Decide for Them

In sales, there comes a point when you have to ask for the close in some form or fashion. Now this can be a little bit of an awkward moment for many. Some people make common mistakes at this point and then experience the after thoughts after hanging up the phone or leaving the meeting with the distinct feeling of.... "oh... damn it... I should have said [insert appropriate line]" Yes, it's happened to all of us. You get to the point of closing a deal right then and there and you ask them to make a decision like "would you like to do this or that..."

You're making your sales life harder than it needs to be. Here is what I want you to do - make the decision for your prospect. Tell them, rather than ask them. There's a tactful and smooth way to do this and it works. Rather than say, do you want to pay by check or corporate card? Say, "we will bill this to your corporate card and send the reciept over to your email - what are the card details?" Make the decisions for your prospect so they don't have to. Believe me, you save them time as well as your own. The prospect prefers it this way as well. Less decisions, less hassle, less things to think about. 

Give it a try. Any situation that may require you to ask for a decision - change to you making the decision on behalf of the prospect to handle it right then and there. You will find that this speeds up the sales cycle and improves the overall close percentages not too mention reduces work and effort for you and the prospect.

You will use this method of making a deicison for your prospect this week and then post a comment on my blog to let me know how it went and I will look forward to hearing from you. (see that wasn't so hard was it?)

- Robert Cornish

CEO, Richter10.2 Media Group

Order and Expansion

Over the past few weeks I've been on a mission to put order into every single area of our company. Meaning, I am making it orderly, implementing systems etc. The magic of "order" is limitless. Each little area that we've put order into results in things magically getting better. In other words, we made our company more orderly in one area and found that it impacted our growth just that much for the week.

Look around your company and make a list. Find every single area that you can to put order in. Then, simply address them one by one.

Here are a few examples:

- Make all workspaces neat and tidy to improve production

- Make a revision to a contract to ensure it reads correctly

- Address some old "need to get done's" and do them

- Implement a new checklist to help make a process more efficient and swift

- Get rid of a redundant task or function that causes extra work

These are but a few areas. Just start listing out all of the areas that you want to make orderly and then do so. You will be completely blown away at how this will impact you sales, growth, expansion, morale and the list goes on. It's complete magic.

- Robert Cornish

CEO, Richter10.2 Media Group

 

 

Goal Attainment

It's easy to get caught up looking off into the distant future and at the overall goal of what you are trying to attain but the actual way to attain your goal is by breaking it down into a series of small sub-goals that ultimately attain the overall goal.

I think a lot of people have trouble with this and get beat up trying to attain a goal that never seems to come to fruition. Here is how to attain a goal:

1. Write down the overall vision that you want to attain. Make it crystal clear so you have the goal clearly defined.

2. Work out the sequence of actions that would possibly be needed to attain the goal. In other words, what do you have to do to attain it. List every possible step or action related to the goal.

3. Take the first step or action and break it down into executable, doable targets.

4. Execute the first step and targets.

Then keep repeating step 1 to 4 over and over with all of your goal targets. The planning of goals and the working out of how to attain the goal itself is important. Once this is done, just focus on execution of the small sub-goals within the overall goal.

As an example, I run a lot and I have an overall goal that I am going after for sure but I focus on the sub-goals and then smaller sub-goals within those sub-goals. I get up everyday and go for a run with a goal in mind but even while running, I am only really focused on the next step in front of me. I am looking to accomplish one concrete block step after the other concrete block step. I don't stare at the distance that I am running toward. I don't think about the overall fitness goal either. I win goal after goal which are the small steps right in front of me and then by focusing on those, I end up attaining the overall goal for that day of the distance I want to go. This then is one sub-goal executed that aligns with the overall goal of a fitness target.

Does that make sense? It's the breaking down of a goal into bit sized chunks that are doable, executable targets that is actually how to attain a goal. Then focusing on the small targets and getting them done. These then will lead to actual attainment of the overall goal. Work out the goal. Work out the planning. Work out the sub-goals. Work out the sub-goal targets. Execute daily.

Here is a great video by Nike that I thought appropriate :)

- Robert Cornish
CEO, Richter10.2 Media Group

Decision Comes First

Decision seems to be a relatively misunderstood word. In business, people talk about decisions, the decision-maker etc but rarely truly understand the power of decisions and the priority they take in getting anything done.

See, many people try to have all the facts, knowledge and info lined up prior to making a decision and more specifically - SO they can make a decision. It doesn't work like that.

It works like this - you have to look at what you want to do and then completely and utterly decide on what you will do, the outcome etc. Make a decision that is unwavering and fully committed. Then you work toward the decision taking actions in order to execute what you decided on. That is how it works and that will give you the cleanest and exact result of your decision.

Decide, then actions to execute the decision.

Don't waffle and think and come up with options after options and ho-hum and maybe this, maybe that - no - look at what you want, make a decision and take actions toward executing your decision to make it happen. It's that simple. So focus on clear, crisp decisions and taking actions that attain your decisions.

- Robert Cornish
CEO, Richter10.2 Media Group

Adding Time

How much time is added unnecessarily to your life? Just imagine for a second how many situations in your business that time get's added that didn't need to be added. Think about it. Here are a few examples to exercise your thoughts:

- you get an email and instead of handling it right then and there, you put it away for "later"

- you tell someone in business that you will review and handle this "next week" when you could handle it right now. - you don't gather all the people that need to be associated with a decision immediately to put it to bed right now, only to procrastinate and put it off for another day

- you defer decisions to someone else when you can actually handle it and be done with it.

These are just a few examples but just imagine if you made a list of every single time you added time to a situation that didn't require it and then you stopped doing it! A lot of time would be freed up for you. A ton of time actually. So it isn't really that you never have enough time... Is it? No. It's that you gobble up all the available time you have with the fluff of "adding time" to various situations for no apparent reason. Stop doing it and buy yourself extra time to get more done. You will be amazed at how much you are actually capable of. Let your competition or other folks add time but don't join them in this idiotic activity.

- Robert Cornish
CEO, Richter10.2 Media Group

Doubt

The insidious infection in your business is doubt. Seek out anyone who may be infected with it to handle them immediately or get them out of your company to quarantine the area.

Yes, it's that serious. Anyone who may have any doubts about your future, the vision of the company and the certainty or belief in pulling it off is a liability. They will drag you down. Their doubts will infect your progress and your other people - count on it. Handle them or get rid of them. Your team must be composed of enthusiastic, focused, determined and confident people who relentlessly persist toward the goal with total belief that they will attain it. That is how you win.

If you have people on board that are doubtful - shoot them from cannons. Believe in your ability to attain your vision and get everyone to move toward that vision with total conviction and you will absolutely attain it.

- Robert Cornish
CEO, Richter10.2 Media Group