Tuesday, August 30, 2011

The legend of the Phoenix

The legend of the Phoenix bird comes from ancient history.

It goes that this bird lives for a thousand years. At the end of this period, it starts to make a nest and then, when the thousand years are at its end, it sits down and goes up in flames. Out of the ashes a new phoenix appears to live for another thousand years.

Legend states that it can even change into a human being after 5 cycles.

For me it means that it is possible to renew one self in order to reinvent one self. We have to see the possibilities to rise from the ashes.

When the Phoenix rises from the ashes a new era starts.

My strong belief is that everybody can rise from their ashes and start all over again. We just have to see the possibilities. And the possibilities are there. They are already in all of us.

Each and everyone of us starts their life as a strong human being. We have an indefinite amount of inner strength. But in the course of our lives, life-events occur that break down, bit by bit, this inner strength.

We get uncertain, lose our selfconfidence. People try to thrust themselves upon us through intimidation and sometimes even through agression and violence.

Through the Phoenix example we can see, feel and know that we can be strong again, to see possibilities instead of boundaries.

The Phoenix teaches us to re invent ourselves, experiment and continue until we are supremely happy being what we are.

The Phoenix helps us learn that to fail is normal and expected and natural, but to let the failure stop us from heading towards our goals of being happy is an act of cowardice, inhuman and unacceptable for the supreme species that inhabits this earth.

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

3 Powerful Skills You Must Have to Succeed in Sales

by Sharon Michaels

A key to successfully sharing and selling a product, service or idea, is to ask questions and then listen quietly and carefully to the answers. Many of us try too hard to “convince” people to buy instead of discovering what our future customer or client really wants, needs and desires from us.

To succeed in sales remember these three listening and relationship building skills:

S – Sincerity – Listen without an agenda, it’s not about your needs.

E – Ethics – It’s not about trying to talk someone into something, its about listening to what they want.

A – Asking – Serve others by asking questions that will assist them in making a wise buying decision.

Building win-win relationships means remembering that it is not about what we want but what the other person wants. Here are three relationship building skills that when used regularly will have you increasing sales and creating satisfied loyal customers.

1. Listening sincerely and without an agenda. The buying process is not about you and your wants and needs, it is about the customer. Too many of us come to the sales table with our own agenda. We are sometimes too busy thinking about quotas, promotions and commissions. It’s not about us; it’s about the wants, needs and expectations of the prospective buyer.

A sales person with an agenda tends to push too hard and often doesn’t listen well. Leave your agenda at home. Sincerely focus on your customer and how your product can best serve their hopes, dreams and goals. Zig Ziglar said it best, “You can have everything in life that you want if you just give enough other people what they want.”

2. Help talk someone into something. Allow them to make their own buying decision. Doing what is right for everyone involved is the ethical thing to do. I’m reminded of a phrase from Dale Carnegie’s book, How To Win Friends and Influence People, “A man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still.”

Your role in the sales process is to present your product in a clear, concise and truthful manner—with integrity. The best customer is the customer who can make an educated decision based on what is best for them. A loyal customer is an educated customer. You are not in the convincing business; you are in the sharing business. Your job is to ethically offer the product, service or idea, explain the benefits and answer questions. Your customer or client will then make a buying decision based on the information they’ve been given. Making the sale is about asking questions, answering questions and building a trustworthy win-win relationship.

3. You can serve your client/customer best by finding out what they want, need and expect from what you are offering. Sometimes, we are so excited to share everything we know about what we’re offering that we forget it is about your potential customer’s expectations. What is important to you may not be important to them.

I’m reminded of a story: A young mother just starting out with a large network marketing company was excited and eager to share her business with other stay-at-home mothers. She was having coffee with a potential recruit as their children played near by. The young mother was eagerly showing her products and explaining the business potential. She went on and on about how she could stay home with her children and didn’t have to leave the house to conduct business.

The mother who was listening seemed to suddenly turn off her interest and attention. When our eager young network marketing mother asked her friend to join her in the business, the friend replied with a resounding, “No,” The business-building mother was shocked and saddened, “Why?” she asked. “Because,” her friend said, “I want to be able to do something that allows me to get out of the house and socialize with other adults.”

Moral of the story: Ask questions and listen. Don’t assume that what is important to you is important to your future customers.

Successful selling isn’t about what you want, it is about how can you best serve the needs of your customers and clients. Coming from a sincere place of service, will help increase sales and develop loyal client and referral base.

Keeping the three elements of SEA (Sincerity, Ethics, Asking) in mind, you can easily and effortlessly find new customers and clients who will want to do business with you now and in the future. Selling your service, product or idea is about doing the right thing for everyone involved – it is about building win-win relationships.

Sunday, August 07, 2011

Key Concepts about Priorities

  • Think carefully about what priorities mean to you… about how you decide what is really important. Remember, you will never have time for everything, but you will have time for most important thing.
  • 80-20 rule: Eighty percent of the value comes from 20 percent of the items. While only 20 percent of the value comes from 80 percent of the items. Learn to concentrate on your high value 20 percent and master them.
  • Most people start with the quick, easy, enjoyable things first. Instead, start with the important things first.
  • Just because something is urgent, doesn't mean it’s important. Important activities are those which help you achieve your goals.
  • Learn to distinguish between important and urgent.
  • Don’t allow trivial thing to crowd out the important things.
  • Don’t always do someone else’s requests at the expense of your own top priority tasks. Learn when to say no. Do it logically, firmly and tactfully.
  • Constantly switching priorities often results from failure to establish priorities properly in the first place. The best way to set priorities is on the basis of importance.
  • Don’t constantly switch priorities just because people make loud demands. Be very careful about which squeaky wheels get greased.

Key Concepts about Priorities

  • Think carefully about what priorities mean to you… about how you decide what is really important. Remember, you will never have time for everything, but you will have time for most important thing.
  • 80-20 rule: Eighty percent of the value comes from 20 percent of the items. While only 20 percent of the value comes from 80 percent of the items. Learn to concentrate on your high value 20 percent and master them.
  • Most people start with the quick, easy, enjoyable things first. Instead, start with the important things first.
  • Just because something is urgent, doesn't mean it’s important. Important activities are those which help you achieve your goals.
  • Learn to distinguish between important and urgent.
  • Don’t allow trivial thing to crowd out the important things.
  • Don’t always do someone else’s requests at the expense of your own top priority tasks. Learn when to say no. Do it logically, firmly and tactfully.
  • Constantly switching priorities often results from failure to establish priorities properly in the first place. The best way to set priorities is on the basis of importance.
  • Don’t constantly switch priorities just because people make loud demands. Be very careful about which squeaky wheels get greased.

Friday, August 05, 2011

Key Concepts about Goals

  • Determine your long range goals. Make sure you are aiming at what you really want.
  • Be sure to set SMART goals: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timed
  • Don’t try to keep your goals in your head, write them down
  • Read your long range goals at least once every day. You will find it easier to sort out all the trivia that comes your way.
  • You need short range goals to know what to do today. You need long range goals to add continuity and meaning to all your short range goals.
  • Consider projects carefully. Make sure they will move you toward your goals. Identify the critical steps, when they should be done and who should do them.
  • Set deadlines for all your projects. Estimate the time needed and determine the logical starting time to avoid last-minute rush jobs.
  • Focus on your goals at all times. “Will what I am doing right now help me achieve my goals?” if the answer is “no”, then switch to something else that will help.
  • Be sure that you have at least one significant goal every day. Don’t quit until you reach your daily goals. Before long you will develop the habit of setting goals and reaching them.
  • Write out long range personal goals. Strive to balance your time across all aspects of your life.
  • When conditions change, you may need to modify your goals. And, as you achieve your goals be sure to set new ones.

Monday, August 01, 2011

Key Concepts about Attitudes

  • You never seem to have enough time yet you have all the time there is. The problem is not the shortage of time but how you choose the time that is available.
  • Time management is really self-management.
  • Chinese Proverb: Besides the noble art of getting things done, there is the noble art of leaving things undone. The wisdom of life lies in eliminating the non-essentials.
  • Earl Nightingale: “Habits are the key to success. Successful people form the habit of doing the things that others don’t like to do.”
  • Zig Ziglar:”When you choose a habit, you also choose the results of that habit.”
  • It is not enough to know, you must also act. Knowledge without action is impotent.
  • Most of us only change when we are forced to do so. Force can be either external or internal.
  • The key to will-power is want-power. If you want something strongly enough, you will usually find the discipline necessary to do it.
  • Self-discipline is simply doing what you know you should do, regardless of whether or not you feel like doing it
  • Self-discipline is easier if you stop thinking about it, and simply do it
  • Press on. Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence
  • Henry Ford: “Whether you think you can, or whether you think you can’t, you’re right.