Spring Forward with Velocity
As spring approaches, I’ve been thinking of new starts and renewals, specifically of the time I decided to launch my speaking/consulting business over thirty years ago. I was in an unfulfilling management job at the time—successful but not satisfied. My business skills had helped me to succeed but so had two important questions: What is my purpose (or goal) and do my actions support my purpose? Those questions had guided me, but I’d reached a point where I was stuck. ...
Selling with Sight and Sound to Gain Velocity
Selling an intangible idea can be tough. When you are trying to sell your competitive advantage, it can be challenging to verbalize the concept in a powerful way that resonates with your prospect. Intangibles leave a lot to the imagination, and that doesn’t necessarily work in your favor. If you’re running into trouble, you may be relying too much on your prospect’s ability to absorb information via their sense of hearing. Your differentiated advantage is on the line, so it’s...
What’s THEIR Problem?
Business is quite simple when you get right down to it. It’s all about problems. No matter what product or service you are selling, people buy from you to fix their problems. This tells us a lot about how to increase sales with the Velocity Mindsetô. The word problem can sound negative, but fixing a problem may really be about finding a better solution or way of doing things. Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary defines problem as “a question raised for inquiry, consideration,...
Three Rules for Generating Creative Velocity
We’ve all fallen into the trap of doing the same things over and over and expecting different results. Some people call that the definition of insanity. Here’s how it plays out in our daily lives: You are trying to figure out how to close a deal that won’t close. You want your client to realize your true value and provide opportunities to sell the rest of your services. You’ve been trying for months to land that big client. Whatever it...
What Is Your ASK?
One of the biggest issues that prevent people from achieving their goals is a lack of clarity on their ASK. I encounter this problem all the time, and its impact is profound. For example, a sales exec calls me and asks how to handle a call with a new exec on the buyer side. The first thing I ask is, “What is your ASK”? The answer usually is: “I educate the buyer on what we can do for them.” But...
How to Grow Your Business in Less Time in 2019
Sales and leadership have taught me a great deal about relationships, and so have those of you who have been on this journey with me over the years. We have worked together and grown together, and you have allowed me to develop as a consultant, speaker, and writer. That is why I am so excited to share the Velocity Mindset with you because everything I have learned from you has helped me to develop this breakthrough. ...
Turning Defeat into Success
In June 2014 I had the opportunity to provide some concluding remarks and summarize my year as president of the National Speakers Association at their annual convention. The year had been the journey of a lifetime, and it was also my best year in business. I felt like I was on the top of the world until it came crashing down a few months later. Over the next two-and-a-half years, I had nine surgeries, primarily on my back. The final surgery,...
Getting Past the Dreaded Answer: NO
What happens when a customer says no to you? What do you do? Ninety percent of salespeople accept no as an outright rejection and just move on. But that is the worst thing you can do! In doing so, you disqualify yourself from numerous sales. Why? Because a good sales executive will encounter between three and five no’s before a customer actually says yes. This means that the first no is no time to give up. It helps to understand...
How Confirmation Bias Undermines Sales
As our society has become more polarized politically, many people have started talking about the term confirmation bias to explain what is going on. The term basically means the tendency to look for information that confirms our existing beliefs and to ignore the information that challenges our beliefs. Our confirmation bias leaves us stuck in our own viewpoint and unlikely to understand the viewpoint of another. It may not sound like it, but this has everything to do with sales....