Driving Out Fear to Close More Business

My driver of 15 years was taking me to the airport today and he asked me a question: “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...

Stop Discounting and Earn Your Profit

The last several years have been difficult for the vast majority of businesses.  It seems as if every customer is demanding a lower price or at least some sort of special deal. As frequently as customers are asking for it, salespeople are giving it to them. Salespeople are quick to defend their need to discount with the belief that this is the only way they can close the sale.  This is the number one reason why I am recommending Mark...

Using Your Blind Side to Grow Your Business

In the movie The Blind Side, Sandra Bulllock plays the part of a wealthy woman who takes in a homeless young man (Michael Oher) who goes on to become an NFL Star.  In the movie, Michael tries out for the high school football team and struggles a great deal. 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...

Minor Details Produce Great Results

Six years ago I was in a Cheesecake factory with my daughter having dinner.  I was so impressed with the service I asked the manager for her card and told her I would send a signed copy of a book I wrote, The Complete Idiots Guide To Great Customer Service. Last year, five years since I sent that book, I received an email from that manager.  I have no idea how she tracked me down.  I didn’t even know who...

Vulnerability Sells

Remember the show Columbo that featured a detective (Robert Falk) who was very successful by using his vulnerability?   When he had an inkling of who the guilty party was, he would speak to them and then say something like “forgive me, but I am not that smart a man and I really don’t understand how this works, humor me”.  What he did with that phrase was use his vulnerability (appearing dumb) to disarm the individual who would eventually fess up...

When You Are on Fire- Keep Going!!!

When I was a top producer for Simplex's Time Recorder Computer Systems division, I remember one day coming back to the office on a Monday afternoon after closing a huge order. Feeling full of myself, I walked into my manager's office to gloat and she immediately put me into my place by asking what deal was next on tap. I felt like I just got slapped in the face and let loose accusing her of not caring about me and...

Validation Sells

If you are a leader or a sales professional, consider that validation is an extremely powerful tool for getting your point of view accepted. I have learned in working with CEO’s that they value validation of current strategies as much as suggestions of what they could do better. You want to position yourself as a trusted advisor, one that is confident enough to tell customers what they are doing well and what they can improve on.  In my own work,...

What Did You Say?

When I wrote the book The Complete Idiots Guide to Great Customer Service in 1998, we interviewed the Vice President of Hertz Reservations who shared this story with me. Hertz did a survey of their top customers and found out that they were highly dissatisfied with how long it took to return their cars and get to the terminal.  So Hertz increased the frequency of their buses from the return lot to the terminals. Six months later they repeated the...

Why Leaders Don't Puke

The Life Science Leader writes about how Leaders Don't Puke. Rather, they lead by vision and find out what's important to people before they start trying to influence them.  Life Science Leader talks about  how the best organizations teach all of their employees to lead, from the CEO on down.  To read more, click here