Sales – Page 5 – thoughtLEADERS, LLC: Leadership Training for the Real World

A Simple Way to be More Professional

December 20, 2017/1 Comment/in Business Toolkit, Communications, Customer Service, Entrepreneur, Sales /by Mike Figliuolo

When salespeople call you to explore working with you, a simple technique can help you appear much more professional. If you’re not interested, just say so. Immediately.

Over the 14 years I’ve run my firm, I’ve heard a polite “no, thank you” more times than I can count. That’s fine. Rejection, especially when it’s quick, enables me and my team to spend our time on more fruitful conversations.

It’s the silence that kills me. And I know I’m not alone in this. I’ve spoken with countless executives, entrepreneurs, and salespeople over the years and there’s a common pet peeve – people who simply don’t respond to your messages.

It’s unprofessional folks. It’s discourteous. And if you were the one being ignored, you’d see how unpleasant and frustrating it can be.

“But Mike, I get so many sales calls and some of them are so pushy and I’m so busy so I don’t have time to respond.”

Yes, there are idiot salespeople who don’t know how to take “no” for an answer. That’s not what I’m talking about here.

What I’m talking about are the respectful salespeople and entrepreneurs who legitimately believe their product or service is a fit for you and your organization. They draft a polite email or leave a courteous voicemail. Then they wait patiently for a reply.

And they wait.

Eventually they’ll follow up a couple of months later to check in. And again, they get no response.

Here’s the important thing to realize – you’re wasting their time and coming across as unprofessional. And those salespeople and entrepreneurs have long memories. By ignoring them rather than being candid that they’re not a fit, you’re taking a risk without even realizing it.

Best of thoughtLEADERS 2017: Our 9th Year of Badassed Blogging

December 13, 2017/0 Comments/in Balanced Lifestyle, Books, Business Toolkit, Career, Communications, Entrepreneur, Innovation, Leadership, Sales, Social Media, Strategy /by Mike Figliuolo

It’s time again for our annual year in review list of the BEST posts we’ve published over the last 12 months. Welcome to the 2017 edition of The Figgies (our NINTH YEAR of em! Wow!) which are the awards we give ourselves for writing awesome blog content (here are the 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016 editions of those awards).

This is an annual event at the thoughtLEADERS Blog. This list is comprised of our most viewed, most forwarded, quirkiest, most provocative work. Enjoy. Share. We’ve loved writing them. We hope you’ve enjoyed reading them. I don’t ask a lot of you folks so I have two small requests as your holiday gift to me (you are getting me something, right?):

1. Invite all your coworkers, friends, and family to come check out the blog and become readers. The only way we all get better is by raising everyone’s game. I’m not asking a lot here. If you found this blog helpful at all this year, here’s your chance to return the favor for all our hard work. Just email folks and tell ’em to come take a look.

2. Pick up a copy of my books. They make great holiday gifts for the professionals in your life. The titles include:

One Piece of Paper: The Simple Approach to Powerful Personal Leadership. In the words of Roland Smith (former CEO of Wendy’s/Arby’s) “This book could change your life.” To get a sense for what the book is about, read this free ChangeThis Leadership Manifesto which is based on the book. If you like the manifesto, you’ll love the book.

Lead Inside the Box: How Smart Leaders Guide Their Teams to Exceptional Results. “Finally, a leadership book that cuts through all of the noise. This book needs to be on every leader’s desk!” – Andrea Procaccino, Chief Learning Officer, NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital.

The Elegant Pitch: Create a Compelling Recommendation, Build Broad Support, and Get it Approved. If you’re looking to get to “yes” for your idea, this book will give you the method for doing so in an efficient and effective way.

Thanks for your incredible support in ’17 and best wishes for ’18! We hope to be a part of your future success! Now on to the best of list!

How rigorous is your approach to pricing your products or services?

November 9, 2017/0 Comments/in Business Toolkit, Communications, Poll, Sales /by Mike Figliuolo

Our reader poll today asks: How rigorous is your approach to pricing your products or services?

– Very — we’re pretty analytical and rigorous about it: 58%
– Somewhat — we do some analysis and occasionally focus on it: 29%
– Not very — we infrequently analyze and focus on pricing: 8%
– Not at all — we slap a price tag on it and sell, sell, sell!: 4%

The Power of Pricing. An occasional focus on pricing isn’t enough. It’s perhaps one of the biggest improvement levers you have at your disposal. For traditional businesses, a 1% pricing improvement can yield a 10% profit improvement. How can you afford not to be rigorous about pricing? Not only should you evaluate how much you’re pricing – you should also consider your pricing model. The way you price your products could be less than effective. Invest the time in looking at your pricing model and the actual prices themselves. You (and your shareholders) will be happy you did!

Do you agree with these poll results? Let us know in the comments below!

– Mike Figliuolo at thoughtLEADERS, LLC

Did you enjoy this post? If so, I highly encourage you to take about 30 seconds to become a regular subscriber to this blog. It’s free, fun, practical, and only a few emails a week (I promise!). SIGN UP HERE to get the thoughtLEADERS blog conveniently delivered right to your inbox!

Can Thought Leadership Be Quantified and Measured? Oh YES!

October 16, 2017/0 Comments/in Books, Career, Communications, Guest Blogger, Leadership, Sales /by Mike Figliuolo

The ROI of thought leadership can be hard to quantify but there is definitely a return on the investment. Positioning yourself as an expert carries huge benefits.

Today’s post is by Ken Lizotte, author of The Speaker’s Edge (CLICK HERE to get your copy).

Positioning yourself and your firm as a leading edge thinker and practitioner in your field involves numerous “thoughtleading” actions, e.g., publishing your ideas, speaking to targeted groups, guesting on podcasts and radio, and so forth.

While all that may sound fun (or exhausting!), choosing to implement such a unique strategy may seem rife with risk, as in, ah … does it really work? Why go to the lengthy and daunting challenge of writing and publishing a book, or a series of books, if, in the end, nothing will come of it? The same holds true with speaking engagements, and media appearances. Will any or all of these tactics ever show concrete results? In other words, can a thoughtleading strategy be realistically quantified, measured and translated into a reliable return-on-investment?

Happily, the answer is to this last query is… YES!

Studies have shown that a quantifiable ROI of thoughtleading can in fact be discerned, although getting to the heart of the matter first requires understanding that traditional methods of measuring ROI may not always apply, due largely to the assumptions and procedures adopted by traditional ROI calculations. Instead, our current economy, with its growing emphasis on intellect-based services, as opposed to three-dimensional manufactured goods, demands alternative methods of measurement. This new equation involves the now well-recognized value of intellectual capital (or IC).

Hey Entrepreneurs – No One Cares about Your Technology

September 20, 2017/0 Comments/in Entrepreneur, Innovation, Leadership, Sales, Strategy /by Mike Figliuolo

Building the technology that is the foundation of your business is the easy part of being an entrepreneur. If you want to build a great business, you need to focus on execution and operations. Without them, you’ve go nothing.

I recently spoke at a local entrepreneur event WakeUp StartUp and I was asked what matters most for entrepreneurs. My answer surprised a few people. Most folks think it’s all about having the coolest new technology. They’re wrong.

Tech is easy. Execution is what matters.

There. I said it.

Why is it that so many entrepreneurs believe the tech is the be-all, end-all? Where did the notion come from that if you have nothing more than a killer application, website, algorithm, or any other combo of 01001010101110110 that you can build a multibillion dollar company? (I probably just dropped an f-bomb with that combo of digits).

Wrong.

It’s about executing, people (note the comma in this sentence is *very* important).

Sure, you need good tech. It must solve a problem. But once it’s built, you have to execute. That’s a whole different skill set than writing code and drawing wiring diagrams. Think about how many awesome technologies went the way of the dodo because the company simply failed to execute. Lots of them.

So how can you get better at execution? Here are a few thoughts:

What it Really Takes to Run Your Own Firm

September 13, 2017/1 Comment/in Career, Entrepreneur, Leadership, Sales, Strategy, Training /by Mike Figliuolo

People tell me all the time “I want to do what you do.” They have some glorified vision of what it means to be an entrepreneur. The day to day grittiness of it is something that few understand. Here’s a view into that day to day.

Entrepreneurship is a great life – as long as you’re prepared for what that means. Running your own firm isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

The day to day activities are the ones few people understand or appreciate. Add to that the complexity of running as simple a business as possible and you can have a real nightmare on your hands if you don’t know what you’re getting yourself into.

Recently I had occasion to speak with Will Bachman, the founder and Managing Partner at Umbrex about what it takes to run a successful training firm. I guess I’m allowed to declare my firm as being successful considering we just celebrated our 13th birthday and we continue to grow every year.

We discussed my experience as an entrepreneur covering topics ranging from getting your business model right, dealing with clients, and making sure you’re taking care of yourself so you don’t run yourself into the ground.

Listen to the podcast here:

What do you believe is the most effective form of growth?

August 10, 2017/0 Comments/in Entrepreneur, Leadership, Poll, Sales, Strategy /by Mike Figliuolo

Our reader poll today asks: What do you believe is the most effective form of growth?

– Organic: 49%
– Acquisition: 15%
– Geographic expansion: 10%
– New product introduction: 23%
– Other: 3%

Go organic. The large majority of you are fans of growing your existing business and taking it to new customers or growing customer bases you already have. While there’s a lot to be said for organic growth, it can be slow and it leaves you vulnerable to large changes in the market like competitors making acquisitions or launching new products that leave you in the dust. Evaluate your growth strategy on a regular basis. Be rigorous about understanding your growth options and choose the one most appropriate to the market environment. Sticking only to a “slow and steady wins the race” approach exposes you to other risks that can damage your business.

Do you agree with these poll results? Let us know in the comments below!

– Mike Figliuolo at thoughtLEADERS, LLC

Did you enjoy this post? If so, I highly encourage you to take about 30 seconds to become a regular subscriber to this blog. It’s free, fun, practical, and only a few emails a week (I promise!). SIGN UP HERE to get the thoughtLEADERS blog conveniently delivered right to your inbox!

4 Questions to Make Difficult Switching Decisions Much Easier

July 31, 2017/0 Comments/in Books, Business Toolkit, Customer Service, Guest Blogger, Sales /by Mike Figliuolo

In an age of too many options, four simple questions can provide a clear approach to making those frequent decisions in a way that saves us time.

Today’s post is by Jack Quarles, author of Expensive Sentences (CLICK HERE to get your copy).

We live in a time of unprecedented options. Those of us in developed economies of the 21st century, even with average incomes, have more choices than ever before in what we eat, what we wear, our jobs, where we live or travel, our entertainment and education… and the list goes on.

Our ability to customize the details of our lives is dazzling, but it is not free. Abundant options require abundant decisions, and decisions require energy. Life’s never-ending buffet brings byproducts: too many options can paralyze us, and fear of taking the wrong option can haunt us.

We can benefit from thinking about how we make decisions, and intentionally adopting practices that help us manage the cost of decision-making and feel more confident in the choices we do make.

Let’s examine a class of decision that we face every day: stay or go, fish or cut bait, keep on the same path or change direction. More specifically, we’ll consider people and companies we pay, whether at work or at home:

Do I like my accountant, or is it time to switch?
Should I change gyms?
Do we need a new marketing consultant?
Is our lawn care guy charging us too much?

There are both cost and benefit components to these questions. If your gym is nearby and your friends go there, it may be worth twice the price of a different gym with the same equipment because you’re more likely to go and use it. That’s an easy case. Other decisions aren’t so easy, and sometimes those questions of “Am I paying too much for this?” keep lingering in our mind without a clear answer.

Replacing Gray with Black and White

The Power and Danger of Overallocating Goals

June 28, 2017/0 Comments/in Business Toolkit, Entrepreneur, Leadership, Sales, Strategy /by Mike Figliuolo

Goal setting can be tricky business. By overallocating goals from top to bottom, you can improve the odds of hitting your top level goal; but be careful you don’t put too much pressure on your team members.

Goals shouldn’t just tie from your strategy down to the individual goals. When you add your goals up, they also need to align from corporate goals down to individual goals.

Ensure everyone’s work is headed in the same direction and people know how they fit in and how their work contributes to the broader goals you’re trying to achieve. The way you do this is you work from the company vision down to divisions, then down to teams below that, all the way down to individual goals.

Goals should cascade from the highest levels down, and when you add them all up, hopefully it’s more than you’re trying to achieve at the top level.

Why?

Well, you want to make sure that you hit your big corporate or division goal. By overallocating that goal across the organization, you’re going to increase the chances that you hit the big goal.

Here’s what overallocating a goal looks like:

When Going Global, Customize Your Management Strategy

June 26, 2017/0 Comments/in Books, Business Toolkit, Communications, Entrepreneur, Guest Blogger, Sales /by Mike Figliuolo

When dealing with global business partners and operating in foreign lands, you don’t have to rely on country generalizations. Analyze your unique contacts for maximum effectiveness.

Today’s post is by Dierdre Mendez, author of The Culture Solution (CLICK HERE to get your copy).

For stressed managers dealing with international employees and partners, a profile describing the country they’re dealing may seem like a natural thing to reach for. Brazil has a score of 34 for punctuality, Finns value quiet, serious conversation, good things to know. But think about the U.S. There are cultural differences from north to south, between rural areas and big cities, and across generations. The same is true anywhere in the world. Your contact might be a talkative Finn or a punctual Brazilian—the opposite of what their country profiles predict.

Fortunately, there’s a solution. Each person you deal with offers signs of their cultural orientation—through the way they greet others, express disagreement, present information, solve problems, and organize tasks. Learning to read these signals will give you accurate information about each individual contact, whether or not they fit a country profile. In my new book The Culture Solution, I provide tips on recognizing eight cultural dimensions likely to cause confusion and frustration and developing strategies for managing problems and communicating effectively. The following tips will get you on your way.

Analyze Your International Contacts

Check for what seems different or surprising. Suppose you vising a new partner for the first time and you notice that your contacts there line up in order of rank to receive you. They have a set seating order, again according to rank. They are formal in the way they dress and sit, and use titles plus last names, like” Director X.” There’s an organization chart on the wall, and all the managers are older men. You’re seeing signs that your partner company is “endowment” oriented—that it has a very hierarchical structure that prioritizes age and male gender and values formality and respect for rank.

Predict and Strategize

Become a Better Salesperson or Business Development Executive in Mere Minutes

June 21, 2017/0 Comments/in Books, Communications, Leadership, Sales /by Mike Figliuolo

We’re starting a new podcast series specifically for sales and business development managers. Episodes will feature either interviews with leading experts, consultants, and bestselling authors in sales, or a discussion of the result of our research into the art and science of storytelling in sales.

Today’s post is by Paul Smith, thoughtLEADERS principal and bestselling author of Lead With a Story and Sell With a Story.

Here’s an easy way to learn some new selling skills – in easy-to-digest podcasts you can listen to at your convenience.

These podcasts are based on interviews with professional salespeople at over 50 organizations, as well as professional buyers. Who better to tell us which sales stories work and which don’t than the professional procurement managers who spend each day listening to dozens of salespeople tell their stories and deciding which ones to award business to and which ones to send away empty handed?

The first six episodes include an introduction to the concept of sales stories and how to distinguish them from a sales pitch, the top 10 reasons why storytelling works so well in sales, the 25 most useful sales stories, as well as discussions with two bestselling authors and sales experts. Sit back. Listen. Learn. And sell more.

Pig Island: An Accidental Sales Story

An introduction to the concept of a sales story, not your average sales pitch.

Sales Guru and Bestselling Author Anthony Iannarino on His First Lessons on Selling

Why Equilibrium is the Key to Achieving True Negotiating Success

May 22, 2017/0 Comments/in Books, Business Toolkit, Communications, Entrepreneur, Guest Blogger, Sales /by Mike Figliuolo

Maintaining your cool and being in a state of equilibrium is a huge asset in a negotiation. When the other party loses it, you benefit by staying calm instead.

Today’s post is by Corey Kupfer, author of Authentic Negotiating (CLICK HERE to get your copy).

Most negotiating articles, books, training programs and other resources focus on techniques, tactics and counter-tactics. These, however, are often ineffective, manipulative and inauthentic and, even when good, are not the key to true negotiating success. Authentic negotiating is the secret to true negotiating success and there are three keys to authentic negotiating:

Clarity: Authentic negotiators know what will and won’t work for them on every significant term, and what their true bottom line is – from a place of clarity, not ego.

Detachment: Authentic negotiators can walk away from a negotiation with no hesitation – not from a place of anger or upset, but from a place of detachment with no judgment or hard feelings.

Equilibrium: Authentic negotiators don’t let emotions dictate their actions. Instead, they maintain equilibrium during the heat of tough negotiation to stay present and preserve their clarity and detachment.

Although each of the components of this CDE core framework are important, in this post, I am going to focus power of equilibrium – the third key to true negotiating success.

Several years ago, I received a telephone call from an attorney, Henry, who was representing clients on the other side of an unhappy split of a business partnership between three guys. I represented one of the three partners, and he represented the other two. Henry called me up, yelling and screaming and threatening my client with all sorts of dire consequences. My client happened to be a lawyer, although the business he was in with the other two was not related to the law. This bullying attorney was saying, “He’s going to lose his law license” and “He’s unethical,” neither of which was true. Henry was emotionally involved. He had lost his equilibrium.