Brian Tracy in his book Eat That Frog talks about the five reasons we avoid doing things:

1. Too Big
2. Too Complicated
3. We Don’t Know How
4. We Don’t Want To
5. No Fun

The difference between successful and the not so successful people is not they aren’t prone to acts of procrastination.  They just don’t allow themselves to get sucked into it.

If the task is too big, they break it down into manageable pieces so they can handle it better.  Too complicated?  They apply the KISS Principle—-Keep it Simple and Stupid.  Don’t know how to?  They learn what they need to know.  Don’t Want to?   They concentrate on the benefits they will achieve from doing the task.  No fun?  They simply find ways to enjoy themselves.

Bottom line is we all have choices to make in life.  We can avoid the tasks that we are not keen on doing and therefore stop us from achieving the results we want in life.  Or we can find ways to make those unseemly but necessary tasks easier to do and tolerate because they are critical to our success.

Procrastination is not an obstacle.  It is a choice.  How do you wish to proceed?

“The place I was living in I have to move out of because they are selling the building.  I really felt comfortable and I fear I won’t be as comfortable in a new place.  I do not like change.  How would you handle it?”

I said great question.  Then I asked him what is his worst fear about the situation?  He answered not feeling comfortable in the new place.  I then proceeded to say let’s suppose your worst fear comes true and you are not comfortable, do you die?  He said no.  I asked him do you lose all your money?  He said no.  I asked him do you lose your friends, family, job, etc?  He said no.   Then I asked him the ultimate question.

“If you are in no worse shape other than having moved to the wrong place, what’s the issue?”  He started laughing and said you’re right. I simply move again.  All of a sudden he felt better and was now free to move ahead and make a decision on where he was going to move.

You see, fear often clouds our judgment.  It blows up issues in our mind to levels of importance that are not called for.  And all of a sudden we stop thinking and are trapped in a state of fear that leaves us paralyzed from taking actions and enjoying life.

Customers do this all the time to sales people.  They say they have a reason why they can’t buy from you.  They have blown that reason up into such an issue that it is a deal killer.  Salespeople then make the fatal mistake and try to convince the customer their issue it not an issue at all, especially when they cannot address the issue.  This tactic simply elevates the importance of the issue to a higher level.  The customer digs in.

To help customers with their fear, you need to acknowledge the issue and then have them state the other issues that in play in this decision.  Then you ask the customer the following:

“If this issue (call it security) is very important, how much weight do you give it if your decision represent 100%?”  The customer will probably say it weighs about 80%.

Now you move on to the next issue:  Quality.  Ask them how important quality is and they will say something like 70%.  Even the new math does not support an equation of 70% (quality) plus (security) 80% equaling 100%.  You ask the customer to readjust his weights and security, the deal killer at 80%, will come down to say 60% with quality now weighing in at 40%.

But there still are other issues.  You keep doing the same process until you address all issues.

The result:  Security which, a deal killer at 80%, is often brought down to 30% of importance or less.  People are rarely 100% satisfied with their purchase.  They may think the price is too high, etc.  Get it down to 30% or less, you have a shot at the deal.

I have developed this process and used it with my clients and their sales have soared as a result.  You can read more about in Lead, Sell or Get Out of the Way.  It works like a charm. And the biggest value is the customer feels in control because they are making all the decisions and its their numbers they are using.

Here is the bottom line.  Just like my driver, customers have reasons why they can’t do business with you, just like my driver had reasons why he didn’t want to move.  When you take a customer, colleague, employee, family member, or friend, through a process where they can put all of their issues on the table and see for themselves how important each issue is in relation to the overall decision, you can often diffuse an issue you cannot address.

Don’t fight the issue.  Diffuse it!  Don’t let fear stop you or your customers from moving forward!

This is what leaders do.   They help people navigate issues to make sure they are making the right decisions.  Act like a leader and your influence will skyrocket and so will your business.

Michael is a young man in a big body.  The coaches expect him to be a star football player right off the bat without ever having played the game.  They are frustrated when he keeps screwing up because of his lack of knowledge of the game and blocking skills necessary to succeed.

Frustrated one day, Sandra is at practice and tells the coach to hold up a minute.  She found out from the high school guidance counselor that while Michael scores were at the lower end on most metrics, he scored in the highest percentile (98%) in protective instincts.  Meaning he is an individual you can trust to watch your back and protect you.

Sandra immediately pulls Michael by the shoulder pads and tells him to consider his quarterback, full back and all the other players on his team to be his family.  That the other team is looking to hurt his family.  And his job is to protect them and make sure no one lays a hand on the player with the ball.

On the very next play Michael protects “his family” and goes on to become an NFL Star.

Here is the point.  All of us are not equal.  If you are a manager coaching every player on your team in skill development using the same techniques and same motivation for everyone, you are not going to get optimal performance from every player.  You must understand each individual’s character and make-up.  Your must coach to each player’s strength and potential.

The same holds true in sales.  Every buyer has a different make-up and makes decisions based on their individual behavioral styles, motivators and experiences.  You cannot present your offering the same way to all of your customers.  You must customize it to their personal traits and needs.

Look for the Blind Side in your customers and employees.  You will see your success skyrocket!

The fastest way to grow your business and sales is by providing your customers with great customer experiences. Great customer experiences occur when everyone in the company, not just the sales reps, accept the responsibility and accountability for the role they play in the process. This video shows one example of how people were not vigilant in creating a great customer experience. It also depicts how a 50 year old company excels in creating great customer experiences by enrolling all of its employees into the process of creating great customer experiences.

ITo learn more about this subject, please join me on Monday, October 3rd at 2pm ET for a free webinar where we will show you how to engage alliances as well as other strategies to immediately grow your sales. Click here to reserve your free seat now!

Check Out the November Sales Success Summit ’11 in Orlando Florida, an event destined to dramatically increase your sales success. Spend two days with me and I will personally customize ideas that have generated millions of dollars for my clients to your selling environment. This is a small group. Two days of personalized attention. Reserve your seat today by clicking here!

Getting people to accept your point of view or proposals depends on how well you portray confidence to the person that you are trying to influence. To close more deals and get people to do what you are asking, learn the mindsets from which you need to operate!

A customer-focused mindset is the key to my proven leadership selling process. Based on decades of research with companies of all sizes including Cognis Chemicals, UPS, Marriott and Hertz, I reveal what great sellers do inside my book “Lead, Sell or Get Out of the Way”, and I show you how anyone can implement the same powerful tips.

To learn more about this subject, please join me on Monday, October 3rd at 2pm ET for a free webinar where we will show you how to engage alliances as well as other strategies to immediately grow your sales. Click here to reserve your free seat now!

Check Out the November Sales Success Summit ’11 in Orlando Florida, an event destined to dramatically increase your sales success. Spend two days with me and I will personally customize ideas that have generated millions of dollars for my clients to your selling environment. This is a small group. Two days of personalized attention. Reserve your seat today by clicking here!

Please forward this video link to your friends and colleagues. Please leave comments on how you get into the right mindset to close deals.

Want to Increase Your Level of Influence in All Areas of Your Life? Watch this video and avoid common catch phrases that will demotivate people from acting on your ideas. Please leave comments on the phrases you hear that just irritate you.

My CEO bestselling book “Lead, Sell or Get Out of the Way”, will show you how to communicate persuasively and effectively what it is you offer your clients – no matter what you are selling. This highly effective messaging system will help you close more deals in less time.

To learn more about this subject, please join me on Monday, October 3rd at 2pm ET for a free webinar where we will show you how to engage alliances as well as other strategies to immediately grow your sales. Click here to reserve your free seat now!

Check Out the November Sales Success Summit ’11 in Orlando Florida, an event destined to dramatically increase your sales success. Spend two days with me and I will personally customize ideas that have generated millions of dollars for my clients to your selling environment. This is a small group. Two days of personalized attention. Reserve your seat today by clicking here!

Last week I had to call back a senior executive of a client who hired me to speak to his team last September. The speaking engagement went very well and he wanted to talk to me about a bigger project.

On the phone, he immediately started to tell me he could not go forward at this moment due to a re-organization. Immediately I felt my energy tanking and the negative thoughts of not getting a deal starting to cloud my mind. Realizing this, I immediately changed wavelengths and thought about how it would feel when we agree to extend the relationship.

Just this shift in thinking and energy led to a critical question where I asked him to tell me about the re-organization. He started to share the goals, challenges and status of where things stood. I shared with him a critical mistake that many organizations make regarding the issues he was dealing with.

That suggestion caught him off guard and he asked me for a proposal. Imagine that; a legitimate opportunity that would never have occurred if I let my energy control my thoughts at the time I thought there was no business.

The mind is very powerful. If our mind is filled with negative thoughts and emotions, our actions will in turn attract negative results. Life is about energy. What we project is what we get in turn.

No matter your situation, don’t think about what you don’t want to have happen. If I ask you not to think about pink elephants, what are you thinking about? Pink elephants! The mind cannot process negative thoughts.

Whatever you are thinking about what you don’t want to have happen will happen! Conversely, whatever you are thinking about what you want to have happen will happen!

What should you be thinking about? Your answer will dictate whether or not you will close the deal!

Want to know about other beliefs and traits Top Producing Sales Executives, Professional Service Providers and other People of Influence use on a daily basis? Download for free the first three chapters of my bestselling book Lead, Sell or Get Out of the Way!

Tim decided to buy lumber and bring it to a warehouse where he could regrade it and create a product that exceeded industry acceptable standards. His company created a whole new packaging and labeling system that actually drove down inventory costs. He added a few more innovative products and services, until one day, his competitors realized Tim had created a new way of doing business.

Tim Seale is a visionary. He realized that a new vision was needed and that a whole new set of actions were required if he was to succeed in turning that vision into reality. It wasn’t easy, but he succeeded.

In these difficult times, what steps do you need to turn your vision into a reality?

How to Plan for the Future in Difficult Times

Timber Trading survived the housing downturn that crippled the building industry and the lumber industry. They understood the importance of visualizing the future and building a plan based on that future.

Here are questions to consider:
1. What changes do you see in your industry?
2. What ways can you improve your business and its way of doing business?
3. What can you do to set your company apart from competitors?

If you think the problem through, you’ll see the hidden opportunities that will help you reach your goals.

Download for free the Five Beliefs and 7 Traits of Great Sellers. It will help supercharge your career.

In looking at his success over the past 4 years, the three key strategies he used to build his fame are what I have been urging my audiences as a motivational sales speaker to do themselves on a daily basis. And you can use them too to enhance your success in life.

1. Hard Work – Justin knew that in order to succeed, he had to win over all of his market segments. That included the fans, radio stations and recording studios. He first started making YouTube videos of his songs and posted them on the internet. Slowly but surely, he developed a following until one day a record produce saw his video and signed him to a contract.
Justin did not stop there. He then went to hundreds of radio stations to promote his songs and gain their support to play them on the air. He gained their support not just by showing up, but by using the internet to make the radio stations successful. Before each appearance he would send tweets, write blogs on where he was appearing next. Fans started to show up and before you knew it the radio stations had huge throngs outside their studios waiting for Justin. He made the radio stations successful that were happy to return the favor.

2. Be Damn Good- There is an old marketing saying that you are your best marketing brochure. Want to sell more of your stuff and ideas, be good at what you do. Better yet, be great at what you do.

3. Create a Phenomenal Customer Experience- Justin excels at creating phenomenal customer experiences. He is all about being out there with his fans and making sure they are enjoying themselves. On this morning’s Today Show, Justin was promoting his upcoming movie and talked about how he enjoyed going to the top row of the venues he was playing at and giving front row tickets to some of those folks. That act alone has created hundreds if not thousands of lifetime fans who are now promoting his work to all of their friends. He understands the power of the customer experience and how that can propel anyone’s success.

During that same interview, Matt Lauer brought in a female fan from the street to ask Justin a question. The girl was in shock. First thing Justin did was to give her his 3 D glasses and made her feel comfortable. After answering the question, he told the girl to come here and he gave her a hug. In Matt Lauer’s words to Justin, “you just made that girl a hero in the eyes of her friends”. Justin knows that each and every encounter with a customer is an opportunity to either lose or win a customer for life. He excels at winning customers for life.

Justin Bieber may only be 17 years of age, but he has a lot to teach all of us on how to propel both our organizations and ourselves to greater levels of success.

To learn more about this subject, please join me on Monday, October 3rd at 2pm ET for a free webinar where we will show you how to engage alliances as well as other strategies to immediately grow your sales. Click here to reserve your free seat now!

Check Out the November Sales Success Summit ’11 in Orlando Florida, an event destined to dramatically increase your sales success. Spend two days with me and I will personally customize ideas that have generated millions of dollars for my clients to your selling environment. This is a small group. Two days of personalized attention. Reserve your seat today by clicking here!

First obstacle is your belief that you cannot influence others. Anytime you think about what you cannot do, most often you will create that dreaded result as a self fulfilling prophecy. The mind cannot process the negative. If you think you cannot get that person to say yes, the mind is only thinking about that person saying no. Everything you do will be centered on that result and that’s how you produce a self fulfilling prophecy. On the other hand, if you think about how this person is going to agree with you, then your mind is now thinking about a different end result and your actions will be different. Influence starts and ends with your mindset. Click here to read more on the beliefs that will enhance your success in life.

Second obstacle is your need to put your self-interests ahead of others. People act on things and ideas for their own reasons, not yours. Find out what people are trying to accomplish. Then show how your ideas/requests are going to help them achieve their goals. Do this often and your level of influence will increase significantly. Your ability to influence others does not lie in the words you use, but in the context in which you say them.

Third obstacle is the propensity to take rejection personally. When someone does not accept your ideas, they are not rejecting you. They simply do not feel it is in their best interests and that the risk vs. reward is too high. Stop allowing the stories in your mind to take over. Simply find out what’s missing for the person you are trying to influence and fill in that gap. Remember, people do things for their own reasons, not yours.

Bottom Line: Many times ideas are rejected not because they are bad, but because their value has not been properly communicated. Influence is about meeting the needs of others and helping them achieve their desired results. Concentrate on eliminating the three self imposed obstacles and watch your level of influence skyrocket. Click here to download three free chapters of a book that will help you increase your sphere of influence.

Please comment on this post and let us know what you have done to help incresae your sphere of influence.