Craig McConnell, President of PrintGrowPro, Inc.

At the risk of offending my gender and coming across as being anti-beer, belching, and football, I want to embark on a brief discussion as to why I think in some cases women are better at our profession than we are (and what we can do about it).

At the very least (guys), maybe (right after Sports Center) we need to give some thought to some of the concepts I’m going to proffer here today.

This whole discussion is predicated by my personal frustration at my inability to consistently implement what I think should be an integral part of every one’s weekly prospecting plan: the 3′ rule.

You know the rule: you should introduce yourself to (or at least start a conversation with) anyone who comes within 3′ of you (elevator, grocery line, airplane, bus stop, your doctor’s waiting room, etc.); you never know who could be a potential prospect. Try as I might, I just can’t (comfortably) pull this one off. Maybe it’s a testosterone thing? A coolness issue? Or, maybe it’s just me and I need to ‘buck up’ and ‘git r dun’?

I marvel at my wife and many of her colleagues for whom this skill comes naturally. Why is that? I don’t want to be a gender traitor, but here are some random musings for your consideration (again, don’t start on this process until after this week’s MNF kickoff).

Women are relationship junkies; they are flat out better at developing relationships (and making it a priority) than we are.

“Boys like things, girls like people.”**

Women are more comfortable sharing information.

“Boys compete, girls cooperate.”**

Women multi-task better and have better ‘to do’ lists than men (at least that is certainly the case with my wife and daughter).

Women are more intuitive and better with details.

Women read more than men.

Women say ‘thank you’ more than men (they even write ‘thank you’ notes).

Women are less inclined to embrace a hierarchy.

Women improvise with far more confidence than we do.

“We (men) hide our emotions and listen like statues. Women think aloud and talk.”**

I leave you with this quote from Judy Rosener: “Women have many exceptional faculties bred in deep history: a talent with words, a capacity to read non-verbal cues; emotional sensitivity; empathy; patience; an ability to do and think several things simultaneously; ……………….a penchant for long term planning; a gift for networking and negotiating; a a preference for cooperating, reaching consensus, and leading via egalitarian teams.”

Guys — let’s just think about it – please.

For more information on PrintGrowPro, Inc. please visit their site by clicking here.

Linda Bishop, President of Thought Transformation

Salespeople around the world have wasted ink and time writing proposals that don’t lead to sales. One reason for this is obvious: The customer didn’t request the proposal in the first place!

That’s right. The client didn’t ask for a proposal. The salesperson volunteered to do one.

Now if you were client, and an eager beaver salesperson offered to do a bunch of work that came with no strings attached, and their work helps you better understand the offering—or maybe even figure out how to get a competitive quote from Eager Beaver’s competition—why would you say “no thanks”?

Clients don’t say no because as smart buyers know, information helps you assess value and negotiate pricing.

So the client says, “Sure, why not?” Then Eager Beaver spends 2 to 10 hours researching, pricing and writing up the proposal in a pretty presentation format. The client receives it, gives it a quick glance and then sticks it on the corner of their desk saying, “I’ll have to read that later.”

But if they really weren’t ready to buy, they aren’t going to be reading it—or buying from Eager Beaver—anytime soon.

So here’s one solution selling rule from Thought Transformation. If the customer doesn’t flat-out ask for a proposal, don’t volunteer to give them one. Either they’re not ready to buy what you want to sell, or they’re not ready to buy from you.

Figure that out before you sit down and start typing.

For more information on Thought Transformation, click here.

Peter Ebner, President of Ebner Seminars

One of the most frustrating obstacles that we face is dealing with voice mail. It seems that more and more managers are using voice mail to screen their calls. So here’s a powerful voice mail message that will motivate the prospect to return your call.

To hear Peter’s thoughts, please click here.

Brian Sullivan, President at PRECISE Selling

Here is a simple truth. If you want people to dislike you, interrupt them…and do it quickly. If you are going to offend them, learn nothing from them, and show them who is in control, you might as well get right to point. This way you can hurry on to the next person, and quickly show them how smart you are.

But if you are one of those soft people who believe that learning by fully listening is a better way, then you better get used to the consequences. Because all you are “in for” is more knowledge, more skill, more control and more influence over everybody you are trying to serve. And with that, comes much responsibility. It means you have the communication skills of the world’s most influential top performers. It also means that if you are not careful, you just may end up selling more, leading more, and making nearly everybody you touch excited that they met you. The question is, “Can you handle all that new success?”

If you are ready to serve more people with fewer words, then congratulations! Now let’s get started. This week, pay close attention to every conversation you have. And here are your instructions. You are NOT allowed to speak until you can identify the last word spoken by the other person, repeat it in your head once, and then count to two. Then, and only then, are you allowed to speak. If you do this, there will be almost a strange but short silence between what they said and your response. Don’t be afraid of this silence! It only feels weird because all of us are so used to talking all over each other. After five days of doing this, it will become more natural. And over the next five days, be prepared to learn more from others than ever before.

Oh, and in six months don’t be surprised if people start interrupting you with questions about the heck you have recently become so successful! Just hear them out, count to two and share with them the secret to being a great communicator.

To read more from Brian Sullivan, please visit www.preciseselling.com.

Noah Knoble, Account Executive and Blogger

Finally, you have the decision maker’s ear, and because you put in the hard work earning the trust of the gatekeeper you can’t lose right? Wrong! Make no mistake about it, you still have a lot of work to do.

Do an experiment, next time you are out taking a walk, shopping, or just out and about, ask 10 complete different strangers “ How are you?” I am betting out of those 10 strangers all 10 will say they are good. Then stop and think, they probably responded, “ Good, how are you?” Then you realize, you responded that you are “good” to all 10 people as well. You think to yourself, why did I do that? I am not doing good, my boss is on me to make more sales, my car just broke down, and the one lead where I worked so hard to earn the gatekeeper’s trust, I still can’t seem to get through to the decision maker.

These are called auto responses, and in sales we hear these all the time, or more commonly known as buyer’s objections. I am going to focus in on two pre-programmed objections I hear the most, and am sure dominate our market. The first being “ I am happy with my current vendor, call back in a year.” Have no illusions, most of the time they probably are happy with their current vendor, but ask yourself, what is wrong with being number two? Try saying “I understand you are happy with your current vendor, but wouldn’t it be nice to have a backup plan?” You are letting the prospect know that you respect their current relationship, but you would still like the time to speak with them to become their number two in the event something should happen, which is only good planning. This does two things, shows the prospect that you respect what they are saying and are not ignoring them, and allows you the opportunity to learn their business without hitting a wall.

The second objection I hear the most is “ I am too busy, call me back next month” but every time you call back they say the same thing. There is a variety of ways to respond to this objection, but what I find most effective is to just be straight forward with them after the second or third time they tell you this. “ I can appreciate how busy you must be, but please tell me if you are just not interested so I can stop wasting the both of our time”. This typically receives an honest response, and then leads to more questions. Should they say, “You are right, I am not interested” well an easy response to that is “Why?” Which by the way usually ties back to the buyer’s objection we covered earlier.

Be prepared for any scenario, the more you practice your responses to buyer’s objections, the more doors you will open. Asking targeted questions is key to your success. So how are you?

Dale Rothenberger, VP of The Winters Group & Associates

As the economy continues to struggle to sustain growth and the job market continues to see more folks in unemployment, running a business these days is a daunting task. The focus today goes to the Marketing Executive for getting brand awareness and good quality leads, and to the Sales Exec on increasing close ratios on those leads.

Technology today is capable of qualifying leads, nurturing the selling cycle, and increasing close ratios using Voice of Customer and 1:1 relationships. We have improved every area of business operations, to run more smoothly, more effectively, and ultimately, more profitably. What more can we do to get more accomplished with fewer resources – principally, time, money, and energy. Today, real growth is about better ways to serve your clients.

Suppose you wanted real growth in your business. Where would you start? Typically, you would examine your business and look for ways to make it more efficient. Things you can control. Why not look away from the business and look at the customers, the marketplace, and where conditions have changed. Then, what can I do as the Owner, President, Marketing VP, or Sales Leader in gaining share? Will my resources allow me to move into new markets? Can I position my firm to be recognized in this space? Who is the competition already serving that community?

Another aspect of real growth is working out the kinks in your business that are hurting you in the marketplace. The “what would it take to destroy my business? “ exercise. That’s right, what would it take to run your business into the ground? What could you do to destroy your business? Here are a few suggestions:

• You could avoid any proactive prospecting activity and wait for prospective clients and customers to approach you.

• You could neither pay attention to the political, legislative, or economic conditions of your local business community nor determine the challenges for existing and prospective customers created by those conditions.

• You could maintain a superficial relationship with your clients rather than become more knowledgeable about and involved with their company and provide them with more service than they expected.

• You could avoid any activity that would help you become a better business owner, manager, or salesperson. 



You may be thinking, “What’s the point of all this?” Here’s the point: When you stop thinking about how to grow your business and start focusing on how to tear it down, you begin to uncover some truths – things that will most likely make you feel uneasy. You can’t sustain growth in your business until you stop destroying it.

Where else can you apply 180 degree thinking? Suppose you asked yourself, “What would I have to do to lose my clients?” or “What would I have to do to make my clients uncomfortable giving me referrals?” Eliminate the “cause and effect” situation before it can develop. Perhaps you’ll see some new solutions for growth.

You’re either growing or you’re dying, and the world is changing all around us. So, employ 180 degree thinking and make sure you’re growing.

For more information on The Winters Group and Associates, visit www.wintersmg.com.

Peter Ebner, President of Ebner Seminars

When prospecting for new business the receptionist can be your friend or a major obstacle that is preventing you from reaching the decision maker. So here’s how to get past a receptionist that is screening your call.

To listen to Peter’s sales tip of the week, click here.

Visit www.ebnerseminars.com for more information on Peter’s sales training.

Craig McConnell, President of PrintGrowPro

Mark Potter and his team at Canvas do an excellent job of reminding all of us how important it is to be a lifelong learner. After all, none of us would take a loved one to a physician who stopped learning the day after he or she graduated from medical school. An attorney who didn’t keep up with changes in the law? I don’t think so. A vet who already knew everything there was to know about animals? Not going to happen.

Our prospects and clients have a right to expect the same of us as sales people.

In keeping with this theme, I wanted to share with you something that was shared with me the other day during a lunch with a local graphic designer friend of mine.

We got into a discussion of problems graphic artists can inadvertently (?) create for printers by not building their files properly (inadequate bleeds, fonts not embedded in PDF, colors that are not converted from RGB to 4 color CYMK, not supplying hard copy) or by designing something that is tough to handle once you get it on press (ghosting, type reversed out of a four color image, IFC – page 1 cross-overs on different stocks).

Somehow from there, we went to email etiquette:

*never write in CAPITALS
*reply promptly
*check spelling and grammar
*be concise and to the point
*make sure your subject line is meaningful
*avoid humor that might be inappropriate
*avoid abbreviations
*don’t forget a proper salutation

Finally, and believe it or not, we were not even enjoying any ‘adult beverages’, we started talking about easy to read type faces (sounds like a fun lunch doesn’t it?) for a Blackberry or Iphone.. She made me aware of a free tool that Adobe offers that I didn’t know existed. For me, it was interesting and informative (but I am pretty boring) and I thought I’d share it with you as a part of your lifelong learning experience.

It’s Adobe’s Typography Primer.

Make it a great day and remember what Missouri’s two favorite son’s had to say about education and learning:

“It’s what you learn after you know it all that counts.” ~ Harry S. Truman

“Education consists mainly of what we have unlearned.” ~Mark Twain

For more information on PrintGrowPro, visit www.printgrowpro.com.

Linda Bishop, President of Thought Transformation

Time is the ultimate level playing field. We all get 24 hours in a day. If you use your time better than the competition, you’ll outsell them. So who are you going to see this week? Are you visiting prospects and customers where there are loads of profitable opportunities to explore?

Or are you seeing Likeable Larry? This guy doesn’t buy much but he’s always glad to see you and you enjoy the conversation.

Everyone repeat after me. “NOT ALL CUSTOMERS ARE CREATED EQUAL.”

Stop calling on Larry. Instead, spend time with customers who have big potential and help you grow your sales.

For more information on Thought Transformation please visit www.thoughttransformation.com or visit Linda’s blog at www.salesisnotforsissies.com.