How Are You Adjusting?

The world is changing. Business has changed. Our clients have changed. How are you changing?

Here are five things to consider in our changing market environment:

• How can you strengthen your business model to thrive in the future? Evaluate how your product or service is being used and who is using it. What changes are occuring in technology or in knowledge that will impact future use? Are there new technologies that can improve your value and service to your clients? Focus on being a future leader or someone else will be.


• How are you training your sales team to be successful? Customers are still buying today. They are buying from businesses that are adding value and are asking for the order. Connect with your prospective customers by asking engaging questions. Document those engaging questions and teach your sales team to be consistent. In sales, you need to connect emotionally on what your prospect is looking for. Solve their problem vs. selling them.


• Is your attitude helping you and your team or hindering your success? Your team is a direct reflection of you. A leader of a business needs to be encouraging, inspiring, and helping their team see opportunities and how to take advantage of them. Use positive words, share what you want vs. what you do not want, and always ask 'how can we make this happen?' vs. 'this won't work.'


• How are you measuring success and progress in your business? In order to improve we need to know our current state and what specifically needs to be improved. How many leads are we attracting each week? Where are they coming from? How many people are in our sales cycle and at what decision making stage? How many people say yes vs. say no? What can we do to increase these numbers? What you focus on is what you get. Be very clear on what you need to do to improve your results. The only way to improve results is by changing actions.


• How are you interacting with your clients, prospects, and past clients? If you are not communicating with your clients, someone else is. At a minimum, contact your database every 90 days. Use your website, create an email newsletter, make phone calls - do what adds value to your clients and is most effective for you.

A good plan today is better than a perfect plan tomorrow. Take action today and make steps to improving your results. Adjust your business to the market place. If you don't, your competition will.

Your Action Coach Monte

What is Your Focus?

I am sharing an article by Jeffrey Gitomer. Excellent piece on how we think and approach situations. Jeffrey will be in Des Moines on Friday, April 17. Visit here for more information.

"See" and "Think" before "Do" = bigger success than you have now.

In order to succeed and grow in your sales career, you have to get past the mentality of "make more sales," "hit my quota," "end of the month," "end of the quarter" or "make my plan." It's not that you don't have to "hit your numbers," it's that you have to THINK beyond them and SEE beyond them to get to the success level in sales that you seek.

Thought and vision are two critical elements in growth, whether it's company growth, career growth, or personal growth.

How do you see things?
Do you see the big picture or a commission?
Do you see the big picture or a sale?
Do you see the big picture or a quota?
Do you see the big picture or a cold call?
Do you see the big picture or your job?
Do you see the big picture or the big problems?
Do you see the big picture or the big complaints?
Do you see the big picture or the present economy?
Do you see the big picture or the price of gasoline?

How do you think about things?
Do you wake up in the morning and think about what the weather is, or do you think about your frame of mind and how to ensure a positive day?
Do you turn on the TV without thinking, or do you read a few pages of a book to generate thought?
Do you think about traffic on the way to work, or your first sales call of the day and how successful it will be?
Do you think about prospecting and leads, or building relationships to earn referrals?

If you "see" your career with the right vision, and you "think about" your actions with the right vision, then your direction will be towards success rather than just "numbers." And your direction will be towards "best" not just "sales."

Numbers are important, but the right vision will get you to them faster than another cold call.

The following list is an eye opener and a brain opener. I am asking you to read, understand, apply, and become proficient in each of these elements and characteristics of BIG PICTURE.

The big picture is delivering value.
The big picture is having a great attitude every day.
The big picture is believing in what you do.
The big picture is being of service without measuring.
The big picture is earning a referral.The big picture is building a relationship.
The big picture is thinking long term.The big picture is making all decisions based on the person you seek to become.
The big picture is having a great reputation.
The big picture is community volunteering and helping.
The big picture is creating family and community value.
The big picture is achievement.
The big picture is improvement.
The big picture is striving to be your best.
The big picture is dedicating yourself to remaining a life-long student in sales, service, and attitude.
The big picture is devoting yourself to your success and your fulfillment.
The big picture is loving what you do.

How much time do you devote to thinking about the big picture? Can you visualize the big picture? Can you see the big picture? Is it a clear picture? Are you taking action towards the big picture? Are you becoming proficient in the elements of the big picture? Or are you "too busy" to see BIG, because you're all wrapped up in SMALL?

SMALL is striving for a new car, or some other material goal. SMALL is spending your time planning a one-week vacation or worrying about just "making your numbers."

I saw a quote the other day that gave me an insightful AHA! Perhaps it will do the same for you. "People think I'm disciplined. It is not discipline. It is devotion. There is a great difference." Luciano Pavarotti, opera singer 1935-2007.

It's interesting to me that people in the arts have a huge dedication and devotion to their craft. They love what they do, and they're emotionally driven to perform their personal best every day. And the ones who rise to the top earn a fortune.

They have vision of performance way before they perform, they think about their performance way before they execute, and they practice to perfect their skills with a devotion to excel.

Here are a few thoughts that will help your vision and your thinking:

* If you dedicate more time for yourself and your studies, the money will follow.
* If you love what you do, the money will follow.
* If you help enough people, the money will follow.
* If you are the best at what you do, the money will follow.

Dedicate time to your self-improvement in areas beyond selling. Devote yourself to providing value and being your best for your customers. Take career achievement actions, don't just make more sales calls.

What do you see?
What do you think?

Want a few more ideas to help you see more and think better? Go to www.gitomer.com, register if you're a first time visitor, and enter the word THINK in the GitBit box.

Jeffrey Gitomer is the author of The Little Red Book of Selling and eight other business books on sales, customer loyalty, and personal development. President of Charlotte-based Buy Gitomer, he gives seminars, runs annual sales meetings, and conducts Internet training programs on sales, customer loyalty, and personal development at www.trainone.com. Jeffrey conducts more than 100 personalized, customized seminars and keynotes a year. To find out more, visit www.gitomer.com. Jeffrey can be reached at 704.333.1112 or by e-mail at salesman@gitomer.com

Have an incredible week!

Your Action Coach Monte

Hidden Cash in Your Business

In today's economy cash is king. So we need to make sure we are maximizing our cash and our opportunities every day.

The purpose of business is to make profit. If that is the purpose let's focus on it.

Did you know there is hidden cash in your business?

Here are a few areas for us to look:

* In our customer/client interactions -- When we interact with our clients we must create an emotion to the need for our product or service. 80% of decisions are made by emotion. We cannot wait for an order, we must create the need for an order then ask for it. This adds value to our clients. As follow up, make sure that during every interaction with our clients or prospects we are showing value, showing a sense of urgency, then asking for the order.

* In our transactions -- Every time we make a sale remember the words up-sell and cross-sell. No matter what they are buying we can find another item to add to their 'need' list or solve their problem. Ask more questions to learn about their needs or desires then add another item or service if possible. Another area to improve during our transactions is in our pricing. When was the last time you raised your prices? Or when have you compared your prices to your competition to see if you are competitive or below market pricing? As follow up, review your current pricing. Make appropriate adjustments after reviewing your cost structure and evaluating market pricing. Also at each transaction do your best to understand your customers needs and up-sell or cross-sell additional products or services.

* In our positioning & marketing -- We all have more competition than we have ever had before. With this in mind we need to clearly define our uniqueness and be able to have our entire team share that message consistently. Take the time to identify why you are different and why your prospects should conduct business with you. Secondly, in every marketing action or activity we should have a call to action. Tell your prospective customer what they need to do next to use your products. As follow up, clearly define your difference in the market then train your team to express it consistently, secondly add a call to action to every marketing activity.

* In operating our business --In finding cash in your operations it is a function of efficiencies and productivity. Are your actions and time getting you closer to your goals or are you just full of activity? Evaluate this throughout your entire company in every position. Ask yourself daily - 'will this action get me closer to my goal?'

Make a plan of each of these actions, create focus around them, teach your team to implement, and follow through.

Let me know how you do!

Monte Wyatt
Your Action Coach

2009 Focus

Are you holding off all of the distractions? There are more positives going on in the market place than the media is willing to talk about. Who are you believing?

We control and create our own reality. It is up to us.

To help you accomplish this I have 3 suggestions:

• Be Prepared
• Be Proactive
• Persevere

Be Prepared

In order to be prepared we must be willing to make decisions and move forward. Stop putting off critical decision making. Once you make a decision you make a commitment to achieve or fulfill that activity.

To be prepared in our businesses we must first decide what it is we desire to accomplish. Anticipate and plan for what you expect. Create specific and measureable goals for 2009. Set your revenue targets and your expense budgets. Once they are set, we must measure frequently, review our progress and adjust our plan as necessary. Adjust by changing the actions that create the results. The only way to get different results is to change our actions.

Create a marketing plan that supports your revenue targets. It is more critical now than ever to be marketing your business. Repeat what has worked in the past and do more of it. A marketing plan should consist of who your target audience is, why they need or want your product, clearly define why they should buy from you. And the answer isn't price. Once you have accomplished these critical marketing components now you can discuss how to get your message out.

Be Proactive

Take Action! The only way to be proactive is if we take action and control what we can control. Stay focused on the actions that create the results that you desire. Do the same with your team. Lead them, provide direction, feedback, guidance, and assistance to accomplish their goals. Once we are focused we must create accountability. Accountability is about follow through and managing the business or individual. Set benchmarks and make sure you adn your team make progress daily, weekly, and monthly.

What are your KPI's? KPI can stand for Key Performance Indicators or Key Predictor Indicators. How do we know what to improve if we don't know our current state. Identify the 2-3 specific items to measure progress in the business. Whether it is appointments and the number of appointments that turn into sales or number of phone calls it takes to get appointments, we need to watch and manage the actions of our business.

Persevere

I want to encourage everyone to refuse to participate in the recession. Focus on the right actions and the positives that are occuring. If we address the market with the right attitude and be creative in working with our clients we will gain energy and momentum.

Focus on your goals and the actions that create those goals. Every morning review your plan for the day to ensure that you are taking action to get closer to your desired outcome.

Another great strategy to persevere is to maximize your relationship with your business coach. Follow through on the proven strategies and tactics, review your marketing pieces and messages, confirm your team is following your guidance and your expectations.

Make 2009 one of your best years!

Monte, Your Action Coach, 515-222-9193, montewyatt@actioncoach.com