Expert or not

Are you an expert in your field? Do you want or need to be an expert in your field? These are two of the questions many business owners and sales people ask themselves consistently. There is a fine line between being an expert and having expert knowledge. Some people will tell you to be an expert. However, I believe being an expert limits your scope while having expert knowledge allows you to share what you know. I have believed the motto, “brains on tap not on top” . You cannot achieve expert status in everything you do so it is better to focus your “expertness” on one or two categories and obtain knowledge to share from other experts to share with your prospects, customers and clients. When you do this you free up time to focus on what is important to everyone involved and clients will appreciate you for being concise.

What happens when a client asks you a question that is out of your area of expertise? Do you freeze? Do you stutter? Do you make stuff up? I hope you do none of the above. The best answer if you don’t have an answer is, “That’s a great question let get the correct answer for you” . Most people appreciate your honesty and truthfully don’t want you to know everything. They just want the correct answer to their situation and as long as you provide it to them they really don’t care if you knew it or obtain it from somewhere else. As a matter of fact most clients feel more comfortable with people who don’t know everything and utilize a team approach of experts. So obtaining expert knowledge is the ability to use others knowledge to further your own expert knowledge which you in turn then share with prospects to increase your sales and business. In conclusion, be the person with “brains on tap not on top” , to solve your client’s questions not the expert with a limited scope of knowledge.

Gratitude

Gratitude is the art of showing appreciation to others. In business gratitude goes a long way in making your clients feel appreciated. There is an old quote, “People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care.” – Theodore Roosevelt. How do you show your appreciation to your clients? Most sales people don’t understand how to show gratitude and make their clients feel appreciated. Gratitude is a simple process. It is sending a thank you card for meeting with you, it is a happy birthday call to a client, and it is sending a Happy Thanksgiving card or a Happy New Year’s card. Anytime you put the client’s interest first you are practicing gratitude.

Gratitude must be sincere or your clients will know it. A client wants to know that you care showing gratitude makes them understand that. So, make sure you are showing your clients your gratitude because gratitude leads to referrals and referrals lead to increased sales. "Gratitude is a currency that we can mint for ourselves, and spend without fear of bankruptcy." Fred De Witt Van Amburgh. So as you can see the more gratitude you show the greater the potential reward for you and your business.

Getting Your Point Across

When you are speaking with staff, a potential client or a good client what you say at the beginning and the end of your conversation will be remembered longer than almost any other part of your conversation. This is why it is important to have a formula for when speaking with people whether it is a large group or a one on one. Remember to tell them what you are going to tell them, then tell them and then tell them what you told them. Always finish your conversation with a summary repeating the main points of your conversation. Not everyone closes a conversation with powerful, stirring words that live on in memory so make your points are clear and concise so they are understood. Do not be shy, have a plan before you start that covers the topics you want to cover and stay focused on those topics. Speakers have a tendency to get off topic or distracted and then do not get their point across. Getting your point across helps you make more sales or acquire more business.

Another way to get your point across is to use story telling. Story telling can be very powerful because it intertwines your idea inside of a story your audience can relate to. It is important again to stay on point so that the story illustrate your key ideas and clearly links to the key message that you are making with your conversation. Don’t leave it to your audience to figure out for themselves, make sure you get your point across. So as you can see when you get your point across you will define where you stand and how the client benefits and in the end isn’t that the whole point of having a conversation in the first place.

Motivation

What is your motivation? Motivating yourself and/or your staff is the most important part of your day. When we self-motivate we get our minds straight and prepare ourselves for the day ahead. There are many ways to motivate yourself and others such as incantations, positive affirmations and exercise. When you have positive motivations you tend to accomplish more, your day goes better you make more sales. Start your day with comments like, “I will or I am”. Staying motivated is a lot easier when you stay positive.

I learned very early on money should not be your motivation for your success. Money should be a byproduct of being motivated and having success. One of the reasons most small business owners and sales people don’t succeed is they start their business thinking about how much money they are going to make instead of focusing on how they want their business to grow. Their motivation to succeed goes away when they aren’t earning the money they thought they would. When you stay motivated you will watch your business grow and sales increase

Perseverance

Perseverance goes a long way in determining a person’s success. Dale Carnegie said, “Burning enthusiasm, multiplied with patience and perseverance, always brings success.” How do you persevere? Do you give up easily? If you are then you are giving up just before you are ready to achieve that unbelievable success you have been trying to reach for oh so long. It is said that most people quit right before they achieve success, basically those people stopped persevering.

Perseverance isn’t being annoying or over selling. Perseverance isn’t forcing people’s hands. Perseverance is making that last call, perseverance is following up on the client you haven’t been able to close just yet and perseverance is not quitting until you succeed. When you persevere good things happen. When you make that extra call even if it doesn’t lead to a sale with that customer somehow you receive a call from someone you have been working on for a long time. When you persevere, life gets better, sales come easier and your business grows so persevere and never give up. A good salesman or business owner understands the best way to create success is to keep moving forward and never stop persevering.

Think

Did you ever notice when we make time to think creativity blossoms. Sales ideas come out of nowhere when we make time to think. When you want to create a new business, or a product, or you’re trying to determine how to increase your sales and revenue, it is important to find a quiet space or time frame for focused thought. In today’s world of high tech and always being connected it can be hard to find that elusive quiet or down time to think.

Here are some ideas of how creative thinkers find time to think of new ideas:

Turn off your devices and eat a meal by yourself. Your mind will then be free to unload any stress, relax and incorporate new ideas. Play a game and let your mind wander. Games such as Sudoku, other word games or even card games get the creative side of your brain moving. Create short breaks into your daily routine. I call them mental health breaks and they can be as little as one hour or can be a whole day. Find that place of solitude where the daily grind strips away. If you are a work out person go early when it is empty and combine your workout with music and watch the creativity flow. Make time for yourself by taking a vacation or at least a long weekend.

Why is it essential to create time to think? Thinking is what our brain does all day in our subconscious. The ideas are already there however we must create the downtime for the ideas to come to our conscious mind. When we allow the time to think and our ideas start flooding our thoughts we become innovative and we see our sales increase.

Connect

How well do you connect to others? In life and in business the key to successful relationships is connecting with others. There are many ways to connect with people and it is how you utilize those connections which will determine your success.

When connecting with others are you the type that is looking for something out of the relationship or are you listening and seeing what you can do to help that individual? The most important connection we make is the personal connection. This is the connection that carries the most weight and it allows the person we are connecting with to know us, to understand us and to feel comfortable with us. When you connect on this level people trust you. You become “their guy”. The greatest compliment you can ever receive is when someone says “I’ve got a guy” and they mean you! When you are “the guy” people refer you and with that referral they are transferring their trust in you. These are the greatest referrals and show that you have connected.

Have you become the bridge that allows others to connect through you? When you are “the guy” people will call you for referrals and ask if you know “a guy” . When you achieve this status your business is ready to explode. Connecting in these ways creates the trust you need to succeed. Make sure you are making all these connections and watch your business soar!!