I Am A Salesman [I Built America]

I really enjoy the essay I include at the end of this post, excerpted from Zig Ziglar's Secrets of Closing the Sale, and the contents of which are really telling of its age. Zig doesn't claim to have written this. I often tell people that I'm passionate about ETHICAL sales and marketing — which basically means I stand behind my business because I believe it will truly benefit those I'm providing to.

When you sell to someone ethically, you don't coerce him to do anything he doesn't want to do. You allow him to make an educated decision. What's he deciding on? He's deciding which is more valuable to him: the personal benefit he'll experience or the rectangular pieces of green paper he has to trade for it.

"You might be offended when I try to sell you on something, but I understand. That's because you're afraid I'm trying to take something from you - when in fact - I'm providing you the opportunity to exchange something you have for something that you'll soon discover is far more valuable to you anyway. What I offer may save you time, money, or deliver an experience you want and so richly deserve (even something as simple as peace of mind can be extremely valuable in our fast paced society). If you refuse to hear me out, I'm never offended - why? It's your loss, not mine. I only wish you'd understand why I'm so persistent... I REALLY believe you need what I offer!"

Ethical Marketing, then, is the process of duplicating who you are as an Ethical Salesperson (e.g. your empathy for your client, your trustworthiness, and your belief in the benefit of the offer to that client, etc.) using your choice of media. Marketing is most effective coming from a salesperson but most celebrated and appreciated coming from an Ethical Salesperson.

Just some food for thought.

Anyhoo, I'll end my contribution to this post by quoting Zig, since I found the essay below in his book, because I agree and firmly believe:

"You can have anything you want in life, if you'll just help enough other people get what they want."

~Zig Ziglar

So without further ado...

I Am A Salesman

I am proud to be a salesman, because more than any other man, I and millions of others like me, built America.

The man who builds a better mouse trap — or a better anything — would starve to death if he waited for people to beat a pathway to his door. Regardless of how good or how needed the product or service might be, it has to be sold.

Eli Whitney was laughed at when he showed his cotton gin. Edison had to install his electric light free of charge in an office building before anyone would even look at it. The first sewing machine was smashed to pieces by a Boston mob. People scoffed at the idea of railroads. They thought that traveling even thirty miles an hour would stop the circulation of the blood! McCormick strived for 14 years to get people to use his reaper. Westinghouse was considered a fool for stating he could stop a train with wind. Morse had to plead before 10 Congresses before they would even look at his telegraph.

The public didn't go around demanding these things; they had to be sold!!

They needed thousands of salesmen, trailblazers and pioneers - people who could persuade with the same effectiveness as the inventor could invent. Salesmen took these inventions, sold the public on what these products could do, taught customers how to use them, and then taught businessmen how to make a profit from them.

As a salesman, I've done more to make America what it is today than any other person you know. I was just as vital in your great-great-grandfather's day as I am in yours, and I will be just as vital in your great-great-grandson's day. I have educated more people, created more jobs, taken more drudgery from the laborer's work, given more profits to businessmen, and have given more people a fuller and richer life than anyone in history. I've dragged prices down, pushed quality up, and made it possible for you to enjoy the comforts and luxuries of automobiles, radios, electric refrigerators, televisions, and air conditioned homes and buildings. I've healed the sick, given security to the aged, and put thousands of young men and women through college. I've made it possible for inventors to invent, for factories to hum, and for ships to sail the seven seas.

How much money you find in your pay envelope next week, and whether in the future you will enjoy the luxuries of prefabricated homes, stratospheric flying of airplanes, and new world of jet propulsion and atomic power, depends on me. The loaf of bread you bought today was on a baker's shelf because I made sure that a farmer's wheat got to a mill, that the mill made wheat into flour, and that the flour was delivered to your baker.

Without me, the wheels of industry would come to a grinding halt. And with that, jobs, marriages, politics and freedom of thought would be a thing of the past. I AM A SALESMAN and I'm proud and grateful that as such, I serve my family, my fellow man and my country.

~Author Unknown

Three Critical Relationships You Must Build For A Happy, Healthy Business

Like a penny, "a client retained is a client earned."

However, since a client will always be worth more than a penny, it's logical to conclude that it should also take more to retain a client than it does a penny. What's worse is, unlike a penny, clients can get up, walk away, and leave you.

Ok, I'll put the penny down for a second.

Recently, at one of my favorite events each month, the Glazer-Kennedy Insider's Circle Miami Chapter meeting, our Advisor, Andrew J. Cass shared some wisdom that I'll now impart to you:

"Most people think that the purpose of a customer is to get a sale when in fact, the purpose of a sale is to get a customer."

In other words, most businesses treat transactions like one-night stands, gratifying the customer once, and forgetting the whole thing ever happened afterwards. It's cold and heartless... and... you just shouldn't treat someone that way! -=]

Then, when there are no customers around, the business owner figures "Oh boy! I better go find new customers!"

Alright, first off, I prefer the term "client" because I can accept the responsibilities that are associated with having clients. An even better term is "member" but that's a conversation for a whole other post.

The Purpose of a Sale is to Get a Customer Client!

Why? Because when you have something to sell again, you have someone to sell to!

How? By adding them to a list and continually following up with them?

This is Marketing 101, so to those of you who already have a grasp on these foundations, thanks for bearing with me. Here comes the meat of the post!

...What Do You Say To Them?

Well I've given this some thought, and I think that while you can use the term client, let's approach this as both a specific and "blanket" term.

To really successful entrepreneurs, the word Business is synonymous with Relationships. If you ask the question: "how's business?" to any such entrepreneur, they could very well answer "the relationship I have with my clients is fantastic!"

So how do you create a fantastic relationship with your clients? By treating them as more than customers. By treating them as:

• Clients - The folks who benefit from the products or services you offer.
• Friends - The folks who you like to keep informed about the great things happening in your life, and are equally interested in hearing back from.
  
• And eventually, as Colleagues - The folks whose opinions you respect enough to provide to others.

You can't sell them all the time, and you can't just be buddy-buddy with them either... not (in either case) if you want to stand any chance of thriving in business and profiting from your efforts. Just mix just these two aspects together into regular follow-up with your list, and you'll already have gone miles ahead of your competition in terms of forming and maintaining healthy relationships... a healthy business!

But that's just the "Client-Friend." Why and how would you treat a client as a colleague? Well, because eventually, loyal clients become something more than just clients... and they need to be recognized as such.

Imagine walking into a small hardware store and asking what the best tool would be to fix a leaky faucet, only to have the clerk at the counter turn the question over to Joe, who doesn't work there; he's just always around, and is really respected at that store. Not too farfetched, is it? But in as much time as Joe spends there, where do you think he shops if he needs to fix something?

So in marketing to your list, you could recognize "Joe" for something he shared; you could give others the opportunity to shine by asking your clients a question; or you could simply share a testimonial and help them add value to your business by sharing their great experience with everyone else!

Research psychologist Clayton Alderfer says that motivation generally comes from three sources:

1. Fulfillment of basic existence needs
2. Fulfillment of relationship needs
3. Fulfillment of personal growth needs

When you treat them as clients, you help them fulfill their basic existence needs. When you treat them as friends, you help them fulfill their relationship needs. When you treat them as colleagues, you allow them to feel as though (at least in your eyes as the business owner) they've become something more. Accomplish all that, treating them as "Client-Friend-Colleagues", and your clients will always be motivated to support your business when they need what you do to help themselves. Fail to do so, and they simply won't be.

Like I've always said - the only way to do well in business is to have fun! Maintaining relationships/business (whichever you prefer) in this manner can be a whole lot of fun!

Keeping Respect, Position, and Sanity In Your Personal And Professional Life

As an entrepreneur AND martial arts instructor, I am often asked about the line between socialization and maintaining professional distance, and what has to be done to maintain the successful positions they hold. "Familiarity breeds contempt," so they say...

Recently though, I've had this question come up almost every day for the last week within different circles of people.

I understand why this question exists, and here it is in plain and simple English: not everyone practices what they preach. The answer, therefore, is as simple as this: be congruent in who you are with who you present yourself to be.

Why give yourself the additional headache of trying to be someone else? It's exhausting! Ever seen Robin Williams' movie Mrs. Doubtfire? Then you know exactly what I mean. Not only is it exhausting, but it's not sustainable. Pick a side and stay there - quit jumping the fence!

I can't really say I have both a personal and professional life, just a life with private aspects that everyone should cherish and protect and that I know I have the right to keep to myself, but nothing at all I have to be ashamed of. I may have moments where I am *not myself,* but when that ever happens in front of someone who has never seen me in that light, I have the privilege with that person for them to say "oh, he must simply be having a bad day," simply dismissed because they know who I am.

As a result, whether I'm making a friend or meeting a potential client, I don't have to flip any switches or rehearse my demeanor... I comfortably enter any situation, regardless of the relationship, with very little stress, and never any regret.

If you're having this issue, consider congruency... it's very liberating.

There is a more specific question that is often asked though: "is it acceptable to *hang out* with my clients?"

If you aren't living personally and professionally congruent, then you have no choice but to say "no, can't ever happen." On the other hand, if you are living personally and professionally congruent, then you have a series of choices to make, because I believe that under those circumstances, it is possible for you to make your business relationships socially fun, if you make it very clear what you find acceptable. Always set clear standards and expectations for relationships of any kind and you can ensure they are positive, mutually beneficial (even synergystic!) and most importantly, long lasting.

"Don't Ever ______... It Doesn't Work" Oh Yeah? The Reality...

We like hearing that we're correct. Any day, any time, someone says "you know what, you were right!" and we eat it up! We all do.

That's why when we've given something a try and just found it didn't bring desirable results, we look for someone to agree. We look for folks to tell us what doesn't work. Because it validates our experience.

Now, before I go any further, I want to say that there are choices you can make in business that are better than others for a number of different reasons... and I say that because I may challenge what people think about certain methods that most people are already dismissing before they've even tried.

Here's an example: buying leads and cold calling.

I can feel some of you cringing. Gritting your teeth. No one's going to shove it down your throat. I'm not going to tell you that you ABSOLUTELY must give it a try. That's not the spirit of this post.

I can find tons of people willing to tell me that neither work. If I look hard enough though, I CAN find people who have made it work. Those who've been wildly successful with it. Who can prove it, too.

The reality is, before you can completely dismiss a business practice as unusable, consider the following:

1. Are there any similar practices I've tried with success, or have known to be successful for others?
2. Have I tested it properly?
3. Upon testing, have I made changes according to my results?

There's a lot more to be considered, but that's enough of a start to get anyone to see better results from every action they take.

Let's take cold calling for example:

1. For those of you on Facebook who are hoping to get a bite by requesting tons of friends, how is cold calling really any different?
2. Did I call the entire list as soon as I got my hands on it, or did I break it down into groups and test it?
3. What kinds of challenges did I encounter, and how can I solve them? In the case of cold calling, could it simply be that my script isn't as appealing as I thought it was? Perhaps a different script is in order...

If you dismiss cold calling after the first few calls altogether, you'll never know what kind of success there was to be had with it.

I'm sure, as in all lead generation advertising, that failures in cold calling fall into these three categories:

1. The message doesn't match the market. What are you saying to them? Why?
2. The offer isn't compelling enough. Why should they pay attention?
3. The goal of the call is to make a sale, not to begin a relationship, and it's obvious. Whose best interests are in consideration here?

Like I mentioned, there are some decisions that are more productive than others, but if you do take an action that shows less than favorable results, do the absolute best you can with it so it's not a total waste. You might even find with a slight tweak, that the activity becomes your best method of generating leads for your business!

Spreading the Wealth, The Right Way!

If the economy is going to get any better, it's not going to get that way by waiting it out. The state of the economy is the result of a series of decisions. If we're going to get ourselves out of trouble, we've got to decide our way out.

I'm sure a lot of people will be irked by this next statement, but open your mind, and just hear me out. A lot of folks think that if the government makes the upper class responsible for more of the tax burden, then it'll make things easier for the middle to lower class. Easier - this much is true, but when has it ever been ultimately good for the people to make things easier for them? Be honest! Think about making things too easy for your kids as you raise them! Or, if you already own a business, your employees if you make things too easy for them! The principles governing human nature and behavior are universal.

No matter what your opinion, the bigger picture is... it's still just waiting for the government to either decide or not decide in our favor...

So what do we do instead?

We take matters into our own hands.

We shape our own destinies.

We write our own paychecks by starting our own businesses.

And... we'll even have the choice to create the jobs to support our community.

If you feel for some reason that this is the WRONG time to open a business... or if you've got other negative feelings, just click here to read the previous post. (Will open in a new window, so you can come back.)

Anyway, if you'd personally like to "share" in the wealth in the nation, start a business that would be of service to the wealthy or position your current business in a way that is attractive to them. Dan Kennedy remarks that most people think "well, I can't sell to them... I'm not in their league!"

He further remarks "Well, how do you think you GET in their league, doofus? You get 10% of their money from 10 of them... now, you're in their league!"

If you're not satisfied with your current conditions, decide your way out of them. And if you're interested in learning more about how the wealthy (affluent) think so that you can more effectively sell to them, there's ONE book, and ONE book ALONE that exists on the subject... and having read it three times myself... that I HIGHLY recommend.

Here's a direct link to it: No B.S. Marketing to the Affluent: The No Holds Barred, Kick Butt, Take No Prisoners Guide to Getting Really Rich by Dan S. Kennedy

You decide.