Motivation on the Run

This article has quite a few people listing their favorite sales books. If you are in sales, and realize the importance of reading, you can get a lot of good hints here on where to spend your next paycheck.

Books about selling can help newcomers, veterans in sales

A wealth of resources to improve your sales techniques can be found in libraries, bookstores and on the Internet.

Among the best is “Close the Deal: Smart Moves for Selling” by Sam Deep and Lyle Sussman, said Thomas J. Morley, director of the Yonkers-based Westchester Regional Center of the New York State Small Business Development Center. The center serves Westchester, Rockland and Putnam counties.

“If I had to pick one weakness common to many salespeople it’s that they open the door and prep the sale very well but are reluctant to ‘ask for the order’ and actually ‘close the sale,’ ” Morley said. “This is an excellent book for helping to see the signs that the customer is sold and it’s time to get the order.”

Morley also recommends “25 Sales Habits of Highly Successful Salespeople,” by Stephan Schiffman.

[tags]sales, sales resources, sales books[/tags]

On last week’s podcast, I asked for your help in forming a new goal setting acronym built on SMARTER, rather than the old SMART and the world is about to see the unveiling of SMARTER.

Specific
Measurable
Achievable
Realistic
Time Sensitive
Enthusiasm
Reward

Thinking about the letters, the desire was to stay with the original words for SMART to make it easier to remember and to help with the acceptance in the community.

However, in working on the podcast for the first of the year about New Year’s goals, SMART fell flat and left several gaps. At that time I started working on expanding the acronym and in an email to Christopher (from podcast #28 fame), I mentioned the need for an E and R on the end to help fill out a new acronym.

I always felt the R needed to be reward, because that is an important part of goal setting, and it was missing from the original. However the E was elusive. I thought about ESCAPE, ie. you might need an escape clause from an unachievable goal. Then I thought about ENGAGE, then ENERGY, but none of these seemed to capture the potential.

Then Daniel from Brazil steps into the narrative and dropped the comment that the E could stand for ENTHUSIASM, and a star was born. That captures the potential for goal setting. That’s what the original needed for completion: Enthusiasm and Reward.

What better finish to a goal setting session than to be Enthusiastic about the goal and to determine the reward for the goal stages and for completion. That speaks to me with the inclusion of Enthusiasm and Reward. All the original words are true, but to accomplish any goal, you must have enthusiasm for the goal. If you can’t work up your enthusiasm for a goal, it is not one you will likely accomplish.

But what if you accomplish the goal? Reward was missing from the original, also. Every speaker on goal setting talks about rewards and their importance to meeting the goal, but it was not part of the memory hook. Now it is.

LET’S TAKE IT AROUND THE WORLD …
Now let’s see if we can get the world to adopt the new acronym. Link to this story and talk about it on your sites.

SMARTER is the new goal setting memory hook with the addition of ENTHUSIASM AND REWARD to the original acronym.

[tags]SMART, goal setting, goals, achievement, sales, leadership, management[/tags]

On this weeks podcast, I asked for help in changing the acronym SMART to SMARTER, but couldn’t come up with a good meaning for the ‘E’, but we may have a winner. Daniel commented that the ‘E’ could stand for ENTHUSIASM!

WHAT A GREAT IDEA, DANIEL. I LOVE THE WORD ENTHUSIASM FOR THE ‘E’ because that is one thing we must have to achieve our goals.

Well done, Daniel.

Any others? The bar is set pretty high, but you never know.

[tags]SMART, goals, goal setting, achievement, enthusiasm[/tags]

The Houston Podcasting Association meetup last night was a roaring success in my opinion. A bakers dozen showed up for the gathering and the visiting was non-stop for three hours.

There were representatives from many great podcasts as well as a visitor that wanted to know more about podcasting. It seems that the meetup was mentioned on the local technology radio show the evening before, so that inspired several visitors to show up, and they were welcomed with gusto.

A great bunch of folks attended and I will attempt to list them with links to their websites. Some do more than one podcast, with one member doing an over zealous six (if I didn’t miss any). And to anyone that was there that I forgot, I apologize sincerely (I have to be missing a few). And a quick mention of the visitors, Michael (yes, another one), Terry, and Ian.

Russell
Chris
Michael
Michael and Wendy
Lambo & Sketkar
and
Maynard whose podcast link I do not know. Maynard, send me a link and I will update the site.

Each has their own style and content, so check them out … you just might find something you like.

In this series on silent languages, and how we “speak” them, we now come to voice. I have already written about the language of both personality and body, and still want to discuss surroundings and words. Now, I hear you saying, “how can voice be a silent language?” Well, I’m glad you asked.

As we speak, we convey a lot of information about ourselves without realizing it. Listeners can detect nervousness, excitement, fear, or lack of concern, to name just a few. How are these things determined? Not by what you are saying as you talk, but more our perception as we listen to you. We hear the emotions and can understand where you are and how you feel.

A quiver in your voice means you are nervous and are in an uncomfortable position. It will usually mean you are in a place that is not familiar either. So now, without listening to the words you are speaking, I can tell all this about you. You are in an unfamiliar, uncomfortable position and you would rather be somewhere else.

What good does it do me to “speak” the silent voice language? By knowing how you feel, (in this case, nervous) I can act or react in a way that puts you more at ease. I can use words that comfort or encourage. I can position myself to be non-threatening. I can smile …

You get the idea, use the knowledge to defuse the nervousness. This allows you to have more control in the situation.

The other indicators that the voice give off, excitement, fear or lack of concern, mentioned above, have similar stories, but there is more.

Inflection of the voice can tell us a lot, as well. Anger is an emotion that causes a lot of inflection in the voice. Think back to the time you did something real bad, and your mother got angry. The first thing that happens is you learn all of your names. First, middle, and last, and sometimes more. “LARRY RAY HENDRICK!!! YOU GET IN HERE THIS VERY MINUTE!!!”, my Mom would say in a nice calm voice … NOT!

Now what can you tell from the tone of her voice and the inflection. I don’t need to go there, because you have all experienced this or something similar at some point in your life. I just hope it wasn’t at work, that would be bad. My point though is to pay attention to the more subtle emotions that reveal themselves in the same way. You have to pay close attention and focus, but that is what you want to do anyway, isn’t it?

As you can see, the voice can give away a lot, and not in talking, but in the emotions is conveys as someone speaks.

What examples can you give that illustrate this point. Let me know.

[tags]silent language, words, leadership, sales[/tags]

A quick reminder that the Houston Podcasting Organization is having a meetup tomorrow evening, March 23, 2006. Chris Doelle from Riding with the Window Down is organizing the get together, so if you are in the Houston area tomorrow night, come by and say hello.

Date: Thursday, March 23rd
Time: 7:00PM
Location: Brasil
2604 Dunlavy @ Westheimer
Houston, Texas 77006

Call For Directions
(713) 528-1993

Chris Doelle
cdoelle@gmail.com

[tags]Houston, Podcasting, houstonpodcasting.org, meetup[/tags]

Troy Worman is on vacation this week and he asked a few people to fill in for him on his site. I was one of the invitees, and have written a short article on TIME. I tend to get a little long winded, so I took extra effort to keep it short, however, I would like to develop the topic further in the coming week.

In the article, I am not talking about time management, but time. Well, you just need to head over and read it for yourself. You can find it at Orbit Now.

[tags]Troy Worman, vacation, time[/tags]

Motivation40 [ 23:21 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Howdy, and welcome to this episode of Motivation on the Run. I talk about Podzinger, 100Bloggers, and Orbit Now.

I’m working on a new acronym for SMART in goal setting that is SMARTER. Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Time Sensitive, ?(Ethical), and Reward. Now I need your help to define the ‘E.’

Then the conversation turns to communication and leadership and the pitfalls we suffer. Did you understand what I just said? That’s what communication is, to gain mutual understanding.

[tags]motivational podcast, Podzinger, 100Bloggers, Orbit Now, SMART, goals, leadership, communication[/tags]

This article has a good discussion on the differences between a manager and a leader. It is fairly basic, but does a good job of defining the manager role as it fits into a business. Check it out.

Good manager or great leader? | HR and Training

Good managers contribute to the success of the company by using their ‘positional power’ to direct, supervise and manage the resources of an organization. A leader has a much more complex role – they inspire and influence people so that a company’s vision can be achieved.

[tags]manager, leader, supervisor, resources[/tags]

Next in the series of silent languages is body language, but first a quick review. I started with naming the five silent languages that we need to be fluent in. They are personality, body, voice, surroundings and words. And your way ahead of me when silent and voice are in the same context, but just wait until I get there and you’ll see.

Body language is one of the oldest forms of communication and probably the most readily recognized non-spoken language. It is practiced from an early age and continues through adulthood with growing significance.

As a kid, all your Mom had to do, to bring you to a screeching halt, was give you “the look.” Remember? It could stop you in your tracks, instantly. To tell someone to be quiet, we would put our fore finger up to our lips in the silent signal for quiet. We would even hold our thumbs up to our ears and wiggle our fingers back and forth, while sticking out our tongue to taunt or tease someone. All this conversation took place without a word spoken and we knew exactly what was meant by the “talker.”

As we got older, we quickly learned that other body conversations had meanings and most of us learned to interpret them, as well. The crossed arms and legs, the scowling face, the straight as an arrow posture, and the leaned back comfortable posture.

This is the silent language that most people speak and most salesman pick up on first when talking to a prospect or customer. When meeting someone new, the second thing you start to pick up on, is their body language (the first is to come later). Are they leaning forward, or leaning back? Are they relaxed and comfortable, or stiff and unyielding? Do they look you in the eye, or look at their feet? Do they offer you their hand with a firm shake, or do they look away and not offer their hand? Do they come out from behind the desk, or do they keep it as a barrier between you? Do they rest the chin in their palm, or tilt the head to one side? Are they open to you or closed? How’s the smile? As you observe these action, the picture begins to form in your mind.

These different body moves say a lot about the person you are meeting or speaking with, and along with what their personality tells you (see Part II), you start forming a good picture of this person. It is important to remember that no one language is sufficient to deal in the world today. You need fluency in as many as possible if you hope to really know the person.

As an example, your are meeting someone for the first time and when you are escorted into his office, he gets up, comes around the desk, extends his hand and give a firm handshake. He has a big, warm smile, and signals you to sit in one of the chairs and he sits in the chair next to you, leaning back and crossing the legs at the knee. What do you know about this man?

His is probably a Lion personality and he is confident and sure of himself. He doesn’t need the trappings of a desk for separation, but is comfortable with his position in life. He is open to you and what you are offering, but remember, with the Lion, you need to get to the point without wasting his time. If he starts tapping his foot or drumming his fingers, you have strayed from the point and his impatience is showing. He indicates he is not ready to believe everything you have to say, but if you know your business, he will allow you some time.

If you convince this man that you are the solution to a problem he is having, you will get your chance to show him you can deliver, and if you do, you have a customer for the long haul. This person is looking for value and solutions, not products and prices, so remember to stay on point. The new term is trusted adviser, and this man is aware of that too. Your job is to show him he is not mistaken in that assessment of you.

This example could go on for some time, but the point is made. As I stated before, this is the most common of the silent languages, with the most fluent speakers, but never doubt that the information you get from this language is valid and valuable.

With personality and body language, most individuals speak volumes, but when you add in the next component, voice the picture starts to look like a work of art, rather than a child’s scribbles.

[tags]silent language, body language, sales, leadership[/tags]