Posts Tagged ‘ronkarr.com Larry O’Donnell’
Tim Seale, president of Timber Trading had built a successful wholesale lumber business. However, he realized there was going to be a limited premium that customers would be willing to pay to a middleman to facilitate deals between lumber yards and mills. The only way he would remain profitable was to add value to the process.
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.
Tags: Business Development, Closing, Closing sales, cold calling, cold calling techniques, Customer Loyalty, customers, employees, Increase Profits, Leadership, leadership speaker, leadersship expert, leadrship, marketing, motivation, Motivational Speaker, negotiation speaker, Negotiations, Outcomes Based Selling, Public Sales Seminar, Retail Sales, ronkarr.com Larry O'Donnell, Sales Boot Camp, sales coaching, sales leader, sales leadership, sales motivation, sales process, sales speaker, sales strategies, sales trainer, sales training, Sales Training Program, sell effectively, Success, Telemarketing, Telemarketing sales, value added sales
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The key to your success is the ability to influence others to accept your ideas, requests, etc. The good news is everyone has the capacity to influence others. All you have to do to harness the capacity is remove three self imposed obstacles that usually get in your way.
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.
Tags: Business Development, Closing, Closing sales, cold calling, cold calling techniques, Customer Loyalty, customers, employees, Increase Profits, Leadership, leadership speaker, leadersship expert, leadrship, motivation, Motivational Speaker, Negotiation, Negotiations, Outcomes Based Selling, Public Sales Seminar, Retail Sales, ronkarr.com Larry O'Donnell, Sales Boot Camp, sales leader, sales leadership, sales motivation, sales process, sales speaker, sales strategies, sales trainer, sales training, Sales Training Program, sell effectively, Success, teamwork, Telemarketing, Telemarketing sales, value added sales
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If companies are to survive today, they must convince customers and prospects that their products/services are not just nice to have, but are a “must have.”
That’s the position Karen Cone found herself in at the beginning of the Great Recession when she was President and CEO of TowerGroup, the leading research and advisory services firm focused exclusively on the financial services industry. Having to cut expenses in all areas, her clients were wondering if they truly needed those services. Her competitors were losing clients as well so Cone started working with me.
“We needed to change the sales strategy and find a way to deal with clients in crisis. And we needed to communicate and sell our value proposition in a way that was different and more compelling than what had worked before,” she said. “In other words, we needed to move from being considered a “nice to have” to a “must have.”
We both agreed that if her sales force was going to succeed, it had to move from selling a product to selling an end result. That way they could raise the importance of the service in the minds of the buyers.
The results were extraordinary.
“Many of our competitors were being cut out all together,” she said. “We actually retained the vast majority of our clients. And we retained them at a level of spend that was extremely respectable.”
“As budgets loosened up, TowerGroup was really well positioned to take advantage of that,” she said. “These methodologies and approaches made a big difference in helping that happen.”
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 Comment on how you turned your products/services from a nice to have to a “must” have
Tags: Business Development, CBS, Closing, Closing sales, cold calling techniques, Customer Loyalty, customers, Increase Profits, Leadership, leadership speaker, leadersship expert, leadrship, Medical Sales, motivation, Motivational Speaker, Negotiation, negotiation speaker, Negotiations, Outcomes Based Selling, Real Estate Sales, Retail Sales, ronkarr.com Larry O'Donnell, Sales, sales coaching, sales leader, sales leadership, sales process, sales speaker, sales strategies, sales trainer, sales training, Sales Training Program, sell effectively, Success, Telemarketing, Telemarketing sales, Value add selling, value added sales
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In building your business, whether you are a sales person, CEO, VP Sales, Entrepreneur, Provider of Professional, etc, you have two options. A) Start from scratch and spend lots to time and money in achieving your results, or B) Acquire the knowledge you need by learning from the mistakes of others and using proven techniques to shorten your ramp up.
These two options are similar to what executives and CEO’s deal with in deciding on whether or not to bring in an outside expert to speak at their conferences or use internal experts. Experience shows that outside speakers generate different and sometimes better results than internal speakers.
Internal speakers gain instant credibility as the audience already feels they understand their environment and needs. They already have a relationship developed and can help fill the gaps. But that is as far as they can go.
The downside of using an internal speaker is limiting the viewpoints and strategies to a certain way of thinking. Outside speakers bring a new viewpoint and best practices from other organizations and industries that provide invaluable insight into new ways of thinking.
Some internal speakers are quite good in their ability to speak and move an audience. Yet, for them, it is a part time job as they only do it when asked. Professional speakers hone their craft on a daily basis with a variety of audiences. They know how to move an audience to action. They bring new ideas through personal stories complete with examples of implementation.
There are three phases to adult education: Awareness, transference of skills and measurement of results. External experts/speakers not only provide their audiences with awareness, but they also help them with implementation through powerful examples of how their ideas are transferred into action. The value of a professional speaker is the ability to tell these stories in a motivational and powerful manner to not only keep the audience’s attention but to move them to action.
The challenge for professional speakers today is that there is no patience on the part of audiences for generic presentations that do not take into account the clients environment. There are greater expectations on the part of clients for professional speakers/outside experts to tailor their content to the needs of the client. Professional speakers need to research the client’s environment, goals and obstacles. They need to prove to the audience from the first word that they do understand their world. When a professional speaker tailors her content to the needs and environment of the audience, there is no better presentation available to the client.
So when you plan your next conference, please don’t just look at the budget. While there may be an expense to hiring a professional speaker, you can easily see that by hiring the right professional speaker, the fee for their services is miniscule as compared to the time and money you save by acquiring the right content that will move your audience to action and achieve their goals. Plus, getting an outside perspective brings a sense of reality to the organization and breaks the cycle of limited thinking.
When it comes to building your organization, do you want an apprentice or a pro?
Tags: Business Development, CBS, Closing sales, cold calling techniques, Customer Loyalty, employees, Leadership, leadership speaker, leadersship expert, leadrship, motivation, Motivational Speaker, Negotiation, negotiation speaker, Negotiations, Public Sales Seminar, Retail Sales, ronkarr.com Larry O'Donnell, Sales, Sales Boot Camp, sales coaching, sales leader, sales leadership, sales motivation, sales speaker, sales strategies, sales trainer, sales training, Sales Training Program, sell effectively, Success, Telemarketing, value added sales
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In April of 2008, Steve Keating, Manager of Selling Skills at the Toro Company, heard me speak about using social media to build one’s sales. Already involved with Twitter, Steve had at the time a few hundred followers. After hearing the presentation, he decided to make it a key strategy in building both his personal brand and enhancing the value proposition of Toro.
Today, Steve enjoys a following of over 65,000 people! His twitter ID is @LeadToday. In building his list of followers, Steve employed 3 simple tactics:
1. Provide valuable ideas on how to be an effective leader
2. Re-tweet valuable ideas from others thereby expanding his network and leveraging other people’s wise thoughts
3. Show appreciation by thanking those who have re-tweeted his ideas and thoughts
This was a process that Steve has nurtured on a consistent and disciplined basis.
So how did Steve and Toro benefit from getting 65,000 followers? For one, it strengthened the relationships with dealers and distributors by providing ideas on how to grow their businesses. This resulted in Toro enhancing its overall value proposition and keeping its competitors at bay.
In addition, the brand of Toro was also enhanced. Imagine having 65,000 people interested in leadership reading Steve’s daily tweets on a consistent basis. How much would it cost Toro to get this kind of exposure on a daily basis using other media outlets? With Twitter the total cost can be rounded to the grand sum total of zero dollars. Add to this the flexibility of customizing messages to events happening real time. This by itself makes Toro and Steve more relevant to the market place.
Finally, the connections Steve has made around the world with other leadership experts exposes him to additional ideas and concepts he can easily import into his organization thereby making him more valuable to Toro’s success and enhancing his own personal brand.
This is the power of Twitter. Notice how Steve does not sell his products in his tweets. He simply builds value which in turn creates buzz that generates business.
Congratulations Steve. And thank you for recommending Lead, Sell or Get Out of the Way to your list.
Tags: Business Development, Closing, Closing sales, cold calling, cold calling techniques, Customer Loyalty, customers, employees, Leadership, leadership speaker, leadersship expert, leadrship, marketing, motivation, Motivational Speaker, Negotiation, negotiation speaker, Negotiations, Public Sales Seminar, Retail Sales, ronkarr.com Larry O'Donnell, Sales, sales leader, sales leadership, sales motivation, sales process, sales speaker, sales strategies, sales trainer, sales training, Sales Training Program, sell effectively, Success, teamwork, Telemarketing, Telemarketing sales, value added sales
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Something happened this weekend that reminds us all that we should not only appreciate the ultimate sacrifices made by our brave men and women fighting for our freedom, but also take time to thank the living and show our appreciation for all that they have done to help us achieve our successes.
The incident I am referring to is the untimely passing of the legendary child actor Gary Coleman. The child star of Different Strokes stormed into our living rooms in the early 1980’s, broke down racial barriers and touched the hearts of many with his loveable and sassy personality. Unfortunately, after the show Different Strokes went off the air, Gary’s fortunes came to an abrupt end and the rest of his life was saddled with financial and personal woes.
You may ask how this is different from all the other stories of child actors who could not smoothly transition into adult life. What’s different is not so much Gary’s story, but the untold story of how his loved ones wished they had repaired their relations with him and his wife before it was too late.
Gary sued his parents and manager for allegedly mishandling his earnings from Different Strokes. Estranged from his parents at the time of his pre-mature death on Friday, his mother told the Associated Press that she had prayed that “nothing like this would happen before we could sit with Gary and Shannon and say, ‘We’re here and we love you.’ ”
We have Memorial Day to thank and remember those who made the Ultimate Sacrifice. We have Thanksgiving to give thanks for all of our riches.
We have 362 days a year to thank everyone who has made a difference in our lives and to simply say we love you. Use each and every one of those days to give thanks. Saying thank you and showing appreciation while people are alive allows them to experience your true heartfelt feelings. Don’t wait until it’s too late and you are then forced to say “I wish I only said…..”
Tags: Business Development, Closing sales, cold calling, cold calling techniques, Communications, Customer Loyalty, customers, employees, Family Relations, Influence, Leadership, leadership speaker, leadersship expert, leadrship, marketing, motivation, Motivational Speaker, Negotiation, negotiation speaker, Negotiations, Personal Relations, Public Sales Seminar, Retail Sales, Retail Success, ronkarr.com Larry O'Donnell, Sales, Sales Boot Camp, sales coaching, sales leader, sales leadership, sales motivation, sales process, sales speaker, sales strategies, sales trainer, sales training, Sales Training Program, sell effectively, Success, teamwork, Telemarketing, Telemarketing sales, value added sales, voice mail
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In the gym of my daughter’s high school (Northern Valley Old Tappan-NVOT), there is a banner that reads-
Welcome to NVOT-Where sportsmanship is an expectation. So please let the players play. Let the coaches coach. Let the officials officiate. Let the spectators be positive.
This sign caught my eye because all too often I see people in leadership roles who don’t understand what they are supposed to be doing. For example, sales mgrs often travel with sales reps and usually take over the call under the guise of trying to get the deal. I know we must close the business. However, the true role of the sales manager is not only to come in and save the day, but to also coach his people on how to effectively sell. That means letting the salesperson do the talking so you can see where the gaps are. Then, once the call is over, the mgr should review the call, identify the gaps and provide guidance. Then go on to the next call and do the same process.
This is critical because if the sales manager always closes the deal, then the salesperson never really gets trained on how to do it and will not be able to do it when the sales manager is not there.
Bottom line. Are people in your organization really doing the things they are supposed to be doing. If not, the growth of the business is at stake. Like the sign says- Let the players play, let the coaches coach, etc.
If you want to give your salespeople a great education on how to double, triple or quadruple their sales, check out Lead, Sell or Get Out of the Way and our Two Day Sales Boot Camp Happening in Two Weeks!
Tags: Business Development, Closing, Closing sales, cold calling, cold calling techniques, Customer Loyalty, customers, employees, Increase Profits, Leadership, leadership speaker, leadersship expert, leadrship, marketing, motivation, Motivational Speaker, Negotiation, Negotiations, ronkarr.com Larry O'Donnell, sales leader, sales motivation, sales strategies, sales trainer, sales training, sell effectively, Success, Telemarketing, Telemarketing sales, value added sales
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You know the old saying “if you have nothing nice to say about somebody then say nothing at all”! Well, here’s a new saying: “If you don’t have your facts in order, don’t bother marketing to your audience”! Just like saying something bad can turn people off, so can saying something stupid and untrue in your marketing pieces. It will kill your brand!
Last night I got a letter addressed to me. First problem is it was addressed to my full name which is Ronald. I never use it in business, social or in any settings. On the cover of my book Lead, Sell or Get Out of the Way it says Ron Karr. Right there, they lost me because this letter smelled of being a rotten form letter where the sender knew nothing about me.
But Wait! It gets better. The sender of this letter is the sales rep who sold me my Audi Q7 in 2007. There is a huge punch line here so you’ll want to keep reading. I promise you are going to like this!
In his letter, the sales rep starts with “Happy Anniversary! It’s been three years and no doubt many long and winding roads since you drove away from our dealership in your AUDI Q7. We sincerely hope you are enjoying every stretch of asphalt, every twist and turn in this remarkable vehicle.” The letter goes on to ask for referrals and to let him know of if he can be of service to me.
The letter was dated May 3rd!
Here’s the punch line! I turned in my AUDI Q7 on April 16th to this very same sales rep. He took the car in and sent the papers to the leasing company. He knows I bought a competitor’s car. And yet on May 3rd he sends me a letter hoping I am still enjoying the AUDI experience!
Maybe this is a clue on why I left AUDI to begin with. Their customer service experience in the service dept did not justify the value of high prices. Obviously the sales experience was equally pathetic.
What we have here is someone who learned a marketing tactic of sending letters with the customer’s name on it to appear they are customized to the client. This is a useless tactic if you know nothing about your customer to begin with. Especially your existing customers! With this vain attempt in showing he cared about me he has literally destroyed any value I had left for the AUDI Brand and for his own personal brand.
Many of you reading this probably would never do such a stupid and senseless act. But are you doing minor things that in the end are going against the brand image you are trying to build and market?
Yesterday I had lunch with a client at a restaurant that is doing great but in a spot the last 4 owners failed miserably. I wondered why this guy was so successful. My client responded that any restaurant is only as good as the last meal served. In other words, each and every interaction has to be supportive of the brand you are building. If not, your customers will not come back again.
Now, please forgive me for a brief commercial. But we are ecstatic about announcing our all new Lead, Sell or Get Out of the Way Sales Boot Camp in June. It will provide you with the tactics and strategies on how you can Double, Triple and Quadruple both your Top Line Revenues and Bottom Line Profits! Click here for more info! This program will ensure your customers keep coming back to you and buying more stuff! That is my promise and guarantee to you!
Tags: Business Development, Closing, Closing sales, cold calling, cold calling techniques, Customer Loyalty, employees, Leadership, leadership speaker, leadersship expert, leadrship, motivation, Motivational Speaker, Negotiation, Negotiations, Retail Sales, ronkarr.com Larry O'Donnell, sales coaching, sales leader, sales leadership, sales speaker, sales strategies, sales training, sell effectively, Success
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Instead of concentrating on being more successful, work on increasing the velocity in your efforts on a daily basis. What is velocity? It is the ability to get more done in less time. It is about gaining speed, power and momentum in your actions to achieve your goals in less time than originally anticipated.
Granted this is what we all want. But how many times do we let the small things in life mess with our velocity. Things like false assumptions. Too often we take people’s words and create our own stories as to what we think they are saying. Then our actions are based on these stories we have created and often miss the mark. It happens in sales and leadership all the time. And we wonder why we don’t get the sales or move the organization forward in a timely manner. There goes your velocity!
How about when you don’t think things through clearly and you operate out of a task mentality vs. purpose mentality. Yes, you may be busy. But are you doing the necessary work that needs to be done so you can achieve your goals? If you are letting your tasks drive you vs. your purpose, there goes your velocity!
How about when we try to influence others based on what we need vs. what they want and need? Are your recommendations truly being heard and acted upon? Or are they being received as some pushy sales pitch or order that is less likely to be accepted? There are two types of actions in this world: The limited action necessary to keep one happy and pretend you are doing your job, and the action of being all-in; where you are doing whatever it takes to get the job done. If you want people to accept your ideas, support you and be all-in, make sure you’re positioning them in the context of how they are going to benefit. Not because you need it. If you don’t change your context, there goes your velocity!
Velocity is the key to success in sales, leadership, negotiations, customer service and just about anything else in life. Ask yourself, what can I do today in my conversations and actions that will add velocity to my life and help me achieve my goals quickly? Here’s the funny thing. Your answer, if you think this through clearly, has more to do with how you can help others succeed vs. your own success. This is what generates true velocity!
Velocity is the key theme woven throughout the entire book Lead, Sell or Get Out of the Way!
Tags: Business Development, CBS, Closing, Closing sales, cold calling, cold calling techniques, Customer Loyalty, employees, Increase Profits, leadership speaker, leadersship expert, Motivational Speaker, Retail Sales, ronkarr.com Larry O'Donnell, Sales, sales coaching, sales leader, sales leadership, sales motivation, sales process, sales speaker, sales strategies, sales trainer, sales training, sell effectively, Success, Telemarketing, Telemarketing sales, value added sales
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Why did Steve Teel of Teel’s Baseball (academy softball and baseball) bring me in to speak with their coaches on sales skills? The answer is simple. Coaches need to know how to communicate to all of the buying influences if they are going to grow their business.
Steve Teel is a smart business owner. He knows there are several buyers in any sale. In his market, you have the kid taking the lessons. Let’s call him or her the end user. You also have the parents who sign the checks. They usually have a different set of needs and desires than the kids do. And then you have the area coaches who can act as a great source of referrals.
Steve realized that if his coaches do not spend time with the parents asking about their expectations, they will feel neglected and the possibility will exist that the coaches will fall short in certain areas. Steve understands that his coaches need the same set of skills a professional sales person uses. Afterall, any coach at any level has to sell their ideas to their students or clients. Therefore, you need to know how to ask the right questions, how to present the ideas so they are acted on and how to listen to your customers.
After spending an hour with his coaches, the results were dramatic. Some coaches left with a renewed sense of purpose regarding the tremendous impacts they have on the lives of their young clients. All of the coaches now have a greater appreciation of the role the parents play in the success of their lessons and are now making them an active part of the process.
Bottom line, referrals have increased as have revenues from satisfied clients.
By the way, Teel’s Baseball was very successful before they brought me in. Like all successful companies, they realized there were things they needed to pay attention to if they were going to stay at the top.
What things do your sales people need to pay attention to in order to get to the top or stay at the top? What increases are you looking for in your sales career and life? If you are looking to increase your sales and earnings, then get your copy of Lead, Sell or Get Out of the Way today! This is the book I used for the presentation to Teel’s.
Tags: Business Development, Closing, Closing sales, cold calling, cold calling techniques, Customer Loyalty, customers, employees, Leadership, leadership speaker, leadersship expert, leadrship, marketing, Motivational Speaker, Negotiation, negotiation speaker, Negotiations, Retail Sales, Retail Success, ronkarr.com Larry O'Donnell, sales leader, sales leadership, sales motivation, sales process, sales speaker, sales trainer, sales training, sell effectively, Success, SuperBowl, teamwork, Telemarketing, value added sales, Waste Management
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