then move into the ‘how can WE make this happen for you?’ questions.

(Notice the pre-supposition… WE make it happen for you…

‘We will get your business. You will sign with us. You will become our clients. You will pay our fee. You will make it happen. We will do the work for you. You just have to sit back and we will do it all for you.’

All these pre-suppositions are embedded into this one question.

We recommend to our clients becoming very strategic and intentional with their Needs Discovery questions.

We produce Needs Discovery Questionairre Documents and Systems for our clients.

We then work with them to drill, drill and over-drill the use of those documents and questions.

How well you operate in the Needs Discovery zone sets you up and determines how well you operate in the Closing Zone.

If you want to be a Super Closer, you’ll be a Super Needs Discoverer..

If you want some help and guidance in this area click here for a FREE coaching session on Needs Discovery Zone Structuring. Write NDZ in the Subject Line. We’ll know what you’re looking for.

PS; We are in the process of making sure we have all the entries to the ‘What is John Thinking’ Competition. We’ll announce the winner on Tuesday next week.

There are some absolute classic lines… some of which I can’t reprint here.. Thanks to everyone who has contributed so far.

Beautiful sunny day here in Perth…

Having a lazy start to the day after a mate’s 50th Birthday party last night..

It was an 80′s theme so everyone dressed in 80′s gear..

Everyone from Adam Ant to Indiana Jones and Madonna (look alikes) showed up..

The speeches reflected on my mates journey over the past 50 years and especially the memories and joys since the 1980′s..

When was the last time you heard Princes ’1999′ song.. and remembered when you first heard it and it seemed like centuries away when it would be 1999..?

Time flies by..

Adam Ant is probably a grandfather by now.. and like one of my other mates last night who had a black wig with ponytail and dark sunnies (his wife said he looked like a Big Slav)… hairlines and waistlines can and do change..

So what’s that got to do with you and your business?

Read on…

TIME… URGENCY… FOCUS AND SYSTEMS

In several coaching sessions with Sales Managers this week only reinforced some of the lessons I have been reminded of from Wayne Bennett’s autobiography ‘Man in the Mirror’..

Time is passing by too fast to let average performance, complacency, excuses or comprimised standards dominate the day.

Take control. Make the right decisions to put things RIGHT..

Here we go..

1. You have to let people know what you expect from them.

What does great performance look like?

As a leader, demonstrate for them what you want them to do.

For example, one of our retailer clients was not happy about how the team were not doing add on sales.

Yet only showing them once three months ago what the add on sales process looked like is NOT ENOUGH.

I said…. ‘You need to show them.. then show them again.. then get them to show you.. then get them to show you again.. and again.. and again..’

If only humans had a computer chip you could take out, add new software to, then re-install.

A bit like in the Matrix… just do a new download of the latest edition…

IT CAN’T BE DONE… YOU CAN ONLY REPROGRAMME THROUGH REPETITION..

(‘You mean we have to do it again… and again.. and again…?’)

‘Yes…’

How many times do you think McDonalds drill those teenagers to say ‘WOULD YOU LIKE FRIES WITH THAT?’

That drill is worth hundreds of millions of dollars per year to McDonalds.

That’s why they teach it… demonstrate it.. drill it… then teach it again.. then drill it.. then audit it.. then reward the behaviour.. then drill it again..

I could go on.. but what is another lesson from the week and Wayne Bennett?

2. ‘If you don’t care about people you can’t challenge them.’ pg 209 The Man in the Mirror – Wayne Bennett

Wayne was talking about a teacher (Brother Bible) he had at school that got him to step out of his comfort zones and challenge himself.

It was only because he knew the teacher truly cared about him that he took notice.

The same with you as a parent, Sales Manager, Sales person, Coach, Mentor and Leader.

When your people know you CARE about them, your words, your actions, your challenges RESONATE deeply.

How do they know you care about them?

Your words..

Your actions..

Your heart space..

We certainly care about your success..

Way and above any fees we might collect, the buzz, the joy, the internal satisfaction we achieve when we have made a difference in people’s lives and businesses makes it all worthwhile.

Let people know you care…. then from that space challenge them or ask them to challenge themselves to go to the next level..

I just wrote up a list of Coaching Questions for our Sales Manager clients to help them Challenge their team members to move to the next level of sales and performance.

You’ll see, we believe that challenging through QUESTIONING works way more powerfully than challenging through LECTURING and TELLING (or TYRADES).

Here are FIVE MILLION DOLLAR COACHING QUESTIONS to get you started: (I recommend you try them out during the next 7 days and see what happens… Write back and let us know..)

1. What do you believe is the next step for you?
2. What do you need to do to move to the next level?
3. What do you believe is holding you back from moving to the next level?
4. What do you think your colleagues think is holding you back from moving to the next level?
5. Are you willing to take those steps?

These are just some of the million dollar Coaching Questions good Sales Managers and leaders should be using to get people to DISCOVER THE ANSWERS FOR THEMSELVES..

TELLING ISN’T SELLING.. and TELLING ISN’T COACHING..

Here is a formula for you think about..

WORDS x ACTIONS x EMOTIONS = RESULTS

Want to find out more about how we can coach you to move to the next level email info@bluerocket.com.auand we’ll send you a FREE info pack and free introductory Coaching CD’s..

‘The journey of 1000 miles begins with the first step..’ Confucius..

Take the first step..

See you next week..

Leigh and Catherine at Cottesloe Beach on their 23rd Wedding Anniversary

Monday morning. Anzac Day weekend.

It’s a holiday here in Australia.. and its the weekend of my 23rd Wedding Anniversary.

Have had a lovely weekend of hanging out with my darling wife and family…

Breakfast by the beach.. wash the car.. swim with the Saturday morning crew, Art Exhibition at a mates exhibit in Freo and a couple of movies (as you do..)

(Here is a photo of Cath and I on Cottesloe Beach after breakfast.. and more evidence I can’t line up the shot on the Iphone..)

‘So What?’ some may ask.. ‘What about business… cashflow… MORE customers, MORE margin..?

Ok.. Let me get to that right now..

Here are just a couple of key lessons from last week..

MONDAY

Had a great Diagnostic and Design Day with a client here in Perth…

Within the first hour they knew 5 different ways to generate more leads with better headlines, better testimonials and better calls to action in their marketing materials.

By lunchtime they had revamped their packaging and by the end of the day said the ideas from the day would generate between 30% and 50% more revenue (for less work).

Within 24 hours they had used 2 of the techniques to close a deal they had been having trouble with for 2 years at TWICE the normal average fee..

Want to know more?

Lesson: A day working ON the business instead of another day working IN it can pay MASSIVE dividends.. (but only if you have the courage to take ONE day out and do it..)

We have 3 spaces left in the next 60 days for a Diagnostic and Design Day so if you’re interested and you have a team of 5 or more we can show you a way it is 100% risk free and laughably affordable..

Hit reply or the ‘Contact Us’ Page or phone to take up one of the three spaces left..

TUESDAY

A very good day of Sales Coaching with our B2B Sales Team using our ‘Doctor of Sales’ and ‘Video Feedback’ drill process.

These guys discovered just how important words and props are in the Sales Process…

Selling is Theatre.

You are using words, emotions, images, props, dreams, hope and certainty in the process.

You are using key words like ‘advantage’ and ‘what this means for you’ in your scripts or you are shooting yourself in the foot.

In most cases, you and I are not aware of the subtelties until we see ourselves on video.

If you are not capturing and deconstructing best sales practice in your business and incorporating it into your Sales Conversion System you will be wasting million dollar assets.

Want to know more?

Contact us and we can send you a Blue Rocket Introductory Pack including books, CD and DVD to start you on the journey.

THE REST OF THE WEEK..

We sent out the first of our monthly newsletters (to rave reviews and response I must say..)

There was much more including meetings, coachings and a great sales breakthrough with one of our media advertising clients but time is running out to tell you here…

Hope you caught our Sales Management Teleconference.

You can download the audio for free at
http://budurl.com/smcds

There is a Sea of Abundance out there..

Opportunities abound..When you Work ON..

When you have the courage to hop off the treadmill and take just ONE day out to work ON your business, the returns on the investment MULTIPLY ENORMOUSLY..

Contact us if you want an obligation free chat to EXPLORE how a Diagnostic and Design day can take your CASHFLOW and Business results to the next level..

OK.. so it’s Monday morning and I’m a day late with this post..

I got seduced yesterday..

by promises of good swell and offshore breeze…

So we raced up North to Lancelin for a quick surf..

It was terrific…but I ended up hitting someone else’s board on my last wave of the day and will need to pay the repair costs..

A small hiccup I will need to rebound and learn from… (like the rebound of me breaking my board in two on my Easter surf trip to Denmark – see photo)

Which brings me to subject of today’s post..

SO WHY IS REBOUNDABILITY SO IMPORTANT IN SALES AND BUSINESS?

You might think this is a dumb question… but then again, maybe not..

Things go wrong in business don’t they?

Things don’t always go right in sales either..

You put in a ton of work on a tender, a quote, a submission…. you think you’ve done everything right… then.. you  don’t get it..

You thought you did everything right… everyone else tells you did it right..

You’re flattended by it… (that’s natural..)

The key is.. How quickly do you BOUNCE BACK..

The normal reaction is the Elizabeth Kubler- Ross journey (she outlined in her book ‘On Death and Dying’)

Denial – Anger – Bargaining – Frustration/Depression – Acceptance – New World View..

The quicker you get to Acceptance the better..

You didn’t get the deal..

The real question is..

‘What can I learn from that?’

Even better questions are..

‘How can I improve my system so that doesn’t happen next time?’

and

‘Who can I study or go and ask who is an expert/ better closer than me and find out where I went wrong…or where I can improve and learn from that..?’

Most of us are way too close to our own processes and systems to see the insanities and blind spots in them.

I was with a client the other day in a sales training session who told me they only got a 10% conversion rate..

When we did the numbers on our Activity Calculator it meant they had do 20 detailed proposals per week (4 per day) to reach budget…

It was physically impossible..

So they were doing detailed proposals and simply EMAILING them to prospects HOPING that the prospect would

1. understand,

2. get excited,

3. see the value and

4. pick up the phone and say ‘YES PLEASE… I’D LOVE TO BUY FROM YOU..’

DREAM ON…

Once they explained the system they too could see the LUNACY in their approach..

POINT: Only in talking to someone outside their business, having an open mind to new ideas and looking at it objectivley and scientifically could they see why they were banging their heads against the wall..

Their world has changed..

We have changed the system..

They are rebounding..

There is new hope in that team..

No matter what happens, our goal should be to turn the situation into an opportunity..

As Napoleon Hill says in Think and Grow Rich, ‘to turn adversity to advantage…’

Be like a rubber ball… and keep bouncing back…

See you next post..

Thirty years after his death people still talk about Bon Scott, the legendary lead singer of AC/DC..

In this video Leigh is at Bon’s statue in Fremantle..

What can Bon Scott teach You about Sales and Marketing?
Check this out and discover some secrets..