Archive for January, 2009

FYI #141 The DNA of a Sales Superstar

Monday, January 26th, 2009

Dear High Achiever:

DO YOU HAVE THE DNA? Do you have the right stuff to be a sales superstar?

Over the past ten years I’ve made a habit of showing up a couple hours early to my corporate and tradeshow talks so I can hear other people speak. Being a life-long student of learning, I love the “nuggets of knowledge” that people inside a particular industry share. I always learn something new … confirm something I believe to be true … or at least get a great idea for my newsletters.

A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to be the keynote speaker for Aflac to help them kick off 2009 and get ready to have their Best Year Ever!

I love public speaking. And I love inspiring others to transform their life. I’m passionate about my message and I’m privileged to give a lot of seminars throughout the year, and I have a great time doing it. Not a bad gig, right?

I arrived about two hours before I was scheduled to be introduced on stage and I had the opportunity to sit in on a thirty-minute breakout session that was given by a successful Aflac agent. I’m going to respect her privacy and not mention her name, (I’ll call her Wendy – it’s a Bruce Springsteen thing – if you get that, I’m impressed) but I will let you know she was relatively new in the business. And, if I remember correctly, she was in Aflac less than three years and was already earning well over $250,000 a year.

If you are not in sales, I’ll let you in on something.

Selling is one of the highest paying careers one can have. But not all salespeople are earning $250,000 a year. But, the ones with the right DNA are making buckets of money and having fun all the way to the bank.

Wendy is a Sales Superstar and has the right DNA!

“ What’s the DNA,” you ask? It will be revealed in a minute.

Another one of my habits when attending a seminar or when I’m in a meeting is taking notes, lots of notes. I’ve become fairly competent at remembering people’s names but I can’t remember everything a speaker says in a thirty or sixty minute seminar. Note taking is a good success strategy. (Hint, hint).

So I took a lot of notes. And now I’ll share them with you.

One thing I immediately notice when I listen to salespeople that have the DNA is their passion about their business and selling in general. They have a hungry-yet-sincere look in their eyes that is very engaging, and for me, it’s an Attractor Factor. I love talking about sales and I love talking to salespeople.

Wendy obviously has the DNA and I noticed it the second she started her talk.

The first thing I noticed was her enthusiasm and her passion about representing Aflac and being able to help people with the products and services Aflac offers.

It was like she drank the Aflac Kool-Aid or maybe a better illustration is, she was soaring with the Aflac Duck!

Are you soaring with your company and its brand?

Here is one of my favorite Wendy quotes from that day:

“ I think the employer (the prospect) is lucky that I’m calling on them.”

Whoa! What an awesome mindset to have when you are picking up the phone or making a cold-call in person. When I heard that I almost jumped out of my seat to run up and give her a high-five.

Then she said:

“ Frustration is my biggest motivator!”

Whoa again! Now I was really fired-up! No wonder she is making over $250,000 a year. She can’t be stopped by rejection. The more she hears “NO” the more persistent she becomes… Cool!

But wait, there’s more…

Next, she says:

“ I am my own boss!”

Wow! She takes responsibility for her own actions, success and her income. She knows she is accountable to herself. She is in charge. Aflac provides the vehicle for her to earn as much money as she wants and she takes the initiative to go out and make it happen.

Next she begins to tell a story about meeting a lifeguard at the pool in her community. (It’s not what you think). She started talking to the lifeguard — a young woman, previously a stranger — and found out that the lifeguard’s father owned a huge company. Wendy then asked the lifeguard for permission to meet her Dad. She meets him and ends up writing a very large insurance policy for his company.

Hint: Talk to strangers!

Wendy’s takeaways continue: She says that only 50% of the people she calls return her phone call. It’s a numbers game and she doesn’t take it personally. She is not on clock time, she is on Goal Time. She has a goal and she makes as many calls as it takes to reach her goal. She doesn’t care if it’s a Sunday, a holiday or a rainy day. Every day is a sales day.

Then she says the line that separates the Sales Superstars from the Willy Lowmans of the selling world:

“ No Follow up – No Sale!”

Wendy knows the statistics: Sometimes it takes at least seven touches, contacts, approaches to get an appointment or close a deal. She doesn’t stop at one call when she knows an opportunity exists.

She closes her talk by summarizing her 3 keys to success:

1. Sincerity
2. Persistence
3. Follow Up

 

Last point for today: You think Wendy is the exception? You think Wendy was born to sell.

How wrong you’d be: In her previous corporate life (about three years ago, remember?) Wendy was a Human Resource Director. If you don’t know the profile of a HR Director – call one. Most people get into HR to avoid sales.

In his song Lose Yourself, Eminem, a performer with an interesting history of having transformed himself, sings “You can do anything you set your mind to.”

FYI Challenge: Self-Evaluate – Do you have the DNA of a sales superstar?

FYI Takeaway: Great salespeople are not born, they are self-made.

Go Out and Make This Your Best Year Ever!

Eric Taylor is the Chief Inspiration Officer of SelfGrowth.com and founder of New Jersey based Empowerment Group International. He delivers more than 100 energized and interactive keynotes, workshops and seminars each year to corporations, associations and tradeshows. He is the author of the Energy Passport, Co-creator of the Best Year Ever! Personal Empowerment Program and Co-author of The Complete Sales Training Encyclopedia. Eric can be reached at 732.761.9930 ext.114 or email Eric@SelfGrowth.com or Eric@EmpowermentGroup.com

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The DNA of a Sales Superstar

Monday, January 26th, 2009

Dear High Achiever:

DO YOU HAVE THE DNA? Do you have the right stuff to be a sales superstar?

Over the past ten years I’ve made a habit of showing up a couple hours early to my corporate and tradeshow talks so I can hear other people speak. Being a life-long student of learning, I love the “nuggets of knowledge” that people inside a particular industry share. I always learn something new … confirm something I believe to be true … or at least get a great idea for my newsletters.

A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to be the keynote speaker forAflac to help them kick off 2009 and get ready to have their Best Year Ever!

I love public speaking. And I love inspiring others to transform their life. I’m passionate about my message and I’m privileged to give a lot of seminars throughout the year, and I have a great time doing it. Not a bad gig, right?

I arrived about two hours before I was scheduled to be introduced on stage and I had the opportunity to sit in on a thirty-minute breakout session that was given by a successful Aflac agent. I’m going to respect her privacy and not mention her name, (I’ll call her Wendy – it’s a Bruce Springsteen thing – if you get that, I’m impressed) but I will let you know she was relatively new in the business. And, if I remember correctly, she was in Aflac less than three years and was already earning well over $250,000 a year.

If you are not in sales, I’ll let you in on something. 

Selling is one of the highest paying careers one can have. But not all salespeople are earning $250,000 a year. But, the ones with the right DNA are making buckets of money and having fun all the way to the bank.

Wendy is a Sales Superstar and has the right DNA!

“ What’s the DNA,” you ask? It will be revealed in a minute.

Another one of my habits when attending a seminar or when I’m in a meeting is taking notes, lots of notes. I’ve become fairly competent at remembering people’s names but I can’t remember everything a speaker says in a thirty or sixty minute seminar. Note taking is a good success strategy. (Hint, hint).

So I took a lot of notes. And now I’ll share them with you.

One thing I immediately notice when I listen to salespeople that have the DNA is their passion about their business and selling in general. They have a hungry-yet-sincere look in their eyes that is very engaging, and for me, it’s an Attractor Factor. I love talking about sales and I love talking to salespeople.

Wendy obviously has the DNA and I noticed it the second she started her talk.

The first thing I noticed was her enthusiasm and her passion about representing Aflac and being able to help people with the products and services Aflac offers.

It was like she drank the Aflac Kool-Aid or maybe a better illustration is, she was soaring with the Aflac Duck!

Are you soaring with your company and its brand?

Here is one of my favorite Wendy quotes from that day:

“ I think the employer (the prospect) is lucky that I’m calling on them.”

Whoa! What an awesome mindset to have when you are picking up the phone or making a cold-call in person. When I heard that I almost jumped out of my seat to run up and give her a high-five.

Then she said:

“ Frustration is my biggest motivator!”

Whoa again! Now I was really fired-up! No wonder she is making over $250,000 a year. She can’t be stopped by rejection. The more she hears “NO” the more persistent she becomes… Cool!

But wait, there’s more…

Next, she says:

“ I am my own boss!”

Wow! She takes responsibility for her own actions, success and her income. She knows she is accountable to herself. She is in charge. Aflacprovides the vehicle for her to earn as much money as she wants and she takes the initiative to go out and make it happen.

Next she begins to tell a story about meeting a lifeguard at the pool in her community. (It’s not what you think). She started talking to the lifeguard — a young woman, previously a stranger — and found out that the lifeguard’s father owned a huge company. Wendy then asked the lifeguard for permission to meet her Dad. She meets him and ends up writing a very large insurance policy for his company.

Hint: Talk to strangers!

Wendy’s takeaways continue: She says that only 50% of the people she calls return her phone call. It’s a numbers game and she doesn’t take it personally. She is not on clock time, she is on Goal Time. She has a goal and she makes as many calls as it takes to reach her goal. She doesn’t care if it’s a Sunday, a holiday or a rainy day. Every day is a sales day.

Then she says the line that separates the Sales Superstars from the Willy Lowmans of the selling world:

“ No Follow up – No Sale!”

Wendy knows the statistics: Sometimes it takes at least seven touches, contacts, approaches to get an appointment or close a deal. She doesn’t stop at one call when she knows an opportunity exists.

She closes her talk by summarizing her 3 keys to success:

1. Sincerity
2. Persistence
3. Follow Up

Last point for today: You think Wendy is the exception? You think Wendy was born to sell.

How wrong you’d be: In her previous corporate life (about three years ago, remember?) Wendy was a Human Resource Director. If you don’t know the profile of a HR Director – call one. Most people get into HR to avoid sales.

In his song Lose Yourself, Eminem, a performer with an interesting history of having transformed himself, sings “You can do anything you set your mind to.”

FYI Challenge: Self-Evaluate – Do you have the DNA of a sales superstar?

FYI Takeaway: Great salespeople are not born, they are self-made.

Go Out and Make This Your Best Year Ever!

Eric Taylor is the Chief Inspiration Officer of SelfGrowth.com and founder of New Jersey based Empowerment Group International. He delivers more than 100 energized and interactive keynotes, workshops and seminars each year to corporations, associations and tradeshows. He is the author of the Energy Passport, Co-creator of the Best Year Ever! Personal Empowerment Program and Co-author of The Complete Sales Training Encyclopedia. Eric can be reached at 732.761.9930 ext.114 or email Eric@SelfGrowth.comor Eric@EmpowermentGroup.com

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Hail To The Chief

Monday, January 19th, 2009

In the movie Dave the title character is a politically unsophisticated regular guy who looks like the film’s fictional president. When pressed into duty to impersonate the ailing chief executive, Dave sings to himself, “Hail to the chief …” pauses with a quizzical look, then continues incorrectly, “he’s the chief we all say hail to.”

As the movie progresses, ordinary Dave sees in his extraordinary situation the opportunity to create necessary change. He acts on it and accomplishes his goal. Of course, that’s all a nicely scripted bit of fiction.

Tomorrow in Washington DC: Barack Obama will hear the strains of Hail to the Chief played for him for the first time. Derived from an old Gaelic tune, the melody was adapted and was first performed in New York in 1812. It caught on instantly. New lyrics were written and it was re-titled Wreaths for the Chieftain and played in Boston in 1815 to celebrate the birthday of George Washington. It’s had Presidential associations ever since.

As we’re learning, Obama is a student and admirer of Abraham Lincoln, the man and the President. So it’s interesting to observe that Hail to the Chief was the first piece of music Lincoln heard as he stepped into his carriage and started for the Capitol on the day of his inauguration. And it was the last piece he heard before he died, when the orchestra played it as he entered Ford’s Theater on the fateful night of April 14, 1865.

So, with this capsule history, what’s the TGIM point?

The answer for today lies in the lyrics that the movie character Dave didn’t know, and few citizens do. After a long and contentious election cycle the words have a certain irony. Yet I think they suggest one of the abiding reasons a democratic people in a democratically led nation can come together and know continued success. Here they are:

Hail to the Chief,

We have chosen for the nation,

Hail to the Chief!

We salute him, one and all.

Hail to the Chief,

As we pledge cooperation,

In proud fulfillment

Of a great noble call.

Yours is the aim

To make this grand country grander,

That’s our strong, firm belief.

Hail to the one

We selected as commander,

Hail to the President!

Hail to the Chief!

On Tuesday the Marine Band will play and a United States hopes for “proud fulfillment of a great noble call.”

Roughly a year ago my MLK-Day TGIM talked about dreams and “a dream deferred.” Tomorrow the hopes and dreams and aspirations of many people will become more tangible. Many will feel their deferred dreams are almost fully realized.

There will be many comparisons and lots of insightful and significant talk about whether this is, in fact, so. There will be soul searching, and forward-looking messages, and challenges, and inspiring speeches that will echo through the centuries.

And there will be naysayers and folks who see all this as manipulative political branding and empty platitudes.

TGIM Takeaway: What it will all amount to for each of us as individuals – what kind of “opportunity” this presents as well as represents – depends almost entirely on each of us as individuals.

You will recall that in the run up to the election in November virtually every candidate for the presidency talked about “change” – so much so that an important truth almost became trivialized. Still, the idea resonates because it’s a universal longing.

The official website of the Obama/Biden transition team is (was?) change.gov. The official inauguration theme, echoing Lincoln, is “A new Birth of Freedom.” But the official inauguration poster, that graphically resembles the “Hope” poster of the Obama campaign, features the phrase –

“Be the Change.” That thought and counsel is usually viewed as the embodiment of the philosophy of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, best known by the honorific Mahatma (“Great Soul” in Sanskrit) Gandhi.

Change = Opportunity + Action.

The untrivial fact of life is, if you really want to change in any part of your life-

It takes action. You can think about change … You can read about change … You can listen to and watch others speak about change. Or -

You can take action and change. You and I are not so far removed from Lincoln or Gandhi or hundreds of thousands of other “ordinary” men and women who longed for change …  saw the opportunity to create change … and took action. They made history.

You can make history, too. It’s not always easy. It’s not always immediate. It’s seldom accomplished alone. It may not be on a grand scale.

But it can be done. If you see the opportunity and act on it, you can “be the change” and you can make change happen. That is perhaps one of the greatest personal improvement lessons any individual can take away from our historic past and the eventful days ahead.

Geoff Steck

Chief Catalyst

Alexander Publishing & Marketing

● 8 Depot Square

● Englewood, NJ 07631

201-569-5373

gsteck@hotmail.com

P.S. Opportunityisnowhere. Huh? What message is hidden in these run-together words?

In the spirit of Martin Luther King Day and tomorrow’s historic inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States, I’d like you to think of it as kind of a TGIM Challenge:

Hint: There are two answers. But for our purposes today only one is right-minded enough to win you a gold star.

If you see the words -

Opportunity is nowhere

Then you have a little more work in front of you.

However, if you immediately saw the phrase -

Opportunity is now here

Congratulations! Go to the head of the class. You appreciate the spirit and meaning of the times we now live in. Now make it happen in your life.

P.P.S. More opportunities upcoming. Eric and I believe the Best Year Ever! Program has quite a few can’t-miss strategies and opportunities worth investigating. Let us know if you’re interested.

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Dare To Be Great

Monday, January 12th, 2009

Dear High Achiever:

WHAT’S ON YOUR READING LIST for 2009? Right now I’m reading a book titled “How to Make Money Tomorrow Morning”. The author’s a guy named Sid Friedman. Sid died in 2003 at the age of 68. I never had the honor to meet him, but –

I wish I had. Reading his book I can tell that he was my kind of guy. He was a frontline, hard-core sales guy. He sold life insurance. But the difference between Sid and a lot of “sales guys” is he would proudly proclaim to you that he was a “salesman.”

Now, I love sales people.

But not all of them.

I love the ones like Sid, who are proud to say they are in sales and work hard at their profession by studying how to be great and become greater. Selling is a noble profession and one that can be extremely lucrative.

His motto was: “Promise a lot and deliver MORE.”

For any of us, without regard for how you make a living or your “job title,” that’s a nice reminder of a brilliant strategy for ensuring a Best Year Ever!.

“Promise a lot and deliver MORE.” Sid was one of the insurance industries top producing sales professionals; the only person to have served as president of the International Top of the Table, the Twenty Five Million Dollar International Forum, AND the Association of Advance Life Underwriting. Forbes magazine once called Sid Friedman “one of corporate America’s most powerful people.” Obviously he knew his stuff.

What a gem of a book. I love when I find older books that are not best-sellers but have nuggets of knowledge within the pages. It’s like finding gold.

And for that reason alone I’d recommend that you read Sid’s book.

But there’s more. Much more. Reading about Sid and what he had to share reminds me to say to you –

I’m Daring You to Be Great!

If you are in sales or any profession where your goal is to be the best and make 2009 Your Best Year Ever! then –

I’m Daring You to Be Great! Being great means being different.

• It means expanding way outside your comfort zone. 
• It means taking massive action. 
• It means doing things that you’ve never done before. 
• It means learning new things. 
• It means meeting new people, talking to lots of strangers. 
• It means researching and reading new books, like How to make Money Tomorrow Morning by Sid Friedman.

FYI Challenge: I’m asking you to think in terms of you. What is it going to take for you to accelerate … elevate … and make 2009 great? 
One of my favorite quotes is:

“Winners do
what losers choose not to do.”

… When it’s 4:30AM, and its cold, windy and rainy outside, and I’m lying in my cozy bed, I could easily make the decision to sleep in and not go to the gym. But then I think of that quote –

And I pop out of bed like the Energizer Bunny.

… When I had second thoughts and hesitated about whether I should call people like Christopher Reeve or Jim Rohn or any of my heroes and mentors– I think of that quote –

And I immediately take action.

And in that spirit I want to close this FYI with an excerpt from Sid’s book. I read this paragraph and immediately challenged myself to “Dare to be Great” in 2009. And now I’m sharing the thought and the challenge ForYour Information and Inspiration:

“You can’t be a regular man or woman and achieve super success in the sales arena. You must be different, atypical, abnormal. There is positively no way you can achieve greatness by following the same, tired course walked by thousands before you. You must forge your own way into the forest and clear your own trails.”

**** The First Achievement Breakfast Club Meeting 2009 ***

I hope you will join us for our first Achievement Breakfast Club meeting of 2009.

The Achievement Breakfast Club is about positive-minded people sharing the ABCs of success and personal motivation with people who share the same vision. The primary focus is on personal development and self-growth.

Here are the details:

Date: Wednesday, January 14th, 2009
Time: 7:15 a.m. to 8:45 a.m.
Location: Freehold, NJ

All of the registration and location details are here:http://www.selfgrowth.com/abc

I hope to see you at the meeting!

Go Out and Make This Your Best Year Ever!

Eric Taylor is the Chief Inspiration Officer of SelfGrowth.com and founder of New Jersey based Empowerment Group International. He delivers more than 100 energized and interactive keynotes, workshops and seminars each year to corporations, associations and tradeshows. He is the author of the Energy Passport, Co-creator of the Best Year Ever! Personal Empowerment Program and Co-author of The Complete Sales Training Encyclopedia. Eric can be reached at 732.761.9930 ext.114 or email Eric@SelfGrowth.comor Eric@EmpowermentGroup.com

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Empower Your Life! “2009 Challenge to Transform”

Monday, January 5th, 2009

Dear High Achiever:

HAPPY NEW YEAR! I hope you were able to spend quality time with family and friends, enjoying all of the blessings the holiday season brings.

Speaking personally: We literally had our Best Year Ever! in 2008 and enjoyed our Best Holiday Ever! at Taylortown. I’m truly grateful for all of the opportunity and abundance the past year presented to me and my family and I’m thankful everyone is happy and healthy.

And now it’s on to 2009. As you and I look with anticipation toward the next twelve months, we have an imminent challenge facing us.

I’m calling it the 
“ 2009 Challenge to Transform”

Now is the time to raise the bar, regardless of the level of success or hardship you experienced this past year.

• If success was in your corner, I’m challenging you to not become complacent and rest on your, well…laurels.

• If you did not achieve the level of success you wanted in 2008 and are struggling to regain momentum, I’m challenging you to pull your head out of your, well…laurels, and get to work.

But you don’t have to go it alone. Whatever your current success status may be, I want to be your accountability coach or better yet, yourChief Inspiration Officer and help you take your life to the next level in 2009.

Bells and whistles going off? And they’re not residual New Year’s celebrations? Are you thinking, “Uh oh. Here comes a sales pitch!”

Not really. Your two big investments will be commitment and time. Creating a Best Year Ever! and transforming your life does not happen in a day, it happens day by day.

• The most important part is – You have to start. 
• The second most important part is – You have to have something I call Stick-to-it-tive-ness.

So here’s the plan: I have a goals program called, as you might guess,Empower Your Life! Typically, I charge companies a whole bunch of money to facilitate Empower Your Life! for their execs and and/or team members.

But you and I have a special type of relationship. Geoff and I find that our Monday morning FYI / TGIM readers guide our thinking in meaningful ways. And so, to help get you started at creating YOUR Best Year Ever!in 2009 –

I’m going to facilitate an Empower Your Life! teleseminar for you –

FREE! That’s right, no cost … for nothing … gratis … on the house … no charge … FREE!

Well, almost no cost. Your only investment will be your time and your phone charge. And as my good friend David Riklan, the founder ofSelfGrowth.com says, the phone charge is about as much as it costs to call Aunt Ginny in Chicago.

Here are the details:

Empower Your Life! 2009 Challenge to Transform

Date: Thursday, January 22nd 2009
Time: 9:00pm Eastern Time
Location: Your Phone

FYI ACTION IDEA #1: Mark you calendar now.

FYI ACTION IDEA #2: Then watch your email. I will be sending you an invitation and a sign-up page via email next week but I wanted to give you a heads up today so you can clear your calendar for the night of January 22nd.

FYI ACTION IDEA #3: Share the wealth. I also want to encourage you to invite your friends and business associates who would benefit from attending the program. If they are not subscribed to the FYI /TGIMNewsletter - tell them to go to www.EmpowermentGroup.com and enter their email address today so they get the invitation when I send it. Which leads to another –

BIG ANNOUNCEMENT!

The all-new and dramatically expanded www.EmpowermentGroup.comwebsite is launching in two weeks, the week of January 19th.

To accompany the launch of my new website, I am also launching my new blog. I’ll be blogging almost daily and featuring motivational videos for you to stay empowered, inspired and focused. The video series is called “Instant Inspiration”.

My biggest goals for 2009 involve YOU: I’m excited about 2009 and the personal and professional growth you and I will experience and proactively manifest in our lives. My goal is to work with you to help you achieve the goals and success you are dreaming of.

Inspirational Thought for Today: Personal development is an “inside job.” You are the only one who has the ability to change your habits and behaviors to create the results you want in your life. This is a brand new day and a brand new year. Transforming and empowering your life starts with making a decision and a commitment, then taking daily actions toward achieving your desired outcome.

You can achieve anything you set your mind to!

Go Out and Make This Your Best Year Ever!

Eric Taylor is the Chief Inspiration Officer of SelfGrowth.com and founder of New Jersey based Empowerment Group International. He delivers more than 100 energized and interactive keynotes, workshops and seminars each year to corporations, associations and tradeshows. He is the author of the Energy Passport, Co-creator of the Best Year Ever! Personal Empowerment Program and Co-author of The Complete Sales Training Encyclopedia. Eric can be reached at 732.761.9930 ext.114 or email Eric@SelfGrowth.comor Eric@EmpowermentGroup.com

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