People fall down, winners get up, and gold medal winners just get up faster.

-Bonnie St. John

Bonnie St. John lost a leg at the age of 5. Several years later, she would go on to become the first African-American to win an Olympic medal in skiing as she was awarded a silver and two bronze medals in the 1984 Paralympics in Innsbruck, Austria.  This week on my radio program, I asked Bonnie to tell her story about how she won the Silver. She said, “I was leading in the slalom after the first run. Then in the second run, I slipped on an ice patch and fell down the hill. I thought for sure this would cost me a medal, but I got up and continued racing.  Several other competitors hit the same patch of ice and also fell…even the one who eventually won the gold.  The only difference, however, between her and I, and the Gold and the Silver, was SHE got up faster…and THAT won her the gold.”

So what about your business? In this tough year, do you feel like you have “slipped on a patch of ice?” Well if so, NOW is the time to get up…and get up FASTER than your competition. Because there is only one gold, and it’s either going to you or them.

Here are three ways to get up faster in your business:

•    Get out of bed 30 minutes “faster” and earlier each morning.  Then use that extra time to learn something new about your Product, Industry or Competition.

•    Stop procrastinating! It’s time to quit talking and start doing. Write down a list of high value activities that might be painful but necessary to make you famous in your company then schedule time each day to do those things.

•    Network and Cold Call more than the competition. If you are speaking to 10 accounts each day, pump it up to 15 accounts each day.

And remember, the common fuel to “getting up faster” is URGENCY. Make your body feel it, then help others use it to make decisions more quickly. And by this time next year, you will look back on the autumn of 2009, as the greatest FALL of your career…the fall that couldn’t keep you down.

“How’s it going,” were the words I casually used as I walked past a fellow vacationer in a hotel hallway. The bearded man responded reluctantly, “It’s going.” That was it! No “Fine, how are you?” …or “Great, how you doing?” “Oh well, perhaps the guy is just having a tough day,” I thought. The next day as I carried my 3-year old’s floatie to the pool, there he was. As I walked past him I tried again, “How’s it going?” Sure enough, he responded with the same apathetic grunt, “It’s going.”

As I walked away I wondered why he had chosen to make THAT his response to a simple greeting. Why did he CHOOSE to be cold and uninterested in a stranger who was showing interest in him? So how do YOU greet strangers and even co-workers when you pass them in the hall? Do you look down at your feet as if the answers to life’s problems are on your shoelaces, or do you make the first “warm” move? If you said the latter, congratulations!

So this week, pay attention to every casual encounter you have and be sure to deliver your best. Because with each warm greeting and smile you deliver, you increase your worth and value to your customers, organization and world. In other words, your “stock” value goes up. But perhaps even more importantly, you help others “stock” value go up as well. And don’t be surprised if the gift of good nature that you deliver is returned in the form of more knowledge, more money and more honor…whether you intended it to or not.

“Performance stands out like a ton of diamonds. Non performance can always be explained away.”
-Harold S. Geneen

Tuesday while driving home from family vacation I spotted a diamond behind the counter of a gas station register. While I walked into the 15×15 ft tiny room that held only a cooler and two racks full of snacks and candy bars, that “diamond” (otherwise knows as Jack according to his name tag) was delivering a dazzling performance. He leaned over a small microphone that could be heard through the speakers at the gas pumps and enthusiastically announced, “Hope your day is going great! For the next 10 minutes ONLY we have a buy two candy bars get one free special! Come on inside and treat yourself!”

Then as I approached the counter to pay for my daughter’s bag of pretzels he smiled and said to me, “Those pretzels might make you thirsty. Right now you can get two 16 oz Cokes for only $2.22.” I walked out of that store spending slightly more than I had planned but got an opportunity to watch a top performer in action. I had never seen somebody work a cash register and a mic with such passion. As I walked away, I wondered how many additional sales he created each day, month, or year just by LOOKING for additional sales opportunities with EVERY customer. Is there any doubt this sales HABIT will produce significant and sustainable results? Of course not!

So this week, be like Jack! Let NO prospect leave you without you having tried to sell and serve them more. So go for the add-on sale! Ask for the referral! And make it a HABIT. Because the only difference between Jack and the average “non-performing” salesperson is he knows the formula to becoming a Diamond. It’s to LOOK for diamonds in every prospect he sees.

“But wait, there’s more…”
Billy Mays

This week the sales world lost one of its great Pitchmen, Billy Mays. His ability to create millions of dollars in sales by pitching common household products landed him on his own Discovery Channel show known as Pitchmen. So what can we learn from Billy that will make us a top Pitchmen or Pitchwomen? Well there are many lessons, but perhaps the biggest one that stands out is Billy’s ability to make common products seem uncommon. To do this, he made his demonstrations fun. They never got stale or boring. He was able to get more done in a two-minute commercial than most “professional” salespeople can get done in 60 minutes.

So this week, pick your favorite product to sell. Then sit down and write a short two-minute commercial on what makes that product so special. It should include

•    An introduction,
o    “Hi, I’m Billy Mays here for What Odor.”
•    Heavy on Benefits
o    “Eliminates Embarrassing Odors with One Spray.”
•    The Secret to How it Works
o    “Non-Toxic, All Natural Formulation of 41 Oils.”
•    Where to Use it
o    Sour Milk, Moldy Rotten Cheese, the Litter Box
•    Wow Examples
o    “Can eliminate a Skunk’s Odor”
•    Call to Action with UREGENCY
o    “Order now and we will add a second bottle.”

By taking time to think like Billy Mays, you will have developed the essential ingredients of what will become your greatest sales presentation. So thanks Billy, for teaching us how passion, energy and an occasional loud voice are essential tools to not only getting prospects interested, but committed.

I would rather entertain and hope that people learned something than educate people and hope they were entertained.
-Walt Disney

The definition of entertainment is: an activity that is diverting and that holds the attention. So when delivering your product presentation, do something that diverts your prospect’s mind to keep your message interesting. If you are a team leader holding a meeting, do something entertaining to make your audience want to listen to your vision. Below is a list of some entertaining things you can do to spice up your delivery:

•    Smile and laugh more frequently. When your audience sees you loosening up, so too will they. And when their mouths are open with laughter, so too are their ears…and their wallets!
•    Tell a story that illuminates your message. As you paint the picture, their imagination brings them closer to your words. Stories are salespeople’s most effective yet most underused sales tool.
•    Use images, audio and even video to stir the senses. These can be used in email, voicemails, PowerPoints or any other place you make customer contact.

In short, have a BLAST when selling or presenting, by adding entertainment to every contact you make. Because the Sales Business can be just like Show Business. And there’s no business like it! So let YOUR Show begin!

Do you know what makes you so good? If somebody asked you right now to tell them why you or your company is worth more than your competitor, could you tell them precisely and confidently? While most salespeople and businesses believe they are worth every penny and certainly worth more than the competition, most cannot articulate what makes them better. Because they often have not spent time thinking about it.

Today, take 15 minutes at your desk and make a list of what makes your offering so special. Is it your knowledge, follow-up, listening skills, or creativity? Whatever it is, write it all down. Then dig deeper. Be specific in each area. What knowledge do you have that’s different? How quickly do you follow-up? What do you listen for? How does your creativity benefit others? And once your list is done, ask yourself, “Would my competitors list look like this?” If so, you better change your list or do a better of identifying EXACTLY why you can do those things better.

By making this list and then putting it into a repeatable “script,” you will be better prepared the next time a prospect asks you, “Why should I do business with you.” And rather than spewing out the same lame, “We specialize in service blah blah blah,” you will instead fire off your specific sales value in a way that leaves them better understanding why they NEED to spend money with you.

Want to turn your salesforce into Sales Weapons? Go to sellhardplayhard.com to learn about the PRECISE Selling Performance Camp on June 11 in KC. To find out more about Brian’s sales and leadership programs, visit him at www.preciseselling.com or email Brian at bsullivan@preciseselling.com

Are anything “good things” happening in the world? Well, perhaps there is only one place to look…Google(TM). So today, I searched “good things happening in the world” and according to the world wide web, there aren’t any. And if Google can’t find happiness, how the heck can we?  Well I’m not buying it! In fact, I propose that we create a new search engine and call it …YOU.

And while all the others, including the media, are quickly searching and finding problems, hassles, anger, negativity and grumpiness, I propose the YOU search engine finds only solutions, challenges, warmth, positivity and smiles. And if this search engine, powered by YOU, spends more hours throughout the day SEARCHING for little victories at work, a new and exciting way to serve a customer, a better way to coach a co-worker, or a selfless way to help a stranger, YOU can become the most powerful search engine in the world.

While I can’t promise the financial profits of Google, I can promise you much  more. Because the more YOU searchfor good news, the more good news YOU will create. So this week,search for good while others are not. Then share your findings with everybody you touch. By doing so, YOU will sell more, lead more, and influence more. And the next time somebody does a Google search on TOP PERFORMER, your name will come up first.

Listen to Brian discuss the power of the positive mind with Willie Jolley, author of the best selling book, “It Only Takes a Minute to Change Your Life.” This interview will get you “fired up.” Go to www.preciseselling.com/Radioaccess.htm to listen. President of Kansas City-based PRECISE Selling, Brian delivers seminars and internet training programs on sales, customer service, leadership and presentation skills to companies of all sizes. To find out more, visit him at www.preciseselling.com or email Brian at bsullivan@preciseselling.com

“Unless you love everybody,
you can’t sell anybody.”

-Dicky Fox
Sports agent
from the film Jerry Maguire

As we come off of Valentine’s Day I was reminded of the simplest and most timeless business and life formula…Love Equals Success. Love your customers, love your peers, love your competition, love your boss, love your family and friends, and love yourself. Do this in abundance and you will love waking up, love the cold call, love the challenges, love the long quiet drives, love the sales meetings, and love finding new ways to obtain and retain customers. In short, love people and the “situations” of life will take care of themselves.

To inject a little more love into your life, and as a result, a lot more success, try the following exercise:

•    Beginning tomorrow morning, count the number of human interactions you have in that day.

•    After each interaction ask yourself this question, “Did that person ‘feel the love’ or will they resume their day quickly forgetting that I was even part of it.”

•    After each interaction, grade yourself on a scale of 1-10, one being the Grinch-esque and 10 being Cupid-like.

•    Before you turn out the lights, determine the average “love index” of those interactions.

•    If you averaged between 1-5, SNAP OUT OF IT and set the goal to increase your number by a point or two the next day.

•    If you were between 6-8, nice job, but you may still be leaving some points on the board.

•    If you are a love pro and came up with either 9 or 10, congratulations…you achieved Barry White Love status!

So this week, bump up your “Love Index” by smiling more, listening more, serving more and by leaving everybody you touch better for being with you. And by making love your secret weapon, you better prepare to love the success that will soon follow.

This week, Brian interviewed author Scott McKain on his weekly radio show. Kevin wrote the book “Collapse of Distinction,” and shares tips on how some of the world’s most famous people use love and humility to get to the TOP.   Go to www.preciseselling.com/Radioaccess.htm to listen to the interview. To find out more about Brian’s sales and leadership programs, visit him at www.preciseselling.com or email Brian at bsullivan@preciseselling.com.

Speech is power: speech is to persuade, to convert, to compel. It is to bring another out of his bad sense and into your good sense.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

Have you ever sat through a corporate or business presentation, only to find yourself counting the minutes until this nightmare was over…so you can go back to being productive? Well guess what? If you don’t look at your own presentations as “show time,” your audience and team members often feel the same way!

So if YOU had the choice between jumping off a cliff or presenting a topic to a large group of people, which one would YOU choose? Fact is, every time you get an OPPORTUNITY to get up in front of a group, you are also given the opportunity to impact people in a meaningful way. And here are some quick tips to getting it done:

•    If you use PowerPoint, use as few slides as possible to get your point across. (Has anybody ever said, “That presentation was lousy because there weren’t enough slides!” ANSWER: NO)

•    Practice at least the first four minutes of any presentation OUT LOUD several times so it rolls of your tongue as if you were Ronald Reagan Obama.

•    Survey or ask the audience members BEFOREHAND what THEY want to hear. Then craft your presentation with a “what’s in it for them” message.

•    Smile, have fun, add stories, YouTube Video, etc

By focusing on these small but key areas, you will leave your audience smarter, more motivated and better prepared to put your recommendations into action. And as you add more value to them, your own value to your people, your company and your industry will increase. And as you get your audiences out of their bad sense and into your good sense, don’t be surprised if you have a few more CENTS in your pocket at the end of the year.

This week, Brian interviewed author Kevin O’Conner on his weekly radio show. Kevin wrote the book “Present Like a Pro.”  To get  specific tips on making YOU a better presenter, go to www.preciseselling.com/Radioaccess.htm to listen to the interview. To find out more about Brian’s sales and leadership programs, visit him at www.preciseselling.com or email Brian at bsullivan@preciseselling.com.