Make Them an Offer They Can’t Refuse!

The consequence question highlights the impacts your customers are likely to face by ignoring the resources you offer. It is the key question for introducing positive change into a sales interview. It provides your customers with self-justification of why it is in their best interests to accept your proposal. The more realistic and compelling the impacts you build up through effective questioning, the easier it will be to demonstrate to your prospects that the cost of staying where they are...

Frederick Collins

"There are two types of people- those who come into a room and say, 'Well, here I am,' and those who come in and say, 'Ah, there you are.' Frederick Collins TRANSLATION: Titans are present to address the needs of others in the room. They do not concentrate on celebrating their own presence.

What Are We Missing?

In reading the book Maestro (the story of Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan written by Bob Woodward), it was interesting to learn of the dilemma facing the Fed in trying to figure out why the economy was acting in certain ways. The biggest concern was over corporate profits. In the old models, prices would rise and hence profits would most of the time also increase. But in the economy of the 90's, prices did not rise, labor costs did not go...

What’s Stopping You?

Frustrated that you are not breaking through new levels of success? How about the frustrations you may have with your employees who are not breaking through new levels of success? Many times we will want to accomplish a certain breakthrough, yet we are often deterred because we are saddled with all the reasons and stories as to why it cannot be done. For the most part, these stories are either real or imaginary. We define real as having tried to...

Bud Newton (1935-2001) Cognis Corp

A few days ago I spoke with a long time client and learned that Bud Newton, a top producing sales executive for 20+years, died suddenly from a heart attack on board a plane in route to a customer call. When something hits home like this, it gives us a chance to look at the life of the individual we are remembering to see if there are any lessons to be learned. In Bud Newton's case, there are volumes to be...

James Redfield, Author- The Celestine Prophecy

"Once you become conscious of the questions active in the moment, you always get some kind of intuitive direction of what to do, of where to go. You get a hunch about the next step. Always. The only time this will not occur is when you have the wrong question in mind. You see, the problem in life isn't in receiving answers. The problem is in identifying your current questions. Once you get the questions right, the answers always come."...

Getting Information When You Want It

My Palm VII (wireless) has become a source of great value, especially when it comes to tracking my flights. Instead of calling the airlines to see if my flight is on time, I simply check my Palm Pilot and get the latest info on departure, arrival and gates at both airports. Funny thing is I often get better information from the Palm Pilot than from the pilot flying the plane. When stuck at the gate for those long delays (5...

Does Anyone Care?

Remember when you called up a vendor's customer service hot line to relay a complaint and was left with the impression that nobody really cared. The most frustrating thing is to call for service and feel like your comments are falling on deaf ears. Think about it. Your future success depends on feedback from customers on what they like and don't like. Hertz claims that some of their best service innovations evolved out of service complaints. If this is the...

Honor Thy Buyer

Richard Burley comes through again. If you recall, Richard was highlighted in our Titan Profile last month. Recently, I spoke with Richard on the phone and he was telling me of his plans to invite 100 of his clients to a roundtable discussion in April with the theme being "Honor Thy Buyer". What a powerful concept! How often do we take the time to sit back and really appreciate all that we have? If it weren't for our customer's business,...